Canada Immigration 加拿大移民

Hong Kong sends immigration officers to Canada for training

           

Two immigration officers from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will train in Canada to "broaden their global horizon and enhance their skills," the city's Immigration Department said Saturday.

 Arvid Kwok Tsan-ming, assistant principal immigration officer, left for Kingston, Canada on Saturday to attend Queen's Executive Program at the Queen's University, which concentrates on strategy formulation, corporate management and leadership.

Wilson Wong Mo-cheong, chief Immigration officer, will leave for Ottawa on Monday. He will attend the Senior Police Administrative Course (SPAC) run by the Canadian Police College of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the department said in a statement.

Immigration work has been increasingly complex, requiring public servants to "adhere to the changing global political and economic situation closely and acquire the contemporary management techniques," Director of Immigration Simon Peh said.

Source: Xinhua                      Originally Published: April 27, 2008

New Brunswick population long way to go

DAVID CAMPBELL
Economically Driven

Expectations are a funny thing. These days a Boston Red Sox fan automatically expects their team to compete for the World Series, while a Washington Nationals fan (like yours truly) just wants their team to not be blown out every night on the baseball diamond. The same thing happens in the area of economic development, or a by-product of successful economic development, population growth.

New Brunswick's population is now actually trending upward. After population declines in both 2005 and 2006, the provincial population grew by 2,600 people in 2007 and has up ticked slightly again in the first quarter of 2008.

The growth is being fuelled by positive in-migration (people moving in from other parts of Canada) and immigration (people moving in from other countries). In the five quarters from January 2007 to March 2008, the province boasted a net in-migration of 1,206 people. In the immediate preceding five quarters, there was a net out-migration of 4,248. To put that in perspective, if in-migration continues at the current rate, it will be 2011 before we make up the population loss from the out-migration in 2006 alone. Immigration is also trending upward. According to Statistics Canada estimates, net international migration was 1,492 people in 2007 up slightly from 1,298 in 2006.

However, in the first quarter 2008, there were 308 more deaths in New Brunswick than births. After all the predictions, we have now arrived at the point where the natural population increase in New Brunswick has finally turned negative. To sustain or grow our population in the future, we will need to rely on attracting migrants from the rest of Canada and immigrants from around the world.

And that comes back to my point about expectations. In the 1970s, New Brunswick had a natural population increase of 62,000 people and an average annual population growth rate of over 1%. In the late 2000s, we are now witnessing a natural population decline and a population growth rate of 0.1% and this is considered good news. Even with this most recent growth "spurt," New Brunswick's population growth is six times slower than the national rate of growth.

And, as I have pointed out in a previous column, the rise of the migrant worker from New Brunswick clouds this picture somewhat. While we don't know the accurate figure, at least several thousand New Brunswickers are working in Alberta and other provinces but showing their residence as being in New Brunswick. This means it is likely our real population is continuing to decline.

The truth of the matter is that population is correlated to economic development. If we put programs in place to repatriate ex-New Brunswickers or attract more immigrants and there is no economic opportunity here, they will either not come at all or leave not long after arriving here. And there is that thorny issue of wages.

In the 1990s, when we were trying to keep people from moving away from New Brunswick, the jobs at $9-$14/hour were enough to convince at least some of our people not to leave. However, it is a whole different issue altogether when you are trying to get people to uproot from their current location (either elsewhere in Canada or other countries) and move here for $9-$14/hour jobs.

It is critical, then, that our economy starts churning out new jobs at higher wage rates. The energy-related projects in Saint John mostly offer wage scales above average. The nascent life/health sciences sector in the province tends to offer higher wages. Unfortunately, many of the sectors that are growing including retail and others services are still on the lower end of the wage spectrum and it will become increasingly harder to find people for those jobs.

Eventually, we may have to rethink our immigration efforts and start targeting countries and individuals for whom work in the lower wage sectors of the economy would be a major economic step up.

