On proposed changes to the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Act
Background
The
proposed immigration changes, which are included in a budget
implementation bill, give powers to the immigration minister to outline
for department officials which skills are to be given priority when
assessing immigrants' applications.
Immigration
department officials say the changes would enable the government to be
more flexible in meeting changing labour demands in Canada.
The
sweeping powers that the immigration minister gets with the proposed
changes have come under fire from the opposition parties. They fear the
government may slam doors on some categories of immigrants on racial or
ethnic grounds or limit newcomers.
Harper dismissed charges by political opponents that the government is
trying to shut the doors on immigration, saying the measures are
"modest" but will reverse the backlog.
"We are bringing in more immigrants than any previous
government," he said
Maria Babbage writes in Canadian Press, “The
changes would place highly coveted immigrants - like doctors or other
skilled labourers - on the fast track through the system. But while
their papers would get processed quickly, other immigrants would be
forced to wait behind them in the queue…. The government would also be
allowed to set annual limits on the number of applications Canada
processes.”
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The
Minister’s Viewpoint
“Our
objective is to continue to ensure that families are
reunited and that qualified workers get here sooner, while
respecting the fundamental principle of fairness.”
—
Minister Diane Finley
The
Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and
Immigration, released on April 8, the principles that would
guide implementation of proposed changes to the Immigration
and Refugee Protection Act.
|
The
aim of the changes is to modernize Canada's immigration system and
significantly reduce the time it takes to bring newcomers and their
families to Canada. Under proposed changes to the Act, the Minister
would have the authority to issue instructions to immigration officers
related to the processing of applications, including in relation to the
jobs available in Canada, so that people with those skills and
experience can be brought to Canada more quickly.
In
this way, newcomers will have more opportunities to find work sooner, to
provide a better life for themselves and their families and to benefit
more from life in Canada.
"These
principles will ensure that ministerial instructions today and in the
future remain fair, open and transparent," said Minister Finley.
"The instructions are about making the immigration system more
responsive. Our objective is to continue to ensure that families are
reunited and that qualified workers get here sooner, while respecting
the fundamental principle of fairness."
Ministerial
instructions on prioritizing and processing immigration applications
received after February 27, 2008, will:
*
Identify priority occupations based on input from provinces and
territories, the Bank of Canada, Human Resources and Social Development
Canada, employers and organized labour.
*
Ensure fairness by making decisions on cases faster, while meeting
immediate labour market needs.
*
Respect the goals of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which
are to support Canada's economy and competitiveness, support family
reunification and uphold Canada's humanitarian commitments.
*
Comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prevents
discrimination based on factors such as race, country of origin and
religion.
*
Respect commitments to provinces and territories regarding the
Provincial Nominee Program and the Canada-Quebec Accord.
*
Complement commitments made in Advantage Canada, the Government of
Canada's economic plan, to align the immigration system with labour
market needs.
*
Be published in the Canada Gazette and Citizenship and Immigration
Canada's annual report, which is tabled in Parliament.
All
instructions issued by the Minister to immigration officers must adhere
to these principles. Immigration officers would select from among new
applications based on the instructions. They will continue to make
decisions about individual applications. The Minister cannot reverse the
decisions of immigration officers or influence them in any way other
than what is clearly outlined in the instructions.
The
instructions are part of Budget 2008 commitments to modernize the
immigration system to respond to Canada's labour-market needs, reduce
wait times for new applicants and reduce the backlog of immigration
applications.
"We've
allocated $109 million over five years to help meet these goals,"
said Minister Finley. "And we'll hire and train more visa officers
to act as SWAT teams to speed up processing in parts of the world where
wait times are the longest."
To
help alleviate immediate pressures, resources will be allocated to
missions where there is a high volume of applications. As a start, some
missions, such as Delhi and Manila, will receive additional resources to
help improve wait times for permanent residence applications,
international students and temporary foreign workers. Ongoing funding
will help build capacity to meet future levels and increasing demand,
and will introduce administrative improvements such as centralized
processing and data entry.
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Blurring
the Line Between Temporary and Permanent Residents
Citizenship
and Immigration Minister Diane Finley has admitted that her
government is deliberately blurring the line between
permanent and temporary residents, said Liberal Citizenship
and Immigration Critic Maurizio Bevilacqua in Ottawa on
April 29. |
|
“The
Conservatives have now started combining permanent resident, temporary
worker and student categories into a single reported number in order to
create the false impression that
Canada
accepted more immigrants in 2007, but nothing could be further from the
truth,” Mr. Bevilacqua said.
During
Question Period the Minister blurred the line between temporary and
permanent residents to mislead the House of Commons by stating that in
2007, “…this Conservative government welcomed more immigrants to
Canada
than has been done in almost 100 years.”
Even
her own officials, while testifying before the House of Commons Finance
Committee yesterday, confirmed that foreign students and temporary
foreign workers would not be considered new Canadians until they have
applied to be permanent residents and had been accepted as such.
In
response to questions from Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum about
these misleading numbers, the Minister said, “We're deliberately
blurring the line between permanent and temporary so as to meet the
needs of our economy.”
In
fact, every year since coming to power the Conservatives have slashed
the number of permanent residents admitted to
Canada
. In 2006, they admitted 10,500 fewer permanent residents than the
previous Liberal government, and 25,500 fewer in 2007. In total
they have accepted 36,000 fewer immigrants since forming government.
“The
Conservative government must stop trying to deceive Canadians about
their record on the immigration backlog and the cuts they’ve made to
the number of permanent residents admitted to
Canada
,” he said.
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“Conservative
immigration bill flawed”
The
Honourable Jim Karygiannis, Member of Parliament for
Scarborough-Agincourt, said on April 8 in Toronto that the
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is proceeding with
ill-conceived immigration legislation that is bound to hurt,
rather than help new immigrants to Canada.
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”Bill
C-50 would give the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration the right to
pick and choose who can come to Canada. The Minister would be able
to decide the types, categories and numbers of applications to be
accepted each year.” said Mr. Karygiannis. “What’s more, the
appeal process is eliminated because the Minister’s decision is
final.”
Last
month, the Harper government introduced legislative changes to the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) through the back door, by
presenting them as part of the Budget Implementation Act. This action
has virtually done away with effective public debate on the Bill, as it
will be going to the Standing Committee on Finance for study and not to
the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
”As a Member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration,
I am appalled that this Minister is flouting Parliamentary procedures by
not having this Bill come before this Committee. Committee members
are charged with the responsibility of reviewing the immigration
policies of the government.” Mr. Karygiannis said.
When the legislation was introduced, the Department of Citizenship and
Immigration indicated the changes were aimed at cutting the backlog of
nearly 900,000 applications of people who have already applied to enter
Canada.
Since the Conservatives took office in 2006, there has been an increase
of 20.79% in processing timelines. In 2007, there was an increase
of 7.62% in processing timelines. Since the Conservatives took
office, the number of immigrants to Canada has dropped from 262,236 in
2005 to 236,689 in 2007 – a difference of 25,547 or a 10% decrease.
On April 7, 2008, the Minister stated in the House of Commons -
"Mr. Speaker, we are working for families. We have already
increased, improved processing times for family re-unification by up to
40%. Mr. Speaker, we want to get families re-united."
"This
piece of legislation will do nothing of the sort. It will only
drive processing timelines even higher.” stated Mr. Karygiannis.
“It is time that the Reform Conservatives stop fooling Canadians and
tell new immigrants 'they need not apply.’ ”
NDP
steps up fight against Harper’s immigration changes
The NDP is determined to take all necessary steps to stop the
Conservatives’ irreversibly damaging immigration reforms.
NDP
Leader Jack Layton, in a speech in Toronto on April 11, unveiled a
new parliamentary strategy to stop the irreversible damage that will
be caused by the Conservatives’ immigration changes embedded in
the Budget Bill C-50. |
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“The
changes that Stephen Harper has proposed are bad for immigrant
communities and bad for Canada,” said Mr. Layton at a downtown Toronto
community centre. “I certainly don’t trust giving sweeping,
arbitrary and discretionary powers to the Conservative minister of
Immigration.”
Mr.
Layton was in Toronto to meet with ethno-cultural community leaders and
immigration advocates about the Conservative immigration amendments and
map out further strategies to fight these changes.
“Since
the Liberals refused to vote with the NDP to stop Harper’s
irreversibly damaging immigration amendments, we’ve tabled a new
motion to split the budget bill into two bills,” said NDP Immigration
Critic Olivia Chow (Trinity Spadina). “Our motion would allow the
House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to study, fix, or remove
the immigration portion of this bill.”
This
is the NDP’s second attempt to stop the damaging reforms from passing
in Parliament. On April 9, Dion’s Liberals refused to support an NDP
motion to refuse to give second reading to the bill. On April 10, Dion's
Liberals allowed the bill to pass second reading.
“The
motion before us to today is presented in the spirit of by-partisan
cooperation,” said Chow on April 17 in Ottawa. “I hope the
Conservative government respects the will of parliament and doesn’t
use parliamentary trickery to prevent it from moving forward.”
Background
Canada
was built on immigration. With more than 15 million people from every
corner of the globe coming to Canada since Confederation, our
immigration program is one of the largest and most successful in the
world.
Unfortunately,
we are also victims of our own success. There are almost enough people
already waiting in line to meet our immigration targets for the next
four years. And yet tens of thousands more people continue to apply
every year.
This
means long and growing wait times for newcomers and their families. This
is not good for prospective immigrants and it is not good for Canada,
because people may be encouraged to go to more competitive countries
where the wait times are shorter.
To
complicate matters further, all skilled worker applications are
currently processed in the order they are received, regardless of the
applicant’s skills or profession and whether they meet the country’s
needs. And all applications must, by law, be processed. So the backlog
continues to build.
We
need a more responsive immigration system where we reduce wait times so
that families are reunited faster and skilled workers arrive sooner.
That’s why, on March 14, the Government of Canada proposed changes to
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
The
changes mean that those who submitted an application before February 27,
2008 would continue to be processed under the current system.
However, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would have
greater flexibility in processing new applications, especially from
skilled workers.
Anyone would still be able to apply, but CIC would no longer be
required to process all new skilled worker applications.
The
aim of the changes is to modernize Canada’s immigration system. Under
the proposed changes, the Minister would competitiveness, reunite
families and provide protection to those who need it. They must also be
consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects
against discrimination on such bases as race, national or ethnic origin,
colour, religion, sex, age and mental and physical disability.
The
instructions would be public, and would reflect commitments to provinces
and territories. They will be published in the Canada Gazette, reported
in the Department’s annual report to Parliament and published on
CIC’s website.
Those
applications not processed in a given year could be held for future
consideration or returned to the applicant, who would be welcome to
reapply.
It
is important to note that commitments to refugees and family
reunification will not be affected.
Overall
immigration targets will continue to be set in our annual report to
Parliament.
The
proposed measures would do a much better job of responding to our
economic and regional needs, reduce wait times for new applicants and
reduce the backlog.
They will provide the flexibility to process applicants with the
skills Canada needs, as is the case in many competitor countries,
including Australia and New Zealand.have the authority to issue
instructions to immigration officers related to the processing of
applications, including in relation to the jobs available in Canada, so
people with those skills and experience can be brought to Canada more
quickly. And as now, the decisions on individual applications would be
made by CIC immigration officers. The Minister cannot reverse these
decisions.
In
this way, newcomers will have more opportunities to find work sooner, to
provide a better life for themselves and their families and to benefit
more from life in Canada.
These
instructions must be consistent with the overall objectives of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which are to support Canada’s
economy and competitiveness, reunite families and provide protection to
those who need it. They must also be consistent with the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms, which protects against discrimination on such bases
as race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age and
mental and physical disability.
The
instructions would be public, and would reflect commitments to provinces
and territories. They will be published in the Canada Gazette, reported
in the Department’s annual report to Parliament and published on
CIC’s website.
Those
applications not processed in a given year could be held for future
consideration or returned to the applicant, who would be welcome to
reapply.
It
is important to note that commitments to refugees and family
reunification will not be affected.
Overall
immigration targets will continue to be set in our annual report to
Parliament.
The
proposed measures would do a much better job of responding to our
economic and regional needs, reduce wait times for new applicants and
reduce the backlog.
They will provide the flexibility to process applicants with the
skills Canada needs, as is the case in many competitor countries,
including Australia and New Zealand.
[Source:
CIC website]
