Nick Noorani Website

Because immigrants to Vancouver who lack proficiency in English suffer a long-lasting income penalty, more funding for settlement programs that emphasize language skills is needed to speed their integration into the economic mainstream. That’s the principal recommendation of a study, The Economic Integration of Immigrants in Metropolitan Vancouver, by University of B.C. geography professor Daniel Hiebert for the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Or at least Hiebert says that’s the most important issue emerging from his analysis of the IMDB database that links immigrant landing information with their tax records.

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Canada’s immigration policies have changed substantially in order to attract and retain the most highly skilled immigrants who will adjust well to Canada and be best positioned for success. Increasingly, policies are being directed towards retaining temporary foreign workers and international students as permanent residents. This is a step in the right direction and is critical to Canada’s success and competition in the global arena.
Yet recent immigration shifts, and the criteria used to evaluate potential immigrants, may result in gaps in Canada’s ability to recruit and retain qualified immigrants and position them for success.

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My roots are in poor, white, Anglo-Protestant, rural Western Canada. I grew up in a different Canada than this one. I remember how as a child I gawked at the first dark-skinned person I ever saw. I attended one of Preston Manning’s early speeches in Ottawa as Reform party leader 20 years ago. Nearly all my friends are white Anglos. I tend to vote Conservative.
And I want immigration. Recession or not, I’m not particularly worried about the competition for jobs. I’m much more concerned about the competition we face from Australia, Britain and the United States to attract the best immigrants. I don’t think the character of the country is being corroded — at least not by immigration in particular. I don’t think we can become safer from crime by reducing immigration (as a crime-correlated factor, alcohol is far more dangerous.

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01 Jun 2009 Arrival Survival Canada Toronto, ON – May 2009 Arrival Survival Canada: A Handbook for New Immigrants (Oxford University Press Canada) is now a national bestseller.
Written by immigrant advocates Nick and Sabrina Noorani, the book guides readers through Canadian culture and outlines solutions to the issues that newcomers typically encounter.
“This book is not just information, it is a friend, a guide, and a support. Use it and you’ll find that you’ll know more, and be able to do things with confidence,” states former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in her forward to the book.
“This book can take years off a newcomer’s journey to successful integration,” says author Nick Noorani. With 30 real-life immigrant success stories, Arrival Survival Canada provides detailed information on a wide range of subjects such as opening a bank account, creating a credit history, and understanding Canadian school systems. While comprehensive, it also provides tools for newcomers to tailor their own Canadian experiences to their individual needs.
“As part of our Canadian Newcomer Series, the response to Arrival Survival Canada has been incredibly enthusiastic,” said David Stover, President of Oxford University Press Canada. “The book has reached out to newcomers from all walks of life in Canada, helping them gain the information and skills they need to successfully integrate into Canadian life.”
Arrival Survival Canada: A Handbook for New Immigrants is part of the Canadian Newcomer Series

Toronto (PTI): Broadening prospects for legal professionals coming from India and other Asian countries, Canadian authorities have decided to recognise their law degrees equivalent to that of the U.K. and Australia.
“The National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) has decided that three-year full-time law degrees from Common Law Countries including India, England and Australia should be treated equivalently regardless of their country of origin. It is a substantial reduction in barrier to entry into legal profession,” Vern Krishna, outgoing executive director of the NCA, said on Sunday.
Prof. Krishna, who will retire on June 30 after 27 years of his service, said that the new decision that came in force from March 1 and again revised on May 1, 2009 would pave the way for Indian lawyers and other foreign trained professionals quicker integration into the mainstream.

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