The B.C. government has abruptly ended its provincial immigration program for the next three months, saying new federal limits on temporary foreign workers have caused an unmanageable flood of applicants seeking entry to Canada through British Columbia.

According to Jobs Minister Shirley Bond, no new applications will be accepted until July 2, giving her staff time to process a growing backlog while her ministry looks at what qualifications it will seek from those hoping to come to B.C. through the provincial nominee program (PNP). Some exceptions will be made in high-need categories such as health-care workers

Under the program, Ottawa allows the provinces limited control over immigration. This year, B.C. will grant permanent resident status to 5,500 immigrants to fill labour-market needs.

Applications to the provincial program increased after the federal government introduced tighter controls on its temporary foreign worker program. A year ago, B.C. could process a PNP application in 12 weeks; now the wait list is 13 months, and there are already more people in the queue than B.C. can admit this year.

Despite the provincial government warning that British Columbia faces a skills shortage with an anticipated construction boom in the north, many of the temporary foreign workers in B.C. are being hired for low-wage jobs in the hospitality industry. The federal government was forced to make changes after allegations surfaced last year that some employers, especially restaurants, were abusing the program.

Ottawa is phasing in limits on the number of temporary foreign workers that large- and medium-sized companies are permitted to hire and is promising more inspections of workplaces, bigger fines for companies that abuse the program and increased application fees for employers.

This is not the first time B.C. has frozen one of its immigration programs. In 2012, the province suspended a program after a suspicious surge in the number of business applicants for a category that promised a speedy visa in exchange for a $125,000 bond.

According to the UNHCR annual asylum trends report, Canada has remained at the bottom of the world’s top-15 refugee receiving countries.

In 2014 866,000 new asylum claims were lodged worldwide, a 45 per cent increase from 2013 and the highest level since 1992.

Syrians were by far the largest group among those seeking asylum in 2014, with 150,000 claims, or one-fifth of the total. Iraqis came second, accounting for 68,700 applications, double the number in 2013. Both countries are at war with Islamic State group extremists.

Antonio Guterres UN High Commissioner for Refugees says, “In the 1990s, the Balkan wars created hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers. Many of them found refuge in industrialized countries. Today, the surge in armed conflicts around the world presents us with similar challenges. Our response has to be just as generous now as it was then — providing access to asylum, resettlement opportunities and other forms of protection for the people fleeing these terrible conflicts” said.

In 2014, Canada received 13,500 asylum claims, about one-third more than the year before. The increase of claims in Canada was attributed to the significant drop in 2013, after Ottawa overhauled the refugee determination system in a bid to deter fraud and discourage asylum seekers from coming here.

In recent years, Canada has continued to rank at the bottom of the world’s top 15 refugee receiving countries.

Top-15 refugee receiving countries

Rank in 2014 (in 2013)

1. Germany (1)

2. USA (2)

3. Turkey (5)

4. Sweden (4)

5. Italy (7)

6. France (3)

7. Hungary (9)

8. UK(6)

9. Austria (10)

10. Holland (11)

11. Switzerland (8)

12. Serbia (20)

13. Denmark (18)

14. Belgium (14)

15. Canada (16)

Less than half of immigrants to Canada this year will be selected through the new Express Entry system introduced by the Conservative government, which promised to match skilled, economic migrants with employers’ needs.

Under Express Entry, over 6,850 prospective immigrants have been invited to apply for permanent residency. However, Citizenship and Immigration Canada says a majority of immigrants will only be processed through the new system by 2017. The shift to the new economic immigration system was announced in 2012 and has been in place since Jan. 1.

In its 2015 immigration levels plan, the Citizenship and Immigration ministry pledged to accept 260,000 to 285,000 new permanent residents, about two-thirds of them economic migrants. To meet that target, the government needs to admit about 22,500 immigrants a month, about 10 times the number that are admitted through Express Entry at present. Most new immigrants this year will have to be selected through the old system, which was criticized because it was slow and operated on first-come, first-served basis.

“CIC is in a period of transition with recent implementation of Express Entry that will span approximately two years,” said Johanne Nadeau, a Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman.

CIC would not say whether it has annual targets or expectations for Express Entry admissions at this point. The number of new permanent residents coming through the program is expected to grow in 2016 to about half of all admissions. By 2017, most, if not all economic admissions should be through Express Entry, Ms. Nadeau said.

The government introduced Express Entry with much fanfare as a selection mechanism that would make economic immigration more responsive to the needs of employers and the labour market.

Under the new system, applicants in the economic streams enter a pool of candidates for initial assessment and are graded on factors such as age, education and work skills and given a score out of 1,200.

The strength of the new system was said to be fast, flexible and responsive to a changing labour market while aiming to cut processing times. Under the old system, every application had to be assessed in the order it was received, even as backlogs grew. Under Express Entry, only those with a strong chance of qualifying for permanent residency need further assessment.

Attorney Colin Singer Commentary:

Current policies and target levels under the Economic Class and Family Class suggest that between 20,000 – 35,000 applicants will be invited to apply for permanent residence under Express Entry in 2015.

Internal government reports indicate that more than one-third of spousal immigration applications that Canada receives may involve sham marriages, posing a « threat to Canada’s immigration program ».

The 2013 report by Canada Border Services Agency’s enforcement and intelligence operations directorate suggests that applications that involve « marriages of convenience » are on the rise and are presumed to be linked to organized crime.

