strippers, spouses and Ms Sgro

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Subject: strippers, spouses and Ms Sgro
  some of you might fine this article interesting and elightening. it is currently posted on Google ca. news

Nov. 30, 2004. 01:00 AM

Sgro furor masks unfair policy
by LORNE WALDMAN

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Judy Sgro has been attacked by the opposition after leaks and allegations surfaced that she gave preferential treatment to a person who assisted her in her re-election campaign.

However, those of us who work in the immigration field understand that Sgro´s intervention in this case was necessitated by a policy pushed through by bureaucrats in the Citizenship and Immigration Department two years ago.

Under the policy, spouses of Canadian citizens in genuine relationships are being separated for months, even years, to wait for a visa abroad.

Much attention has been given to the fact that the woman who benefited from ministerial intervention was a stripper.

But, aside from adding some spice to this story, her profession is beside the point.

However much we might disagree with the ill-conceived policy that allows strippers to obtain work permits, the reason behind Sgro´s intervention had nothing to do with this woman´s choice of profession. Rather, Sgro intervened because the woman involved is married to a Canadian citizen ? and there were good reasons why she should not be separated from her husband.

Prior to June 28, 2002, when Canada´s new immigration law came into effect, the policy in Canada for the previous 20 years had been to not separate spouses who were married to Canadians.

Their applications for status were processed within Canada unless there were exceptional circumstances involving criminality or threats to national security.

When the new law was passed, the bureaucracy changed the policy quietly, without any public debate.

The new rule states that if a person gets married after his or her status has expired, they should not expect to get their visa in Canada unless there are exceptional circumstances.

The fact that a person is married and in a genuine relationship is no longer a justification for allowing a person to be sponsored without leaving Canada.

This change has forced hundreds of couples to be separated for months, and even years, while waiting for visas abroad. In many cases, children are involved.

The only explanation provided for this policy change has been to suggest that it is necessary to maintain the integrity of the immigration system.

But no official has been able to explain how forced separation of spouses and children does anything more than cause unnecessary pain and hardship.

Sgro has shown that she disagrees with this policy because she has intervened in a number of cases involving spouses. Her action in the now notorious case was not an isolated one.

Pressure has been building within the immigrant community over the last two years to have the policy overturned and many believe that Sgro was on the verge of doing this.

Leaks in the immigration department are not new. They have been used in the past in order to discredit ministers who are about to engage in important policy initiatives. One wonders whether the leak in this case did not come out of concern over Sgro´s recent musing about a possible program to regularize workers in the underground economy.

Certainly, there are some that might disagree with this policy.

However, it has broad support in the larger community.

Unions and developers involved in the construction industry have been lobbying for this for years. They believe it is necessary to allow the hundreds of thousands of unauthorized workers to regularize their status if they can demonstrate that they will be able to maintain themselves in Canada and are not security or criminal threats.

Such a program would allow these workers to contribute more fully to the Canadian economy by paying the billions of dollars in taxes that are lost because they work in the shadows.

Ministerial interventions in individual cases have been a part of the immigration process for as long as there have been immigration laws.

Whether this is a good or bad thing is a matter of debate.

But what is urgently needed is a look at the policies that are causing so many problems. That is far more important than the particulars of this case.


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Lorne Waldman is a Toronto lawyer who specializes in immigration and refugee law. He is the author of Immigration Law And Practice and of Canada Immigration And Refugee Practice.

[30-11-2004,23:02]
sharon
uh (in reply to: strippers, spouses and Ms Sgro)
Wow, quite amazing.
Roberta

[01-12-2004,00:14]
Roberta S.
(in reply to: strippers, spouses and Ms Sgro)
This is not a gossip column. Please restrain yourself to matters of help on filing for PR. Soon we´d have nothing but gossips and lose direction of where we want to go on the column.
[01-12-2004,21:26]
Anonymous
relevant information (in reply to: strippers, spouses and Ms Sgro)
if you would look through the forum threads, you would see that there has been significant interest in this issue of sponsorship, families, the minister of immigration, hardship for couples and wait times. I do not consider it gossip whatsoever. It is adding perspective to a hotly debated topic on this forum.
[01-12-2004,22:03]
sharon
I agree ... (in reply to: strippers, spouses and Ms Sgro)
I do not consider these statements as gossips either. These are very important issues to be discussed.
[02-12-2004,04:31]
Luigi
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