Migration

In my personal experience as a legal advisor to refugee claimants in Canada there was a duty to follow the laws, respect the country I was living in and do the best for my clients. While many cases were falsified, and others were very legitimate, there was always one problem in the system that stood out as an irritant to preserving the rights of individuals in Canada. The lack of morality of those representing clients was always my personal main concern while working within the Canadian Refugee System. More often than not, clients would gain representation from what are known as Immigration Consultants. While many are honest and good at their job, mostly they are unregulated, have no standards or guidelines in assisting their clients, and in many cases with abusive consultants they would overcharge for services that their clients could not afford or did not understand. There are many great Consultants and Lawyers in the system, but some are too awful to consider discussing in this forum.

A recent report by TheStar.com set out to challenge the legitimacy of the Immigration Consultant system by placing hidden cameras in some consulting sessions. What was found is that a few of those Consultants were overcharging their clients to an extreme degree, and even more disturbing falsifying information on their client’s documentation in order to obtain their immigration papers or win their claims for refugee status.

In the article above many of the Immigration lawyers claimed to get a lot of business from clients who’s lives have been destroyed by the unethical actions of their Immigration Consultants. I have found this to be true in many cases, but as well many lawyers have not been completely fair in their work with immigration cases either.

While lawyers in Canada are certified by the local Province’s Law Society, and many Immigration Consultants are now becoming registered with the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants, the vulnerability of many clients and their perception that they lack certain fundamental rights in a foreign country often lead them to trust much of what their representatives advise them to do while their applications are in process. While moral and legal obligations to their clients and their membership in their respective professional societies gear those agents to assist their clients, it is often not the case. Do you believe foreign citizens should have rights abroad? It is a question which needs to be asked in every society and implemented if respect for these individuals shall become part of the institutions and people who work with immigration issues.

In a report by the CBC.ca, a discussion of the wage gap between Canadian Immigrants since the 1960s and American Immigrants since the same period shows that there is a significant difference between the two groups of immigrants. The report states that in Canada there seems to be less of a wage gap, as 4 in 10 immigrants to Canada have an undergraduate university degree or greater, while in the US it is 2 in 10. This has to do with the Canadian policy of taking in mostly skilled labour in the immigration process, as opposed to the US policy of taking mostly immigrants connected by family into the United States. While both countries also take in family related immigrants and skilled immigrants alike, the main engine might be where the immigrants come from and the need for certain skills in the American and Canadian society respectively.

Much of the US immigration comes from Mexico and Central America. As well, the US is a beneficiary of the Brain Drain from other countries, where highly educated people from one country flood to another for better opportunities and payment. Canada itself loses a great number of its educated citizens to the US which might explain while 2 in 10 are skilled immigrants to the US, it still is a large number of individuals from all over the world working and promoting the US economy.

Regarding Canada, in last week’s post on What Exactly is “Canadian Experience”?, we see that while Canada may take in many more skilled immigrants, there is strong evidence that the arbitrary barriers to employment for these skilled immigrants may dissolve any benefit to bringing in 4 in 10 skilled immigrants. In reality, many end up taking jobs in very low income sectors despite having a university education or higher. The situation in Canada has become so bad for many skilled immigrants that stories of foreign surgeons driving taxis or similar horror stories abound and a consensus among many skilled immigrants that Canada has become more of a trap for skilled immigrants than a benefit. Many skilled immigrants come to Canada to find that they will have an almost impossible task in requalifiying as well as living with lower real income than in their state of origin.

While Canada may bring in more skilled people, it is evident that the US benefits more from the skilled labour it does accept. There are of course many other factors in this comparison that require a full analysis, but in the meantime more attention needs to be brought on the issues of employment and economic rights in the debate on legal immigration in the US and Canada.

With current immigration reforms in the United States focusing on skilled immigrants and highly educated candidates in the new Senate Bill on Immigration, a comparison between another North American immigration system that deals with skilled labour and educated immigration candidates may shed some light on possible issues with future US immigration policy.

In the neighbouring Canadian Immigration system there have been many issues concerning the rights for many skilled immigrants to work in Canada. Many newcomers to Canada have been “headhunted” with very high levels of education to immigrate to Canada. Many have been recruited and given priority in an immigration points system which values education and skills, but also has an epidemic of unemployment for many of those professional people coming to Canada.

Journalist Steve Paiken reproduces an audio version of his May 7th broadcast interviewing officials and people from the most numerous immigration groups in Canada. Issues surrounding how the theory of “Canadian Experience” and the fairness of such an arbitrary measure as a determinant of the abilities of an employee are discussed. With more than 50% of the resident population of Canada’s largest city being foreign born, the role of professional immigrants in many larger Canadian cities require a certain level of rights to work with restrictions which are not anti-competitive in their nature. The issue is exacerbated with a shortage of skilled labour in medical and certain engineering fields. Its effect is said to contribute to the wait times for access to health care in the Canadian Public Health system, and even has the effect of losing more than $1 Billion from the Canadian economy each year.

To hear a thorough discussion in Audio, please listen to the show’s two audio broadcasts on the link page at Steve Paiken: The Agenda.

Links: 

• Access to Professions and Trades in Ontario
• Ontario Immigration - Global Experience Ontario - An Access and Resource Centre for the Internationally Trained
• Stats Canada - Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada
• Stats Canada - Immigrants’ perspectives on their first four years in Canada: Highlights from three waves of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada

This week’s news roundup features stories on racial inequality in the UK, an update on the immigration debate in the US and Canada’s search for new migrants to help it cope with its recent oil boom:

• ITV, the UK news channel, features a story on research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation according to which people from ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be poor than their white counterparts. The series of research reports on the issue can be downloaded directly from the foundation’s website.
• Immigration policy reform remains a hot button topic on the US agenda, with presidential hopefuls beginning to weigh in on the issue to add to their profile. Over the weekend, immigrants protested in Houston, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona. A number of protests are expected across the country for ‘May Day,’ including a march in Indianapolis . Organizers there are hoping to repeat the success of the last demonstration in April, which brought 20,000 people to the streets to remind Congress of its unfinished business. Meanwhile the April 30th Editorial of the New York Times accuses Republican Presidential candidates of “lurching, falling over themselves to convince voters that where they stand is not where they stood.” The author finds Rudy Giuliani and John McCain’s sudden change of opinion the most disheartening.
• Modern day slavery is the result of human trafficking. The New York Times features the harrowing story of a Nigerian woman worked for 12 years without pay, in what can only be described as modern day servitude.
• While all the world seems to be speaking of curtailing immigration, officials in Alberta, Canada are seeking a few good men and women - 100,000 to be exact - to help cope with the demand in jobs after the oil boom, the UK’s Guardian reports.

On April 21st 2007 Egyptian born Canadian Mohammed El-Attar was ultimately convicted as a spy in an Egyptian court this past weekend. He was accused of spying for Israel and recruiting Arabs in Canada to assist him in his activities. While the court claims to have obtained a confession of his activities, it is said by El-Attar that his confession was obtained under torture and that much of the evidence against him is falsified. While Canadian officials are looking into the case, no overt actions have been taken to assist El-Attar in his dilemma in Egypt. He has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

Assistance to Canadian citizens abroad has become an issue since last summer’s conflict in Lebanon, where many Canadian citizens of Lebanese origin were seeking assistance from the Canadian government but resided and had legal citizenship in Lebanon at the same time. While no formal differences or rights exist in Canadian law distinguishing citizens who immigrated to Canada and those who were born in Canada, there may be some customary distinctions made by a response to those who hold dual citizenship in Canada and another country, and are convicted of crimes in their country of 2nd nationality and birth.

This past month another Canadian citizen of foreign birth was convicted in China. Huseyin Celil was charged and convicted for terrorist acts against the Chinese government and sentenced to life imprisonment. Celil, a member of China’s small Muslim population initially escaped a Chinese prison in 2000 and eventually came to Canada and gained citizenship in 2005. Canadian officials claim that their calls for diplomacy with the Chinese government have gone unanswered and that they will make strident efforts to assist Mr. Celil. With the number of cases of Canadians being convicted of political crimes abroad and some being tortured in the process, the rights of foreign born Canadians will likely continue with future convictions of Canadians in foreign countries. Canada currently has one of the highest percentages of foreign born citizens in the world.

Canadians Abroad Part 3:

Mohammed Al-Attar, a Canadian citizen and immigrant to Canada from Egypt was in court again on March 28th 2007. He was accused in addition with another three Israeli men for being intelligence officers for Israel who gave El-Attar orders to use money and sex to recruit Christian Egyptian-Canadians. The three others will be tried in absentia, while El-Attar faces a maximum life sentence with hard labour.

While El-Attar has pleaded not guilty to charges and has asked directly to speak to Canadian officials and the Canadian Prime Minister, there have not been any direct actions from the Canadian Government on the issue to date. While Israel denies any connection to El-Attar, many believe that accusations of belonging to the Israeli intelligence agency is exacerbated by the fact that he converted to Christianity as well as is claimed by the court in Egypt of being a homosexual and using his conversion and sexual orientation in working and recruiting for the Israeli Mossad. El-Attar has had little support so far in Egypt and his statement, which is being used against him, was solicited under torture according to his lawyer. His trial verdict will be given on April 21st 2007.

 See Article: Verdict in case of accused spy delayed until April - CTV.ca 

Canadians Abroad Part 2: 

The question of the rights of Canadian citizens abroad has recently come to light in the case of Mohamed El-Attar. El-Attar was put to trial on Feb 24th 2007 in Egypt for allegedly being a spy for the Israeli Mossad in Canada. He was picked up on January 1st on a flight from Toronto to Cairo and was accused by Egyptian authorities for attempting to recruit Arabs in Canada to work for the Israeli Mossad and accepting payments to issue spy reports on Arabs in Canada. He was also accused of being seen working with the Israeli embassy in Turkey and further for being a homosexual and a Zionist according to Mackinnon and Freeze of the Canadian publication the Globe and Mail.

The question of why El-Attar was arrested is as complex as what assistance he should or shall receive by the Canadian Government. According to Brigitte Pellerin of the Ottawa Citizen, Arab-Canadian organisations have been less than generous in assisting Mr. El-Attar possibly because of the alleged affiliations with the Mossad, but also possibly because of his sexual orientation. After the attention and repositioning of the Canadian Government with the Arar Commission and its effects on politics and policy, the assistance that would be expected from possible Canadian allies of Mr. El-Attar has not helped him in his case in Egypt.

Further to the issues surrounding Mr. El-Attar, there has been many accusations of torture surrounding his confession to the Egyptian authorities. Despite being a Canadian citizen, it is felt by many in Egypt that he will be guilty of the crimes and be sentenced to 25 years of hard labour. So much is the opinion of his guilt, that his first lawyer refused to defend him in the case. While Mr. El-Attar did confess to much of the accusations, it is well regarded that torture is not an uncommon issue in the Egyptian legal system. According to CBC reporter Peter Armstrong who reported on the trial:

 ”He was bellowing out his innocence, saying that the police beat him and made him drink his own urine”

While Canadian Embassy officials did attend the trials, there has been no official comment to date on what action the Government plans to take regarding Mohamed El-Attar. There is no question that he is a citizen of Canada and that many in Canada and abroad believe the trial is mired in false accusations and politics, but with the history of inaction of the past Canadian Government and the possibility of an election drawing closer, it remains to be seen what decision Prime Minister Harper will take in regards to Mohamed El-Attar.

Video on El-Attar Trial - March 27th 2007 - CTV.ca:

http://video.sympatico.msn.com/v/en-ca/v.htm?g=c94fd416-5a08-44ba-a823-b893a9c3b3a0&f=37&fg=rss

Canadians Abroad Part 1: 

The question of how immigrants should be treated, or considered equally among all social and cultural groups in a country was put to its greatest test in Canada in the summer of 2006. During the conflict between Israel and Lebanon last summer there was a flood of protests and criticisms against the new Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, in delays in helping Canadian citizens trapped in Lebanon during the conflict. When thousands of Lebanese with Canadian status, either Citizens or Permanent Residents of Canada, sought assistance from the Canadian Government to extradite them as soon as possible, the realization that citizenship was held by thousands of people who actually were born and resided outside Canada sparked a debate about the nature of citizenship and the degree in which Canada should accommodate foreign nationals who had legal status in Canada yet resided in their country of birth abroad.

The debate continued with the case regarding a Mr. Mahar Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen who was deported to the US under evidence that he was associated with Al-Qaeda, but later was returned to Canada after being tortured in Syria. Arar, a full Canadian Citizen was given compensation this past February by the Canadian Federal Government for errors which lead to his deportation from Canada. A Commission to investigate the affair was arranged. Noted in the Report, false accusations of his affiliation with terrorism and final rights being recognized as a citizen of Canada lead to the resignation of the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner, compensation, and a formal apology from the Prime Minister.

Recognition of the rights of Canadian citizens abroad was always veiled in the belief by many that the Government of Canada never did enough to assist its citizens abroad. A Canadian Journalism of Iranian descent and birth, Zahra Kazemi was beaten to death in Iran in 2003. Acknowledgement of the story and actions by the previous Canadian Government was virtually absent until her son, Stephan Kazemi pushed for public protests and for help from the Canadian Government. While the Government took some actions, a combination of the Kazemi affair and the fact that the same Government was later accused of the errors relating to Mr. Arar placed the status of foreign-born Canadians in a quagmire of policy, security and rights for citizens of Canada abroad.

See: Part 2 - A Canadian in Egypt, or an Egyptian from Canada? concerning the current state of affairs for Canadian Citizens Abroad and the recent case of Mohamed El-Attar, a Canadian citizen who was detained in Egypt for spying for Israel.