COVID-19 Immigration Effects January 2021 Update

2021/03/22 Leave a comment

Regular monthly update showing the impact of government using temporary residents as a major “inventory” for permanent residents. Highlights:

  • January immigration increased, reflecting government decision to use inventory of temporary residents to transition to permanent residency. The reduction of Canadian Experience Class Express Entry minimal score further demonstration of government intent. 
  • PRs: Admissions increased from 10,070 in December to 24,650 in January. January Year-over-year decline: Economic 5.5%, Family 24.8%. Refugees increase of 68.1% 
  • Permanent Residents Applications: Decrease from 17,376 in December to 15,613 in January. January year-over-year decrease 41.3% 
  • Web “Immigrate to Canada”: Largely flat, from 62,161 in January to 64,507 in February. February year-over-year increase of 9.3% 
  • Provincial Nominee Program: Increase from 1,475 in December to 6,355 in January. January year-over-year increase: 26.72% 
  • TR to PRs transition (i.e., those already in Canada): Dramatic increase from 2,725 in December (some double counting) to 12,990 in January. January Year-over-year increase of 41.8% 
  • Temporary Residents IMP: Increase from 29,885 in December (post-grad employment slightly less than half) to 31,605 in January. January Year-over-year change: Agreements increase of 26.9%, Canadian Interests increase of 44.9% 
  • Temporary Residents TFWP: Increase from 6,490 in December to 10,695 in January. January year-over-year increase: Caregivers 74.4%, Agriculture 42.8% and Other LMIA 34.6%. 
  • Web “Get a work permit”: From 73,343 in January (outside Canada) to 58,958 in February. February Year-over-year decline: 24.9% 
  • Students: Increase from 24,775 in December to 27,690 in January. January year-over-year increase of 9.1% 
  • Study Permit Applications: Decline from 36,946 in December to 27,735 in January. January Year-over-year decrease: 9.2% 
  • Web “Get a study permit”: From 62,161 in January (outside Canada) to 64,507 in February. Year-over-year increase: 9.3% 
  • Asylum Claimants: Small decline from 1,240 in December (about 75% inland) to 1,070 in January. January year-over-year decrease: 77.1% 
  • Settlement Services (NEW 2020 data December): Decline from 48,700 in November to 42,890 in December. December Year-over-year decrease 21.6 percent 
  • Web “Find immigrant services hear you”: From 11,076 in January to 8,201 in February (outside Canada). February Year-over-year decrease: 32.5% 
  • Citizenship: Small increase from 2,476 in December to 2,689 in January. January Year-over-year decrease: 89.2%. 2020 Application data pending 
  • Web “Apply for citizenship”: From 28,179 in January (outside Canada) to 20,965 in February. February Year-over-year decrease: 31.3% 
  • Visitor Visas: Decrease from 5,237 in December to 3,507 in January. January Year-over-year decrease: 94.4%

Pdf: https://multiculturalmeanderings.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/covid-19-immigration-effects-key-slides-january-2021-draft.pdf

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Happy Nowruz/Eide-shoma mobarak

2021/03/20 Leave a comment

First day of spring!

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German professor under police protection for stance on Islamophobia

2021/03/18 Leave a comment

Making distinctions and nuance matter rather than shutting down discussion:

“Fascists in our lecture halls! Dismiss Professor Kinzler! Islamophobia kills,” read the large banners hanging at the University of Grenoble. Activists from the French student union Unef also posted the slogans online.

Five months after the brutal murder of history teacher Samuel Paty, being accused of Islamophobia is not something that is taken lightly in France. Following a debate that sparked outrage at the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies, two professors are under police protection.

Here’s how it happened: 3 1/2 months ago, students and teachers at the university were discussing the title of a planned seminar on the topic of equality. Should “Islamophobia” be included alongside “anti-Semitism” and “racism”?

Professor Klaus Kinzler, who teaches German language and culture at the university, felt that Islamophobia wasn’t comparable to anti-Semitism. Following his advice to not include the term “Islamophobia” in the title of the seminar, he was excluded from the email discussion.

Incidentally, the Stuttgart-born professor is married to a Muslim woman.

When another professor showed solidarity with Kinzler, the student union Unef also targeted him.

France’s interior minister for citizenship, Marlene Schiappa, reacted to the case: After the decapitation of the teacher Samuel Paty, the current hate campaign against the professors is “a particularly disgusting act,” said Schiappa in a TV interview. The Unef has actively “put the life of professors in mortal danger,” she added.

A reflection of France’s integration problem

German historian and author Philipp Blom sees in France’s current discussions on Islamophobia a reflection of social issues related to the country’s position as a former colonial power, where strong “functional racism” rules.

The integration of immigrants from North Africa has failed blatantly, points out Blom. “In the banlieues on the outskirts of Paris, it doesn’t feel like you’re living in France. You don’t have the same opportunities as other people,” Blom told DW.

Experiencing marginalization and humiliation, an entire generation has come of age in milieus in which petty criminals and radical Islamists vie for domination. “I can understand that this creates anger, including murderous anger,” says Blom.

People were already calling for change in the ‘banlieues,’ or the outskirts of French cities, in 2005

But that is not a specifically French problem, adds the historian, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Still, the experience of humiliation is “a very important political force.”

Identity politics and cancel culture

Klaus Kinzler told German newspaper Die Welt that there is a form of political activism in France that disguises itself as academia.

Similarly, political scientist Claus Leggewie points out that those activists aren’t fighting against the powerful, the establishment, the far-right or the real fascists, but against people whose views are seen as “not being pro-Islamic enough.”

Leggewie describes the case as being about “canceling” specific persons, silencing them, and “banning ideas and discussions.”

Social media has also become the echo chamber of social identity groups, which are increasingly excluding people with other ideas. By staging controversies online, members of these groups gain immediate media recognition, says Leggewie. “That is exactly what has happened in Grenoble, and with Samuel Paty basically too, and in his case it was fatal,” adds the political expert.

Islamophobia versus anti-Semitism

Klaus Kinzler has been a professor at the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies for 25 years now. He was “not surprised” by the slogans on the university building, since the student union Unef had already branded him as a right-wing extremist and Islamophobe in social networks.

Racism and anti-Semitism — which are both criminal offenses in secular France — have nothing to do with Islamophobia, in Kinzler’s view.”Anti-Semitism has resulted in millions of deaths. Genocide without end. Then there is racism, slavery. That, too, has led to tens of millions of deaths in history,” he told Die Welt. “But where are the millions of deaths linked to Islamophobia?” he asked, nevertheless clarifying: “I do not deny that people of Muslim faith are discriminated against. I just refuse to put it on the same level. I think this is an absurd deception.”

Kinzler was a “completely normal professor of German at a provincial institute” and had always enjoyed his work, he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Before the controversy, his students told him that they appreciated that he defended free, liberal positions. “The exchanges were always enriching,” he said.

In the end, he says, he is less offended by the students who launched the hate campaign than by his colleagues, researchers and professors — who have distanced themselves from him without searching for dialogue.

Source: German professor under police protection for stance on Islamophobia

Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

‘Finnishness is more than blonde hair and blue eyes’

2021/03/18 Leave a comment

Of note:

Alice Jäske was sitting in the waiting room of her local health centre, waiting to get a plaster cast for her broken leg.

“I’ve got to ask, where are you from?” another patient asked her.

Jäske has lived in Finland all her life. All that time she has frequently had to prove that she really is Finnish, because she doesn’t look like the traditional image of a Nordic person. The question came as a blow.

“It’s frustrating. But to avoid an embarrassing situation and take the easy way out I once again told a complete stranger about my entire family background. My father is Finnish but my mother is from Taiwan,” Jäske says.

