In mid-November, a plan was approved to invest an additional $168.5 million to support immigration, citizenship, and refugee assistance programs. These additional funds are intended to further improve the work of the department's services, including addressing issues such as reducing wait times for processing applications in all categories (immigration, Canadian citizenship, or refugee status); making it easier for foreign students to obtain permission to enter and remain in Canada; improving the process of integrating newly arrived immigrants into Canadian life, employment, etc.
A week later, it was announced that an immigration agreement had been signed between the federal government of Canada and the province of Ontario. Under the terms of this agreement, the Canadian government will invest an additional $920 million in Ontario over the next five years. The funds will be directed primarily toward helping newly arriving immigrants in Ontario adapt as quickly as possible. This includes developing English-language training programs, assistance with settlement, adaptation, and learning about the Canadian labor market—its needs and employment specifics. The ultimate goal of all these investments and programs is to help new immigrants fully realize their abilities, qualifications, and professional skills so they can make a significant contribution to Ontario's economic development.
The signing of this agreement is undoubtedly of great significance. Serious steps by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to assist Ontario have long been overdue, as the province takes in more than half of all immigrants entering Canada (125,000 annually) without receiving corresponding proportional government funding.
It was also announced that an additional $700 million will be invested over the next five years to substantially improve the federal immigration program. The funds will primarily be used for measures to reduce application processing times and clear backlogs of applications at embassies. In addition, they are intended for the implementation of a new immigration program allowing those with work experience in Canada or who have studied in Canada to apply for immigration from within the country (In-Canada Economic Stream). This program is planned to be introduced in 2007.
The targeted investments mentioned should undoubtedly lead to a significant improvement in the Canadian immigration system. Reducing application processing times is a long-overdue issue. It was this very issue that led to the introduction of the new immigration law (IRPA, June 2002) with a very high pass mark, which effectively closed immigration to Canada for almost a year and a half. Recall that only in September 2003 was this threshold lowered from 75 to 67 points. Today, results in this area are already visible—for example, at the Canadian embassy in Moscow, they are trying to reduce application processing times to one year.
As for the new In-Canada Economic Stream program, it is in line with previously outlined measures to improve the effectiveness of immigration policy. In particular, it aims to give greater attention and priority in immigration to Canada to those who have the best chance of quickly and successfully integrating into the Canadian economy, starting to work effectively, and contributing to the country's prosperity. This refers to those who already have work experience in Canada (temporary foreign workers) and those who have obtained post-secondary professional education in the country (international students). This category has clear advantages when seeking employment—fluent English and a Canadian education that is automatically recognized by local employers.
Let us hope that the announced plans of the Ministry will be implemented. At least, it is very good that the government is paying so much attention to this issue, which is moreover materializing in significant financial investments.
Elena Ryabinina.
Russian Toronto