Change In Canadas Immigration Policy example essay topic

Since not long ago, some changes were made in the Immigration Policy of Canada. Such changes can play an unfavorable role in the growing economy of the country. The Immigration Department now requires people, who want to settle in Canada, to meet the new selection criteria. More than that, it can happen not only when they apply, but also when their visas are issued already, which is often 3-4 years after they apply. 6 In this paper, we will discuss the importance of immigration for Canada throughout years, situation and changes in the immigration policy, and possible economic consequences of such changes.

I will underline the vital part that immigration plays in Canada's growing economy. The paper primarily will consist of three section and the conclusion. The first argument is that the decision made about the policy cannot be understandable from the historical point, when all the efforts were made to globalization and encouraging skilled professionals to immigrate to Canada. Can this move in the policy change the economy dramatically? In the second argument, we will go closer to the problem and touch the people and forces that effect the policy. Minister Denis Coderre, his hearings and his actions will be the main parts of our discussion in this section.

We will see how contradictory the promises and the real actions turned to be. In the third part, I will give you all possible arguments to prove that Canada has to be more open for immigrants. We will try to come closer to understanding of the economic importance of immigration. Let us look at the problem again. Under the new selection criteria, very few new applicants will qualify for the immigration pass points.

The new selection grid consider single applicants and applicants, who do not have job offers or family in Canada, not expect able. It is also impossible to qualify for people, who have not worked or studied in Canada. Ability in French language became somewhat very important issue now. Under the previous system, an applicant needed 70 points out of 110. Now applicants need 75 out of 100, and the points are much harder to obtain.

8 Change at anytime in the policy removes all certainty and predictability from the system and makes the immigration system a lottery. There are other things that put applicants in a very difficult situation. If we look back to 1967, we will see the point system which was established. It counted such qualifications as language and skills. The system aimed to avoid discrimination of any kind, primarily, because of the international peacekeeping and diplomacy. 2 That period of immigration policy standards remembers the main direction, which were European and Asian immigrants.

It also counted the developing trade with third world countries. Canada always looked to the globalization which allowed to steam the economy. Later in 1977, the immigration act transformed into the laws that Canada followed up to nowadays. The laws intended to promote Canada's demographic, economic, cultural and social goals.

It also looked at fulfillment of Canada's international obligation with the UN, made in 1951.7 The act required cooperation among all levels of government. The federal government, in its turn, had to consult with the provinces regarding planning and management of Canadian immigration. Such consulting and mutual understanding played an essential role in a healthy economic function. According to the act, there are four basic categories for immigrants: family, humanitarian category, which includes refugees, people who are discriminated in their home country, independent people, who attempt to settle in Canada following their own initiative, and assisted relatives.

9 Throughout Canadian history, immigrants have played a key role in developing empty parts of the country. They met labor shortages and fueled economic growth. There was one thing that government wanted from immigrants. They had to fill the territory that needed labor and talent input. But Ottawa never forced newcomers to settle where they were told. It used incentives - cheap farmland, good schools, the promise of freedom.

Such an approach did not only give power to the economy in the developed areas, but also gave impulse to the regions where it was strongly needed. I dont know about other people but I wouldnt have qualified for Canadian immigration (under the new selection system), said B.C. Liberal Senator Molina Jaffe r who is a refugee lawyer. I am worried about retrospective legislation and discretionary points. I dont think this is a Canadian way of doing things. 5 (from Immigrant MPs Blast New Rules - Most immigrant MPs wouldnt get in: Hill Times Survey, The Hill Times, February 4/2002) As to the increase of the pass mark, the new rules were not made public until June 11, 2002.

How could any lawyer give any consulting without knowing what the pass mark would be? Many people submitted their application forms long before any notice about the new rules. How could an applicant who submitted his application in 1999 predict that the rules would change in 2002? Is it fare? it is wholly unacceptable that some skilled workers are trapped in the Canadian immigration system. The delays of the long process can cost Canada the opportunity to get enriched with leading talents.

