Nick Noorani Website

I spend my days lately travelling between Toronto and Vancouver, and a lot of that time is spent talking to immigrants working as taxi drivers, waiters and hotel staff who are doing jobs well below their skills. Many of these immigrants I meet are talking about the new proposed immigration bill in hushed tones — almost like they are scared that what they whisper will turn into a reality! They’re worried immigrant numbers will go down, they’re wondering if they will be able to sponsor their mother over next year, they’re worried about a lot of things.

One of their biggest concerns is adequate employment. New Statistics Canada data tells us immigrants are struggling to make the Canadian dream a reality! Its recent comprehensive study shows the gap in unemployment between newcomers and Canadian-born workers is getting worse, not better. For recent immigrants here for five years or less, the unemployment rate is double that of Canadian-born workers. And those who are working are finding service industry jobs, while Canadian-born workers are finding more white-collar jobs.
While immigrants in Canada have all these concerns on the ground, the government is putting its attention on giving the minister powers to cherry-pick new immigrants according to their skills, which may not even get utilized.
Since coming into power, the Conservatives have also increased temporary workers at a furious rate in an attempt to respond to labour shortages. Yet that is only a stop-gap solution to long-term problems, and there are many humanitarian issues surrounding the use and treatment of many temporary workers, too.
In a recent interview in Embassy magazine with Jorge Bustamante, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Bustamante said he has received about a half-dozen complaint letters directly from Mexican migrant workers in Canada over the past six months.
Is this the Canada we all dreamed of?
What I don’t understand is why the Prime Minister Stephen Harper is digging in his heels on this new bill, which will not improve these concerns, but instead will perpetuate many of the problems we’re facing? I’m even more perplexed why he’s willing to alienate almost 20 per cent of the population over it? Before this bill, the Conservatives had made a few positive steps and it seemed like the immigrant vote that belonged to the Liberals was moving toward the Conservatives. Not so sure now.
And what about you — yes, you! The reader who is reading this! The immigrant. What are you doing about all this? Yes, I know you may be struggling in your first years here — that’s part and parcel of the new Canadian experience and the price you pay to one day succeed here — but why are you sitting back and not doing something? Why are you being complacent about discussions and legislation that impact you? I keep telling immigrants around the country, “If you don’t take ownership of this country, you will never really belong!”
Now is the time to do something: contact your local member of Parliament or Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley (email minister@cic.gc.ca) or Prime Minister Harper himself (email pm@pm.gc.ca; fax 613-941-6900; write to Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington St., Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A2).
No more whispering — let Ottawa hear your concerns, loud and clear!