Petition e-4511: Opposing self-administration of the citizenship oath (“citizenship on a click”)

2023/07/13 Leave a comment

As readers are aware, the Government has proposed allowing the oath of citizenship to be self-administered rather than in front of other new and existing Canadians as it currently the practice. 

In my view, this seriously diminishes the meaning and impact of citizenship and the ceremonies, a rare positive celebratory moment in the immigration journey. 

Opposition to the change has been voiced by former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, former minister of immigration Sergio Marchi, former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi and a number of former citizenship judges. The Conservatives opposed the change in Parliament. 

And of the nearly 700 comments on the notice during the consultation period. Of them, two-thirds disapproved (A one-click citizenship oath isn’t the way to go provides the details).

Most new Canadians find the ceremony to be a major moment for them and their families, marking an end to their immigration journey and strengthening their sense of belonging to Canada.

I initiated this petition to ensure that this weakening of the citizenship ceremony and meaning does not pass unnoticed and hopefully, with enough signatures, will prompt the government to reconsider.

Please consider signing the petition and encouraging family, friends, colleagues and social networks to sign the petition. We need at least 500 signatures in order for the petition to be presented to the House.

Link: https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4511 

Thanks, Andrew

Text of petition below:

Petition to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Whereas:

  • The government has published a notice in the Canada Gazette permitting self-administration of the citizenship oath;
  • Affirming the Oath of Citizenship in the presence of other new Canadians was the will of Parliament when the original Citizenship Act was approved by Parliament in 1947 and has been central to citizenship since Canadian citizenship ever since;
  • One of the fundamental objectives of the citizenship program is “to enhance the meaning of citizenship as a unifying bond for Canadians;”
  • Citizenship ceremonies mark the end of an often lengthy and difficult immigration journey and provide a unique celebratory moment for new and existing Canadians;
  • Most citizenship ceremonies should be in-person rather than virtual given their greater impact on new Canadians;
  • The stated cost and time savings in the notice are unlikely to be realized and are minimal in relation to total processing time and overall cost of the citizenship program; and
  • Two-thirds of submissions opposed the proposed change.

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to: 

1. Abandon plans to permit self-administration of the citizenship oath;

2. Revert to in-person ceremonies as the default, with virtual ceremonies limited to 10 percent of all ceremonies;

3. Focus on administration and processing efficiencies prior to citizenship ceremonies, where most frustrations are; and

4. Explore evening and weekend ceremonies to improve accessibility along with more flexible scheduling management.

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with ,

The Global Immigration Backlash

2023/07/13 Leave a comment

Of note. Canada still the exception in terms of public support:

The global migration wave of the 21st century has little precedent. In much of North America, Europe and Oceania, the share of population that is foreign-born is at or near its highest level on record.

In the U.S., that share is approaching the previous high of 15 percent, reached in 1890. In some other countries, the immigration increases have been even steeper in the past two decades:

Foreign-born population share by country from 1960 to 2020

Charts showing the increase in the share of each country’s ­­— Australia, the U.S., Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlands and France — population that is foreign-born.

This scale of immigration tends to be unpopular with residents of the arrival countries. Illegal immigration is especially unpopular because it feeds a sense that a country’s laws don’t matter. But large amounts of legal immigration also bother many voters. Lower-income and blue-collar workers often worry that their wages will decline because employers suddenly have a larger, cheaper labor pool from which to hire.

As Tom Fairless, a Wall Street Journal reporter, wrote a few days ago:

Record immigration to affluent countries is sparking bigger backlashes across the world, boosting populist parties and putting pressure on governments to tighten policies to stem the migration wave. …

The backlashes repeat a long cycle in immigration policy, experts say. Businesses constantly lobby for more liberal immigration laws because that reduces their labor costs and boosts profits. They draw support from pro-business politicians on the right and pro-integration leaders on the left, leading to immigration policies that are more liberal than the average voter wants.

The political left in both Europe and the U.S. has struggled to come up with a response to these developments. Instead, many progressives have dismissed immigration concerns as merely a reflection of bigotry that needs to be defeated. And opposition to immigration is frequently infused with racism: Right-wing leaders like Marine Le Pen in France traffic in hateful stereotypes about immigrants. Some, like Donald Trump, tell outright lies.

But favoring lower levels of immigration is not inherently bigoted or always right-wing. The most prosperous large countries in Africa, Asia and South America tend to have much smaller foreign-born shares of their population. Japan and South Korea make it particularly difficult for foreigners to enter.

Foreign-born population share in 2020

Chart showing the foreign-born population share in 2020 for select countries in Africa, South America and Asia, compared with the U.S., Europe and global shares.

In earlier eras, the political left in the U.S. included many figures who worried about the effects of large-scale immigration. Both labor leaders and civil-rights leaders, for example, argued for moderate levels of immigration to protect the interests of vulnerable workers.

“There is a reason why Wall Street and all of corporate America likes immigration reform, and it is not, in my view, that they’re staying up nights worrying about undocumented workers in this country,” Bernie Sanders said in 2015. “What I think they are interested in is seeing a process by which we can bring low-wage labor of all levels into this country to depress wages for Americans, and I strongly disagree with that.”

Today, though, many progressives are uncomfortable with any immigration-skeptical argument. They have become passionate advocates of more migration and global integration, arguing — correctly — that immigrants usually benefit by moving from a lower-wage country to a higher-wage country. But immigration is not a free lunch any more than free trade is. It also has costs, including its burden on social services, as some local leaders, like Mayor Eric Adams of New York and officials in South Texas, have recently emphasized.

