Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - January 2010
This week, the Canadian Government announced further policy measures in response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
After last week’s devastating earthquake, the Government announced that they would allow priority consideration to all family sponsorship cases, as well as grant extensions to Haitians in Canada on temporary visas.
This week Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that the Canadian government will fast-track 100 pending Haitian adoption cases, but cautioned that it could be weeks before the effects are seen, as most Haitian records of the cases have been destroyed. The Haitian government is working quickly to re-establish order to the foreign adoption process.
The impending need for such a process could be huge, as sympathetic parents across the globe may want to open their homes to what is sure to be a vast number of Haitian orphans in light of the disaster. Officials need to be rigorous in their efforts to locate family before going ahead with such drastic moves.
While many will glean hope from these recent measures taken, the government made clear that they do not intend to abandon the current rules and regulations governing Canada’s immigration system.
“Massive resettlement is not a solution to natural disaster,” said Minister Kenney. “The solution is reconstruction, and we’re focused and dedicated to that.”
Many critics are upset that the government is not doing more to assist Haitians with ties to Canada. The Liberal Party, for instance, is calling for an expansion of sponsorship cases to not only direct family members, but also to relatives such as aunts, siblings and cousins.
“We think we must widen, for the Haiti crisis, the definition of family,” said Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. “We must soften the rules for humanitarian reasons.”
Source: Globe and Mail
