Ibbitson: The Liberals must fix the housing crisis, before it undermines support for immigration

2023/08/01 Leave a comment

Indeed. But ramping up housing is harder than ramping up immigration, given the complexities and time lags. So unlikely Minister Fraser will be able to show concrete results before the election, begging the question why not pausing planned increases in immigration to allow housing etc to start catching up:

In last week’s cabinet shuffle, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promoted Sean Fraser, one of his government’s rising stars, from immigration to housing. His job in this new portfolio is to fix the problem he contributed to in his old one.

Mr. Fraser must find a way to ease this country’s critical housing shortage, a problem the Liberal government is stoking by bringing in more than a million newcomers a year to Canada.

High levels of immigration bring growth, energy and confidence to our country. But they also bring problems. Mr. Fraser must fix the worst problem of all, or risk undermining the Canadian experiment.

In 2022, Canada welcomed 437,000 new permanent residents. Add in temporary foreign workers, international students and other non-permanent residents, and you have a population that is now growing by more than a million people a year, or 2.7 per cent, by far the highest growth in the G7. Today, we are 40 million people.

Statistics Canada estimates that “such a rate of population growth would lead to the Canadian population doubling in about 26 years.” Given that Japan, South Korea and most European countries are declining, or soon will decline, in population – thanks to low birth rates and little or no immigration – Canada a generation from now could be one of the larger developed countries, equal to or even ahead of Germany, France and Britain in population.

These new arrivals help ease labour shortages caused by retiring baby boomers. In 2010, 14 per cent of Canada’s population was 65 or older. Last year, it was 19 per cent. By 2030, it will be around 23 per cent.

The shortages are made worse by Canada’s falling total fertility rate (TFR), which reached a record low of 1.4 children per woman in 2020 – far below the replacement TFR of 2.1 children per woman.

Those who argue that Canada should increase its birth rate rather than rely on immigration to stabilize or grow the population are just wrong. Hungary, Singapore and the Nordic countries have adopted natalist policies to get their fertility rate up to 2.1. They and others have failed. Governments should always support women who want to have children and still preserve their career path. But that is a matter of social equity.

In most respects, then, this Liberal government’s policy of expanding Canada’s already robust immigration policy has been a good thing. But it also contributes to an acute housing shortage. A recent TD Bank report predicts that, if current trends continue, the gap between housing supply and demand could reach 500,000 units through 2025.

For Mr. Fraser’s part, “I can tell you that, 365 days a year, I will choose the problem of having to rapidly build more houses because so many people want to move to my community over losing schools and hospitals because so many people are leaving,” he told Maclean’s magazine when he was still immigration minister.

Now “the problem of having to rapidly build more houses” is his to solve.

Because he’s a Liberal, Mr. Fraser will likely approach the problem through a combination of regulations and incentives. He would be wise to also steal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s approach: require municipalities to loosen restrictions on development as a condition of receiving grants.

In truth, everything is needed: converting vacant office buildings to condominiums, densifying existing neighbourhoods, increasing the supply of subsidized housing and, whether you like it or not, permitting suburban sprawl.

Thus far, Mr. Poilievre has avoided calling for limits to immigration. He recently told journalists that immigration targets should be “driven by the number of employers who have job vacancies they cannot fill with Canadians, by the number of charities that want to sponsor refugees, and by families that can reunite and support their loved ones here.” That could easily get you to a million new arrivals, permanent and temporary, a year.

Much is at stake. If Canadians attribute unaffordable housing to high levels of immigration, they may demand cutbacks.

That would be tragic. Whatever the challenges, new Canadians enrich this country. By coming here, they vote their confidence in Canada’s future and help to realize that future.

We should welcome a million new arrivals a year. We just need to find places for them to live.

Source: The Liberals must fix the housing crisis, before it undermines support for immigration

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Sun Editorial: How to create a crisis in housing

2023/07/31 Leave a comment

Sun nails it more directly but avoids the option of freezing or reducing levels:

Hello, newly minted Housing Minister Sean Fraser and congratulations on your promotion. Ditto Marc Miller, also recently arrived in the Immigration portfolio after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s seismic shuffle this week.

The left hand of Immigration seems to be unaware of what the right hand of Housing is doing. So shake hands and start working together.

The Trudeau government has what it calls an “ambitious” target of bringing in 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.

According to its National Housing Strategy, the federal government is committed to building, “up to 160,000 new affordable homes” over the next 10 years.

You don’t have to be a math genius to see the problem. The government is committed to bringing in 1.4 million people over the next three years and has a plan to build only 160,000 new homes. That leaves approximately 1.2 million newcomers looking for homes. Certainly, the private sector will fill many gaps – if they’re allowed to.

