Québec va aider les immigrants qui tenteront de faire reconnaître leurs compétences

2021/12/09 Leave a comment

Good initiative:

Québec va soutenir financièrement les immigrants qui ont besoin de suivre une formation de soutien pour faire reconnaître leurs compétences professionnelles. L’aide pourrait atteindre jusqu’à 500 $ par semaine pour les professionnels qui suivent la formation à temps plein.

Le ministre du Travail, Jean Boulet, en a fait l’annonce, mardi, lors du dévoilement d’un nouveau plan de 130 millions de dollars sur deux ans pour accélérer et faciliter la reconnaissance des compétences des immigrants.

Avec ce plan, les professionnels immigrants seront mieux accompagnés « de la sélection jusqu’à l’intégration » dans la reconnaissance de leurs compétences, affirme le ministre.

M. Boulet a donné l’exemple d’une infirmière qui voudrait faire reconnaître ses compétences. « Elle va bénéficier de formations d’appoint beaucoup plus flexibles. Il va y en avoir beaucoup plus. Elle va aussi bénéficier d’une aide financière de 500 $ par semaine. Elle va aussi profiter d’avoir un permis restrictif qui pourrait lui permettre de faire son travail sous certaines conditions ou de faire un travail qui est connexe à sa formation. »

Présente au côté du ministre, Gyslaine Desrosiers, présidente du Conseil interprofessionnel du Québec, a mentionné que le taux de décrochage était de 34 % parmi les immigrants souhaitant faire reconnaître leurs compétences. « Collectivement, on peut et on doit faire mieux. »

Pénurie de main-d’œuvre

Le plan fait partie d’une offensive de plus 2,9 milliards de dollars pour contrer la pénurie de main-d’œuvre, annoncée dans la mise à jour économique de novembre. Québec espère « former, requalifier et attirer » près de 170 000 travailleurs dans cinq secteurs ciblés : la santé et les services sociaux, l’éducation, les services de garde éducatifs à l’enfance, le génie et les technologies de l’information ainsi que la construction.

La décision de se concentrer sur les services essentiels et les secteurs « stratégiques » a fait des mécontents parmi les entreprises qui se sentent oubliées par cette intervention.

Dans le plan de reconnaissance des compétences, 12 métiers sont identifiés dans les services essentiels et les secteurs « stratégiques » comme le génie et la construction. « On va y aller selon nos besoins, a défendu M. Boulet en conférence de presse. Faut établir des priorités. »

« Ça ne veut pas dire que les autres sont exclus, nuance-t-il. On va considérer en fonction des besoins et de la société et du marché de l’emploi. »

Dans les secteurs visés, il y a environ 5000 personnes qui font chaque année des demandes de reconnaissance de leurs compétences.

Le Conseil du patronat satisfait

Au Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ), on estime que le plan répond à plusieurs besoins exprimés par le milieu des affaires. « Pour les entreprises, l’annonce d’aujourd’hui permettra une intégration en emploi plus rapide et adaptée aux compétences des candidats, commente Karl Blackburn, son président et chef de la direction, dans un courriel. La collaboration étroite des ordres professionnels, du gouvernement et des milieux de l’emploi est de la musique à nos oreilles. »

L’enjeu de la compétence des immigrants est soulevé depuis plusieurs années, mais le ministre Boulet a l’impression que le plan qu’il propose sera le bon. « Je pense qu’on ne peut pas manquer notre coup. »

« Oui, ça fait longtemps qu’on en discute, mais on a maintenant un plan qui est global, qui est compréhensif, qui est cohérent, qui est issu d’une concertation. Tout le monde tire dans la même direction », ajoute-t-il.

Source: Québec va aider les immigrants qui tenteront de faire reconnaître leurs compétences

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Longitudinal Immigration Database: Immigrants’ income trajectories during the initial years since admission

2021/12/07 Leave a comment

Usual useful analysis by StatsCan, in particular the highlighting of how two-step immigration is resulting in stronger economic outcomes for the economic class:

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of Canadian immigrants in many ways. To assess these impacts, it is important to know where Canadian immigrants stood economically right before the outbreak of the pandemic. Based on the latest available data from the 2020 Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB), the present article serves this goal by focusing on immigrant wages in recent years, including 2019. This will provide a baseline for comparison once data for 2020 are available.

Immigrants admitted to Canada in 2018 had a median wage of $31,900 in 2019. This was 4.2% higher than the median entry wage of immigrants admitted in 2017 ($30,600). In fact, immigrants admitted in 2018 had the highest median entry wage, reported one year after admission, among all immigrants admitted since 1981. Despite that, their median wage was still 17.8% lower than the 2019 median wage of the total Canadian population ($38,800).

Compared with those admitted in 2017, immigrants admitted in 2018 experienced median entry wage increases in all provinces, except Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador. A closer look by immigration category and pre-admission experience sheds light on differences among various groups of immigrants admitted in 2018, compared with their counterparts admitted in 2017 as well as the Canadian population in corresponding years.

Median wage of economic immigrant principal applicants surpasses that of the Canadian population one year after admission 

Principal applicants of economic categories are selected for their ability to be integrated into the Canadian labour market and to contribute to the economy. Most of them have post-secondary education and knowledge of at least one official language. Immigrants admitted under those categories in 2018 had a median wage of $43,600 in 2019, 12.4% higher than the Canadian median wage in the same year ($38,800) and 3.8% higher than the median entry wage of their counterparts admitted in 2017 ($42,000).

