This is very important because significantly fewer immigrants have been entering Canada, said Jack Layton, leader of the federal New Democratic Party. “It is very difficult for families to reunite in Canada,” Layton said in an interview. “This is a complaint heard in every community we have visited.”
Layton is trying to persuade the public to support a private member's bill from his party: to expand the category of relatives eligible for reunification. He hopes that the public can persuade the new Prime Minister, Paul Martin, to change this part of the immigration legislation.
Under the proposed initiative, any citizen or permanent resident of Canada would have the right to sponsor a relative's immigration to the country once, even if that relative does not fall under the existing definition of the “family category.” They would be able to bring in a brother or sister of any age and marital status, not just an unmarried orphan under 18 years of age, as current law prescribes. Or take responsibility for the relocation to Canada of a cousin, aunt, uncle, nephew, or niece.
Immigration activists consider the current law Eurocentric and anti-family. “Extended families are more common in other, non-European cultures,” noted lawyer Avvy Go, who represents people of Chinese and Southeast Asian origin.
The proposed change is largely symbolic because it grants the right, only once in a lifetime, to deviate from the narrow definition of family that remains unchanged in immigration law. However, it is important because it somewhat alleviates a painful problem for many immigrants.
Immigration Minister Denis Coderre prefers a more utilitarian model for selecting immigrants—those with special skills or substantial money. The result of his preferences has been a sharp decline in the share of “family immigrants” over the past ten years. “In such a situation, you must have money or a good profession,” said lawyer Go. “Having relatives or loved ones in Canada is not enough to become a Canadian.”
Supporters of the new proposal have calculated that extended relatives could increase the immigration pool by 50,000 people per year, which still would not allow reaching the set goal of accepting 300,000 immigrants annually, or 1% of the country's population.