Canadians in the dark about immigration numbers: survey

2014/08/29 Leave a comment

Not surprising that people don’t know the actual immigration figures. Common to many policy areas that most people don’t follow too closely and large numbers are fairly abstract in any case.

Government messaging walks the fine line between reassuring its base, and the broader public, that it is addressing fraud and the risk of over-dramatizing the extent of fraud (e.g., birth tourism) and thus contributing to reduced public confidence:

Ignorance of the facts, however, didn’t stop most of the 3,016 participants polled by Harris/Decima from answering when asked whether there were too many, too few or about the right number of immigrants coming to Canada every year.

Twenty-six per cent said there were too many, 10 per cent said too few and 52 per cent said the number was about right. The rest said they didn’t know.

After they were told the actual number admitted each year, the number who said there were too many jumped to 36 per cent. Nine per cent said too few immigrants were admitted, while 48 per cent thought the number was about right.

When asked if Canada should increase, decrease or maintain its immigration intake over the next five years, nearly half favoured the status quo, about one-third advocated a decrease and 15 per cent wanted immigration levels to rise.

Luc Turgeon, a University of Ottawa political scientist who has studied public attitudes toward immigration, said he wasn’t surprised by the widespread ignorance of actual immigration levels.

“In numerous countries it has been proven that people have no idea how many immigrants their countries are letting in,” he said.

Turgeon said the Conservative federal government has “sent a number of signals” to reassure its base that it’s keeping a close eye on people admitted to Canada.

Those signals include tightening the rules for refugees, making it more difficult for refugees to access publicly funded health care and hinting that changes are in the works to the live-in caregiver program.

Canadians in the dark about immigration numbers: survey | Ottawa Citizen.

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Americans Line Up to Renounce US Citizenship in Toronto

2014/08/29 1 Comment

More on the US FATCA and impact on Canadians:

Canada finalized its IGA earlier this year. It requires Canadian banks send the account information of customers with U.S. citizenship to the Canada Revenue Agency CRA. The CRA then forwards that information on to the IRS, a tidy workaround to Canadian laws forbidding banks from sending that information directly to a foreign government.

But attorney John Richardson calls the information-sharing deal a “mechanism for the United States to extract after-tax Canadian capital out of the country.”

“What the U.S. is really doing is claiming the right to levy taxes on people who don’t live in the United States on income that is in no way connected to the United States. It simply cannot be tolerated,” said Richardson.

Many Canadians don’t even realize that the U.S. considers them taxable citizens, nor do they want U.S. citizenship, he said. That’s because the U.S. considers those born to American parents outside the country American, or anyone born in the U.S. American, even if they live their whole life in another country, unaware they are accumulating a mountain of fees and taxes.

The IRS has changed its position slightly to wave the massive penalties for “accidental Americans” and those unaware they needed to file with the IRS. But they are still required to pay taxes.

Americans Line Up to Renounce US Citizenship in Toronto.

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Gray: WWI an odd place to start our national mythology

2014/08/28 Leave a comment

Nice contrarian piece by Charlotte Gray on World War 1 and the government narrative:

As early as October 1914, Maclean’s magazine called the bloody conflict in Europe “the Great War.” But it wasn’t a great war, let alone “the war to end all wars” as British writer H. G. Wells suggested. It was a failed war. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles was supposed to ensure that the major European powers would never go to war again. In fact the Versailles Treaty turned out to be “the peace to end all peace.” Within twenty years of the treaty being signed, brutal conflict had erupted again in Europe.

The boundaries that the victorious powers slapped onto their maps of the Middle East reflected their own self-interest rather than the religious and ethnic realities on the ground. The current turmoil in the Arab world can be traced back, in part, to decisions taken in the Hall of Mirrors and subsequent diplomatic get-togethers.

The second reason for my increasing unease is a disturbing thread in some of the First World War commemorations: Military battles are being presented to Canadians as significant moments in our “coming of age” as a country. Yet you only have to read about the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge see historian Tim Cook’s wonderful Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War 1917-1918 to know that this “coming of age” was the result of poor military planning by British generals, and involved hundreds of needless deaths. Amongst those Canadians that returned, there was an undercurrent of resentment that they had been embroiled in a British imperial crusade. This is a funny place to start the national mythology. How much is our past being manipulated for nationalist reasons? Many of the citizens in today’s multicultural Canada have their roots in countries that were either defeated in 1918, or played no part in the conflict. What should the killing fields of Europe mean to them?

