Revealed: thousands who bought ‘golden passports’ through Dominica’s $1bn scheme – The Guardian

2023/10/12 Leave a comment

Good detailed analysis and example of how these programs invariably attracting nefarious characters:

The Caribbean state of Dominica has sold citizenship to thousands of individuals including a former Afghan spymaster, a Turkish millionaire convicted of fraud and a former Libyan colonel under Muammar Gaddafi, the first detailed examination of the country’s controversial “golden passports” scheme has found.

The findings are from Dominica: Passports of the Caribbean, an investigation by the Guardian and 14 other international news organisations, in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project(OCCRP).

Dominica’s golden passports scheme – one of the world’s biggest – has according to official declarations raised more than $1bn (£822m) through its citizenship by investment scheme since 2009.

Its passports are in demand around the world, and a series of international agreements ensure its citizens travel visa-free to 140 countries, including most EU member states.

However, until now, the names of the individuals who have paid the price tag of at least $100,000 (£82,000) a head to acquire Dominican nationality – in many cases without setting foot on the island – have been difficult to obtain.

By working with the Government Accountability Project, a US-based advocacy group that scoured archives and libraries across the Caribbean for copies of official public documents, and by reviewing leaked material, the project was able to compile lists of names of thousands of people who became citizens.

The first ever tally of names published in Dominica’s official government gazette shows an island state with a population of just over 70,000 has granted citizenship to 7,700 individuals since 2007 – although our research suggests there may be thousands more. Some were naturalised through immigration or marriage, but the vast majority bought their citizenship.

Any government has the legal right to set its own standards on who becomes a citizen. And for many people living under oppressive regimes, a second nationality can provide security. Names that appeared to be of Iranian, Chinese and Russian heritage were among the largest groups of people who became citizens.

For individuals from these countries, a Dominica passport can also mean less red tape when crossing borders, doing business or opening a bank account abroad.

Some of the findings raise questions about the transparency and governance of the scheme, and some are potentially embarrassing for Dominica.

One buyer had publicly been accused of war crimes before obtaining citizenship, while another had been a colonel and senior security official under Muammar Gaddafi. Citizenship by investment applicants are barred if they have a criminal record but, in one example, a buyer appears to have been jailed for fraud before he secured citizenship. Others have run into trouble since acquiring Dominican citizenship, including one named on Interpol’s wanted red list.

Dominica has become heavily reliant on selling citizenship to fund its public services, with this source of income accounting for about half of all government revenues.

Concerns about the scheme have led to consequences for natural-born Dominicans. The UK government in July stopped visa-free travel from Dominica and four other countries.

Dominica’s government did not respond to detailed requests for comment. However, the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, who has overseen the expansion in citizenship sales since taking office in 2004, defended the programme during press conferences on 18 September and 3 October, apparently in response to this investigation.

He said: “We have professed to have a robust system that we go through in different layers of due diligence, and if somebody were to become a citizen of today and tomorrow morning the person goes and does something and finds himself in problem with the law, you can’t blame the programme for that.”

Skerrit compared the Dominica scheme to the US’s green card, which gives permanent residency rights. He said nobody blames the US when people commit crimes after it grants residency.

He also made a series of outlandish and false claims that reporters on the investigation had been paid by opposition politicians in Dominica to try to “destroy” the scheme, and likened reporters to arsonists and “terrorists”.

Dominica’s national archives are housed in a modern concrete structure, set among the pastel-painted colonial buildings of the small town of Roseau, the island’s capital. Here, string-bound issues of the weekly Dominica Official Gazette can be found.

The gazette is the only official public source of information about the thousands of individuals who have become Dominican citizens. Published only on paper, with no official digital copies, the information the gazettes contain is not easily accessible.

Last year, the Government Accountability Project took action to improve transparency. It viewed dozens of gazettes from libraries, private collections and from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and drew up a list of every naturalised citizen from 2007 to 2022.

Other names were found in documents leaked from a hotel developer licensed to accept passport buyers as investors

Among the names brought to light is that of Asadullah Khalid, who served as governor of two provinces of Afghanistan, as the country’s spy chief, and latterly as defence minister. He held these senior positions during the years of turmoil after the invasion by the US and allies in 2001, until the Taliban took over in 2021.

Khalid has been accused by UK and Canadian officials of responsibility for human rights abuses, including allegations, widely reported in 2012, that there was a torture chamber under his guest house. He obtained citizenship in 2017, at a time when these allegations were already public.

The allegations against Khalid have never been tested in court. He has previously said there was no evidence for allegations that were “just propaganda”. Khalid did not respond to requests for comment.

Another investor was Sasi Milud Sasi Grada, a former colonel under the Gaddafi regime in Libya.

Grada obtained citizenship in 2015, having fled Libya after the civil war that overthrew Gaddafi, before returning. In a telephone interview, Grada said although he knew Gaddafi personally from the 1960s onwards, when they trained in the military together, he did not discuss politics with Gaddafi. He said he left the military in 1989 at the rank of colonel, before running government security for facilities such as banks, universities and oilfields until the civil war.

Under Dominican regulations, citizenship by investment applicants are barred if they have a criminal record. However, one individual seems to have been able to purchase citizenship despite appearing to have a conviction for fraud.

The Turkish businessman and former government minister Cavit Çağlar bought citizenship in 2011, seven years after he was given a prison sentence and a fine for fraud relating to Interbank, a bank he owned until it was taken over by Turkish regulators in 1999. In 2010 his sentence was suspended, and reduced to one year and nine months in prison, as well as a fine, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported.

In a 2019 interview, Çağlar said he served nine and a half months in prison, and that he was not a criminal. A representative of Çağlar’s newspaper company, Olay, said he did not wish to comment when approached by the Guardian and OCCRP.

Others appear to have run into trouble after obtaining their passports.

One investor who has faced allegations of wrongdoing since obtaining citizenship is Mehdi Ebrahimi Eshratabadi, an Iranian wanted in Iran for alleged fraud, according to an Interpol red notice.

Eshratabadi, who also goes by the name Tony Newman, obtained Dominican citizenship in 2015. His lawyer described Iran’s addition of him to Interpol’s wanted list in February 2020 as an “abuse of red notice system by the Iranian” government. The lawyer said he was vigorously denying allegations by the Iranian regime and is defending himself in criminal proceedings in Iran.

Oday Nadir Abdulkareem al-Quraishi, an Iraqi, obtained a Dominican passport in 2012, before moving to Dubai, according to previously leaked property records. In 2016, media reports alleged that, while working as an engineer at an Iraqi-state owned oil company, he had accepted bribes between 2009 and 2011 to steer lucrative contracts to clients of Unaoil, an oil services company. The following year Iraq issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with the allegations.

He denied any wrongdoing, and said he left Iraq because of “security and ethnic problems” and “long before any of this start[ed]”. By email, he said he would settle the matter “once the security situation and the time is appropriate”.

Kyle Davies, a leading player in cryptocurrencies, appears to have obtained a Dominican passport in 2009. He co-founded the Three Arrows Capital hedge fund in 2012. However, the fund collapsed in 2022, one of a string of financial failures caused by the crash in cryptocurrencies, leaving investors claiming losses worth billions of dollars.

Teneo, the liquidators of the fund, said in a statement last month that Singapore had issued a “committal order” for four months in prison for Davies for failing to cooperate with the liquidation process, “but his whereabouts remain unknown at this point in time”.

Contacted by the Guardian, Davies’s lawyers criticised the liquidators. They did not address questions about his citizenship.

Golden passport and residency schemes have multiplied in recent years. Dominica’s scheme is one of the cheapest, requiring a direct donation of $100,000 to the government or an investment of $200,000 in a government-approved real estate project.

A former French and then British colony, located in the eastern Caribbean, Dominica gained independence in 1978. Since 1993, it has sold citizenship. Sales began to really take off after 2015, when a treaty signed with the EU guaranteed its citizens visa-free travel in the Schengen area for up to 90 days a year.

Anti-corruption campaigners and politicians have long expressed concerns about golden passport regimes.

Eka Rostomashvili, the campaigns lead at Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog, said: “It’s no secret that visa-free travel to the EU and the UK has been one of the main selling points of the Caribbean citizenship by investment programmes. Both the EU and UK have had their fair share of troubles with such schemes, leading several EU countries and the UK to completely shut down their [own] programmes.”

The UK scrapped its golden visa scheme last year, while Cyprus stopped selling citizenship in 2020.

However, golden passports play a central role in Dominica’s economy. The country’s leaders say the money is needed to replace its once dominant banana exports, damaged by changes in trade rules.

Revenues – estimated at more than $1bn since 2009 – have become the main source of income for the Dominican government, helping to fund schools, healthcare and other public services.

Defending the scheme at last month’s press conference, Skerrit said it “underwrites a significant part of economic and social development” on the island, and “has been used to build thousands of homes, improve healthcare, help with national security, help you diversify the economy and grow the economy in agriculture and tourism, with the building of hotels”.

Revenues – estimated at more than $1bn since 2009 – have become the main source of income for the Dominican government, helping to fund schools, healthcare and other public services.

Defending the scheme at last month’s press conference, Skerrit said it “underwrites a significant part of economic and social development” on the island, and “has been used to build thousands of homes, improve healthcare, help with national security, help you diversify the economy and grow the economy in agriculture and tourism, with the building of hotels”.

Source: Revealed: thousands who bought ‘golden passports’ through Dominica’s $1bn scheme – The Guardian

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Petition e-4511 – Opposing self-affirmation of the #citizenship oath “citizenship on a click” – Final number

2023/10/11 Leave a comment

The chart below breaks down the final count of 1,549 signatures. No significant change but small overall uptick. Less than I would have hoped but the petition and related commentary and media did increase the visibility of the proposed change and perhaps prompt some reflection at political and official levels.

