Canada Wins Big From ‘America First’ Trade And Immigration Policies

2019/09/17 Leave a comment

His arguments on trade, given how China has retaliated against some of our agricultural exports but definitely on immigration, where there have been a series of reports of Canada becoming more attractive to those working in tech:

The theory behind the Trump administration’s “America First” trade and immigration restrictions is that they are good for America. However, after more than two and a half years it’s become clear the country such policies are helping is Canada, not the United States.

The Trump tariffs on China have turned into a boon for Canadian farmers. China stopped buying agricultural products from U.S. farmers to retaliate for the Trump administration imposing tariffs on imports from China. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, “Canada’s share of total Chinese imports of wheat has rocketed above 60% in (Marketing Year) 2018/19, up from 32% in 2017/18, as U.S. wheat exports to China have plunged.”

“Losing the world’s most populous country as an export market has been a major blow to the [U.S.] agriculture industry,” reports the New York Times. “Total American agricultural exports to China were $24 billion in 2014 and fell to $9.1 billion last year, according to the American Farm Bureau.” U.S. exports of soybeans to China declined nearly 60% between 2018 and 2019, reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A new study from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) found the damage to exporters goes well beyond agriculture. “Retaliatory tariffs from foreign countries have significantly reduced U.S. exports,” according to economists David G. Tuerck, a professor of economics at Suffolk University and president of the Beacon Hill Institute, and William Burke, director of research at the Beacon Hill Institute, the authors of the NFAP report. “We estimate U.S. exports covered by retaliatory tariffs fell by $17 billion in 2018, and halfway through 2019, the loss to U.S. exports totaled $13.97 billion, for a combined total of $31 billion in lost exports.” And, they concluded, “The loss in U.S. exports will rise.”

U.S. exports of goods to China have declined 19% during the first 6 months of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, according to an analysis of U.S. trade data. Therefore, it is not surprising that companies in other countries, such as Canada, are benefiting as U.S. companies lose opportunities to sell their goods.

Although the Trump administration recently delayed implementing some tariffs and China responded by canceling tariff increases it planned on U.S. pork and soybeans, former Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce James Zimmerman in China told the Washington Post it was “not an incredibly significant” gesture. In response to a Donald Trump tweetabout China starting to buy “our agricultural products” again, Bloomberg’s Shawn Donnan noted, “Worth remembering: China bought a lot of agricultural products before this all started.”

The Trump tariffs have also harmed American consumers and inflicted high economic costs on the U.S. economy. “On an annual basis, when adding the tariffs in effect and the tariffs set to go into effect by the end of 2019, the tariffs . . . will cost the average household $2,031 per year, and will be recurring so long as the tariffs stay in effect,” write Tuerck and Burke, both research fellows at the National Foundation for American Policy.

Restrictive immigration policies, like protectionist trade policies, are also benefiting other nations, while harming the competitiveness of U.S. companies. By making it more difficult for international students to stay or work in America, the Trump administration has contributed to new international student enrollment at U.S. universities falling over 6% in the 2017/2018 academic year.

At the same time U.S. enrollment has declined, Canadian universities have attracted international students at record levels. The number of international students in Canada increased 20% in 2017 and 16% in 2018. Australia has also benefited from U.S. immigration restrictions, with Australian schools admitting many more international students, particularly from China. Australian exports to China are also up significantly, according to the Wall Street Journal.

H-1B petitions are typically the only practical way for an international student to work long-term in the United States, and denial rates on H-1Bs have increased to historic levels, according to National Foundation for American Policy research. Moreover, the Trump administration placed on its regulatory agenda a measure that would restrict or eliminate the ability of international students to work (on Optional Practical Training) following graduation, along with other policies that would make foreign students likely to think twice about choosing America as the place to launch their career.

In contrast, immigration policies in Canada have been aimed at attracting international students and retaining them after graduation. “International students who graduate from (at least) 2-year programs at Canadian colleges and universities, in any field, are eligible for 3-year open work permits,” Toronto-based immigration attorney Peter Rekai told me in an interview. “The knowledge that there is a clear ‘studies to work to permanent residence’ path has significantly increased the number of international students coming to Canada, with many choosing Canada over attending U.S. schools for this reason.”

The phrase “America First” carries negative historical connotations, most notably its association with policies of isolationism, laced with anti-Semitism, aimed at preventing the United States from fighting Nazi Germany’s attempt to conquer Europe. It also turns out, based on the results to date, America First trade and immigration policies are most likely to benefit countries other than the United States.

Source: Canada Wins Big From ‘America First’ Trade And Immigration Policies

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Toronto immigration firm charges $170K for fake Canadian job, undercover investigation reveals

2019/09/16 Leave a comment

Classic case of immigration fraud and good in-depth investigative reporting by CBC:

Toronto-based WonHonTa Consulting promises to help Chinese nationals gain permanent residency in Canada. (WonHonTa Consulting Inc. )

A Toronto immigration company offered a job to an undercover CBC journalist posing as a Chinese national seeking permanent residence in Canada for $170,000.

For that fee, WonHonTa Consulting Inc. said, the would-be immigrant would be buying the job and paying their own wage.

And the company said the applicant was to pay the fee to the personal bank account of WonHonTa’s sole director in order to avoid taxes.

Jiacheng Song, a manager with a China-based affiliate of WonHonTa, Nanjing Youtai Investment Consulting Co. Ltd., explained how the business works to the undercover journalist using WeChat, a Chinese social media app.

During the month-long investigation conducted through a translator, the journalist posed as a Chinese citizen wanting to become a permanent resident of Canada by obtaining skilled employment.

“To be frank, we have employers who work with us,” Song wrote. “We pay them money, they are willing to sponsor our clients for immigration.”

Song said “a big chunk” of the fee goes to the Canadian employer, prompting him to ask rhetorically: Why wouldn’t a Canadian company want to participate when it “can make easy money and have free labour for six months?”

Vancouver-based immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland characterized what WonHonTa offered bluntly.

“It’s a fake job, pure and simple,” he said.

He said selling jobs is illegal and it allows rule-breakers to jump the queue on legitimate immigrants who play by the rules.

“Who gets hurt? The integrity of Canada’s immigration program,” said Kurland.

Real jobs ‘very rare and precious’

Song said his company, Nanjing Youtai, finds Chinese nationals interested in immigrating to Canada and refers them to WonHonTa in Toronto.

Song recommended the undercover journalist consider either Saskatchewan or Atlantic Canada because the qualification requirements are low and the wait times are short. He said it’s $180,000 for a job in Saskatchewan or $170,000 for the Atlantic provinces.

Song told the undercover reporter that over the past year his company had placed more than a dozen Chinese nationals in Atlantic Canada and just under ten in Saskatchewan.

On its WeChat site, WonHonTa promotes a range of skilled jobs, such as welders, sewing machine operators and daycare workers.

The company claims it has a national network of head hunters who help recruit willing employers. It claims some of them are government immigration officials.

“With more and more people now wanting to apply, employers are having a larger appetite for higher fees,” Song said.

“If you don’t pay a certain fee, there is no way the employer would want to get involved in this matter.”

In order to qualify for permanent residency, the foreign worker has to be able to prove they’re employed in a skilled profession in Canada.

In an article on its WeChat page, WonHonTa notes that it’s very difficult for a Chinese national to find a real job in Canada.

“Think of it this way: Someone only has overseas work experience, no PR [permanent resident] card, never met with the employer — it’s the equivalent to a Beijing local company hiring a migrant worker with no valid ID — Why would anyone dare to hire you directly?” the article asks.

“So is there any real job? The answer is very, very rare and precious,” the article says.

WonHonTa says it works around that by paying employers thousands of dollars for job offers.

Creating a paper trail

Song introduced CBC’s undercover reporter to the “boss” of WonHonTa’s head office in Toronto, Xin Liu, who goes by the name Yuki.

She said the would-be immigrant can go to work for the Canadian company that sponsored them if they wish. In that case, the employer will essentially be paying back some of the Chinese national’s fee in the form of wages.

However, Liu said it’s not necessary to actually work for the company that sponsored the applicant for immigration. She said WonHonTa will provide the necessary documentation to make it look as though they did work there.

“If you don’t work for the employer, we can ask him to issue a pay stub, but it’s not real pay,” she wrote via WeChat. “Your paycheque is just for show. Only to make the paper trail look good.”

Liu said she will ensure all of the appropriate documentation is in place.

“In many circumstances, records of the documents are required should there be an investigation. For example, you are required to file a tax return. You would have to have a tax return record. Banking activities have records, you would have to provide these records.”

She said if the Chinese national doesn’t actually work at their designated place of employment they will be responsible to pay the employer the taxes that would have been paid had the applicant actually worked.

“We can negotiate with the employer, telling them, ‘This person doesn’t really want to work for you, nor wants to stay in this province,'” she said. “This is all negotiable, and all you need to do is to pay the taxes owing to the CRA.”

The massive size of the country makes it impossible to pull resources for site visits just to find out if you are actually working at this company.– Xin Liu, WonHonTa Consulting Ltd. 

Liu assured CBC’s undercover reporter that immigration officials are unlikely to detect the scheme.

“For Immigration Canada, they are understaffed,” Liu said. “The massive size of the country makes it impossible to pull resources for site visits just to find out if you are actually working at this company.”

However, in the unlikely event that an immigration official makes an unexpected site visit to see if the foreign national is at work, Liu said the employer would say the worker was out of the office on business.

Avoiding taxes

Liu provided the undercover reporter with a copy of her company’s standard contract with a would-be immigrant.

In the section outlining the payment details, CBC noticed that Liu wanted her customers to pay her personal bank account.

On WeChat, the undercover reporter asked Liu why.

“In Canada, the VAT [value added tax] charge is 13 per cent when doing business with companies,” she said. “However, we offer the employers real profit, therefore it has to be done through a personal account. In China, we wire the money to the personal account of a company’s legal representative — this is a practice to avoid paying taxes.”

CBC gets a job offer

As the conversation with Liu developed over the month-long investigation, she began hunting for a job for the undercover journalist’s “wife.”

Late last month, Liu announced: “Great news! We have found a good match for your wife, based on her resume.”

Liu said the job offer came from a Halifax-based daycare called Daydreams.

“The owner is a Caucasian. This is a sought-after job opportunity, because there are several inquiries received by the employer already. It really comes down to who pays the deposit first,” she said.

Liu sent the undercover reporter a sample contract in the name of the reporter’s “wife” showing she would be charged $170,000 for the job offer.

When the undercover journalist inquired a couple of days later, Liu said they were too late. The position had been taken. But she promised to line up another offer once the deposit had been paid.

‘I have never heard of them’

One of the owners of Daydreams Childcare Centre, Colleen Dempsey, was baffled when CBC called to inquire about this supposed job offer.

Dempsey said her company had registered with the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program (AIPP) about 10 months ago so she could hire one particular foreign national who had already been working at the facility on an open work permit.

“I have never done any business with them,” she said of WonHonTa. “I have never spoke with them. I have never heard of them.

“We’re a small business that I’ve built from the ground up and I certainly don’t appreciate my name being thrown around in those regards.”

The name of every company that registers with the AIPP is listed online.

Dempsey assumes that’s how WonHonTa found out about her company. She said the public listing has created other problems for her as well.

“Since we have become listed as part of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program … there have been an increase in e-mails from random individuals looking for [permanent] residency and I have not replied to one,” she said.

Dempsey isn’t the only one fielding unwelcome phone calls.

Erica Stanley, an immigration consultant in Charlottetown, told CBC she’s been flooded with calls from foreign nationals looking for an employment offer.

“So, just the volume of phone calls is ridiculous. And my inbox is full of website inquiries,” Stanley said. “They’re like, ‘Well, we’re willing to pay.’ I said, ‘Oh I’m sure you are but it’s illegal to do that.’ ‘Oh, but everybody’s doing it.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s nice, then you can find someone else who can do it.'”

Liu says jobs-for-cash is illegal

Shortly after receiving the job offer, a CBC reporter who was not undercover called Liu and asked if she would do an interview about immigration. At this time, CBC didn’t mention its ongoing investigation into Liu’s company.

Liu agreed to a phone interview. She confirmed her company helps Chinese nationals find employment in Canada, leading to permanent residency. She said she charges $2,000 to $5,000 for that service.

The reporter told Liu that some companies charge $170,000 to $180,000 for the same service.

“It could be, if somebody is trying to make money on it,” she said.

CBC asked Liu if she had ever heard of situations where a Chinese national had to pay a Canadian company for a job and pay their own wage. She said she had not.

“Wow,” she said. “Why would they do that?”

CBC asked if paying for a job and paying your own wage is allowed in Canada.

“Of course not,” Liu said. “The law says that it’s forbid if they [immigration officials] find that the job is not real, right?”

CBC then pointed out the article on WonHonTa’s WeChat site that says under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, 90 per cent of the jobs obtained by foreign nationals are the sort where the employee pays their own wage.

She said she was surprised by this, noting that she doesn’t write or even read content on her own WeChat site.

“How could I have time to write those?” she said.

That article was removed from WeChat shortly after CBC brought it to Liu’s attention.

CBC unveils undercover investigation

CBC then revealed to Liu that it had been conducting a month-long investigation into her company and its practices and had been regularly communicating with her under an assumed identity.

When asked why she previously told the undercover reporter the cost was $170,000 for a job in Atlantic Canada, Liu stumbled over her words for 30 seconds, before attempting to end the interview.

“Ah, it’s um … it’s between the company … I’m driving right now. Can I call you back?” she said.

She promised to continue the conversation after receiving proof she was talking to a journalist. CBC sent an email, but Liu has not replied.

Then CBC phoned Song at his China office and revealed its undercover investigation to him. He said much of what he had told CBC’s undercover reporter was a lie.

He said he was lying when he claimed to have found jobs in Canada for Chinese nationals. He said he’s never done that. He said he was lying when he told CBC’s undercover reporter that his company pays Canadian employers for jobs. He said his company has never done that.

Song said most immigration companies in China do pay Canadian employers for jobs, so he has to pretend to do that as well.

“That’s just a marketing strategy in order to get clients to sign the deal,” Song said in an interview with CBC. “If we don’t do this, our business will never sustain.”

Song said he was unhappy that CBC was investigating his company, which is quite small.

“So it’s really unfair for us to be caught by you while there are so many much bigger companies out there you don’t look into.”

Song said he and Liu are too ethical to pay for a job offer.

“I believe Yuki is a guileless person. She works hard for her clients because she genuinely wants to help them find a real job in Canada.” he said.

‘Everyone’s hands are dirty’

Richard Kurland, the immigration lawyer in Vancouver, didn’t mince words when asked for his assessment of WonHonTa’s scheme.

“I don’t think there’s a serious question that this amounts to an egregious violation of IRPA, the Immigration Refugee Protection Act, as well as Canada’s immigration program.”

He said there is a corrosive effect on each person in the chain of transactions.

“Everyone’s hands are dirty, which means no one can appear in public and seek justice, which means that the business that collects money keeps the money, regardless of outcome,” said Kurland.

So-called arranged employment (AE) offers have been a tool of fraudsters for decades in Canada, as demonstrated by an internal 2010 federal government report commissioned by Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

Canadian diplomatic missions from around the world were questioned about the integrity of these job offers and they flagged widespread problems.

  • Hong Kong reported “high rates of fraud or suspected fraud and only 15-22 per cent of AE offers were found to be genuine.”
  • Beijing said that “21 of the 33 files chosen for review found the applicants were not working for the employer or had never worked for the employer.”
  • New Delhi found that “over 60 per cent of the cases never worked for the employers in Canada.”
  • Seoul said “that out of 29 cases landed in 2008, only eight appeared bona fide, 12 cases found collusion between the employer and/or applicant and/or agent.”

CBC asked the federal government for more recent numbers, but it didn’t provide any.

Instead, Shannon Ker, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, wrote that “the vast majority of applications received by IRCC are genuine.” Ker said IRCC has trained its employees “how to detect fraud and the appropriate steps to take when there is sufficient cause to suspect it is taking place.”

Kurland said that, in his view, Ottawa and provincial regulators aren’t doing enough.

“There is a genuine concern that the province and the feds have insufficient enforcement resources to keep things honest.”

And a lack of enforcement is an invitation for abuse, he said.

“If the international marketplace knows you have a budget for a handful of police officers and you have 2,000 banks in your city, some bank is going to get robbed all the time.”

Source: Toronto immigration firm charges $170K for fake Canadian job, undercover investigation reveals

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Immigration status: Ministers reverse May-era student visa rules

2019/09/12 Leave a comment

Another bad legacy of former PM and Home Secretary May, fortunately being repealed:

International students will be allowed to stay in the UK for two years after graduation to find a job, under new proposals announced by the Home Office.

The move reverses a decision made in 2012 by then-Home Secretary Theresa May that forced overseas students to leave four months after finishing a degree.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the change would see students “unlock their potential” and begin careers in the UK.

But campaign group Migration Watch called it a “retrograde” step.

The change will apply to international students in the UK – there were around 450,000 last year – who start courses at undergraduate level or above from next year onwards.

They must be studying at an institution with a track record in upholding immigration checks.

Under the proposals, there is no restriction on the kinds of jobs students would have to seek and no cap on numbers.

“If one needed evidence of a new approach to immigration within government, today’s announcement allowing all foreign students to stay for two years after graduation is just that,” the BBC’s home editor Mark Easton said.

“Where Theresa May introduced what she called a hostile environment around migration rules, with an ambition to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, Boris Johnson has promised to scrap that target and encourage the brightest and best to come and live and work in global Britain.”

Student Shreya Swamy, from India, says the proposal is “a great step forward” but it is “a sad day” for her as it has come too late to help students already in the UK.

She has just finished studying for a master’s degree at the University for the Creative Arts, in Kent and Surrey, and says she has “struggled so much” with the current rule giving her up to four months to look for work.

Jobs for international graduates “are close to nil”, she says, blaming their lack of experience.

“I have been through hell and back trying to figure out my career plan these past few months because it seems practically impossible to have one in the UK,” she says.

“I feel really helpless, and almost regret coming here to study because I’m going to end up going back home with a very expensive piece of paper.”

Chancellor Sajid Javid tweeted that the move was “about time”, adding that the government “should have reversed this silly policy years ago”.

Former universities minister Jo Johnson – who quit his brother’s government last week – tweeted that it was “success at last” after being involved in the cross-party campaign.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, welcomed the decision, saying it would benefit the UK economy and reinstate the UK as a “first choice study destination”.

“Evidence shows that international students bring significant positive social outcomes to the UK as well as £26bn in economic contributions, but for too long the lack of post-study work opportunities in the UK has put us at a competitive disadvantage in attracting those students,” he said.

But Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said the decision was an “unwise” step that would “likely lead to foreign graduates staying on to stack shelves”.

“Our universities are attracting a record number of overseas students so there is no need to devalue a study visa by turning it into a backdoor route for working here,” he added.

Others suggested that the overhaul of the rules should come in sooner so students who are due to graduate next year could be eligible for the visa.

Stephen Isherwood, chief executive of the Institute of Student Employers, said there was “ample time” for the new rules to be implemented for those who finish their studies in 2020.

How many international students stay in the UK?

Just over 450,000 international students are currently studying in UK universities.

Of these, almost two-thirds are from outside the EU, so will require a student visa to be in the country.

Between about 170,000 and 185,000 of these students graduate each year and, under current rules, they have four months to transfer to another visa – such as a work visa – or decide to continue studying.

In 2018, 6,300 individuals moved from student visas to skilled work visas, meaning they have officially been offered a job paying at least £20,800 in the first year.

A further 450 were granted “high-value migrant” visas, which are normally reserved for those with particular expertise in a field or those who have a set sum of money to invest in the country.

We also know that almost 40,000 student visas are extended each year, implying that a large number of graduates are continuing studies in the UK.

That still leaves more than 100,000 students not formally extending their visas – and we don’t have complete figures for how many of them leave the UK.

However, analysis of exit checks by the Office of National Statistics suggests that 97% of them were leaving on time.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said Labour has always said graduates should be able to work here after their studies.

“It enables them to contribute to our economy, our universities and to research, and helps us to attract the brightest and best from around the world.

“It is a great pity that ministers have previously supported measures that did the opposite.”

‘International collaboration’

The government’s announcement coincides with the launch of a £200m genetics project at the UK Biobank, a charity and health resource that contains information and samples from 500,000 people.

The UK Biobank collected DNA samples and health questionnaire information from 500,000 British volunteers over several years and is now open to researchers from anywhere in the world who want to use those resources to develop new treatments for diseases.

The prime minister said projects of this kind wouldn’t be possible “without being open to the brightest and the best from across the globe to study and work” in the UK.

Mr Johnson said: “That’s why we’re unveiling a new route for international students to unlock their potential and start their careers in the UK.”

Britain had a “proud history” of being at the centre of international collaboration, he said, adding that it was “bringing together experts from around the globe to work in the UK on the world’s largest genetics research project”.

Source: Immigration status: Ministers reverse May-era student visa rules

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Singh promises bump to Quebec’s immigration funds to address labour shortage

2019/09/09 Leave a comment

Sigh. Quebec already receives about 40 percent of settlement funding and only received about 16 percent of immigrants in 2018:

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his government would give a boost to Quebec’s immigration funding to help prepare immigrants to fill the province’s labour shortage.

At an announcement in Drummondville, Que., on Saturday, Singh promised to increase the federal immigration transfer payment to Quebec by $73 million per year to improve settlement services for newcomers, if he is elected prime minister.

The province has been dealing with a labour shortage, with more than four per cent of all jobs in Quebec left vacant for four months or longer, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business report. That’s roughly 120,000 jobs.

“Quebec is dealing with a serious labour shortage, and needs immigration to help meet the challenge,” said Singh.

“It’s a critical issue.”

The NDP’s platform also commits to bolstering immigration settlement in rural areas of Quebec. Many immigrants arrive in Quebec with no French language skills, which affects their ability to work in the province. Singh said that a funding increase from an NDP government would help to target those language barriers.

Quebec will already receive $25.5 billion from Ottawa this fiscal year in the form equalization payments and health and social transfers. In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, $490 million was allocated for immigration supports.

But the provincial government isn’t completely sold on the idea of increasing immigration.

Leaning on temporary foreign workers

The CAQ government intends to accept around 20 per cent fewer immigrants this year, or 40,000 instead of the nearly 52,000 accepted last year.

However, Premier François Legault said temporary foreign workers can counter the shortage.

His government recently launched a $21-million plan to make it simpler for smaller businesses to recruit foreigners. It includes subsidizing recruitment missions by Quebec companies overseas and offering to cover $1,000 in moving expenses for the workers.

The province also announced $34 million for measures aimed at better integrating immigrants into the workforce.

Source: Singh promises bump to Quebec’s immigration funds to address labour shortage

Filed under Immigration, Integration Tagged with , ,

Robert Falconer: The open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

2019/09/09 Leave a comment

Good response to the pulled back op-ed “Ethnic diversity harms a country’s social trust, economic well-being, argues professor.”

The world is experiencing the largest displacement and movement of people of any period since the Second World War.

Canada is not immune to these flows. Almost one in four people living here were born outside Canada, with one million more arriving in the next three years.

We recently passed our neighbour to the south in resettling more refugees than any other country in the world, mostly due to vast reductions in refugee admissions under the Trump Administration, but also in part due to increased resettlement under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Since 2017, approximately 150,000 asylum seekers have claimed protection in Canada, many of whom crossed the border to do so. Under these conditions, questions by Canadians are to be expected.

Some questions will be raised by bad actors. These individuals will not be satisfied by reasonable answers or potential solutions on the issue of immigration or asylum in Canada.

A few of these may stoke fears or unfounded claims about newcomers. Many more Canadians, however, have genuine concerns, worries, or fears about the arrival of newcomers to their communities.

They do not have animosity toward individual immigrants, but they may have concerns regarding border security, the integrity of Canada’s immigration system, or the values and beliefs immigrants bring with them to Canada.

It is this group that policy-makers, academics and journalists should address with open ears, facts, and ideas. Some of these include addressing the following on immigrant integration and social cohesion.

Defining integration is difficult, but some common measures include immigrant official language capability, sense of belonging to Canada, and the adoption of Canadian norms and values. By these measures, Canada is wildly successful at integrating its newcomer population.

The 2016 census showed that approximately 93 per cent of all immigrants in Canada can speak English or French. The census also showed that the majority of immigrants choose to speak English or French in the home.

This high number might surprise some, but it should be noted that official language capability is one of the selection criteria for immigrants seeking to move to Canada.

Official language capability is also one of the citizenship requirements — with the exception of the very old and the very young. Even more fundamentally, there is a workplace advantage that comes with speaking either language.

Official language capability and citizenship requirements may not be relevant if only a few immigrants became citizens, but at approximately 85 per cent Canada has one of the highest naturalizations rates in the world. The United States sits in the mid-40 per cent range.

This means the vast majority of immigrants will, at some point, pass a language test and successfully answer questions on Canadian history, culture and values, culminating in the oath of citizenship to Canada’s Queen, its laws, and the duties associated with citizenship.

Immigrants also tend to show high levels of belonging and civic pride in Canada. Researchers at Statistics Canada found that 93 per cent of newcomers have a strong or very strong sense of belonging to Canada. Some of these (24 per cent) show an affinity only for Canada, while more feel a sense of belonging to Canada and their home country (69 per cent). Only three per cent feel a higher level of attachment to their home country.

When broken down by pride in specific symbols or institutions, such as the Canadian flag, Parliament, or even hockey, immigrants placed greater or equal importance in these than natural born Canadians.

This makes intuitive sense when considering why immigrants choose Canada. Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute has pointed out that most immigrants self-select, meaning that those who are most dissatisfied with Chinese communism, the Ayatollah, or Venezuelan socialism are the most likely to leave, and the least likely to bring those values with them. They choose Canada because they identify with the norms and values that make Canada.

That is not to say there aren’t issues. Canada is struggling to process a backlog of 75,000 plus asylum seekers, many of whom will have less than well-founded claims of persecution. That speaks to a processing issue at the federal level, rather than an issue with immigrant integration in Canada.

A backed-up system is more likely to attract those with unfounded fears of persecution. The solution is not to stigmatize newcomers, but to ensure that our immigration and asylum systems remain “fast, fair and final,” able to process claims in a timelier manner.

For those who are already here, Canada’s best tool for integrating them is open access to our political system and jobs market.

Some have cited Alberto Alesina’s work on fragmentation, the idea that greater population diversity is associated with social strife. This is true in countries with weak democracies and restricted labour markets, where the political and economic systems favour a select few.

Alesina’s subsequent works have shown that diverse populations reap economic benefits and remain relatively cohesive when everyone has a fair shot at becoming an MP or getting a job. Open societies enjoy strong trade relationships with other countries, a diversity in goods and services, and stronger workforces. Under these settings the work of integration takes care of itself, with newcomers and their children identifying with Canada and its values.

In that light, the work of integrating newcomers within the fabric of Canada is less about exclusion, and more about maintaining, celebrating, and safeguarding Canadian institutions, entrepreneurship, and our open society.

Source: Robert Falconer: The open society, Canada’s best response to immigration

Filed under Immigration, Integration, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Sudan Invites Jews Back To Country To ‘Enjoy Citizenship’

2019/09/09 Leave a comment

Unlikely many will for social and economic reasons:

Members of Sudan’s Jewish community who had left the country in previous years were free to return and “enjoy citizenship” like other ethnic groups, Minister of Religious Affairs Nasr-Eddin Mofarah said on Friday.

Speaking to Al Arabiya TV, the newly appointed minister said Sudan was welcoming of diverse ideas, values, cultures and “intellectual persuasions.”

He even added that the Muslim-majority country was welcoming of other religions, citing the number of Christians and Jews who still lived in the country and those who might have left.

“I urge them (Jews) from this platform to return to Sudan and recover their right to naturalization and citizenship because Sudan is a civil state where citizenship is the source of all rights and duties. We also have other religions and faiths embraced by different people,” he said.

The announcement came after Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok announced his Cabinet on Thursday, the first since former President Omar Bashir was ousted in April.

The Cabinet includes Asmaa Abdalla, Sudan’s first woman foreign minister, and a former World Bank economist. Hamdok also picked women to lead the Sports and Youth Ministry, the High Education Ministry, and the Labor and Social Development Ministry.

The new Cabinet has come about as part of a power-sharing agreement between the military and pro-democracy demonstrators, following pressure from the US and its Arab allies amid growing concerns the political crisis could ignite a new civil war.

Mofarah said Islam had been a peaceful part of Sudanese life for centuries, and had not been introduced through violence or conflict.

He also stressed the importance of religious tolerance in the post-Bashir era.

“Religious tolerance has also been given a significant importance in the Holy Qur’an, in which Muslims have been urged to accept and respect other religions and live in peace with them,” Mofarah said.

“This constitutes a clear call for the Sudanese to live according to the saying ‘you have your religion and I have mine,’ as long as there is no infighting, sedition or wars and as long as people interact,” the minister added.

“The issue of peace, tolerance, loyalty and resilience is one of the indicators that will allow us to build this nation on new foundations, centered around freedom, justice, equality and noble moral values,” he said.

Sudan’s power-sharing deal calls for the government to reach a peace agreement with the rebels within six months.

Source: Sudan Invites Jews Back To Country To ‘Enjoy Citizenship’

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South African Riots Over ‘Xenophobia’ Prompt Backlash Across Africa

2019/09/07 Leave a comment

Depressing reality, encouraging response:

Pop stars have announced a boycott. Air Tanzania has suspended flights to Johannesburg. Madagascar and Zambia are refusing to send their soccer teams. Nigeria has recalled its ambassador and pulled out of a major economic forum.

South Africa is facing a backlash after rioters in and around Johannesburg targeted immigrants from other African countries this week, torching their shops and leading to at least 10 deaths. Now, angry citizens and governments across the continent are lashing out at South Africa and its businesses, denouncing what they call “xenophobia.”

Africans across the continent once rallied behind South Africans in their struggle to defeat the apartheid government, which was finally replaced in elections held 25 years ago. Now, some Africans find themselves in the unfamiliar position of protesting the actions of the same communities in South Africa that they once stood with in solidarity.

“The only time we’ve seen this type of cooperation of African countries in terms of backlash,” said Tunde Leye, a partner at the Nigerian political research firm SBM Intelligence, “was in terms of support of the anti-apartheid movement.”

The current level of political solidarity on the continent, he said, was “almost unprecedented.”

The riots, and the retaliatory measures, could not come at a more inopportune time for regional cooperation. This week, African leaders are meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss the African Continental Free Trade Area, an agreement made this year that sets the stage for the creation of the largest free-trade area in the world. It would join Africa’s more than one billion consumers into a single market.

The conflict, while not likely to imperil the free trade agreement, could at least slow its implementation, which is expected to take years, African analysts said.

Nigeria’s government, angry that its citizens have been victimized in the South African riots, has pulled out of the Cape Town meeting.

Nigeria is the continent’s largest economy, and South Africa is the second-largest. Both countries were already reluctant participants in the accord, which is supposed to help knock down the many barriers to trade among African countries.

Anti-immigrant sentiment is a longstanding issue in South Africa, where the legacies of colonialism and apartheid run deep, and a political shift has not delivered meaningful change to many poor South Africans. Immigrants from countries like Nigeria, Mozambique, Somalia and Zimbabwe are often regarded by South Africans as competitors for jobs and social services.

In South Africa, attacks on foreigners have become common, and they surged beginning Sunday when rioters stormed neighborhoods in and around Johannesburg, lighting fires and breaking into shops.

At least 10 people have died in the riots, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a video address on Thursday, in which he also condemned the violence.

“There can be no excuse for the attacks on the homes and businesses of foreign nationals,” he said. “Equally, there is no justification for the looting and destruction of businesses owned by South Africans.”

In Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg, authorities have arrested at least 423 people, said Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, a police spokesman. On Thursday, he said that many shops owned by foreigners remained closed and that more shopping centers in the eastern part of the province “are being targeted.”

Police seized guns, he said, not just from South Africans, but also from at least two foreign nationals.

The rolling backlash has united broad swaths of the continent. Two popular Nigerian musicians, Burna Boy and Tiwa Savage, said they were boycotting South Africa. Burna Boy was set to headline the Afropunk festival in Johannesburg in December, alongside artists like Solange Knowles. Tiwa Savage had an appearance in South Africa scheduled for mid-September.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, protesters rushed and sometimes looted South African-owned businesses in Nigeria and Zambia, including Shoprite supermarkets. The company closed stores. The South African telecommunications giant MTN did the same.

On Thursday, the protests spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where demonstrators outside of the South African Embassy in Kinshasa held signs that read “Don’t kill our brothers” and “No xenophobia.” In Lubumbashi, they broke windows at the South African Consulate.

Nigeria recalled its ambassador to South Africa. South Africa has shuttered its diplomatic missions in Nigeria, citing threats.

The clashes cast a cloud over the World Economic Forum in Africa, which began in Cape Town on Wednesday. Leaders were set to discuss the free trade pact, an agreement signed by 54 countries that supporters have said could reshape economic relationships on the continent.

The accord has the potential to bolster intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022, according to the United Nations. Right now, intra-African trade accounts for just 16 percent of the continent’s trade volume. It can be cheaper to ship something from Nigeria to Europe, and then to Senegal, rather than directly from Nigeria to Senegal. This is a major barrier to regional development, economists say.

Still, a host of challenges await before the pact is put in place.

African analysts differed on whether Nigeria’s decision to skip the Cape Town meeting would have any effect in the long term.

Gilbert Khadiagala, a Kenyan professor of international relations at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, said Nigeria’s move was little more than “grandstanding,” and that would not impede the trade agreement.

But Mr. Leye, of SBM Intelligence in Nigeria, said that in his view, Nigeria’s boycott of the Forum “will have an impact in terms of the pace of implementation.”

Source: South African Anti-Immigrant Riots Prompt Backlash

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There’s a good reason the immigration debate in Canada is calmer than in the U.S.

2019/09/07 Leave a comment

Pretty weak argument on its own. I think the large number of irregular or illegal immigrants in the USA, given its southern border, is a much larger factor in popular discourse, along with our selection system which priories more highly skilled immigrants:

In recent years the world has been rocked by the movement of tens of millions of people fleeing war, disaster and other forms of conflict. Canada has helped relieve some of the pressures that come from such large movements of people by accepting refugees, asylum-seekers and also ordinary immigrants. Far from conflict zones, surrounded by oceans, and sharing its only border with a country that is not usually a significant source of refugees, Canada has been able to be very deliberate in its calculation of how many people it chooses to admit as citizens. In general, the choices made have served the Canadian economy well by reversing what would otherwise have been a steady decline in our population and our prospects for economic growth.

So far at least, and unlike the U.S. experience, Canadian immigration policy has not become very political. One reason the two countries’ politics on this issue have differed may be their differing national fertility rates. The figure shows the fertility rate in Canada and the United States for each year from 1920 to 2018. The fertility rate measures the average number of children that would be born to each woman over her child-bearing years given prevailing age-specific fertility rates. Also shown, as the horizontal dashed line, is the population replacement rate — the fertility rate required for the population to replace itself. The replacement rate varies over time and by country due to changes and differences in mortality rates. It probably has fallen in both countries since 1920 but it is currently judged to be roughly 2.1 children per woman.

The large swings in fertility rates between 1920 and 1960 strongly suggest economic conditions affect the decision to have children. The onset of the Great Depression in 1930 coincided with a significant drop in the fertility rate in Canada, a drop that started much earlier in the U.S. The post-war baby boom saw fertility rates in both countries increase by nearly 1.5 children. Peaking in 1960, the fertility rate plummeted across North America for the next 15 years before levelling off — by the mid-1970s in the U.S. and the mid-1980s in Canada. U.S. fertility rates have since risen and now hover near the replacement rate. In this country, however, they remain well below the replacement rate.

That U.S. fertility rates are higher than ours may surprise many Canadians. Families here have greater access to supports and benefits in the form of parental leave provisions, extended employment insurance benefits, and full health-care coverage. Continuing low fertility rates in Canada suggest other influences must also be important.

But whatever the reason for it, our low fertility rate highlights the need for high levels of immigration to maintain and grow the population. After the dramatic fall in fertility rates in the 1960s, the federal government introduced a number of reforms to immigration policy, beginning in the mid to late 1970s. Since the early 1990s, Canada has settled between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants each year. The government recently announced annual targets over the next three years that average 340,000 new immigrants per year. This level of immigration will enable Canada’s population to grow despite our low fertility rate.

The data presented in the figure may help explain why in recent years the debate over immigration hasn’t been as sharp or divisive here as in the United States. For Canada, maintaining a significant level of immigration and also a high level of trust in the process by which we invite foreigners to apply for citizenship is crucial for maintaining our economic growth.

Source: There’s a good reason the immigration debate in Canada is calmer than in the U.S.

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Viktor Orbán trumpets Hungary’s ‘procreation, not immigration’ policy

2019/09/07 Leave a comment

Sigh. Not one or the other. Policies to assist families with the costs of having and raising children by themselves will not fully address demographic pressures:

Procreate or face extinction: that’s the message from central European leaders to their shrinking populations, as across the region rightwing governments implement so-called “family first” policies to incentivise childbearing.

Hungary’s government is holding an international summit on demography in Budapest this week, being attended by several regional leaders and delegations from dozens of countries in an attempt to trumpet their investment in family policies.

The country’s nativist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said it was conceivable that Hungary, with a population of just under 10 million that is shrinking due to low birthrates and emigration of Hungarians to EU states further west, could simply disappear.

“It’s not hard to imagine that there would be one single last man who has to turn the lights out,” he said at the opening of the conference on Thursday.

Orbán, who has based his political campaigns in recent years on anti-refugee and anti-migration sentiment, said other European politicians saw immigration as the solution, but he firmly rejected this, tapping into the far-right “great replacement” theory.

“If Europe is not going to be populated by Europeans in the future and we take this as given, then we are speaking about an exchange of populations, to replace the population of Europeans with others,” said Orbán. “There are political forces in Europe who want a replacement of population for ideological or other reasons.”

Orbán’s words were backed up by one of the guests of honour at the summit, the former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, who saluted the Hungarian leader for having “the political courage to defy political correctness”.

Abbott said dying populations, not climate change, were the biggest threat to western civilisation, and lashed out at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for recent remarks that they would not have more than two children due to the effects on the environment. “Having fewer children in western countries will hardly make the climate better when so many children are being born elsewhere,” said Abbott.

A fear of rising populations in other parts of the world was the dominant theme during the opening morning of the Budapest summit, despite the presence of delegations from many developing countries. The tone was set by an artistic performance that opened the forum, portraying hordes of people from the south and east advancing on Europe.

“Europe has become the continent of the empty crib whereas in Asia and Africa they face demographic challenges of the opposite type,” said Katalin Novák, Hungary’s minister of state for family, youth and international affairs.

The two-day summit was also attended by Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, and Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, who both said boosting birthrates was a priority for the long-term development of their countries. Vučić said his country was losing the equivalent of the population of a medium-sized town each year. “Serbian people have one expression for negative population growth: the white flag,” he said.

Source: Viktor Orbán trumpets Hungary’s ‘procreation, not immigration’ policy

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‘See beyond difference’: Japan looks to Aussie example as it opens door to foreign workers

2019/09/06 Leave a comment

Interesting challenges and modest expectations:

The woman tasked with repitching Japan’s strict immigration policy to open the doors to foreign workers for the first time says she wants to avoid the ‘friction’ evident in Australia’s multicultural community.

Japanese MP Yoko Kamikawa said the country has a lot to learn from Australia in ‘drafting a multicultural community’.

“I understand Australia has welcomed a lot of immigrants,” she told SBS News.

“Australia has faced several frictions coming from the difference in the cultures or religions with people from different backgrounds.

“Japan has a lot of things to learn from your country to overcome these challenges.”

Japan started rethinking it’s immigration policy last year, faced with an aging population and a shrinking labour force.

A new visa program, aiming to lure more foreign workers to Japan took effect in April, and Ms Kamikawa said it was working well so far.

But she flagged room for further improvement.

The visa covers 14 industries that need foreign workers to boost labour forces –  including food services, cleaning, construction, agriculture, fishing, vehicle repair and machine operations.

Ms Kamikawa said, so far, the number of foreign workers entering Japan would be relatively small.

“We estimate that there will be merely 350,000 foreign workers in the next five years,” she said.

“We will improve the system step by step. We are trying to make the best effort to make our system properly workable.”

But there has been resistance to the new visas.

Ms Kamikawa said while some tension was ‘inevitable’, she believed the key to a successful multicultural community was a mutual understanding.

“We have to see beyond the difference in the cultures and the religious differences, especially in the workplace and at the community level,” she said.

“We must try to study from each other and learn from each other.

“The foreign workers should study Japanese culture but at the same time, the Japanese community must understand the people with a different background, from foreign countries.

“Mutual understanding is the key and I strongly believe with mutual understanding it will lead to achieving a true multicultural society eventually.”

Ms Kamikawa said Japan was also looking at ways of ‘improving the process’ for refugee intake.

Japan has accepted just over 40 asylum seekers so far in 2019, which is already double the intake of last year.

“Japan is now looking a process of welcoming refugees and the convention relating to the status of refugees,” Ms Kamikawa said.

“We try to continue to improve these operations and we try to have more refugee intake into our society in accordance with international obligations.”

Source: ‘See beyond difference’: Japan looks to Aussie example as it opens door to foreign workers

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