Canada pulls refugee welcome mat, launches ads warning of stricter asylum rules

2024/12/04 Leave a comment

Responsible shift:

Once presenting itself as one of the world’s most welcoming countries to refugees and immigrants, Canada is launching a global online ad campaign cautioning asylum seekers that making a claim is hard. The C$250,000 (US$179,000) in advertisements will run through March in 11 languages, including Spanish, Urdu, Ukrainian, Hindi and Tamil, the immigration department said. They are part of a broader shift in tone by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unpopular government on immigration and an effort to clamp down on refugee claims.

Migrants have been blamed for high housing prices, although some experts argue this is a simplistic explanation, and polls show a growing number of Canadians think the country admits too many newcomers.

The four-month campaign is budgeted to cost a third of the total spend on similar advertisements over the previous seven years.

Search queries such as “how to claim asylum in Canada” and “refugee Canada” will prompt sponsored content titled “Canada’s asylum system – Asylum Facts,” the ministry said.

“Claiming asylum in Canada is not easy. There are strict guidelines to qualify. Find out what you need to know before you make a life-changing decision,” one ad reads. Canada has long been seen as a welcoming place for newcomers. Now its leaders are slashing immigration and trying to get temporary residents to leave and to prevent people fleeing US president-elect Donald Trump from claiming asylum.

“Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is working to combat the spread of misinformation and disinformation about Canada’s immigration system, and to highlight the risks of working with unauthorised representatives,” a department spokesperson wrote in an email.

Refugee case backlog

It may be an uphill battle. Canada’s refugee system faces a 260,000-case backlog amid growing global displacement. The government has little control over who claims asylum. Its immigration minister has hinted at fast-tracking claims deemed unlikely to succeed. The government is hoping millions of people will leave the country on their own when their visas expire, and the immigration minister has threatened to deport them if they do not.

It is a dramatic about-face for a government that for years set out the welcome mat. In January 2017, when Trump took office, Trudeau tweeted: “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.” On November 17, nearly eight years later, Trudeau published a video promoting his government’s immigration policies, calling out “bad actors” who “have been exploiting our immigration system for their own interests.” Last month, the Liberal government, trailing in polls, announced it is slashing permanent and temporary immigration. The population is projected to shrink slightly for two years.

Ad campaigns to counter misinformation on how to apply for asylum could be useful, said University of Ottawa law professor and immigration expert Jamie Chai Yun Liew.

“On the other hand, if they’re saying, ‘You’re not welcome’ … it does seem contrary to Canada’s approach in the past,” she said. “They’ve switched their messaging.”

Source: Canada pulls refugee welcome mat, launches ads warning of stricter asylum rules

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Manitoba teachers decry union’s decision to cancel antisemitism education

2024/12/04 Leave a comment

Cancel culture? Cowardice?

Jewish educators say they are alarmed after finding out that the Manitoba teachers’ union cancelled a professional development talk about antisemitism in schools.

“The PD (professional development) is very much needed. That’s the number one concern,” said Tamara Gottlieb, co-founder of the Jewish Educators and Families Association (FEFA).

In October, some Manitoba teachers had signed up for a professional development course on the subject of “bearing witness to October 7th” and fighting antisemitism in the classroom. The talk was to be delivered by Kelly Hiebert, a history teacher at Westwood Collegiate in Winnipeg who has been tasked by the provincial government with developing a mandatory Holocaust curriculum for students.

Yet, the event was cancelled. Concerned teachers reached out to Gottlieb’s group, and it, along with a number of other Jewish advocacy groups, wrote to the Manitoba Teachers’ Society and the provincial government to express concern.

“This approved and well thought PD session is needed now more than ever. Canceling it with so little notice before it was to take place leaves many educators without the resources they need,” says a letter, signed by JEFA and a number of other organizations.

Gottlieb received a response from the Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning ministry, which said that the event had been cancelled because of unspecified threats.

“The decision to cancel the session was made out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the presenters due to online comments related to this event and recent escalations in antisemitic incidents,” the letter says.

National Post reached out to the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, which said there were “unsettling comments on social media related to the event.

“Out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the presenters and those in attendance, MTS elected to cancel,” the union said in an email.

In a separate statement, Nathan Martindale, the president of the teachers’ union, acknowledged that “our decision was discouraging to members of the Jewish community, and to our Jewish members.”

“The point has been made that it would have been helpful for us to consult with the community prior to making the decision to cancel, and we appreciate this valuable feedback,” Martindale said. “As we said to our members in a recent email, this is difficult work, and we won’t always get it right. But we are committed to it, and to ongoing dialogue in our efforts to promote understanding and community within our organization.”…

Source: Manitoba teachers decry union’s decision to cancel antisemitism education

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Preparing for a Conservative government in the public service

2024/12/03 Leave a comment

This article was prompted by my experience under the Harper government and Minister Kenney, as a way to assist public servants likely facing a dramatic transition to a Conservative government. I hope readers find it helpful and that this will contribute to conversations regarding the likely transition:

Faced with the likelihood of a majority Conservative government in the foreseeable future, Canada’s federal public service should seriously heed the warning of Stephen Harper’s former communications director, Andrew MacDougall, that “the hangman is coming.”

Over 40 per cent of federal public servants have only worked under the Trudeau government, and after nearly a decade in power, many public servants may have internalized Liberal perspectives.

A Conservative majority would signal public desire for change, and the public service, like it or not, will have to support a different and arguably sharper ideological agenda.

While the Clerk of the Privy Council and deputy ministers will provide high-level direction along with transition briefing books, many of the challenges will affect mid-level executives. Looking back at my experience under the Harper government, as detailed in my book Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism, the following lessons may be helpful.

These reflect the specific policy areas I was responsible for (citizenship and multiculturalism at the federal departments of Canadian Heritage and then Citizenship and Immigration), working under the activist and effective minister Jason Kenney, in what was arguably a less polarized political and social media environment. History seldom repeats itself, but hopefully these reflections will still provide some guidance for public servants beyond the usual transition planning….

Full article source: Preparing for a Conservative government in the public service

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Elon Musk vs. Stephen Miller: Washington preps for battle on high-tech immigration

2024/12/03 Leave a comment

Will be interesting to watch. I’m betting on Citizen Musk but we shall see:

High tech companies — with Elon Musk seemingly on their side — are gearing up to push the incoming Trump administration to let more high-skilled immigrants into the U.S., setting up a potential conflict with the nativist figures in Trump’s orbit who want to minimize immigration at all costs.

During Donald Trump’s first term, Silicon Valley firms tried to impress upon Washington the importance of high-skilled immigration. They were stymied by people like Stephen Miller, a key figure in the first Trump administration now slated to serve as White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

But the tech lobby now has a powerful new ally in Musk, a key Trump donor and close confidant who since the election has called for fixes that would make it easier for “super talented people” to immigrate.

Other newly minted Trump backers in Silicon Valley, including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, have placed high-skilled immigration at the center of their Washington agenda. Their rising influence has already had an impact, prompting Trump himself to float giving green cards to talented students earlier this year.

“We definitely see it as an opportunity,” said Linda Moore, president and chief executive of industry group TechNet.

Silicon Valley views the incoming administration and GOP congressional majority as its best chance in years to pass policies that let in more immigrants with rare skills in science, technology, engineering and math. Though it feels counterintuitive, Trump’s antipathy toward illegal immigration could leave him uniquely positioned to argue for more of the legal kind — especially if it comes wrapped in an argument about making America more competitive.

“In the same way that it took Nixon to go to China — because he was tough on China — President Trump may have an interesting opportunity” to get the GOP onboard with high-skilled immigration, said Vivek Chilukuri, director of the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security think tank.

But tech lobbyists and Musk aren’t the only ones working Trump on STEM immigration. Hardcore immigration restrictionists — informally led by Miller — are also in the president-elect’s ear, cautioning that foreign STEM workers take American jobs and depress wages in high-tech industries. They prevailed during Trump’s previous presidency, when under Miller’s influence, Trump slashed the number of green cards issued and denied applications and extensions for H-1B and other skilled visas, causing some companies to lose skilled workers.

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, believes Trump is “definitely going to be more receptive to certain kinds of legal immigration expansion” than he was in the past. Like other restrictionists, he’s warily eyeing the emerging influence of tech billionaires on the president-elect — and warning of consequences if Trump and congressional Republicans cave to their immigration asks.

“These tech lobbyists think they’re going to be feeding at the trough, just making all kinds of demands because Elon is going to support them. They’re in for a big surprise,” said Stein. He added that Trump “has to walk a very fine line so that people don’t feel betrayed.”

Other restrictionists are also alarmed. “Will the Trump administration kowtow to Silicon Valley CEOs or will it protect American tech workers? We shall see,” said Eric Ruark, director of research at anti-immigration group NumbersUSA.

The tech lobby has long urged Washington to boost the amount of STEM immigrants allowed into the country — typically through increases to the annual cap of H-1B and other visas, or through programs that would increase the availability of green cards or attach them to diplomas earned by foreign students. From microchip companies to emerging artificial intelligence firms, a wide range of tech interests warn there simply aren’t enough tech experts to staff their facilities or achieve America’s long-term strategic goals.

“AI, quantum, biotechnology — we can’t snap our fingers tomorrow and create the STEM PhDs that we need to compete in all of these areas,” said Chilukuri, whose nonprofit is funded in part by tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, as well as tech billionaires like Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

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Poilievre calls for asylum seeker cap, border plan as U.S. tariff threat looms

2024/12/03 Leave a comment

Former minister Kenney used the terms “bogus claimants” vs bonafide, Poilievre uses the term those who lie:

With gridlock in Parliament set to continue, Poilievre said Conservatives “will make accommodations to quickly pass a border plan if it goes towards fixing Trudeau’s broken border.”

He said Canada should also cap the number of asylum seekers as it faces a significant influx in refugee claims.

Canada had nearly 250,000 refugee claims in the queue as of Sept. 30, 2024, having approved more than 33,000 claims between January and the end of September.

In all of 2023, Canada accepted 37,000 refugee claims, and in 2022, it accepted 28,000.

“I love real refugees,” Poilievre said. “Our country was built in large part by real refugees who were genuinely fleeing danger, like my wife. But I have no time for people who lie to come into our country, and that is the problem we have to cut off.”

Source: Poilievre calls for asylum seeker cap, border plan as U.S. tariff threat looms

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Why the House GOP’s big immigration crackdown may be doomed

2024/12/03 Leave a comment

Setting up expectations, dealing with the reality. We shall see:

Republican lawmakers are plotting a major revamp of immigration law and border restrictions, in a bid to deliver on one of President-elect Donald Trump’s signature issues. So far, their odds of going as big as conservatives want are looking bleak.

Despite controlling the House and Senate, the GOP faces major political hurdles down every possible path for enacting the illegal immigration crackdown that was one of their big election promises.

Immigration hardliners and those Republicans who have raised concerns about far-reaching restrictions on asylum or deportations are at odds over just how far to go on border security issues. The GOP will likely have a slim House majority — potentially with no room for error — to pull off immigration changes and will struggle to win over Senate Democrats who could filibuster legislation from the minority. Republicans have a potential procedural tool for sidestepping the filibuster — a process known as budget reconciliation — but it appears that rules governing the maneuver may prevent them from including a big revamp of immigration policy.

“We’re going to need a little time to figure out what shakes out,” said Rep. Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican who has clashed with more hard-line conservatives over the issue. “What does a conference in the House want? What does the conference in the Senate want? What does President Trump want? And then that’s when we have a short window to be able to jam that all through.”

The looming struggle over immigration underscores the huge challenges Republicans face in delivering on their policy promises next year with a narrow margin in the House, the chaotic influence of Trump and internal divides even on issues that otherwise appear to unite the party….

Source: Why the House GOP’s big immigration crackdown may be doomed

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Nicaraguans stripped of citizenship live in limbo, scattered across the world

2024/12/03 Leave a comment

Of note:

Sergio Mena’s life dissolved in hours.

After years resisting President Daniel Ortega, the rural activist fled Nicaragua in 2018, joining thousands of protesters fleeing a yearslong crackdown on dissent.

Mena returned from exile in neighboring Costa Rica in 2021 to continue protesting, only to be thrown in a prison where he said jailers hung prisoners by their feet and shocked them with electricity.

“We were tortured all the time, physically and psychologically, from the moment we arrived until the very last day,” said Mena, 40.

Now in exile in Guatemala, Mena may be out of prison but he’s far from free. Upon their release, he and hundreds of religious leaders, students, activists, dissidents and journalists were rendered “stateless” – stripped of their citizenship, homes and government pensions.

The United Nations says that they’re among 4.4 million stateless people worldwide who struggle to find jobs, education and healthcare or even open bank accounts or marry without valid ID documents.

“Statelessness is torture,” said Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough executive director of United Stateless, a U.S.-based organization advocating for the stateless. “You just legally cease to exist, even if you’re here physically as a human.”

Free but unfree

In September, Ortega’s government loaded Mena and 134 other prisoners onto the flight that took them to Guatemala. They joined 317 others whom the government has deemed adversaries who no longer deserve legal Nicaraguan identities.

The Associated Press spoke to more than 24 Nicaraguan exiles who have been stripped of their citizenship and are trying to chart paths forward. They’re scattered across the United States, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico and Spain in limbo as they struggle to recover from physical and psychological trauma, extending the torture many suffered in Nicaragua.

The Ortega government did not respond to a request for comment by the AP.

The agony of statelessness

The majority of stateless people worldwide are born to refugees and migrants in countries that don’t offer birthright citizenship, the right to become a citizen if you’re born within a country’s territory.

Many Nicaraguans struggle to scrape together enough money to feed themselves. Others hide away in fear that the Nicaraguan government will someday come for them. Many more reel from watching their lives go up in smoke. For those stranded in the U.S. or seeking respite there, President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to crack down on immigration and asylum have added more uncertainty.

Intensifying repression

Ortega’s government began stripping people of their citizenship early last year.

It was in that crackdown that Mena, the member of a rural activist movement, said he was imprisoned. The government claimed that he had participated in drug trafficking and organized crime, which he denies.

In February 2023, the government broke international law when it began sending prisoners to the U.S and most recently to Guatemala. Others in exile were stripped of their citizenship without ever having been jailed.

Torment beyond borders

The Nicaraguan government has not explained why it released Mena and other people from prison, although experts have speculated about the desire to duck international criticism and the costs involved while continuing to maintain a grip on enemies.

Mena lives in a hotel in Guatemala City, where he flips through photos of a crumbling jail, scraps of food and his bruised, beaten body – indelible memories of more than two years in prison. His life is painted by constant fear.

“The tentacles of (the Nicaraguan government) still reach here,” he said with tears in his eyes.

The Biden administration has offered the Nicaraguans temporary protections and Mena hopes the U.S. government will grant him asylum, but such protections are likely to vanish or be severely restricted under Trump. The Spanish government has offered to provide nationality to some of the stateless exiles, but few have the resources needed to build a new life in Spain, or are confused about the process.

Source: Nicaraguans stripped of citizenship live in limbo, scattered across the world

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Watt | The border wake-up call is ringing — bring on the drones, helicopters and patrols

2024/12/02 Leave a comment

Just as there is a risk in understating the expected income, there is a similar risk in overstating, as some premiers and commentators have done. But the times provide an opportunity to fix some of the things that need fixing from a Canadian perspective, recognizing that some is substantive and some performative:

…Because for all the supposed people or illicit goods that might flow between our borders, America can handle our “problem,” our traffic — we, on the other hand, cannot even begin to dream of sufficiently handling a mass influx of migrants across our border and into our cities.

We don’t have the resources, space, or public appetite. Moreover, right now, we don’t have clear and focused public discourse on this issue.

We don’t need a sober “reality check” when it comes to this debate. What should be — but evidently is not — abundantly clear to our political class is that Donald Trump will say anything — fact or fiction — to improve his bargaining position and get his way. What we need is a strong plan to reinforce our border. Because that is the only way to prepare and do what we need to do — kill two birds with one stone.

First, to show Trump we’re making progress on a critical political priority for his administration: border security. Second, to prepare for the potential influx of migrants that will look to head to Canada the minute he takes office.

That plan should consist of more drones, helicopters and patrols as the RCMP and our border agency has asked for — but it also must include stricter punishments for the phoney, unauthorized immigration consultants and human traffickers that prey on people’s lives and livelihoods.

Borders are lines in the sand. Symbolic by nature. That’s precisely why they’re such fertile ground for politicians to grandstand, to deceive, to promise then, let down.

It’s also why reinforcing them with action, not words, is what the Canadian public must demand.

Source: Opinion | The border wake-up call is ringing — bring on the drones, helicopters and patrols

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Ibbitson: Sir John A. Macdonald & The Apocalyptic Year 1885 places the former PM’s many imperfections within the context of the times

2024/12/02 Leave a comment

Of note. The importance of historical context:

…First Nations in the West were starving in the 1870s and 80s. The bison on which they depended had been hunted almost to extinction. Many native people fled into Canada to escape a hostile American government that provided no aid.

Macdonald, Dutil demonstrates, did everything in his power to prevent starvation, making himself minister of Indian affairs to co-ordinate relief efforts. He provided supplies and instructors to encourage Indigenous farming and offered rations to thousands in need.

“The whole theory of supplying the Indians is that we must prevent them from starving,” Macdonald declared. Spending on relief efforts became one of the largest items in the federal budget – twice what was spent on agriculture, immigration, penitentiaries or the post office.

“There is no evidence that food was withheld to kill Indigenous people, as some would charge 150 years later,” Dutil concludes. The very opposite is true: “Even with the financial crash in the fall of 1883 and the economy in deep depression, Macdonald spent aggressively on food.” His government was harshly criticized by the Liberal opposition for what that party considered lavish overspending on First Nations relief.

The Macdonald government initiated the infamous residential-school system. There is no question that the prime minister sought to assimilate First Nations within the settler culture. There is also no question that this attitude enjoyed near-unanimous support among non-Indigenous Canadians. Macdonald and his peers believed assimilation offered the most hopeful future for the first peoples.

“Canada joined the rest of the American hemisphere as it opened a shameful chapter in its history, despite its good intentions,” Dutil writes….

Source: Sir John A. Macdonald & The Apocalyptic Year 1885 places the former PM’s many imperfections within the context of the times

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Although Canada’s U.S. border has one unlawful crossing for every 10 at the Mexico-U.S. border, our crossings have nearly doubled in the last two years 

2024/12/02 Leave a comment

Some useful data that helps understand USA concerns and provides shared incentives for better managing the border.

…While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not yet committed to a plan for increasing Canadian border security, Quebec’s Premier François Legault has called for one.“I think now’s not the time to play at whether it’s true or not that our borders are not secure. I think it’s important that a plan be tabled,” Premier Legault told reporters.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Trump’s concerns with the U.S.-Canada borders are well founded. Her government may be sending law enforcement to the province’s shared border with Montana to develop a “specialized border patrol.”“Saying we’re not as bad as [Mexico] is not going to fly in this case,” Premier Smith told CTV News.

“Saying we’re not as bad as [Mexico] is not going to fly in this case,” Premier Smith told CTV News.

Border crossings 

In fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024), the number of U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) encounters at America’s northern border with Canada was nearly 200,000. Those at the U.S. border with Mexico, meanwhile, were 2.1 million.

There were just over 10 U.S. Border Patrol encounters along the Mexico-U.S. border for every one encounter along the Canada-U.S. border.

Encounters occur when the USBP locates individuals attempting to enter the country, either illegally between border posts or at official crossings without necessary paperwork like visas. It also includes those turned away because of public health rules, such as those put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 2022 and 2024, USBP encounters at the U.S.-Canada border nearly doubled, increasing 81 percent. Meanwhile, those at the Mexican border declined by 10 percent.

At both borders, single adults are the vast majority of those attempting to enter the U.S. At the U.S.-Canada border in 2022, single people numbered 92,737 or 84 percent of all USBP encounters. In 2024 they numbered 155,214 or 78 percent.

Families attempting to enter the U.S. unlawfully have increased remarkably.

At the Mexico-U.S. border, between 2022 and 2024, families rose from 23 to 41 percent of USBP encounters. At the Canadian border in 2022, they were just 13 percent of all encounters. This year they rose to 21 percent.

Who’s coming?

What’s also increased is both individuals and families travelling first to Canada, with the ultimate plan of making it across our southern border to the United States.

“When you see that, increasingly, the open border policies of Justin Trudeau [are] leading to people coming to Canada as a staging area to enter into the United States, to such a point that it has caught [the United States’] attention, we need to address those issues,” said Premier Smith this week.

The increase of USBP encounters at the northern U.S. border, compared to those in the U.S. south, gives some weight to this idea that migrants are increasingly using Canada’s less defended border as a first step to illegally enter the U.S.

As U.S.-Mexico border security has become tighter, human smugglers have increasingly advised clients to travel to the U.S. through the U.S.-Canada border, according to CBC reporting. Taxis services to drive migrants to New York City have reportedly boomed in New York State border towns.

In 2023, Indians were the single largest national group for attempts to cross the Canada-U.S. border, numbering 30,000.

From 2022 to 2023, USBC encounters with Venezuelans along our border increased the most relatively, from 201 to 1,375; followed by Peruvians from 148 to 662; and Mexicans from 3,221 to 11,121. Each relative increase was remarkably higher compared to those at the Mexico-U.S. border.

Other Central and South American nationals like Nicaraguans, Colombians, and Brazilians–whose countries are said to be facing a migration crisis–top the list for 2022 to 2023’s increased USBP encounters at the Canada-U.S. border. In 2023, encounters with Mexican, Nicaraguan, and Brazilian nationals at the Mexico-U.S. border actually declined, as those at Canada’s border rose remarkably.

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Canada’s U.S. border presently represents an “extreme national security” vulnerability for his country….

Source: Although Canada’s U.S. border has one unlawful crossing for every 10 at the Mexico-U.S. border, our crossings have nearly doubled in the last two years

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