Australia: Home Affairs told to allocate staff to clear visa backlog

2022/07/29 Leave a comment

Canada not the only country to have backlogs:

The government has directed the Department of Home Affairs to devote more staff to clearing the visa backlog, naming it an ‘urgent priority’.

Minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs Andrew Giles cautioned the backlog would not be cleared overnight.

“People reallocated to dealing with the visa applications on hand need to be trained and skilled before they can go about this important work,” Giles said.

Since May 2022, 140 new department staff have been placed in visa processing roles.

The minister added the number of applications in June was 6.5% higher than in May, with a 10.6% increase in applications finalised. Since June 2022, 745,000 visa applications have been finalised.

Giles was also critical of the previous government, saying the backlog had risen to nearly one million under it.

Former immigration minister Dan Tehan — now shadow minister for immigration and citizenship — has said the visa backlog was due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of the commitments that we had when we were in government was obviously to make sure that we got rid of that backlog and we had put extra resources to ensure that would happen,” Tehan told SBS Hindi.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is currently assessing the Department of Home Affairs’ management of family reunion and partner-related visas, due to be tabled in November. The ANAO is currently taking contributions from the public on this matter.

On student visas, Department of Education secretary Michele Bruniges is working alongside Department of Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo to clear the backlog of student visas, as previously reported in The Mandarin.

Last week, education minister Jason Clare said Home Affairs had brought on more than 100 staff to deal with the backlog.

Source: Home Affairs told to allocate staff to clear visa backlog

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Quebec’s Conservative party surges in the polls as some of its candidates spread conspiracy theories

2022/07/29 Leave a comment

To watch. May make Quebec’s provincial election more interesting but more worrisome:

When Éric Duhaime took over as leader of the Quebec Conservatives last year, the party had never held a seat in the legislature, never been invited to a major debate and never raised more than $60,000 in donations in any given year.

It was, basically, a fringe party, unaffiliated with the federal Conservatives and considered too libertarian for most Quebec voters since it was formed in 2009.

In the last 15 months, though, Duhaime’s party has wrangled a seat in the legislature, started polling near 20 per cent. It has racked up nearly $500,000 in donations this year alone.

Source: Quebec’s Conservative party surges in the polls as some of its candidates spread conspiracy theories

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Nicolas: Doctrine de la découverte

2022/07/29 Leave a comment

More important to focus on concrete issues but understand the importance:

Le pape François est venu au Canada cette semaine tenir un discours qui ne correspond pas tout à fait à ce qui était demandé dans le rapport de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation de 2015. En arrivant à Edmonton, le pape s’est excusé pour les actes de « plusieurs chrétiens » et « membres de communautés religieuses », mais pas au nom de l’Église comme telle. Le discours papal a déploré la collaboration de certains catholiques aux projets d’assimilation et de destruction culturelle pilotés par les gouvernements, mais n’a pas admis la responsabilité de l’Église, comme institution, dans la direction de ces projets. Légalement, politiquement, et même spirituellement, la nuance est majeure. C’est aux survivants des pensionnats et à leurs proches de réagir à ce choix de mots, et d’omissions.

Mais quoi qu’en dise le pape François, l’Église catholique a joué un rôle central dans la dépossession territoriale des peuples autochtones à travers les Amériques. C’est pourquoi dans les derniers jours, plus de 4800 gazouillis incluant le mot-clé #DoctrineofDiscovery ont été lancés dans la twittosphère canadienne. À l’initiative de plusieurs personnalités autochtones, la mobilisation en ligne cherche à obtenir un commentaire du pape sur la doctrine de la découverte, un concept de droit international vieux de plus de 500 ans, durant les jours qui lui reste à passer au Canada.

Alors, qu’est-ce c’est, au juste, la doctrine de la découverte ? Il s’agit d’un concept émanant de la bulle papale Inter caetera, émise en 1493 par le pape Alexandre VI à la demande des monarques d’Espagne, après que leur émissaire, Christophe Colomb, a atteint les Caraïbes.

Une bulle (ou édit) papale précédente avait donné au monarque du Portugal le « droit » de s’approprier le continent africain, ou plus précisément « la pleine et entière faculté d’attaquer, de rechercher, de capturer, de vaincre, de soumettre tous les sarrasins et les païens et les autres ennemis du Christ où qu’ils se trouvent […] et de réduire leurs personnes en servitude perpétuelle ».

Dans le contexte, les monarques espagnols cherchent donc à avoir la bénédiction de l’Église pour faire de même sur le « nouveau » continent. La bulle de 1493 trace essentiellement une ligne dans l’Atlantique, laissant toutes les terres « découvertes » à l’ouest aux Espagnols (la majorité des Amériques) et celles à l’est aux Portugais (l’Afrique et ce qui deviendra Brésil).

En 1533, le monarque français François 1er réussit à faire spécifier par le nouveau pape, Clément VII, que la bulle de 1493 ne concernait que les terres déjà « découvertes » à l’époque. L’Église instaure en quelque sorte une règle du « premier arrivé, premier servi » pour toutes les terres non chrétiennes encore inconnues des Européens. C’est dans ce contexte que Jacques Cartier est envoyé par la France l’année suivante, et plante une croix dans la péninsule de Gaspé pour « prendre possession » du territoire au nom de son roi. Ainsi, on peut tracer une ligne directe entre l’autorité papale et le déni de la souveraineté autochtone sur les terres d’Amériques, y compris sur le territoire canadien.

Parmi les personnalités qui parlent de la doctrine de la découverte ces jours-ci, on compte le juge et sénateur à la retraite Murray Sinclair, qui a présidé à la Commission de vérité et réconciliation. En plus des excuses du pape, le rapport de la commission demandait « aux intervenants de toutes les confessions religieuses et de tous les groupes confessionnels qui ne l’ont pas déjà fait de répudier les concepts utilisés pour justifier la souveraineté européenne sur les terres et les peuples autochtones, notamment la doctrine de la découverte et le principe de terra nullius ».

C’est que dans les siècles qui ont suivi ces décisions de l’Église, le droit international a continué de se construire sur les mêmes bases. On s’est demandé, par exemple, si le pape avait l’autorité de décider qui pouvait prendre possession des terres des peuples autochtones — plutôt que de seulement organiser leur conversion massive. Certains ont cru qu’il valait mieux ne s’approprier que les territoires inhabités, dit « terra nullius », et chercher à conquérir le reste par des traités.

En réponse, des penseurs influents (dont le philosophe John Locke) se sont affairés à développer une définition de la terra nullius incluant toutes les terres qui n’étaient pas occupées… à l’européenne — soit sur un mode sédentaire, agricole, puis industriel. Ces débats ont eu une forte influence sur le développement du droit canadien, alors que bien des Premières Nations au mode de vie traditionnel nomade ont dû aller devant les tribunaux « prouver » une occupation ancestrale du territoire.

En 1792, Thomas Jefferson a décrété que la doctrine de la découverte formait une base du droit international et s’appliquait aussi à la nouvelle république des États-Unis d’Amérique. Et en 1823, la Cour suprême américaine s’est appuyée explicitement sur cette doctrine pour arbitrer un conflit entre deux citoyens prétendant posséder une terre. L’un l’ayant acquis auprès de la communauté autochtone locale, l’autre auprès du gouvernement, le tribunal donnera raison au dernier.

Au fil des décennies, les tribunaux canadiens se sont appuyés sur cette décision américaine pour construire leurs propres traditions légales. C’est pourquoi plusieurs experts de la question croient qu’il serait très complexe, mais aussi éminemment nécessaire, de refonder le contrat politique et légal entre le gouvernement du Canada et les peuples autochtones afin de se dissocier, pour de bon, de la doctrine de la découverte. Ce serait là la seule façon de cesser, en tout point, d’asseoir la légitimité de l’État sur un principe colonial dont la généalogie remonte aux papes de la Renaissance.

Il serait, disons, extrêmement optimiste de croire que la mobilisation actuelle autour de la doctrine de la découvertesera commentée par le pape actuel d’ici la fin de son périple. Mais la campagne informelle contribue déjà efficacement à attirer l’attention publique sur cette question fondamentale pour les Amériques.

Source: Doctrine de la découverte

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USA: How anti-immigrant groups are misrepresenting border data

2022/07/29 Leave a comment

Of note:

Recently, there has been increasing concern over the growing number of encounters (the number of people apprehended) reported on the southwest border. U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) data show 207,416 encounters in June 2022 — a record high. Many anti-immigrant groups misinterpret — or purposefully misuse — this data, suggesting encounters are akin to admissions or arrests. But citing that number alone to demonstrate the need for more robust deterrence policies ignores the impacts of Title 42 expulsions and discounts historical migration trends.

CBP tracks the number of noncitizens apprehended each month, known as “encounters.” Anti-immigrant groups have cited the high number of encounters in June 2022, stating that it is a dramatic departure from the typical amount of migrants entering the U.S. in other years — but that’s not the case.

The number of migrants at the southwest border demonstrates a return to regular migration trends. In a study of migration trends over the last decade, researchers found that there is consistently an increasing number of encounters between January and May, with a sharp decrease after June.

The Covid pandemic significantly disrupted these patterns. As a result, between March and June of 2020 the U.S. saw the lowest rate of encounters in years. In 2021, that number steadily increased, but the overall was still drastically lower than average. This year, we have seen a return to regular patterns, with numbers increasing in the spring and decreasing starting June.

CBP Southwest Land Border Enforcement data for 2019-2022. Data prior to 2019 can be found here.

