Canadians Supporting Trump To Build Wall

© Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP An asylum claimant and her two daughters cross the border into Canada from the United States Friday, March 17, 2017, near Hemmingford, Quebec

‘Build that wall?’ Some Canadians are calling for more border control, too. Candidates for leadership of Canada’s opposition Conservative Party are calling for drastic measures to halt the flow of asylum seekers fleeing the United States into Canada, including deployment of the Canadian army to detain would-be refugees as they cross the border.

This get-tough approach reflects public opinion surveys that show a hardening of attitudes among some Canadians toward the asylum seekers and immigration in general, placing political pressure on the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Canadian news recently has been full of images of migrants trudging across snow-covered fields and through icy ditches, hauling small children and suitcases as they cross into Quebec, Manitoba and other provinces from U.S. border states. The phenomenon has gained momentum since Donald Trump was elected president in November.

Kevin O’Leary, a reality-TV celebrity and neophyte politician who has taken a Trumplike approach to his quest for the Conservative leadership, says illegal crossings are “unacceptable” and that Canada must beef up its border security to avert a flood of refugees. “I don’t want what’s happening in Europe to happen in Canada,” he said in a recent campaign video.

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Canada Immigration Adopts Lottery System for Reuniting Immigrants with Parents and Guidance

Canada is adopting a lottery system to replace the current first-come, first-served immigration process to reunite parents and grandparents.

The change, which will take effect in the new year, is designed to make the system fair for all applicants, according to a release from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. In past, the number of applications has far exceeded the number of available spots, creating a backlog in applications.

"We're listening to what past applicants had to say and making the process fairer for people who want to sponsor their parents or grandparents," Immigration Minister John McCallum said in a statement.

"We're ensuring everyone can access the application process by giving them the same chance to have their name chosen."

Between Jan. 3 and Feb. 2, 2017, Canadian citizens and permanent residents who want to sponsor their parents or grandparents will be required to complete an online form on the IRCC website within 30 days.

CIC Canada's Immigration Website Crashes as Trump's Led Wins

Canada’s main immigration website appeared to suffer repeated outages on Tuesday night as Trump took the lead in several major states and his prospects for winning the US presidency turned markedly higher. Data from Google suggests searches for ‘move to Canada’ spiked significantly during the night as Trump victories unfolded in key battleground states

Some users in the United States, Canada and Asia saw an internal server error message when trying to access the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.

When the Guardian clicked on the page it would not load and a “this page isn’t working” error message came up.

Immigration:Canada's Express Entry Benefits Low Incomers

In its first year, the Express Entry program allowed more cooks and food workers than engineers and professors to apply. Launched in 2015, the Express Entry system aims to fast track permanent resident applications for immigrants who meet certain criteria. The goal is to match the supply of immigrant labour with the demand for skills in Canada.

The results of a new immigration program meant to match the flow of foreign workers with Canada’s job market should be a wakeup call for policymakers, experts say. Under the new Express Entry system, immigrants applying for low-wage, precarious jobs in Canada are being favoured over those applying for more professional positions, said Toronto immigration consultant Parmjit Mangat.

Mangat worries the policy means new immigrants may not find stable jobs and could be at risk of having their rights violated by employers. The problem is particularly acute in Toronto, which is both a top destination for immigrants and a growing hub for precarious employment – more than half of workers in the city are in part-time or contract jobs, according to a 2013 United Way report.

One-fifth of New Immigrants Arrive With No Money

via Vancouver Sun

In a new report  by Metro, it shows new Immigrants arrive in Canada with an average of $47,000 in savings – but are left with less than half of that once they get initially settled, says a new BMO Wealth Management report.

And about one-fifth, or 19 per cent, come with no money at all, finds the study being released Wednesday.

“It can be incredibly stressful – financially and otherwise – to pick up, move to another country, and begin the process of creating a new life for yourself, so it’s great to see that new Canadians do have a bit of a nest egg remaining,” said Julie Barker-Merz, president of BMO InvestorLine.

Pop Singer Chris Brown Denied Entry To Canada Again

The Canadian government denied Chris Brown entry into the country just hours before a scheduled performance. Chris took to Twitter to announce to fans...in a dignified manner. He tweeted;

"Unfortunately I will not be able to perform in front of sold out crowds in Montreal & Toronto. The good people of the Canadian government wouldn't allow me entry. I'll be back this summer and will hopefully see all my Canadian fans!"

Chris was scheduled to perform in Montreal and Toronto. And fans had already bought tickets. Die hard Chris Brown fans are now asking the US govt to ban Justin Bieber - who is Canadian - from entry into the US. According to TMZ, Canadian law dictates a person could be "criminally inadmissible" if they have been convicted of a crime involving assault.

