Tuesday, September 28,
1999 Immigration targets unrealistic,
lawyers say
Plan for attracting highly
educated people could backfire
Andrew Duffy
Southam
News
OTTAWA - Canada cannot attract enough highly educated people to
meet its current immigration targets and raising the eligibility bar
will only heighten the problem, immigration lawyers say.
Ben Trister, treasurer of the immigration law section of the
Canadian Bar Association, said yesterday a federal proposal to make
education even more important in the selection of skilled workers
will make it unlikely Canada can ever fulfil its immigration goals.
Last year, the Liberal government said it wanted to attract
225,000 newcomers to Canada, but only 174,100 immigrants and
refugees arrived. It was the lowest immigration level since 1988.
As part of its policy, the government had hoped to attract
106,000 skilled workers and their families -- people with
engineering, computer and technical skills -- but only 81,146
arrived.
"It's not helpful to the people of Canada if they're told a
number is to be produced every year when there's no commitment to
deliver that," Mr. Trister said in an interview. "It's not honest,
it's not transparent and it doesn't have any intellectual backing,"
he said.
Mr. Trister said the government's latest proposal for remodelling
the skilled-worker program will exacerbate the shortfall since
skilled tradespeople who do not have a university or college degree
will find it difficult to qualify.
"We should either get rid of the targets," said Mr. Trister, "or
else we should have a system where you adjust the bar to reach the
number. It means if you have fewer people applying, you accept those
with community college instead of university degrees: they're
probably still going to be good enough to make it."
Mr. Trister plans to deliver that message to Elinor Caplan, the
Immigration Minister, in a meeting later this week. Ms. Caplan, who
took over the portfolio in an August cabinet shuffle, is on a
national consultation tour to discuss the federal government's long
planned changes to the Immigration Act.
Among the alterations being contemplated is a new assessment
scheme for skilled workers.
A government discussion paper, distributed to immigration lawyers
and consultants, says the government should stop trying to fill
vacant jobs and instead recognize that the most successful
immigrants have advanced education and language skills.
The conclusion is based on federal research that shows immigrants
with university degrees pay more income tax and rely less on welfare
than less-educated newcomers.
The discussion paper recommends the government no longer assess
an applicant's intended occupation, but instead examine "the
knowledge and skills that the applicant can bring to the Canadian
labour market."
Under the existing points system used to judge applicants,
education accounts for 16% of the total. Language, occupation, age,
personal suitability and Canadian-based relatives are also
considered.
The new system would give education 30% of the weight, job
experience 25%, language 15%, adaptability 15%, age 10%, and
arranged employment 5%. Maintaining immigration levels is not the
primary purpose of the new program, but it will not "necessarily"
reduce them, the discussion paper says.
Mr. Trister, however, believes the proposal would put up
impossible barriers to less-educated, but still-needed, workers like
truck drivers and tool and die makers.
The Canadian Trucking Association confirmed yesterday there's an
increasingly serious shortage of qualified drivers, more than 2,000
in Quebec alone.
In Western provinces, drivers are flown in from Newfoundland and
put up in hotels during harvest season, said Massimo Bergamini,
association vice-president.
The association has recently approached federal immigration
officials to discuss how it can attract foreign drivers.
RELATED SITES:
(Each link opens a new window)
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
The brand-new white paper on immigration policy
Statistics Canada: Immigration and
Citizenship
Statistics from the 1996 national census that look at where
Canadians came from.
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