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| Subject: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out |
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Immigration Canada´s dirty little secret is out
Richard Kurland
Special to The Province
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
On Friday, the Immigration and Citizenship Committee in the House of Commons blew the lid clean off Canada´s dirty little immigration secret.
Immigration Canada was asked to disclose the number of immigration applications waiting to be processed by country and more importantly the quota or "targets" set by Ottawa for each country.
You´d think immigration applications are processed on a "first come, first served" basis, right?
Dead wrong.
Processing times vary based on national origin because Ottawa wants it so.
The House of Commons was told there are 109,000 people waiting for skilled-worker visas in New Delhi. The quota set by Ottawa for Delhi is 11,350.
In London, England, 56,000 people are waiting to be processed as skilled workers. The target set by Ottawa is 12,600.
Immigration Canada knew this was happening, year after year, but refused to make decisions which would mean that processing times are fair and roughly equal no matter where you apply.
This has led to an unfair system where processing times will vary based on your country of origin. Files take longer to process in some places because that´s how Ottawa wants it.
The best excuse Immigration Canada spin doctors came up with so far to this discrimination is that India (and China) are already "top source" countries, so it doesn´t matter.
Well, imagine the outcry if a Vancouver bus driver said the same thing:
"Look, I can only take 100 passengers in my bus this trip. There are just too many Indians who want to get on to my bus. Oh sure, they have the correct fare and they´re first in line. But I want to leave space for others. So when half my bus gets filled with Indians, I don´t let anymore on. That´s my "target" from company headquarters. Indians will wait a lot longer for their ride, but hey, that´s not my fault. It´s the fault of all those Indians for wanting to get on on board."
Setting "targets" is the equivalent of slicing Canada´s immigration pie.
How "targets" are made and who approves them are not in the law, because no politicians in their right minds would want to openly debate a magic "appropriate" number of Chinese or Indians to immigrate to Canada.
It is the ultimate Political Death Pill.
So politicians rigged the system to ensure their fingerprints never appear on the "target" carving knife. You´ll have a better chance of nabbing the Queen´s jewels in Saskatchewan than learning exactly who slices the immigration quota pie.
But the cat´s out of the bag folks, thanks to the House of Commons Immigration Committee.
If I had my way, I´d get that same committee to approve and make public the country "targets" every year. It is something so important to so many people that it should not be done in secret.
As for visa officers who take so long to process immigration applications, the fault is not all theirs.
They deliver their "targets" as instructed and keep their heads down and mouths closed.
Until this gets straightened out, if you are Indian or Chinese wanting to come to Canada, pretend you´re in Mississippi in 1955, and get to the back of the immigration bus.
Richard Kurland is an immigration- policy analyst who monitors Ottawa through Access to Information requests. He can be reached at lexbase@canimmigrate.com
[26-05-2005,16:06]
[***.128.34.94]
Kool |
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(in reply to: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out)
Been posted already..... 25-05-2005,13:21
But it is dirty........
[26-05-2005,17:34]
[**.22.85.33]
Anonymous |
(in reply to: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out)
Wasn´t a complete secret , I used to believe that there is a demograghic strategy.
[26-05-2005,19:57]
[***.195.80.31]
Lina |
(in reply to: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out)
I do not know, what is the big deal about this quota system. The immigration policy has to be fair to the citizens of all countries. Canadiam immigration policy is open to all countries.
1)They have to have an upper cap on a yearly basis to allow the immigrants basic facilities.
2)The moment you put the upper cap, then you got to decide, are you going to be fair to nationals of all countries.
3)To do that you have to split the total into quota (hopefullly) proportionate to the size of each country.
The catch is proportionate.
4) If it is done in this manner, there should not be any grievances.
Don´t the companies have a policy to look for minority representation so that the majority does not take all the employment... Well that´s the same basis then for a country. And mind you, they have a socialist element in them to allow for that diversity.. So what is the freaking big deal??
BTW, I am Indian by nationality.. it hurts me but I understand it. To keep I self inetersts, I don´t put all eggs in the same basket!
[26-05-2005,20:23]
[**.149.33.180]
anonymous |
(in reply to: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out)
Minority representation is because the "minority" is believed to be opressed and its an effort to bring them up, not because they are numerically smaller. So Mr BTW Indian, this is a case of false argument.
Anyone from France wanting to immigrate to Canada is same as anyone from India wanting to immigrate. The bottomline is the host nation makes the rules to protect its own interest (which is ok because it can make the choice,) but there is no shortage of people to come up with their own explanations to justify it.
[27-05-2005,01:44]
[**.113.191.176]
Raj |
hello (in reply to: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out)
was sure that the line "we have met the enemy and he is us" is from Shakespeare, but I cannot find it anywhere! Can you help?
[26-06-2006,19:28]
[**.31.86.8]
free rape movies |
How long I can stay outside?? (in reply to: Immigration Canada's dirty little secret is out)
I am a PR card holder.I am in Europe and I have been outside(in Europe) Canada for the last 6 months.I still have to stay another 4 months more.So all in all they will be 10 months when I will be back to Canada again.Are they going make me some problems when I be re enter Canada??
Thank you
[04-06-2007,09:15]
[***.204.99.250]
Alam |
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