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Rethinking immigration goalsCAROL GOARCanada brings in approximately 14,000 engineers a year under its highly selective immigration rules. Roughly the same number of engineers graduate annually from Canadian universities. The country has more engineers than it can possibly employ. Meanwhile, trucking companies are desperate for drivers; slaughterhouses can't get enough meat packers; and construction bosses knowingly hire carpenters, drywallers, electricians and heavy equipment operators who are in Canada illegally. None of these workers qualifies for entry under the government's strict admission criteria. If ever there was a made-in-Ottawa problem, this is it. The good news is that Immigration Minister Joe Volpe knows about it and has a plan to fix it. The bad news is that it probably won't see the light of day. The Liberal minority government is in its death throes. And Volpe has scarcely spoken about — let alone done anything about — the mismatch between Canada's needs and his department's policies. But one recent afternoon, the 57-year-old Italian immigrant sat down for an hour or so and talked about what needs to be done. Volpe left no doubt that he considers the current regime, put in place by former immigration minister Denis Coderre in 2003, elitist and ill-conceived. Not only does it keep out the kind of immigrants who built this country; it squanders the skills of those who get in. "We secure — some would even say we steal — someone else's investment, then we don't even use it in Canada," Volpe said. "Let's do a mea culpa. We weren't ready for these people. We've got to put our political and moral muscles to work to make sure their talents can be utilized. "At the same time, we've set the bar so high we aren't getting the people we need to fill the gaps in our workforce. We have skill shortages all over the country. You can't possibly draw up an appropriate immigration program if you don't know what the labour issues are." Volpe then outlined his five-point plan to get the immigration system back into alignment with Canada's needs and traditions. Chances are it won't survive the political turbulence of the coming weeks. But it would be a good starting point for whoever ends up in charge of the nation's entry gates. First, he would change the admission criteria. Volpe didn't say precisely how he would reconfigure the rating system, but made it clear that university degrees and fluency in English or French would no longer be given priority over jobs skills that are in high demand. Next, he would "regularize" undocumented workers. Granting an amnesty to the roughly 200,000 immigrants working illegally in Canada would be "like cracking eggs," Volpe acknowledged. But allowing a culture of casual lawbreaking to become entrenched would be worse. Third, he would make it easier for immigrants to rebuild their family networks in Canada. This, too, can be controversial, as Volpe discovered last month when he tripled the number of parents and grandparents allowed into the country. "But if we want skilled workers, we have to offer them a psychologically healthy environment," he insisted. Fourth, he would encourage communities outside the Golden Horseshoe to sell themselves to immigrants. If Canada is to keep its smaller centres alive and sustain the growth of flourishing communities in the West, it will have to tap into newcomers' sense of adventure, Volpe said. "An immigrant, if he represents nothing else, is a personification of entrepreneurship and risk-taking." Finally, Volpe would combine immigration and human resources into a single federal department (as they were until 1993) that can match the country's current and future labour needs with its international recruitment programs. "What this country needs is a demographic policy rather than an immigration policy," he said. Canada has seldom had an immigration minister whose vision extends beyond the next crisis, upheaval or election. Most politicians are content merely to manage the troubled portfolio. "There's a lack of critical thinking by the senior people in that department," said Phil Mooney, a Burlington immigration consultant. "Volpe strikes me as somebody who really wants to move." He hasn't made much headway in his four-month tenure and he is quickly running out of time. But Volpe will leave behind two valuable assets: an accurate diagnosis of what is wrong and a good set of tools to begin the repairs. Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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Apr. 22, 2005. 01:00 AM


Only children opened their arms


CAROL GOAR

The only sliver of hope in this sad story is that the children behaved better than the adults. Perhaps by the time their generation is in charge, Canada will be the barrier-free society that immigrants come seeking.

Last fall, the Sharma family moved to Mississauga. Arakesh, who had been a bank manager in India, arrived in September to look for an apartment and begin his job search. His wife, Manjri, a high school teacher, and their 16-year-old daughter (who does not wish to be identified) followed two months later.

It was hard for Manjri to leave their book-filled home in Dehra Dun, a city of 500,000 nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. "We had a comfortable life. I was happy over there. I moved for my husband and daughter."

Arakesh was tired of the bribery, the petty corruption, the pressure to cheat that he encountered at work. He wanted to do business in a clean system.

Both parents wanted to give their daughter, a gifted student, the opportunity to soar as high as her talents would take her.

Things started badly and got worse.

Arakesh sent out 100 résumés, looking for an entry-level job. He got one callback and was told that he was too old (45) to hire. Even the Industrial Credit and Investment Corp. of India, (ICIC), which caters to South Asian immigrants, turned him away. His self-esteem was in shreds by the time Manjri arrived.

Determined to reverse the family's fortunes, she went to a job fair where she was invited to train for a $10-an-hour job as a telemarketer. Gamely, Manjri signed up and became quite adept at auto-dialling and disguising her accent. But she couldn't be pushy. It ran counter to her culture and personality. "I'm not good at selling at all."

After nine days on the job, she hadn't peddled any Sprint home phone systems. She was moved to life insurance — an implicit form of probation. Rather than be fired, Manjri quietly left.

She went to the local shopping centre and applied at every store.

Arakesh, meanwhile, had found seasonal work stocking shelves at the Gap at Yorkdale. The wage was only $9 an hour and he knew he'd be let go after Christmas. But it was a paycheque.

The bleakest period was a three-week stretch in January. Manjri slipped on some black ice and chipped a bone, putting her out of commission. Arakesh was let go by the Gap. The only income the family had was the money their daughter earned in her after-school job as a server at a local restaurant. The responsibility terrified her.

Desperate to support his family, Arakesh took a factory job. It involved lifting 35-kilogram loads. But his career in banking hadn't prepared him for heavy physical work. He injured himself and was dumped by the temporary agency that had sent him to the plant.

The $15,000 the Sharmas had brought was disappearing fast. Their basement apartment cost $800 a month. Getting to job interviews was expensive. Upgrading their qualifications was out of the question.

As a last resort, Manjri, who'd always been good with children, went on the Internet and found that Peek-a-Boo Daycare was looking for fill-in caregivers. She applied and was told to come in for an interview.

The pre-schoolers at the daycare centre took to her instantly. They sensed her warmth, her competence, her comfort with children. To them, it was immaterial that she was Indian, that she was 40, that she had no Canadian job experience and that most of her teaching had been at the high school level. They felt safe in her hands.

Watching the interaction between Manjri and the children, the owner of the daycare business (with four centres in Mississauga) offered her a job.

It is only a casual position. Manjri never knows when she'll be called. In a good week, she'll work three days. In a bad week, she'll wait helplessly by phone.

Arakesh is doing light factory work. He, too, waits by the phone.

Their daughter is thriving. Her marks are excellent, she is making friends, earning money and losing her Indian accent.

Arakesh and Manjri have decided to go back to India. They can't live hand-to-mouth anymore. They don't want to stay on the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder.

They'll leave in May. Their daughter will remain behind with relatives.

Manjri has done a lot of thinking about what went wrong.

She admits that she and Arakesh would have been better off if they'd come with arranged jobs. But they were told there was a teacher shortage in Canada and banking skills could be transferred easily. They were assured that settlement assistance was available. They were ready to start at the bottom and work their way up. They assumed that, because they qualified for entry under Ottawa's rigorous criteria for skilled workers, their qualifications would be recognized. "I have learned that I should not take things for granted," Manjri said.

The increase in settlement funds announced by Immigration Minister Joe Volpe this week might help newcomers like the Sharmas, if the money actually reaches immigrants struggling to break into the job market. But it is too late for the pauperized Indian couple.

Manjri smiles when she thinks of the children. They at least saw how much she had to offer.


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Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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May 17, 2005. 01:00 AM


Is it all about importing voters?




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Rethinking immigration goals


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Opinion, May 16.

Thanks to Carol Goar for saying what every Canadian engineer has known for a long, long time already: "The country has more engineers than it can possibly employ."

My blood boils when I hear business representatives squawk about skilled worker shortages. What poppycock. For years, our federal government has been flooding the job market with immigrant engineers on top of the thousands of graduates from Canadian universities. Canadian factories are closing and engineering and manufacturing jobs are exported to China. The result is inexperienced young Canadians with heavily-subsidized educations thrown onto the scrapheap and professional immigrants working menial jobs just to survive.

Is the federal government only interested in importing voters?


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Michael Varrik, Toronto

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Thanks everyone for your opinion.

ALT 1
I have asked my relative for his home address/number and will apply for jobs over the next 2-3 months. If i get good responses on his voicemail then i think i will definately come.

ALT 2
Can anyone tell me some good 2 year course to study for IT guys like me which will help get a decent job? I want to remain a techie all my life. If that course is really what i like and what i see myself doing then i will come else continue in india.


Thanks all for your advise.

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Live and Let Live

Aman Budhwar has been promoted within AIC to the position of Investment Analyst and will work with me in the management of the funds, effective immediately. Aman is a CFA charterholder and earned his MBA (Finance) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from educational institutions in India. He also served three years as an investment analyst with two securities firms in Bombay and for three years’ prior was an investment correspondent with the Economic Times. Aman has already made a valuable contribution during his time with AIC and he is expected to continue to have a positive impact in his new role.

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http://www.medicalpost.com/mpcontent/article.jsp?content=20040120_133608_3060

"We're always concerned about privacy and confidentiality of patient information," said Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Sunil Patel, speaking by phone from his family practice in Gimli, Man. "We don't want this legislation to have any adverse impact on that.


CMA president is Dr Sunil Patel- name is definitely of Indian origin

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-------Original Message-------


Aum!

"I can do all things through Lord Shiva which strengthens me."
The road to success is not straight.
There is a curve called Failure,
a loop called Confusion,
speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Graves,
Caution lights called Family. You will have flats called Jobs.

But, if you have a spare called Determination,
an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith,
a driver called Lord Shiva,
you will make it to a place called Success.

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