Canada to Admit Nearly 1mn Immigrants by 2020 to ‘Prosper & Grow’

FILE PHOTO: Syrian refugees hold Canadian flags as they take part in a welcome service at the St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church at the Armenian Community Centre of Toronto in Toronto

© Mark Blinch / Reuters

Canada will take in 310,000 immigrants next year as part of the government’s new plan to raise immigrant intake by about 13 percent over the next three years and admit nearly one million newcomers by 2020.

“Everyone has been of the opinion we need more workers, we need more skilled workers, we need more people to power our economy, address our real skills shortages, address our real labor market shortages and also address the regional nature of some of these requirements,” Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said on Wednesday. “So we’ve listened.”

“Our government believes that newcomers play a vital role in our society,” Hussen said, adding that five million Canadians are set to retire by 2035 and “we have fewer people working to support seniors and retirees.”

Under the government plan, the number of economic migrants, family reunifications, and refugees will amount to 330,000 in 2019, and 340,000 in 2020. Dory Jade, the CEO of the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants, applauded the new measure, noting that the challenge is to increase those numbers.

“Canada will greatly prosper and grow once the 350,000 threshold has been crossed. Nevertheless, we are witnessing a very positive trend,” he told CBS Canada.

Well, at least Jade's company will greatly increase and prosper.

The plan came under fire from opposition Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel, who said it failed to address some key issues, including making integration work.

“It is not enough for this government to table the number of people that they are bringing to this country. Frankly the Liberals need to stop using numbers of refugees, amount of money spent, feel-good tweets and photo-ops as metrics for success in Canada’s immigration system,” Rempel said, as cited by the Toronto Star.

Rempel said the authorities “urgently need to bring Canada’s immigration system back to order by stopping illegal immigration… ensuring integration into the Canadian economy and our pluralistic society measured by things like language proficiency, mental health support plans for survivors of trauma, and employability.”

Refugee advocacy groups also expressed disapproval over the fact that the annual immigration level will be lower than the 360,000 cap they pushed the government to adopt.

“We have an opportunity to offer protection to more people who are in desperate need, people who are fleeing for their lives,” Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, said in a statement last week.

“Opening our doors to more refugees is not only the right thing to do because it saves lives, it is also good for Canada as refugees contribute in so many ways to our country.”

There's no question Canada needs immigrants to replace an aging population in the work force. 

It's good that we can rescue people from war and poverty as long as we rescue them from war and poverty and not import war and poverty with them.

The Liberal government has shown that they have little control over immigration and I haven't seen anything in this report to indicate that that will improve any time soon.

EU Launches Legal Cases Against 3 Member States for not Taking in Refugees

The European Commission has launched legal action against three EU member states, claiming Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic have not “taken the necessary action” in dealing with migrants and refugees.

Infringement proceedings were launched by Brussels on Tuesday.

Warsaw, Budapest, and Prague have been accused of not fulfilling their obligations in dealing with migrants and refugees according to a 2015 plan.

The three EU states have acted “in breach of their legal obligations,” the commission said in a statement, adding that it had previously warned the countries to observe “their commitments to Greece, Italy and other member states.”

The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland “have not yet taken the necessary action,” the statement says, claiming that the three EU members “have not yet relocated a single person.”

“Against this background… the Commission has decided to launch infringement procedures against these three Member States.”

Since January, other countries within the bloc have relocated almost 10,300 people from Italy and Greece, according to the commission. “The pace of relocation has significantly increased,” it added, saying it has witnessed “a fivefold increase” compared to the same period last year.

In total, nearly 21,000 asylum-seekers have been distributed throughout Europe, some 14,000 from Greece and the rest from Italy.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka slammed Brussels’ decision and called its plan to deal with migrants “dysfunctional,” Reuters reports.

“The European Commission blindly insists on pushing ahead with dysfunctional quotas which decreased citizens’ trust in EU abilities and pushed back working and conceptual solutions to the migration crisis,” the news agency cited Sobotka as saying in an email statement.

Warsaw has also reacted to Brussels’ decision, saying it intends to carry on with its current migration policy and does not intend to accept its quota of refugees. It is ready to defend its right to not take in refugees in an EU court, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Tuesday.

The initiation of infringement procedures would only further escalate EU divisions, and push the bloc further away from a “necessary political compromise” to solve the migrant crisis on the continent, the Polish official said.

He also called the 2015 plan “erroneous,” and argued that Warsaw contributes to solving the migrant crisis by “engaging in protection of EU’s external borders and systematically strengthening its humanitarian involvement in the region.”

However, in its Tuesday statement, the EU Commission cited its migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, as saying, “When it comes to relocation, let me be crystal clear: the implementation of the Council Decisions on relocation is a legal obligation, not a choice.”

“Relocation works if there is political will,” Brussels claimed.

In September 2015, EU ministers took up a plan to relocate over 100,000 migrants who have already reached the continent, throughout Europe. However, not all EU states have found the measures acceptable, saying that the migrant crisis cannot be solved through obligatory quotas.

The Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary have been staunchly opposing the plan. Despite warnings from Brussels, Budapest is determined to tighten its policy towards asylum seekers and carry on with its own border fence plan.