Raj Sharma's Canadian Immigration Blog

Children of Immigrants: Disparity in Success

Interesting article in the Globe and Mail. Research shows a clear advantage enjoyed by the daughters of immigrants - who earn more than females born to Canadian born parents, and more than males born to immigrant parents.

Article here.

Excerpt:

The study, using data collected in the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, followed 17- to 29-year-olds in the work force during two overlapping six-year periods between 1996 and 2004.

Researchers compared the earnings of young men and women born to immigrant parents in Canada between 1967 and 1982 with the incomes of sons and daughters of Canadian-born parents.

Taking education levels into account, Dr. Palameta found that young women with two immigrant parents earned wages about 15 per cent higher than did young women with Canadian-born parents.

This held true whether or not the women with immigrant parents were members of visible minorities, he said.

But their male siblings don't seem to be faring as well. Young visible-minority men earned roughly 38 per cent less when compared to men with Canadian-born parents.

Provincial Nominee Programs

An article from the Toronto Star indicates the high incidence of fraud in the Provincial Nominee Program:

The Provincial Nominee Program gives provinces discretion to pre-select investors, entrepreneurs and skilled workers with job offers for fast-track processing, dramatically cutting the wait to immigrate from as long as five years to just a few months.

"Unfortunately, PNP applications continue to be our most time consuming in terms of fraud, thus having a negative impact on processing times," says the Canadian visa office in Beijing in an internal report to the immigration department.

Perhaps not surprisingly (given the high rates of fraudulent documentation and unscrupulous third parties), India has the highest incidence of application rejection:

Top 10 source countries of provincial nominees in 2006 and their application rejection rates:

1. Philippines: 887 (2 per cent)

2. China: 549 (5 per cent)

3. Korea: 492 (7 per cent)

4. Germany: 462 (0 per cent)

5. United Kingdom: 461 (1 per cent)

6. India: 393 (21 per cent)

7. United States: 191 (3 per cent)

8. South Africa: 156 (0 per cent)

9. Israel: 134 (3 per cent)

10. Iran: 119 (0 per cent)

Manitoba, which has the most aggressive PNP program -- accepting 6,600 nominees last year -- (keeping in line with its population building goal) has a straightforward way of dealing with fraud:

"Frauds are usually associated with paid third-party representatives.

``To avoid frauds, (our staff) refuse to deal with them. You have to pick your source countries carefully and avoid places that are known for a high level of fraudulent activities," explains Ben Rempel, Manitoba's assistant deputy minister of labour and immigration.

Montreal Imam Said Jaziri Deported

Montreal Imam Said Jaziri protests his deportation flight - CBC Article:

A Tunisian-born imam deported from Montreal for falsifying his refugee application described his treatment by Canadian authorities during his 13-hour trip home as torture.

Good overview by the Gazette:

Saïd Jaziri, who has been one of Quebec's most quoted Muslim leaders during the debate on reasonable accommodation, was ordered deported after his refugee status, granted in 1998, was revoked last June.

It was revoked after authorities discovered Jaziri, a Tunisian native, had not disclosed a criminal conviction in France in 1994. That conviction was related to his role in an assault on an individual whose actions had led to the closing of a prayer room.

Jaziri, spiritual leader of a Bélanger St. E. mosque, is married and expecting a child with his wife, Nancy Ann Adams of Laval. He was arrested last Monday after he was judged likely not to show up for his deportation.

Jaziri, who has bragged about converting at least one Quebec woman a week to Islam over the past few years, drew criticism recently for stating in a television interview with TV5 host Luck Mervil that homosexuality was an illness.

He also has complained about alleged heavy infiltration of mosques by federal intelligence operatives.

More articles on Said Jaziri:

Canada.com article.

Jaziri's interview at 940 Montreal after his removal here.

Interesting article from the Suburban - it doesn't appear that all Montreal Muslims are sad at Jaziri's removal:

“And it’s about time,” said Gibreel Ghassan. “This guy was giving us all (Montreal’s Muslim community) a bad name.”

Ghassan is a well-known downtown businessman with excellent contacts in Montreal’s new Muslim and Arabic communities. As much as he was amused by the media circus created by Jaziri’s arrest and imminent deportation, he is also worried the Muslim community may draw the wrong conclusions from what happened to Jaziri.

“There’s a big difference between using the media,” he said, “and being used by the media.”

While some supporters in the city’s Muslim community believe Jaziri is the victim of a racist and biased government, others say he was nothing more than a hustler with loud, annoying and very public opinions. As usual, Ghassan believes the truth lies somewhere in the middle and nobody much cares about it as they all get on with their lives.

“In the end, Jaziri was a fool,” said Ghassan, “and a fool is always the author of his own mistakes.”

While I'm not familiar with the exact facts of Jaziri's situation, it would appear that he was stripped of his refugee status because of an omission or misrepresentation that dealt with a criminal record. Alternatively, if he was granted permanent resident status after his successful refugee claim, that status was stripped of him using the misrepresentation or criminality inadmissibility provisions within the IRPA. It appears his counsel exhausted all other avenues, including a stay application to the Federal Court.

Jaziri's 8 month pregnant wife was in the hospital, and could not attend at the airport for Jaziri's flight.

Tunisia does indeed have a dismal human rights record - however it appears that Jaziri returned to Tunisia in the past without incident (something called re-availment in the refugee context).

An outspoken individual who advocated sharia law in Canada, Jaziri's removal will have a chilling effect on Muslim expression in Canada. 

Article: Work on Federal Court Stay Application

Here's a link to an archive from Radio Canada International for January 11, 2007. It covers my work for John Anthony Bonnick who was facing removal from Canada. Mr. Bonnick reported for removal to his native Jamaica after his application for a stay of the execution of the removal order was refused by the Federal Court. While Mr. Bonnick was convicted of numerous criminal offenses including living off the avails of prostitution, he will not be automatically eligible to return to Canada in 2013 (requiring the approval of the Minister of CIC). The article also does not mention his 6 children in Canada, or his other family here (or the fact that he was in Canada for more than 20 years). A stay remedy is 'extraordinary' and we were unable to persuade the Federal Court to grant one in this case.

Permanent residents need to understand that criminality exposes them to the removal provisions in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. While the vast majority of people don't plan on criminal behavior (or at least being deported as a result of it), it's important to understand the nature of permanent residency. I'll post the Federal Court record (under representative work) soon as it illustrates the nature of the test involved in such applications.

CALGARY: CONVICTED PIMP FACES DEPORTATION TO JAMAICA
A Jamaican man who lived as a permanent resident in Canada for the past 25 years is scheduled to be deported to his native country on Monday. John Bonnick, 40, was found guilty in 2002 of living off the avails of prostitution and aggravated assault. He had forced a woman to act as a prostitute for seven days a week. He regularly punished her by burning her skin with lit cigarettes. He was released on parole from federal prison last October. Bonnick filed appeals to remain in Canada because his children and family live in Calgary, Alberta. But a federal judge denied his appeals and ordered his deportation. Bonnick's lawyer, Raj Sharma, said that due legal process was served. 'It speaks to the fairness of the system that there are multiple levels of review that every permanent resident goes through,' he said. Bonnick will be eligible to return to Canada in 2013.

US State Police Clearances

Looks like this is the definitive link to get info on getting police clearances from all of the States:

http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/seattle/rightnav/police_certificates-en.asp

Refugee Reform

It appears that the work done by the Immigration and Refugee Board, particularly the Refugee Protection Division, is of little value or importance to the Conservative Government. I make this (logical) conclusion based on the fact that there has been a reversal of years of winnowing down a seemingly insurmountable refugee backlog. Number of outstanding claims has increased by 50% in the last two years; there are now over 30,000 refugee cases pending determination. The main reason for the increase in backlog is the Conservative’s refusal to appoint more decision makers to the RPD now suffering from a loss of over 45 decision makers.

It could be however, that the neglect of the Board is simply a symptom of a broader neglect of immigration policy in Canada. Despite the insistence of both the Liberal and Conservative governments as to the importance of the immigration portfolio, one only needs to note the revolving door of the ministry – resulting in 4 different Ministers of CIC since December 2003. I wonder if any Minister has had the time to get a handle on the numerous complex issues involved.

Essentially the Board must make more decisions, with far less resources. In that vein, I can offer the following suggestions to tackle the backlog:

• Appoint more Board Members (alternatively, at least replace them.) You really can’t make determinations, without decision makers. This is fairly self-explanatory.

• Get to the easy yes, or easy no, faster. There are countries, such as Burma and Colombia that have approval rates over 75%. A refugee claim from such a country should be expedited (indeed, provisions in the RPD Rules allow such a ‘decision’ to be made by an immigration officer). As a result, these ‘quick yeses’ will result in resources being more efficiently used elsewhere. Also, there are countries for which refusal rates are quite low (less than 15% or so). Claims from these countries should also be expedited (but done in a fair manner). Strangely enough, I’ve seen claims from the US(a very nice, mentally disturbed lady who feared all ‘black people’ in the US, but nonetheless took up valuable Board resources in determining her claim), France and other developed and ‘safe’ countries (see below).

• Learn from other countries. The UKhas a list of safe countries from which asylum claims which are refused and certified as clearly unfounded will be determined quickly, and cannot be appealed before removal. The following countries are currently designated as generally safe under the Nationality and Immigration Act 2002: Albania, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania Serbia & Montenegro, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Ukraine. Home Office Minister Browne, in discussing adding India to the safe country list stated: “Introducing a safe country list has resulted in a significant cut in the number of asylum applicants from these countries and this is just one of a number of steps we are taking to tackle abuse of the system … India, however is generally a safe country where people are not routinely fleeing for their lives, and very few people need our protection under the refugee convention. While we will of course continue to make all decisions on a case by case basis, it is only right that if an asylum seeker does not require our protection they should return home when it is safe to do so.”

While we should make all decisions on a ‘case by case basis’ we really need to adopt the UK’s attempts to address abuse of the refugee system. I would suggest that, claims from Mexico (which is Canada’s top source country for refugee claims), the US, Western European Countries, India and the other countries on the UK safe country list need to be assessed and perhaps adopted by Canada.

The alternative is to wait until our refugee system can no longer handle the pressures and we have a real problem on our hands – which will take far more time, money and resources to fix at that later time.

** Note - the above post was published in the Calgary Herald on October 16, 2007. Link here. It appears that for editorial reasons, 'Burma' was changed to 'Myanmar'. While the military junta refers to the country as Myanmar, UK Home Office documents as well as other country condition research documents (such as the US Department of State Report) refer to the country as Burma.

Refugee News...

Toronto Star article on the increasing backlog for refugee claims - due to the Conservative governments' unwillingness to re-appoint RPD Board Members. Excerpt:

...the number of outstanding claims has grown by 50 per cent between 2005 and this August, from 20,552 to 30,891.

At the moment, 46 positions remain unfilled on the board, more than one-third of the regular complement, and it takes an average of 14.2 months to process and determine whether an asylum claim is valid, compared with 11.9 months last December.

CTV reports on a 65 year old US refugee worker that has been charged as a human smuggler under the IRPA after helping 12 Haitians to the border to claim asylum. Excerpt:

Erik Paradis, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency in Quebec, told The Canadian Press that seven people have been charged under the legislation since it became law in 2002.

But he did not say whether Hinshaw-Thomas is the only human rights worker to be charged.

"The law is quite clear," he said. "Organizing and aiding entry into Canada is an offence under Section 117 of the (act)."

"We can't tolerate human smuggling. The CBSA (is) really going to continue its efforts to combat movement of people, and (this charge) is an example."

Such a broad interpretation of the relevant provision would criminalize even Canadians that assist meritorious refugee/asylum claims by family members. What is relevant is that there are real differences as to asylum law and policy between Canada and the US. I have personally been involved in refugee cases that grant status (here in Canada) where there's been a previous refusal of the same claim in the US. Just look at the disparate approval rates between the two countries (and with respect to specific countries - check out the 80%+ acceptance rate for Colombians in Canada vs. less than 50% acceptance rate for Colombians in the US).

I believe that this is wrong, this was not the intent of Parliament - which was probably to target criminal organizations, and is clearly an overreaction by CBSA to recent news/claims of thousands of refugee claimants from the US heading north to inundate Canada.

CBC article on the (well reported) 'spike' in Mexican refugee claims - as a result of increasing measures to address the illegal immigrant situation in the US.

Canada.com article on the man at the centre of the controversy - Mr. Sinjuste defends his actions in 'facilitating' the entry of Mexicans and Haitians to Canada to claim asylum. Excerpt:

Sinjuste denied that his group is responsible for the sudden flood this month of more than 300 refugee claimants, including hundreds of Mexican illegal aliens who had been living for years in Florida and fled north following an immigration crackdown. They crossed the border at Windsor and are now overloading the city's social services system. The bill for taking care of the sudden influx of claimants is now more than $300,000. 

I've listened to Minister Day's response to the 'spike' in claims. Short answer - Mexicans living in the US are exempt from the Safe Third Country Agreement, and as a result are eligible to make a refugee claim in Canada. In terms of Haitians, again, they can claim as there is a moratorium on removals to that country. There is nothing legally Day can do to stop these claims. Period. If Minister Day wants to deny or restrict refugee protection or asylum policy, he needs to address the underlying legislation.

If anything, what needs to happen is a comprehensive reform of Canada's immigration and refugee protection system so that claims are expeditiously and fairly considered.