Les crimes haineux bondissent au Québec

2016/08/20 Leave a comment

In addition to the annular StatsCan reports (see 2013 Hate Crimes Statistics), Quebec publishes its own reports, showing a significant increase in 2014 (the year after the proposed Quebec Values Charter was introduced and debated):

Graffitis nazis sur une synagogue, tête de porc devant une mosquée, homosexuels agressés : plus de 250 crimes haineux ont été commis au Québec en 2014, dont près d’une centaine à Montréal. En un an, les crimes ciblant un groupe religieux ont doublé dans la province.

Les communautés juive et musulmane sont préoccupées par le phénomène, mais n’observent pas de flambée sur le terrain.

Le nombre de crimes haineux perpétrés au Québec était relativement stable dans les dernières années, et même en baisse au Canada. Or, 257 délits haineux ont été rapportés en 2014, un bond de 39 % par rapport à l’année précédente, a révélé le ministère de la Sécurité publique (MSP) dans un volumineux document rendu public lors de l’étude des crédits, en avril dernier. Depuis 2010, il n’y avait jamais eu plus de 200 crimes haineux pendant une année.

Crimes haineux au Québec par année civile

  • 2010: 198
  • 2011: 167
  • 2012: 175
  • 2013: 185
  • 2014: 257

Cette récente augmentation est « majoritairement attribuable à la hausse des délits motivés par la haine contre certaines religions », selon le MSP. En effet, ces crimes ont doublé entre 2013 et 2014 (48 contre 94). D’autre part, 80 crimes étaient guidés par la haine contre la « race ou l’ethnie » et 27 par l’orientation sexuelle de la personne. Le Ministère prévient toutefois qu’une « grande prudence est de mise dans l’interprétation des données […] considérant qu’il est parfois complexe d’établir le caractère haineux d’un délit ». Les données de 2015 n’ont pas été compilées.

 À Montréal, 113 crimes haineux ont été répertoriés l’an dernier, une hausse de 24 % en un an. Pourtant, au moment de présenter la nouvelle escouade vouée aux crimes et incidents haineux, en mai dernier, le chef Philippe Pichet évoquait plutôt une moyenne d’environ 70 crimes haineux chaque année dans la métropole. Il avait aussi spécifié que le phénomène n’était pas en hausse.

«  [70 crimes], c’est une moyenne sur 10 ans. En effet, dans les trois dernières années, il y a eu une augmentation », précise Fady Dagher, directeur adjoint du Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) en entrevue avec La Presse. « On va analyser d’où vient cette augmentation en y allant cas par cas. » (voir autre onglet)

Source: Les crimes haineux bondissent au Québec | Louis-Samuel Perron | National

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Quebec opposition MNAs reopen divisive debate over religious attire with call for ban on burkinis

2016/08/20 2 Comments

Sigh. Here we go again:

It was just two years ago that Quebec was tearing itself apart over proposed restrictions on religious attire as the Parti Québécois government of Pauline Marois sought to ride its Charter of Values to reelection.

The PQ lost the 2014 election, but the resulting social wounds were deep. A new study by Quebec researchers in the scientific journal Transcultural Psychiatry surveyed university students and found the Charter was associated with “a shift from a predominantly positive perception of intercommunity relations to a predominantly negative one, particularly among women, immigrants and … cultural or religious minorities.”

You might think that having assessed the damage, Quebec politicians would be cautious about reopening the debate. But for the opposition Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) and one prominent contender for the Parti Québécois leadership, the temptation to score votes on the backs of minorities is apparently too strong.

As a growing number of municipalities in France moves to ban the burkini, a full-body swimsuit worn by some Muslim women, it was a matter of time before the question arose in Quebec.

On Wednesday, the CAQ called on the provincial government to ban the body-covering garment. Nathalie Roy, CAQ critic for secularism, called the burkini an instrument of oppression of women and urged the Liberal government to examine ways to outlaw it as well as other body-covering Muslim garments.

Speaking to 98.5 FM host Paul Arcand Thursday, Roy said she realizes there are few if any burkinis worn on Quebec’s beaches and in its pools. (The Journal de Montréal ran two columns and a news story on the issue Thursday, all of them illustrated with photos from overseas.)

But that is beside the point, Roy said.

“It’s the symbolism,” she said. “It’s a symbol of radical Islam, a radical Islam that is trying to take root in Quebec.” Other politicians are too “politically correct” to confront the issue, she said.