One thing is for sure. If we want our population increase to continue, we will need to see a far more robust employment situation than we have witnessed so far in 2008. In the first six months of 2007, New Brunswick saw a rise in total employment by 3,700 people. So far in 2008, Statistics Canada estimates that total employment has dropped by 2,100 people. I think it is likely that the employment situation should turn positive but the true impact of the challenges felt by the forestry industry may just be manifesting itself now.

"If you build it, they will come." In many ways, economic development is a bit like a field of dreams. Strong economies with great employment prospects tend to attract people. Weak economies with limited prospects repel people. hope New Brunswick's field of dreams still lies ahead.

David Campbell is an economic development consultant based in Moncton. He writes a daily blog, It's the Economy Stupid, at www.davidwcampbell.com. His column appears Wednesdays.

New Brunswick is making immigration one of the cornerstones

New Brunswick is making immigration one of the cornerstones of its policies to help the province become self-sufficient, but it must take the second step and ensure the policy actually works by putting in place a system that truly welcomes newcomers and nurtures them, enabling them to quickly become full and active participants in our economy.

Until that is done, the policy will remain little but a statement of good and positive intentions.

The Special Report in the Times & Transcript yesterday on the experiences of Werner Rosswog and his family provides a case in point. Mr. Rosswog merits tremendous praise for having persevered through years of efforts to change outmoded laws and remove bureaucratic hurdles so he could realize his vision of starting the province's first winery and distillery of alcoholic beverages made from fruit.

His efforts removed roadblocks for others who have followed. Mr. Werner is a prime example of the positive aspects of welcoming immigrants.

We must wonder, however, how many other such immigrants have given up and moved on whether out of frustration with the official roadblocks or from a lack of financial resources to stay the course literally for years. Instead of having a fruit distillery and winery, a popular stop for tourists, interesting new quality products at farmers' markets and a solid family business, the province could have easily ended up with nothing. Mr. Werner's success story has a message the province needs to hear.

Indeed, even today Mr. Werner cites three obstacles in our outmoded liquor system that could, and should, be altered immediately. It is abysmal that after meeting with small cottage wineries last fall, NB Liquor has still not acted on a reasonable request to provide a "New Brunswick Products" shelf in its stores to highlight and promote home-grown products. How hard is it to do? This could have, and should have, been done within a matter of days.

The examples pertain to small wineries and Mr. Werner's experience, but similar hurdles face others seeking to implement their ideas and new businesses. The government needs to create a culture of making things happen and removing obstacles.

For without it, entrepreneurs and immigrants will as often as not give up in frustration and take their skills and vision elsewhere more welcoming.

Manitoba schools struggling to keep up

Immigration boom crowds Manitoba school halls

CBC News

School divisions in southern Manitoba are struggling to keep up with a growing number of students who are arriving in the area as part of an immigration boom.

Nearly 11,000 immigrants arrived in Manitoba in 2006-07 — the highest annual international immigration rate among all of the provinces.

'The conditions are crowded. They're becoming unsafe.'—Vern Reimer, superintendent, Garden Valley School Division

A large number of immigrants from Germany and eastern Europe have settled in the area around Winkler, in south-central Manitoba. Their children enrol in schools mainly in the Hanover and Garden Valley school divisions.

Vern Reimer, superintendent of the Garden Valley School Division, describes the situation in his schools as a crisis.

"The conditions are crowded. They're becoming unsafe," he said. "Kids can't even actually get from one class to the next in the allotted break time, simply because of the congestion."

Each year, about 200 new students enrol in Garden Valley schools. If newcomers continue to settle in the area at that rate, Reimer projects the student population will double in a dozen years.

Where to put those students is a growing problem; already, about 1,000 of the division's 3,700 students are taught in portable classrooms, instead of permanent school buildings.

"We're running out of infrastructure, bathrooms and ancillary space to accommodate these students, so it's becoming a really serious issue, especially in our high school. We have, in our high school alone, 15 portables … for September of '08," he said.

"If we wanted all students — existing and future students — to be in permanent constructed schools, we would have to build a school in 2011, and then a high school in 2012, and then after that, we would have to build more, 16-classroom schools."

