“We  congratulate the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on these important arrests.  Human smuggling is a crime that our Government takes very seriously.  That is why we introduced Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act.  With this new legislation we enhance our ability to crack down on human  smugglers, including making it easier to prosecute them, and introducing  mandatory minimum sentences.”

“Canada is a generous  and compassionate country that welcomes newcomers but Canadians are not  naïve.  Canada will not tolerate abuse of  our immigration system for financial gain through the despicable crime of human  smuggling.”

The MV Sun Sea was a migrant vessel that brought 492 irregular migrants  to Canada  in August of 2010 as part of a human smuggling event. The RCMP announced on May 15, 2012 that two individuals have been charged with one count of Organizing Entry into Canada contrary  to Sec 117 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) for their  involvement with the MV  Sun Sea. These arrests follow the announcement in April  of the arrest of another individual in France.

These consultations are in accordance with the United States-Canada Beyond the Border Action Plan which was announced by Barack Obama and Stephen Harper in December 2011.

This will add diversity to Canada’s multinational companies and allow for newcomers to obtain valuable temporary work experience.

For more information on the Federal Internship for Newcomers program please contact the Bomza Law Group.

While several amendments were announced, the most notable one was that which pertains to the detention period of refugees. Much of the criticism of the original bill stemmed from the fact that it allowed a large group of asylum seekers who were smuggled into Canada to be detained for up to one year without an initial review by the Immigration and Refugee Board. The new amendment will now limit how long these refugees are detained for review to 14 days for the first review, and six months for the second review.

The government also announced that it would not be revoking the permanent resident status of successful refugee claimants if conditions change in their countries of origin, unless the claimant’s status was obtained through fraudulent means.

For more information, please contact Bomza Law Group.

 The article, which can be found here, recognizes Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s current goal of seeking immigrants who can obtain employment and start contributing quickly to the Canadian economy, but also recommends a longer-term approach in evaluating Canada’s immigration needs in the context of sustainable population growth. In citing research by economist Arthur Sweetman and former StatsCan director Garnett Picot, the article notes that recent immigrants earn only about 60% as much as the Canadian-born; however, fast-forward 10 years and those immigrants’ employment rates and earnings start to approach those of the Canadian-born. Furthermore, and what the article dubs as perhaps the country’s “greatest asset”, there are the children of immigrants, commonly referred to as “second-generation immigrants”. The article quotes economist Ross Finnie in stating that one of the best indicators of whether a Canadian child will go to university, is not the parents’ levels of education but their countries of birth, since the children of almost every immigrant group outperform kids with parents born in Canada. This, in turn, will create a well-educated and younger workforce. Although this development is slower-moving than other recent developments in and reforms to Canada’s immigration laws, they are important in light of the fact that in just a couple of decades, and unless there is a baby boom in this country, immigration will likely account for all of Canada’s population growth. The long term success of immigrants and ultimately, of their children, is what many hope will be the answer to filling the anticipated labour shortages as members of the aging population seek retirement.　

For more information on Canadian immigration, contact Bomza Law Group.

More specifically, the Pardon program’s name, eligibility requirements, and waiting periods, have been changed as follows:

• The term “pardon” is replaced with the term “record suspension”;
• The waiting period for a record suspension has increased to 5 years for all summary conviction offences and to 10 years for all indictable offences;
• Individuals convicted of sexual offences against minors (with certain exceptions) and those who have been convicted of more than three indictable offences, each with a sentence of two or more years, are now ineligible for a record suspension.

What happens to those applications received on or before March 12, 2012? They will be accepted for processing under the former CRA, as long as they are deemed to be eligible and complete by the Parole Board of Canada at the time of receipt. All applications received as of March 13, 2012, are subject to the requirements under the new CRA.
Pardon applications received on or before March 12, 2012, deemed to be eligible and complete, and accepted for processing, will be processed as “pardon” applications under the previous CRA.

All applications received as of March 13, 2012, deemed to be eligible and complete, and accepted for processing, will be processed as a “record suspension” under the new CRA.

For more information on record suspensions (formerly “pardons”) please contact Bomza Law Group.

 (1)    Results of approved third party tests;

(2)    Evidence of completion of secondary or post-secondary education in English or French; and

(3)    Evidence of achieving the appropriate language level in certain government-funded language training programs.

The proposed change is said to encourage prospective citizens to ensure that they can speak English or French when they apply so that they have the language abilities they need to succeed in the Canadian economy.