So let’s recall the nobility of individual young men who answered the summons “Your Country Needs You” and marched to their death. But it should not obscure the most depressing side of the story – the pointlessness of the massacre.

Gray: WWI an odd place to start our national mythology | Ottawa Citizen.

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Terrorists may lose Norwegian citizenship – The Local

2014/08/28 Leave a comment

Another country considering citizenship revocation in cases of terrorism:

Minister of Children and Equality, Solveig Horne, said to the media: “This is a strong signal to people wanting to take part in terror operations and wars.”

The Norwegian government believes it is important to look at new measures to oppose radical behavior connected to terrorism.

Horne said: “We will turn over every stone to find the necessary measures to prevent radicalization and extremism. We will begin discussion about introducing regulations on revocation for any citizen causing serious damage to vital government interests or who has volunteered to serve in foreign military services.”

Terrorists may lose Norwegian citizenship – The Local.

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Flophouse Citizenship and International Migration Reading List Updated

2014/08/28 1 Comment

VictoriaFerauge’s updated list on citizenship and immigration readings:

Global Marriage: Cross-Border Marriage Migration in Global Context (2010) by Dr. Lucy Williams.  Outstanding look at cross-border marriages from a global perspective.  Williams takes on the myths, stereotypes about foreign brides (and grooms) and counters them with solid research. A refreshing antidote to the many silly things said about those “marriage migrants.”

The Scramble for Citizens: Dual Nationality and State Competition for Immigrants (2013) by David Cook-Martin.  A fine book that looks at migration from Spain and Italy to Argentina in one era and the reverse migration from Argentina back to Spain and Italy of those immigrants’ descendants in another.  The author does a fine job of showing how it is almost impossible for a state to make (and make stick) immigration/emigration and citizenship law unilaterally.  There is a larger context with sending and receiving states competing for the productive power and loyalty of immigants/emigrants.  This competition takes place over generations which may (the author says) have interesting implications for large receiving states like the United States.

Democracy and the Foreigner (2003) by Bonnie Honig.  Great read.  Honig takes the idea of “the foreigner” as a vexing issue to be solved through assimilation or rejection and turns it around.  Are there circumstances when the stranger is not a problem at all, but rather a solution to what ails a community?

Migration and the Great Recession:  the Transatlantic Experience (2011) edited by Demetrios Papademetriou et al.  If you were wondering how the economic crisis in the first decade of the 21st century had an impact on migration, this book of essays from the Migration Policy Institute is good place to begin.  Data from the U.S., U.K., Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden and Germany.

Anthropology and Migration: Essays on Transnationalism, Ethnicity, and Identity (2003) by Caroline Brettell. An anthropologist looks at migration, transnationalism, and assimilation/integration through a population she knows well: the Portuguese diaspora. (Flophouse review here.)
Moving Matters: Paths of Serial Migration (2013) by Susan Ossman. .A look into the minds of “serial migrants.” Those who immigrate once (like all other migrants) and then do something that shatters the standard immigrant tale – they move on. (Flophouse review here.)
International Migration in the Age of Crisis and Globalization (2010) by Andres Solimano. Well-written, well-argued book.  The author is ambitious and confronts some of the most difficult topics around migration:  Why is International Migration Such a Contentious Issue?  Are Goods and Capital More Important than People?  Don’t Always ‘Blame’ the North, and so on.
The Citizen and the Alien:  Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership (2006) by Linda Bosniak. Refreshing take on the dilemmas of citizenship and democratic ideals.  Who is included/excluded and on what basis?  The problem of democracy and the legal permanent resident. Complex questions with no easy answers.
A Nation of Emigrants:  How Mexico Manages Its Migration by David Fitzgerald (2009)  The internal American battle over immigration from Latin America is a very public debate but it’s only half the story.  Mexico, the U.S.’s southern neighbor and a major sending country, has made and is still making policy to manage its emigration and its emigrants.  This is an extraordinary book and there is much to be learned from Mexico’s efforts and policies – even when they have failed.
The Sovereign Citizen:  Denaturalization and the Origins of the American Republic (2013) by Patrick Weil  Really superb book.  Excellent research into the un-making of American citizens in the 20th century.
Citizenship and Those Who Leave:  The Politics of Emigration and Expatriation by Nancy L. Green and Francois Weil (2007)  I contend that you cannot talk about immigration without also discussing emigration.  A fine work – excellent chapters on how states (UK, Holland, U.S., France and others) have tried to manage emigration.
Citizenship and Immigration by Christian Joppke (2010) This one covers a wide variety of old and new ideas about citizenship.  A good place to begin for someone who is just delving into how immigration/emigration and citizenship are entwined. Joppke refutes the idea of the decline of citizenship – an argument worth reading..
International Migration and the Globalization of Domestic Politics edited by Rey Koslowski.  Some very good insights into how international migration and diaspora politics affect politics back in the home country.

Immigration and Citizenship in Japan by Erin Aeran Chung (2010) Excellent book about Japan as a country of immigration. “Japan is currently the only advanced industrial democracy with a fourth-generation immigrant problem.” Chung tells the story of how this came about and the impact this has had on modern Japanese citizenship law.

Rights and Duties of Dual Nationals:  Evolution and Prospects edited by David A. Martin and Kay Hailbronner (2003)  Fine set of articles on dual citizenship and such things as military service, extradition, political rights (Peter Spiro), denationalization and many others.  Pricey but worth every penny.
International Migration and Citizenship Today by Niklaus Steiner (2009).  A very fine book on the political, economic and cultural impact of immigration.  He frames the discussion around two essential questions:  What Criteria to Admit Migrants?  and What Criteria to Grant Citizenship?
Citizenship Today: Global Perspectives and Practices edited by T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Douglas Klusmeyer (2001).  This was one of the best books I read on the topic of citizenship with essays by Patrick Weil, Karen Knop and Richard T. Ford, among many others.   I particularly enjoyed Ford’s contribution called “City-States and Citizenship” which was, for me, a real revelation.
States without Nations:  Citizenship for Mortals by Jacqueline Stevens (2009) A strong critique of birthright citizenship in all forms and a call for citizenship based on residency.
The Perils of Belonging: Authochthony, Citizenship, and Exclusion in Africa and Europe by Peter Geschier (2009).  Outstanding read.  States make citizens and states can also “unmake” them.  Nativism and the never-ending debate over who really “belongs.”
The Politics of Citizenship in Europe by Marc Morje Howard (2009).  A really fine study of the citizenship policies of the oldest member-states of the EU.  Read this book to grasp how citizenship laws have changed over time and the reasons why.
The Future Governance of Citizenship by Dora Kostakopoulou ((2008).  Good overview of the current citizenship models and a proposal for an “anational” citizenship framework.
Beyond Citizenship:  American Identity After Globalization by Peter Spiro (2008).  Excellent book that examines how globalization has changed the value of citizenship overall and American citizenship in particular.  Very thoughtful.  Very well-written.
Qu’est-ce qu’un Français? by Patrick Weil (2002).  Mr. Weil spent over 8 years in the archives researching this book and it is fascinating.  France has been something of a test lab for just about every combination of jus soli and jus sanguinis citizenship possible.  Everything has been tried and tried again.  I read the book in French but it is also available in the usual places in English.
Gender and International Migration in Europe by Eleonore Kofman, Annie Phizacklea, Parvati Raghuram and Rosemary Sales (2000).  If you are looking for some empirical evidence (as I was) for how migration, immigration policy and citizenship rights have different outcomes and impacts for women, this is a good place to start.
The Birthright Lottery:  Citizenship and Global Inequality by Ayelet Shacher (2009) An attack on both jus soli and jus sanguinis methods of transmitting citizenship.  Fascinating argument.
Aliens in Medieval Law:  the Origins of Modern Citizenship by Keechang Kim ((2000).  I’ve been meaning to write a post about this book since it has a very original take on the historical roots of modern citizenship.  I recommend it highly.
Human Rights or Citizenship? by Paulina Tambakaki (2010)  Interesting ideas about how traditional models of citizenship and  human rights legislation are in conflict.
International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain edited by Caglar Ozden and Maurice Schiff  for the World Bank (2006)  This book contains a number of very interesting essays about the economic impact of remittances and brain drain/gain.  The editors point out that the potential for economic benefit for all parties (individuals and sending and receiving countries)  is substantial but policy decisions need to be made carefully (we are talking about people after all).
Let Them In:  the Case for Open Borders by Jason L. Riley (2008)  The author makes a very radical argument for simply opening the doors and letting people move where they wish.For info I have created a Citizenship and Migration book list on Goodread’s Listopia here.  Good place to read reviews and find quotations from the above books.
Flophouse Citizenship and International Migration Reading List Updated

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Blood, soil, birth tourism and anchor babies – Globe Editorial

2014/08/27 Leave a comment

The Globe’s editorial take on birth tourism – evidence-based policy, which Minister Alexander appears committed to, given his and his spokesperson’s recent comments stating that decisions “will be informed by facts” (in contrast to earlier anecdotes dramatizing the issue):

At present, however, birth certificates are the most common proof of Canadian citizenship. They do not include any information about a newborn baby’s parents’ citizenship.

Hospitals are a provincial jurisdiction. That is one of the reasons why the provinces and territories have been in charge of birth certificates for a long time. The subnational governments of Canada would doubtless not be eager to spend a huge amount of money to overhaul their birth-certificate system – let alone unanimously.

Ottawa could choose to foot the bill. But if the government is to go any further, it should commission a rigorous study to discover whether so-called birth tourism is a significant phenomenon. So far, the evidence is anecdotal. The available numbers in a given year are in the low hundreds. The real numbers may be higher, but it would be premature to remake the basics of our citizenship on a hunch.

Blood, soil, birth tourism and anchor babies – The Globe and Mail.

Related to this, the BC Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (Carmen Cheung and Audrey Macklin) wrote a comprehensive response to the earlier Jan Wong article on birth tourism (see my post Canada’s birthright citizenship policy makes us a nation of suckers):

But how serious an issue is birth tourism? While the government does not publish statistics on actual cases of birth tourism, Statistics Canada reports that of the 377,913 live births recorded in Canada for 2011, only 277 of those were by mothers who lived outside of Canada. The numbers were slightly higher in 2010 – 305 babies born to non-resident mothers out of 377,518 live births. That is less than one tenth of one percent of all births in Canada.

A recent article in Toronto Life magazine proposed another metric for measuring birth tourism, by collecting the number of uninsured mothers giving birth in Toronto-area hospitals over a five-year period. Based on those numbers, we’re still looking at less than one percent of all live births in the city of Toronto.

Using the number of uninsured mothers as a proxy also likely overstates the problem. Provincial health cards are only issued after a minimum period of residency in the province – this is the case whether an individual has arrived from another country as a landed immigrant, or has just moved from British Columbia to Ontario. There are also foreign nationals who are excluded from provincial health care schemes, such as students, temporary foreign workers and diplomats. Particularly vulnerable Canadian citizens – such as the homeless or transient – may also not be able to prove their eligibility for provincial health insurance because of lost documentation.

By any measure, the number of babies born to non-resident non-Canadian mothers is negligible.

Born Equal: Citizenship by Birth is Canada’s Valuable Legacy

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Ottawa jihadi seeking ‘martyrdom’ with ISIS in Syria | Ottawa Citizen

2014/08/27 Leave a comment

Profile of an Ottawa man fighting with ISIS in Syria:

Counter-terrorism officials say they are concerned that Canadian fighters who survive the conflicts in Syria and Iraq may return home to spread anti-Western radicalism and conduct terrorist attacks, but Maguire does not seem to want to leave.

“He said he’s not coming back,” his aunt, Allison McPherson, said in the Ontario family’s first public comments about their plight. “My sister doesn’t expect that she will ever see him again, and probably won’t ever see him again alive.”

As a boy, Maguire had a tough time, she said. After his mother left an abusive relationship and then suffered health problems, he was raised partly by his grandparents. “John is a very smart kid,” McPherson said, “but there was always something kind of closed off, and he kept to himself. And, of course, that’s exactly what these people are looking for — a bright guy, kind of a loner, needing a place to fit in.”

According to his online profile, he went to Hillcrest High School and once wanted to be a hockey player or motocross racer. He left home for California for a few months but returned  and enrolled at the University of Ottawa.

During the fall 2012 term, he began musing on Twitter about the brutality of President Bashar Al-Assad, writing, “how can I sleep with what is happening in Syria.” But the friend said Maguire was not an activist and had displayed little interest in issues in the Muslim world.

“Now we’re all just confused. What I’m trying to figure out is how it all began,” he said. Was he swayed by something he found on the Internet? Did someone influence him? Was he upset about events abroad? “I wish I knew what it was, and I wish I could have prevented it.”

As Canadian-born, and presumably not a dual citizenship, he would not be subject to citizenship revocation unlike other extremists not born but raised in Canada.

Ottawa jihadi seeking ‘martyrdom’ with ISIS in Syria | Ottawa Citizen.

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Moins de place pour le Québec? | Le Devoir

2014/08/27 Leave a comment

The challenges of museums and choosing themes and approaches, in this case the Canadian History Museum (formerly Museum of Civilizations) and the shift from a geographic to a thematic approach. We will still see whether this approach works or appears too aligned with the Government’s particular historical and national narratives:

« On a aboli mon poste pour créer un poste pour l’archéologie du Canada central, déplore Yves Monette, ex-conservateur en archéologie du Québec du MCH, un des cinq postes abolis au printemps dernier. Mon expertise, c’est l’archéologie historique, et il n’y a plus personne au musée qui couvre cette période-là pour le Québec. »

En juillet, il avait eu des affectations temporaires. Il travaillait au MCH depuis cinq ans. Un autre poste de conservateur, cette fois en arts décoratifs et ameublement ancien du Québec, celui de Jean-François Blanchette, qui part à la retraite, est éliminé. Deux conservateurs adjoints et un administrateur s’ajoutent à l’attrition.

Parmi les motifs invoqués, on lui a indiqué que ses projets ne cadraient pas dans la nouvelle stratégie de recherche, alors qu’il a lui-même participé à l’élaboration de celle-ci, a défini ses projets en fonction des orientations nouvelles et a toujours reçu des évaluations positives, plaide-t-il.

…. Au MHC, on justifie les mises à pied par une réorganisation du travail en lien avec la nouvelle stratégie de recherche de l’institution développée conjointement avec le Musée canadien de la guerre, qui se décline en neuf orientations regroupées selon trois catégories : signification et mémoire, les premiers peuples et compromis et conflits.

« On a éliminé cinq postes, mais on en a créé cinq nouveaux pour que ça s’arrime à notre nouvelle stratégie de recherche, explique la porte-parole du musée, Patricia Lynch. L’embauche se fait plus selon des critères plus thématiques que géographiques, et on favorise une approche multidisciplinaire chez nos chercheurs. »

Le MCH procède actuellement à l’embauche de deux gestionnaires de la recherche et de trois conservateurs en ethnologie, en histoire autochtone et en sports et loisirs. L’équipe de 33 chercheurs n’est donc pas réduite. Au contraire, parce que le travail de chercheur fera partie des tâches de tous les nouveaux postes, « l’institution élargit ses capacités de recherche », soutient Mme Lynch.

Moins de place pour le Québec? | Le Devoir.

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Birth Tourism: My Canada AM interview

2014/08/26 4 Comments

From yesterday’s show, along with related CTV story.

And interesting, CIC Minister Alexander’s spokesperson responded to CTV’s request for comment with an innovative, for this government, recourse to evidence-based policy language:

Canada_AM_for_Monday__Aug__25__2014

‘Maternity tourism’: Report recommends limiting citizenship by birth

 

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The Franco-American Flophouse: FATCA Lawsuit Filed in the Federal Court of Canada

2014/08/26 Leave a comment

Victoria Ferauge, an American expatriate in Paris and active on the FATCA issue, commenting on the Canadian court case (see Virginia Hillis, Gwendolyn Deegan sue Ottawa over new FATCA tax rules):

And here we finally come to the Canadian lawsuit.  The plaintiffs claim that FATCA as it is being implemented in Canada violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which among other things, shields Canadian citizens from unreasonable search and seizures and assures equal protection/non-discrimination in the application of the law. Ginny and Gwen, two very courageous women, are “Accidental Americans”.   They were born in the US but have lived in Canada most of their lives and they not willing to be reduced to semi-citizenship in Canada.  They are Canadian, they live in Canada, and US status should make no difference whatsoever in what rights they have under Canadian law.  Period.

If you wish to argue otherwise, please think hard about the implications of that.  Could a law made in Mexico that violates the rights of Mexican-Americans under the US Constitution be nevertheless applied to them with the blessing nay, the full participation and enforcement of the US government?   And it is all the more troubling when one sees all the situations where individuals do contest the attribution of citizenship  without their consent by a country they dont live in and dont consider themselves to have duties and responsibilities to. All dual citizens everywhere in the world should pay close attention to how this shakes out.

If any of you out there are interested in supporting this cause there are a couple of ways you can help.  Ginny and Gwen have really gone out on a limb here by going public and they could use your moral support.  You can send them a note here.   Another, of course, is through a donation which you can make here.

The Franco-American Flophouse: FATCA Lawsuit Filed in the Federal Court of Canada.

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