Immigration Scam Alert! Toronto woman charged in $1.5M fraud scheme

CBC

A Toronto woman has been charged in connection with a scheme that defrauded would-be immigrant workers of more than $1.5 million, police say.

The investigation into GoWest Jobs International, an employment recruiting agency on Finch Avenue West that specializes in immigrant workers, began in October last year.

According to police, the company took payments from foreign applicants, many of Filipino descent, to produce fraudulent documents, references and employment contracts. These materials were then submitted to foreign government agencies to create the appearance that all the necessary paperwork was in order.

When the applicants tried to follow up, however, they were denied entry to Canada because of the false documentation submitted on their behalf.

Canadian couple in limbo demand audit of spousal sponsorship program

Stephen Hinton of Edmonton and his Finnish wife, Helena.

Torstar News Service
Canadians caught up in Ottawa’s backlog in processing in-country spousal sponsorships are calling for an audit of the troubled program.

Processing times have tripled recently. Thousands of Canadians are now having to wait more than two years to acquire permanent resident status for their foreign spouses already living in Canada. That means living in limbo for the foreign partner, including not being allowed to take a job or access health care coverage.

A national online group called Canada Inland Spousal Sponsorship Petitioners says Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) must immediately establish “service delivery standards,” as recommended by the Office of the Auditor General in a scathing report in 2010.

“As a Canadian who has lived, worked and paid taxes here for 25 years, I just feel like a second-rate citizen,” said Malcolm White of Oshawa, who married wife Anne in 2011. The Birmingham, England, resident joined him here two years later and filed an application for permanent resident status in December 2013.

Quebec government to launch consultation on immigration and diversity

CBC
The provincial government is getting ready to launch a consultation later this month, asking Quebecers what they think about immigration, diversity and inclusion.

The measure comes as the government prepares to overhaul its immigration policy.

Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil says one of the biggest challenges that new Quebecers face is finding a job.

“Integration into the workforce, recognition of professional competencies — that is always the number one issue and it is the number one issue that we want to address," Weil told CBC in an exclusive interview.

She also said it will be a priority for the province to recognize foreign credentials.

CIC defend ‘high error rates’ in immigration processing

Sherrie Mejilla, centre left, born in Guam and raised in Seattle, looks on before taking the oath of citizenship during a special Canada Day citizenship ceremony in Vancouver on July 1, 2012. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

More than a quarter of the employees at immigration’s centralized processing centre are casual workers or students, says Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

“The vast majority of these employees perform administrative support functions of application processing across all citizenship and immigration business lines and are not direct decision-makers, department spokesperson Nancy Chan wrote in an email Tuesday.

The department was responding to an exclusive story in the Star this week about the “high error rate” in immigration application processing identified in the government’s own internal reviews.

Lebanon imposes visas on Syrians refugees

Overwhelmed by a massive influx of desperate refugees, Lebanon began imposing unprecedented visa restrictions on Syrians on Monday, including those fleeing their country’s civil war, AFP reports.

“Today we began implementing the new entry measures and Syrians at the borders have begun presenting their documents to enter,” a source at Lebanon’s general security agency said.

The visa restrictions are the first in the history of the two countries and come as Lebanon struggles to deal with more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees.

The influx has tested the country’s limited resources, as well as the patience of its citizens, particularly as security has deteriorated.

Canada Welcomes Fast Track Immigration Program

CBC
Skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada will be able to apply through a new "express entry" system that launches Jan. 1.

Would-be immigrants with a job offer go to the front of the line, as do applicants 20-29 years old with a PhD, language proficiency and past work experience in Canada.

With express entry, qualified applicants will be invited to become permanent residents, and Ottawa is promising the processing time for that should be about six months, compared to the current wait of about two years.

The government says giving preference to "only the candidates who are most likely to succeed — not simply the first to submit their application" — will better meet local labour market needs. Provinces and employers will be able to select people from the pool of applicants created by this new system.

Critics like immigration lawyer Richard Kurland say the government will now be deciding who the winners and losers will be in a system without "transparency, oversight, or accountability."

Quebec will not take part in the express entry system.

176 turned away from Canada due to Ebola travel ban

Health workers prepare graves for Ebola victims in Guinea. Getty

 Stephanie Levitz | The Canadian Press
Newly-released figures show an estimated 176 people were turned away from Canada after the imposition of a partial travel ban from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.

The federal government put the controversial measures in place at the end of October, barring people from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from receiving visas to come to Canada.

At the same time, the government announced it would also stop processing visa and visitor applications in the queue.

In newly-published information, the immigration department says an estimated 176 applications have been affected, resulting in a return of approximately $20,000 in fees.

Another Massacre Averted As Ship Carrying 900 Migrants Abandoned At Sea

Sky News
Italy's coastguard said they narrowly averted a "massacre" after a cargo ship was abandoned at sea with more than 900 Syrian refugees on board.