Since March 2020, a significant portion of migrants at the southwest border have been subjected to rapid expulsion under Title 42. Although the administration has attempted to terminate the health order, the courts blocked its termination. The result is a recidivism rate for border crossers that is more than triple what it was before the pandemic. Moreover, the encounter data alone does not account for the continued rapid expulsions nor the amount of people who repeatedly attempt to enter the U.S.

Indeed, the number of people that CBP is processing now is comparable to FY 2019, before the implementation of Title 42 in response to the pandemic. There is only an eight percent difference in the number of people processed in FY19 compared to FY22. In February and May, the Trump administration processed more people in FY19 than the Biden administration in FY22.

CBP Southwest Land Border Enforcement data for FY 2019-2022. CBP Title 42 Expulsions data for FY 2022.

Whenever there is a “surge” at the border, anti-immigrant groups use it as an excuse to call for and implement deterrence policies. Citing numbers of encounters without additional context has led to administrations repeating the mistake of using previously failed deterrence measures.

To counter this pattern, we should learn to anticipate when there will be higher numbers of people arriving at the border and improve processing capacity to efficiently and humanely process those seeking admittance to the U.S.

Source: How anti-immigrant groups are misrepresenting border data

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Daphne Bramham: With Canada failing to meet its immigration promises, B.C. needs more control

2022/07/28 Leave a comment

The British Columbia perspective, similar to that of Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

One idea that has been suggested by some is the Provincial Nominee Program should be used for regulated professions (e.g., healthcare, some trades) given that regulatory bodies are provincial, not federal.

Definitely worth consideration as the federal government’s progress on foreign credential recognition appears to have been more about process and consultations than concrete action. Making the provinces directly responsible for selection of applicants in regulated professions might simplify accountabilities:

Across B.C., “Help Wanted” signs are ubiquitous. Labour shortages have forced businesses to drastically cut their hours, hospitals and emergency rooms to close, as well as planned and unscheduled cancellations of B.C. Ferries sailings.

Despite grumbled anecdotes about people not wanting to work, B.C. has one of Canada’s highest workforce participation rates.

Bear in mind that last year, B.C. also had the highest number of new arrivals recorded in 60 years — 100,797 people. International migration was the second-highest recorded, while cross-country migration was the highest in nearly 30 years.

Even with that, and despite a seemingly intractable, affordable-housing crisis, the fact is B.C. needs more people to fill essential jobs.

And that is exactly why the provincial government wants Ottawa to give it more control over who comes here, and is asking for more money to help settle all the newcomers.

Last year, only 6,750 people came under the provincial nominee program that allows provinces to select applicants whose skills and training match labour needs. Next year, it wants 8,000 nominees, and 10,000 three years from now.

It made the request ahead of Thursday’s meeting of federal and provincial immigration ministers.

Nathan Cullen is B.C.’s municipal affairs minister and has responsibility for immigration. He describes the program as “more precise” than other immigration programs, noting that B.C.’s priority last year was health-care and long-term care workers.

“(The nominee program) is not a blunt instrument, which is what a federal immigration program is by its nature,” he told Postmedia before leaving for the federal-provincial meeting in New Brunswick.

“We’ve just heard from Ontario and they’ve been making similar requests of the feds to gain a little bit more control over what happens.”

As a former MP, Cullen isn’t certain how much of its “cherished authority” Ottawa is willing to give up. But he hopes to convince Federal Minister Sean Fraser that expanding the nominee program, which has a much faster turnaround time than myriad other immigration streams, will help clear the backlog of applications that is nearing two million files.

The benefit isn’t just a bureaucratic one. With skills matched to jobs, it should also mean that highly skilled newcomers don’t end up driving taxis instead of doing the jobs they are trained for.

Of course, there is a huge caveat that Cullen readily acknowledges. Canada is glacially slow in recognizing internationally obtained credentials — especially for physicians and surgeons. Here, he said it can take up to three times as long as in other G20 countries — “And if you’re slow in this kind of world, it means you just don’t get the person at all.”

The minister plans to raise that at Thursday’s meeting, along with concerns about what might best be described as Canada’s “do-it-yourself” immigration offer to Ukrainians.

Within days of the Russian invasion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered safe haven and a pathway to citizenship to all Ukrainians who could find their own way here.

“We’re not ready for them, and we need the feds to be,” Cullen said. “(Federal politicians) have had time. There’s no more excuses like, ‘It’s all happening so fast.’ That’s done. They’ve had the time and the program has not been set up properly yet.”

With the usual processes waived, Ukrainians are arriving and often there is no one to meet them. Nobody knows when they are coming, where they are landing, or even how many of the six million who have fled might end up here as Russia intensifies its attacks.

Earlier this year, B.C. shored up settlement societies with nearly $15 million because the number of immigrants and refugees arriving is beyond the capacity that Ottawa has funded them for. And last month, the province set up a hardship fund for Ukrainians offering up to $1,770 a month for a family of four.