We already have a housing crisis, with people under-housed or homeless and those who can’t afford a mortgage in this over-inflated economy the government has created.

No one is arguing that this country shouldn’t bring in newcomers. Canada was built on immigration. It’s our economic lifeblood. But the numbers have to add up. And these don’t.

Fraser said recently he would, “urge caution to anyone who believes the answer to our housing challenges is to close the door on newcomers.”

Fair enough. Now show us your logical and practical plan to house them.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland recently turned down Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow’s reasonable request for more federal funding to help deal with a massive influx of asylum seekers who were living on the streets.

Freeland set an adversarial tone for every big city. The federal government will bring in hundreds of thousands of newcomers to this country, dump them on cities, shortchange those communities and tell them to deal with it.

It’s not just housing. Where’s the funding for new schools, community centres and healthcare? The government is creating a crisis.

Trudeau needs to put his money where his mouth is – and fund those newcomers before they, too, are living on the streets.

Source: EDITORIAL: How to create a crisis in housing

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , ,

For minister Sean Fraser, immigration and housing are more than just numbers games

2023/07/31 Leave a comment

Of note. The blatant hypocrisy of Minister Fraser of proposing to make the citizenship oath self-administered while stating:

“On Canada Day, new citizens from nine different countries took their oaths at a Blue Jays game. I had my daughter with me—a seven-year-old hugging a bunch of new Canadians, pure joy on their faces. Thousands of people were cheering. The near-universal reaction was to welcome.”

Oblivious to the contradiction… as well as immigration levels, his old portfolio, and housing availability and affordability, his new portfolio:

On the off chance you overhear a Canadian bragging, it’s usually to say that this is the greatest country in the world. It might violate our national modesty policy to add that we’re now also one of the most desirable, but the data’s there: in 2022, we welcomed close to a million newcomers (a record) and, a year prior, unseated the U.S. as the number-one destination for international workers. People want to come to Canada, and Canada really wants them here.

In June, staring down the ongoing labour shortage, the federal government announced a revamped federal express-entry system, complete with shiny new expedited pathways to permanent residency for U.S. H-1B visa holders and immigrants with sought-after expertise in fields like health care, tech and, crucially, the trades. Prior to a surprise cabinet shuffle by the Prime Minister in late July, the man responsible for delivering on the government’s ambitious target—500,000 immigrants annually by 2025—was Sean Fraser, then the minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship.

Fraser, a trained lawyer and loyal Nova Scotian, spent his whole life watching talent flee his home province for more promising opportunities elsewhere. His old office is facing a backlog 800,000 applications deep—not to mention newly urgent questions about Canada’s affordability, thanks in part to our bonkers real estate market. Those same questions follow Fraser into his new role as minister of housing, infrastructure and communities. When Maclean’s spoke with him in the weeks leading up to his new appointment, Fraser was convinced that Canada is the place to be, warts and all.

According to Statistics Canada’s “population clock,” Canada hit 40 million people just before 3 p.m. EST on Friday, June 16. Where were you when you heard the news?

I think I saw it on social media at some point; I wasn’t tracking it. My mind is on whether people get reunited with families and whether businesses can access workers.

So no plaque? No balloons?

I hate to disappoint. We did have a cake for my two-year-old’s birthday yesterday. He’s getting too big too quickly.

You’re 39; I’m 35. I don’t know about you, but I’ve cited the 30 million–ish factoid as long as I’ve been alive. Is it hard to wrap your head around this new milestone?

Looking back at my earliest citizenship ceremonies, my speeches often included something like, “There’s not one way to be Canadian, but 38 million different ways.” I’ve had to shift that. But Canada’s been ascending the ranks of countries people most want to move to for economic opportunities. The U.S. and Germany used to take the top two spots. It’s not a race, though.

Immigration may not be a race, but your office is banking on many, many more people becoming permanent residents. Like, 500,000 more, every year.

People have to be careful when trying to understand those numbers. It’s not uncommon for half of the “new” permanent residents in the annual count to have already been here as temporary ones—some are temporary foreign workers or international students. Last year, we added 437,000 permanent residents. We’re looking at a gradual increase to 500,000 by 2025.

More than ever, the immigration conversation centres on labour—or how Canada will replace the huge wave of retiring workers. You recently introduced a category-specific entry strategy, with preference given to workers in specific industries, like health care. How does this approach differ from the old one?

