Immigration feels toddler better off ‘culturally, linguistically’ in India than with parents in Canada | Ottawa Citizen

2015/01/09 Leave a comment

While always risky to pass judgment based upon media accounts, the immigration officer’s comments, while no doubt well-meaning,  seem particularly obtuse and patronising given the longer-term implications of his continuing to be separated from his parents:

The department’s silence on the case is baffling, especially in light of a report by the Immigration visa officer in Delhi who rejected the parents’ application to be reunited with their son on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

The visa officer says in the report obtained by the Citizen that Daksh is better off in India, where he lives with his grandparents and is in an environment “culturally and linguistically familiar to him.”

The report also says Daksh has always lived with his grandparents, never with his parents, which they deny.

“Based on information submitted, it would appear that the child has never resided with his father or mother. It seems the child has continuously resided with his grandparents. … It seems to me that (Sood and Bajaj) have already made a determination that the best interest of the child would be for him not to go to Canada.

“To uproot the child at this time and move him to an unfamiliar environment, in a different climate, culture and language would be very upsetting and not in his best interest. In addition, he would be living with unfamiliar people, as his lifelong caregivers would not be with him.”

Immigration feels toddler better off ‘culturally, linguistically’ in India than with parents in Canada | Ottawa Citizen.

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Foreign youth TFW program a risk to youth employment, documents say – The Globe and Mail

2015/01/08 1 Comment

More on the TFWP and the youth working holiday program:

David Wright, who was senior policy adviser at the department’s headquarters, noted in an e-mail in August, 2013, what he described as “interesting” results from an Australian survey of a similar program.

“It is young local workers who are the main losers in the competition for employment. This is especially the case for those without post-school education, who are seeking less skilled, entry-level jobs,” the e-mail stated, quoting a report from Australia’s Centre for Population and Urban Research.

The government documents were obtained by immigration lawyer Richard Kurland. The Citizenship and Immigration department did not respond to questions about the documents by late Tuesday.

Mr. Kenney has insisted “these nice young people on their working holiday programs” are not a threat to Canada’s labour market.“I think it’s a pretty benign subset of the temporary foreign worker program,” he said during a 2013 debate in the House of Commons.

… International Experience Canada, the much larger category, was left largely untouched. Canadian employers can hire participants without going through a screening process called Labour Market Opinions that is meant to ensure efforts are made to hire Canadians.

The government has noted that working holiday programs are reciprocal deals that allow Canadians to work in 32 other countries, but it has acknowledged few Canadian youth have taken advantage of it, noting at the time of last year’s reforms that the imbalance “is the most serious concern for this initiative.”

The number of people working in Canada as of Dec. 1 of each year under the program has grown from 25,891 in 2006 to a high of 58,933 in 2012. The numbers dropped in 2013 to 56,313. In contrast, only 17,731 Canadians worked abroad under the program in 2012. Most programs have age limits of 30 or 35.

Youth exchange programs have many benefits for participants and surprised that more Canadian youth aren’t taking advantage of the opportunities.

Foreign youth TFW program a risk to youth employment, documents say – The Globe and Mail.

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ICYMI: Are Immigrants Happy? It Depends … – New Canadian Media – NCM

2015/01/08 Leave a comment

Life satisfactionInteresting but not surprising: Maslov’s hierarchy of needs means economic outcomes prevail:

Interestingly, economic differences far outweighed the influence of civil liberties (freedom of expression, assembly, association, education and religion) in determining the final happiness score.

“The regression results indicate that when we control for both source-country GDP and civil liberty, only the effect of source-country GDP is statistically significant. This indicates that immigrants who come to Canada from nations with lower GDP per capita [poorer nations] generally have larger improvements in their life satisfaction compared to their source-country population.

“In a separate model, we also found that about one-quarter of the variation in life satisfaction across source countries was accounted for by GDP per capita. These results again indicate that immigrants from countries with lower levels of GDP experience greater improvements in their life satisfaction,” Frank said in exclusive comments. For example, for India, the difference in “life satisfaction” between the resident population and immigrants in Canada went down from 2.04 to 1.73 points when the difference in GDP was taken into account.

Further, the researchers were able to show that the ‘happiness gaps’ remain even though immigrants may not be representative of the general population in the countries they come from, given that they tend to be drawn from the middle and upper classes. The survey data in Canada covered those immigrants who continue to stay in Canada: only the relatively successful persevere in Canada.

A separate Statscan study released in 2006 reported the phenomenon of “out migration.” It found that as many as 35 per cent of male immigrants (mainly principal applicants) who have been in Canada for under 20 years return to their home countries, with the bulk of them returning in the first year after arrival. This return to their homelands is most acute in times of economic recession, when the researchers found the exit rate could reach as much as 50 per cent, as in the early 1990s.

Are Immigrants Happy? It Depends … – New Canadian Media – NCM.

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Don Cayo: Canada needs to teach immigrants better language skills

2015/01/07 1 Comment

Not too surprising, and the call for better language training makes sense. Not an issue for second generation immigrants given Canadian schooling (but who also have persistent income and unemployment gaps:

It turns out that a significant factor is not only whether an immigrant’s mother tongue is English or French, but if not, then how closely related it is to one or the other of Canada’s official languages. For example, immigrants who grow up with a Nordic language, which shares two of four linguistic roots with English, are likely to earn six per cent less than native-born Canadians, whereas the gap widens to 33 per cent for those who speak a dialect of Chinese, which has no common roots with English or French.

…But two other researchers, Ana Ferrer of University of Waterloo and Alicia Adsera of Princeton, take this a step further, looking at the link between immigrants’ economic success and what they call linguistic proximity — the degree of similarity between an immigrant’s mother tongue and one or both of Canada’s official languages.

They found that not only do immigrants from countries with languages closely related to English or French get better jobs when they come to Canada — specifically, jobs requiring social and analytical skills rather than just brawn — the difference in earning potential is magnified when the level of education is higher. In other words, a labourer will make a little less than Canadian-born co-worker, but a specialist or professional will make a lot less.

Don Cayo: Canada needs to teach immigrants better language skills.

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‘High error rate’ found in Canada’s immigration processing

2015/01/07 Leave a comment

Hard to know how many of these errors were major, but they do create processing inefficiencies not to mention the additional burden and frustration on applicants:

According to the review of 996 files handled between Nov. 1 and Dec. 6, 2014, at the Vegreville operation, which deals with permanent residence applications, the quality management team found these shortcomings in the 617 request letters sent:

  • 13 per cent did not address all missing items.
  • 23 per cent had no timeline or an incomplete one or did not mention the consequences of failing to reply.
  • 6 per cent were either “not professional” or chose the incorrect template form.

Of 426 files that received a second review during the five weeks, decisions were pending for 149 owing to errors made by decision-makers at an earlier stage.

While the 2013 review of the Canadian Experience Class — a pathway for those with Canadian work experience and education to obtain permanent residence — found 23 per cent of the decisions had “significant” eligibility concerns, the evaluation of refugee permit applications identified 113 errors in 88 files.

‘High error rate’ found in Canada’s immigration processing | Toronto Star.

And the subsequent story, with CIC’s response:

“Employees receive an initial three-day training on the department’s Global Case Management System, but there is additional training and coaching that takes place depending on the line of business,” wrote Chan.
“Before any employee begins to make any application decision, they receive comprehensive training on eligibility and admissibility assessments.”
Chan said immigration officials conduct quality monitoring exercises regularly to evaluate programs and procedures and adjust staff training accordingly.
“CIC is focused on making our application processes and our correspondence with clients simpler and clearer,” said Chan. “The integrity of these programs was not compromised.”

Ottawa defends errors in immigration processing

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What drives anti-immigrant sentiment? – Ian Buruma

2015/01/06 Leave a comment

Ian Buruma on the drivers on anti-immigrant sentiment and the increased divide between educated metropolitan elites and the “less sophisticated, less flexible and, in every sense, less connected provincials.”

Canada does not figure in his commentary, perhaps because we have managed these tensions – which we have – better than most:

Populist rabble-rousers like to stir up such resentments by ranting about foreigners who work for a pittance or not at all. But it is the relative success of ethnic minorities and immigrants that is more upsetting to indigenous populations.

This explains the popular hostility toward Mr. Obama. Americans know that, before too long, whites will be just another minority, and people of colour will increasingly be in positions of power. At this point, all that Tea Partiers and others like them can do is declare, “We want our country back!”

Of course, this is an impossible demand. Short of unleashing massive and bloody ethnic cleansing – Bosnia, on a continental scale – Americans and others have no choice but to get used to living in increasingly diverse societies.

Likewise, economic globalization cannot be undone. But regulation can and should be improved. After all, some things are still worth protecting. There are good reasons not to leave culture, education, lifestyles or jobs completely exposed to the creative destruction of market forces.

What drives anti-immigrant sentiment? – The Globe and Mail.

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CBSA faces obstacles in fight against crooked immigration consultants

2014/12/13 Leave a comment

The challenge of implementation from CBSA President Luc Portelance:

Over the last six years, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada has accepted 22 cases, with 13 resulting in guilty convictions and several others still making their way through the courts, the memo adds.

In 2013-14, the border agency opened 40 investigations into consultant fraud — the highest number in the last six years.

“Most of these cases are still under active investigation,” the memo says.

However, consultant fraud cases are among the most time-consuming and resource-intensive investigations, Portelance notes.

In August the border agency laid four charges against an Edmonton consultant who allegedly provided her clients with forged documents — charges that came three years after the agency received a complaint against her.

Obtaining evidence to prove intent of a crime often includes several search warrants, production orders, interviews and surveillance operations, Portelance says in the memo.

“The focus on complex cases creates a significant pressure on (border agency) time and resources, and statistical reporting often does not truly demonstrate the significant amount of work being undertaken at a given time,” it says.

“Additionally, obtaining evidence of consultant fraud continues to be a challenge.”Immigration applicants are “often hesitant” to report consultants, as they were either complicit in the misrepresentations or they remain convinced their consultant can help them gain status in Canada, Portelance says.

“Many applicants fear removal from Canada as they did not acknowledge using a representative for a fee or consideration.”

CBSA faces obstacles in fight against crooked immigration consultants (pay wall)

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Immigration express entry: 5 things you need to know

2014/12/12 Leave a comment

The most interesting part to observe, in the short-term, will be the commitment to transparency (not a strong point for the Government), the last comment, about “an aggressive” ad campaign, is little surprise given the Government’s normal approach, particularly acute in an election year:

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has said individuals with a job offer or a provincial nomination will be “picked first” and that the first “invitations to apply” for permanent residency will be sent out by the last week of January.

Manicom told MPs during the Commons committee that there will be a “draw” every two weeks.

The senior official said applicants will be able to see how they are ranked against each other in the pool. “We are very highly transparent,” he said.

Once a skilled immigrant has received an offer to apply for permanent residency, he or she would have 60 days to accept or decline the offer. If the applicant doesn’t receive an offer of permanent residency after 12 months, he or she will have to start the process again.

… Anita Biguzs, the deputy minister for citizenship and immigration, said the government has budgeted $32.5 million in total funding for express entry.

Of that, $6.9 million has been allotted so the department can align its IT system in preparation for the launch of the new system.

Manicom told MPs to expect a “very aggressive” ad campaign in 2015.He was not asked how much the ad buy would cost taxpayers.

Immigration express entry: 5 things you need to know – Politics – CBC News.

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Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (Craven Pandering to the Conservative Base and Anti-Muslim Sentiment Act) controversial for more than its title

2014/12/10 1 Comment

The risks of a simplistic bumper sticker approach to complex family dynamics, not to mention existing laws that can be used:

“Prevention, not prohibition,” exhorted Deepa Mattoo, Acting Executive Director of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario.

Mattoo argued that there is existing law that can be applied to forced marriage situations such as assault, kidnapping and duress statutes and that instead of jumping the gun on criminalizing forced marriage, more research and education needs to be done.

Mattoo said there exists some protection that young women can take advantage of, but public education is lacking. For example if a young woman contacts the clinic because she suspects that her family vacation may lead to a forced marriage, she can contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Development so she can be monitored.

The other issue to keep in mind is that this law deals with young women, who are under the protection of their parents.

She said in her experience women who come forward seeking help don’t necessarily want to have to go to court against their parents. Eighty per cent of her clients reunite with their families in some way.

“They do not want their families to be criminalized,” said Mattoo.

Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act controversial for more than its title (pay wall)

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Employers Likely to Always have a Limited Role in Immigrant Selection – New Canadian Media – NCM

2014/12/09 Leave a comment

Interesting interview with UofT professor Jeffrey Reitz on the Express Entry immigration employer-driven approach:

“Nobody has had success” with this sort of employer-driven immigration system to produce large-scale immigration, the academic who has been tracking immigration trends in Canada and globally for four decades, said.

The book [Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective] has a chapter devoted to Canada, and in this Reitz writes: “Indeed, the Australian government has greatly reduced visa opportunities for international students and is reviewing its selection policy more generally.

”Overall, he writes in the book, “… it is far from clear that the new policy directions [in Canada] will actually improve the prospects for and impact of immigration.”

The UofT professor points out that while the jury is still out on the key question of net economic gain, Canadian newcomers can be expected to reduce income inequality mainly because they tend to be employed in high-skills jobs rather than at the lower end. “Immigrants compete for more highly skilled work in Canada, so the labour market impact is at levels of employment higher than the impact of relatively less-skilled immigrants in the United States.”

Income inequality has been a hot topic of political debate in both the U.S. and Canada in recent months.

Reitz also attempts to mathematically calculate the extent to which immigrant credentials are discounted in Canada: “[I]mmigrant skills in terms of both education and work experience have only about two-thirds of the value of corresponding skills held by native-born Canadians, and occupational under-employment is a significant reason for this imbalance.” This is based on a statistical calculation made by labour market analysts on the return on investment (ROI) that Canadians gain from every additional year of education.

Studies have shown that while mainstream Canadians gain five per cent in added earnings for every year of education, newcomers boost their average pay by just 3.5 per cent. “Some analysts have noted a decline in return for foreign experience as well, although no explanation for this trend has been found.”

Employers Likely to Always have a Limited Role in Immigrant Selection – New Canadian Media – NCM.

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