Officers said the Blue Sky M's engines had been locked and its steering set on a course which would have seen it smash ashore in Italy's Puglia region.

Two helicopters were scrambled overnight and six coastguard officers boarded the ship and managed to bring it under control just five miles from the rocky coastline.

"It was a real race against the clock," said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.

"Unlocking the engines was a difficult and delicate operation, but they managed to do it."

The migrants on board, including a heavily pregnant woman whose waters broke during the rescue, were taken to the Italian port of Gallipoli.

Ottawa couple son stranded in India after immigration application error

CBC
A couple from India with permanent resident status is fighting to change Canada's immigration laws after being separated from their three-year-old son over what they describe as an application error.
Bhavna Bajaj, who now lives in Ottawa, told CBC News she was pregnant when she and her husband Aman Sood applied for permanent residency in 2011.

By the time the Canadian government accepted their application last year, they had a new son, Daksh.
The couple said their immigration consultant told them to head to Canada and sponsor their son after they arrived.

But Bajaj said once they landed, they were told they had broken the law by not revealing they had a son in India.

"We are crying every day, craving for our child," Sood said.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada hiking fees for second time in a year

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons. Adrian Wyld

Torstar News Service
Ottawa will raise the citizenship application fee — the second time in less than a year — to $530 per adult, making Canadian citizenship further out of reach for many of marginalized communities.

In February, Citizenship and Immigration Canada already increased the fee from $100 to $300 in order to recover its administrative costs. The upcoming raise means it will now cost applicants five times the money for their citizenship applications within a year. Successful candidates must also pay another $100 rights of citizenship fee to become citizens.

Officials said the fee changes are necessary to pay for the more stringent citizenship process introduced by the government to clear a backlog it created with the “residence questionnaire,” which is used to scrutinize if applicants have physically spent enough time in Canada to qualify for citizenship.

Canada Record Highest Numbers Of New Citizens In Any Given Year

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander responds to a question in the House of Commons, Nov. 3, 2014. Adrian Wyld

The Canadian Press
The federal government says Canada welcomed a record number of new citizens in 2014.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander says more than 260,000 people became new Canadians during 2014.

Alexander says in a release that’s more new Canadians than in any year in Canada’s history and more than double the number from last year.

Alexander cites recent changes to the Citizenship Act for improving the citizenship application process, and says applicants are already seeing results.

South African Man Faces Deportation From UK Because His British Wife's Salary Is Too Small.

Michael Engel, pictured with his wife Natalie and daughter Nyana, now has 14 days to appeal against the ruling

A man faces deportation from the UK after a court ruled his British wife's salary was not high enough.

Michael Engel, from South Africa, said the "bizarre" immigration system rules were "attacking British citizens".

Mr Engel, a 31-year-old yacht engineer living in Cornwall, said he and wife Natalie plan to go back to South Africa with 18-month-old daughter Nyana.

A Home Office spokesman said the rules were designed to stop foreign spouses becoming reliant on UK taxpayers.

The couple were told of the immigration tribunal's ruling after they had appealed on the grounds of a right to family life.

UN counting on Canada to increase commitment to Syria refugees

A Syrian Kurdish boy peers as children take lessons in a makeshift school tent in a refugee camp in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province. Turkey's maintained an "open door" policy for all those fleeing Syria's civil war and there are now over 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in the country. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

STEPHANIE LEVITZ  THE CANADIAN PRESS
A global call for help resettling more than 100,000 Syrian refugees must be answered in part by Canada, the United Nations refugee agency representative in Ottawa says.

The latest appeal by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees represents an opportunity, Furio De Angelis said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“Canada is a very important country to the UNHCR not only for the support it gives to refugee programs but also for the leadership that it provides in terms of international standards of global protection,” De Angelis said.

“This is another occasion for countries who have a leading role in global refugee protection to really show their strength.”

The UNHCR is making a pitch at meetings in Geneva on Tuesday for countries to help resettle more than 100,000 refugees from the Syrian civil war over the next two years.

Alberta wants federal government to lift immigration lid

John CotterThe Canadian Press
Alberta wants the federal government to lift the lid on the number of economic immigrants it can nominate each year for permanent residence so it can better meet its growing labour needs.

Jobs Minister Ric McIver said the province has sent a letter to federal Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

“I would like the federal government to take the cap off of the maximum number of provincial nominees that we can appoint so that we can bring in the people that we need,” McIver said in an interview Monday.

“We think we are going to be 96,000 workers short by 2023 and most of those (are for) skilled and good-paying jobs.”

McIver said the number of economic immigrants allowed into Alberta should be driven by labour market evidence and local information so the province can better react to its own circumstances.