With today’s left-leaning and centrist parties largely accepting of high levels of immigration, right-wing parties have become attractive to many voters who favor less immigration. The issue has fueled the rise of far-right nationalist parties in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland and elsewhere, as Jason Horowitz of The Times explained in a recent article. Jason focuses on Spain, another country where the anti-immigration party is growing.

The latest case study is the Netherlands. The governing coalition there collapsed on Friday after centrist parties refused to accept part of the conservative prime minister’s plan to reduce migration. Rather than alter his plan, the prime minister, Mark Rutte, dissolved the government, setting up an election this fall.

Rutte, notably, is not a member of the far right. He is a mainstream Dutch conservative who has tried to marginalize the country’s extremist anti-immigrant party. Yet he came to believe that reducing immigration was “a matter of political survival” for his party, my colleagues Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Claire Moses reported.

Although the details are different, President Biden has also recently taken steps to reduce unauthorized immigration. So far, his new policy — which includes both more border enforcement and an expansion of legal pathways to apply for entry — appears to have reduced the surge of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Still, the issue clearly divides Biden’s party. Many liberal Democrats have criticized his policy as heartless and said the U.S. should admit more migrants, not fewer.

Democrats frequently like to point out the many ways in which Republicans are out of step with public opinion, including on abortion bans, the minimum wage, taxes on the wealthy and background checks for gun owners. Immigration cuts the other way, polls show. It is a subject on which much of the Democratic Party, like the political left in Europe, is in a different place than many voters.

Source: The Global Immigration Backlash

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

Legislation changes to address discrimination in the public service ‘a good start’, union says

2023/07/13 Leave a comment

Of note, relatively positive commentary on the planned changes. Some of the accommodations may result in challenges further down the road, however:

The federal government recently put into effect the last set of amendments to the Public Service Employment Act, which the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) said is “a good start” to addressing barriers faced by equity-seeking groups.

The Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) said last week that the newest updates to the legislation aim to tackle biases in the hiring and staffing of public servants, with the ultimate goal of creating a more inclusive and diverse public service. Roughly 80 departments across the federal government are subject to the act.

Under the new legislation, federal departments and agencies are now required to evaluate how staffing processes, such as interviews and written exams, could disadvantage people belonging to equity-seeking groups, including women, people with a disability, or those who identify as Black, Indigenous or LGBTQ+, and take steps to remove or mitigate any biases or barriers within their practices.

Michael Morin, PSC’s acting vice-president of the Policy and Communications Sector, said the agency has been developing a guidance workshop tool over the past year to help hiring managers and human resources staff identify potential biases and barriers in staffing methods, such as screening, written tests, exams, interviews, reference checks and performance reviews, and see what strategies can be implemented to make them more inclusive.

For example, Morin said that some assessment strategies could be found to offer insufficient preparation time, which could be a detriment to people with disabilities, people who talk or type slowly, or people with little experience with the government’s hiring practices. If that was the case, PSC’s tools, he said, would encourage managers to provide applicants with more time to prepare and deliver their response, and might suggest departments provide questions in advance.

“The key part is that the evaluation has to take place before an assessment method is conducted,” Morin said, adding that the evaluation tool can be used more broadly by a department’s human resources team or by individuals like a hiring manager. “A hiring manager, if they’re conducting an interview, can sort of review that guide to consider how they are conducting the interview and do some sort of course-correction along the way.”

The updates will also expand the capability of PSC and departments’ deputy heads to investigate “errors, omissions or improper conduct” resulting from biases or barriers in staffing processes.

“Anyone can submit a request for investigation regarding irregularities or issues in a hiring process, and this now includes any concerns related to biases and barriers,” Morin said. “What we’re looking at is an added emphasis on minimizing trauma for investigations participants, and also really looking at how can we increase transparency and flexibility as the investigation process unfolds.”

The updates are building on previous amendments made to the act first introduced in the 2021 budget implementation process.

Other updates included revising job qualifications for members of equity-seeking groups, expanding the PSC’s authority to audit for biases or barriers in appointment processes that disadvantage members of those groups and providing permanent residents with the same preference as Canadian citizens when appointments are made through external advertised hiring processes, which Morin said has already led to a shift in the number of permanent residents applying and getting hired.

Morin said changes to the act were made with consultation with employee diversity networks, bargaining agents and federal departments.

In an emailed statement, PSAC said the latest amendments are “a good start”, arguing that more support, resources and legislative changes are needed to address systemic barriers in the public service.

In the past couple of years, PSAC and other unions representing federal workers made several recommendations to update the act, with the union calling for increasing centralized staffing oversight and for the government to address the “use and abuse” of discretion powers in hiring.

PSAC said the union continues to maintain its recommendations, noting that the commission should have the authority to ensure transparency and make changes to hiring practices within departments, and that it must ensure that investigators have the necessary experience and knowledge to identify bias and barriers in hiring.

“Ultimately, our members file staffing complaints with the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board,” the statement read. “This bill’s proposed amendments do not address the barriers in the Board complaint process which has become more legalistic, cumbersome, ineffective, and intimidating with limited remedies.”

Morin said “a lot of departments” have already taken measures to implement the changes, adding that the PSC will oversee government hiring practices through audits, surveys and continued engagement with employee diversity networks.

“It’s not sort of the full suite of work that’s underway across the public service or through the PSC in terms of supporting diversity and inclusion and equity,” Morin said, noting the Clerk of the Privy Council’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion and the federal accessibility strategy. “We see it as a foundational piece to really support a lot of those initiatives.”

Source: Legislation changes to address discrimination in the public service ‘a good start’, union says

Filed under Government Tagged with , ,

Bernadet: À qui la diversité profite-t-elle le plus?