Ukrainian-Canadians have also stepped in to fill the gaps since the only federal help Ukrainians get is a two-week housing allowance.

Still, with no contact point with any agency or government, vulnerable women, children and unaccompanied minors are open to exploitation. It’s something that keeps Cullen awake at night.

Already, his officials had to rescue one family who had found rental accommodation on social media. When they arrived, the landlord confiscated their passports and tried to restrict their movements. Fortunately, they had a contact in the Ukrainian community who got in touch with the ministry.

Meanwhile, immigrants are enduring months-long waits in overcrowded hotel rooms in dangerous neighbourhoods because there is nowhere else to go until settlement societies or concerned citizens manage to scrounge something better. Sometimes, it’s from developers waiting for demolition permits.

Cullen insists that recent increases in housing starts and measures his government has taken to get unused housing into the rental pool is starting to make a difference. But he said it is still going to take more time to even out.

Immigrants also need health care and schools for their children. Those, too, are provincial costs.

So far, the federal government has failed to match its immigration promises and targets with the money necessary to properly fulfill them.

Small wonder that the provinces want more control and more money.

“We have to match the story we want to tell about ourselves as being a generous, open country … with the resources and the determination that’s required,” Cullen said.

And right now? That’s not happening.

Source: Daphne Bramham: With Canada failing to meet its immigration promises, B.C. needs more control

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Moreau: Êtes-vous caucasien ?

2022/07/28 Leave a comment

More word games than anything else. Whatever the label or term, being able to analyse and understand differences in socioeconomic outcomes between groups, whether by ethnic ancestry, visible or religious minority or affiliation, is important:

Comme on sait, le terme « caucasien » est utilisé depuis plus d’un siècle aux États-Unis pour qualifier la population d’origine européenne. J’ai eu récemment la surprise de le voir également mentionné, à titre d’exemple, dans un formulaire rempli ici à Montréal, où l’on me demandait, comme cela se fait couramment chez nos voisins du Sud, de décliner mon « identité » ethnique ou raciale.

Ce que l’on sait moins, c’est que ce terme étrange, qui réfère à cette chaîne de montagnes située au sud de la Russie, entre la mer Caspienne et la mer Noire, provient des thèses de Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), scientifique allemand qui, à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, distinguait cinq « races » humaines, dont la « race caucasique », autrement dit la « race blanche ».

Pourquoi situait-il l’origine de celle-ci dans le Caucase ? Cela remontait à l’idée selon laquelle l’humanité était née dans la région caucasienne, idée qui découlait notamment d’une lecture littérale de la Bible, où il était raconté que l’Arche de Noé, lors de la décrue qui avait fait suite au Déluge, s’était échouée sur le mont Ararat, donc non loin de l’isthme caucasien. On peut constater au passage à quel point la manière d’établir des « preuves » scientifiques pouvait être en ce temps assez éloignée de celle qui prévaut de nos jours.

Qu’il fut impropre et douteux d’un point de vue scientifique n’empêcha pas le mot « caucasien » de connaître un succès durable et de se retrouver même au coeur d’un imbroglio juridique qui l’amena jusque devant la Cour suprême des États-Unis.

Entre la fin du XIXe siècle et le début du XXe, la possibilité d’être naturalisé citoyen américain avait été restreinte, puis totalement interdite aux immigrants d’origine asiatique (à l’exception des Philippins, puisque les Philippines furent, entre 1898 et 1946, une colonie états-unienne). Elle était donc réservée aux « personnes blanches », ainsi qu’aux Noirs, en raison du Quatorzième amendement adopté au lendemain de l’abolition de l’esclavage lors de la guerre de Sécession.

Un immigrant japonais, M. Ozawa, argua du fait qu’il avait le teint clair pour revendiquer le droit de devenir citoyen. Les juges de la Cour suprême le déboutèrent toutefois, en alléguant que la notion de « personne blanche » renvoyait moins à la couleur concrète de la peau qu’à l’appartenance à la « race caucasienne ». En tant queJaponais, M. Ozawa, ajoutèrent-ils, appartenait à la race « mongole » (autre « race » définie par J. F. Blumenbach) et ne pouvait donc prétendre à la naturalisation.

Ce jugement donna alors l’idée à un immigrant d’origine indienne de se présenter à son tour devant la cour afin de revendiquer le droit d’accéder à la citoyenneté. M. Bhagat Singh Thind avait un excellent argument : dans l’anthropologie de l’époque, les Indiens, en tant qu’« Aryens », étaient en effet classés dans cette fameuse « race caucasienne » ou « caucasique ».

