Canadian Immigration News

The Canadian Immigrant Magazine has announced the winners of the first-ever Top 25 Canadian Immigrants awards. A human rights defender, a filmmaker, and a scientist are among the winners of the national awards program which seeks to celebrate the achievements and the contributions that Canadian immigrants have made to the country.

In 2006, Alberta became the first province in Canada where the number of Temporary Foreign workers exceeded the number of people admitted through the Canadian immigration system. In significant need of labour force growth, Alberta has taken advantage of recent facilitative amendments to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada Minister Diane Finley recently announced that two new Temporary Foreign Worker units are being established in Toronto and Moncton (New Brunswick). They will help employers in the Ontario and Atlantic regions to fill labour force shortages with temporary foreign workers.

Recent Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) statistics indicate that the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada increased by 22 per centfrom 2006 to 2007.

In the autumn of 2007, a group of union leaders and migrant worker advocates formed an alliance to address the growing number of temporary foreign workers in Canada and to protect their labour rights.

Over 60 per cent of new immigrants to Canada each year choose to live and work in the province of Ontario. Recently a series of steps have been taken toensure that professionals who received their training outside of Canada can work in their fields.

The Government of British Columbia (BC) has allocated $4.9 million to help ease thetransition into life in Canada for newcomer youth and young adult immigrants. Programs and projects in thirteen BC communities will focus particularlyon newcomers who are facing language and settlement barriers.

"Our government is committed to providing special support for older immigrant youth and young adults who face barriers that make it difficult for themto attend school or find employment," said BC Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, Murray Coell. "This investment will ensurethat these young people have a way of connecting to the broader community and gain the self-esteem and confidence they need to pursue further learningor work."

As of April 2009, these personal and group support services will help young adult immigrants to develop goals and plans achieve them; and to improvetheir education and work prospects through language training and employment support services. They will obtain better access to college, vocationaltraining, apprenticeships, and adult basic education. Counseling and mental health services will also be provided.

Elizabeth Jones, of the North Shore Multicultural Society (NSMS), says that the new programs offered by her organization are designed to empowerimmigrant youth and young adults with information about the options available to them.

"We assist them to go through this process and come out with a plan of action for themselves to either get a job, or return to school or go intolanguage training," she said.

The province of BC has also invested $1 million in community bridging services, which match immigrant youth with community volunteers during thesettlement and adjustment period.

"We all have a hand in supporting vulnerable youth by providing resources and programs that allow them to have a healthy future," stated TomChristensen, BC Minister of Children and Family Development. "Every child and youth should be afforded the opportunity to succeed, and governments andcommunities plan an important role in making that a reality."

Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has announced that the Young Newcomers Internship Program (YNIP), introduced in 2008 by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) as a pilot project, will now be a permanent program. He made the announcement at the graduation ceremony of the first year's participants.

This year, the Toronto public school board's top three students are foreign-born. Likewise, the top spot in the Peel District School board is shared by four immigrant students. Jim Cummins of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education is not surprised that despite the additional challenges of starting a new life in Canada, some immigrant students are outperforming their Canadian-born peers.

Statistics Canada's recent Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) suggests that as Canadian immigrants and their children grow older, their attachment to Canada strengthens. 74.5 per cent of respondents aged 65 and over expressed a “very strong” sense of belonging to Canada, compared with only 40.6 per cent among those aged 15-17. The results show this sentiment growing stronger with age in each subgroup of second-generation Canadians (whites, blacks, South Asians and Chinese, among others).