Under the current system, the language ability of a prospective citizen is mainly assessed through a multiple choice written test, which is also supposed to assess his/her knowledge of Canada and of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. Citizenship and Immigration Canada, who have put up a notice of the proposed amendment on the Canada Gazette website (the link to the proposal is http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2012/2012-04-21/html/reg1-eng.html), has stated that this current written test is an inadequate method for assessing language as it does not assess listening and speaking skills. It also has stated that, as there is currently no specific criteria for the assessment of language proficiency and no objective evidence of language proficiency, the assessment of language ability is challenging for decision-makers.

The proposed changes would apply to all adult citizenship applicants between the ages of 18 and 54 who are required to meet the language requirement. This represents approximately 134 000 applicants per year. 

For more information on citizenship, contact Bomza Law Group.

The A-LMO will apply to temporary foreign workers in higher skilled (NOC O, A and B) positions but will not apply to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, the Agricultural Stream, or the film and entertainment sectors.    

The goal of the new initiative is to issue Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) to applicants within ten (10) business days.

Criteria for Employers:

To participate in this program, employers must meet the following criteria:

1. Employers must have been issued at least one (1) positive LMO in the previous two (2) years;
2. Employers must have a clean record of compliance with the program within the last two (2) years;
3. Employers must not have been the subject of an investigation, infraction or a serious complaint; and
4. Employers must not have any unresolved violations or contraventions under provincial laws governing employment and recruitment.

Efficiency Measures:

Standard considerations for LMOs will continue to apply, but the new initiative will introduce a system by which attestations for certain assessment criteria can be submitted in lieu of actual documentation. The attestations may then be reviewed through subsequent compliance reviews.

A-LMOs will continue to be based on the following considerations:

1. Genuineness of the job offer;
2. Wage offered; and
3. Whether the job is likely to fill a labour shortage

Compliance Reviews:

Prior to partaking in this initiative, employers must consent to partake in a compliance review. This consent will allow HRSDC/Service Canada to perform a review of any A-LMO or LMO which has been issued to the employer in the past two (2) years.

The selection for reviews may be random, or based on information received after the issuance of the A-LMO.

Non-Compliance:

If an employer is found to be non-compliant, they will have the opportunity to provide a justification as well as to take action to correct their non-compliance if applicable.

Non-compliant employers may be subject to the following consequences:

Ineligibility to partake in the A-LMO initiative going forward;

1. Potential revocation of LMOs for work permits which have not been issued as yet;
2. Findings of compliance reviews may be shared with federal and provincial partners and investigated further;
3. More in depth examination of pending and future LMO applications.

The Application Process:

A-LMOs can be submitted through paper applications or online through the Temporary Foreign Worker Web Service.

Those who want to partake in this new initiative must register online and by mail. Upon receipt of the paper application, Service Canada receives will determine whether or not the employer is eligible to participate in the A-LMO and Web Service initiatives.

What Happens to Pending Applications:

Pending LMOs can be withdrawn and re-submitted through the new A-LMO initiative provided the applications are for the same position. HRSDC/ Service Canada should be informed in writing when the A-LMO is submitted.

For further information on the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion, please contact our offices at 1-800-993-9971 or info@bomzalawgroup.com.

Currently, the IFHP provides temporary health-care coverage to eligible protected persons, refugee claimants, persons detained under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and victims of trafficking in persons if and when they do not qualify for provincial or territorial health insurance plans. The IFHP also provides certain supplemental health-care services such as pharmaceutical care, dentistry, vision-care and mobility assistive devices to resettled refugee claimants for up to one year from the date of their arrival in Canada.

The reformed program will end this supplemental health-care coverage, although medication and immunizations may continue to be provided in cases where there is a risk to public health or safety.  Minister Kenney cited the growing cost of the program (which is said to have grown to $84.6 million in the 2010-2011 fiscal year), and a concern over asking Canadians to pay for benefits for protected persons and refugee claimants that are more generous than what they are entitled to themselves, as some of the reasoning behind the decision.

The changes are set to take effect on June 30, 2012 and will apply to all current beneficiaries, and those who apply after that date. As this is a very new development, we do not yet know how the change will occur, nor how quickly. Both of these factors are of particular importance to newly resettled refugee claimants who are currently receiving this supplemental coverage. Indeed, the impact of the changes on current beneficiaries is one concern that arises from this new development.

Ideally, the immigrant entrepreneurs will be linked to private sector organizations with experience so that they can have guidance on how to navigate the Canadian business environment.

Under the proposed changes, the government may be able to create short term programs under the Economic Immigration Class which will be limited to a maximum of 2,750 applications per year for 5 years.  If the program is successful it may be introduced in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.