Not the PQ’s Jean-François Lisée, one of the architects of the Charter of Values. On his Facebook page, Lisée called for a debate on the prohibition of burkinis, burkas and niqabs, leaving little doubt where he stands on the question.

“If our society tolerates in the public place this obvious manifestation of the oppression of women, it confirms that this oppression is acceptable and accepted,” he wrote.

Lisée, who is seeking to replace Pierre Karl Péladeau as PQ leader, also argued that burkas should be banned on security grounds.

“We have a declared enemy, the Islamic State, which recruits people here to set bombs,” he wrote. “Our only choice is to debate the prohibition of the burka BEFORE a jihadi uses one to hide his movements for an attack, or AFTER.”

Liberal House Leader Jean-Marc Fournier accused the CAQ and Lisée of practicing a “fearful nationalism of exclusion.” He said it is reasonable to require people to have uncovered faces to give and receive government services, as the government proposes in a bill currently before the legislature. But anything more, he said, is a recipe for isolating minorities.

“It has been said that the state has no place in people’s bedrooms. It has no place in their wardrobes either,” Fournier said.

The CAQ and PQ, tied for the lead among francophone voters in the latest CROP poll, are battling for predominance on the so-called Quebec identity issue. They claim to be seeking to protect the French language and state secularism, but the effect of the discourse is to create a divide between the majority of white francophones and the province’s minorities.

The study in Transcultural Psychiatry suggests a revival of the debate could be damaging. Nearly one-third of the 441 students the researchers surveyed reported having experienced or witnessed an act of religious or ethnic discrimination in the months after the PQ introduced its Charter.

The Charter’s portrayal of such religious symbols as the hijab and kippa as threats to Quebec values contributed to flare-ups of discrimination, the authors, led by psychology professor Ghayda Hassan of the Université du Québec à Montréal, concluded.

“This is how ordinary violence insinuates itself into the very midst of normal life, taking a variety of subtle forms,” they wrote.

Studies around the world have shown that discrimination and tensions around religious and ethnic identity are harmful to youth mental health, and Quebec is no exception, they concluded: “Clearly, building a foundation for living together in harmony from which both immigrants and the host society would benefit still represents a major challenge for present-day Quebec.”

Telling women what to wear at the beach is not going to help.

Source: National Post

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Ottawa’s new air-travel rule catches dual citizens by surprise

2016/08/19 2 Comments

While I have some sympathy for those taken by surprise if this change was not adequately communicated in advance, I have little for the substantive nature of some of the complaints mentioned in the article.

There were and are sound policy and program reasons for this requirement, linked to the eTA.

Tellingly, all those quoted come from dual citizens from the UK or Australia, although this situation would likely apply to most dual citizens from countries that Canada does not require a visa.

Dual citizens who come from developing countries, many of whom do not formally allow for dual citizenship and thus who have to travel back to their country of origin on that country’s passport, generally use their Canadian passport to return to Canada as airlines only accept passports as reliable proof of citizenship:

Canadian citizens with dual citizenships will soon be allowed to fly into the country only if they have a Canadian passport.

The policy will come into effect Sept. 30 as a final phase of Canada’s move to an electronic screening system to step up border security and boost exit control of travellers, including Canadians on government benefits.

The upcoming requirement has caught many by surprise calling the practice “discriminatory” against dual citizens and a money grab, and is expected to create havoc as travellers with dual Canadian citizenships may find out only at the last minute when trying to board on a flight.

“What is changing is that the Government of Canada is implementing a new electronic system to assist airlines in verifying that all travellers have the appropriate documents to travel to or transit through Canada by air,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Lindsay Wemp told the Star.

“Air carriers are obligated by law to confirm that all persons seeking to travel to Canada carry both proof of citizenship and proof of identity. A valid Canadian passport satisfies these requirements for Canadian citizens, and is the only acceptable travel document for the purpose of air travel.”

Currently, Canadian citizens with dual citizenships can use the passport of the other country to enter Canada by air if they can provide proofs of residency in Canada, such as a driver’s licence and Canadian citizenship card.

According to the 2011 Census, at least 2.9 per cent of Canadians — 944,700 people — had multiple citizenships; the most frequently reported other citizenships were the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Poland.

Ottawa rolled out the electronic travel authorization, or eTA, system last year, requiring air passengers — including all applicants for study and work permits, as well as those from countries that currently do not require a visa to come to Canada — to submit their biographic, passport and other personal information through the immigration department website for prescreening or face being denied entry. American citizens are exempted.

 However, Canadian citizens will be ineligible for eTA of Sept. 30, because they will be expected to carry their Canadian passports which, by default, bar dual citizens from using the passport of the other country to return to Canada. What baffles several observers about the new rule is that it only applies to air passengers.

“This proposed policy change is discriminatory to dual citizens and for the life of me, I cannot see why it is necessary. It would appear to be a money grab with no benefit and huge inconvenience for any of us who live overseas,” said Craig Campbell, 60, who was born to a military family in Manitoba and is a dual Canadian-Australian citizen.

“There is time to fix this appalling discriminatory policy. I served the country of my birth as did my father, uncles, aunts and grandfather before me. This is simply a shameful way to treat one very small category of proud Canadians for no discernible benefit to the country.”

Calgary-born Carey Du Gray, 45, who has lived in the U.K. since 2009, said he only found out about the new requirement when he was trying to book travel two weeks ago to fly home in October.

“My daughters were born in the U.K., but they are Canadian citizens. They would not be able to travel to Canada using their British passports. What lunacy, eh?” asked Du Gray, a fundraising consultant based in London.

“What followed was a 48-hour scramble to get all of the documentation and photos together. The guidance on the (Canadian) website said they were taking up to 40 business days to process new passport applications on account of the flood of them that are coming in ahead of the policy change.”

Canadian expatriate Sandi Logan, who worked in the Australian immigration department, said the requirement on dual citizens’ travel just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s bad policy on so many fronts. It discriminates against dual citizens of Canada for starters. It discriminates against dual citizens of Canada flying into any Canadian port, as opposed to arriving by sea or land,” said Logan, 59, who was born and raised in Toronto before settling in Australia in 1980.

“From my vast bureaucratic experience in the public service, it has all of the hallmarks of being a simple revenue grab masked as ‘border security,’ with no discernible impact on safe and stronger borders.”

Source: Ottawa’s new air-travel rule catches dual citizens by surprise | Toronto Star

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Stigma, shame behind ethnic delays in seeking help for mental illness

2016/08/19 Leave a comment

Not the first study that I have seen but appears to be one of the more comprehensive.

Noteworthy in that it applies to both first and second-generation immigrants:

Chinese and South Asian patients experience more severe mental health problems by the time they seek professional help, says a new study that looked at severity of psychotic symptoms and ethnicity.

“When compared to patients from other populations, Chinese and South Asian patients were on average much sicker by the time they got to hospital,” said Dr. Maria Chiu, lead author of the study, “Ethnic Differences in Mental Health Severity,” to be released Wednesday.

“Cultural factors play a big role in these findings. While Asian people tend to have stronger family support, they are also faced with a higher level of stigma and it prevents people from seeking help early. Families may try to cope and keep the illness within the family until there is no choice but to go to hospital.”

Based on the Ontario Mental Health Reporting System database, researchers with Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences examined information on more than 133,000 patients — including 2,582 Chinese and 2,452 South Asians — hospitalized for psychiatric conditions, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, between 2006 and 2014.

Chinese and South Asian patients represented 2 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively of the in-patient population in the study, while they respectively account for 5.6 per cent and 7.9 per cent of the overall Ontario population.

Researchers assessed the severity of the subject groups based on four measures: if they were admitted to hospital voluntarily, whether they demonstrated aggressive behaviour, and the number and frequency of psychotic symptoms (hallucinations, delusions and abnormal thought process) they presented.

The study found that involuntary admissions were significantly more common among Chinese (67.1 per cent) and South Asian (59.7 per cent) patients than among the general population (46 per cent).

Both groups were also more likely to demonstrate aggressive behaviour at 20.4 per cent for Chinese and 16.3 per cent for South Asian patients, compared to just 14 per cent among other patients.

Patients from these two groups were also significantly younger than other populations being hospitalized and were more likely to experience multiple psychotic symptoms (55 per cent of Chinese versus 49 per cent of South Asian patients versus 38 per cent of other populations.)

Although immigration experience has often been linked to stress and mental health challenges, the study found both immigrants and Canadian-born patients of Chinese and South Asian descent shared similar illness severity when admitted to hospital.