While the median wage of economic principal applicants surpassed that of the Canadian population one year after admission, those of all other immigrants were still less than the Canadian median wage.

The median entry wage of economic immigrant dependents admitted in 2018, spouses included, was $27,600. While lower than the 2019 Canadian median wage, this number was 7.0% higher than that of their counterparts admitted in 2017 ($25,800).

There was no change in the median entry wage between family sponsored immigrants admitted in 2017 and 2018 ($24,500). The median entry wage of refugees ($19,200) was the lowest among immigrants admitted in 2018, though it was 2.7% higher compared with that of their counterparts admitted in 2017 ($18,700).

Economic principal applicants are selected on the basis of their education, specific skills and work experience. The vast majority (96.1%) of immigrant taxfilers admitted under this category in 2018 had completed some post-secondary education at the time of their admission. Economic principal applicants are also more likely to have pre-admission experience in Canada. Among those admitted under this category in 2018, almost two-thirds (64.5%) of them had pre-admission experience in Canada, in contrast with their counterparts admitted as refugees (33.3%), through family sponsorship (32.7%), or as dependents of economic immigrants (32.6%).

Pre-admission experience in Canada, particularly work-related, plays an important role in lifting immigrants’ wages, as it provides a pathway for immigrants to acquire language skills and knowledge of the Canadian labour market. Immigrant taxfilers having both study and work permits prior to immigration obtained the highest median wage one year after admission, both for those admitted in 2017 ($44,900) and in 2018 ($44,600). Immigrants only having work permits prior to immigration obtained the second highest median wage one year after admission ($39,900 for those admitted in 2017 and $39,300 for the 2018 admission cohort). Immigrants admitted with pre-admission work-related experience in 2017 and 2018 already had median wages higher than those of the Canadian population in 2018 ($38,200) and 2019 ($38,800), respectively.

Immigrants without pre-admission experience had lower median entry wages than immigrants with Canadian work experience prior to their admission. Their median entry wage was $23,100 for those admitted in 2017 and $25,700 for those admitted in 2018.

Among immigrants with pre-admission experience in Canada, those with study permits only prior to admission had the lowest median entry wages in 2018 ($14,400) and 2019 ($15,100). However, this group of immigrants is on average younger than their counterparts in all other groups, and therefore has a strong potential to increase their earnings as their careers unfold in the Canadian labour market. Furthermore, they are also more likely to have part-time jobs; information about whether or not their employment was full-time, full-year is unavailable.

Chart 1  
Median entry wage of immigrants admitted in 2017 and 2018, by pre-admission experience

Chart 1: Median entry wage of immigrants admitted in 2017 and 2018, by pre-admission experience

Median wages increase over time with different outcomes for men and women according to their immigration category

When tracking changes over time, a focus on immigrant men and women admitted at age 18 or older in 2009 shows that median wages increased across all immigration categories and for both men and women from 2010 to 2019. However, such increases benefited immigrant men and women differently.

Both economic principal applicant men and women admitted in 2009 had median wages far above those of their counterparts in all other categories throughout the 10-year period. The median wage of men nearly doubled, from $32,500 in 2010 to $62,300 in 2019, with an average annual increase rate of 10.2%. The median wage of their woman counterparts nearly doubled as well, from $24,500 to $44,900 over the same period, with an average 9.3% annual increase. Among economic principal applicants, women’s median wage started lower than men’s and men’s median wage increased faster than women’s. As a result, the median wage gap widened between men and women over time in favour of men.

The opposite pattern is observed among all other immigration categories. Although women’s median wage was even lower than men’s within each of those categories, it increased faster than men’s. During the 10-year observational period, men’s median wage increased among economic dependents, refugees, and family sponsored immigrants with average annual increase rates of 11.9%, 10.2% and 10.0%, respectively. The average annual rates of increase for women were 15.4%, 14.4% and 13.1%, respectively, for economic dependents, refugees and family sponsored immigrants. With women’s higher increase rates of their median wages, the median wage gap narrowed between men and women within each of those immigration categories over time in favour of women.

Chart 2  
Median wage of immigrant men admitted in 2009 by immigration category, 2010 to 2019 

Chart 2: Median wage of immigrant men admitted in 2009 by immigration category, 2010 to 2019

Chart 3  
Median wage of immigrant women admitted in 2009 by immigration category, 2010 to 2019

Chart 3: Median wage of immigrant women admitted in 2009 by immigration category, 2010 to 2019

Pay ratio of immigrant women versus men increases over time for all immigration categories except economic principal applicants

Pay disparity between women and men is an important social, economic, and political issue. As immigration aims to respond to Canada’s need for labour supply, the gender parity and successful settlement of women in the labour market is key to achieving Canada’s objectives. To measure the median gender pay ratio, the median annual wages, salaries and commissions of women were divided by the median annual wages, salaries and commissions of men.

From 2010 to 2019, the gender pay ratio for Canadians increased from 67.9% to 72.6%. Among immigrants admitted as adults in 2009, the gender pay ratio followed a similar pattern: 65.5% in 2010 compared with 69.6% in 2019. The gender pay ratio, however, differed by immigration category during this period.

The increasing gender pay ratio was seen in all immigration categories, except economic principal applicants. From 2010 to 2019, the gender pay ratio increased from 57.2% to 65.5% among family sponsored immigrants, from 65.4% to 75.1% among dependents of economic immigrants, and from 63.5% to 75.9% among refugees.