The report has identified 10-15 « high-risk » countries from where ‘bogus’ spouses are sponsored by Canadian permanent residents using the family-class section of the immigration system. These countries include China, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ghana, Vietnam, Nigeria, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Guyana, with India alone accounting for about 36% of fraudulent « spousal caseload ».

The report also warns about the adverse effects of India’s skewed sex-ratio due to the preference for male children and sex-selective abortions, with implications for Canada’s immigration system. According to the report, the phenomenon has caused gender disparity within Indo-Canadian communities, resulting in a shortage of Indian women of marriageable age.

« There will be more competition for men to find opposite-sex marriage partners leading to possible increased family pressure on Indo-Canadian females to marry Indian men from Canada or abroad, as the children who were born after the sonogram revolution come to be of marriageable age, » says the report titled « Marriages in India ».

Immigration experts say that the report definitely raises a legitimate concern over marriage fraud, but they believe the trend will decline in the future due to the government’s increased vigilance along with the immigration system’s preference for economic immigrants over family members. The experts also say that the link drawn between marriage fraud and the shortage of Indian women of marriageable age due to sex-selective abortion practices in India is « far-fetched ».

The report highlights the practices of honor killings and forced marriages in India, issues that have prompted the Harper government’s strong support for the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act. The bill, which has been passed in the Senate and is currently under review by a House of Commons committee, proposes to make any foreign national or permanent resident practicing polygamy inadmissible into Canada and proposes other changes in law to discourage forced and/or child marriages.

« We wish we could say in the Canada of 2014 that these were no longer challenges for us domestically. But as we know from communities across the country and from the daily fact of violence against women, they remain challenges and we remain duty bound to act against them, » said Immigration Minister Chris Alexander in a statement issued in December last year.

Federal documents reveal that Canada refused about 14% of spousal applications from all countries between 2008 and 2011. The year 2012 saw an increased refusal rate of 17%.                                                

Immigration has always played a crucial role in Canada’s social vitality and economic prosperity. Since Confederation, Canada has welcomed immigrants into communities throughout the country and, in return, immigrants have helped foster growth and build a nation. However, improvements can still be made to our immigration system.

Social issues figure prominently in the immigration discourse of the day. The suggested abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by some employers has not supported the notion that immigrants are here to supplement, and not supplant, Canadian workers.

Approximately 65 per cent of Canada’s annual net growth can be attributed to immigration. With a rapidly aging population, and one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, immigration certainly helps with Canada’s population growth and by 2035 is set to account for nearly all of it.

Due to its rigorous entry requirements for economic-class immigrants, Canada permits entry to some of the best and brightest immigrants the world has to offer. According to the 2011 National Household Survey, 34 per cent of immigrants hold university degrees compared with 24 per cent of the Canadian-born population. Conference Board research has shown that immigrants tend to be entrepreneurial, motivated, experienced, and enhance business and trade ties between Canada and international markets.

At a time when xenophobia is rising in some quarters of the globe, multiculturalism has been and remains one of Canada’s eminent institutions. In comparison to peer nations, Canada maintains a relatively generous immigration system. Each year, about 10 per cent of newcomers are granted permanent residence status on humanitarian grounds.

On the other hand, research shows that, on average, immigrants today do not make up the wage-gap with their Canadian-born counterparts. This is due to a combination of factors such as challenges in our settlement services, credential recognition issues, language limitations and discrimination.

Many employers and governments across Canada argue for a tailored approach to immigration that meets workforce and regional needs. In the absence of formal jurisdiction over immigration matters, municipalities and communities nationwide are seeking greater roles in attracting and integrating immigrants.

Identifying the best ways to attract immigrants who are able to integrate into the workforce and meet our labour market needs is another issue currently debated. While the new Express Entry system aims to address this matter, concerns are being voiced that it may unintentionally exclude some outstanding immigration candidates, such as international students, entrepreneurs, and other skilled workers already here on temporary visas.

Globally, other countries with demographic challenges similar to Canada’s are re-evaluating their existing policies to better attract skilled immigrants. Canada is already in competition for top-tier international talent with countries such as Australia, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the U.S., and this will only increase in the near future.

Immigration is crucial to Canada’s prosperity. Without immigrants, Canada faces labour shortages, a smaller tax base, and increased strain on our medical system and pension funds. Indeed, in the absence of high immigration levels, Canada’s population will shrink, our economy will suffer, and our standard of living will decline.

A multi-faceted approach to change that incorporates all three levels of government, employers, communities, immigrants, and other stakeholders, is needed to modernize our national immigration program and blaze a new trail.

The Conference Board of Canada’s new National Immigration Centre, a five-year research-intensive initiative, has been launched to develop a National Immigration Action Plan based on evidence and non-partisan analysis. From April 13–15, the Conference Board will host a major, three-day, Canadian Immigration Summit in Ottawa to explore the future of Canada’s immigration system.

Colin Singer Commentary:

Historically our per capita rate was .08%.  But Canada’s per capita immigration rate has been declining under the current government.  Canada will need to admit 285,000 new immigrants this year, which the government has recently proposed.  But new policies call for participation of Canada’s employers to hire immigrants.  This may prove to be overly ambitious and result in an under achievement of admission levels.  Additional revisions to Canada’s immigration programs may be required.