More schools planned

Rick Dedi, spokesman for the province's public schools finance board, says the province already plans to build a new middle school in the Garden Valley division and add on to one of its elementary schools.

He's not ruling out building more schools in the future to help get students out of portable classrooms.

"This is probably in the next decade, you could see the reliance of portables fall away," he said.

Until then, Reimer says, he'll consider changing students' schedules to disperse the crowds

Alberta's population surgers past 3.5 milion

edmontonjournal.com

Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008

EDMONTON - Immigrants and temporary foreign workers helped Alberta post the strongest population growth among Canada's provinces in the first three months of 2008, Statistics Canada reported today.

"Alberta's population rose by 0.41 per cent over the January to March period to reach an estimated 3,512,400, mainly as a result of strong immigration and net inflows of non-permanent residents," the federal agency said in a news release.

"Alberta received 5,300 immigrants and posted a net increase of 4,000 non-permanent residents, both first quarter records."

In total, the province grew by 14,487 people.

Todd Hirsch, senior economist for ATB Financial, said in his daily commentary that Alberta's "weak spot" is inter-provincial migration.

"Over the first quarter, an estimated 713 people moved to Alberta from other provinces (on a net migration basis). That number is relatively small, but at least it reverses a troubling trend that was brewing over the past few quarters in 2007 when the high costs of living and an overheated real estate market was causing Alberta to lose people to other provinces," Hirsch said.

Saskatchewan, the growth leader for the previous two quarters, had the second-highest growth rate in Canada at 0.35 per cent, bringing its population to 1,010,100, Statistics Canada said.

"It was the highest first quarter increase for Saskatchewan in decades, mainly as a result of record numbers in immigration, interprovincial migration and in non-permanent resident net inflows."

Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia were the only provinces where the growth rate exceeded the national average of 0.24 per cent. Canada's population on April 1 was an estimated 33,223,800, up 80,200 from Jan. 1, 2008.

Immersion needed to help towns recruit new residents, says councillor

Last Updated: Monday, June 23, 2008 | 12:57 PM AT

CBC News

The elimination of early French immersion will take away a competitive edge that small New Brunswick towns present when trying to recruit people and businesses, says one town councillor.

Sackville, located in southeastern New Brunswick, has serious concerns about elimination of the early French immersion program, said town councillor John Higham.

"We as a smaller province can't compete with the bigger ones on financial incentives, and we as smaller towns can't compete with big towns when we're trying to recruit these folks and these businesses — except on lifestyle," Higham said.

"One of the key components of lifestyle has become … early French immersion," he said.

Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced in March that the province would be eliminating its immersion program offered to students entering Grade 1.

Under the new program, French-language education in English schools would begin in Grade 5 with a mandatory intensive five-month program. In Grade 6, the students would have the option to enter an immersion program or take French as a mandatory subject until high school graduation.

However, the province is now collecting more public comment on the changes, after a court ruling indicated the government's decision to change the programming had been made unfairly and unreasonably without interested citizens having an opportunity to comment.

Decision expected Aug. 5

Lamrock said the government will consider all suggestions from the public — but students won't be returning to the same programming this fall as what is currently available in schools. The minister will be announcing on Aug. 5 his decision on what second-language education will look like.

If the province does move forward with eliminating the program, it will affect Sackville's development strategy, which is based around recruiting on the basis of the quality of life, Higham told CBC News.

Across the border, in Nova Scotia, Amherst is expanding its immersion program, Higham said.

A spokesman with Business New Brunswick told CBC News that if municipalities or businesses have concerns about the elimination of the program, they should participate in the Education Department's consultation process, which continues until July 25.

NS cabinet members subpoenad for immigration files

The premier of Nova Scotia and eight members of his cabinet were issued subpoenas Monday by a legislature committee trying to get to the bottom of a failed immigration program.

The public accounts committee wants about 1,000 documents turned over to the auditor general by July 23. Committee chairwoman Maureen MacDonald said the government has been hiding behind claims of cabinet confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege.

"The net has been thrown wide on these documents and the auditor general has been denied access," said MacDonald.

"They're even refusing things pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act."

