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CANADA'S MESSY IMMIGRATION POLICIES
Canada's immigration policies are a mess.
The only positive thing one can say about them is that, at
least in the short run, the approximately 220,000 immigrants
and refugees accepted each year are making up for some of
the shortfall caused by our abysmal birth rate. Unfortunately,
however, in the long run, this immigration isn't going to
help us that much as immigrants quickly adapt to our materialistic
values and acquire a birth rate similar to those born in Canada.
Also, 75% of our immigrants settle in Toronto, Vancouver or
Montreal, which is causing great strain on the social network
in these cities, but provides little benefit to other parts
of the country.
There is a great deal wrong with our immigration
policy. The examples are numerous:
- Refugees
Canada admits approximately 24,000 refugees
each year. Canada's refugee rate stands at 61% of applicants
over the past decade - more than twice the world average.
Refugees, even those with criminal records, are seldom deported
from Canada, as they merely become "invisible" or
"disappear" as soon as a deportation order is issued
against them. Also, even illegal immigrants and refugees,
thanks to a decision of former feminist Supreme Court of Canada
Judge, Madam Bertha Wilson in the Singh case (1985), are entitled,
in addition to welfare, to health and education for their
children, and to all the protections of the Charter of Rights,
which means years and years of delaying legal tactics under
the Charter. And guess who pays all their legal costs? By
the way, compare the treatment by the courts of illegal refugees
in Canada, to the treatment shown to Chris Kempling, the Christian
teacher in BC, who wrote a letter to his local paper objecting
to homosexuality being taught in BC schools. The BC Supreme
Court concluded that Mr. Kempling could speak in his personal
capacity, but could not speak publicly in his capacity as
a public school teacher and counselor. It is significant that
Mr. Kempling did not actually mention he was a teacher in
his letter, but the court said this was not relevant since
he was "known" in the community to be a teacher.
In other words a teacher, does not have full protection under
the Charter of Rights to freedom of religion and expression,
S.2(a) and (b) of the Charter of Rights. Rather, the court
concluded that these provisions were not absolute for those
holding the position of a teacher who speaks publicly or writes
on an issue. This conclusion will inevitably be extended to
other professions as well, such as physicians, lawyers, nurses,
pharmacists, etc. (The Supreme Court of BC decision is on
appeal) Yet refugees and immigrants get full and complete
protection under the Charter.
- Business Class Immigrants
It is all too
easy to enter Canada under our wacky so-called business
class provisions. For example, criminals, tax evaders and
other inappropriate persons have been slipping into Canada
under this outrageous business investor classification.
The purpose of this provision is to allow businessmen and
investors into Canada under a program designed to attract
well-heeled entrepreneurs who are supposed to create business
opportunities and jobs for Canadians. Instead, this provision
has become a "citizenship for sale" scheme, which
has lined the pockets of a glut of consultants and lawyers
(70% of the business applicants have consultants) who fiercely
lobby the government to get their clients into the country.
This political pressure has resulted in the definition of
"investor", under the regulations, to be extended
to include "ma and pa" corner stores, rather than
factory owners. Flimsy management skills are also now acceptable
under this scheme by individuals who have never taken an
entrepreneurial risk in their lives, but are still coming
in under the business category. This loophole is a major
breakthrough for immigrants who can take advantage of our
cheap education and health care, and allow their sons to
avoid military conscription in their homelands. This is
an excellent investment for them, but not for Canada.
Further, many of these so-called business
immigrants have questionable backgrounds, which is why some
of them became wealthy in the first place. They are never
audited once they are here to determine whether they have
kept their promises to create jobs. How can Canada be so foolish?
- Immigrants with HIV
Another immigration policy that is causing
a tremendous strain on our health care system is the acceptance
of immigrants with HIV. 87% of such immigrants are accepted.
The cost to the Canadian health care system of treating an
HIV patient is $150,000 over a lifetime. There are already
56,000 people in Canada infected with HIV, with about 4,000
new cases each year, so we do not need any more to look after.
It should be pointed out that Canada does
have a policy against admitting individuals who will be a
burden on our health care system. The difficulty, however,
is that the immigrants with HIV cannot be denied admission
as they are slipping in under the wire because they fall within
the exempt classes, such as refugee claimants, who claim persecution
because of their homosexuality or HIV in their home countries,
or family class claimants, such as sponsored partners, conjugal
partners and their dependent children, all of whom are admissible
under the regulations regardless of their medical condition.
We can have great compassion for those with
this major health problem, but why bring them here to further
compromise our already collapsing health care system?
The problem of admitting those with HIV has
been exacerbated by the fact that, under the immigration regulations,
homosexuals can now bring their partners into Canada as "spouses".
Previously, homosexual partners did not qualify as "spouses",
but were required to bring in their partners as a common-law
partner, with whom they were required to have cohabited for
at least one year previously. Homosexual activists resented
this impediment, and went to work to solve it with the result
that in early May, the Immigration Department changed its
policy and agreed to recognize homosexual "marriages"
and their partners as "spouses" if the parties were
"married" in Ontario, Quebec and BC. That is, the
bureaucracy under the Liberals has now moved on to promote
same-sex marriage even if it is not legally bound to do so:
the federal law still defines marriage as a union between
a man and a woman.
- Passport Babies
Once an illegal immigrant or refugee arrives
in Canada, he/she only has to become a parent of a Canadian
born baby and it is excruciatingly difficult to deport the
parent. Formerly, it was the policy that these Canadian-born
children could not serve as a ticket or passport for the parents
to remain in Canada. The parents had to leave Canada and could
either take their children with them or leave them behind
under the care of others. The choice was theirs. This is no
longer the case.
On July 9, 1999, the Supreme Court of Canada
handed down its decision in the Baker case, which stated that
immigration officials must consider the interests of any Canadian-born
children when ruling as to the parents' admissibility as immigrants
to Canada. Thus, a Canadian-born child becomes a "must"
for refugees and immigrants in order to strengthen their application
for landed status.
This court decision, by the way, was written
by feminist judge, Madam Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dubé.
Moreover, there is nothing illegal about a
pregnant woman with a visitor's visa entering Canada. As a
result, an enterprising Korean, Thomas Won of Coquitlam, BC,
has set up a business along with some business partners in
Korea, to make travel and hospital delivery arrangements for
Korean women who are seven or eight months pregnant. The fee
also covers help in registering the birth, obtaining a social
insurance number, a passport and medical checkups if necessary.
The resulting Canadian citizenship for the child makes it
easier to send the child to Canada for a university education
in the future. This offer is attractive to Koreans "because
they want to have children to study in Canada". Foreign
students pay considerably more to study in Canadian universities
and also, having Canadian citizenship is considered a way
for males to avoid mandatory military service in Korea. Once
the child turns 18, they are free to move to Canada and, if
they establish themselves in a job with a minimum government-set
income, they can sponsor family members to join them. This
is a very happy investment for non-Canadians - but not for
Canada.
This loophole, by the way, was closed by Australia
and Britain in the 1980s, but is still wide open here. Only
in Canada …
Conclusion
Canada needs immigration. It is the lifeblood
of this country. It was in the past, and is so now in order
that our country sustain itself. However, we require genuine
immigrants and refugees who can assist Canada in its growth
and development. We don't need queue-jumpers and opportunists
who exploit Canada for their own purposes and take advantage
of the many loopholes in our immigration law. It's time these
loopholes were closed!
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