Immigration News: October, 2004 - Volume 11

Canada: 225,000 Immigrants

Canada plans to admit 225,000 immigrants in 2005, including 60 percent skilled workers and their families and 40 percent family unification and refugee immigrants. In 2003, 221,352 immigrants went to Canada, down slightly from the 229,091 who arrived in 2002. During the 1990s, 73 percent of immigrants to Canada settled in three cities: Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

The Canadian government considered but did not offer an amnesty program for 10,000 undocumented immigrants in 2001, but the current Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Judy Sgro, is discussing with various interest groups what should be done about the tens of thousands of illegal foreigners in Canada.

Recent immigrants are not faring as well economically as past immigrants. Arrivals in the 1970s generally earned as much as similar Canadian-born men within 10 years, but those arriving between 1991 and 2001 earned only about 80 percent as much as similar Canadians, according to the Census. Immigrants living in Canada for less than five years had an unemployment rate of 12.7 percent, compared to 7.4 percent among the Canadian-born. Immigrant-headed families are the majority of those living in poor areas of Toronto, home to half of Canadian newcomers.

One reason for lower immigrant earnings is that, even if they have the same educational qualifications, immigrant literacy skills are lower than Canadians with equivalent educational credentials. Canadian employers place little value on immigrants' foreign work experience, so highly educated immigrants do not get "full credit" for their non-Canadian education and work experience.

The province of British Columbia is encouraging foreign investors to settle outside Vancouver by requiring an investment of C$1 million to settle in Vancouver, and C$500,000 outside the city. A quarter of the foreigners getting immigrant investor visas are Koreans, who contact the BC Business Immigration Office and submit business proposals. The investor must be creating jobs in the province for five people and/or adding value to an existing business that is already providing employment. Once approved, the investor is given a temporary work permit and can immediately move with his family to Canada; and after a check at the business, the temporary permit becomes an immigrant visa. Many Koreans purchase restaurants, hotels and gas stations to get immigrant visas.

About four percent of new immigrants who filed income taxes in Canada between 1990 and 1998 had left by 2004, including 12 percent of the foreign-trained doctors and health-care workers and seven percent of the information technology workers, according to the Statistics Canada report "Immigrants in Demand: Staying or Leaving."

Canadian journalist Victor Malarek says that to reduce trafficking in women and girls from the former Soviet Republic, more effort must be made to prosecute traffickers. Malarek criticizes countries such as the Netherlands and Germany for legalizing some prostitution, saying that "traffickers have been given a red carpet to walk on in those countries." The annual US State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report is the source of much of the information in Malarek's book.

Canada will spend an additional $14 billion over six years on its $60 billion national health care system; the federal government will provide the funds to the 13 provinces and territories that administer health care. In winning a plurality in June 2004 elections, the Liberal Party promised to increase federal health care spending, deal with waiting times for basic services and significantly expand federal aid for home care and prescription drugs.

Marina Jimenez, "Minister consults interested groups about opening the underground economy," The Globe and Mail, September 11, 2004. Marina Jimenez, "Fleeing sunny Latin America, refugees flock to Whitehorse," Globe and Mail, August 27, 2004. Mike Weisbart, "Buying your way into Canada," Korea Times, August 29, 2004. Mariana Jimenez, "Tighter security cited in refugee-claims decline," Globe and Mail, August 12, 2004. Malarek, Victor. 2004. The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade. Vision