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Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan is considering allowing up to 6,000 foreign construction workers into Canada under a fast-track system to ease a labor shortage in the residential construction industry. The workers would be allowed to remain in Canada for up to three years. Before approval, Human Resources Canada must first determine that the presence of the foreign construction workers will not adversely affect Canadian workers. In the 1980s, Canada admitted skilled guest workers for construction.

Chinese. Immigration minister Elinor Caplan said that the absence of Chinese boats arriving in summer 2000 proves that Canadian immigration policies are working. Caplan said the deportation of failed asylum applicants has helped to deter those in China's Fujian province from making the journey to Canada.

The Canadian government returned 90 of the migrants who arrived by ship in 1999 to China in July 2000 on a chartered flight that cost C$700,000. Most of the returned migrants were expected to be punished by Chinese authorities with fines and jail terms of up to one year. Canada put the cost of dealing with the 600 migrants at C$42 million after one year; about 200 had been returned to China as of July 2000.

The nine South Koreans accused of smuggling the Chinese into Canada in 1999 were acquitted on August 3, 2000 after an 88-day trial; they had spent almost a year in custody. The defense argued that the Korean crew were blackmailed into smuggling the migrants on their ship by Chinese criminals. The men were released August 9; six of the nine Koreans applied for asylum in Canada.

Canadian officials are preparing a contingency plan should migrants begin arriving in the Canadian North; the northern sea routes are poorly protected, but smugglers using this route would need ice breakers to reach shore and, once on land, would not have cities in which to hide. However, in 1999, some 150 Chinese entered Canada as "Japanese eco-tourists." They traveled from Greenland to northern Canada, but soon went to Montreal and then New York City.

Fraud. Immigration officials in Canada say marriages of convenience, especially those involving couples from India, are increasing. A makeshift temple in the Punjab region of India was the scene of about 50 sham marriages. The weddings were arranged by the owner of a truck stop, who took wedding photographs, printed invitations and provided marriage certificates that could be used as proof of marriage. Once in Canada, the couple could remarry without stigma because a real marriage had not taken place.

Canada has a caregiver program that permits foreigners who provide live-in care for 24 months during a three-year period to qualify for immigrant status. Caregivers are generally paid $271 for a 49-hour week. Caregivers must obtain a new work permit whenever they change employers and cannot work in the interim.

Refugees. Canada is accepting 237 Burundian and Congolese refugees from camps in western Tanzania for resettlement. There are 500,000 refugees in the camps, and those being resettled in Canada are considered by UNHCR most in need of protection and have little hope of returning home because, for example, they are Hutu-Tutsi couples. Most of the heads of families of those selected speak French, finished high school and were picked because they were considered best able to integrate into Canadian society.

Alliance Party MP Rahim Jaffer, who arrived in Canada from Uganda when he was one-year old, said that Canada's 250,000 annual limit on immigrants should be raised or eliminated entirely. Many Canadian MPs disagreed with Jaffer, who is the party's new environment critic. Richard Harris, an Alliance MP in British Columbia, said, "No country in the world can simply open the floodgates. It's completely unrealistic." The interview in which Jaffer outlines his views on immigration is at: http://www.punditmag.com/articles/jaffer.html


Douglas Quan, "Canada needs foreign builders," Ottawa Citizen, August 13, 2000. Chad Skelton and Petti Fong, "Nine Korean sailors cleared in smuggling case freed from jail," Vancouver Sun, August 9, 2000. Michael Petrou, "Ottawa fears influx of illegal migrants--to Tuktoyaktuk," National Post, August 9, 2000. Veronique Mandal, "Couples using fake marriages to enter Canada," National Post, August 9, 2000. Tom Arnold, "Public debate on immigration good for Alliance," National Post (Canada), August 5, 2000. Ian Baily, "Crew found not guilty of smuggling Chinese migrants," National Post (Canada), August 4, 2000. Mike Crawley, "Refugees to be flown to Canada," The Globe and Mail, August 4, 2000. Tim Naumetz, "Alliance MP touts open immigration," Calgary Herald, August 3, 2000.