In an interim report on the program, released earlier this month, auditor general Jacques Lapointe was critical of the lack of access to relevant paperwork.

As an example, Lapointe said the program, which saw applicants pay more than $130,000 for a mentored work program, failed to properly screen employers.

MacDonald said committee members know they're being denied e-mails and information regarding government's communication strategy, dating back to when the failed program began to break into the public view.

She said her committee was trying to force the government to be transparent and accountable.

"We want to know who knew what, when. Who was making decisions or more importantly, who was asleep at the switch when some of the important decisions were being made on this file."

Having said that, MacDonald said she remained optimistic they would eventually get the documents.

"I've been around for a bit and this government generally does the right thing when they've tried everything else and have failed," she said.

"This is the right thing to do."

Wade Keller, a spokesman for the premier's office, said the subpoenas have been turned over to Justice Department lawyers.

"The folks there will review them and we'll deal with them in accordance with advice from our lawyers," he said.

He said Premier Rodney MacDonald, who was in Qatar on a business trip Monday, was aware the documents had been served.

Alberta Immigration made better!

June 19, 2008 Invite your uncle to pack his arc welder for a new life in Alberta Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program expands to include family members Edmonton... In an effort to build the province’s workforce, the government is expanding its Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP) to include family members. “Albertans have family members with skills and knowledge Alberta needs,” said Hector Goudreau, Minister of Employment and Immigration. “Adding this family stream to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program will help us meet our workforce needs while creating more diverse and welcoming communities for all our families.” Eligible Albertans may sponsor a parent, child, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew for provincial nomination. The family members coming to Alberta will have to meet provincial eligibility criteria and be able to join Alberta’s labour market. They must have post-secondary education, work experience, and be between 21 and 45 years old. Applicants do not need to have a job before they apply. The sponsoring family member living in Alberta will act as a vital support system to help the newcomers while they settle in. The AINP fast-tracks the immigration process for people applying for permanent residency. Applicants will then need to go through the standard federal security and health checks. Citizenship and Immigration Canada makes the final decision on permanent resident visas. By expanding the program and increasing the number of people living in Alberta, there will be a larger labour force pool employers can draw from. The program is designed to meet the needs of Alberta employers who are unable to fill skilled and select semi-skilled positions with Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. More information on the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program and the new family stream is available at www.albertacanada.com/ainp.

Funding Ottawa offers province $10 million to help recruit francophone immigrants

Rob Linke
Telegraph-Journal

OTTAWA - The federal government is giving New Brunswick $10 million to support francophone immigration, less than half of what Premier Shawn Graham had been seeking, and $6.2 million for economic development.

The Conservatives are also bringing back a version of the court challenges program they axed to save money in 2006, a decision that provoked criticism from the commissioner for official languages and triggered a lawsuit by francophone groups.

The money will flow over the next five years as part of a $1.1 billion plan Heritage Minister Josee Verner announced Thursday afternoon in support of official languages.

"We believe in the self-sufficiency initiative of New Brunswick and they asked us to help in this way," said Verner.

Five weeks ago, Premier Shawn Graham revealed his government was asking Ottawa for $5.8 million a year for three years to help recruit and offer settlement services to francophone immigrants.

Graham's office could not be reached for comment.

New Brunswick will also qualify for portions of another $20 million in federal funding provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada for francophone immigration across the country, said an official who did not have details.

Francophone groups have pressed for the provincial government to maintain the traditional one-third francophone, two-thirds anglophone linguistic balance in New Brunswick even as the Graham government strives to boost the population.

Greg Byrne, the provincial cabinet minister responsible for population growth, has said the government shares the goal of maintaining that balance.

The track record shows that English-speaking newcomers have comprised the vast majority of the province's immigrants in recent years.

The new language rights program will only pay for court challenges against government decisions that threaten language rights as a last resort.

Applicants will have to try mediation first by going to an expert panel reporting to an independent institution, such as a university, that the government has not chosen yet.

This approach will encourage "amicable settlements," said MP Pierre Lemieux, Verner's parliamentary secretary, and avoid "lengthy, expensive and stressful legal proceedings."