After getting her leg put in plaster the nurse complemented Jäske on her surprisingly good Finnish. As she left the clinic, Jäske was offered help – in English – by a passerby.

“In a very short time, in a completely everyday situation, my “Finnishness” was questioned three times. I understand that these comments weren’t meant to be offensive, but in my head it sounds as if there are “us Finns”, and that I don’t belong,” says Jäske.

That series of events is just one example of the microaggressions that Jäske has encountered her whole life. Microaggressions – whether intentional or unintentional – are words or actions that communicate hostile, negative or derogatory attitudes towards a person or people.

Jäske says she is sharing her story to try and change the world.

“The concept of Finnishness should be expanded to accommodate more people who look different, and not just blonde-haired, blue-eyed Elovena girls,” she says.

When praise isn’t praise

This week is Anti-Racism and Discrimination Week. People tend to think of racism as being when someone does or says something racist to another person. But discrimination can take many forms.

Something that sounds innocent can mark someone out as different. If a person constantly hears that they are somehow wrong or anomalous, they gradually begin to believe it themselves.

That’s what happened to Janina Ojala. As a girl, she felt a sense of shame and fear when her dad would tease her in Thai while they waited in line at the shop. Ojala hid from her friends the fact that her family ate with a fork and spoon at home, and not a knife and fork. She did her best to keep her Thai roots from attracting attention.

“Typically it’s comments about how lovely and thick my hair is, or how quickly my skin tans. One comment is not a problem, but when you hear things like these on a daily basis they have a big impact on how you see yourself,” Ojala explains.

The kinds of comments Ojala describes are known as “exoticisation”, comments that emphasise difference by attaching positive stereotypes to it. Ojala has lived in Finland her whole life, with her Finnish mother and Thai father.”Although now I’m older I consider multiculturalism to be enriching, in certain situations I still feel the need to present myself a certain way to others,” she says.

At university Ojala met others who had lived through similar experiences. With the support of her peers she finally felt able to embrace her Thai side. Now she wants to support others to do the same.

Together with Alice Jäske and Priska Niemi-Sampan, Ojala created “Mixed Finns“, an Instagram account which aims to provide support and information about being a mixed-race Finn.

Does someone’s appearance make them an immigrant?

As a child, Priska Niemi-Sampan felt just like the others, walking to school with her backpack on. Her family always spoke Finnish at home, even when they lived abroad due to her parent’s job as an aid worker.

But Priska was an unusual name, and the looks she inherited from her Filipino father drew attention. Soon, she found herself constantly answering questions about her “homeland”, about her language skills and her appearance. As far as society was concerned, the young girl was a foreigner.

“I felt for a long time that university wasn’t a place for someone that looks like me. I wasn’t encouraged to go by my school or my hobbies. The attitudes of the world around us have a huge impact on how a person sees their own potential,” Niemi-Sampan says.

A recent article in the journal Sosiologia (link in Finnish) by Anna Rastas, a researcher from Tampere University who specialises in studying racism and fellow researcher Sanna Poelman, says that the conversation about racism and racial identity in Finland still revolves around immigration.This is despite the fact that more and more Finnish people belong to ethnic minority groups.

There has been a concerted effort to eradicate racism in Finnish society since the time Niemi-Sampan was at school, but there is a still a lot of work to be done. In 2019 researchers at Helsinki University found job applicants with foreign-sounding names were less likely to be invited for job interviews than applicants with typically Finnish names.

Niemi-Sampan came across similar discrimination after going to university. She helped found the organisation Students of Colour which aims to stamp out racism in higher education. Now she wants to extend the support outside the world of academia.

“As a child I would have longed for support from my peers and now I want to offer young people a community where they can talk about these thoughts and feelings. Social media is a natural environment for reaching young people and sharing their experiences,” she says.

In the future, Mixed Finns also hopes to offer anti-racism training for various organisations.

A world where national identity is more than skin deep

Would Janina Ojala be able to speak Thai if she had dared practice it when she was a child? Would Priska Niemi-Sampan feel more self-confident if she hadn’t spent her life trying to escape notice? Would Alice Jäske know more about her mother’s culture if she hadn’t felt pressured to hide her Taiwanese-ness when she was younger?

Mixed Finns’s efforts may not change the world, but they represent a step towards a dream the three women share.

This dream is of a world where someone’s Finnish identity isn’t defined by the way they look, and where a person can belong to multiple cultures without being seen as an outsider to all of them.

The women also challenge Finns to think more carefully about what they say, because what seems like a compliment to one person might not always feel that way to another.

Source: ‘Finnishness is more than blonde hair and blue eyes’

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Adopt anti-racism framework, urges Australian Human Rights Commission

2021/03/18 Leave a comment

Of note:

The Australian Human Rights Commission is calling on the federal government to implement its new plan for a national anti-racism framework.

The concept paper, released on Wednesday, outlines key components that need to be included in the framework. According to the paper, the framework must recognise and acknowledge Australia’s ancient Indigenous heritage, its British heritage, and its diverse multicultural heritage.

“A national framework should also acknowledge Australia’s geo-political location in the Asia-Pacific region in the ‘Asian century’ as well as being capable of embracing the history and circumstances of Australia’s diverse diaspora communities,” the paper said.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan noted that recent events have shown that Australia is facing a resurgence in racism.

“The Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted injustices experienced by people from culturally diverse backgrounds and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed ugly racism against people of Asian descent here in Australia,” he said in a speech on Tuesday.

“And ASIO and the AFP have repeatedly identified home grown terrorism and extremism as a significant threat to the national security of Australia. It is also now just over two years since the terrible events in Christchurch, New Zealand, where an Australian man murdered 51 people, and attempted to murder another 40 people.”

Tan argued that it’s time to treat the “scourge of racism” in the same way that issues such as domestic violence and child abuse are treated.

“On those issues we have in place longstanding national frameworks, signed onto by all governments in Australia, with three-year action plans to target priority issues and make serious headway in addressing them,” he said.

“Let me be clear: racism is a significant economic, social and national security threat to Australia. It is time we treated it as such. We need a new approach to combatting racism — one that is more cohesive across government, that builds community partnerships to prevent racism from flourishing, and one that is smarter and more effective.”

The AHRC’s proposed national framework would do this, Tan said.

Source: Adopt anti-racism framework, urges Australian Human Rights Commission

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Senator Omidvar: A Practical First Step to Distance Ourselves from the Monarchy

2021/03/18 2 Comments

Senator Omidvar raises whether the citizenship oath should remain only the Queen (as the Crown in the institutional sense) or to Canada C-8, the bill broadening the oath to include Indigenous treaty rights is before Parliament. This raises the possibility of an amendment during the Senate review of the Bill, and an interesting and overdue debate.

(The Chrétien government considered amending the oath some 25 years ago but the PM nixed the idea given timing closing to the 1995 Quebec referendum: “I’m not sure I want to take on the separatists and the monarchists at the same time.”) Citizenship oath to Queen nearly nixed 20 years ago

Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry has raised questions about Canada’s connection to the monarchy.

It’s a strong and deep connection that’s expressed in many ways, big and small: We have a Governor General who represents the Queen in Canada, we maintain a residence for the Queen in Ottawa, our currency bears the image of a monarch, and every so often we host a royal tour.

The Senate of Canada, which I am privileged to belong to, is likely the institution most steeped in the ritual and traditions of Westminster. The doors to the Senate chamber are opened every sitting by the Usher of the Black Rod, who carries an ebony cane as a symbol of royal authority. He’s followed by the mace-bearer, because, without the mace, the Senate cannot meet. As a senator, I must bow to the Queen every time I enter or leave the Senate chamber. Every bill passed in the Senate receives a “royal” assent.

Despite these traditions, calls to drop the Queen and the monarchy from Canada have grown louder. However, anyone who’s even the least bit pragmatic will realize that efforts to remove the monarchy will likely lead to a protracted conflict between the federal government and the provinces. The political risks would likely be too high.

So, if dropping the monarchy isn’t an option right now, what can be done to insert more Canadiana into our practices and traditions?

I would look to one of the most fundamental building blocks of Canada: the citizenship oath. I know this process well. In 1985, I took the oath of citizenship. It was a landmark day for me and my family, giving us the official enfranchisement to be Canadian in every way. But as someone who was born in post-colonial India, I couldn’t help but wonder why I was swearing my allegiance to a distant monarch. I know that many new Canadians wonder the same thing, especially those who come to this brave new world from countries that have suffered under the yoke of colonialism.

Since then, I’ve matured in my understanding of how Canada was built and how it works, and have come to appreciate our traditions and Constitution. However, I believe we should be swearing allegiance to Canada, not the Queen — or at least letting new Canadians choose to whom they swear their allegiance: the Queen or Canada.

Australia shed the sovereign from its citizenship oath in 1994, instead asking citizens to commit to Australia and its values. Sen. Philip Faulkner made the case for reinforcing the notion of an Australian citizenship. He noted that “Australian citizenship, with its attendant rights and obligations, is part of the glue which binds the nation and its citizens in a manner that gives adequate recognition to the reciprocity of that bond.”

Citizenship lies solely under federal jurisdiction. The oath can be changed simply by passing a bill through Parliament. It would require political will and leadership, but it’s within the realm of the possible.

This would demonstrate that Canada has come of age, is exerting more independence, and is ever so slightly breaking away from the troubling history of colonialism. It’s time for us to make our own traditions.

Source: http://www.ratnaomidvar.ca/a-practical-first-step-to-distance-ourselves-from-the-monarchy/

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#COVID-19: Comparing provinces with other countries 17 March Update

2021/03/18 Leave a comment

The latest charts, compiled 17 March.

Vaccinations: The gap between all G7 countries save Japan continues to grow, all European countries ahead of Canada with no narrowing yet of the gap.

Trendline charts

Infections per million: The overall trend of a flattened curve is seen in G7 countries and most provinces.

Deaths per million: Most Canadian provinces continue to flatten the curve, Quebec most dramatically. Overall G7 death rate have surpassed Quebec’s.

Vaccinations per million: Gap between G7 and Canada remains despite the arrival of more vaccines.

Weekly

Infections per million: No relative change.

Deaths per million: No relative change 

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Neve: We need a human rights game plan for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

2021/03/17 2 Comments

Good suggestions. Latest Angus-Reid poll shows 55 percent support boycott compares to 27 percent opposed:
As the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing draw nearer – less than eleven months to go – calls for a boycott grow.

Every day, grave human rights violations suffocate freedom in Hong Kong; brutalize Tibetan, Falun Gong, pro-democracy and other prisoners because of who they are or what they believe; and jeopardize the survival of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. Worry for unjustly imprisoned Canadians, including Huseyin Celil, Sun Qian, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – and four Canadians currently sentenced to death in China – is top of mind. Understandably, there is much debate about holding the Olympics in a country responsible for a human rights crisis of this magnitude.

Immediately there is pushback. We hear indignation that a boycott politicizes the Olympics. But concern for universal human rights is anything but political. These are international obligations binding on all nations, including China.

The Olympic Charter itself affirms that: “The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” Surely championing universal human rights is true to the essence of that vision.

What is particularly galling is for governments and the Olympic movement to dismiss boycott calls as inappropriate, then go no further. That is an utter abdication of responsibility. Boycott or not, there must be a forceful human-rights game plan for these Olympics.

With the House of Common’s recognition of China’s genocide against the Uyghurs; with an iron grip of repression closing around Hong Kong; with Canadians unjustly locked up in Chinese prisons; and with the Chinese government determined to bask in a favourable international spotlight – if this is not the time to sharpen the world’s focus, build pressure, and set out clear expectations for human rights change in China, when will that time be?