For economic principal applicants, however, the gender pay ratio slightly decreased from 75.4% in 2010 to 72.1% in 2019. Further analysis would be required to understand the reasons behind this trend.

Chart 4  
Median pay ratio of immigrant women versus men admitted in 2009 by immigration category, 2010 to 2019

Chart 4: Median pay ratio of immigrant women versus men admitted in 2009 by immigration category, 2010 to 2019

Within immigration categories, the wage gap between women and men decreased overtime, except for economic principal applicants. Although the median wage of economic principal applicant women increased greatly over time, their man counterparts had a larger increase, resulting in a widening of the median wage gap between immigrant women and men.

This article is the first part of a two-part series about recent immigrants’ outcomes using data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database. The second part will discuss immigrants’ mobility.

Source: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/211206/dq211206b-eng.htm?CMP=mstatcan

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Canada’s health and settlement systems are failing newcomers. It’s time for a new system of care

2021/12/06 Leave a comment

More theoretical than practical given the fragmentation within and between sectors an the jurisdictional issues:

Last year, the federal government announced its intention to welcome over 1.2 million immigrants to Canada by the end of 2023. The truth is, however, that our care systems are not ready to adequately support those newcomers upon arrival — and here’s why.

Right now, Canada’s health care system and settlement services have operated in silos and are funded by different levels of government. This is creating large gaps in services, with newcomers falling right through them. The fact is many newcomers come to Canada in better health than the rest of the population. Yet, their health and wellness tend to rapidly decline during and after settlement. Some reasons for this could be due to not having secure housing, access to health care, and/or enough to eat. 

So, what is a solution to these problems? Two words: Integrated care.

Integrated care connects newcomers with a seamless suite of co-ordinated and holistic health and settlement services, including mental health care, employment services and access to food security. Existing integrated care programs offered by health agencies and community organizations, like WoodGreen Community Services’ Inter-Professional Care Program, offer solid proof that integrated care can improve systems of care for newcomers, predominantly in two ways. 

Firstly, integrated care can improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of care systems by breaking down silos between health, settlement and other services. 

As a people-centred approach, integrated care organizes services around the needs and perspectives of newcomers. This improves continuity of care and allows newcomers to gain timely access to the services they need through any door, without the burden of system navigation. Integrated care also reduces the risk for duplication of work and may minimize high-cost services, such as hospital admissions, by diverting clients away from the emergency room and encouraging a shift to preventative care.

The second main (and particularly timely) benefit of integrated care is that it helps service providers feel less burned out.

Burnout is prevalent among care professionals, a factor which has been proven time and again throughout the course of this pandemic, and which is often linked to reduced patient satisfaction and health outcomes. Statistics Canada reported that, in early 2021, the health-care sector saw one of the largest annual increase in job vacancies compared to other sectors, with a particular increase in job postings for nurses.

By building and co-ordinating relationships and support between providers, integrated care has been found to combat burnout and improve job satisfaction and well-being.

To be clear, integrated care in Canada is not a new thing. The challenge is that an integrated approach to health care and settlement services is not being implemented at a scale that can successfully settle Canada’s incoming and recently settled migrants.

Policy-makers, in collaboration with settlement providers, community agencies, health-care organizations, and other stakeholders, can help to address this issue by:

  • Improving access to stable resources for settlement service providers and physicians to effectively implement integrated care;
  • Offering newcomers of all statuses access to services, including individuals with insecure legal status and people who have been in Canada for years; and
  • Requiring race-based and sociodemographic data collection to ensure organizations have the information they need to track health equity outcomes and evaluate program performance, among other recommendations.

If Canada hopes to achieve a successful and resilient COVID-19 recovery (where newcomers can contribute to the economy while maintaining their own socio-economic well-being), we must commit to better integrating our health and settlement care systems to ensure that newcomers don’t just come here to live — but to thrive.

Source: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/12/03/canadas-health-and-settlement-systems-are-failing-newcomers-its-time-for-a-new-system-of-care.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a02&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=A02AB30AB014E9AB29974E92EB3BFDCD&utm_campaign=top_90291

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Curry: Sorry, lawyers, that ship has sailed [re consultants]

2021/12/06 Leave a comment

Of note:

As a full-time Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant and part-time journalist/opinion writer, I have been following New Canadian Media’s stories regarding immigration lawyers vs. immigration consultants with interest.

Writer Fabian Dawson’s Nov. 26 article quoted a spokesperson for the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA), who attempted to make the argument that immigration consultants should work under the supervision of lawyers. 

I have to point out to lawyer Barbara Jo Caruso, that with legislation passed by the federal government creating the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC), that ship has sailed. It is so far out to sea, in fact, that it should not even be on lawyers’ radars. The battle is over, and lawyers did not get what they wanted.

The follow-up article by Dawson and Fernando Arce on Dec.1 did a good job explaining the role of the new College and quoting both its CEO, John Murray, as well as the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants(CAPIC) CEO, Dory Jade. The headline, “‘We are not subordinate to lawyers,’ say immigration consultants,” sums it up nicely.

Here’s my take:

More education?

Lawyers trumpet the fact that they went to law school. How many courses on immigration did they take? 

A lawyer in North Bay told me she took no courses on immigration in law school. That’s why she enlisted my assistance with a family court case with an immigration component. Of course, lawyers specializing in immigration law have taken courses — but how many?