NDP official languages critic Yvon Godin, the MP for Acadie-Bathurst, reacted with disbelief that the Conservatives would see constitutional rights as something to be negotiated.

"When you negotiate, it's give-and-take," said Godin. "And give and take means the community will have to give something away to have a result.

"The court challenges was about 'you broke the law, we want a judge to make a decision.'"

The new program to support linguistic rights will get $1.5 million a year, but it will not be funded until 2009.

Godin said that's tantamount to not having a program at all because "we'll have an election by then."

Unlike the court challenges program, it will not fund cases launched on the grounds they violate the rights of visible minorities, women, religious minorities or the disabled.

Lemieux said other tools, such as the human rights act, exist to protect those rights.

Graham Fraser, the country's official-languages watchdog, said the new Conservative road map will require detailed study, but "my initial reaction is one of relief.

"This plan should enable the institutions involved to continue with their current initiatives."

Fraser said he was pleased the new plan includes arts and culture.

Marie-Pierre Simard, president of the Acadian Society in New Brunswick, was en route to Ottawa Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

The Conservative road map replaces a five-year Liberal action plan for official languages, which expired in March. Its funding crested at $810 million.

Verner's plan follows nation-wide consultations by former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord, whom Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed as a special adviser on linguistic duality last December.

Godin argued that Lord's recommendations and Verner's plan both relied heavily on the work of the Commons committee on official languages.

The $1.1 billion larger funding envelopes include $280 million for education in the language of the minority, $190 million for second-language education and $174 million for access to health services

Report urges stronger effort to attract students to NB

Matt Mc Cann

Telegraph Journal

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick needs to market its "educational brand" to bring international students to the province, according to one of the recommendations from the post-secondary education working group.

The group, composed of the presidents and principals of the province's community colleges and universities, was charged with reviewing the original, widely-protested PSE report.

Though it still has not been released, a copy obtained by the Telegraph-Journal calls for the birth of six different bureaucratic agencies, including a PSE Agency as the central authority, with the creation of an International Marketing Bureau as an offshoot of that.

The IMB would create a marketing campaign to attract international students, and be given the responsibility of directly and indirectly helping the colleges with recruitment.

Though the development of a marketing strategy is set for 2009, with the initiation of the campaign to begin in 2010, it's unclear what concrete steps the report wants the government to take.

Kemale Pinar, manager of international recruiting at the University of New Brunswick, said the schools and the province need to start working together.

"I think we have to be more collaborative and have a more focused approach," she said, "to match the areas that we target together."

Tom Buckley, registrar for UNBSJ, said their international student numbers have declined 25 per cent since peaking in 2004.

He said other governments, like Australia, who have recognized education as a major service and invested in marketing, have met with success.

Though the provincial government has taken some good first steps, like the provincial nominee program and streamlining the visa process to make it easier for foreign students to work after graduation, he said there's always the opportunity to do more.

"I suppose one could argue that the universities and the government collectively could get together and work a little more effectively on how we attract students in the first place," he said.

Meanwhile, most of the province's universities are already engaged in marketing themselves abroad.

"We do international travel," said Kate Crawford, director of recruitment for St. Thomas University. "We're actually going into the high schools and talking to students"

She said that last year they formed partnerships with students in China, Latin America, Mexico and the United States.

"Wherever we can, we team up with other Atlantic institutions," she said, "because it's easier to sell the Atlantic region and then talk about our individual schools."

Crawford said about five per cent of students are international, and their goal is to increase that to 10 per cent.

Over at Mount Allison University, Matt Sheridan-Jones, manager of admissions, said they've finally reached their goal of having a 10 per cent international student enrolment.

He said it's crucial that the province's universities keep working together if they want government support.

"It's just a matter of everybody being on the same page," he said.

He said the province's role in recruiting right now is relatively minor, and everyone would gain if that were to change.

"I think the immigration strategy that the province is looking to enhance would benefit the universities, and the universities could really benefit the province," he said. "So, I think it's something that we should continue to work together on."