Thanks to all who supported this petition.

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Meggs: Le Québec peut contrôler l’immigration temporaire, et voici comment

2023/10/11 Leave a comment

Former Quebec immigration official on the need to include the IMP in the immigration Accord Canada-Québec:

Il est facile de se perdre dans la répartition entre Ottawa et Québec et on peut se demander qui est responsable de l’explosion de l’immigration temporaire. En fait, les deux gouvernements y contribuent, mais grâce à l’Accord Canada-Québec relatif à l’immigration et à l’admission temporaire des aubains de 1991, le Québec peut la réguler sur son territoire.

Il y a quatre sources légales d’immigration temporaire — les demandeurs d’asile et trois programmes de permis, un pour les permis d’études et deux pour les permis de travail, soit le Programme des travailleurs étrangers temporaires (PTET) et le Programme de mobilité internationale (PMI). Selon les données sur le nombre de titulaires de ces trois programmes au 31 décembre 2022, les permis d’études représentaient 46,3 % du total, le PTET 17,5 % et le PMI 36,3 %.

En ce qui concerne les demandeurs d’asile, la situation géopolitique du Canada le rend unique parmi les pays développés. Depuis l’application de l’Entente sur les tiers pays sûrs à l’ensemble de la frontière canado-américaine, le seul moyen d’arriver au Canada pour demander l’asile est par avion. Le Canada se sert des visas et des permis temporaires pour essayer de limiter l’arrivée des personnes demandant l’asile.

Au début de l’année, une décision du gouvernement fédéral visant à réduire rapidement le nombre, considérable, de demandes de visas de visiteurs semble avoir donné lieu à une augmentation importante de demandeurs d’asile aux aéroports, surtout à Toronto et à Montréal. Le Québec régule, par les seuils d’immigration permanente, le nombre de ceux qui seront admis à terme pour rester au Québec, mais pas le nombre de ceux qui arrivent.

Pour le Programme des étudiants étrangers, les provinces, compte tenu de leur compétence en matière d’éducation, peuvent adopter les politiques visant à réduire le nombre de jeunes de l’étranger qui s’inscrivent dans leurs systèmes. Elles ont aussi la responsabilité de désigner les établissements d’enseignement pour les fins d’un permis d’études.

Au Québec, grâce à l’Accord, le fédéral ne peut délivrer un permis d’études sans le consentement du ministère québécois responsable de l’immigration. Pour signaler son consentement, le Québec délivre un Certificat d’acceptation du Québec pour études. Il établit les conditions afférentes et peut décider d’en limiter le nombre qui sera accordé annuellement. À ce jour, il n’y a pas eu de plafond sur le nombre de CAQ-études délivrés.

Il est évident que c’était l’intention des négociateurs de l’Accord que le Québec régule l’ensemble des admissions, permanentes et temporaires. On le voit dans le titre même de l’Accord et dans le préambule, ainsi que dans le titre et la substance de l’Entente Couture-Cullen (1978) sur laquelle l’Accord a été basé, ainsi que dans l’Accord du lac Meech.

En ce qui concerne les travailleurs, au moment de la signature de l’Accord, le PTET était le seul programme visant les travailleurs étrangers temporaires. Il s’agissait d’un programme relativement mineur incluant surtout les travailleurs agricoles saisonniers. Il servait réellement et uniquement de dernier recours pour les employeurs souhaitant pouvoir des postes d’une durée limitée et ayant fait la démonstration que tout effort a été fait pour trouver de la main-d’oeuvre locale.

Il n’est donc pas très surprenant que l’article de l’Accord sur le consentement du Québec pour l’admission des travailleurs étrangers fasse référence à ceux « dont l’admission est régie par les exigences du Canada touchant la disponibilité de travailleurs canadiens ». Il n’y avait pas non plus de politique visant à offrir la résidence permanente aux travailleurs temporaires. Pour demander la résidence permanente, il fallait le faire de l’étranger, une stipulation qui demeure dans l’Accord, mais ne s’applique pas depuis plus de vingt ans.

En ce qui concerne donc ce PTET, la source des fameux « permis fermés », le Québec détermine quels employeurs seront autorisés à embaucher combien d’effectifs et à quelles conditions, et il délivre un CAQ-travail aux personnes embauchées dans le programme. Encore une fois, il établit les conditions du CAQ-travail et peut en limiter le nombre. À ce jour, le gouvernement n’a pas mis de plafond annuel sur le nombre de CAQ-travail.

En 2014, le gouvernement Harper a divisé le PTET en deux pour pouvoir resserrer les règles concernant l’embauche de main-d’oeuvre de l’étranger pour les besoins du marché du travail. Il a créé un autre programme, le Programme de mobilité internationale, pour les personnes étrangères travaillant temporairement au Canada pour d’autres raisons. Normalement, la création de ce programme aurait dû être abordée par le Comité mixte, l’instance bilatérale créée par l’Accord pour gérer son application et résoudre les différends en matière d’immigration, mais on ne sait pas si cela a été le cas. Il suffit de dire que le Québec ne délivre pas de CAQ-travail dans le cadre du PMI.

Deuxième programme en importance après les permis d’études, le PMI a connu une croissance fulgurante dans les dix dernières années et est devenu le chemin principal pour la transition d’un statut temporaire à un statut permanent.

Si le Québec voulait réguler l’ensemble de son immigration, dans le cadre quasi constitutionnel qu’offre l’Accord, il suffirait de donner les instructions au Comité mixte de négocier les démarches nécessaires pour assurer le consentement du Québec aux permis de travail du PMI. Cela étant dit, même avec un tel contrôle, le gouvernement sera-t-il prêt à s’en servir pour inclure l’immigration temporaire dans sa planification pluriannuelle d’immigration ?

Source: Le Québec peut contrôler l’immigration temporaire, et voici comment

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Sean Speer: Shocking pro-Hamas, anti-Israel rallies lay bare the limits of Canadian pluralism

2023/10/11 Leave a comment

Expect to see more similar commentary. The formal limits are essentially our laws and regulations with informal limits even harder to enforce consistently. Without getting into “both side-ism,” the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and repression of Palestinians draws insufficient coverage and commentary. But the barbarism of Hamas needs to be condemned without reservation:

As Palestine supporters continue to organize themselves in different Canadian cities to effectively demonstrate in favour of Hamas’s abhorrent attacks on the State of Israel, the inherent tensions and limits of pluralism have been laid bare for everyone to see. 

Pluralism is a key part—arguably the key part—of Canada’s conception of itself and our common citizenship. The country’s basic promise is one of peaceful co-existence. Our institutions, norms, and practices are set up to accommodate a multiplicity of viewpoints and persuasions concerning the most fundamental questions about justice, human flourishing, and what constitutes the good life. 

Pluralism is also a key—arguably the key part—of my own worldview. Although, as I’ve grown older, I’ve become more comfortable in my own thinking about these questions, I’ve also grown less comfortable with the idea of imposing my answers on others. Our own limitations (what Kant referred to as our “crooked timber”) invariably constrain the individual pursuit of truth. The public square should therefore be a crowded, complicated, and contentious marketplace of ideas. The state must resist imposing a singular conception of truth on the society. 

Yet pluralism cannot be an open-ended promise either. Just because our ability to discern the truth may be imperfect and incomplete doesn’t mean that we should give into an empty relativism. Some ideas are bad and wrong. We cannot permit our pluralistic commitments to provide license for those who reject our society’s basic values or even wish to do it harm. Pluralism cannot be a one-sided surrender to illiberal and reactionary forces. 

We’ve witnessed in recent days these tensions and limits inherent to Canadian pluralism. While most of us mourned and lamented the inhumanity of Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel, a small minority among us have defended and even celebrated them. These individuals and organizations have relied on Canada’s promise of freedom to countenance and glorify the indiscriminate violence of a group designated as a terrorist organization by our own government. 

There have been pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country that have effectively affirmed Hamas’s terrorism. The videos from these pro-Hamas rallies in cities such as Mississauga and Montreal have been shocking. It must be said that rallies in support of a terrorist organization that has carried out a systematic campaign of killing women and children are incompatible with Canadian values.

Meanwhile, groups such as the Muslim Association of Canada and National Council of Canadian Muslims (which according to online records have received more than $1.34 million in federal funding between them since 2018) may be more careful in their messaging, but they’re still ultimately equivocal about what the world has witnessed. Their tendency towards “two-sideism” and other prevaricating devices have obscured the extent to which they implicitly affirm Hamas’ narrative. If in the face of overwhelming evidence of brutality and cruelty against Israelis your first instinct is to lament “the tyranny and terrorism of the Zionists” or criticize Israel’s democratic leadership, you’ve for all intents and purposes exposed your true character. 

Which it must be said is fair enough as far as some pluralistic protections go. One can oppose the current Israeli government or even critique the State of Israel itself and of course still find him or herself able to avail Canada’s protections of freedom of conscience or expression. We cannot and should not police one’s thoughts per se. But it certainly doesn’t mean that radical groups are entitled to taxpayer dollars or that individuals who cross the line from reasonable disagreements to the promotion and glorification of violence shouldn’t face sanction. 

These basic observations shouldn’t in and of themselves be controversial. Our commitment to pluralism must be uncompromising up and until it comes to undermine the basic security and stability of our own society. As my former boss Brian Lee Crowley has often said: “[we cannot permit] our list of freedoms to become our suicide note.”

Drawing these lines is of course complicated. Our default assumption must be highly permissive. Just because an idea is controversial or at odds with the majority’s views isn’t a reason to exclude it from the public square. The health of our society is measured in part by our willingness to protect ample space for such views. Imposing parameters around the public square therefore comes with great risk. Those parameters can be misapplied, misread, or even wielded by those whose primary goal is to constrain ideas that don’t match their own preferences. Just because it’s hard, however, doesn’t mean that it’s a task that we should shrink from. 

There are perspectives that should rightly be denounced, marginalized, and precluded from receiving public dollars. Even if one is squeamish about laws and policies that criminalize acts like the glorification of terrorism, there ought to be a minimum agreement that we have a collective responsibility to condemn such behaviour in order to effectively raise its social costs and signal to those inside and outside of our society that our pluralism isn’t a license for depravity or violence. 

Canada has essentially bet its future on pluralism. As our population gets more and more diverse, the multiplicity of views will grow and pluralism will be crucial for managing our diversity. I think it’s a good bet. Unlike some conservatives, I’ve tended to disagree with the instinct to mock Prime Minister Trudeau’s assertion that “diversity is our strength.” I think it’s broadly true. But if our pluralism isn’t principled, if it doesn’t involve some limits, then diversity will cease to be our strength and may eventually become the source of our undoing. 

Source: Sean Speer: Shocking pro-Hamas, anti-Israel rallies lay bare the limits of Canadian pluralism

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Participation in Canadian society through sport and work

2023/10/11 Leave a comment

Some interesting gender and population group differences. Male participation in sports higher than female, and considerable differences among different groups. Cost of participation is a greater issue among visible minorities.

Overall, most felt that cultural differences were appreciated in the workforce, with significant lower numbers of Black, Korean and Chinese persons. Black and Korean persons also reported higher levels of discrimination and racism:

With more than 450 ethnic or cultural origins reported in the 2021 Census, the rich diversity is reflected in all spheres of Canadian life, where people in Canada live, play and work. New data from the Survey Series on People and their Communities (SSPC), collected from May 5th to July 25th 2023, provide insight into this diversity, with information on sport and political engagement, as well as workplace cultures and shared values.

This release focuses on participation in sport and experiences at work, which are key indicators in Canada’s Quality of Life Framework and the Social Inclusion Framework. Together with information on the experiences of different population groups, these data help provide a valuable understanding of social inclusion, equity and diversity within different aspects of Canadian society.

About half of Canadians participate in sport

Involvement in sport is just one example of participating in Canadian society, and represents a key well-being indicator in the Quality of Life Framework. While playing a sport is consistently ranked as the most common form of civic engagement, the prevalence, motivations to play, and barriers to participate vary by gender, racialized group, and immigration status.

Throughout Canada, people from all walks of life participated in some type of sport in the 12 months preceding the survey, with slightly more than half (55%) of people aged 15 years of age and older reporting participating in sports such as soccer, ice hockey, swimming and running. Overall, men (62%) were more likely to participate in sports than women (49%).

Across the majority of all population groups, the participation rates of men were higher than those of women, but the difference was most pronounced among Filipino (55% of men versus 29% of women) and Black (66% of men versus 42% of women) populations where men were much more likely to play sports than women. The Arab population also showed discrepancy between men and women’s sports participation, with high rates for men. Indeed, 7 in 10 Arab men played a sport compared with just under one-half of Arab women (48%).

Overall, for both women and men, the Korean (62%) and Chinese (62%) populations were among the most likely to have played sports, and this remained true for men and women in these groups (69% for both Korean and Chinese men, and 55% for both Korean and Chinese women). Meanwhile, the least likely groups to report sport participation were South Asian (46%) and Filipino (41%) populations.

What is the most popular sport? It varies!

Among those who participated in some type of sport over the previous 12 months, swimming was the most common, reported by over one-third (35%) of people. This was closely followed by cycling (33%) and running (27%).

The popularity of specific sports varied across racialized groups. Swimming topped the list overall but was the leading sport for only the non-racialized population (37%), West Asians (36%) and Koreans (36%). Running was the favourite sport among the greatest number of racialized groups. Chinese (40%), Japanese (35%), Southeast Asian (35%), South Asian (33%) and Black (32%) populations participated in running, more than any other sport, as well as people belonging to two or more racial or cultural groups (i.e., multiple racialized groups) (37%).

Soccer was another popular sport among racialized groups. It was most common among the Arab population (40%) and was the second most common sport for Black respondents (31%).

In general, the Canadian-born population was more likely to have participated in winter sports such as ice hockey, skating, skiing and snowboarding, compared with immigrants, who were more likely to have played soccer, tennis or basketball.

Most people play sports for health and fitness

Playing sports can be done recreationally or competitively, though most people played recreationally over the previous 12 months. Overall, 83% of sports players reported playing sports recreationally, outside of a club or league. This was sometimes done in combination with more structured recreational programs, through a club or league, such as group fitness, intramural sports, or sport clubs. Almost one-quarter (24%) played recreational sports, while a smaller share (11%) said they were registered in a competitive sport.

When asked what motivates them to participate in sports, 82% of people who took part in sports cited physical health and fitness, followed by fun, recreation or relaxation (70%), mental health benefits (65%) and doing activities with friends (54%.)

Cost of participating is a common barrier to sport participation for racialized groups

Overall, a lack of interest (35%) was the most often cited by respondents as a reason for not playing sports over the previous 12 months. This was the case for both men and women, and was seen across all racialized groups. Two other commonly cited reasons for not playing sports were lack of time (33%) and age (24%).

The cost of participating was reported as a barrier by 11% of people who did not play sports. This was more often cited by Koreans (20%), West Asians (20%) and Latin Americans (17%), who were nearly twice as likely as non-racialized Canadians (10%) to cite this barrier.

Immigrants were more likely than their Canadian-born counterparts to indicate lack of time (37% for immigrants versus 30% for Canadian-born people) and age (28% versus 24%) as barriers to participating in sports.

Women more likely to say cultural differences enrich their workplace

Work constitutes a significant domain of life, characterized by connections that can profoundly impact health, economic well-being, job satisfaction, and career advancement. Just as engaging in physical activity can positively influence overall well-being, experiences at work play a pivotal role in fostering feelings of inclusion and respect within the workplace.

Just under half of those who worked over the previous 12 months stated they felt that cultural differences enrich their workplace (46%). Women (49%) were more likely than men (44%) to say they felt that cultural differences enriched their workplace.

For nearly all racialized groups, more than half felt that cultural differences enrich the workplace (ranging from 41% to 65%). While 43% of those not belonging to a racialized group indicated that they felt cultural differences enriched the workplace, this group was the most likely to indicate that there were no cultural differences in their workplace (16%).

More than half (54%) of immigrants said they felt that cultural differences enrich their workplace, compared with 43% of the Canadian-born population. Additionally, immigrants (10%) were less likely than Canadian-born respondents (15%) to indicate that there were no cultural differences in their workplace.

Around 85% of Canadians feel cultural differences are respected in the workplace

Around 85% of Canadians who have worked at a job or business in the previous 12 months felt that cultural differences were respected in their workplace. Racialized groups (81%) were less likely than non-racialized Canadians (86%) to feel that cultural differences were respected in their workplaces. Japanese (87%), Latin American (86%) and Arab (86%) people, in addition to those who do not belong to a racialized group, were most likely to say that they felt that cultural differences were respected. However, Black (74%), Korean (74%) and Chinese (81%) people in Canada were least likely to believe that diversity was valued in their workplace. Immigrants (82%) were less likely to indicate that cultural differences were respected in their workplace than the Canadian-born respondents (86%).

More than one-fifth of Black and Korean people in Canada report having experienced unfair treatment, racism or discrimination while at work

Around 12% of those who worked in the previous 12 months indicated that they had experienced unfair treatment, racism or discrimination while at work. Women (15%) were more likely than men (10%) to report having experienced some type of unfair treatment.

Among those reporting experiences of some type of unfair treatment in the workplace, race or skin colour was the most common reason (29%), followed by sex (27%) and age (23%). Among women, the top basis of unfair treatment in the workplace was sex (37%), followed by race or skin colour (25%). For men, race or skin colour was the top reason (35%) followed by ethnicity or culture (27%).

All racialized groups were more likely than the non-racialized group (10%) to report having been subjected to some type of unfair treatment in the workplace. However, Black (26%) and Korean (20%) people in Canada were most likely to experience some type of unfair treatment. Immigrants (15%) were also more likely than the Canadian-born (11%) to experience some type of unfair treatment while at work.

Race and skin colour was one of the top reasons for reporting some type of unfair treatment at work for those belonging to racialized groups, ranging from a high of 78% among Black people to 28% for Latin American people. Ethnicity or culture was another common reason, especially for South Asian (50%) and Arab (48%) groups. Another commonly reported reason for some type of unfair treatment among Arab people in Canada was religion (45%). Having an accent was a top reason cited by Latin American people, which was as common for this group as ethnicity or culture (40% for both reasons). 

For immigrants in Canada, the main reasons reported for experiencing some type of unfair treatment while at work was race or skin colour (46%), and ethnicity or culture (38%), followed by accent and language (28% each).

The analysis of sports and cultural diversity in the workplace only covers two of the many facets of Canadian society that can be examined. Future analysis using the SSPC on topics such as shared values and political engagement will continue the contribution to a greater understanding of the experiences of different groups of Canadians.

Source: Participation in Canadian society through sport and work

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Ottawa reviewing virtual citizenship ceremonies as petition calls on government to pull the plug – CBC News

2023/10/10 Leave a comment

Latest article on “citizenship on a click.” Petition closes today at 3 pm:

Source: Ottawa reviewing virtual citizenship ceremonies as petition calls on government to pull the plug – CBC News

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Proud to be Canadian: Families reflect following Canadian citizenship ceremony in Battleford

2023/10/10 Leave a comment

Good example of why in person ceremonies matter:

Nearly 40 people from nine different countries became Canadian citizens Thursday at a special Canadian citizenship ceremony held at Battleford’s Alex Dillabough Centre.

Annette McGovern, executive director at the Battlefords Immigration Resource Centre said the day couldn’t have gone better, with a great turnout all around.

“I thought it was fantastic; everything went really well, and the people were so impressed to have received their certificate in person and be able to celebrate with other people,” she said.” It was just a fantastic turnout with really great people.”

Marking the first time a citizenship ceremony has been held in person in the Battlefords since before the COVID-19 pandemic, Manmeet Randhawa was among those receiving his Canadian citizenship, along with his family, after first moving to Canada from India in 2009.

“There was some struggle [over the years], but we found it very good to be a part of this country and now we are very happy that we are citizens here, it’s a great moment,” Randhawa said.

While currently residing in Saskatoon, the family made the trip to the Battlefords for Thursday’s event so they could share in the ceremony with others, something Randhawa said they felt was an important aspect of the experience.

“They gave us two options, to either do online or in person, so we chose in person because we need the emotions we can feel at the ceremony,” he said, letting out a smile. “That’s why we travelled all the way from Saskatoon to Battleford for this ceremony and we are very happy to be here, it was a great time.”

Leah Grace Robles and her family, who are from Manila – the capital of the Philippines – were also among those making a dream come true with Thursday’s citizenship ceremony.

Having moved to Canada about a decade ago, Robles said that her younger brother is now approaching his 18th birthday and her family decided it was time they became official Canadian residents, something she too had felt was important to do together.

“My dream [was] doing it with the whole family,” she said with a smile. “I am a real Canadian now, and it is very different if you have your citizenship, it is a different feeling… I am more proud [than ever] right now.”

When asked what it is about Canada that brought the family overseas, Robles said it was the opportunity life in the country presents.

“Firstly, it’s the chance for us to be together for a long time,” she said. “And to be honest, the education, the health system, and the future of their kids – speaking on behalf of my parents – that is the most important thing for them.

“The blessing [of] having this and being with your family is the most important thing.”

Source: Proud to be Canadian: Families reflect following Canadian … – battlefordsNOW

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Foreign doctors take up more medical residency spots as Canadians struggle to get in

2023/10/10 1 Comment

Another distortion of higher education objectives through international students (policy dates from 2010):

Canada has an acute shortage of doctors — a staffing crisis that is expected to get much worse in the years ahead as the number of residency positions on offer fails to keep up with rapid population growth.

Despite those challenges, roughly 1,000 Canadian doctors who went to school abroad are turned away every year because they can’t get residency spots in Canada, according to a CBC News review of medical school data. Physicians are required to go through a residency in order to be licensed to practice.

Canadian doctors who want to come home to work are routinely told it’s not possible because resources are limited and there are only so many residency positions to go around.

Source: Foreign doctors take up more medical residency spots as Canadians struggle to get in

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Canadian universities bet on international students, but global shifts present risks

2023/10/10 Leave a comment

Useful remider:

When the University of British Columbia announced the launch of Vantage College in 2013, the school said it envisioned the program for fee-paying international students would have enrolment of 1,000 by August 2016.

The program would target first-year students who otherwise failed to meet UBC’s English requirements, providing them with extra language lessons in addition to their degree courses.

It would house the students — whose fees are now about $60,000 per year — in a $127 million facility designed by world-renowned architecture firm Perkins&Will, some of its dorm rooms featuring sweeping ocean views.

However, Vantage’s enrolment is currently 172 students, having declined every year since reaching 498 in 2018-2019.

The struggles of Vantage College reflect the unpredictable nature of the lucrative international education sector, as Canadian universities find themselves beholden to geopolitical and economic shifts.

There have been massive changes in the sector, with study permits for Chinesestudents in Canada plunging 40 per cent since 2018. Permits for students from India — where English is far more widely spoken — have meanwhile doubled.

UBC spokesman Matthew Ramsey said in a written statement that “work is underway” to assess the Vantage model.

He said the enrolment shortfalls “come as (international) students are increasingly entering faculties directly and using faculty-specific programming to enhance their English-language skills.”

The federal government said that in 2022  international students contributed more than $22 billion to the Canadian economy, greater than the contribution of auto parts or lumber exports.

In British Columbia, statistics from the province’s Council for International Education showed the sector generated $330 million in government revenue in 2019, creating more than 53,000 jobs.

“It’s a big sector,” said BCCIE executive director Randall Martin, noting the industry covers everything from K-12 education and two-year transfer colleges to language schools and degrees at large universities.

Martin said international students have played an integral role in “keeping the light on” for Canadian universities in rural and remote areas, allowing schools to offer mandated courses they would otherwise struggle to provide.

“In many ways, the sector is a real success. It’s over $7 billion coming into the provincial economy because of international education, and that includes tuition, housing, accommodations, meals … and, yes, I think it’s fair to say that the international student numbers will follow geopolitical trends.”

The industry in Canada — as in most popular international education destinations — largely relies on the high number of students from two countries: China and India.

Statistics Canada data show that students from the world’s two most populous countries accounted for more than half of the almost 550,000 study permits issued by Canada in 2022.

But permits given to Chinese students have fallen from 85,000 in 2018 to just short of 52,000 last year.

A similar slide has been reported by the BCCIE, with the number of Chinese international students in B.C. down from 50,000 in 2015 to 29,670 last year.

Martin said the decline began after the legal saga of Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese tech executive who was arrested in late 2018 and held in Vancouver until 2021, triggering a deep decline in China-Canada relations.

“I think Canada was portrayed as not a safe place for Chinese students in the Chinese media, and our numbers did go down a bit,” he said.

Karin Fischer, who writes a weekly international education newsletter called Latitudes, said while pandemic travel restrictions made the biggest dent in student numbers, the number of Chinese students in the West has not rebounded in the way numbers from India or elsewhere have.

Fischer said higher travel costs and a reluctance among Chinese families to endure lengthy separations from children post-pandemic are contributing factors. But deteriorating economic conditions in China — reducing both students’ ability to pay and find work after graduating — may be a key reason their numbers haven’t recovered.

“Going to study in another country is an enormous investment, even for a middle-class Chinese or Indian family,” Fischer said. “What is the expectation that they have about earning that degree? What is their return on investment?

“I wonder if some (Chinese) families are thinking, ‘God, should we spend all this money up front if we’re worried about (whether) our child is going to graduate and not have a job to come back to?'”

Tuition for Vantage College in 2023-2024 costs around $60,000, while other international students at UBC pay from around $42,000 to $58,000.

Domestic students’ tuitions range from around $6,000 to $9,000 a year.

The drop in Chinese students, Fischer said, tends to disproportionately affect Vantage College and other similar “pathway” programs for students needing English-language support.

The University of South Florida shuttered a similar pathway centre for international students recently because it wasn’t profitable, Fischer said.

“If you don’t have the volume of students, they’re really challenging,” she said of pathway programs. “And they worked particularly well for Chinese students because they had that combination of students who needed the extra language but who were generally academically prepared — and who could afford to pay for that.”

Indian international students tend to be proficient in English and do not require pathway programs, Fischer said.

Ramsey said UBC originally built the 1,049-room Orchard Commons complex to house both Vantage’s students and domestic first-year students, boosting integration and helping “create a positive experience for all students.”

A recent visit to the complex’s cafeteria at lunch time showed little sign of students in need of language support, with fluent English the language of choice.

Ayumi Yamamoto, a Japanese exchange student who started attending Vantage in September, said she does not live at Orchard Commons but at nearby Fairview Crescent.

She described Orchard Commons as “not crowded” and offering ample space for her and other Vantage students.

“They always have empty seats, at least one of them,” Yamamoto said.

While the number of Chinese students have fallen across Canada, overall international student numbers are on the rise, largely due to students from India.

Statistics Canada showed study permits issued to Indian students rose from 107,000 in 2018 to almost 226,000 last year. In B.C., their number went from 12,040 in 2015 to almost 75,000 in 2022.

Martin said much of that growth stemmed from immigration policy changes that allowed students seeking a two-year diploma to stay in Canada and work here for three years, opening the door to permanent residency.

But recent strains between Canada and India over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Surrey, B.C., have created more uncertainty. After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month said New Delhi may have been involved in the killing, India issued a travel advisory that warned of violence against Indian nationals and students in Canada.

Fischer said there is a precedent in Canada’s dispute with Saudi Arabia over the kingdom’s arrest of human rights activists in 2018. Permits issued to Saudi students fell from 5,080 in 2017 to 1,185 in 2019.

But Fischer said Saudi Arabia had been paying for students to go abroad and pulled their scholarships during the dispute.

“A place like India, it is almost entirely students paying their own way,” she said. “So it’s hard to know (of India’s impact) because it’s individual students making all sorts of individual choices.”

Canadian universities have been looking to diversify their international student populations beyond India and China.

Graham Barber, assistant director of international relations at Universities Canada, a national advocacy body for universities, said recent outreach has focused on countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil and the Philippines — places with growing middle-class populations and young people willing and able to travel to study.

“We (have) world-class institutions that are really, really good at this,” Barber said about finding new markets. “One of the great things about being in Canada is there’s such a diverse population here. They really have those people-to-people ties to be able to pivot quickly to different areas and to work with new partnerships.”

UBC’s Ramsey said while the Vantage model may be under assessment, its supportive approach to international students isn’t going away.

“It’s too soon to say what form that may take in the years ahead,” he said. “What we can say is there is a need for this type of instructional model on our campuses now and moving forward.”

Source: Canadian universities bet on international students, but global shifts present risks

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COVID-19 Immigration Effects – July 2023 update

2023/10/09 Leave a comment

Regular monthly data. Unfortunately, Permanent Residents source country not updated on open data and web data for study permits also not available.

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