2023/07/13 Leave a comment

Another column noting the intersectionality of class:

Le 29 juin dernier, la Cour suprême des États-Unis a mis fin aux programmes d’action positive (affirmative action) dans les universités, s’attaquant aux procédures d’admission dans les campus qui prennent en compte la couleur de peau ou les origines ethniques des candidats. Cette décision a relancé la controverse autour des politiques d’embauche dans les établissements québécois, notamment en raison des plans équité, diversité, inclusion (EDI) mis en place par Ottawa depuis 2017 dans le cadre des chaires de recherche du Canada (CRC). Des mesures, il importe de le rappeler, qui trouvent leur origine dans une tradition de l’État fédéral, depuis la commission royale de la juge Rosalie Abella en 1984 et la Loi sur l’équité en matière d’emploi de 1986.

Dans le camp conservateur, des voix soutiennent ouvertement l’avis des juges américains, y voyant un heureux retour au statu quo comme si les inégalités allaient disparaître par miracle, et qu’il était possible de se dispenser de moyens de correction. D’autres s’inquiètent au contraire des possibles retombées de cette décision de ce côté-ci de la frontière. Dans un contexte de racisme et de colonialisme nourri par le « privilège masculin blanc », certains, comme la professeure de philosophie à l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Naïma Hamrouni, dans Le Devoir du samedi 8 juillet, n’hésitent pas à dire que l’action positive est « l’un des instruments possibles d’une déségrégation sexuelle et raciale progressive de notre société ».

Un tel point de vue accrédite évidemment l’idée que le Québec subirait un modèle de ségrégation, une notion au maniement délicat, qui mériterait d’être rigoureusement définie et documentée tant son emploi est inséparable de l’histoire de certaines sociétés, à commencer par les États-Unis et l’Afrique du Sud. Mais on s’étonne surtout de l’efficacité que ce genre de propos prête aux fameux plans EDI. Car un examen un peu attentif de leurs critères en montre aussitôt les limites.

Il importe de souligner que le gouvernement fédéral a introduit les plans EDI par l’intermédiaire du programme CRC, c’est-à-dire en utilisant une fenêtre très étroite, la seule dont il bénéficiait à vrai dire, pour interférer dans les compétences en matière d’éducation des provinces. On peut bien sûr espérer que ces plans corrigent les inégalités du milieu universitaire, ce qui, à ce jour, reste à démontrer. En revanche, on peut douter qu’ils conduisent à des changements plus larges et profonds, d’autant plus qu’ils ne tiennent pas compte des particularités migratoires et démographiques, économiques ou sociales de chaque province.

Des failles

Cette politique de la diversité a été pensée par le haut et non à partir de la base. La justice dont il est question ici concerne avant tout le corps professoral et plus encore un segment limité de ce corps, les titulaires de chaires de recherche. De plus, les plans EDI sont pour l’essentiel centrés sur le genre et la race. Ils passent complètement sous silence les disparités socio-économiques. Leur but avoué est de favoriser le recrutement de personnes issues de groupes discriminés au cours de leur histoire, des mesures provisoires qui doivent être atteintes par les universités d’ici 2029.

Dans l’usage établi depuis le rapport de la juge Abella, il s’agit des femmes, des Autochtones, des personnes en situation de handicap et issues des minorités visibles, auxquels s’ajoute dans la pratique le cas des communautés LGBTQ. Or, aucune de ces catégories ne se situe sur le même plan. « Autochtones » et « femmes » peuvent difficilement être comparés. Bien qu’elle soit très utile, l’idée de « groupe » en particulier ne cesse pas de poser problème.

Par exemple, les femmes forment-elles vraiment un groupe ? Rappelons d’abord, contre les idées reçues, que certaines femmes peuvent être socialement plus avantagées par rapport à des hommes. Ensuite et surtout, les femmes entre elles ne sont pas égales. Elles n’ont pas les mêmes chances d’accéder à un emploi en raison du capital scolaire, culturel ou économique dont chacune dispose.

Un raisonnement similaire peut être appliqué aux minorités visibles. Il est fréquent de dire qu’elles sont sous-représentées au sein des universités, qui ont les outils pour chiffrer correctement ce phénomène. L’argument est même devenu un lieu commun au sein des élites. Il est repris par la classe politique ou dans l’entreprise, spécialement pour les cadres managériaux, les emplois visibles ou à haute responsabilité. On l’entend encore dans les médias et le monde de la culture.

Or, l’économiste Thomas Piketty l’a bien montré, la sous-représentation des minorités visibles dissimule proportionnellement leur surreprésentation au sein des classes populaires. Il n’est donc pas assuré que les politiques d’action positive soient capables de corriger un tel écart dans la mesure où elles ne touchent souvent qu’un pourcentage réduit de personnes au sein des populations visées. Non seulement les injustices raciales ne peuvent être séparées des injustices sociales, mais les unes et les autres exigent une politique égalitaire plus ambitieuse : une politique pour tous et non une justice d’élite.

À qui profitent donc les mesures EDI ? Est-ce aux groupes cibles, ou n’est-ce pas plutôt aux institutions qui promeuvent la diversité ? La question mérite d’être posée et débattue.

Source: À qui la diversité profite-t-elle le plus?

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Why Trudeau got tough on immigration

2023/07/13 Leave a comment

One interpretation (although I always thought the impact of the tweet, in comparison to other more substantial factors, was overstated):

“To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada.” In hindsight, this tweet by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 was ill-advised. It was written in response to Trump’s executive order banning refugees and visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. Critics point to it as the trigger for a surge of asylum-seekers at the Canadian border.

