Immigration news
Canada could be the world's first 'postnational' country
Canada has been over-praised lately for, in effect, going about our business as usual. In 2016 such luminaries as US President Barack Obama and Bono, no less, declared “the world needs more Canada”. |
Canadian immigration applications could soon be assessed by computers
The Immigration Department has been developing “predictive analytics” technology that would evaluate applications in a way that’s similar to the work performed by officials today. |
B.C. desperate for skilled workers
Young people still face barriers to getting into a field, despite a looming shortage in trades In October, the B.C. Construction Association announced that it is going to Ireland to hire 600 construction trades workers to fill vacancies in the skilled trades. Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of BC, has an idea to address the issue of temporary foreign workers. He suggests that any company hiring a temporary foreign worker for a position in the skilled trades to hire an apprentice in that trade at the same time. |
Maple leaf ragged: what ails Canada?
Country's increasingly hardline stances on immigration, tar sands, indigenous people and Quebec separatism spark soul-searching Jonathan Kaiman in Toronto guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 September 2012 14.00 BST There's trouble brewing in Canada. It's difficult to perceive on first glance. In Toronto, the air is clean, crime rates are low and healthcare is universal. Yet an undercurrent of anxiety courses through the country's public discourse and its media; it dominates conversations in coffee shops and university hallways. A volley of recent polarising political developments has led many Canadians to ask whether their country's reputation as a tolerant, environmentally conscious international peacemaker is suddenly in doubt. A harsh crackdown on illegal immigrants has belied the notion of a country open to incomers. Quebec has elected a separatist provincial government, triggering political violence. The extraction of oil from the vast tar sands of Alberta has proven hugely controversial, as has the marginalisation of the country's First Nations indigenous people. In foreign policy, Canada is increasingly toeing the US line, most recently cutting diplomatic ties with Iran. And its Afghanistan deployment has been tainted by allegations of complicity in the torture of detainees. Read the whole article... |
New Canadian visa requirements for five countries
QMI AGENCY Toronto Sun FIRST POSTED: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 03:16 PM EDT Concerns about human trafficking and fraudulent travel documents prompted the Canadian government to impose new visitor visa requirements on the citizens of five countries. Nationals from St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland will have to apply for a visa. To be approved, they will have to satisfy immigration officers that they "will not overstay their authorized stay" and "are not a security risk to Canadians," Citizenship and Immigration Canada said in a news release. "We continue to welcome genuine visitors to Canada," Minister Jason Kenney said in the release. "However, these visa requirements will give us a greater ability to manage the flow of people into Canada." The government said documents from St. Lucia and St. Vincent are "unreliable" because "criminals from these countries can legally change their names and acquire new passports." Fraudulent papers are also of concern in the three African countries added to the list, along with human trafficking, especially of minors. "These requirements will better protect the safety of Canadians by preventing foreign criminals from coming to Canada in the first place," Kenney said. Read the whole article... See also: This news release was updated September 12, 2012. Ottawa, September 11, 2012 — Beginning at 12:01 a.m. EDT today, citizens of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (St. Vincent), Namibia, Botswana and Swaziland now require a visa to travel to Canada, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced. |
Canada to create visa to attract start-up entrepreneurs
Wed Sep 12, 2012 2:31am IST Reuters By Randall Palmer OTTAWA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Canada plans to create a new class of visa that it hopes will attract high-tech and other entrepreneurs to immigrate to the country to start new companies, officials said on Tuesday. It has put a moratorium on issuing its existing entrepreneur visa, which only required an immigrant to hire one person for one year, and intends to initiate a visa that would be issued to people identified by venture capital funds as candidates to create start-up firms in Canada. The venture funds would be required to invest in the start-ups. Read the whole article... |
Minister reprises get-tough message for Canadian immigration cheats
By Steve Rennie, The Canadian Press September 10, 2012 Montreal Gazette OTTAWA - The federal government reprised a familiar get-tough message for immigration cheats Monday, promising to revoke the status of more than 3,100 people it says abused the system in order to claim Canadian citizenship. Several thousand more are being investigated to determine if they obtained or are maintaining their permanent residence fraudulently, said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who was forced to admit only a handful of people have been dealt with so far. There are 3,139 Canadian citizens currently under investigation for residence fraud, but so far, only 19 of them have had their citizenship revoked. That's because the process — part of a long-term crackdown — takes several years, Kenney said. Letters have been sent to 530 people informing them of the government's intention to revoke their citizenship, he added. "Canadian citizenship is not for sale," the minister told a news conference. Read the whole article... See also: Ottawa, September 10, 2012 — The Government of Canada’s investigation into residence fraud continues to grow, with nearly 11,000 individuals potentially implicated in lying to apply for citizenship or maintain permanent resident status. |
Canada has lesson to learn from Australia in foreign student policy
Diane Francis | Aug 24, 2012 11:43 AM ET | Last Updated: Aug 24, 2012 3:33 PM ET Financial Post Canada is finally moving toward a smart, two-step immigration policy, like Australia and others have, that will recruit talent through a targeting policy of foreign student education. Australia’s success has been widely disseminated and last week a blue-ribbon federal task force in Canada released a report that would emulate its policy. The number of foreign students allowed entry into Canadian institutions should nearly double in a decade and those who graduate from Canadian institutions should be eligible to remain, rather than having to return home and wait years to get in. Most foreign students in Canada get their degrees and never come back. Most Australians apply to remain and the majority stay. The next step will be consultations across the country and the new policy will likely become part of the reforms being developed by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Read the whole article... |
Canada’s new immigration rules put premium on young people
BILL CURRY OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail Published Tuesday, Aug. 21 2012, 9:24 PM EDT Last updated Tuesday, Aug. 21 2012, 9:28 PM EDT New immigration rules will target workers aged 18 to 35 as the Conservative government provides the clearest sense yet of how Canada will rely on young immigrants to soften the fiscal pain of a demographic crunch. The federal regulations reveal a sweeping overhaul of the points system used by Canada for approving foreign worker applications. Read the whole article... |
Quebec is committing slow-motion suicide
JOHN IBBITSON The Globe and Mail Published Sunday, Aug. 19 2012, 8:48 PM EDT Last updated Monday, Aug. 20 2012, 10:59 AM EDT Whatever her intention, Pauline Marois’s proposed secular charter is bound to worsen the immigration crisis in Quebec. The province is committing slow-motion demographic suicide. Year after year it fails to bring in enough newcomers to replenish the diminishing ranks of the native-born. The Parti Québécois Leader’s proposed law banning the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols, such as turbans, skullcaps or other head coverings, by provincial employees – while permitting a discreet crucifix on a necklace – will only make the problem worse. Read the whole article... |
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