What is it to do with the refunds? Refunding government processing fees will not solve all the problems since most people have invested far more than just the government fees. Most applicants have spent money on legal or consultant fees, translations, certifications, medicals, collecting documents, notarizing documents, courier fees, travel costs, skills or language upgrading, opportunity costs, etc. 6 What would a person like Mr. X do with the new standards?

Let take this example. Our Mr. X is a biochemist from Germany. He has a Ph. D in biochemistry, and he has 8 years of work experience as a biochemist at Germany most prestigious research university. Mr. X is fluent in English.

Mr. X is married, but his spouse did not attend college or university. Mr. X is thirty eight years old. Mr. X does not qualify under the new immigration regulations. He is eligible to receive only 72 points. Seventy five points are needed to qualify now.

A biochemical company in Canada has a harp deficit of such specialists, and had probably built a lot of plans with Mr. X. 10 And this is only one example of approximately 100,000 people waiting for their turn. There are things that really have gone too far beyond understanding. It is enough to read the last newspapers to see a terrible picture. There is a story about the Polish family that's being deported because of a $50 mix up. The family paid $1150.00 confused about the actual cost of $1200.00. They are being kicked out of our great country because of $50.

Is that pathetic or what? We can count the fact the they turned to be there illegally. Shouldn't they be given the right to stay in Canada? Canada is the second biggest country in the world, and have one of the smallest populations in the G 7, and if that isn't bad, the population is not growing rapidly.

7 Economically based, a growing shortage of skilled workers requires taking additional efforts to attract immigrants. Only one health-care sector had high pay deals to retain and attract key staff. But not only the health sector demands skilled professionals. In a survey by Comp as Inc., two thirds of Canadian executives report difficulties in recruiting skilled labor. While the problem is most acute in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, the executives on the Prairies say their firms have trouble finding skilled workers.

8 This system of selecting "smart" workers does not reflect the reality of Canadian employers who need workers with specialized skills. 6 The previous immigration system was much better at selecting the high-in-demand skilled workers. There was a great opportunity to take the right specialist at the right time. In such case the labor demand is satisfied without having any influences on some economic factors. The main economic question now is if labor costs can gain critical importance in the economic balance. We will come to the discussion of this question a little bit later after looking at the forces that made the changes in the Immigration Policy.

Liberals came to power in 1993. Rather than increasing immigration, they drove it down. The cutbacks in staffing at the immigration department were so deep that the bureaucrats are still struggling to cope with a massive list of applications. One of the most influential people of the immigration policy leading, minister Denis Coderre, was to call for public hearings on new immigration regulations proposed by his predecessor in December 2001. Minister Coderre promised to listen to the public, industry groups, and immigration professionals.

"I am committed to a transparent and open regulation-making process and this means giving Canadians a chance to express their views on the proposed regulations before they are approved and the legislation takes effect. 9 But it looks like he did not manage to keep his words. The public opinion asked in January, February and March of 2002 turned to be a waist of time. Minister Coderre ignored what he heard. Instead, he revised the new immigration regulations to make it even more difficult for applicants to qualify. 4 (-from The Toronto Star, June 17/2002).

On June 28, 2002, the new regulations came into force. They are being imposed to cases already in process. Minister Coderre acts in the interests of bureaucrats in his department who want to ease their workloads. He has to look at the economy, which can suffer because of such actions. Fontana (Liberal MP & Chair of the House of Commons Committee on Immigration) admitted that making the new rules retroactive was unfair, even with the more lenient point requirements, and suggested the committee would pressure Coderre to change his mind. I think the minister may want to look at that again, he said.

8 There's good reason for Canada to welcome the Italian tradesman, the doctor from India and other skilled workers from abroad. At the national level, most new immigrants come from China, India, Pakistan and the Philippines, with most heading to Ontario, followed by British Columbia and Quebec. They " re needed to fill jobs and pay taxes. By 2020, a million jobs in Canada could go unfilled. Canadians are becoming more dependent on immigrants who always made great input into the development of the economy. As it was mentioned before, Canada historically used the service of immigrants, and it became a significant feature of the political approach.

This approach that finds itself in globalization is the right way towards continues economic growth. By closing the boarders for good and, at the time, needed specialists, Canada can only lose a chance to keep pace in the way of economic development. 1 Does the present policy contradict with the goals of Globalization. And the answer is evident.

Lets look at the history of other G 7 countries. They all take tremendous efforts towards globalization, and have not yet made any dramatic changes in there immigration policy systems. If we look at the economic situation that such changes of immigration policy can bring, we will see a hilt of danger for the growing economy of Canada. If the demand for qualified specialists is not satisfied, the producer prices can rise unpredictably. Without counting the historical records as to the immigration, Canada encounters the probability of inflation increase in the result of the labor cost rises.

Till this time, it has never been a problem, but who knows what changes can bring? Economic Regulations can take some active actions within time to eliminate inflation rise. Such actions usually do not pass painless for the economy. We know this from the economic history of the United States. What happened recently in 2000, when unemployment rates went so low that it caused almost a panic at the developing companies. The companies of such industries like pharmaceutical, high technology and some other felt the need for qualified workers.

At that moment, there were no enough specialists at the labor market. What could they possibly do in this situation? They offered a better salary to the specialists who worked at the neighbor companies. Most probably, they agreed.

But what economic consequences did it bring? The producer prices began to rise with the production costs increases. In this case, Federal Open Market Committee did what they usually do in such cases. They raised rates. Raising rates always puts a burden on the developing economy. But the USA economic history, it took a very small period of time and size, so that it did not have much influence.

This chain of events can be easily traced from the macro economy principles. In this case, can bureaucracy goals and desire to put a better filter be put on the same scale with the economy? What if the change in Canadas Immigration Policy is the first step towards slowing of Canadas economy? What other possible consequences such changes can bring? But from the other side, being compared again with Canadas neighbor, the United States did not have favorable laws for immigrants for a substantial period of time. Americas outdated immigration law simply was not geared to admit the very ones the country needed most.

Following a principle that had remained unchanged since 1952, the law offers the right of immigration based on family preference. As a result, the vast majority of new arrivals were spouses and children. Once newcomers became citizens, they in turn brought in their families. Since these immigrants skills were never a factor in whether or not they were admitted, any benefits that they brought to the United States economy were coincidental. 3 Only about 10 per cent of the American immigrants possessed important skills. Usually, such applicants qualified solely on the basis of their education or ability.

At that time, Canada had a more sensible policy which aimed to expand opportunities for those immigrants who possessed skills in short supply. Basically, the United States did not suffered much of the absence of the sensible policy. And it remains only to hope that the changes in Canadas Policy would not influence much the economy. The previous immigration system was much better at selecting the high-in-demand skilled workers.

It incorporated an occupation demand list. This is no doubt Canadian identity as a strong economic country is shaped by some factors including immigration policies. It is in the need of immigrants, especially during the current labor shortage. The immigration Policy played the essential part of the economy development throughout the history. The people who want to immigrate to Canada are not just garbage.

It is historically seen what importance they had in building one of the strongest economic countries in the world. My specific view as to the policy is that the rules have to be made more loyal and friendly for the applicants. Canada has to look into the future and care about the coming generations. The concept of applying new rules to cases already in process is not acceptable and does not have plenty of common sense. What about the money that people already spent for taking the immigration procedures.

There is no reasonable justification for doing this. Many exceptional skilled worker applicants will be needlessly refused. This is also not acceptable in any way for an adequate government behavior. The economic demands have to be satisfied. Or it will create the problems one day.

The immigration department claims they are doing this for administrative convenience since they do not want to spend extra time assessing cases under both systems. Yet it takes no extra time to do this and actually takes more time to assess cases under the new system. It happens since additional information from each applicant is required. All submissions to the Immigration Department by legal experts, employer groups and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Immigration warned against this policy of retroactivity, but the Immigration Department refused to listen. 6 This is a fundamental shift from the previous policy. And this shift can be the dramatic mistake, the possibility of which we discussed before in the paper.

The immigration department will process cases under the old system until March 2003, but a huge number of cases will not be finalized by this date. It looks like nobody knows what to do with the cases, except for stamping them denied. This is not the way serious political decisions have to be made. Such applicants should qualify under the old rules. This is the minimum to be done. The new selection criteria, to my opinion, has to changed to give more chances for decent people.