We need to respond to the skills gaps resulting from the changing economy and retiring workers. (For what it’s worth, 50 years ago, there were seven workers for every retiree in this country. In Atlantic Canada, where I am, it’s now closer to two.) The federal express-entry system scores applicants based on factors like education and language skills. The new parameters also take the highest-scoring applicants in in-demand sectors—more doctors, more homebuilders and more tech workers.

Back in June, you unveiled the country’s first-ever tech talent strategy—its actual name—to create a steady pipeline of American-dwelling H-1B visa holders to Canada. Are you attempting a reverse brain-drain?

The move wasn’t driven by little-brother syndrome. It was a real-time response to layoffs at some U.S. tech giants. If you’re on an H-1B visa and you lose your job, you either have to find a new one or leave within 60 days. Some of those workers might want to stay in the North American market. We’d be happy to have them.

You’re also courting digital nomads—people whose jobs allow them to work from anywhere in the world. What’s your elevator pitch when people ask, “Why work from Canada when you could work from home?”

Come here for up to six months to test drive Canada while still working for a foreign employer. If you receive a valid job offer from a company here, you can apply for a work permit. The real value proposition, though, is the chance to become one of us. Don’t underestimate how powerful that is. People born to Canadian parents sometimes take our daily rewards for granted: being able to go to the doctor when you get sick and earning a meaningful income if you work hard and have skills to offer.

Bringing people to Canada en masse isn’t a success unto itself; they need to be able to thrive when they get here. Many citizens and permanent residents are without family doctors, they’re being crushed by housing prices—even groceries. It’s not actually as simple as “hard work pays off” anymore.

You have to look at the counterfactual if you’re going to say it’ll be more difficult for newcomers and citizens to thrive in this country if you add more people.

That’s not what I’m saying.

When I was an MP candidate in 2015, the biggest controversies in my province were the closures of River John Elementary School and the mental health unit at Aberdeen Hospital, one of the largest regional hospitals in northern Nova Scotia. One psychiatrist left and it became too unsafe to operate the entire unit. Look at a local machine shop that hires foreign workers, and you’ll realize that the job of every tradesperson on the floor can depend on a linchpin employee. Before we get into what we need to do to accommodate those arriving in Canada, we should recognize the drastic consequences our communities will suffer if we adopt a negative approach toward newcomers. So, with that giant preamble out of the way—

I’m going to interrupt you here. I realize that, with these new targets, you’re specifically looking for, say, construction professionals to build the houses people need to live in, which will increase overall affordability.

I can tell you that, 365 days a year, I will choose the problem of having to rapidly build more houses because so many people want to move to my community over losing schools and hospitals because so many people are leaving.

Fair, but it’s not an either-or. Righting the housing market will take time. Immigrants are arriving now in a system that already has massive cracks in it.

We’ve woken up to the fact that we need to use our immigration policies to help solve some of our social challenges rather than exacerbate them. Yes, we’re bringing in homebuilders, but we’ve also got new regional strategies, like the new Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, which would spread people out more evenly, so they don’t all land in Ontario.

And the settlement services?

Generally speaking, there’s federally funded language training and employment assistance. Other services will go as far as to help you open a bank account or sign your kids up for soccer. There is no silver bullet, but the good news is, when you look at the children of newcomers, their outcomes are more or less on par with kids whose parents were born here.

I appreciate that this is a highly complex long game, but in Toronto, where I live, city officials have been dealing with a 500 per cent increase in the number of asylum seekers in the shelter system. I can’t count how many stories I’ve read about trained doctors driving Ubers. Immigration detainees, some of whom may not present a meaningful risk to public safety, are languishing in provincial jails. This is also Canada.

These issues need to be addressed. We’re not used to receiving this many asylum claims or irregular border crossings, which was a real challenge at Roxham Road. One of the men who delivered food for my son’s birthday was a dentist trying to get qualified to practise in Nova Scotia. It frustrates me. Each of those problems requires a unique solution. We’re also going to do what, I think, most serves Canada’s long-term interests: embrace ambitious immigration in targeted areas to meet the needs of the economy.

Do you ever think that having an impenetrable gratitude mindset stops Canadians from grappling with serious systemic issues?

I’m not going to tell you that Canada is perfect—not by a long shot. When I speak at citizenship ceremonies, I often talk about the Charter values that bind us, but also the times that we fell short of them. We just passed the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prevented Chinese people from coming here—many of whom already had loved ones here who helped to build Canada. Still, many countries can’t openly confront their challenges because they’re not a liberal democracy. We are. Looking at the other side of the coin, there’s a lot to be grateful for.

Apparently, your office now uses “advanced analytics” to lower processing times. Is AI deciding who gets in and who stays out?

Let me be clear: an officer, a human being, makes the final decisions in all cases. I will add that, during the pandemic, we digitized most of our paper files. We didn’t raise a “Mission accomplished!” banner, but people were excited.

Isn’t technology great?

Yeah, when it works.

Where does the Fraser clan hail from?

We fled Scotland during the Highland Clearances 250 years ago and washed up on the shores of Nova Scotia 10 minutes from New Glasgow, where I live now. My parents are in Merigomish, which has a couple hundred people, eight of whom are related to me. It’s the kind of place where we come out of the woods to go hunting, to put things in perspective.

I also heard you play the bagpipes—a part of your heritage.

Thanks to my grandfather. He was born in Canada but very much a classic grumpy old Scotsman. Come hell or high water, I was going to play the pipes.

Have you really mastered any tunes? If you’re not good at the bagpipes, uh…

They’re beautiful when somebody’s playing them well. I can play most of the traditional tunes, like “Sleepy Maggie.” I once played a New Year’s Eve show with an AC/DC tribute band. I did the bagpipe part of “It’s a Long Way to the Top.”

Now for a bit of Maclean’s history: we used to have an award called Parliamentarians of the Year. In 2021, you were a finalist for Best Orator, alongside Alain Therrien of the Bloc Québécois and Pierre Poilievre. You won.

I enjoyed the back-and-forth that I had with Pierre. I wouldn’t be surprised if, for a while, I took more questions from him than any other member of the House of Commons. Anyway, it’s nice to be recognized for your contributions.

Speaking of, at a televised event back in May, you were introduced as “Mr. Sexy” by Hedy Fry, a fellow Liberal MP. Is this an official title? Is there some kind of internal ranking everyday Canadians aren’t aware of?

God bless Hedy—I think she made that up on the spot. So no official award. My friends are having more fun with that than they ought to. I fear it may stick.

Did the Prime Minister get express entry into this competition?

When you’re up close, the guy looks like a movie star. I hope that, whatever his appearance, people will remember his government for the problems it solved and the people it helped.

Well, most of us would rather be more valued for our brains than our looks.

That’s right.

Are there any citizenship ceremonies that stand out to you as especially poignant?

On Canada Day, new citizens from nine different countries took their oaths at a Blue Jays game. I had my daughter with me—a seven-year-old hugging a bunch of new Canadians, pure joy on their faces. Thousands of people were cheering. The near-universal reaction was to welcome.

Source: For minister Sean Fraser, immigration and housing are more than just numbers games

Filed under Citizenship, Immigration Tagged with ,

New housing minister says immigration can help address affordability, supply

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Minister Fraser will learn that increasing housing supply is much more complex than raising immigration levels, with considerable time lags. Highly unlikely that any meaningful progress on the ground will be realized during the government’s mandate.

A cruel irony given his role as immigration minister in exacerbating the problem through high levels of permanent and temporary residents.

It is not a matter of “closing the door on newcomers” but rather more thoughtful immigration policies and levels that don’t worsen further housing, healthcare and infrastructure for new and old Canadians alike, and that take these into account when setting levels:

Canada’s new housing and infrastructure minister says closing the door to newcomers is not the solution to the country’s housing woes, and has instead endorsed building more homes to accommodate higher immigration flows.

Sean Fraser, who previously served as immigration minister, was sworn in Wednesday morning as part of a Liberal government cabinet shuffle aimed at showcasing a fresh team ahead of the next federal election.

He comes into the role at a time when strong population growth through immigration is adding pressure to housing demand at a time when the country is struggling with an affordability crisis.

“The answer is, at least in part, to continue to build more stock,” Fraser told reporters after being sworn in.

“But I would urge caution to anyone who believes the answer to our housing challenges is to close the door on newcomers.”

Instead, the minister said immigration would be part of the solution to the housing challenge.

“When I talked to developers, in my capacity as a minister of immigration before today, one of the chief obstacles to completing the projects that they want to get done is having access to the labour force to build the houses that they need,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to hand over the federal housing file to the Nova Scotia MP has been praised by experts who say that the Liberals need a strong communicator in charge as Canadians deal with an affordability crunch.

As part of the shakeup, the housing file has been merged with infrastructure and communities. Fraser said the goal is to look at housing and infrastructure projects together, rather than in isolation.

“If we encourage cities and communities to build more housing where infrastructure already exists or where it’s planned to be, we’re going to be able to leverage more progress for every public dollar that’s invested,” he said.

Ahmed Hussen, who became housing minister in 2021, has faced criticism for his handling of the file as the housing crisis worsened across the country.

Hussen is staying in cabinet as minister of international development.

“The selection of Sean, I think, is a recognition that the job requires fundamentally an energy and urgency and a passion in order to be able to effectively compete with the message that (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre has put forward,” said Tyler Meredith, a former head of economic strategy and planning for Trudeau’s government.

Meredith said the choice to shift Fraser from immigration to housing also signals the federal government knows the two files are linked.

“If they lose the argument on housing, they will lose the argument on immigration, and they will then lose what is frankly, some of the some of the most effective pieces of their economic strategy,” Meredith said.

Canada’s population grew by more than one million people in 2022, a pace that experts say is adding pressure to housing demand. That, in turn, pushes up prices even further.

A recent analysis by BMO found that for every one per cent of population growth, housing prices typically increase by three per cent.

The Liberals have been taking a lot of heat from Poilievre for the state of the housing market. He’s blamed Trudeau’s government for the crisis, as well as municipal “gatekeepers” for standing in the way of new developments.

Poilievre has focused on the need to build more housing and has not weighed in on whether Canada needs to change the number of people it lets into the country.

The Conservative leader has also been particularly focused on speaking to young people struggling with affordability, commonly referring to the “35-year-olds still living in their parents’ basements” in the House of Commons.

Fraser, 39, acknowledged during the news conference that housing affordability is a major challenge facing younger Canadians in particular.

“It’s a real challenge for people my age and younger who are trying to get into the market, but it’s also a challenge for low-income families,” Fraser said.

“There’s no simple solutions, but if we continue to advance measures that help build more stock, that help make sure it’s easier for people to get into the market and make sure we’re offering protections for low-income families, particularly in vulnerable renting situations, we’re going to be able to make a meaningful difference.”

The housing crisis that once was associated with Vancouver and Toronto is now affecting all corners of the country, and experts say a shortage of homes is at its root.

The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation has warned the country needs to build 3.5 million additional homes — on top of the current pace of building — to restore affordability by 2030.

Carolyn Whitzman, a housing policy expert and adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, said the decision to combine housing and infrastructure is a good move.

“Housing is infrastructure. It’s essential, as essential as water and sewers and hospitals and schools, for the functioning of a society,” she said.

Whitzman also called Fraser a “fairly effective communicator” and noted his experience as immigration minister may also help inform his role in the housing file.

Source: New housing minister says immigration can help address affordability, supply

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , ,

Yakabuski: The renewal theme rings hollow even as Justin Trudeau names seven new faces to cabinet

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Pointed comments on Ministers Fraser and Miller, likely understate the challenges. And of course, turning up the dial on the number of permanent and temporary residents much easier than new housing:

Conveying renewal and stability at the same time is a neat trick, if you can manage it.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to do both with a cabinet shufflethat featured a slew of new faces on Wednesday, all while relying even more heavily on a quartet of tested ministers – and likely future leadership contenders – to carry the load of a government living on borrowed time.

…

Source: The renewal theme rings hollow even as Justin Trudeau names seven new faces to cabinet

Filed under Immigration, Politics Tagged with , , ,

Canada gets ‘more aggressive,’ launches bid to attract high-tech nomad workers from U.S., abroad

2023/06/29 Leave a comment

Good initiative. One that has a clear productivity/per capita GDP objective, unlike many other recent initiatives. Getting extensive coverage in Indian press as well as in USA:

Ottawa is trying to attract more high-skilled workers by launching a program in mid-July to allow about 10,000 H-1B visa holders in the United States to work in Canada.

The H-1B visa allows companies in the U.S. to employ foreign workers in specialized job categories, such as in the technology sector, which has laid off at least 150,000 workers in 2023 so far, according to data from Crunchbase.

“We have been watching very closely what’s been going on in the United States. Where we have seen a public narrative around layoffs, we have been having private conversations about opportunities,” Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser said at the Collision conference, a tech event in Toronto on June 27.

Approved applicants will receive an open work permit of up to three years.

The minister also said Canada would launch its “digital nomad strategy” to allow people who work for a foreign employer to live in Canada for up to six months.

“(They can) live in this country and should they receive a job offer while they are here, we are going to allow them to continue to stay in Canada,” he said.

Canada has recently taken several steps to tackle its labour shortage, from increasing immigration targets to changing the existing system to bring in more newcomers.

The number of job vacancies in Canada in 2022 averaged 942,000, two-and-a-half times the average of 377,000 in 2016, according to Statistics Canada.

The substantial growth in the number of job vacancies recorded during this period suggests the economy is battling a labour crunch. But Statistics Canada in a report on May 24 said “employers’ difficulties to fill job vacancies requiring high levels of education cannot, in general, be attributed to a national shortage” or local shortage of highly educated job seekers.

The agency said vacancies may arise because of a mismatch between the skills required by employers and the skills possessed by highly educated job seekers. A labour crunch, however, has been observed for jobs requiring a high school diploma or less education since 2021.

Fraser said the country will launch a new pathway for permanent residency for workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and make it easier for people to immigrate to Canada under the Start-up Visa program, which allows newcomers to become permanent residents by starting a business that creates jobs for Canadians.

The announcements are part of Canada’s first-ever “Tech Talent Strategy,” the immigration ministry said in a statement.

The information and communications technology sector employed nearly 720,000 workers and accounted for more than 44 per cent of all private research and development spending in Canada in 2021, the ministry said. The sector was also responsible for more than 15 per cent of Canada’s overall gross domestic product growth between 2016 and 2021.

The Business Council of Canada, an association of about 150 companies, including Microsoft Canada Inc. and Google Canada, said the federal government’s new announcements were a step in the right direction.

“Specialized talent is needed not just in the tech sector but across the Canadian economy,” Trevor Neiman, the association’s director of digital economy, said. “The move shows that the government is changing its attitude a bit around retention. They have been more aggressive on the international stage to attract talent.”

In a separate announcement, the Ontario government said it would invest $1.3 million to train 54 women, newcomers and others from underrepresented groups for in-demand careers in the trucking sector. The province said it needs about 6,100 truck drivers to fill job vacancies.

Source: Canada gets ‘more aggressive,’ launches bid to attract high-tech nomad workers from U.S., abroad

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

Exploitation of international students a consequence of using sector as economic driver, says advocate

2023/06/28 Leave a comment

Indeed:

Advocates for international students say an ongoing federal investigation into hundreds of fraudulent college acceptance letters is a symptom of larger problems that emerged as federal and provincial governments pushed to turn international education into an economic driver and an alternate pipeline for new immigrants in recent years.

News reports emerged in March that hundreds of Indian international students were facing deportation from Canada after submitting immigration applications that included fake post-secondary acceptance letters. Many had already been studying and working in Canada for several years, and had applied for permanent residency or for postgraduate work permits.

The students and their advocates have said they were the victims of fraud by immigration or education consultants, and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser (Central Nova, N.S.) promised on June 14 to use his discretion to freeze the deportations as federal authorities continued their investigation.

Balraj Kahlon, a public policy professional in British Columbia who co-founded the non-profit organization One Voice Canada, told The Hill Times that education agents taking advantage of international students is “not a new problem.” He described this as one of the knock-on effects of “privatizing a traditionally public service like education.”

One Voice Canada looks to support vulnerable international students. Kahlon released a report in January 2021 about the challenges they face. He said Canadians may not realize how “completely reliant” many Indian international students are on these agents.

“Especially with these colleges, you’re recruiting people right out of high school,” he said, from rural parts of India where students can’t look to family or friends for advice on the post-secondary landscape in Canada. That means the agents “are pretty much their sole source of information,” he said. “They’re also under the assumption that all colleges would be good in Canada. This is a Western country, a G7 country.”

International students must provide letters of acceptance from recognized Canadian post-secondary institutions when applying for student permits, but federal authorities are investigating applications that seemed to game the system through the use of fake letters.

The Canada Border Services Agency laid charges last week against an India-based education and immigration consultant who was detained when trying to enter Canada. CBSA spokesperson Maria Ladouceur said in a June 26 email to The Hill Times that Brijesh Mishra was arrested on June 23 “for his involvement in providing fake Canadian college admission letters to numerous students from Punjab and other states.”

Ladouceur added that Mishra faces five major charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and would have a bail hearing on June 26. Christiane Fox, deputy minister for immigration, told a House committee on June 14 that her department had denied 976 immigration applications generated by one consultant, but the June 26 email did not specify if this was connected to Mishra.

CBC News reported on March 31 that authorities in India had arrested one of Mishra’s associates, a travel agent, for forging student visas.

Immigration minister troubled by stories that suggest exploitation of international students

Fraser told the House Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 14 that the international student program contributes more than $22-billion annually to Canada’s economy, and that Canada has a responsibility to be honest with these students and “set them up for success.”

He said “the vast majority” of designated learning institutions are “good actors,” but that he has heard many stories that trouble him and suggest “that there are international students being exploited in this country.”

He described hearing about international students being enrolled in programs “that may have 1,000 students but with room in the facility for a few dozen students,” “brand new institutions” with inadequate mental health and housing supports, and students “being promised a pathway to permanent residency that does not exist for them.”

Fraser said he was committed to addressing these concerns, but added that the federal government will have to work with provincial and international partners on issues that are beyond its jurisdiction. He said it was up to the provinces to identify trusted educational institutions and hold them accountable, and that Canada will have to negotiate with other countries to regulate the activities of immigration and education consultants that operate outside Canada.

The federal immigration department published an evaluation of the international student program in 2015 covering the period from 2009 to 2013. This evaluation identified concerns about fraud and misuse of the program, including questions about non-genuine students and non-genuine educational institutes.

Advocates and researchers have previously described a landscape in which the creation of a pathway to permanent residency for international students in specific programs is drawing in applicants in growing numbers, accelerated by post-secondary institutions that rely on this influx of revenue to replace declining provincial funding.

Kahlon spoke to CBC News in March about international students’ efforts to seek redress from private colleges in B.C. for what he called unethical business practices. He told The Hill Times on June 22 about the close relationships that private colleges in Canada have with agents in India who act as recruiters for specific institutions. “The incentive is to maximize the number, because they get a commission for every student they recruit,” he said.

The emphasis on immigration over education, said Kahlon, means “a lot of these students are being funneled into worthless diploma programs” that don’t lead to good jobs in Canada, and make it difficult to meet family expectations that they will then sponsor and support other family members who are looking to immigrate.

“For a lot of these private colleges, I would say, education is just a front. They’re basically making money by moving people across the border,” added Kahlon.

He pointed out that there have also been similar problems over the years with recruitment agencies in India taking advantage of migrant workers looking for opportunities abroad, fed by demand for labour in Europe and the Middle East.

“You’re seeing the same problem now, it’s just happening in the context of education,” said Kahlon.

Fraser mentioned in his testimony at the House Immigration Committee that he would use his discretionary authority to prevent students from being deported until the department completes its fact-finding process.

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told The Hill Times in a June 26 email that the department is “actively pursuing a solution for international students who are facing uncertainty due to having been admitted to Canada with fraudulent college admission letters.”

IRCC spokesperson Sofica Lukianenko added that the federal government’s focus is on “identifying those who are responsible for the fraudulent activity and not on penalizing those who may have been victims of fraud.”

The IRCC statement said the department and the CBSA have formed a task force to review files “on a case-by-case basis,” but did not say if there could be further charges laid against other education agents.

Source: Exploitation of international students a consequence of using sector as economic driver, says advocate

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , , , ,

Ottawa pausing deportations of international students affected by acceptance letter scam

2023/06/16 Leave a comment

Not really a surprise. Hard to see, however, given current pressures on IRCC that it will be able to review each case specifically. CIMM is starting a study on exploitation of Indian students but unlikely that will examine the complicity of governments and education institutions in a system that almost incentivizes such exploitation:

The federal government says it’s hitting pause on planned deportations of international students who may have been caught up in a foreign acceptance letter scam.

The announcement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) comes after dozens of international students received deportation orders which accuse them of using forged post-secondary school acceptance documents to get into Canada.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser warned that “potentially a few hundred people” could find themselves affected by the scam and removal orders.

Source: Ottawa pausing deportations of international students affected by acceptance letter scam

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

Canada launches new immigration program to fill ‘in-demand’

2023/06/02 Leave a comment

As expected:

Immigration applicants with experience in any of five sectors could be selected for permanent residence through a new system designed to better align newcomers with Canada’s labour market needs.

On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser launched the highly anticipated “category-based selection” — better known as the “targeted draw” of skilled immigrants — which was first announced last June.

In additional to focusing on picking those with strong French language proficiency, the new tool will target those in the talent pool with a background in five key occupational sectors:

  • Health care;
  • Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions;
  • Trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors;
  • Transport; and
  • Agriculture and agri-food.

“Everywhere I go, I’ve heard loud and clear from employers across the country who are experiencing chronic labour shortages. These changes to the Express Entry system will ensure that they have the skilled workers they need to grow and succeed,” Fraser said in a news release.

“We can also grow our economy and help businesses with labour shortages while also increasing the number of French-proficient candidates to help ensure the vitality of French-speaking communities. Put simply, Canada’s immigration system has never been more responsive to the country’s social or economic needs.”

The job categories have been determined following public consultations, as well as a review of labour market needs. A complete list of eligible jobs for the new categories is available on the immigration department website.

Currently, applicants for skilled immigration programs enter into the Express Entry pool, where they are given points and ranked based on attributes such as age, educational achievements, language proficiency, work experience and availability of a job offer.

Regular draws are conducted to invite those with the highest scores to apply for permanent residence. However, the system doesn’t allow the immigration department to overrule the ranking system and pick a candidate in an “in-demand” profession if the person’s score doesn’t meet the thresholds of those draws.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased by 78,600 or 8.2 per cent to 876,300, marking the second consecutive quarterly decline.

The number of unfilled jobs fell in 16 of 20 broad industrial sectors, particularly in accommodation and food services (-21,400) and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-15,800).

Job vacancies also fell in seven of 10 broad occupational groups, including trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (-22,200) and sales and service occupations (-20,100).

There were 147,300 job vacancies in health occupations in the fourth quarter, little changed from the record high reached in the third quarter.

Fraser said further details on the timing of invitations for individual categories and how to apply will be announced in the coming weeks.

Source: Canada launches new immigration program to fill ‘in-demand’ jobsCanada launches new immigration program to fill ‘in-demand’ jobs

And criticism from labour economists:

MIKAL SKUTERUD, the director of the Canadian Labour Economics Forum, took issue with a minister meddling in a system for grading talent that is supposed to be apolitical. He wrote that he was concerned the immigration system will fall unduly under the influence of business lobbyists.

“If the objective of the policy is to target skilled candidates with work experience in the sectors listed in the news release, why were these applicants unable to satisfy the selection criteria of the existing Express Entry system?” he wrote to PTM. 

“The only possible answer I can think of is that this reform seeks to bypass the [Comprehensive Ranking System] which, in effect, means providing eased pathways to PR status for immigrants with lower skill levels and lower expected earnings.”

The Comprehensive Ranking System is the existing method by which the government scores the workforce potential of prospective economic immigrants.

Bringing in immigrants who earn less than would otherwise be the case could inhibit GDP per capita and standard of living growth, wrote Skuterud. 

CHRISTOPHER WORSWICK, who teaches the economics of immigration at Carleton University, wrote: 

“I am generally not in favour of this novel, category-based selection method. It would be better to focus on improving the Comprehensive Ranking System. This seems like a step backward from what had been a human capital-based (or expected earnings-based) selection process. I suspect this is designed to allow the government to choose less-skilled applicants to satisfy the demands of different business lobby groups.”

Worswick wrote that he suspected that some of the newly prioritized industries and occupations in trades contracting, transport, and agriculture could lead to an influx of low-earning immigrants.

“If we bring in workers whenever employer groups say there is a ‘labour shortage,’ we risk keeping wages low and hurting lower-wage workers in Canada who may need wage growth, especially given our challenges with inflation. We should focus on bringing in economic immigrants with the highest human capital (as measured by expected earnings),” he wrote.

Source: https://hilltimes.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a90bfb63c26a30f02131a677b&id=0071de5ea4&e=685e94e554

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , , ,

Canadians celebrate Citizenship Week [while IRCC undermines value through oath changes and dated citizenship guide]

2023/05/29 Leave a comment

The irony. The government tables a Gazette Notice proposing to all for self-affirmation of the oath rather than with fellow Canadians. The government promised to revise Discover Canada in 2016 (three or four ministers ago). And then it spouts this verbiage. Sad:

Becoming a Canadian citizen is a momentous occasion that marks the final step in the immigration journey. Every year, we celebrate Citizenship Week, a chance to celebrate new citizens and all that it means to be Canadian—our diversity, our history and our culture.

Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, launched Citizenship Week, which runs from May 22 to 28, 2023. He will mark the occasion by attending citizenship ceremonies from coast to coast in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Across the country, Canada will welcome thousands of new Canadians.

Citizenship ceremonies are an emotional and meaningful experience for all those who have a chance to participate. They provide an opportunity to witness new Canadians reach this proud milestone and reflect on the significance of citizenship, the rights it affords, and the responsibilities it bears. Citizenship is a commitment to Canada and all Canadians.

Everyone in Canada is invited to celebrate Citizenship Week by attending citizenship ceremoniestaking place this week across the country. Canadians can join the livestream from Halifax on May 24 or attend a ceremony that is open to the public in person.

As part of our efforts to modernize our services, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has made great strides when it comes to citizenship through online testing, virtual citizenship ceremonies, and an online application tracker that helps clients stay up to date on their files.

Canada is proud to have exceeded its citizenship goals this past year, with nearly 364,000 new Canadian citizens. We have already welcomed 85,000 new Canadians in the first three months of this year, and look forward to welcoming thousands more in the months ahead.

Source: Canadians celebrate Citizenship Week

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →