Canada’s Jason Kenney on immigration priorities for 2011
Posted on December 21, 2010 by oe_admin
Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, was interviewed recently by the online magazine Canadian Immigrant to discuss the federal government’s immigration and settlement policy priorities for 2011. Here are some highlights of the interview.
MINISTER KENNEY ON HIS TOP PRIORITIES FOR 2011
CI: What are Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s top priorities for the new year?
JK: Our top priority is continuing to improve economic results for immigrants in Canada. That really is the focus of most of what we do. A second priority is to continue to improve the integrity of our immigration system, which includes a crackdown on human smuggling, fraudulent marriages and crooked consultants.
MINISTER KENNEY ON THE INVESTOR PROGRAM
CI: What is the rationale behind doubling the required investment for the immigrant investor program? Won’t this affect Canada’s competitiveness in relation to other countries’ immigrant investor programs?
JK: The main reason we doubled the required investment (to $800,000) and asset level (to $1,600,000) was because Canada was massively underselling itself compared to its competitors in this immigration product. The United States and Australia both essentially have million-dollar price points. The United Kingdom has a price point of a million pound sterling. We were offering people the lowest price point at $400,000 for the best advantage, which is immediate permanent residency in Canada, which is also a track to the easiest citizenship process in the developed world … Many people in China, in Hong Kong and India have said to me that the price point is still too low.
They’ve said that it’s so easy for modestly wealthy people in Asia and the Middle East to qualify for the program and that we won’t see any reduction in demand for the Canadian program. It may reduce, very marginally, the demand, but the demand is still excessive in terms of our ability to process applications.
MINISTER KENNEY ON THE ECONOMIC PROGRESS OF NEWCOMERS
JK: I can tell you that we recently released a new study that assesses the economic progress of immigrants selected under the current points grid that was adopted in 2002 … It indicates that there has been a huge improvement of employment and income for skilled workers.
The new study indicates that within three years newly selected federal skilled workers are generating, on average, $80,000 in household income, which is very strong. We also have launched consultations on further changes to the points grid for the skilled worker program, which we hope will further improve economic outcomes for newcomers.
Also, since 2006, our government tripled the federal investment in settlement and integration services to help people improve their language proficiency and their job search skills. All of the data indicates that the number one barrier to employment for foreign-trained professionals is language proficiency and that’s why we put such a heavy emphasis on it. We are trying to find more and better ways to get newcomers, who need to upgrade their language skills, to enrol in free [language] programs.
MINISTER KENNEY ON FOREIGN CREDENTIAL RECOGNITION
CI: Are there any new developments with regards to foreign credential recognition?
JK: We have been doing a lot of work with the provinces and the more than 400 professional licensing bodies to streamline and simplify the process of credential recognition for foreign-trained professionals. A year ago, we launched the Canadian Framework for Foreign Credential Recognition, which was based on an agreement between the 10 premiers and Prime Minister Harper.
We have identified, in the first year, nine professional categories where we aim to hammer out a streamlined faster simplified process [for credential recognition]. We’ve put in $50 million into funding that hard technical work between the provincial licensing bodies. We are making huge progress on it and we will meet our objective of giving applicants an answer within a year of their application for those nine professional categories … So progress is being made.
I know it will never be satisfactory for a foreign-trained professional who shows up and hopes to be working as a licensed practitioner immediately. That’s not realistic. It does take time. We can’t guarantee people that their foreign credentials will be recognized in Canada. But we should guarantee them a reasonably simple and efficient process and that’s where we are making progress with the provinces.