Here is the beginning of a three-part game plan for Canada.

First, work with other governments to hold China accountable within the United Nations human rights system. The UN Human Rights Council is in session and will meet two more times before the flame is lit in Beijing. Governments need to find their resolve and use the world’s premier human rights body to call out one of the world’s most egregious human rights violators.

Second, take steps that are readily available. Canadian law and policy already provide for a range of meaningful measures such as more robust bans on products made through forced labour; targeted sanctions on Chinese government officials; concrete initiatives to protect activists in Canada facing threats for their Chinese human rights advocacy; and dedicated programs for refugees fleeing this repression. House of Commons committees on the Canada-China relationship, international human rights and immigration have explored and proposed those and other recommendations in recent months. It is time for action.

And third, all stakeholders need human rights-focused Olympics strategies. That includes the government, the Canadian Olympic Committee, media, corporate sponsors and individual athletes.

There needs to be a coherent response with other governments, including maintaining pressure with respect to key human rights concerns throughout the lead-up to and during the Olympics. Coordinated decisions as to which officials will attend and who will pointedly stay away from the lavish opening ceremony should be publicized.

Attention will be needed to ensure that journalists have freedom and are encouraged to report about China’s human rights reality. Similarly, marketing campaigns cannot gloss over China’s grim human rights record. Television networks with Olympic broadcast rights, and companies paying big bucks to use the logo, need to figure out how they will lift up human rights.

And there must be assurances of safety and support for individual athletes who will feel compelled by conscience to show solidarity.

If governments and the Olympic movement are going to rebuff boycott suggestions, it is incumbent upon them to demonstrate they are nonetheless committed to addressing the harrowing human rights backdrop behind the Beijing Games’ fanfare.

This is not playing politics. It is about respecting what the Olympics aspire to be.

Above all, it is about honouring the Uyghur people, the people of Hong Kong, Tibetans, Mongolians, Falun Gong practitioners, democracy campaigners, human rights defenders, journalists, labour activists, imprisoned Canadians, and countless others.

For them, the Olympic flame offers no inspiration or comfort.  For them, we must set the flame ablaze with concern, solidarity and action for human rights.

Alex Neve is a Senior Fellow with the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Source: Neve: We need a human rights game plan for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics

Latest Angus-Reid poll showing 55 percent favouring a boycott, 27 percent opposed.

Source: https://angusreid.org/china-meng-kovrig-spavor-trial/

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Mendes: We say ‘never again,’ then it happens again in China and we do almost nothing

2021/03/17 Leave a comment

Good op-ed by Errol Mendes:

We are witnessing what we’d hoped would “never again” happen after the Second World War: There is compelling evidence that over a million Uyghurs are being detained in Xinjiang, China.

While the Chinese government claims the detention camps are in fact vocational or training camps, the detainees are subjected to propaganda sessions, forced labour, and physical abuse, including gang rapes, according to credible news reports.

There’s also evidence that the Chinese government is trying to reduce the numbers of this ethnic and religious group through enforced birth control.

I agree with former Justice minister Irwin Cotler that we should join the U.S. and other countries in imposing targeted sanctions against key planners of the mass detention of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

I have suggested in Canadian Parliament that sanctions should target the architects of the suppression and detention of the Uyghurs. Such sanctions could target governor Shohrat Zakir of Xinjiang, and the region’s party chief, Chen Quanguo, who’s a member of the politburo of the party in the highest ranks of the Chinese government. Both have asserted that these allegations, of what amount to serious international crimes against the Uyghurs, are fabricated lies and absurd. Zakir goes further by describing the camps as boarding schools where the rights of the “students” are protected.

In 2017, Parliament passed the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, which implements the Magnitsky targeted sanctions that allow Canada to freeze the assets and ban the travel of human-rights abusers and corrupt officials around the world. Similar laws have been adopted by the U.S., the U.K., and many European countries, and the European Union is considering adopting a law for the whole region. The law was championed by Bill Browder, the global human-rights and anti-corruption campaigner whose lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered by Russian officials.

In an interview in the Globe and Mail, Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the UN, said the federal government must consider the consequences, including possible retaliation, before imposing sanctions on senior Chinese officials for violating the human rights of minority groups. I agree with him that a government can never afford to engage in non-consequential thinking or actions that could threaten our two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, or engage in further trade actions that could threaten our agricultural and lumber exports.

However, Canadian society can’t bend its foundational commitments to the rule of law to the laws practised by China and other dictatorships. We can’t ignore our oft-stated commitments to the promotion and protection of universal human rights embodied in the promise of “never again.” We can’t just stand by while, yet again, crimes against humanity are committed, including genocide, torture, and brutal violence and rape against women detainees.

When we stay silent or don’t act in the face of these atrocities, we forfeit our right to be regarded as champions of the equal dignity and rights of all peoples on the world stage. History has shown that silence is the complicit partner to genocide. Canada can’t stand by while genocidal acts and crimes against humanity take place in Myanmar, China, or elsewhere. By forcing birth control on the Uyghurs, the Chinese government is committing both crimes against humanity and genocide.

The officials who I suggest we target for their involvement in the detention, subjugation, and forced birth control in Xinjiang may not want to travel to Canada or have any assets here to be frozen, but the signal we send with the targeted sanctions to, not just China, but the entire world, is that we’re acting on behalf of humanity. They’re meant to bestow pariah status on those at the highest levels of the Chinese government.

Our traditional allies should be urged to follow suit, and even consider doing it jointly with us. As for China’s possible retaliation, “the two Michaels” are already paying the price with their detention and imminent trial. Their fate is sealed as long as Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou isn’t freed.

Canada must develop a longer-term strategy and policy for China that addresses both the country’s “hostage diplomacy” and the use of trade punishments that are substantially in violation of global trade rules under the World Trade Organization.

As China breaches international norms and laws, Canada and its government must develop a long-term strategy with our traditional democratic allies, especially the European Union and the new Biden administration in the U.S. The goal of such a coalition would be the economic, social, and multilateral deterrence of, not only the use of hostage diplomacy by China and other countries, but also China’s ability to target democratic countries that are bound by their values, principles, and constitutions to adhere to the rule of law and the promotion and protection of universal human rights.

U.S. President Joe Biden has already promised to hold a global democracy summit to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the free world. Yet again, the risk is high that authoritarian China will collude with similar powers to make the entire democratic world cower in fear of them.

Canada could urge such a summit, where measures can be agreed on to subject Chinese global companies to national-security, human-rights, and anti-corruption scrutiny, and to penalize them for complicity in their state’s serious international crimes.

We need government, private-sector, and civil-society partnerships to oppose hostage diplomacy and impunity for the most serious international crimes. Such coalitions could build on the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance, comprised of Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, which functions well already. The commitment to the rule of law — and respect for the equal dignity and rights of all peoples, which underlies the alliance of truly democratic nations — is under attack from authoritarian leaders around the world. Canada can’t acquiesce or stand by in this assault on democracy around the world.

Source: We say ‘never again,’ then it happens again in China and we do almost nothing

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Ottawa is right to attract more immigrants

2021/03/17 Leave a comment

The Conference Board pro-immigration level opinion. Money quote: “It’s prioritizing its immigration targets and devaluing the very high social-capital standards that underpin Canada’s system of economic immigration.”

As I have indicated a few times, I disagree with this approach as I think it understates, if not ignores, some of the inequality aspects of this policy:

In the short term, spending by immigrants can help fuel economic recovery, while the availability of immigrant labour will be essential in restoring the restaurant and hospitality sectors.

