Immigration News Blog

By Mahfooz Kanwar, For The Calgary Herald

Canada’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is getting flak from the usual suspects, but he deserves praise instead.

Recently, Kenney pointed out that while at a meeting in Toronto, members of Canada’s Pakistani community called on him to make Punjabi one of Canada’s official languages. It makes me angry that such an idea would enter the minds of my fellow and former countrymen, let alone express them to a Minister of the Crown.

A few months ago, I was dismayed to learn that Erik Millett, the principal of Belleisle School in Springfield, N. B., limited playing our national anthem because the families of a couple of his students objected to it.

As a social scientist, I oppose this kind of political correctness, lack of assimilation of new immigrants to mainstream Canada, hyphenated-Canadian identity, and the lack of patriotism in our great nation.

read more…

A new report from Statistics Canada reveals that the proportion of degree-holding immigrants who ended up working as store clerks and taxi drivers even after living in Canada for more than a decade rose significantly after the last recession in the early 1990s.

The change indicates that the troubles new immigrants often face may not be temporary, and may be exacerbated by rocky economic conditions, according to Diane Galarneau, an analyst with the Perspectives on Labour and Income magazine at Statistics Canada, who conducted the study.

read more…

The pact is meant to strike a balance between the concerns that illegal immigration and asylum-seekers are overwhelming the capacity of some nations to accept them while at the same time keeping open the flow of valuable highly skilled foreign workers to Europe, EU Observer reported.

The pact will make it more difficult for EU member states to grant mass amnesties for illegal migrants, as Spain did in 2005, to the chagrin of neighbours including France.
The pact says illegal immigrants must return to their countries of origin or to a country of transit. To that end, EU co-operation with those countries is to be enhanced, including strengthening of border controls.

Apart from labour shortages in key sectors such as information technology, engineering, and health care, increased numbers of highly skilled workers are needed to make the EU more competitive with other economies. Currently, 55 per cent of the world’s skilled migrants go to the United States and Canada. The EU attracts only five per cent of highly skilled migrant workers.

World economy downturn forcing Britain to restrict immigration in attempt to save jobs for residents.

Canada still following quotas, expecting 240,000 to 265,000 this year.

Read more…

Jim Rankin and Nicholas Keung, Staff Reporters of the TheStar.com writes:

The organization that oversees immigration consultants is toothless and should be dismantled, replaced by a statutory body empowered to go after unscrupulous advisers who prey on vulnerable migrants, urges a report tabled in the House of Commons yesterday.

read more…