La Cour suprême le débouta cependant lui aussi et, répudiant l’appareil « scientifique » mobilisé quelque temps plus tôt pour repousser l’argument de M. Ozawa, décréta, à l’encontre du demandeur, qu’il fallait entendre « caucasien » dans le sens que donnerait à ce mot un « homme ordinaire », autrement dit comme désignant une personne dont la peau était « blanche », ce que l’épiderme de M. Bhagat Singh Thind n’était pas.

Il fallut finalement attendre 1952 pour que la loi McCarran-Walter supprime, dans le droit états-unien, toutes ces barrières à la naturalisation fondées sur la « race ».

Catégories raciales

Que peut-on tirer comme conséquence de ces deux jugements que résume Daniel Sabbagh, dans un article sur « Le statut des “Asiatiques” aux États-Unis » paru dans la revue Critique internationale, en 2003 ?

Primo, qu’il n’est pas judicieux d’user du mot « caucasien », hormis pour désigner les populations variées de trans et de subcaucasie (Tcherkesses, Tchétchènes, Ingouches, Ossètes, Koumyks, Géorgiens, etc.).

Secundo, que les cours, même suprêmes, ne méritent peut-être pas l’idolâtrie dont elles font l’objet actuellement : les juges, y compris les plus hauts magistrats du pays, étant assujettis eux aussi aux préjugés, aux biais cognitifs, aux passions politiques qui sont ceux de leurs concitoyens et de leur temps.

Tertio, que l’on a beau user de termes qui se veulent scientifiques ou de tous les euphémismes que l’on voudra, les catégories raciales en usage sont toujours incohérentes, voire absurdes.

Quarto, peut-être faudrait-il en déduire finalement que ces supposées « races » ne sont pas un bon moyen de classer les humains.

Quinto, si un jour, on vous demande de cocher la case « caucasien » dans un quelconque formulaire, refusez ; à moins, bien sûr, que vous ne soyez tcherkesse, tchétchène, ingouche, ossète, koumyk, géorgien, etc.

Patrick Moreau est professeur de littérature à Montréal, rédacteur en chef de la revue Argument et essayiste. Il a notamment publié Ces mots qui pensent à notre place (Liber, 2017) et contribué à l’ouvrage collectif dirigé par R. Antonius et N. Baillargeon Identité, « race », liberté d’expression, qui vient de paraître aux P.U.L.

Source: Êtes-vous caucasien ?

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Bahran: If Canada wants to be strong economically, it needs more immigrants, plain and simple

2022/07/28 Leave a comment

Standard general call for more immigrants without considering the externalities and costs:

Canada is a vast beautiful country with an economy that has a huge potential to grow, provided it has sufficient labour markets. That is why I argue for more immigrants. Canada needs more immigrants if it wants to maintain and improve its standard of living.

The labour shortage that has been aggravated during the pandemic is not over. According to Statistics Canada, there were 915,500 unfilled positions in the fourth quarter of 2021. That’s up by 63 per cent compared to 2020. Jobs are also staying vacant for longer periods. Shortages were large before COVID but made worse during the pandemic.

The obvious reason is: Canada’s population remains small and must grow to meet economic growth needs. It is a reality that Canada’s population growth comes from immigration — addressing labour shortages in key sectors such as health care. Immigrants make up 37 per cent of the country’s pool of pharmacists, 36 per cent of physicians, 39 per cent of dentists, 23 per cent of registered nurses, and 35 per cent of nurse aides and related occupations.

Although, it has the highest population growth of any G7 country, Canada has under 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, with one of the smallest population densities on Earth (about four people per square kilometre). In fact, it is more than an order of magnitude smaller than the world’s average population density which is about 50 people/square km. India, China, and the U.S. have 464, 149 and 121 people/square kilometre respectively. Bear in mind that Canada is the second-largest country, geographically, in the world. Although huge parts are inhabitable, there is a plenty of room for those four/square km to grow manifold times.

The U.S. is the leading economy worldwide, but most economic forecasts predict a great shift in world economic power. Some estimates suggest that by 2050, China’s and India’s economies will surpass that of the U.S., while Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico will surpass Japan, Germany, the U.K., Russia, France and Canada combined. The overwhelming factor in this is population growth.

Many western countries are aging with a rate proportional to their level of advancement. People are living healthier and longer while younger people tend to either not get married or not have large families. This leads to a shrinking workforce and will have a direct impact on economic growth. Japan, for example, is becoming greyer than ever, with about 30 per cent of its population over 65 years of age. Its population actually dropped by some 640,000 in 2021. Italy is not far behind, at 23 per cent, and Germany is third at 21 per cent. They represent the most aging countries in the world and are a direct example to watch to see the effect this will have on economic growth and wellbeing: facing severe shortages in the labour market, and higher social-service costs.

Japan happens to have a near-zero immigration policy and if that continues, soon enough it will face dire consequences. Canada’s over-65 population is not small either. In 2020 it was more than 18 per cent and within eight years is expected to reach 23 per cent. Clearly, current policies are not good enough to address this issue and population growth must be accelerated.

Of course, it is imperative to reconcile population growth with limiting our per capita carbon footprint. Economic growth and wealth production are the key for such reconciliation. Migration is also a historic mechanism for reducing high population growth in low-income countries, through which we can adjust imbalances that help stabilize economic growth everywhere.

Last but not least, in addition to the economic and humanitarian reasons, immigrants make Canada stronger — as they embrace the richness of equity, diversity, and inclusion of our character and values.

Mustafa Bahran is a visiting professor and instructor of physics at Carleton University.

Source: Bahran: If Canada wants to be strong economically, it needs more immigrants, plain and simple

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La crise des passeports aboutira-t-elle à une action collective?

2022/07/28 Leave a comment

Unlikely that there will be a class action given the unlikelihood of success according to the experts cited:

Billets d’avion inutilisables, frais d’annulation d’hôtels, vacances gâchées : les voyageurs frustrés de ne pas avoir reçu leur passeport à temps pourraient-ils intenter une action collective contre le gouvernement fédéral pour se faire indemniser ? Des juristes consultés par Le Devoir estiment qu’un tel recours est possible, mais non sans embûches.

Il est évidemment possible de poursuivre en justice le fédéral, ce qui a déjà été fait à de multiples reprises, établit d’emblée le professeur de droit public de l’Université de Sherbrooke Guillaume Rousseau.

Il rappelle toutefois que, pour utiliser cette procédure spéciale qu’est l’action collective, il faut franchir une étape supplémentaire par rapport aux autres manières d’intenter une poursuite : celle de l’autorisation. Un juge se penche alors sur le dossier et vérifie s’il satisfait aux critères permettant aux personnes s’estimant lésées de procéder « en groupe ». Si oui, le magistrat donne le feu vert à la poursuite, qui peut aller de l’avant.

Le juge ainsi appelé à autoriser une action collective doit par exemple se demander si elle convient à la situation. On peut penser ici qu’elle serait préférable à des centaines ou à des milliers de poursuites individuelles, souligne le professeur Rousseau.

Mais pour avoir gain de cause, il faudra que les voyageurs qui ont subi des dommages (certains d’entre eux ont annulé leur voyage à grands frais ou ont manqué des jours de travail pour faire la file, même la nuit, afin d’obtenir le précieux document de voyage) prouvent que le fédéral a commis une faute.

En droit public, il y a faute quand une personne adopte un comportement qui s’écarte de celui de la personne raisonnable. « Ici, le gouvernement a-t-il agi comme un bon administrateur ? » demande le professeur Rousseau. En d’autres mots, est-il fautif de ne pas avoir eu assez d’employés pour traiter les nombreuses demandes de passeport déposées quand les restrictions sanitaires ont commencé à être levées ? Devait-il allouer plus de ressources au bureau des passeports ? Ou encore embaucher plus d’employés — et plus tôt — en prévision de la reprise des voyages internationaux ?

L’« argument pandémique »

Une telle action collective « n’est pas gagnée d’avance, mais ce n’est pas non plus impossible », juge Me Anne-Julie Asselin, avocate au sein du cabinet Trudel, Johnston et Lespérance, qui pilote de nombreuses actions collectives au Québec.

Selon elle, « la difficulté majeure du dossier » est de prouver la faute de l’État fédéral. Me Alexandre Brosseau-Wery, avocat associé chez Kugler Kandestin, est un peu plus optimiste : « Cela pourrait, à première vue, être un bon recours. »

Mais tous deux soulèvent la même embûche : pour justifier ses ratés et ses retards, l’État pourrait soulever comme moyen de défense la pandémie, qui a envoyé en congé de maladie bon nombre de ses employés et qui l’a forcé à affecter certains d’entre eux à d’autres tâches. Sans oublier la pénurie de personnel qui sévit un peu partout.

Cet « argument pandémique » a déjà été soulevé par plusieurs défendeurs devant les tribunaux ces derniers temps, rappelle Me Asselin. Mais deux ans plus tard, l’argument est-il toujours valable ? Les tribunaux pourraient y être moins réceptifs avec le passage du temps. Et puis, il y a quand même des choses qui auraient pu être prévues par le gouvernement, dit l’avocate.

Me Brosseau-Wery est du même avis : « On peut concevoir que, s’il avait agi diligemment et de manière proactive, il aurait pu mettre en place le nécessaire pour répondre à la demande plus élevée », et respecter ses propres normes et délais de traitement des passeports. De plus, c’est le gouvernement fédéral lui-même qui a levé certaines des restrictions de voyage, ce qui a mené à une forte demande pour ce document officiel.

Un autre argument fort pourrait être utilisé contre le fédéral, avance le professeur Rousseau : l’article 6 de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, qui prévoit que « tout citoyen canadien a le droit de demeurer au Canada, d’y entrer ou d’en sortir ». 

Empêcher un citoyen de voyager à l’extérieur des frontières pourrait « être constitutif de faute. » Et quand il est question de droits protégés par la Charte, les tribunaux ne sont pas très réceptifs à des excuses du type « problèmes administratifs », ajoute-t-il.

Témérité et immunité

Par contre, Me Asselin signale que des avertissements sur le site Web du gouvernement enjoignaient aux voyageurs de ne pas acheter de billets d’avion sans avoir leur passeport en main. Cela n’exonérerait peut-être pas entièrement le fédéral, mais pourrait possiblement mener à un partage de responsabilité, estime-t-elle : Ottawa pourrait plaider que l’achat de billets était téméraire. La ministre fédérale du Développement social, Karina Gould, a elle-même soulevé cet argument.

À cela, certains pourraient répliquer qu’à une certaine période, le bureau des passeports ne traitait que les demandes des voyageurs qui avaient un vol partant dans les 48 heures.

Il y a aussi une difficulté supplémentaire quand on poursuit le gouvernement : toute la question de l’immunité dont bénéficie l’État dans certaines circonstances, rappelle Me Brosseau-Wery. Le tribunal doit déterminer si la situation dommageable résulte d’une décision politique (par exemple, dans le cas d’une piste cyclable, décider ou non de la construire) ou opérationnelle (l’entretien de ladite piste afin qu’elle soit sécuritaire), illustre-t-il.

Car l’État bénéficie d’une immunité relative quant à ses décisions de nature politique, sauf en cas de mauvaise foi.

La limite entre une décision de nature politique ou opérationnelle est toutefois souvent difficile à établir, juge l’avocat. Mais cette immunité, si elle est applicable, peut jouer en faveur du gouvernement et faire échec à la poursuite, renchérit Me Asselin.

Source: La crise des passeports aboutira-t-elle à une action collective?

Filed under Citizenship, Passports Tagged with , ,

‘Showing his real face’: Outrage at Viktor Orban’s ‘race-mixing’ comments

2022/07/27 Leave a comment

Speaks for itself (former Canadian PM Harper, chair of the International Democrat Union (IDU), of which Orban’s party Fidesz is a member, has been silent to date on Orban’s authoritarian and xenophobic policies):

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has long posed as a defender of “western civilisation” against outside influences he deems invasive.

The populist has dismissed multiculturalism as an illusion and argued that Christian and Muslims “will never unite” in a single society – a view he has used as grounds for rejecting refugees and strengthening border control.

Now 12 years into his reign and recently emboldened by the biggest election victory in post-Soviet Hungarian history, the Fidesz party leader has again spoken out against diversity, this time shocking even longtime observers with his comments.

In a speech at Romanian university Baile Tusnad on Saturday, he said: “We [Hungarians] are not a mixed race… and we do not want to become a mixed race,” adding that western European countries could no longer be considered nations due to intermingling among Europeans and non-Europeans.

Opposition politicians recoiled at the prime minister’s segregationist tone. Katlin Cseh of the centrist Momentum Movement party tweeted: “To all ‘mixed race’ people in Hungary, whatever this senseless racist outburst means: your skin colour may be different, you may come from Europe or beyond – you are one of us, we are proud of you.

“Diversity strengthens the nation, it does not weaken it.”

She added: “His statements recall a time I think we would all like to forget.”

Guy Verhofstadt, MEP for Renew Europe and a persistent critic of Mr Orban, said the Hungarian leader was “showing his real face because he knows from experience Europe is too weak to confront him”.

Though Hungary remains in the European Union, the republic’s shift to “illiberal democracy” under Mr Orban has grated against the bloc’s stated fundamental principles of freedom, democracy and equality.

Mr Orban’s Fidesz party has grabbed control of around 80 per cent of independent media in Hungary and was this year warned by the EU to respect the rule of law after trying to force through constitutional changes despite judicial opposition.

Former vice president of the European Commission, Viviane Reading, said she feared Mr Orban’s government planned to use the two-thirds majority it won in the April national elections to claim public support for overruling Hungary’s independent courts.

Though the bloc has moved towards a potential funding cut for Hungary, commissioners are yet to bring anything like the fines imposed on Poland for its breaches of judicial independence.

Besides the views of his opponents, Mr Orban’s comments raise questions for American conservatives charmed by the Hungarian leader’s zeal for Christian dominance, which he punctuates with warnings that all other routes spell western decline.

His Romanian speech came a little less than a fortnight before his scheduled appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference(CPAC) taking place in Texas on 4-7 August, set to be the biggest event in the American right-wing calendar.

The prime minister will share a bill with former US president Donald Trump, right-wing talk show host and former politician Nigel Farage and many of America’s other right-wing darlings including Republican senator Ted Cruz and strategist Steve Bannon, who last week was found guilty of contempt for ignoring a subpoena from the US Congress examining events of 6 January 2021.

Explaining Mr Orban’s invitation to the conference, Matt Schlapp, head of CPAC, said: “What we like about him is that he’s actually standing up for the freedom of his people against the tyranny of the EU.

“He’s captured the attention of a lot of people, including a lot of people in America who are worried about the decline of the family.”

In May, CPAC held its first conference in Europe, choosing Hungary as its host and Mr Orban as a headline speaker.

The prime minister used his speech to promote Hungary as “the bastion of conservative Christian values in Europe” and urged US conservatives to defeat “the dominance of progressive liberals in public life” as he said he had done at home.

The alignment of views appears to have a deep bond between the two conservative movements but experts speculate that it is only superficial and the true appeal of Mr Orban to America’s right-wing lies in his peaceful consolidation of authoritarian power.

Source: ‘Showing his real face’: Outrage at Viktor Orban’s ‘race-mixing’ comments

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Kuluberhan: Why do some asylum seekers make it into the West quickly – while others have to wait more than a decade?

2022/07/27 Leave a comment

More questioning of double standards. Reality is a bit more complex than presented as Canada’s response to Syrian refugees attests (but not so with respect to Afghan refugees):

They were middle-class Europeans who looked more like the family living next door than the refugees Western countries had become so accustomed to seeing trickle across their borders. At least, that’s how Western news media and politicians often depicted the Ukrainian citizens who were forced to flee their homes following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

As a second-generation Canadian and the daughter of two Eritrean refugees, the distinctions made between refugees felt like textbook dog-whistles that were impossible to ignore. Indeed, when I travelled to Ethiopia and visited my uncle this past May, I witnessed first-hand how refugees who don’t look like people who might live next door – who come from places that are not seen as “civilized” – have become forgotten casualties of broken asylum systems.

Picture this: You grow up living in an eight-bedroom home in a residential neighbourhood two hours outside the capital city. Your father runs a public transportation business, and your mother is a shopkeeper who sells spices. You and your seven siblings attend the only private school in town. The life you lead is a good one – until one day, the political situation in your country changes and suddenly your family loses everything. Before you know it, nearly two decades pass by in the refugee camp where you’ve been waiting in limbo for your asylum papers to arrive.

This is my uncle’s story, in a nutshell. Despite hailing from Ethiopia, the life he led prior to the 1998 Ethiopia-Eritrea border war was not all that different from the life of your average middle-class Canadian citizen. Yet December will mark 18 years since my uncle first filed an asylum claim in 2004. He does not “seem so like us,” as one Telegraph writer described Ukrainian asylum seekers – and there is no telling when his ordeal will end.

Meanwhile, the Canadian government announced measures in March that would fast-track the arrival of an unlimited number of Ukrainians fleeing the war and allow them to apply for a renewable three-year temporary residence. Many wondered why the same quick action couldn’t be taken for the refugees who have languished in the system for years. But during a CBS News broadcast report from Kyiv in late February, senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata voiced what had to that point been largely implicit: Ukraine, he declared, “isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European – I have to choose those words carefully, too – city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

Research studies have long indicated that lengthy asylum processes adversely affect the mental health of refugee claimants, leading to an increased risk of life-long psychiatric disorders. My uncle is no exception. After my uncle spent15 years in the Shimelba camp in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, we lost all contact with him for two years until 2021, when he was found homeless on the streets of Addis Ababa. When I met him, his mental health had deteriorated to such a point that my family decided to pool resources and place him in a private facility where he could receive treatment for depression while he continued waiting to be granted asylum.

While his case is an extreme one, long asylum wait-times are not uncommon. In a 2017 memo, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada estimated that by 2021, wait times for asylum claims would take up to 11 years – much closer to the bleak reality faced by refugees than the projected 24-month period indicated on the board’s website.

Canada moving at a breakneck speed to implement targeted supports for Ukrainian asylum seekers was a reminder that our refugee policies are not race-blind commitments to humanitarianism. Who a country welcomes across its borders and into its society reveals who that country believes belongs, who doesn’t, and which lives are worth saving.

Criticism of slow resettlement processes are usually met with the excuse that the increase in the number of asylum claims has placed an untenable weight on a system already weakened by a mounting backlog. Yet the response to the Ukraine crisis, in Canada and elsewhere, has revealed how governments in the West can operate like well-oiled machines when they feel the need.

Of course, we should applaud our government for the exemplary support it provided to Ukrainians in need. Now we must urge them to apply this same urgency and care to all refugees, equally.

Hermona Kuluberhan is an Ottawa-based writer currently completing a master’s in journalism at Carleton University.

Source: Why do some asylum seekers make it into the West quickly – while others have to wait more than a decade? 

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