June 19, 2002	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1423

OTTAWA: More than 150,000 people who were qualified to immigrate to Canada could find themselves shut out of the country by new, retroactive changes to its immigration rules.

Critics of the new regulations say they effectively close Canada to all but well-connected, highly educated people from Europe.

The measures, unveiled by Immigration Minister Denis Coderre last week, mark the second time in the past year that the government has tried to bring in new rules.

Late last year, tough new immigration regulations were proposed but later dropped when the then immigration minister was shuffled out of her job.

Coderre denied that the new rules close the door to trades people and skilled industrial workers from countries where French and English are not spoken.

Some 300,000 qualified prospective immigrants had applied to enter Canada under the old criteria. However, say officials, about half of those applications will be processed under the new rules.

Critics of the rules say they are unnecessary. Canada wants to increase its population by one per cent per year by immigration. The 300,000 immigrants who qualified under the old rules would have met that number.

“My constituents are still going to get screwed,” said Toronto MP Jim Karygiannis. “It still does not address all the people that are in the mix right now.”

Potential immigrants to Canada are judged on a 100-point system that takes into account education, work experience, a confirmed job offer, family living in Canada, and fluency in the country’s two official languages, French and English.

Immigrants need 75 points to be considered for landed status.

The new rules give more weight to post-secondary education and a solid job offer. A list of occupations with skills shortages, such as tool and die makers, millwrights, and other technical trades, has been dropped.

Coderre insisted that his regulations actually make it easier for skilled trades people to immigrate to Canada. “As the son of a carpenter, I know the valuable contribution that skilled trades people bring and our selection grid now reflects that,” he said.

Immigration lawyers say the only way a skilled technical worker will be able to immigrate to Canada will be to have several other strengths, including family in Canada, bilingualism in French and English, and a guaranteed job.

“These rules pretty much shut the door to people from parts of Asia and Africa,” said Toronto immigration lawyer David Solomon. The only way applicants will be able to get in, he added, is by claiming refugee status or by having enough money to be entrepreneurs.

“You get some very strange messages from these rules. They are, in effect, demanding people be fluent in two European languages, when only about 30 per cent of the people born in Canada can claim to have that skill. The government brags that Canada is a multicultural country, but these criteria are very European-oriented,” Solomon said.

He warned that more would-be immigrants would likely fall prey to bogus “immigration consultants” who offer high-priced advice that is rarely of any value.

Toronto immigration lawyer Medel Green noted that a single person with a PhD who speaks perfect English and has four years of work experience would not qualify.

They would need a family member in Canada or be French-English bilingual to bring their point levels above 75.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.