I took seven with the University of British Columbia. With the new College, all new Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCIC) will have to graduate from the Queen’s University program operated by its School of Law or from the University of Montreal for French-speaking RCICs.

Prior to my UBC experience, I was the executive director for eight years of the North Bay & District Multicultural Centre, an immigrant settlement agency, which also has an office in Timmins. I chaired the board of directors for three years after that. Back in the 1990s, I was chair of the board of a previous immigrant settlement agency for six years.

Yet, my immigration background is not as fulsome as that of many of my 9,500 RCIC colleagues.

I am the only RCIC practicing in North Bay, Ontario. There are no immigration lawyers in North Bay, and I have clients here who abandoned high-priced Toronto lawyers because they were not getting their calls returned or they felt they were being gouged.

In general, lawyers charge more than RCICs for the same service, and that’s why clients come to us. 

I have a BA from Carleton University and an MA from Central Michigan in addition to my year-long certificate from UBC. Sometimes, I feel uneducated compared to many of my colleagues, some of whom have MBAs, PhDs, or were Chartered Accountants in their previous lives. Many previously worked with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

‘Get over it’

Ms. Caruso says lawyers have to keep up with changes in immigration law and case law. So do RCICs.

I also subscribe to Lexbase, a monthly newsletter compiled by Vancouver lawyer Richard Kurland, that keeps us current. I read The Globe and Mail daily plus many other media sources, such as New Canadian Media. I read Andrew Griffith’s daily immigration blog. He is a former director-general with IRCC. His blog posts arrive while I am eating my breakfast.

I read the daily forum of emails by RCICs, operated by CAPIC, which is an invaluable source of information on cases and technical tips to survive the wonky online world of IRCC and its portals.

I have the third edition, and the second edition as well, of the excellent text by lawyers Chantal Desloges and Cathryn Sawicki — Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law, A Practitioner’s Handbook, published in 2021. 

I have current bound copies of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

Our regulatory body, the College, requires that we take 16 hours of approved professional development sessions each year. I chalk up more hours than that, as do most of my colleagues.

All this is to say to lawyers: we don’t need you looking over our shoulders. The federal government has decided that isn’t going to happen, so get over it.

No one is listening

Ms. Caruso says the new College is just a name change. It’s far more than that, as Jade pointed out in the follow-up article. A major change is that it now has the power to go after unlicensed consultants, also known as ‘ghost consultants’, who plague the industry. These people are the vermin of our industry and operate mainly in foreign countries.

I have had my own experience with them. A scam outfit calling itself “Burlington Associates” with a phony website and Edmonton address stole my full name and RCIC identifier number and used it on their website, claiming I was an immigration lawyer working for them. 

I received two phone calls from overseas skilled technical people who had lost thousands of dollars in the scam. They both had phony job interviews on a video app and were promised jobs that never materialized in Vancouver.

Since I called them out on my website, pointing out that the operation is a scam, I have had no further calls. Prior to that, I contacted the RCMP, Canada Border Services, and our former regulatory body — all to no avail. 

When I alerted others on the CAPIC forum about what happened to me, I was surprised to hear the many respondents who said it has happened to them too. 

The lawyers I have named in this article understand there is lots of immigration work to go around and RCICs are no threat to their livelihoods. They know RCICs cannot represent clients in court and they have that field to themselves.

The vocal minority of lawyers apparently wants to continue their fight. But no one is listening.

Source: https://newcanadianmedia.ca/sorry-lawyers-that-ship-has-sailed/?utm_source=NCM+-+General+Audience&utm_campaign=429b3e3fdf-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_11_26_06_42_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8748041f15-429b3e3fdf-181639253

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Tories break ranks on immigration to demand safe routes to UK for asylum seekers

2021/12/06 Leave a comment

Potentially significant:

Senior Tories have demanded a radical overhaul of the asylum system to allow migrants to claim refuge at UK embassies anywhere in the world – rather than having to travel to the UK – in a bid to cut the numbers attempting dangerous Channel crossings.

Ex-cabinet members David Davis and Andrew Mitchell are among those calling for the change, which marks a stark challenge to the punitive approach taken by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel, who are demanding tighter controls on French beaches and are threatening to “push back” small boats at sea.

Mr Davis, the former shadow home secretary and Brexit secretary, and Mr Mitchell, the former international development secretary, also poured scorn on the home secretary’s plan to take on powers through her Nationality and Borders Bill to send migrants arriving in the UK to camps in third countries overseas for processing – something that has already been ruled out by Albania after it was named as a potential destination.

Writing for The Independent, Pauline Latham, a Conservative member of the Commons International Development Committee, said that allowing migrants to claim asylum at embassies abroad was “the only viable alternative to the tragedy of deaths in the Channel and the chaos of our current approach”.

Twenty-seven migrants, including three children and a pregnant woman, drowned off the coast of France in November when their boat sank, marking the single biggest loss of life of the crisis so far.

The Home Office is opposing an opposition amendment to the borders bill, due for debate in the House of Commons this week, which would allow migrants to seek “humanitarian visas” in France, allowing them to be transported safely across the Channel to claim asylum.

But Ms Latham’s proposal goes a step further, removing the need for asylum seekers to pay thousands of pounds to criminal gangs to smuggle them into Europe and then risk their lives in order to reach Britain to make their claim.

The Mid Derbyshire MP said: “This feels to me like a genuine win-win. The customer base of the people smugglers would vanish, ending deaths in the Channel and ensuring that people seeking safety here can travel in a humane fashion.

“The UK would be better able to control who arrives here, and anyone arriving without a visa or pre-approved asylum claim would face non-negotiable deportation.”

Current government policy has “got it the wrong way round” and should be reshaped as a “global resettlement programme” similar to those set up in Syria and being established for Afghanistan, said Ms Latham.

With the vast majority of those arriving in the UK by small boat having a legitimate claim for asylum, the question Ms Patel must answer is why the UK’s current policy requires them to put themselves in the hands of lawless gangs and then risk their lives in order to be able to submit their paperwork, she said.

“Desperate people will continue to seek safety in the UK for as long as there is conflict and persecution elsewhere,” said Ms Latham. “But nobody puts their child in an overcrowded, flimsy dinghy on a cold November morning if they think a better alternative is available. So, when we talk about deterrence we have to talk about alternatives.”

And Mr Davis said: “Instead of a policy which is built solely on keeping people out, the government should consider creating a legitimate route in for genuine refugees. Migrants fleeing repression in Iran or famine in war-torn Yemen are not able to apply at British embassies. The only options available to them are either illegal, or dangerous, or both.”

The bill being debated in the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday aims to deter small-boat crossings by restricting the rights of those who enter the UK by “irregular” routes, allowing “offshore” processing of claims in third countries, and speeding up the removal of failed asylum seekers.

It would also give border and immigration staff powers to redirect boats out of UK territorial waters in a way that MPs and unions have warned could increase the risk of capsize and deaths.

Mr Davis said that offshoring would represent a “moral, economic and practical failure”, inflicting a terrible ordeal on those fleeing terror and persecution.

And Mr Mitchell said: “So far, Norway, Rwanda and Albania have all distanced themselves from suggestions that they would host a UK offshore processing centre. The bill seeks a power for a policy which the government is yet to define.

“Even in Australia, 75 per cent of those sent to remote islands for processing eventually had their claims upheld. Indeed, most of the people crossing the Channel are also having their asylum claims upheld. Offshore processing looks like a policy which delays the inevitable. But at far greater cost to the taxpayer.”

The Labour MP behind the humanitarian visa amendment, Neil Coyle, said Ms Patel’s proposals “will cause more dangerous routes and more risk to people seeking to reach the UK”. He told The Independent it was “garbage” for her to claim they would reduce the so-called “pull factors” attracting those fleeing war, civil conflict or persecution to Britain.

“A humanitarian visa offers the government the chance to prove it means what it says, when it says it doesn’t want people to be subjected to gangs and criminality,” said Mr Coyle. “The amendment would save lives, help us meet our international obligations, and prevent money going to smugglers.”

Stephen Farry of the Alliance Party, backing the amendment alongside MPs from the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Labour, said: “Claiming asylum in the UK is a fundamental right, but asylum seekers are in a Catch-22, whereby asylum can only be claimed on UK soil yet the UK provides no safe and legal routes to enter the country for those purposes.

“The home secretary doesn’t care about asylum seekers, but if she were serious about tackling people smuggling, this visa is a workable solution.”

But a Home Office spokesperson said: “The government has noted the amendments relating to asylum visas for persons in France and they will be debated in parliament in due course.

“However, there is the risk of creating a wider pull factor, putting vulnerable people in danger by encouraging them to make dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean and overland to France in order to make claims to enter the UK, motivating people to again entrust themselves to heinous smugglers.”

The chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Minnie Rahman, dismissed this argument.

“Like people who travel to the UK for work or study, people seeking protection in the UK deserve safe ways of getting here,” she said. “If the government were serious about preventing dangerous crossings and upholding our commitment to refugee protection, they would back this amendment. Instead it seems they’re happy to continue driving refugees into smugglers’ boats.”

And Bridget Chapman, of the Kent Refugee Action Network, said: “The simple fact is that those who have made this journey tell us that they never wanted to leave their homes in the first place. It wasn’t the ‘pull factors’ that made it happen, it was violent ‘push factors’, such as war, conflict and persecution.

“Once displaced, most people stay close to their country of origin and only a relatively small number come to the UK. There is no evidence whatsoever that making their journey to the UK marginally more safe would be a ‘pull factor’, and we cannot allow that to be used as a reason not to give them better and safer options.”

Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, said: “This humanitarian visa amendment would help to prevent deaths in the Channel and undermine the dangerous boat journeys offered by people smugglers.

“If the government is concerned about a so-called ‘pull factor’, they should show clear evidence of it and then expand this amendment to include refugees further upstream.”

Source: Tories break ranks on immigration to demand safe routes to UK for asylum seekers

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I settled in Australia as a skilled migrant and know the difference between policy and reality

2021/12/04 Leave a comment

Interesting account, with parallels in Canada:

An immigration program might not be the economic silver bullet the government expects if it isn’t tailored to what’s happening on the ground. I have the lived experience of settling in Australia as an international student and skilled migrant, so I know all too well the challenges for people in that world between policy and reality.

There are some assumptions that have been built into previous immigration policies that are just plain wrong.

The biggest barrier for migrants looking for work when arriving in Australia is in getting their expertise recognised and their experience acknowledged. And then there is the additional barrier of inherent bias from employers who often have the choice of employing a migrant with foreign credentials and education or a domestic professional who has a shared understanding of Australia’s education and training systems.

This difference between policy and reality is a wide gap for skilled migrants arriving in Australia looking for opportunities.

Many skilled migrants arrive in Australia to enhance their skills. They have ripped up their lives at home to move to another country for a better life. It’s absurd to argue that these migrants gather only in populous areas, placing a social burden on services. They go where the work is, and because of unintentional biases they go where other workers won’t for opportunities.

On a recent trip to Alice Springs we took with the multicultural adviser to the Northern Territory’s minister of multicultural affairs, it became clear that members of the South Sudanese community moved there to be engaged in work relevant to their training and expertise, despite their deep connections with their community members in Melbourne.

This is not an isolated case, with thousands of people on migrant visas filling roles in regional communities where there are opportunities. Hence, the discourse should not be about total immigration numbers, it should be about meaningful employment opportunities.

But if there is not the work available in regional areas for skilled migrants, then they do gravitate towards those communities where they have deep connections. This puts a burden on services in city centres.

Source: I settled in Australia as a skilled migrant and know the difference between policy and reality

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Canada urged to investigate decline in Nigerian study permit approvals

2021/12/03 Leave a comment

Predictable:

A group of academics of Nigerian descent are calling on the Immigration Minister to investigate the declining number of study permit approvals for applicants from Nigeria, arguing that the English proficiency test is discriminatory and that racism within the department is affecting applications.

Twenty-seven professors, scholars, academics, researchers and graduate students from universities across Canada signed a letter sent to Sean Fraser this week, pointing out that English is the primary language of instruction at all levels of formal education in Nigeria and that institutions of higher education in Canada exempt applicants from Nigeria from English-language tests. Meanwhile, they wrote, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires applicants to take an expensive test to expedite their applications.

The letter says Canadian university admission committees are better positioned to assess an applicant’s language proficiency, so when that determination is made, the visa office should not require the test, even to expedite the application. It also points out that the English test is no way necessary to expedite the processing of study permits.

“In fact, we believe that the requirement exudes stereotype and racism to the extent that it makes Nigerian study permit applicants feel that their English language skills, which they have acquired during their education in Nigeria, are inferior,” the letter says.

The letter references a report, the “IRCC Anti-Racism Employee Focus Groups,” that specifically mentions the stereotyping of Nigerians. The report says that inside IRCC there are “widespread internal references to certain African nations as ‘the dirty 30’” and to “Nigerians as particularly corrupt or untrustworthy.”

Jeffrey MacDonald, an IRCC spokesperson, said language testing is generally not a requirement for a study permit, but some visa offices may require them, even from applicants from English-speaking countries. He said Nigeria has not been singled out.

Mr. MacDonald said there is zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind at IRCC. “True and lasting change begins with acknowledging the difficult reality that racism exists all around us, including in the public service. We have an obligation to our employees, and to all Canadians, to do better – and we will,” he said.

“We welcome the feedback from the professors and thank them for their insights.”

Gideon Christian, the president of the African Scholars Initiative, an assistant law professor at the University of Calgary and a signatory to the letter, said the English proficiency test is a significant financial barrier and has racist implications because it sends the message that Nigerian students’ English is inferior.

“The Nigerian community, here in Canada and in Nigeria, have always had that strong belief the IRCC treatment of the application is biased, racist and discriminatory – this is kind of the feeling you have based on experience,” he said, adding that it was corroborated by the IRCC report.

Prof. Christian said most of the 27 signatories are university professors who came to Canada as international students.

“I definitely do not consider these individuals dirty,” he said. “They’re coming here, working hard. They contribute to the Canadian economy.

“They used that term because the colour of my skin is not as light as theirs. I think that is abhorrent and that is really something the Immigration Minister should look into.”

The letter concludes by requesting a meeting with Mr. Fraser.

Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-canada-urged-to-investigate-decline-in-nigerian-study-permit-approvals/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Morning%20Update&utm_content=2021-12-2_7&utm_term=Morning%20Update:%20Air%20travellers%20to%20Canada%20will%20need%20to%20isolate%20because%20of%20Omicron%20fears&utm_campaign=newsletter&cu_id=%2BTx9qGuxCF9REU6kNldjGJtpVUGIVB3Y

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Trudeau promet « un examen détaillé » du refus d’étudiants africains francophones

2021/12/03 Leave a comment

PM comment of note:

Le premier ministre Justin Trudeau assure procéder à « un examen détaillé » des répercussions qu’ont les critères des programmes fédéraux sur la composition de l’immigration. Faisant référence au refus massif d’étudiants africains francophones, il a affirmé lors de la période des questions à la Chambre des communes mercredi « que ces rapports sont particulièrement inquiétants ».

Le Devoir révélait récemment que les taux de refus de permis d’études pour les ressortissants des pays du Maghreb et de l’Afrique de l’Ouest ne cessent de grimper. Certains candidats qui répondent à tous les critères sont ainsi empêchés de poursuivre leurs études au Québec.

M. Trudeau répondait mercredi à l’intervention du chef du Bloc québécois, Yves-François Blanchet. Sous le « prétexte » que les agents d’immigration ne croient pas que ces étudiants rentreront chez eux après leurs études, ils sont refusés, a-t-il dit. « C’est un grave procès d’intention. Une forme de discrimination à dénoncer, qui nuit aux échanges et au développement de l’Afrique », a ajouté M. Blanchet, exhortant le gouvernement à intervenir.

« Nous n’allons tolérer aucune discrimination systémique », a rétorqué le premier ministre, rappelant qu’il a reconnu qu’il en existe « dans toutes nos institutions à travers le pays ». L’examen détaillé des répercussions des programmes d’immigration servira à garantir que tous les demandeurs sont traités « de manière équitable », a-t-il avancé.

Le taux de refus pour tous les pays d’origine est en outre beaucoup plus élevé dans la province que dans le reste du Canada, un phénomène qui préoccupe toute la classe politique québécoise. Il est « inacceptable » qu’Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) « nous prive d’étudiants africains francophones correspondants en tout point au profil d’immigrant qu’on souhaite attirer au Québec, notamment pour développer nos régions, soutenir nos cégeps et pallier […] la pénurie de main-d’œuvre », a notamment écrit sur Twitter la députée du Parti québécois Méganne Perry Melançon.

Des problèmes documentés

Le nouveau ministre fédéral de l’Immigration, Sean Fraser, a également promis la semaine dernière de vérifier « personnellement » que les préjugés inconscients des fonctionnaires de son propre ministère ne font pas en sorte de discriminer les Africains francophones souhaitant venir étudier au pays.

Un rapport fédéral publié en octobre révélait que son ministère fait face à des problèmes de racisme à l’intérieur même de sa bureaucratie. Des fonctionnaires utiliseraient des clichés ouvertement racistes dans leurs conversations et des préjugés guideraient les embauches et les promotions.

IRCC échoue par ailleurs toujours à atteindre les cibles fixées pour l’accueil d’immigrants francophones au Québec et hors Québec, a aussi alors rappelé M. Fraser, malgré la pénurie de main-d’œuvre que connaît le pays.

Mardi, un nouveau rapport du commissaire aux langues officielles, Raymond Théberge, en a remis une couche : le Canada aurait dû admettre au moins 75 839 immigrants francophones de plus hors du Québec depuis 2008 pour maintenir le poids démographique du français dans les provinces à majorité anglophone.

Au Québec, les principaux bassins de recrutement des étudiants francophones africains font face à des taux de refus de permis d’études de plus de 80 %. La France arrive souvent en tête de liste des pays d’origine des étudiants étrangers. Depuis 2018, elle partage toutefois la première position avec l’Inde, d’où la majorité des ressortissants choisissent plutôt de poursuivre des études en anglais.

Source: Trudeau promet « un examen détaillé » du refus d’étudiants africains francophones

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Falling birth rates are not an existential crisis for Central and Eastern Europe, but an opportunity

2021/12/02 Leave a comment

Of note:

A growing number of countries – including two in Central and Eastern Europe – are adopting coercive pronatal policies in a bid to make women have more children, a new report has found.

The report, Welcome to Gilead, raises serious concerns about the abuse of reproductive rights by nationalistic governments, echoing the pronatal dystopia of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

The report, produced by UK charity Population Matters, details how right-wing, populist and/or nationalist administrations are stigmatising women who choose to have smaller families as unpatriotic and describes how policies intended to limit women’s reproductive choices are linked to population goals.

“Coercive pronatalism is not simply a manifestation of patriarchy or misogyny but can be a product of political and economic forces entirely indifferent to women, for whom they exist simply as productive or non-productive wombs,” says Population Matters Director Robin Maynard.

“These regimes are instrumentalising women’s bodies to serve nationalistic, economic and patriarchal interests. Violating sexual and reproductive health and rights is never justified. It is imperative we all defend them, wherever they are threatened, and for whatever reason.”

In many countries, leaders fear the impact on their economic and political goals of women choosing to have fewer children.

As a result, the percentage of countries with pronatal policies grew from 10 per cent in 1976 to 28 per cent in 2015, according to the UN’s most recent data.

Not all such policies abuse reproductive rights, but increasing numbers are doing so.

The report examines examples of such restrictions in China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey, as well as the emerging Europe states of Hungary and Poland.

It identifies how politicians in the US and Germany are starting to promote the same agenda and policies.

It details in particular how pronatalism is often linked to a restrictive, patriarchal “pro-family” agenda and the promotion of ethnic nationalism, based frequently on religious orthodoxy and hostility to multiculturalism and immigration.

These motivations include subscription at the highest political level to the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory that Christian and European culture and civilisation will be extinguished by immigration from Muslim countries and high birth rates among immigrants.

Population Matters Policy Adviser Monica Scigliano, who wrote the report, says: “When people think of coercive population policy, their minds often go to examples like China and India, in which leaders wanted to limit population growth by forcing women to have fewer children.

“Now, however, with birth rates declining and in some cases emigration reversing population trends, that has changed.

“As people continue to choose smaller families, more governments across the world are resorting to coercive tactics, depriving people of their reproductive rights in order to increase their populations.

“In particular, nationalistic agendas can lead to a toxic brand of pronatalism that represents an almost inevitable threat to sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Hungary and Poland

In Hungary, the right-wing populist government of Viktor Orbán is now inching towards a total abortion ban. Orbán states, “we want Hungarian children. Migration for us is surrender”.

Earlier this year, former US Vice President Mike Pence told a summit in the Hungarian capital Budapest that “plummeting birth rates” represent “a crisis that strikes at the very heart of civilisation”, adding that he hoped the US Supreme Court would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.

