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Getting our immigration system back in balance
TheStar.com - Opinion – http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/677475
August 07, 2009 | Carol Goar

Two years from now, Canada will reach a historic turning point. There won't be enough new workers joining the labour force to replace those who are retiring. Employers will have to hire immigrants to succeed.

Ottawa has known this demographic crunch was coming for years. Yet rather than strengthening the nation's capacity to bring in skilled newcomers who intend to stay here and build a life, the government of Stephen Harper has opened the floodgate to half a million temporary foreign workers who lack the qualifications to become citizens and the skills to help boost Canada's productivity.

It is hard to tell whether the Conservatives are lurching blindly into the future or deliberately putting expediency ahead of rational planning.

What is clear is that they have taken an immigration system that was far-sighted but badly managed, and turned it into an efficient processing system for low-skill foreign labour.

When Harper was elected three years ago, 50 per cent of the immigrants admitted to Canada were highly skilled workers, chosen for their ability to contribute to the economy and integrate into the national fabric. (The rest were refugees fleeing persecution and relatives of foreign-born Canadians.)

By 2008, the proportion of skilled workers had dropped to 42 per cent. It wasn't that Canada was accepting more refugees or family-class immigrants. It was that Ottawa was bringing in unprecedented numbers of temporary foreign workers to clean offices, drive trucks, serve fast food, join construction crews and do government paperwork.

If this trend continues, Canada will soon will find itself with a workforce that is less skilled, less productive and less capable of sustaining the nation's standard of living.

Regrettably, the government has no intention of turning things around and there is little pressure from the opposition parties to change course. That means the impetus will have to come from concerned citizens.

Here is how Canada could get its immigration system back in balance:

1. Eliminate the low-skill pilot project under which employers can recruit temporary foreign workers who wouldn't otherwise be eligible for admission.
   The 7-year-old program was introduced in response to Alberta's oil boom. Now that commodity prices have cooled, it would make sense to wind down the initiative and offer employers incentives to hire and train Canadian workers.

2. Make sure the point system used to assess would-be immigrants is compatible with the country's labour needs and professional licensing standards.
   For too long, Ottawa has thrown open the doors to doctors, scientists, accountants, engineers and educators whose credentials often aren't recognized here, while impeding the entry of heavy equipment operators, plumbers, electricians, bricklayers and laboratory technicians whose skills are badly needed.

3. Develop a national set of guidelines for selecting immigrants.
   Under the current hodgepodge of rules, employers recruit workers to meet their immediate needs, provinces nominate immigrants to fill gaps in their labour force and Ottawa applies both its point system and an occupational screen, giving preference to workers in 38 job categories. It is hard to move forward as a country with so many actors pulling in different directions.

4. Hire or reassign enough visa officers to process the applications of skilled workers in a timely manner.
   At the moment, the average wait is 5 1/2 years. At busy visa offices such as New Delhi, Islamabad and Kiev, processing times can exceed seven years. Little wonder employers do an end-run around Immigration Canada and talented applicants apply to other countries.
   
   The only reason to cling to the status quo is that it is a workable stopgap. No one is complaining vociferously right now. But a nation with an aging population can't afford to think about today and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Is (Canadian) Citizenship Now Defined By The Colour Of Your Skin?
Suaad Hagi Mohamud gave all kinds of ID, but was declared an "imposter."
TheStar.com - http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/679862
August 12, 2009 | Christopher Hume

The DNA tests Suaad Hagi Mohamud was forced to undergo last week proved not only that she is who she says she is, but also that she is Canadian.

The point seems lost on the current federal government, which has been content to let her twist in the Kenyan wind for three months while it did everything possible not to sort out the details of a case of mistaken identity.

But it is a point worth remembering, especially in the face of mounting evidence that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's regime is determined to create different categories of citizenship. According to the administration's new meaning of Canadian citizenship, the main qualification is not residence, place of birth, oath of allegiance or passport – it's the colour of your skin.

And in Canada today, God help you if you're not white, because the federal government sure won't. Indeed, that government creates these problems in the first place.

Mohamud's case is a perfect example; her nightmare began when a functionary in the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi agreed with a Kenyan airport official and decided she wasn't the woman whose photograph appears in her passport. We were told, incredibly, that it had something to do with her lips. She was immediately declared an "imposter" and Kenyan authorities were asked to prosecute her.

Although she produced all kinds of identification – including a driver's licence, OHIP card, social insurance card and a Canadian citizenship certificate to boot – her fate was sealed. The poor woman even spent time in a Kenyan jail, the horror of which one can only begin to imagine.

Meanwhile, her 12-year-old son – clearly another figment of her imagination – languished in Toronto, wondering if, not when, his mother would be able to return home. Months after Mohamud's ordeal began and even now that its falsity has been exposed, no one in Harper's government has said a word, let alone apologized.

This isn't just another political scandal; this is cause for deep national shame. This smacks not just of prejudice, but of apartheid.

The whole episode, don't forget, began and ended with Canadian officialdom. Even if one accepts that bureaucrats in a far-flung posting make stupid mistakes such as this, the elected government's response has turned that error into something wholly different, namely a matter of policy. Whether that policy is official or not, it's now clear that only certain Canadians can count on the protection of the federal government. Had Mohamud been a white mother from Leaside, you can rest assured that Harper himself would have led the charge to have her repatriated.

And we're not talking about the Omar Khadrs, or the Maher Arars, men suspected of real or imaginary ties to terrorist organizations. We're dealing with a single mom who produced her Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum card and even receipts from a local dry cleaners.

But Canadian High Commission first secretary Liliane Khadour wrote to Kenyan immigration authorities, saying: "We have carried out conclusive investigations including an interview and have confirmed that the person brought to (us) on suspicion of being an imposter is not the rightful holder of the aforementioned Canadian passport."

Well – guess what? – Khadour couldn't have been more wrong if she tried.

Even yesterday, after the results of Mohamud's DNA tests were made public, not a syllable on the subject was uttered by anyone in government. Their silence speaks volumes. And what it says isn't pretty: Canada, that bastion of tolerance, that refuge of civility, that exemplar of multiculturalism, no longer belongs to its citizens. It is not ours, it's theirs. We just live here.

Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca .