Connecting Evidence, Policy & Practice

When Michael Petrovici posts a job opening for one of his northern New Brunswick restaurants, he’s lucky if he gets one application. “It’s very, very challenging to recruit people locally,” said the entrepreneur who owns a fast-food restaurant, a coffee shop and a full-service eatery in Bathurst. The small city on the Chaleur Bay is quickly becoming the epicentre of Canada’s restaurant industry labour shortage after the province paused a popular immigration stream used by businesses to attract workers to the area.

More than once every week, a Transit Police fare evasion check turns into a Canada Border Services Agency immigration-status investigation, according to the force. But that’s an expected number, according to Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan, given how the authority stopped 25,000 people last year on fare evasion checks. She said 328 cases resulted in some form of communication with the CBSA in 2013, but only 62 actually proceeded as immigration-status investigation. Immigration and refugee lawyer Laura Best said “the vast majority, if not all of the referrals that Transit Police are making to the CBSA, are for paying the wrong fare or fare evasion.” She said many are indeed in Canada without status, but the reasons are numerous.

The federal government is asking a judge to combine two separate lawsuits, after another  alleged Canada discriminated against Afghan refugees by treating them differently than they did Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. A former Canadian language and culture adviser who served NATO in Afghanistan filed a lawsuit at the end of July alleging the government has not allowed his family in Afghanistan to seek refuge in Canada. http://globalnews.ca/news/9935623/2nd-afghan-canadian-refugees-lawsuit-ukraine/

Immigrants serving in the Canadian Armed Forces will see the length of the residence period required before they can apply for citizenship reduced. Bill C-24, tabled on February 6 in the House of Commons by Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, aims to require applicants to live longer in Canada before they can become citizens. The Harper government intends to require that candidates have been physically present in Canada for at least four years over a period of six years. [...] However, these stricter new rules proposed by the Conservative bill "do not apply to the permanent resident [...] who, during the period provided for [in this bill], has accumulated a number of years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces equal to the duration of residence required in this bill minus one year".

Les immigrants qui servent dans les Forces armées canadiennes verront réduire la durée de la période de résidence requise avant de pouvoir faire leur demande de citoyenneté. Le projet de loi C-24 déposé le 6 février à la Chambre des communes par le ministre de l’Immigration Chris Alexander veut imposer aux demandeurs d’habiter plus longtemps au Canada avant de pouvoir devenir citoyens. Le gouvernement Harper entend exiger que les candidats aient été présents physiquement au Canada pendant au moins quatre années sur une période de six ans. […] Mais, ces nouvelles règles plus sévères que propose le projet conservateur «ne s’applique pas au résident permanent [...] qui, au cours de la période prévue [dans ce projet de loi], a accumulé un nombre d’années de service dans les Forces armées canadiennes égal à la durée de résidence requise dans ce projet moins un an».

The federal immigration minister is pouring cold water on an idea from Canada’s largest province to have community groups and families house government-sponsored refugees living in hotels. John McCallum said the idea to have private sponsors temporarily house government-assisted refugees makes sense on its surface, but the government has found too many flaws in the proposal. McCallum said the government has a “duty of care” over government-sponsored refugees, and it also doesn’t want to see refugees move to one home, only to have move again.

In a bid to head off an expected worker shortage, the province of Alberta is offering new immigration rules for temporary foreign workers who are already here. Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk says eligible temporary foreign workers can nominate themselves for permanent residency. To qualify, they must have worked in an "in-demand occupation" for two or more years and meet federal government requirements. More than one hundred occupations are considered to be "in-demand" in Alberta.