Highest numbers waiting is from
South Asia, China
Canada adopts New, Tough Immigration
Policy
Mark Bourrie
OTTAWA:
The Canadian government is sending clear signals that it is tightening
its 
immigration
and refugee system to reduce the number of claimants who are granted
entry to this country, critics say.
This
month, the government fired Peter Showler, head of the Immigration
and Refugee Board. Showler advocated a new appeals system for
refugees who had been denied admission to Canada.
Immigration
Minister Denis Coderre, who was appointed earlier this year to
replace a minister who was accused by opponents of the system
of being ''soft'' on refugee claimants, says the appeal system
is ''delayed'' indefinitely.
Showler's
firing came as the prominent right-wing think tank, the Fraser
Institute, issued a report that argues large-scale immigration
plays ”at best” a minor role in Canada's economic
growth. The report was heavily quoted in the country's mainstream
media but was denounced by groups that represent immigrants.
There
was no official government reaction to the report. Coderre has
recently said his department is looking for skilled and professional
immigrants, but wants them to move to rural Canada.
The
Fraser Institute report, written by Martin Collacott, former Canadian
high commissioner to Sri Lanka, calls for a review of Canada's
immigration policy. Collacott
argues that open immigration policies are undermining Canada's
ability to remain a tolerant multiracial society, and are only
justified by the Liberal government on the basis they help the
economy and offset the negative impact of an aging population.
”The
government's principal reason for promoting high immigration levels
in spite of the costs seems to be the belief that most newcomers
will vote for the Liberal party in federal elections,” Collacott
said. ”This
is particularly true of family class immigration, which is the
least
successful category in terms of economic performance and should
be significantly curtailed.”
The
report perpetuates the myth that newcomers to the country are
a drain on public coffers, says Hadassah Ksienski, chief executive
of the Calgary Immigrant Aid Society. ”From
the data we are receiving, immigrants' financial contributions
are very positive,” Ksienski said. ”There's definitely
a brain gain with immigration. But I think that issue has not
been well-publicised.”
Ksienski
says she doesn't understand why the report takes aim at the family
class of refugees - those who have parents, siblings, children,
uncles and aunts to help them once they arrive in the country.
”There
has been a dramatic reduction in the number of family class immigrants
and an increase in those who come as independents,” said
Ksienski, adding that family class immigrants tend to access fewer
social programs than other immigrants because they have a ready-made
support system.
University
of Calgary associate sociology professor Lloyd Wong challenged
Collacott's findings that immigrants are a drain on the country.
He
cites a study published in 2000 in the Journal of International
Migration and Integration showing the amount of income tax paid
by immigrants exceeds the social assistance and unemployment benefits
they receive. Critics
of the system say that unless an immigrant has industrial skills
the government wants, it's becoming more difficult to come to
Canada.
”I've
had some clients wait so long they've died before getting here,”
says Toronto lawyer Ben Trister, head of the immigration section
of the Canadian Bar Association, which represents Canada's lawyers.
There
is a backlog of 700,000 people waiting to enter Canada. Budget
cuts in the mid-1990s hit the immigration department hard and
bureaucrats are only just beginning to make a dent in the piles
of files that built up in the last few years.
The
immigration department has about 1,400 employees overseas, but
only 428 of them process immigration applications, which now total
one million a year. Staffing in 2001 only just came back to the
level it was in 1991-92. A
parliamentary study this year of Canada's immigration processing
system found that other pressures, such as visitor and student
visa applications, have made immigration applications a low priority.
Immigration
officials admit the quick turnaround for visitors and temporary
workers is at the expense of immigrant files.
The
backlog is highly concentrated in a few locations, especially
China and South Asia.
Refugee
advocates have also raised the alarm over a proposal that would
see potential refugees who arrive at border crossings with the
United States turned back because the neighbouring country would
be designated a ''third safe haven''.
The
advocates say Canada would be abandoning the refugee applicants,
who would have a tougher time getting accepted via the U.S. system.
They have threatened to smuggle would-be refugees into the country
if the deal is signed. The number of immigrant and refugee arrivals
to Canada rose from 227,000 in 2000 to approximately 260,000 last
year. Federal officials project arrivals will reach 235,000 this
year. The Liberal government wants annual arrivals to equal one
per cent of Canada's population, or about 300,000.
