Fixing Canada’s broken immigration system – Presenting more data to Parliament: Michael Barutciski

First in a series of opinion pieces by MLI. In reading Barutciski’s recommendations for more data, he presents the case as if no data available when in fact in most areas he mentions, open data has rich data sets, albeit historic but regularly updated. Valid to argue more breakdowns in terms of future permanent and temporary residents and the like in the annual levels plan. Certainly, he flags some areas where data is lacking, particularly exit data undocumented, removals and deportations.

On country of origin, he argues that “Identifying source countries can also help to clarify whether immigrants are coming from jurisdictions with inferior educational standards and from cultures that are not necessarily going to make it easy for them to succeed in Canada.” I would argue better to focus on the skill, education level etc rather than country of origin, as there is a mix of skill levels in all countries, and selection should focus on the higher skilled within each country (dilution of the CRS used in Express Entry is of concern in that regard). His arguments tend towards generalizations with some reasonable examples, but no government is likely to return essentially back to race or country criteria.

One particularly notable gap is relative silence on the impact of immigration on housing, healthcare, infrastructure etc, which has largely contributed to the shift to lower support for immigration. This needs to be part of the levels plan, along with a number of his suggestions, some of which are being implemented (e.g., temporary residents), albeit imperfectly.

Recommendations as follows:

Recommendation: Section 94 of the IRPA should be amended to oblige the immigration minister to provide Parliament with data on countries of origin for all migrant categories.

Recommendation: Section 94 of the IRPA should be amended to also include detailed information on temporary residents.

Recommendation: Section 94 of the IRPA should be amended to oblige the immigration minister to provide data on work permits issued to temporary residents.

Recommendation: International students should be required to show to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) upon arrival that they have pre-paid full tuition.

Recommendation: To encourage scrutiny of any discrepancies between issued visas and actual enrolment, the immigration minister should be obliged under section 94 of the IRPA to report on immigration compliance data from educational institutions.

Recommendation: The federal government should clarify the objectives of the IMP and provide data on who is being admitted under this stream, along with future planning.

Recommendation: The federal government should explore the feasibility of authorizing all provinces to select their own candidates for the IMP.

Recommendation: In accordance with the Statistics Act, the Chief Statistician should be directed to revise the assumption that non-permanent residents leave the country 120 days after visa expiry. The Chief Statistician should correspondingly adjust the way general statistics relating to immigration and emigration under s. 22 of the Act are collected and analyzed.

Recommendation: CBSA should be directed by the minister of public safety to provide Statistics Canada with its exit data. Data related to the relationship between expired visas and actual departures at the border should be presented in the report produced by the minister of immigration under section 94 of the IRPA.

Recommendation: The Canada Revenue Agency Act should be amended to oblige the CRA to provide Canada Border Services Agency and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada with any data it holds regarding migrants unlawfully present in the country. These data should be presented in the report produced by the minister of immigration under section 94 of the IRPA.

Recommendation: Section 94 of the IRPA should be amended to oblige the minister of immigration to provide information about the country of origin of asylum seekers, the location where they presented their claim, along with their immigration status prior to the claim.

Recommendation: The immigration minister’s annual report under s. 94 of IRPA should specify the following information regarding asylum claims: it should include how many migrants claim asylum each year, how many proceed to a hearing before the IRB, how many are recognized as needing protection, how many remain in Canada despite not being granted formal protection, how many benefit from a deferral or moratorium regarding removal, as well as how many disappear altogether from the system. For a truly constructive debate, the immigration minister should be encouraged to present comparable data regarding our peers: the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, along with other EU member states such as Sweden and Denmark.

Recommendation: Section 94 of the IRPA should be amended so that the minister of immigration is required to provide data on removals and deportations.

Source: Fixing Canada’s broken immigration system – Presenting more data to Parliament: Michael Barutciski