The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney has launched an online consultation on Canada’s immigration program. The Minister is asking stakeholder’s input on the right level of immigration to Canada (how many?), and the right mix between the three immigrant classes to Canada (economic, family and protected persons).
There has been intense debate over Canada’s immigration system recently. Should Canada accept more immigrants? What type of immigrants should have priority? If the level in one of these areas is less, whether the government should take less in the other area(s)? Opinions with respect to these questions are canvassed in the questionnaire in this consultation. A report on the consultations, including a summary of this online consultation questionnaire, will be available on the CIC website in fall 2011 or winter 2012.
As a matter of fact, Canada is a country of immigrants and our immigration system affects our economy, our social life and every one of us. In the recent past, the Minister used limited resources as a reason to limit the number of applications processed by the CIC, including setting caps for the federal skilled worker program and the federal investor program. It is always my viewpoint that limited resources are not a tenable excuse for setting these caps. Rather, the government should allocate necessary resources to enable CIC to accept the right number of immigrants, and this right number should be determined by what Canada needs and can take, after consulting the public and experts.
Now the government is doing the right thing in launching this public consultation. We encourage you, no matter a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or temporary resident, to express your views and concerns with respect to Canada’s immigration levels and mix. Your participation in the survey will have an impact on the government’s decision making.
The online consultation is free and easy to take. To fill out the online questionnaire, you may follow this link: http://cic.sondages-surveys.ca/s/immigration2/?l=eng. For the background document of this consultation, you may follow this link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2011/2011-07-11.asp. If you have any questions or concerns with respect to this consultation or prefer to submit your thoughts through us, you may contact us by email at jeffatlaw@gmail.com. Go and have your say, today.