“We need to consider Chinese or South Asian ethnicity, independent of immigration and diagnosis, as an important determinant of multiple dimensions of illness severity,” said the study published in the August edition of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

The report suggests Chinese and South Asian communities may be more reluctant to seek help due to shame and stigma as well as cultural differences in the recognition and conceptualization of mental illness and mental health care.

Those challenges, it said, can be further compounded by language barriers and culturally insensitive health services.

“The longer mental illness goes without treatment, the more difficult it can be to get people back on track,” said Dr. Paul Kurdyak, psychiatrist and researcher with CAMH’s mental health policy research and lead scientist for the ICES mental health and addictions research program.

“This study highlights that ethnicity and culture are factors that should be considered when developing outreach strategies and treatment approaches, particularly at earlier stages before a patient’s illness worsens and hospitalization becomes necessary.”

Source: Stigma, shame behind ethnic delays in seeking help for mental illness | Toronto Star

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Terry Glavin: Canada’s servile relationship with China | National Post

2016/08/19 Leave a comment

In Glavin’s diatribe against previous and current governments efforts to strengthen ties with China, some valid observations and concerns with respect to immigration policies and programs:

….Canadians were similarly hoodwinked by the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP). Begun by Conservative free trader Brian Mulroney and conceived mainly as a way to lure thousands of jittery cash-rich Hong Kong entrepreneurs to Canada, the IIP ended up as the primary means by which Canadian real estate became a favoured bolthole for all the money being spirited out of the People’s Republic. As the country descends deeper into the abyss, Chinese banks were drained of nearly a trillion dollars in illegal money transfers last year alone.

The IIP had to be folded up by the Harper Conservatives after it became clear — and as it took the South China Morning Post’s Ian Young to reveal — that Canada’s ragged refugee-class immigrants had contributed more to Revenue Canada than the IIP’s big-spender immigrant investors did over the life of the program. Now, in an inter-provincial ripoff far more outrageous than any of those “equalization payment” uproars between “have” and “have-not” provinces that have erupted from time to time, the Quebec government has taken over the immigrant-investor racket. Quebec scoops up an $800,000 loan from every IIP arrival – roughly 2,000 “investors” annually — nine out of 10 of whom then immediately get back on a plane and fly elsewhere, mainly Vancouver.

The B.C. treasury gets nothing out of this — and the B.C. government’s recent 15-per-cent sales tax imposition on properties bought by foreign nationals isn’t expected to change a thing. What Vancouverites have gotten out of this is one of the world’s least affordable cities, bitterly divided against itself. Average house prices in Metro Vancouver have nearly tripled over the past 15 years. Home ownership for working families is a thing of the past.

Now we’re being sold on a Chinese version of the temporary foreign worker program. Conceived as a short-term remedy to the occasional ailment of acute labour shortages in key industries, the indentured-labour service had to be dismantled by the Conservatives owing to its inevitably scandalous abuse by disreputable employers. By 2012, there were 338,000 temporary foreign workers in Canada. Last year the number was down to about 90,000. Now, McCallum is championing a ramped up, Beijing-vetted version. You would not be unwise to wager that this will not end well.

Source: Terry Glavin: Canada’s servile relationship with China | National Post

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Canada wants more Chinese workers, students and tourists, says immigration minister: Encouraging settlement outside of Vancouver, Toronto 

2016/08/19 Leave a comment

While there has been some increased immigration to smaller centres recently, the vast majority still go to major urban centres given that is where the jobs and support networks are.

And, given the mobility rights of the Charter, those that settle in smaller centres or regions are free to resettle elsewhere if circumstances or opportunities dictate:

In today’s scrum, reporters asked what the Liberal government would do to make sure its immigration push didn’t put more pressure on hot housing markets.

McCallum said the government’s intention is to encourage immigrants to settle outside of Vancouver and Toronto.

“We would like to spread the immigrants across the country relatively evenly,” said McCallum.

“The last thing we want is every immigrant goes to either Toronto or Vancouver.”

McCallum said he’s hearing appetite for more immigration at his consultation sessions across Canada, especially in the Maritimes with an aging population.

“There’s a significant feeling that Canada does need more immigrants, partly because we have an aging population, and so we need more young blood to keep our economies going.”

But McCallum admitted the government can’t require immigrants to live in certain places, as Quebec’s immigrant investor program has shown.

“That is against the Constitution of Canada. If they are permanent residents, we cannot require them to stay anywhere. They have the right to live anywhere in Canada they wish to live.”

Source: Canada wants more Chinese workers, students and tourists, says immigration minister – British Columbia – CBC News

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Trump is right about radical Islam: Raheel Raza

2016/08/19 Leave a comment

Raheel Raza on Trump.

I fail to see how she finds his way of “sparking a conversation” actually furthers efforts to reduce radicalization.

Ironically, the one moderate Muslim that Trump did put on stage was Khizr Khan but at the Democratic Convention, who demonstrated better what a moderate Muslim is than this commentary by Raza:

When First Lady Michelle Obama took up the plight of 276 schoolgirls kidnapped by radical Islamists Boko Haram, with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, I thanked her. When President Obama called female genital mutilation “a tradition that is barbaric and should be eliminated,” I thanked him. And now that Trump has made the issues that we moderate Muslims care about front-page news, I must do what is right for my faith and for my calling. I must do what is right for my long-suffering Muslim sisters and say — without an asterisk this time — that Trump is right: for sparking a conversation about radical Islam.

Because until we really do #BringBackOurGirls, until 500,000 girls in America are no longer victims of genital mutilation or at risk of it, until we stop radical Islamists from killing us for being open, tolerant and liberal, we must continue the conversation that Trump has helped bring to every news broadcast, water cooler and dinner table around the world.

Now it’s time for Mr. Trump to step up and put moderate Muslims on stage, to amplify our voices and make our issues part of the conversation. Because we moderate Muslims are the solution to the problem of radical Islam.

Source: Trump is right about radical Islam: Raheel Raza

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Liberal appeal for expat donations offends those still barred from voting

2016/08/18 Leave a comment

Not the brightest move given the inevitable backlash from some. For my analysis of expatriate voting, see my earlier What should expatriates’ voting rights be? – Policy Options:

An appeal by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Canadians living abroad for donations to the Liberal party has struck a sour note with disenfranchised long-term expats.

The cash solicitation on Trudeau’s Facebook page calls on Canadians living abroad to be part of “Canada’s most open and progressive movement,” and says under a picture of the prime minister that “your donations help fuel our party.”

Various comments reflect the displeasure of those unable to vote in federal elections because of a law — only enforced by the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper — that strips voting rights from those who have lived outside Canada for more than five years.

“Asking for my donation after removing my right to vote is just offensive,” wrote Ian Doig, who lives in Houston.

Another commenter, Angus McGillicuddy, offered a similar sentiment.

“Not going to waste my money until our constitutionally guaranteed right to vote is restored,” McGillicuddy said.

The disenfranchising of an estimated 1.4 million long-term expats has been a running legal battle since Canadians abroad found they could not vote in the 2011 election. While the rules were first enacted in 1993, they had not been enforced until then.

Two Canadians living in the U.S. went to court to argue the relevant parts of the Canada Elections Act were unconstitutional.

In May 2014, an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled in their favour. However, the Harper government appealed on the grounds that it would be unfair to resident Canadians to allow those abroad to elect lawmakers. Ontario’s top court sided with the government. The Supreme Court of Canada is slated to hear the expats’ appeal of that decision in February.

“Canadians living abroad should be able to vote with more than their pocketbooks,” Gillian Frank, one of those who launched the constitutional challenge, told The Canadian Press.

The voting issue became a flashpoint for many expat Canadians during last year’s election that propelled Trudeau to office. He has since indicated a willingness to review the ban, and a spokesman has said the government believes “more Canadians should have the right to vote, not the opposite.”

However, nothing has changed and the Supreme Court case remains pending.

“You have some gall asking for expats’ money when you’ve done nothing to restore our vote, despite promises during the election by your members that you would rectify the situation,” Kate Tsoukalas wrote in a post.

Source: Liberal appeal for expat donations offends those still barred from voting – The Globe and Mail

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Teacher lobbying for Ontario schools to eliminate racist team names, mascots

2016/08/18 Leave a comment

Recognition that names and related stereotypes matter:

The Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians and Chicago Blackhawks are just a few of the teams that have come under fire for cultural appropriation south of the border. A Brampton teacher is now leading the charge to try to get rid of racist stereotypes among sports teams closer to home.

Debbie White, who has family ties to Magnetawan First Nation, Henvey Inlet First Nation and Manitoulin Island, said she wants cultural appropriation to stop being promoted in schools through sports team names, logos and mascots, calling it disrespectful.

The resource teacher, who helps students in kindergarten through Grade 5 in the Peel District School Board, is putting forth a motion Wednesday at the Elementary Teachers’ Association of Ontario annual meeting in Toronto. She hopes to get teachers from across the province on board.

“The more that we are vocal and speak out and lobby school boards to address that issue… then that mushrooms out to the community teams. So if it’s in the newspaper that Peel’s changing their (team) names, the community teams are going to start to look at that, and then perhaps in a larger picture, the national teams,” said White.

White’s motion urges ETFO to “lobby all district school boards to stop promoting stereotypical representation of aboriginal people including team names and mascots.” It’s one of 147 motions on the docket and she hopes it makes it to the floor, despite the packed schedule for the four-day conference.

Two schools from her district — Port Credit Secondary School in Mississauga and Chinguacousy Secondary School in Brampton — recently promised changes to their sports teams’ names and logos, after an indigenous advisory committee deemed them disrespectful.

Chinguacousy finalized changes to their team name and logo last week. The team formerly known as the Chiefs is now going by the Timberwolves. The maximum cost of their re-branding effort — which included getting a new logo, jerseys and sports tents for games — was $20,000, said Brian Woodland, a spokesman for the school board.

Port Credit is keeping its team name, the Warriors, but changing its logo — which was similar to the Chicago Blackhawks’ logo — and removing feathers painted on the gym floor. The advisory committee said they were fine with the Warriors’ name, but didn’t approve of the name being paired with designs that included sacred aboriginal symbols, Woodland said.

 Using symbols like headdresses and feathers out of context is troubling, said White.

“It’s about the context and it’s also about (the fact) that it’s not related to the team itself,” she explained. “If I were to look at First Nation teams … they have names that would be considered stereotypical, but it’s relevant or in context to who they are.”

Concerned parent, Brad Gallant, launched a human rights complaint against the City of Mississauga in the spring, over their financial support of sports teams with names and logos he deemed offensive to indigenous people.

There were five teams cited by Gallant: the Mississauga Braves, Mississauga Chiefs, Lorne Park Ojibwa, Meadowvale Mohawks and Mississauga Reps. The Lorne Park Ojibwa have since changed their name to the Lorne Park Wild. Gallant’s case is set to be heard in November.

Gallant, who is Mi’kmaq, welcomed White’s motion to stop schools from promoting racist stereotypes, but he doesn’t think lobbying should be necessary — schools should know to stop appropriating, he said.

Source: Teacher lobbying for Ontario schools to eliminate racist team names, mascots | Toronto Star

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What’s suddenly luring Brexit-hit Britons? Estonia’s digital citizenship for anyone | ZDNet

2016/08/18 Leave a comment

Interesting – residence-free business facilitation status:

The concept of Estonian e-residency emerged two years ago as a transnational digital identity, available to anyone in the world interested in administering a location-independent business online.

Applicants for e-residency are fingerprinted and background-checked by the Estonian state. Once approved, the new e-resident is issued an electronic ID card which, in combination with a four-digit pin, can be used for secure digital identification.

E-resident entrepreneurs and freelancers can open and run location-independent businesses online, apply for a bank account and conduct e-banking, get access to international payment service providers, declare taxes, sign all relevant documents and contracts remotely with the same legal status as handwritten ones, and gain easier access to EU markets.

At the same time e-residency does not confer citizenship, tax residency, residence or right of entry to Estonia or to the EU.

In the beginning of August, Estonian e-residency had altogether 12,480 applicants, with 568, or a little less than five percent from the UK.

Korjus believes that the interest will grow in time, especially when the Brexit processes approach their final stages.

 With crowds of new e-citizens and hundreds of new companies, Estonia’s e-residency project has exceeded expectations in its first year.

“It all depends on what specific decisions and agreements are made as to the results of the referendum. Today there are still a lot of loose ends. We believe that e-residency will become the main tool for the British to continue their businesses in the EU. It’s wise for an international company to keep at least one body in the EU, and Estonian e-residency is the cheapest and most convenient way to do it,” he says.

Source: What’s suddenly luring Brexit-hit Britons? Estonia’s digital citizenship for anyone | ZDNet

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