Check out my recent article for the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL) entitled “Canada’s growing temporary workforce: a worrying trend”. Denying workers a route to permanent residency makes them more vulnerable to abuse. Does Canada treat Mexicans arriving to Canada as nation builders or as economic units? Judging by the number of temporary foreign [...]
Citizenship and Immigration
Canada has a proud history of protecting U.S. soldiers who protest unjust wars. From the Vietnam to Iraq, soldiers who stood up for their values have always able to find a home here. Thanks to the Liberals, that may soon change. High-ranking Liberals, including leader Michael Ignatieff, walked out on a vote in Parliament that [...]
Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the senior staffer was fired just because he was caught. This was a scheme organized by the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism to exploit immigrant communities. The minister has been doing much of this fundraising himself, abusing his power as the minister. How many organizations hoping [...]
In the weeks since Stephen Harper announced his mean spirited and short-sighted cuts to immigration settlement and adaptation services, I have been leading the fight in Parliament to restore funding to these important agencies. As the New Democrat member of the Citizenship and Immigration Committee, I pushed the committee to study the impact these cuts [...]
In Parliament at Question Period: Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canadians should not have to wait for seven years to be united with their parents. In Beijing and New Delhi alone, 20,000 parents are stuck waiting in the queue. Some parents have died waiting to live with their children and some never got [...]
Today, as Canadians mark Valentine’s Day, the Conservatives need to improve their immigration policies to reunite families and loved ones faster, says New Democrat Immigration Critic, Olivia Chow (Trinity–Spadina). “Immigrants in the application queue are waiting longer than ever before to be reunited with their spouses, parents or children in Canada,” said Chow. “I’m asking [...]
The Citizenship and Immigration Committee passed NDP Immigration critic Olivia Chow’s motion urging the government to reverse the $53 million in funding cuts to immigration settlement agencies.
“This is just the first step in reversing that devastating decision,” said Chow. “Now each and every Member of Parliament will have to stand up and show which side they’re on.”
New Democrat Immigration Critic Olivia Chow has submitted a motion to the Citizenship and Immigration Committee urging the Harper Conservatives to reverse the $53 million in funding cuts to immigrant settlement and adaptation services (ISAP), cuts scheduled to take effect at the end of March.
New Democrat MPs are telling Minister Jason Kenney to stop the cuts to settlement agencies.
“We’re talking about the lifeblood of these agencies,” said New Democrat Immigration critic Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina). “The Minister slashed their funding and offered no explanation of any kind.”
New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow said the backlog in China stems from inadequate resources and an annual quota imposed by Ottawa on individual visa offices. In China, where there are 7,000 parental sponsorships in the backlog, the quota is limited to 1,000.
Canada has some dark history. I previously talked about the boat, the S.S. St. Louis, that came to Canada in the late 1930s after going to the U.S. The boat arrived at Halifax harbour carrying 900 Jewish refugees who were seeking sanctuary. Tragically, because of racism, xenophobia, hatred and anti-Semitism, these refugees were sent away. Two hundred and fifty of them were murdered in the Holocaust after returning to Europe.
My visitor visa fairness bill would provide an appeal so there would be transparency and clear standards for all applications. A few tribunals are already available to all visitors to England and to Australia. It is time we bring fairness to those who want to visit Canada and their Canadian friends and relatives.
December 6, 2010 Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): It’s holiday season. Families want to be together, especially parents with their grandkids. New immigrants get lonely. They want their parents here. I saw the backlog list. I think Mr. Yeates told me and confirmed the number, there are 145,000 parents waiting. In Beijing you have to wait [...]
December 1, 2010 Ms. Olivia Chow: I see that under the family class, the parents and grandparents are stuck still at the 13,000 level, and that’s a steep drop than, say, 10, 15 years ago, where family-class applicants in terms of the total number accounts to almost half of the people coming into Canada. [...]
Mr. Speaker, Canada brings in 200,000 temporary foreign workers and the government does nothing while their right to join unions is denied. The United Nations has just ruled on a complaint filed by the UFCW that Canada is trampling on the human rights of these migrant workers.