If it were true that people were escaping to Canada from the US because they feared being deported under Trump’s harsh immigration policies, then the flow of immigrants heading north would have slowed when President Biden took office. According to government data, in the period between the tweet going out and the pandemic, which slowed crossings to a trickle, almost 60,000 people made “irregular border crossings” into Canada. But afterwards, the influx returned, reaching over 20,000 in 2022, Biden’s first year in office. By February of this year, more than 10,000 people had already crossed over into Canada.

Nor were refugees put off America by President Trump. Since 2020, the number of migrants going the other way — crossing into the US from Canada — has also shot up. Last year, Homeland Security apprehended more than 100,000 migrants crossing from Canada. (For context, in 2018 US authorities arrested only 558 people on the northern border.) There is no end in sight to these “irregular crossings”, and the public has been expressing its dissatisfaction with lax immigration controls on both sides of the border.

According to the two nations’ Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), which has been in effect since 2004, refugees have to apply for status in the first “safe country” they reach. So, they cannot apply for asylum in Canada at official border crossings with the US. However, a loophole in the agreement enables migrants crossing at unofficial border points to claim asylum after they cross. And along the 9,000km-long border, there are many places to do so, the most infamous being Roxham Road, where New York state meets Quebec.

That is, until March 25, when Roxham Road was shut down by the Canadian government. Trudeau made the announcement on the afternoon of March 24, and the policy took effect at 12:01am the next day: “To address irregular migration, we are expanding the Safe Third Country Agreement to apply not only at designated ports of entry, but across the entire land border, including internal waterways, ensuring fairness and more orderly migration between our two countries.” Biden was in Canada at the time, on his first official visit since winning the presidency. It later transpired that the neighbouring countries had signed an amendment to the STCA a year earlier, but hadn’t made the news public because officials feared untold numbers of migrants might rush to cross the border before the changes could be enacted. Now, both countries can turn away asylum seekers, no matter where they cross.

This was a shock to Canada’s reputation as an immigrant-friendly country. Here, eligible refugees receiving generous welfare benefits including government-assisted housing, healthcare, work permits, and financial support. A path to citizenship is available to anyone who can secure permanent residency in the country. But there is a feeling, among some Canadians, that migrants have started exploiting vulnerabilities in the system. Almost 70% of Quebec residents — the province that Roxham Road leads into — said they wanted this irregular entry point closed. With social services in the province overwhelmed by asylum-seekers, the federal government started transferring migrants to Niagara Falls in Ontario, which saw welfare services pushed to the brink as well. Since 2021, the Immigration Department has paid $94 million to book out entire hotels for months, in order to accommodate asylum-seekers.

The ease with which people could illegally enter through Roxham Road, according to analysts, was “almost an invitation for undocumented migrants to try their chances at obtaining asylum in Canada”. Specifically, migrants from Nigeria, who make up a big chunk of all those who cross over from Roxham Road. The majority actually possess a valid US tourist visa, flying into New York before making their way to Canada. “I went to search Google and I figured out this is what everybody is doing,” one Nigerian migrant said while crossing the border. A “disproportionate” number of Nigerians claiming asylum are doing so on the grounds of LGBT persecution, which is met with more sympathy in Canada than in the US. But concerns have been raised about the similarities in such applications, and one investigation by a Nigeria-based publication revealed how some Nigerians make up stories in an attempt to secure asylum. This has left some aid organisations worrying that legitimate claims are now more likely to be doubted.

Some migrants still have their hearts set on America, however. Those from Mexico and India make up the bulk of illegal crossings from Canada to the States, with many flying into Canada for the sole purpose of getting across the world’s longest international border without detection. Mexicans, who since 2016 can fly visa-free to Canada, often spend thousands of dollars flying into Toronto and paying smugglers to get to the US — hence Biden’s motivation to renegotiate the STCA.

And this phenomenon burst into the public consciousness when, in January 2022, the bodies of four Indian nationals (two of them minors) were found frozen to death in Manitoba, near the American border. The Patel family had come to Canada on a tourist visa, but hoped to reach family in Chicago. A documentary last year suggested that, in Gujarat, the Patels had been a comfortable, upper-middle class family with no financial troubles or experiences of racial or religious persecution. Why, then, would they risk crossing illegally into the US in the middle of winter with two young children?

Migrant rights groups almost always lay the blame for tragedies at the feet of unscrupulous smugglers and harsh government policy. Few acknowledge that the people who decide to illegally cross an international border almost always have agency. And for middle-class migrants, it’s usually not about security; it’s about status. In developing countries, attaining the “American Dream” — or another Western nation’s equivalent — is still highly aspirational. And while everyone has the right to build a good life for themselves, migrants who can pay their way into one North American nation in order to cross over into the other, depending on their preference, undermine faith in the immigration system.

Which is a problem for Trudeau. His Liberal government plans to welcome half a million new immigrants into Canada every year till 2025. (Like most developed nations, Canada has an aging population, a low birth rate, and is facing a labour shortage.) Almost 50% of Canadians already think this target is too high. If Trudeau doesn’t want public opinion turning against his plans, he needs to reassure the electorate that his government has a strong handle on who is being welcomed across our borders.

Amending the STCA is meant to signal that the government is aware of the growing unpopularity of irregular border crossers, who are seen as jumping the queue, leaving those without financial means further down the list — not to mention those waiting in refugee camps around the world. John Manley, one of the architects of the original STCA, supports the new changes, claiming that most migrants around the world are in much greater danger than those who have already found their way to the US. But there has been backlash from refugee rights advocates, with the Canadian Council for Refugees, among others, arguing that the STCA is unconstitutional. But last month, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled otherwise.

The closure of Roxham Road sent a message to all those who want to migrate to Canada that the way to do so is through official channels. Two days later, the Government of Canada launched a survey to poll Canadians’ opinions. Trudeau was, apparently, ready to listen to how Canadians feel about this issue. While some advocates have been arguing that closing the loophole will have pushed people into the hands of smugglers, it’s still too early to tell what the effects of the new changes will be, though data on the past three months’ of irregular border crossings should be imminent. But whatever the outcome: the Prime Minister won’t be promoting Canada’s immigration policies on Twitter any time soon.

Source: Why Trudeau got tough on immigration

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Les cibles de Québec en immigration ralentissent le regroupement familial, confirme Ottawa

2023/07/12 Leave a comment

For once, not Ottawa’s fault:

Les longs délais pour parrainer l’immigration d’un conjoint vivant à l’étranger sont bel et bien causés par les cibles de Québec dans la catégorie du regroupement familial, qui sont plus basses qu’ailleurs au Canada.

S’il faut patienter 14 mois dans le reste du pays, l’attente s’étire maintenant jusqu’à 24 mois au Québec, puisqu’Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) se voit forcé de fixer « des objectifs de traitement des demandes distincts », confirme ce ministère au Devoir.

Des centaines de familles déchirées ont lancé un cri du coeur la semaine dernière, dans une pétition en ligne et lors d’une manifestation samedi après-midi à Montréal. Plusieurs ont aussi confié au Devoir les difficultés d’être séparés de conjoints, maris ou épouses alors que des bébés sont récemment venus au monde.

36 800 

C’est le nombre de personnes en attente d’une résidence permanente dans la catégorie du regroupement familial au Québec, selon le MIFI. 

Les délais pour les demandes de parrainage faites à partir du Québec ont brusquement changé le 22 juin dernier, bondissant de 14 à 24 mois. Auparavant, plusieurs familles pensaient voir « la lueur au bout du tunnel », raconte la consultante en immigration Johanne Boivin-Drapeau, mais depuis, elle reçoit plutôt des « appels de gens en pleurs et désespérés ».

Toutes ces personnes ont déjà franchi la première étape du processus d’immigration, qui consiste à recevoir un certificat de sélection du Québec. Ces dossiers déjà sélectionnés sont ensuite transmis à IRCC.

Mais « comme IRCC reçoit plus de demandes de la catégorie du regroupement familial destinées au Québec que ce que le MIFI [ministère québécois de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration] lui permet de traiter, un arriéré se forme », explique une relationniste du ministère fédéral. Avec comme résultat cette « disparité dans les délais d’attente ».

C’est en effet Québec qui fixe le nombre maximal d’immigrants qu’il souhaite accueillir dans la catégorie du regroupement familial, soit 10 600 pour l’année 2023. Tant le provincial que le fédéral assurent que ce seuil n’a pas encore été atteint, mais les données des mois de mai et de juin ne sont pas encore disponibles. L’an dernier, ce nombre avait été atteint au plus tard le 30 septembre, selon des documents officiels.

Année après année, IRCC a donc « trop de dossiers par rapport à la cible permise par Québec ». L’arriéré est d’environ 36 800 personnes dans cette seule catégorie, a indiqué le MIFI au Devoir.

Un seuil qui reste similaire

Cette tendance à accumuler les demandes en attente présage aussi des années à venir, car le gouvernement de François Legault a déjà fait part de son intention de ne pas accueillir davantage de familles ; même le seuil d’entrée total devait passer à 60 000 personnes.

En effet, dans les documents soumis en vue des consultations sur l’immigration qui doivent se tenir cet automne, le nombre de places destinées au regroupement familial reste de 10 400, peu importe le scénario.

Ce sont d’ailleurs les participants au programme de regroupement familial que François Legault avait accusés de mettre le Québec sur la voie de la « louisianisation » en 2022. La moitié d’entre eux ne parleraient pas français à leur arrivée, selon les données que le premier ministre avait alors avancées. En vertu de la récente réforme des programmes d’immigration annoncée par Québec, leurs dossiers devront ainsi bientôt inclure un plan d’intégration comptant des cours de francisation.

Quant aux demandes de visas de visiteur déposées par des conjoints vivant à l’étranger, le fédéral assure que leur traitement est déjà accéléré, comme annoncé le 26 mai dernier, y compris pour les « demandes dans l’inventaire ». Les témoignages recueillis par Le Devoir montrent plutôt d’autres disparités de traitement : plusieurs demandes sont refusées sous le motif que la personne a des « liens familiaux significatifs au Canada », selon les réponses consultées.

Source: Les cibles de Québec en immigration ralentissent le regroupement familial, confirme Ottawa

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Grenada’s passport-selling boom offering rich Russians a Caribbean shortcut to US visas could be over

2023/07/12 Leave a comment

Incredibly low amount with virtually no meaningful restrictions:

Grenada is one of the five Caribbean islands offering a “golden passport” in return for an investment in the country.

Its “Citizenship by Investment” (CBI) program offers people the chance to purchase citizenship for a $150,000 donation to the country’s National Transformation Fund, which was set up to boost its economy by financing areas such as tourism and agriculture or a $220,000-minimum investment into real-estate development.

Applications to the program soared following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, as wealthy Russians looked to flee abroad, Richard Hallam, who helped develop the program, told Bloomberg. There was a striking uplift in numbers following Putin’s mobilization announcement in September 2022 — Russia’s first such decree since World War II.

The total number of applications in 2022 hit 1,251 — an increase of around 87% from 2020. That trend continued into the first quarter of 2023, with 576 applications to the program, up from just 164 in the first quarter of 2022, according to statistics from Grenada’s Ministry of Finance.

The “Isle of Spice” welcomed 980 new citizens in the first quarter of 2023, far above the 391 it had in Q1 2022.

Fleeing Russians seeking to evade the war in Ukraine were likely enticed by the access to travel that the Grenadian passport provides, as it enables holders to visit over 100 countries without visa restrictions, including the UK and all EU member states.

The anonymous process also requires “no interview, education, or management experience,” and there is no obligation to live in Grenada “before or after citizenship is granted.”

It may also have hinted at the increasing number of Russians aiming to move to the US. Grenadian citizens are entitled to apply for an E-2 visa, a nonimmigrant visa that lasts a maximum of five years but can be renewed indefinitely, to get to the US — something which Russians are currently unable to do.

Irina Batrakova, the founding attorney for the Batrakova Law Office, previously told Insider that her firm had mainly been dealing with inquiries from Russians seeking to move to the US.

But Grenada has flip-flopped on its decision to allow Russians to take part in the program. It initially banned Russian nationals from applying after the war with Ukraine broke out, Bloomberg reported. It then reversed the ban in June, before once again imposing it from April 2023.

While the new ban may stem the tide of applications to the program, Grenada’s favorable tax policies and the global mobility offered by the passport will likely ensure that it remains popular.

The office for the Grenada Citizenship by Investment program did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Source: Grenada’s passport-selling boom offering rich Russians a Caribbean shortcut to US visas could be over

Filed under Citizenship, citizenship-by-investment Tagged with

Nepal implements new citizenship law, but long road ahead to end discrimination, statelessness

2023/07/12 Leave a comment

Of note (gender and wedlock discrimination), being addressed in part:

Growing up in Nepal, Neha Gurung hoped to become a doctor, but her dreams were shattered when she was barred from medical school because the country she called home did not recognise her as a national.

Gurung was raised by a single mother, but Nepal does not let women automatically pass citizenship to their children. With her father untraceable, she was left stateless – a fate she likened to “being a prisoner in my own country”.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the Himalayan nation exist in a similar limbo for a host of complex legal, social and historical reasons, but a long-awaited law could now transform their lives, providing access to jobs, education and healthcare.

The reforms could also spur other countries to take action ahead of a 2024 deadline for ending statelessness worldwide, which is way off track.

Certificates of citizenship are the key to basic rights in Nepal including formal employment. But legal experts say flawed laws – rooted in patriarchal and xenophobic attitudes – have left many shut out.

“The feeling of exclusion is very strong,” Gurung told Context.

“I couldn’t study, get a driving licence, open a bank account or travel. Without citizenship, I couldn’t even get a SIM card for my phone.”

Stateless people – who are not recognised as citizens of any nation – typically rely on informal, low paid jobs and cannot buy property, legally marry or vote.

Deprived of opportunities and legal protections, they are at risk of exploitation and easy prey for criminals.

Gurung, 28, who acquired citizenship in 2017 following a five-year legal battle, said laws that left people stateless not only had tragic consequences for individuals, but also held back development and entrenched poverty.

“Once a person is stateless, their children will be stateless – generation after generation. And that’s a huge loss to the country.”

After qualifying as a lawyer, Gurung joined the Forum for Women, Law and Development, a human rights non-profit which worked with parliament on the reforms.

The Forum anticipated that more than one million people could benefit.

They include an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 people whose parents were granted a form of citizenship that they could not pass on to their children, and many others whose mothers are Nepali but whose fathers cannot be traced.

However, campaigners said the law was still discriminatory and many people would remain stateless, including some Dalit communities in the southern plains that have been stateless for generations.

Politicised issue

As the authorities began releasing citizenship certificates, many newly recognised Nepalis shared their joy on social media, posting photos of themselves holding their prized identity documents.

Those celebrating included activist Indrajit Saphi, 31, who had spearheaded a national grassroots campaign for reforms, organised protests and helped thousands lodge applications.

Saphi hopes to become an engineer while his three brothers will now be able to apply for passports to take up jobs overseas.

“I am very happy. My entire family is very happy (that) we are now citizens of our country,” he said.

Perbej Alam’s lack of citizenship drove him to the brink of depression, but the 21-year-old now hopes to study public health.

“This has opened a path for my future,” he added.

The Nepal Citizenship (First Amendment) Act effectively came into force on June 22 following a long and tortuous legislative process and repeated challenges by populist politicians.

A last-minute delay sparked protests in the capital Kathmandu last month with one man trying to set himself alight after dousing himself in petrol.

Citizenship is a highly politicised issue in Nepal, a small country of 30 million sandwiched between the world’s most populous countries, China to the north and India to the south.

It shares a long open border with the latter allowing millions to cross both ways for work.

The number of people without citizenship is particularly high in the south where mixed marriages are common.

Campaigners said years of marginalisation had left many with mental health issues.

Forum for Women, Law and Development executive director Sabin Shrestha said some people were considering suing the government for compensation over lost opportunities due to the protracted delays.

Ending statelessness

There are no reliable data for the number of stateless people worldwide, but some estimates have suggested there could be 10 to 15 million.

In 2014, the UN launched a global campaign called “#Ibelong” to end statelessness in a decade, but progress has been extremely slow with only about 450,000 acquiring citizenship.

Monika Sandvik, head of the UN refugee agency’s statelessness section, said Nepal’s reforms could inspire other governments to follow suit and would bring broad benefits to the country.

“How many doctors, have they lost by not giving people citizenship? How many engineers? This reform now opens doors for people to fulfil their potential.”

Giving people a legal identity and access to jobs would also boost Nepal’s tax revenues, she added.

Subin Mulmi, a Nepali lawyer and executive director of Nationality For All, an organisation working to end statelessness in Asia, welcomed the reforms, but said there was still a need to address underlying discrimination in the country’s constitution.

Campaigners are particularly concerned about a provision in the new law requiring mothers submit a declaration that their child’s father is untraceable, with the threat of a three-year jail term if the information later proves false.

They said the stigma attached to making a statement in Nepal’s strongly patriarchal society combined with the threat of prosecution would act as a deterrent to many women.

Nepali women will also not be able to apply for citizenship for children born abroad, with serious implications for many migrant workers who give birth overseas, often as a result of rape, and for victims of trafficking.

“This is definitely not the end of the reform process,” Mulmi said. “There’s a lot of work still to be done.”

Source: Nepal implements new citizenship law, but long road ahead to end discrimination, statelessness

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with , ,

The names and faces at Ontario’s ‘call to the bar’ show immigration is working

2023/07/11 Leave a comment

Of note:

The Law Society of Ontario is one of the oldest and, until recently, one of the stodgiest institutions in the country.

Up till 2018, it was still known by its original name, the Law Society of Upper Canada. Founded in 1797, it has its offices in Osgoode Hall, the grand court complex that stands behind an imposing iron fence on Toronto’s Queen Street West. Pictures of its leaders hang on the walls. Until 1983, all of them were men.

But the law trade is changing. Last month, I had the opportunity to see a new crop of lawyers, my daughter among them, being officially admitted to the profession – called to the bar. One by one, they made their way across the stage at Roy Thomson Hall as their names were called out and parents and friends clapped and whooped.

The variety of those names would have astonished the dour men in those Osgoode Hall portraits. Spanish names. Italian names. African names. South Asian names. Eastern European names. Chinese names.

Anglo-Saxon names, too, but they were outnumbered. Three Patels and five Singhs heard their names read out, but not a single Smith, Brown or Taylor.

Remember that this was not a high school or community college graduation, where that sort of diversity is so common now as to be hardly noteworthy. This was a ceremony welcoming new members to one of the country’s leading professions. A law degree opens all kinds of doors. Among the men and women crossing the stage could be future judges, politicians and business leaders (along with a few ambulance chasers).

Law society figures from 2021 shows that just 5.7 per cent of surveyed Ontario lawyers aged 65 and older identify as racialized. That is the old generation, overwhelmingly white and predominantly male. The number rises to 24.3 per cent for those aged 45 to 54, and 35.7 for those under 35. A look at the group that was called to the bar last month suggests it will rise even further in years ahead.

The rise in the representation of women is just as striking. Fifty-six per cent of lawyers under 35 are women, compared with 18.5 per cent for those over 65. It is now routine for women to outnumber men in law school classrooms.

What I saw at Roy Thomson Hall is part of a much bigger story. For decades now, Canada has been taking in high numbers of immigrants, a deliberate policy choice that sets us apart from most other developed countries. Many laboured in menial jobs to make ends meet as they adapted to life in their new country. Others built themselves impressive Canadian careers. The federal government reports that immigrants account for 41 per cent of engineers, 36 per cent of doctors and 33 per cent of business owners with paid staff.

Now their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters are climbing the ladder of success. In Toronto’s recent by-election for mayor, four of the leading candidates came to Canada from somewhere else when they were young. The winner, Olivia Chow, spent her childhood in Hong Kong.

The law society would no doubt be the first to admit that it has a way to go still. There are fewer Indigenous lawyers than the profession would like. Women are underrepresented in the top ranks of leading law firms. Many leave the practice of law and move to jobs in government, education and other fields.

But the arc of progress is unmistakable and vastly encouraging. Despite all the justified concern about lingering prejudice and continuing barriers for newcomers, Canada’s experience with mass immigration on the whole is a remarkable success story.

You can see it all around. In the schools. In the colleges and universities. In the city councils and the legislatures. In the downtown office towers. Even, yes, in the Law Society of Ontario.

Source: The names and faces at Ontario’s ‘call to the bar’ show immigration is working

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

Sous les hauts cris des puristes, entendez-vous battre le cœur de la langue française?

2023/07/11 Leave a comment

Of note, countering overall Quebec narrative:

Écoutez de plus près. Le Québec n’avalera pas sa langue de sitôt. Un collectif de linguistes francophones somme les prophètes de malheur de tourner sept fois leur langue dans leur bouche avant de crier à l’agonie du français, tant ici qu’ailleurs.

Le français va très bien, merci. Le titre résume en une boutade l’essai de 65 pages publié chez Gallimard et coécrit par 18 spécialistes de « la langue de Molière ». Pour renverser cette vision voulant que le français se meure, commencez donc par oublier cette expression, clament les auteurs. La langue de Molière n’est plus la langue de Molière depuis la mort de Molière. La langue du dramaturge du XVIIe siècle est devenue avec le temps, naturellement, la langue des Tremblay, Laferrière, Booba.

« Si on lisait vraiment Molière dans le texte original, on verrait qu’il y a beaucoup de différences, des mots qui sont disparus, des structures grammaticales vraiment différentes, des prononciations très différentes. Cette expression, à mon avis, illustre bien cette langue fantasmée », explique en entrevue la Québécoise Julie Auger, l’une des membres du collectif des « linguistes atterré·es ».

Le français n’a jamais été aussi vivant qu’aujourd’hui, si l’on compte le nombre de locuteurs dans le monde. Même au Québec, la place décroissante du français comme langue parlée à la maison ne traduit pas un déclin, renchérit la professeure de linguistique à l’Université de Montréal.

« Oui, la proportion de Québécois qui parlent français à la maison continue de diminuer, mais ce n’est pas au profit de l’anglais. C’est au profit des langues que les néo-Québécois ont apportées. Pour moi, ça, ce n’est pas un danger. »

Rappelons que 94 % des Québécois peuvent aujourd’hui parler et comprendre le français, quelle que soit leur langue maternelle… exactement la même proportion qu’au début du siècle.