In Poland meanwhile, the ruling populist and pronatalist Law and Justice party recently increased abortion restrictions, banning abortion on the grounds of foetal abnormalities, which had been the reason for 98 per cent of all abortions in the country. Its law has recently claimed its first victim, a pregnant woman named Izabela who died after being denied an emergency operation because doctors insisted on waiting until they could no longer detect her baby’s heartbeat.

Polish reproductive rights campaigner Antonina Lewandowska, who wrote the foreword to the report, says:

“The Polish pronatalist movement drove doctors into such a state of fear that they would rather let Izabela go into septic shock than terminate the pregnancy earlier and save her life. They are terrified of prosecution and stigma, as the pro-natalist/anti-choice movements would probably eat them alive.

“On the other hand, there is a group of medical professionals that are rather comfortable with the current situation, as it lets them argue that medical negligence happens due to that ‘freezing effect’ of an abhorrent law rather then their own incompetence, mistake or deliberate choice to not provide their patients with necessary medical care – an abortion – due to their personal beliefs.

“In both cases, it is clear – aggressive, fundamentalist pronatalism paved the way for violating human rights in Poland.”

The economic value of older people

Central and Eastern Europe’s demographic decline has until now been presented as an existential problem. But have we been looking at the issue from the wrong perspective?

Even relatively poor countries such as Romania and Bulgaria are currently placing more demands on the renewable resources of their land than it can provide, and lower populations reduce that demand, as well as relieving pressure on biodiversity.

“Romania is one of Europe’s more biodiverse countries, for instance, with great forest cover and wetlands in the Danube Delta – both of value to the world, not just Romania,” Alistair Currie, head of campaigns and communications at Population Matters tells Emerging Europe.

“As it becomes more affluent, it has an opportunity to manage that land and natural environment more sustainably. Agriculture is the primary driver of habitat loss, and where countries aren’t scrambling to feed their populations through intensive agriculture and monocultures, that can give nature a break.”

Fears of labour shortages are often exaggerated because of continued population growth and automation, but Currie suggests that any shortages which do arise can be addressed through measures such as increasing labour force participation, judicious immigration policies, further automation and increasing retirement age.

“Fiscal challenges presented by ageing populations can be solved by pension reform, increasing the productivity of older workers, later retirement, investment in preventative health to reduce associated health care costs, and, where appropriate, equitable increases in tax,” he says.

“One thing that really came out strongly in our research is the economic value of older people. That means things like potentially increasing retirement age – low across much of Central and Eastern Europe. To do that, you do need healthy populations, however, which requires investment in preventative health care.

“Pronatal policies, meanwhile, are not productive. They’re often costly, in the short term they increase the number of dependent children, and in the longer term, they drive up consumption and resource use.”

Source: Falling birth rates are not an existential crisis for Central and Eastern Europe, but an opportunity

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Déficit de 75 000 immigrants francophones hors du Québec

2021/12/02 Leave a comment

Long standing challenge of meeting demographic targets for francophones outside Quebec. Haven’t seen much analysis on the various factors involved:

Le Canada aurait dû admettre au moins 75 839 immigrants francophones de plus hors du Québec depuis 2008, soit environ l’équivalent de la population de la ville de Saint-Jérôme, pour maintenir le poids démographique du français dans les provinces à majorité anglophone, calcule le commissaire aux langues officielles.

Dans son rapport déposé mardi, le commissaire Raymond Théberge estime que le gouvernement fédéral est en voie de rater de nouveau son objectif d’augmenter, ou au moins de maintenir, le poids démographique des francophones à l’extérieur du Québec à 4,4 %. Cette cible avait d’abord été fixée pour 2008, puis reportée à 2023.

49 853 immigrants francophones ont été admis hors du Québec entre 2008 et 2020, un nombre bien en deçà des ​125 692 requis pour maintenir la francophonie hors Québec à 4,4 % de la population.

« Si la cible avait été atteinte depuis 2008, elle aurait pu contribuer à réduire le déclin du poids démographique de cette population entre les recensements de 2001 et de 2016 », note le rapport.

Déclin

À l’extérieur du Québec, la population francophone du pays, définie selon la langue maternelle et la première langue officielle parlée, est en déclin. Elle représentait 4,4 % de la population en 2001 et 3,8 % en 2016.

Le nouveau ministre de l’Immigration, Sean Fraser, a promis la semaine dernière de s’assurer que les préjugés inconscients de ses fonctionnaires ne font pas en sorte de discriminer les Africains francophones souhaitant venir étudier au pays. Du même souffle, il a promis de travailler à atteindre la cible de nouveaux arrivants francophones au Canada, tant au Québec que dans les autres provinces.

Selon les données compilées par Le Devoir, les taux de refus des étudiants originaires de l’Afrique ne cessent de grimper, alors que le nombre d’étudiants étrangers anglophones augmente au Québec.

« On est en train de causer des torts irréparables à la francophonie », indique le titre du communiqué de la Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, qui a rapidement réagi au rapport du commissaire aux langues officielles.

Selon sa présidente, Liane Roy, les communautés francophones hors Québec « ont fait tout ce qu’elles ont pu pour développer l’immigration francophone de A à Z, et elles l’ont fait avec très peu d’appui du gouvernement fédéral sur les plans de la promotion à l’étranger et du recrutement ».

Elle note que, depuis plusieurs années, le taux de francophones parmi les immigrants qui s’installent hors du Québec stagne à 2 %, avec un creux historique de 1,5 % enregistré en 2015.

Source: Déficit de 75 000 immigrants francophones hors du Québec

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