The federal government’s latest efforts to make it easier for immigrants with Canadian work experience to become permanent residents is another sign it’s committed to attracting more immigrants. 

Clearly, federal officials are convinced of the social, economic, and labour-market benefits of high immigration levels.

But what does their approach mean for the immigrants who will arrive at this challenging time? And what might this period teach us about our immigration system?

Earlier this month, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada invited 27,322 people to apply for permanent residency as part of the Express Entry program’s “Canadian experience” class. This draw from the pool of registered candidates was five to 10 times greater than the usual number of invitations made in a single draw.

The increase was made possible by significantly lowering the points threshold to qualify for an invitation to become a permanent resident. These points are awarded for a variety of social and human-capital reasons that align with long-term integration and economic resiliency, such as: education, age, knowledge of an official language, and experience living in Canada as a temporary resident.

This is the second major step by the federal government to ensure we continue to attract immigrants in large numbers, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Last October, Ottawa updated its three-year immigration planwith record targets culminating in 421,000 arrivals in 2023.

The new targets were warmly received by immigration advocates who hoped the federal government wouldn’t follow the lead of many other countries by restricting immigration because of the pandemic and the recessions caused by its associated public-health measures.

However, even advocates are skeptical that Ottawa can attract 401,000 immigrants in 2021 — not because of a lack of demand, as Canada’s appeal as a destination for emigrants has only increased during the pandemic. Rather, they fear that continued travel restrictions, and the news that mass vaccinations won’t arrive in Canada until this fall at the earliest, will have a dampening effect on immigration.

Even in 2020, the government relied heavily on those already in Canada to boost invitations for permanent residency. Research by the Conference Board of Canada shows that 60 per cent more permanent-resident “arrivals” were already in Canada than in the previous two years.

The latest move is a doubling-down on this strategy, and leans heavily on temporary workers and students who are already in the country.

In this way, Ottawa is making a clear trade-off. It’s prioritizing its immigration targets and devaluing the very high social-capital standards that underpin Canada’s system of economic immigration.
So how do we assess this trade-off?

The long- and short-term benefits of maintaining high immigration levels are clear. In the long term, immigration fuels economic growth, improves our ratio of working-age Canadians to retirees, creates more tax revenue, and supplies skilled labour to key sectors. Economic and population modelling by the Conference Board of Canada demonstrates that more immigration benefits the economy.

In the short term, spending by immigrants can help fuel economic recovery, while the availability of immigrant labour will be essential in restoring the restaurant and hospitality sectors, for instance.

Therefore, the government has good reasons to want to get as close to its immigration targets as possible, despite the challenges of COVID. The pattern of relying on immigrants who have Canadian experience, but lower social capital, might continue as long as significant travel restrictions remain.

But this doesn’t mean immigrants who arrive during this period won’t be successful or contribute as much to the Canadian economy. Our economic modelling indicates that even immigrants with comparatively lower social-capital attributes — for instance, refugee and family-class immigrants — still make significant contributions to the economy, especially over time.

Also, most newcomers with experience living in Canada will already have Canadian work experience. This helps with future job searches, as employers tend to assess Canadian experience more favourably than foreign work experience. They will also arrive at jobs with a better understanding of Canadian culture and workplace norms, and greater facility with our official languages, neither of which may be their first.

There is great short- and long-term economic value in trying to reach Canada’s immigration targets. In closely observing the progress of immigrants who arrive during and just after the pandemic, we can learn a lot about the value of Canadian experience, compared to other social-capital factors.

The key is not to let individual immigrants suffer for the sake of Canada’s economy and our understanding of the integration process. They should be monitored closely, and both government and the immigration sector should be prepared to offer additional support if they struggle.

Source: https://go.conferenceboard.ca/MDk0LUVHRi02MzkAAAF71qV7cSskUNcrhiS4-30l_NQZjeNl-F2yhUwu_YEwPrJPoUe8DYze02tYZtddvE27AJPjm1k=

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