More applicants will qualify. They will fill the work places and will gain make input into Canadas Economy. The new selection grid must give chance to single applicants and applicants who do not have job offers or family in Canada. The people, who have not worked or studied in Canada, also require some positive attitude in the selection process. But historically, it had a very important issue. As it was already said that under the previous system an applicant needed 70 points out of 110.

Now applicants need 75 out of 100. The points are said to be much harder to obtain. I think, things have to change back to the old system. The Immigration Department, under the guise of opening up the system, has closed the old system.

It might be the mistake. More than 75% of new applicants do not qualify even though they are highly educated and experienced and fluent in English. Is it not a paradox? The country needs specialists, and at the same time, denied to welcome them.

There is no proof or reasonable justification for many of the items in the new selection grid. Applicants with 2-year college degrees get more points then applications with 2, 3 or 4-year university degrees. Single applicants are penalized and usually can't qualify. The system relies heavily on applicants who have worked or studied in Canada, when in fact most have not.

French is now a major factor in getting approval although, French is not a significant factor outside of Quebec. 7 Canadas immigration policy has to change to the one that has reasonable justification, and should be directed to easing the strict rules. It will be absolutely correct from the utilitarian point of view. The majority of people including the loyal citizens of Canada will benefit, as the economic growth continues.

The mutual understanding and keeping word is important in this case. According to the new standards, applicants are required to file their application in the country of their Nationality or the country in which they have had legal status for at least 1 year. Many applicants will be penalized and discriminated, as the processing times in their home countries are rather long. 6 This is discriminatory and unfair. Requiring applicants to have legal status in the country where they are applying will affect many qualified applicants.

They are in the USA but have lost their status. Canada can no longer take advantage of these exceptional applicants, who are usually very skilled and experienced but may have lost their status due to some circumstances. Consequently, this is also an obstacle to the economy growth. Gerald Clement of the Manitoba Labor and Immigration Department, and John Nychek of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, say statistics on the need for a greater influx of immigrants speak for themselves.

According to Nychek, Canada welcomed over 226,000 new immigrants in 2000 - more than in previous years - yet below the one per cent of the population goal (300,000) set by the federal government. Clement said Manitoba received 4,584 immigrants last year - only 2.02 per cent of the national total. Seventy-six per cent of Manitoba's new immigrants make their home in Winnipeg. The province's top source country for immigrants is the Philippines, followed respectively by Germany, India and China. 7 The trend of increasing immigration size always identified Canada as the country which is looking towards development and globalization. It has to keep going in the same direction.

Consequently, the whole economy of Canada may suffer from the decision. I am not the only one who has this opinion. Winter of 2002 showed the view of the citizens of Canada. But, instead, we all know what happened.

Liberals increase immigration, opposite to the public opinion. Is it the bureaucratic system to blame? They are struggle to cope with huge piles of application forms does not justify their actions. But, now, it seams like they turn to be in a very suitable situation.

It is hard to estimate the economic indicators now, but the consequences are found to be frightening. The cutbacks in staffing at the immigration department leaves small hope for the prompt decision change. One of the most influential people of the immigration policy leading, minister Denis Coderre, was called for public hearings on new immigration regulations. But it looked like he totally ignored the opinion. There must be mutual understanding between public and the government to reach the mutual goals. These goals must provide all possible means for further economy growth.

In the paper, we examined the economic goals of current immigration policy in Canada and the forces that influence the policy. We took a brave step in discussing possible economic consequences, having compared Canadas economy with the one of the United States. We also looked at the role immigration plays in overall economy. We went further to see the importance of immigrants throughout the decades. We then described current economical and immigration situation.

Finally, we concluded that: Canadian identity as a strong economic country is shaped by some factors including past and present immigration policies. Canadas immigration policies have reflected beliefs held by the population within decades. These beliefs give rise to certain values which appear to be very important not only culturally for Canadians, but also economically. It is the way the country has always lived and developed. Canada cannot live without new labor force, who brought essential input into building of the greatest countries in the whole world. Immigration stays a vital part to Canada's growing economy.