La prochaine génération de francophones grandit surtout sous la menace des pointilleux qui exigent un français parfait des nouveaux arrivants, souligne Julie Auger, alors que ceux-ci lui donnent un deuxième souffle. « Ces gens-là pourraient tout à fait choisir de ne plus parler le français et de ne parler que l’anglais, parce que, quand tu parles anglais, tu n’as pas ce genre de critiques. »

Quid du « franglais », vilipendé par des érudits près de chez nous ? « Si l’on tient au terme “franglais”, il convient bien mieux à l’anglais qu’au français, rétorque le collectif. […] On estime à près de la moitié la part du lexique anglais empruntée à l’ancien français ou au normand. » Et l’anglais « se porte bien ».

Le français ? Yes, sir !

Les langues ne sont pas en guerre les unes contre les autres, soutiennent les experts, car « ce que “gagne” l’une, l’autre ne le perd pas ».

Qui utilise encore le mot « bâdrer », emprunt de « to bother », passé dans l’usage québécois comme un synonyme de « déranger » ? Qui se souvient de l’époque où l’anglicisme « some » était employé comme un adverbe pour parler de quelque chose de gros ? Les néologismes passent, le français demeure.

Et si un anglicisme finit par coller au palais des Québécois, il ne remplace pas pour autant les mots qui y logent déjà. Il permet d’apporter une nuance de sens. Que serait le parler d’ici sans les subtilités des expressions comme cheap ou lunch (qui désigne plus un repas qu’on traîne avec soi qu’un repas à une heure donnée) ?

Le français, langue flexible et souple, « incorpore et digère sans problème » les emprunts depuis des siècles, rappellent les linguistes coalisés. Les ajouts tout neufs du créole haïtien et de l’arabe dans les discussions à Montréal ne font pas exception.

L’oreille attentive entendra toute de même quelques changements récents dans le dialecte d’ici. On utilise de plus en plus l’infinitif du verbe en anglais là où on le conjuguait avant à la française. Autrement dit, les Québécois commencent à deal avec ça plus qu’à « dealer » avec ça.

Cet effritement de la grammaire — « le coeur d’une langue », dixit Julie Auger — s’observe déjà chez les Acadiens. Est-ce bien ou mal ? La linguiste québécoise ne le dit pas. « Les linguistes en sont conscients, qu’il y a beaucoup d’études qui portent là-dessus en ce moment. On est vraiment en plein milieu de ce qui peut être un changement, et donc on est à l’écoute, on essaie de voir ce qui se passe. »

Le français, langue féconde

Le français va très bien, merci s’adresse aussi aux grands parleurs, petits faiseurs qui rêvent de réformer la langue de tout le monde.

« Depuis le XIXe siècle, [l’Académie française] ne suit plus l’évolution de la langue : elle s’est opposée à la réforme de l’orthographe prévue en 1901 pour accompagner l’accès de tous les enfants à l’école », lit-on dans l’ouvrage. « Son Dictionnaire, seule production officielle actuelle, en est à peine à sa neuvième édition et n’est pas du tout à jour. […]. Si l’Académie n’est pas à jour sur le vocabulaire, elle ne l’est pas non plus en grammaire. Sa seule Grammaire date de 1932 et a été tellement critiquée qu’elle n’a plus osé en publier d’autres. »

Les dictionnaires privés, réputés plus flexibles, peinent tout autant à suivre les changements sans fin du nouveau vocabulaire. Le Petit Larousse et Le Petit Robert recensent chacun 60 000 mots, tandis que Le Grand Robert en compile 100 000. Il faut se tourner vers la production participative du Wiktionnaire pour calculer l’étendue des néologismes francophones. Les internautes y ont consigné 400 000 entrées.

Et ça continue de monter, entre autres grâce aux initiatives créatives d’institutions bien de chez nous.

Pensons au Concours de créativité lexicale de l’OQLF, qui demande aux élèves québécois du secondaire de créer des mots de toutes pièces.

Les victorieux de 2023 :

« spectatriche », pour remplacer le terme « stream sniping », qui consiste à regarder la diffusion en ligne d’un adversaire lors d’une compétition de jeu vidéo pour obtenir un avantage ; 

« iconotypique », pour traduire le mot anglais « on-brand », qui qualifie ce qui est typiquement représentatif d’une marque ou d’une image publique ; 

« éphraser », pour dénommer le fait de retirer une phrase d’un texte. 

Parlez-vous fr@nçais ?

L’autre menace fantôme que dénoncent les linguistes, c’est le terrible Internet et ses codes abscons. Le numérique constitue « une menace » pour le français, entend-on d’ailleurs dans les échos de couloirs de l’Assemblée nationale.

Pourtant, le français trône à la septième place des idiomes les plus utilisés dans le cyberespace.

Et en fouillant cet énorme corpus de données brutes, on découvre que la tendance lourde est le passage vers un français de plus en plus normatif.

« L’utilisation d’“avoir” au lieu d’“être”, par exemple “j’ai tombé”, c’est quelque chose qui diminue avec le temps, indique Julie Auger. Le français montréalais s’aligne davantage sur le français standard. Par contre, un élément qui est non standard, mais qui est en croissance, c’est l’utilisation du “tu” interrogatif. »

On parle-tu bien français ? Bien ou mal n’est pas la question, à vrai dire. Le bon français, c’est celui que l’on parle. Point.

Le français va très bien, merci

Collectif d’auteurs, Gallimard, Paris, 2023, 65 pages

Source: Sous les hauts cris des puristes, entendez-vous battre le cœur de la langue française?

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →