CANADA AND PHILIPPINES SIGN LABOUR ACCORD

The following item has been published today by The Manila Bulletin Online:

RP, Canada sign labor accord

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Needed: 30,000 skilled workers a year RP, Canada sign labor agreement; British Columbia needs 30,000 workers a yearThe Canadian government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Philippines to address the shortage of skilled workers in the Canadian province of British Columbia, the Canadian Ministry of Economic Development said yesterday.
Canadian Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen and Labor Secretary Arturo Brion signed the accord last Jan. 29. The agreement seeks to strengthen relations between British Columbia (BC) employers and Philippine recruiters.
"The British Columbia economy is growing at a rate faster than the overall Canadian economy and definitely faster than the overall American economy," Hansen said.
The agreement caters to Canadian companies engaged in tourism and hospitality, retail, and construction industries that are in need of skilled workers.
"To maintain this momentum, we need to attract 30,000 workers per year with specific skills from outside British Columbia," he said.
Secretary Brion said the Philippine government is receptive to partnering on international recruitment.
"Our agreement with BC truly confirms the opening of a new chapter of sharing Filipino labor with other countries through contract migration," he said.
Earl Wilde, president of the BC Hotel Association, said the memorandum of understanding will provide British Columbia employers "effective, quicker access to foreign workers."
"We are looking to attract temporary or permanent immigrants in areas where we have labor shortages," he said.
The Philippines is the third largest source country for immigrants to British Columbia, the Canadian Ministry of Economic Development said.
It said the memorandum is a commitment under WorkBC, the provincial action plan to address skills shortages in the Canadian province.
With more than a million new job openings expected over the next 12 years, and only 650,000 young people in the K-12 school system, meeting labor market demands will be a key challenge over the coming decade, the ministry said.
It said by 2011, the majority of Canada’s labor force growth is expected to come from immigration.

http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN20080131115864.html

CANADA AND PHILIPINES SIGN LABOUR ACCORD

ANOTHER ALLEGED US CRIMINAL SEEKS "REFUGEE" STATUS IN CANADA

Alleged killer seeks refugee status

Darah Hansen
Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A California man arrested in Fort Langley Friday in connection with a grisly murder in his home state is seeking to remain in Canada as a refugee in an effort to avoid facing the death penalty across the border.
Details of the background of Arthur Charles Carnes IV began to emerge Tuesday, the same day the 36-year-old caretaker of a rural property in Sacramento County made his first appearance before the Immigration and Refugee Board in Vancouver.
Carnes - who also goes by the names Chuck Carnes and Ned Kelly - is linked to a website that invites discussion and advice on how to make explosives, The Sun has learned.
RCMP have described him as a "survivalist" with "anti-government tendencies."Carnes is wanted in Sacramento for the first-degree murder of 41-year-old Matthew Seybert. He is also charged with stealing Seybert's identity.
Seybert's dismembered body was found Dec. 8 in a creek close to the 15-hectare rental property he shared with Carnes.
Seybert - a lawn mower repairman - was reported missing Nov. 18, around the same time Carnes disappeared.
A two-month manhunt launched by Sacramento County investigators ended Friday.
Carnes was arrested on an immigration warrant by RCMP at a home in Fort Langley.
Police suspected Carnes had illegally entered British Columbia after learning Seybert's ATM card had been used between California and the Canadian border.A search of the home where he had been staying uncovered an automatic assault weapon, ammunition and, according to RCMP, "evidence connected to the murder in California."
Initially only Carnes was arrested in connection with the police raid. However, criminal charges in connection with the case were sworn against a second man over the weekend.
Christopher Rempel is alleged to have helped Carnes get over the border into Canada. Rempel appeared in Surrey Provincial Court Monday on a charge of conspiracy. However, that charge was stayed.
In an interview Tuesday, Crown counsel John Labossiere said his office determined it was unlikely to get a conviction in the case. That decision was made "after consulting with senior members of the RCMP investigation team," he said.
Tuesday was also the day Carnes was to appear, via video conference from his jail cell at the North Fraser Pre-Trial Centre, for a detention review before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
The hearing was quickly closed to the public, however, after Carnes said he would be seeking refugee status.
The matter has since been adjourned to Feb. 7.
Immigration lawyer Phil Rankin said he has spoken with Carnes about taking on the case and is prepared to represent him.
At issue in the case are fears his client may be put to death if he is sent back to California, and subsequently convicted of murder, Rankin said.
Canada has refused to send even convicted killers over the border without first gaining assurances from U.S. officials they will not seek capital punishment.
The U.S. could move to extradite Carnes should it grow frustrated with Canada's immigration process. However, extradition is a much more legally complicated and time-consuming route than deportation, requiring a formal hearing of the B.C. Supreme Court and the agreement of the Minister of Justice.
A deportation order requires a much lower standard of evidence and could potentially be concluded in a matter of weeks.
Carnes's refugee claim could delay his deportation, but is unlikely to ultimately hold much water with the IRB. Carnes's status as a foreign national charged with first-degree murder will more than likely make him ineligible for consideration.
Convicted serial killer Charles Ng dragged out his extradition to California for six years before he was returned to the U.S. in 1991 to face trial for multiple killings. Ng was originally arrested in 1985 in Calgary and served a prison term of 41/2 years for shooting a security guard during a bungled shoplifting attempt. His extradition went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ng went to trial in 1998. He was convicted of 11 murders, of six men, three women and two young boys. He remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
First-degree murder remains punishable by death in California. Capital punishment in California, however, has been on hold indefinitely as a result of separate legal challenges to lethal injection in the U.S. Supreme Court and in federal court in San Jose.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=0dc20a56-6b9f-444e-a5c4-7516074a3896&k=68900

WHY DO CRIMINALS CHOOSE CANADA?

Whey do criminals on the run choose Canada? I would be it is not for the fine weather and sunshine. the word is out that Canada is soft, even when a criminal is caught. See this story from the Sacramento Bee:

Galt-area slaying, ID-theft suspect arrested in Canada

By Ryan Lillis

Published 3:20 pm PST Monday, January 28, 2008

A 36-year-old man suspected of fatally shooting another man who lived on the same Galt-area property last year has been arrested in British Columbia.
Arthur Charles Carnes was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Friday in Langley, about 10 miles north of the U.S.-Canadian border, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff's Department news release. Carnes was arrested on an immigration warrant and, following a deportation hearing, will be handed over to sheriff's detectives, authorities said.
He faces murder and identity-theft charges in Sacramento, authorities said.
Carnes is suspected in the killing of 41-year-old Matthew Seybert, whose body was found in Laguna Creek on Dec. 8, officials said. Seybert had been missing for more than three weeks when his body was found.
According to sheriff's investigators, Carnes had been using Seybert's ATM card. Detectives thought Carnes may have returned to the Sacramento area earlier this month, but an investigation by the Canadian Mounties and the local sheriff's major crimes bureau led authorities to a home in Langley, where Carnes was arrested without incident, according to the sheriff's news release.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/668525.html

The Laibar Singh deportation saga continues unabated...Now the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Stockwell Day, says that this bogus refugee claimant will be deported "at some point". What does exactly mean "at some point", Mr. Day? A day? A year? Five years? I suppose that "at some point" can also mean "after a Federal election" ....meanwhile, the mockery of justice continues and encourages rule by the mob. See story:

Singh will be deported, border agents are assured

By Ian Bailey

The Globe and Mail (Canada), January 22, 2008

Vancouver -- Border agents in B.C. have been assured by their managers that Laibar Singh, a paralyzed refugee claimant from India, will be deported at some point, says the head of the national border-guards union. 'It's not a question of if, but when it's going to be executed,' said Ron Moran, president of the Customs and Excise Union. 'That's what they have been told.' He was referring to a conversation yesterday with one of his union leaders in British Columbia, where some officers in the removals unit of the Canada Border Services Agency have expressed frustration with the way managers are handling Mr. Singh's case. Federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, responding to union suggestions that the Singh case is causing a morale problem among border agents, congratulated officers yesterday for successfully completing 12,000 removal orders. Mr. Day said he would not talk about the specifics of Mr. Singh's case, but noted the government expects individuals who have exhausted all their appeals to obey the law. 'There may be a time or two in those 12,000 removals where border officers need to show some sensitivity in a particular situation. The officers know that does not detract from their responsibility. They are capable, highly trained individuals.' Mr. Singh, 48, came to Canada from India on a false passport in 2003. His appeals to stay in Canada have been complicated by the fact that he was left a quadriplegic by a medical crisis that has variably been described as an aneurysm and spinal infection. He has been provided shelter in Sikh temples, most recently the Guru Nanak temple in Surrey, where he is being cared for by supporters and doctors who are donating their services. Two efforts to remove Mr. Singh have been called off due to rallies of hundreds of his supporters. As first reported in The Globe and Mail this week, Mr. Moran has expressed concerns about the suggestion that the case of Mr. Singh has gone on too long, frustrating B.C.-based members of his union. A confidential assessment of the situation, prepared for Mr. Moran by a B.C. employee of the agency's removals unit, said most officers feel 'not removing Mr. Singh makes us look impotent.' The author of the assessment says officers are 'very frustrated about how the case is being handled, and how it makes us look.' Mr. Moran said he is hoping to discuss the issue with Alain Jolicoeur, president of the CBSA, during a meeting today. He said he expected there would be aspects of the case Mr. Jolicoeur would disclose for a frank discussion because Mr. Moran would not then disclose them to the media. 'There may be things he can share with me that I won't share,' he said. Mr. Day said deportation orders stand whether or not their subjects are in sanctuary. 'They are in defiance of the law if they are not subjecting themselves to that removal order. That is the state of the situation,' he said. But the minister did not offer any timetable for action against Mr. Singh.

IT INDUSTRY FACES LABOUR CHALLENGES

Labour shortage could cripple Canada's tech industry: report

David George-Cosh, Financial Post

Published: Monday, January 21, 2008

Canada's technology companies will soon face a shortage of workers that could cripple the sector and deal a harsh blow to the Canadian economy, according to a report published by a coalition of industry professionals.
More than 90,000 jobs in the information technology sector will need to be filled in the next three to five years and could potentially impact the Canadian economy to the tune of $10.6-billion, said Conference Board of Canada vice-president of organizational effectiveness, Dr. Michael Bloom.
"The problem is much bigger than any of us at the Conference Board has identified," said Mr. Bloom.
A "perfect storm" of socio-demographic factors, negative perceptions of the tech sector following the bubble burst of 2002 and a significant drop in university enrolment in IT programs across Canada has all come together to create this dire scenario, said Mr. Bloom.
The Conference Board's report says that while more than 600,000 Canadians are employed in the IT sector, 31,000 of those will soon retire and another 58,000 will be needed to plug in forthcoming productivity gaps. Furthermore, the report found that each vacant position represents an average cost to the Canadian economy of $120,000 per year.
To combat that problem, more than three dozen companies that span the gamut of the technology industry have formed together under the "Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's IT Skills" moniker. Some of the companies include cable giant Rogers Communications Inc., Internet hardware maker Nortel Networks Corp., transportation manufacturer Bombardier Inc. and retailer Canadian Tire Corp.
"If you don't do anything about it, everyone [will] chase after the same talent," said Stéphane Boisvert, president of Bell Canada Inc.' enterprise group, who is leading the coalition group.
Some of the solutions the coalition intends on focusing on is marketing tech to high schools in hopes that more students will enroll in tech-specific post-secondary fields and convincing the federal government to loosen immigration regulations to easily allow more highly-educated workers to enter and work in Canada.
Still, any efforts to inject new blood into the sector won't happen overnight. According to Statistics Canada, tech employees earn 45% more than the average Canadian and any move to offer a higher premium to attract untapped workers may force companies to offshore their workforce, said Paul Swinwood, president and CEO of the Information and Communications Technology Council.
Yesterday's announcement was only the beginning of what Mr. Boisvert hopes will convince industry and government officials to swiftly act to fix the alarming issue. Monte Solberg, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, has already been briefed on the report as well as members of the Ontario and Quebec governments.
"The government is waiting to see what the industry can absorb," said Mr. Boisvert. "[But] it's a mistake for us to wait for them. We need to act now."

UNREPENTANT CANADIAN TERRORIST GETS LIFE IN PRISON

Canadian Terrorist Gets Life

Tried In U.S.; Jabarah pleaded guilty to plotting embassy attacks

Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Saturday, January 19, 2008

TORONTO - Mohammed Jabarah was 18 when he left behind his comfortable suburban home in southern Ontario and made his way to the terrorist training camps on the dusty plains of eastern Afghanistan.
Yesterday in a New York courtroom, Jabarah, now 26, appeared before a U.S. federal judge to be sentenced to life in prison for his brief but remarkable career as a globetrotting Canadian al-Qaeda terrorist.
Also known as Sammy and Abu Hafs al Kuwaiti, Jabarah has pleaded guilty to overseeing a terrorist cell that attempted to bomb the U.S. embassies in Manila and Singapore until the plot was thwarted in 2001.
"I am pleased to see that a self-confessed terrorist has appropriately been dealt with by the full force of the law," Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public Safety, said. "Terrorism is a global phenomenon and Canada, along with its allies, is not immune to this threat."
U.S. prosecutors asked for a life term on the grounds that Jabarah was irredeemably devoted to the cause of Osama bin Laden, and as proof they cited a letter in which he wrote, "And if they release me, then I will kill until I am killed."
A sentencing memorandum claimed that while feigning cooperation with investigators, Jabarah plotted to kill the FBI agents and prosecutors working on his case, stashing away steak knives and nylon rope as well as bomb plans and devotional notes to bin Laden.
The Jabarah case has been closely watched by counterterrorism analysts trying to understand why youths living in Western countries are embracing the ideology of bin Laden, and in some cases committing acts of violence.
According to officials familiar with his case, Jabarah was radicalized by an extremist cleric during summer trips to Kuwait, where he was born, but he also hung out with extremists in Canada and fuelled his views online. "Fifty per cent of it was on the Internet," the official said.
Jabarah grew up in St. Catharines, one of four sons of a middle-class Kuwaiti-Canadian family of Iraqi origin. After graduating from high school,
he travelled to Pakistan, where Libyans helped him cross into Afghanistan.
He was part of a trio of would-be jihadists that included his older brother, Abdul Rahman Jabarah, a Canadian university student, and his best friend Anas Al-Kandari, the son of a wealthy Kuwaiti family.
After meeting bin Laden, Jabarah officially joined al-Qaeda by pledging bayat, an oath of allegiance, and the terror mastermind sent him to Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, the architect of the 9/11 attacks, who trained him in Karachi.
One day before 9/11, Jabarah was sent to Southeast Asia to help a local terrorist cell organize the embassy bombings, but Singaporean security authorities found out about it and Jabarah fled to Thailand and Oman, where he was arrested.
Two Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers accompanied him back to Canada and for the next two weeks, Jabarah provided detailed confessions. CSIS informed the RCMP but Jabarah was never charged in Canada. Police did not believe there was enough evidence to make a case.
Instead, CSIS convinced Jabarah to surrender to the FBI. He signed an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department in which he agreed to plead guilty and co-operate. Last year, a Canadian government watchdog agency said CSIS had violated Jabarah's constitutional rights by detaining him without cause and failing to provide him with a lawyer.
U.S. prosecutors said yesterday that while Jabarah was initially co-operative, and provided useful intelligence, he changed after his friend Al-Kandari was killed during an attack on U.S. Marines training in Kuwait.
Investigators searched his room and found the knives, letters and a newspaper article about Al-Kandari's death. Atop the article he had written: "By Allah I will Revenge your death." Also found was an article about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and an accompanying photo of lead hijacker Mohammed Atta. On Atta's forehead, Jabarah had written: "Commander of 11 September units, May God bless his sole."
Although Jabarah pleaded guilty in 2002, the case had proceeded in complete secrecy until yesterday's sentencing.
In the courtroom, Jabarah said he was opposed to terror-ism and violence and had been brainwashed by bin Laden but U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones said his actions spoke for themselves and imposed the maximum sentence.
Of the three young friends that trained together in Afghanistan, Jabarah is the sole survivor. Following Al-Kandari's death in Kuwait, Abdul Rahman Jabarah was killed in 2003 in Saudi Arabia, where he was allegedly involved in a deadly al-Qaeda bombing of a Western housing complex.
The al-Qaeda leader who trained Jabarah and gave him his assignment, Khalid Sheikh Mohamad, is now imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, as is Hambali, the terrorist he worked with on the embassy plots.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=248253

LAIBAR SINGH CONTINUES TO MAKE A MOCKERY OF CANADIAN LAW

The following editorial, one of many, appeared in the National Post and reflect the growing frustration with the impotence of immigration authorities and the politicians who treat these mob with deference, when instead they should be arrested for obstruction of justice. Deport him fast, and charge his supporters to save the rule of law! Otherwise, this will be the first of many cases like this one. This is a joke and it is undermining Canada's reputation as a country of laws.

Deport Laibar Singh

National Post

Published: Friday, January 11, 2008

Canadian citizens dealing with the government at tax time can only dream of being treated with the deference we accord our incoming refugee applicants. Some will contend that this is to our credit, as it shows we are a caring nation. But a case like that of Laibar Singh, the disabled 48-year-old whose supporters have been fending off border agents at the Guru Nanak Sikh temple in Surrey, shows how easily caring can merge into gullibility.
Thousands of Sikh supporters swarmed the Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 10, successfully preventing Mr. Singh from being sent home to Punjab. Now, with another deportation scheduled, they are blocking the authorities' access to Mr. Singh again, turning out by the hundreds in the dead of night to howl imprecations at the timid executors of justice. The question is no longer whether Canada is right or wrong to deport Mr. Singh; it is whether the issue shall be decided by the rule of law or by the mob.
Singh, a widower, arrived in Toronto from India with a forged passport in November, 2003, intending to find work in Canada and send money home to his four children. The Immigration and Refugee Board investigated his claims that he faced false accusations of being a member of a Sikh extremist group, and concluded that his supposed fear of torture at the hands of Punjabi police was "not credible."
Arrangements were made for his deportation from Montreal, but he skipped town and fled to Vancouver. It was there, as a fugitive, that he suffered the aneurysm that has left him paralyzed and unable to look after himself. The government of British Columbia has probably spent close to a million dollars on his care.
The ultimate absurdity is that in today's India Mr. Singh could have been receiving medical attention all along at a fraction of the cost -- assuming the munificence of his B.C.-based sympathizers followed its recipient to South Asia -- with plenty of money left over for the support of his family. But the recalcitrance of his backers has won him another round of hospital time funded by Canadian tax dollars, if he should need it --and then, when he is ready to be shipped off, they can organize another show of force at the airport and find another congenial temple in which to house him.
The danger here is that others will follow his example and create a growing industry of health-care refugees, adding to the universally acknowledged influx of bogus asylum claimants. It would be a dangerous novelty if Laibar Singh's health status became the basis of a "compassionate" exemption to the ordinary rules of refugee adjudication. The avenues of appeal already open to refugee claimants delay some cases by more than a decade.
Meanwhile, Singh's militant friends are turning the informal tradition of treating religious buildings as "sanctuaries" into a sour joke. The whole affair is a complete moral disaster -- one that grows worse with every minute the unfortunate gentleman stays on our soil.

NAZI LOSES APPEAL: TIME TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH

Here is the latest report on the infamous Seifert case, the Nazi living in the Vancouver area, as reported by Reuters, who was represented by the same lawyer who regularly represents Nazis and Holocaust deniers It is time to take out the trash and get rid of the criminals amongst us, and to make sure that they do not escape justice simply because they managed to stall for years and are now of old age:

Ex-Nazi guard loses Canadian extradition appeal

Thu Jan 17, 2008 5:47pm EST
By Allan Dowd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada's highest court refused on Thursday to hear the appeal of a former Nazi guard fighting extradition to Italy, where he was convicted of war crimes in World War Two.
But Michael Seifert's attorney said he expected to make a final appeal to Canada's federal justice minister to review the case and allow the Ukrainian-born man to remain in the country.
Seifert, 83, who has lived in Canada since 1951, has acknowledged being a guard at a prison in Bolzano, Italy, that held Jews and others headed to German concentration camps, but denied he murdered anyone.
An Italian military court convicted him in absentia in 2000 of torturing and killing nine people, and sentenced him to life in prison. Press reports said Seifert and another guard were called "The Beasts of Bolzano."
Seifert appealed, saying Canadian courts that approved turning him over to Italian authorities had ignored legal weaknesses in the Italian trial. The Supreme Court of Canada refused to review the lower court's rulings.
Defense attorney Doug Christie expressed disappointment.
Extraditing Seifert would ignore the findings a Canadian judge in November in a related citizenship case that officials had not fully proved he was guilty of war crimes, Christie said.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before," he added.
Despite questioning the war crimes accusation, the judge in November still stripped Seifert of his Canadian citizenship on the grounds that he lied about his Nazi past to gain entrance to Canada.
Seifert was born in 1924 in a town in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, and began work as a guard for the Nazi SD after the German occupation. He was transferred to Italy in 1944 and stayed there until the war ended.
He eventually moved to Vancouver where he was employed as a mill worker and raised a family. He was arrested by Canada in 2002 at Italy's request.
Canada barred former members of the Nazi SS and related units such as the Nazi SD from immigrating after the war because of their involvement in concentration camps and other war crimes.
The Canadian Jewish Congress praised the Supreme Court's refusal to hear the appeal, and urged the government to quickly remove Seifert to Italy.
Christie said he worried Seifert is in poor health. "Italy will not have long to display their trophy," he said.

CHINA CONCERNED ABOUT LAX CANADIAN REFUGEE POLICY

Concerns over lax Canadian refugee policy appear to be behind China's refusal to grant Canada "Approved Destination Status" (ADS) for Chinese tourism. The Chinese Ambassador to Canada has expressed those concerns to Embassy, a diplomatic newspaper, and given China's iron rule, I am pretty sure that the comments have been approved in advance by his superiors in Beijing. Needless to say, this is costing Canada billions, given the potential huge size of the Chinese market, at a time when the decline in the value of the US dollar and recession concerns in that country have resulted in a precipitous decline of US tourism to Canada. We could well be benefiting from Chinese tourism., but we are being penalized insted for our lax policies This is one more reason why our refugee determination system, famous for its naivete, MUST be reformed ASAP! Here is the article:

Refugee Concerns Behind Travel Status Delay: China

Ambassador worries Chinese tourists would exploit Canada's immigration policies if it were given Approved Destination Status, a concern experts say is a red herring.

By Jeff Davis

As frustration mounts over China's failure to grant Canada Approved Destination Status, which would open the door to greater numbers of Chinese visitors to the country, China's ambassador is pointing to immigration and refugee issues as one of the hang ups. Meanwhile, some say China is playing politics with ADS, holding back because of cooling diplomatic relations. Canada was among the first countries to apply for ADS in 1999, and has stewed as 138 countries have received it. ADS would allow large groups of tourists to visit Canada. When asked why Canada has not received ADS, Ambassador Lu Shumin said people in the tourist groups that would come with ADS approval may want to stay in Canada. "We have 1.3 billion people," he told Embassy after speaking to the Canada-China Friendship Society in Ottawa on Jan. 10. "If only a very tiny proportion of the population came here, what would happen if only a few of these tourists groups wanted to stay?" Mr. Lu said that there have been cases of Chinese coming to Canada on tourist visas, claiming refugee status, and staying for good. "We have quite a few cases here, and we haven't settled down these cases, because these people are taking advantage of your immigration policies and some of your political procedures," he said. "In our relationship, we don't want to see more and more cases like that. "We want to make sure that when tourists from China come to this country, they are happy, and when they go back they are also happy," he said. Mr. Lu also cited the case of Lai Changxing, an alleged smuggling kingpin who is in Canada on a refugee claim, and other such cases as irritants slowing the progress of ADS. "There are cases like that; there are many," he says. "I don't specify that as the major [issue], but certainly that is one." The Lai case has dragged on since 1999, when he claimed refugee status in Canada. Most recently, Justice Yves de Montigny overturned Mr. Lai's deportation order after a judicial review decision in April. This was done on the grounds that, despite diplomatic assurances from the Chinese he would not be tortured, Justice de Montigny still felt Mr. Lai was at risk. Don DeVoretz, director of the Centre for Research on Immigration and Integration in the Metropolis at Simon Fraser University, said the Chinese fail to understand that Canada cannot simply deport those who claim refugee status. "The fundamentals of refugee law, the legal structure and appeal, prohibit us from doing what they think is the right thing to do, which is deport these people," he added. "They really don't understand what refugee policy is all about," he said. "They don't understand this is due process. They don't get it." Mr. DeVoretz said the situation has been inflamed by other issues, such as the low-key but continual protest Falun Gong is mounting against the Chinese consulate in Vancouver. Issue Could Go to WTO While Mr. Lu pointed towards immigration and refugee issues as the sticking point, some say this is questionable, as the United States has received ADS. Peter Showler, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and specialist in immigration and refugee law, said that, ordinarily, refugees can make the same claims in both the U.S. and Canada. "My own assumption would be that the reasons for the difference would be political," he said. "There are not such exceptional differences in the refugee system that would explain the difference in exit control policy by the Chinese government." Randy Williams, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, also thinks the Chinese are withholding ADS for political reasons. "I think it's related to a cooling in the relationship between Canada and China," he said, adding that he suspects Canada's failure to deport Mr. Lai and the recent visit by the Dalai Lama have gotten under Chinese skin. Mr. Williams said that the Canadian tourism industry is losing out as a result. Not only are many Chinese barred from visiting, he said, Canadian tourism organizations are not permitted to advertise in the People's Republic. "I think it's a political message, and tourism is being used as a pawn in a greater game," he said. Mr. Lu said that while the two countries have an agreement in principal to reach an agreement on ADS, this doesn't set a timeline for granting ADS. Last week, Minister of International Trade David Emerson expressed his frustration with the issue after a meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming in Beijing. "I was here three years ago when we had agreement in principle to do the ADS deal," he told the press. "We still have not gotten to the point where we're moving forward with a serious negotiation." Mr. Emerson also threatened to bring the issue as an action before the WTO. "And so, when I look out there and I see 138 countries, including the United States, who were given ADS, then I have to say, under trade law, this is looking more and more like discrimination. Sergio Marchi, president of the Canada China Business Council, said WTO action is "a tool worth considering." He said that when cases are to be brought before WTO dispute settlement bodies, the majority of them are resolved informally before the formal process begins. "This can act as an instrument to push the two sides to discuss and hopefully amicably resolve the long running tourism issue," he said.

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.phpdisplay=story&full_path=/2008/january/16/china/

OTTAWA TRYING TO FIND WAYS TO PROMOTE SKILLED MIGRATION

The Minister of Finance has been quoted as saying that Ottawa is looking for ways to keep talented people in the country. The Canadian Press report is below. However, I have a good solution to fix the problem immediately: process applications of Skilled Workers ahead of everyone else, give top priority to those who are working in Canada already, stop wasting valuable resources on bogus refugees who are clogging the system and costing millions of dollars in processing, make new immigrants wait until they can demonstrate that they are financially established before they can sponsor family members from "back home", and REDUCE INCOME AND PAYROLL TAXES for all Canadians to stem the brain drain. Make people who come want to stay and appreciate that they are part of a select group allowed to become Canadians, rather than depreciate the value of citizenship by allowing it to be handed to fraudsters and cheats, or to those who have no skills and whose only claim is to have managed to find a resident family member to sponsor them. Reward those with demonstrated talent and discourage mediocre applicants who are unlikely to find a job. Reduce red tape and unnecessary regulation, and encourage the private sector to participate in the process of immigrant selection more actively.

Flaherty says Ottawa looking for ways to keep skilled workers in Canada

CALGARY - Ottawa needs to find ways to help Canada hold on to its skilled workers and draw talented immigrants to the country, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday as he held pre-budget consultations in Calgary - a city that is all too familiar with labour shortages.
Flaherty met with business leaders and academics over breakfast to discuss what measures the government should take to ensure that Canada "keeps its best and brightest, attracts the most desirable immigrants, encourages as many people as possible to enter the work force and rewards Canadians for their hard work while respecting the government's fiscal goals."
He said population and labour shortages are some of Canada's "most daunting economic challenges" in the years ahead.
Alberta and the three other western provinces have been experiencing labour shortages, especially in skilled trades and professions working in the booming energy sector. Workers from across Canada have flocked to the northern Alberta oilsands sector, where billions of dollars of new investments to expand heavy oil output have led to big wage increases for workers and shortages of everything from steel and machinery to big trucks and other equipment.
The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has called for the federal budget to include tax cuts and other incentives for retirees to return to the workforce. One of the suggestions proposed last year was to craft more flexible retirement plans to encourage older people to continue working.
The Certified Management Accountants of Canada said Ottawa isn't doing enough to boost this country's human capital.
In a statement Tuesday outlining its recommendations to the Competition Policy Review Panel, CMA Canada said Canada should offer a scholarship program to attract talented students from abroad and make it easier for them to stay here once they've completed their studies.
"Enhancements to immigration policy should be made such as establishing a longer-term work permit beyond the current maximum two year limit, to encourage gifted foreign graduates to stay in Canada and help Canada's economy benefit from our investment in education," the group said in a statement.
The Calgary meeting was the last of Flaherty's consultations, which began last year. A summary meeting will be held in Ottawa next month and the budget will be handed down shortly thereafter.
Flaherty noted that his government has pledged $190 billion in tax relief over the next five years and suggested there may be more to come.
"Our government is establishing a proud legacy of tax relief but we can and we must do more. We believe Canadians still pay too much tax in this country," he said.
One of Flaherty's aides said later any additional tax reduction won't make dramatic cuts like the ones announced in a mini-budget in October but will look for ways to introduce more tax relief over the coming years.
In his speech, Flaherty urged provincial governments to follow Ottawa's lead and slash its corporate taxes - especially in Central Canada, where the manufacturing sector has been feeling the pinch of a high dollar and a slump in exports of everything from cars and auto parts to paper and lumber.
"If you reduce those taxes, businesses can plan ahead, they can invest more in modern technology and equipment," he said.
"They can become more productive. If they're more productive they're more competitive and that's how we make sure that we have a strong manufacturing sector in Canada by letting business breathe in this country."
In another development, Flaherty said the federal government does not plan on changing its rules on bank ownership despite the fact that Canadian banks have been struggling due to the U.S. credit crisis.
In its submission to the Competition Policy Review Panel Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS), made public on Monday, CEO Rick Waugh urged the federal government to scrap the restrictions.
Current federal rules limit ownership stakes in large domestic banks to 20 per cent, making it impossible for big mergers or takeovers.
Despite the fact the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM) has posted billions of dollars in writedowns over the last few months, Flaherty said he's "comfortable with the state of Canadian banking" and doesn't want to take any action.
"Our Canadian banks are well capitalized," he said. "We have a strong banking system in Canada, which is a benefit for us, certainly. The issue of bank mergers is not a priority for this government."
Flaherty also held pre-budget consultations Monday in Vancouver, where he said Canada should avoid creating a patchwork of carbon taxes and greenhouse gas rules across the country.
The issue of carbon taxes is politically sensitive. Quebec became the first jurisdiction in Canada to put in place a green tax on carbon fuels in its last budget.
But the idea isn't popular in some other provinces, particularly Alberta and Ontario.

ALBERTA AND BC TRYING TO ATTRACT MORE FOREIGN WORKERS

New rules to woo foreign workers

Kelly Cryderman
Calgary Herald

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Employers will find it easier to bring janitors, construction labourers, meat cutters and other types of temporary foreign workers into Alberta and B.C. under new rules announced by the federal government Monday.
Human Resources and Social Development Minister Monte Solberg said his department is adding 21 more occupations to a pilot program that fast-tracks applicants from employers so they can bring temporary workers to Canada more quickly.
Paperwork for many occupations may take up to five months, the department said. But under the Expedited Labour Market Opinion pilot project -- which began last September -- it can take as little as five days.
British Columbia and Alberta, in particular, have seen the number of temporary foreign workers skyrocket as both provinces work to cope with labour shortages.
In Alberta, Solberg has predicted the province faces a potential shortfall of 100,000 workers over the next decade.
Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry Minister Iris Evans said the federal government needs to continue to find ways to draw workers to the province.
"I think the fact that British Columbia has the Olympics and we have this booming economy, for both, this pilot couldn't come at a better time," Evans said Monday.
However, some have criticized the federal and provincial governments' push to quickly increase the flow of foreign workers. The Alberta Federation of Labour has reported a litany of problems faced by temporary workers from other countries, including excessive rents charged by employers for substandard housing, jobs disappearing without notice and an increasing prevalence of illegal employment brokers.
After Ottawa's announcement Monday, a total of 33 occupations are now a part of the pilot project, including new additions such as industrial electricians, welders, petroleum engineers, food service supervisors, courier drivers and residential cleaning workers.

PRIVATE MP's BILL TO STEM FRAUDULENT MARRIAGES

It appears that a Federal MP of Indian origin has finally responded to public concerns about fraudulent marriages, by introducing a private member's Bill that would bar persons sponsored by Canadian citizens who take advantage of immigration laws to come to Canada and then dissolve their marriage upon arrival from sponsoring other spouses. The article below appeared in The Statesman, a newspaper from Calcutta, India. It remains to be seen whether the Bill would move further, or even whether the scheme proposed could pass a constitutional test. However, it is an interesting attempt to fix a serious problem, particularly in the Indian community. recent cases have demonstrated that there is an increasing number of people marrying unsuspecting Canadians for immigration purposes, and in some cases many Canadians have been financially ruined by the disastrous marriages. Note the colorful language of the article:

Motion in Canadian House to plug immigration loopholes

Statesman News Service

CHANDIGARH, Jan. 14: A motion has been moved in Canadian House of Commons seeking an amendment to immigration laws to prevent fraud in marriages. The motion was moved by Mr Gurbux Singh Malhi, a Canadian MP of Punjabi origin. Mr Malhi said that there had been several cases in which young men and women from India got married to a youth in Canada with the sole purpose of getting immigration. Once these persons reached Canada, they walk out of the marriage. There were even case of Indian girls reaching Canada but never going to their husbands' homes. People have been talking about such cases in the Canadian society and this is eroding the very institution of marriage. People in Canada are being cheated; their homes are shattered because of lacunae in the existing laws. Mr Malhi, who is a five-time MP from the constituency of Bramalea-Gore-Malton, is on a visit to India. He said that the motion, if accepted, would bring in change in the immigration law in Canada. Under the existing law, a person living in Canada can sponsor his or her Indian spouse. But in case a fraud is committed, the person with Canadian citizenship is barred from a applying for a fresh sponsorship for three years. This prevents the Canadians from re-marrying. However, the Indian man or woman, who actually comes to Canada on a sponsorship and commits a fraud, can sponsor a second spouse from India any time. Under the motion proposed by Mr Malhi, the Indian youth coming on marriage sponsorship should not be allowed to sponsor someone else for a period of five years. The motion may be debated in the next three-four months, he said. If passed, the new law will prove a deterrent to people who want to reach Canada by hook or by crook. Mr Malhi said in case fraud is proved, the laws in Canada provide for deportation. He also said he had taken up the issue of high refusal rate for visitors visa with the Canadian government. Genuine cases are being rejected. Visa has been refused even to people who wanted to visit Canada to attend the marriages of their children.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=185783

WIFE BEATER ORDERED OUT OF CANADA

Here is a recent decision of the Federal Court (in Montreal, original in French) concerning the deportation of a wife beater who tried to hide behind the fact that the was given refugee status in Canada. It remains to be seen if this convicted criminal will in fact be deported, or if he will manage to stall for years, as usual, based on a myriad of nonsense arguments. Here is the case:

Derbas c. Canada (Ministre de la Citoyenneté & l'Immigration)

Rachid Derbas, Applicant

and

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Respondent

Federal Court

M.M.J. Shore J.

Heard: November 13, 2007
Judgment: November 15, 2007
Docket: IMM-1923-07

M.M.J. Shore J.:

Introduction

1 Beating one's wife is no different than beating a third party, despite the contention of the applicant. For the purpose of interpreting the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act , S.C. 2001, c. 27, once section 36 of this legislation is applied, the finding of serious criminality, in itself, bears its own consequences.

2 Analyzing criminal inadmissibility, Mr. Justice Robert Décary noted in Cha v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) , 2006 FCA 126, [2006] F.C.J. No. 491 (QL):
[27] The section distinguishes between the criminality of permanent residents and that of foreign nationals. It distinguishes between offences committed in Canada and offences committed outside Canada. It distinguishes between offences that are qualified as "serious" (an offence punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years or an offence for which a term of imprisonment of more than six months has been imposed) and offences which, for lack of a better word, I will describe as "simple" (an offence punishable by way of indictment or two offences not arising out of a single occurrence).
[28] Parliament, therefore, wanted certain persons having committed certain offences in certain territories to be declared inadmissible, whatever the sentence imposed. Subsections 36(1) and (2) of the Act have been carefully drafted. Nothing was left to chance nor to interpretation.
. . .
[30] As I read subsection 36(3), Parliament has provided a complete, detailed and straightforward code which directs the manner in which immigration officers and Minister's delegates are to exercise their respective powers under section 44 of the Act. Hybrid offences committed in Canada are to be treated as indictable offences regardless of the manner in which they were prosecuted (paragraph 36(3)(a )). Convictions are not to be taken into consideration where pardon has been granted or where they have been reversed (paragraph 36(3)(b )). Rehabilitation may only be considered in defined circumstances (paragraph 36(3)(c )). The relative gravity of the offence and the age of the offender will only be a relevant factor where the Contraventions Act , S.C. 1992, c. 47 and the Young Offenders Act , R.S.C., 1985, c.Y-1 apply (paragraph 36(3)(e )).
[Emphasis added by the Court.]

Nature of Judicial Proceeding

3 This is an application for judicial review pursuant to subsection 72(1) of the IRPA, of a decision by an immigration officer of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) dated April 19, 2007, deciding that the application for permanent residence as a person in need of protection be dismissed pursuant to paragraph 36(1)(a ) of the IRPA.

Facts

4 The applicant, Rachid Derbas, is a citizen of Syria.

5 Mr. Derbas has been involved with the Kurdish party since secondary school.

6 In July 1998, Mr. Derbas had been arrested and tortured by four Syrian secret service agents. He was allegedly released the following day after he undertook not to work for the Kurdish party any longer. However, in the beginning of 1999, Mr. Derbas says that he discretely resumed his activities with this party. In April 1999, after learning of the arrest of three of his party associates, he hid at his aunt's home in Al-Hasakah.

7 On May 19, 1999, Mr. Derbas left Syria for Haraméya, in Turkey. On June 13, 1999, he left for Istanbul in order to head for Canada on June 15, 1999. When he arrived, he claimed refugee status, alleging that he feared persecution based on his Kurdish nationality.

8 On March 13, 2001, the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (Board) refused to grant refugee status. That same day, Mr. Derbas filed an application in the class of claimants not recognized as refugees in Canada through a procedure which became a preremoval risk assessment (PRRA) pursuant to the new Act (IRPA). Simultaneously, on December 10, 2001, he filed an application for permanent residence in Canada based on humanitarian and compassionate considerations (HC) and the risks of return.

9 On February 10, 2004, Mr. Derbas was convicted of three criminal offences that had been committed in Canada. Mr. Derbas pleaded guilty to one count of assault causing bodily harm on his ex-wife, an indictable offence under paragraph 267(b ) of the Criminal Code , R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46 (Code), liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years. He was also found guilty of failing to comply with a condition, an offence under paragraph 145(5.1)(b ) of the Code. Finally, Mr. Derbas was also found guilty of uttering threats, an offence described at section 264.1 of the Code. For all of these offences, Mr. Derbas was sentenced to 45 days of imprisonment and three years of probation (30 days for the offences described in paragraph 267(b ) and 264.1 of the Code and 15 days for the offence under 145(5.1)(b ) of the Code).

10 On January 11, 2006, the PRRA application filed by Mr. Derbas was approved. The officer, Charles Lajoie, having reviewed his PRRA application, had determined that Mr. Derbas was a person at risk if he were to return to his native country, Syria, in accordance with the terms of paragraph 95(1)(c ) of the IRPA.

11 On March 14, 2006, Mr. Derbas applied for permanent residence as a person in need of protection. This application was dismissed on April 19, 2007, by the CIC immigration officer.

12 Mr. Derbas considers that the decision of the immigration officer is based on erroneous findings of fact or law made in a perverse or capricious manner or without regard to the material before the officer which, accordingly, renders it inconsistent with the objective and spirit of the law.

13 Further, he submits that the immigration officer erred in law in his decision by breaching section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , Part I, Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) 1982, c. 11(the Charter), and the fundamental principles of justice.

14 The respondent submits that the adjudicator's decision is founded in fact and in law and that Mr. Derbas has not shown that this Court's intervention is justified.

Impugned Decision

15 The immigration officer determined that Mr. Derbas was inadmissible to Canada on grounds of serious criminality pursuant to paragraph 36(1)(a ) of IRPA, based on the fact that Mr. Derbas had been found guilty of assault under paragraph 267(b ) of the Code, an offence liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.

Issues

16
(1) Did the immigration officer err in refusing the applicant's permanent residence application on the pretext that he was inadmissible pursuant to paragraph 36(1)(a ) of the IRPA?
(2) Did the immigration officer render a decision that violates or denies the right guaranteed under section 7 of the Charter?

Analysis

Relevant legislative provision

17 An application for permanent residence as a person in need of protection is governed by section 21 of the IRPA. This section provides:

Permanent resident
21. (1) A foreign national becomes a permanent resident if an officer is satisfied that the foreign national has applied for that status, has met the obligations set out in paragraph 20(1)(a ) and subsection 20(2) and is not inadmissible.
Protected person
(2) Except in the case of a person described in subsection 112(3) or a person who is a member of a prescribed class of persons, a person whose application for protection has been finally determined by the Board to be a Convention refugee or to be a person in need of protection, or a person whose application for protection has been allowed by the Minister, becomes, subject to any federal-provincial agreement referred to in subsection 9(1), a permanent resident if the officer is satisfied that they have made their application in accordance with the regulations and that they are not inadmissible on any ground referred to in section 34 or 35, subsection 36(1) or section 37 or 38.

Résident Permanent
21. (1) Devient résident permanent l'étranger dont l'agent constate qu'il a demandé ce statut, s'est déchargé des obligations prévues à l'alinéa 20(1)a) et au paragraphe 20(2) et n'est pas interdit de territoire.
Personne protégée
(2) Sous réserve d'un accord fédéro-provincial visé au paragraphe 9(1), devient résident permanent la personne à laquelle la qualité de réfugié ou celle de personne à protéger a été reconnue en dernier ressort par la Commission ou celle dont la demande de protection a été acceptée par le ministre -- sauf dans le cas d'une personne visée au paragraphe 112(3) ou qui fait partie d'une catégorie réglementaire -- dont l'agent constate qu'elle a présenté sa demande en conformité avec les règlements et qu'elle n'est pas interdite de territoire pour l'un des motifs visés aux articles 34 ou 35, au paragraphe 36(1) ou aux articles 37 ou 38.
18 Paragraph 36(1)(a ) of the IRPA establishes the context in which a permanent resident application may be refused:

Serious criminality
36. (1) A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible on grounds of serious criminality for
(a) having been convicted in Canada of an offence under an Act of Parliament punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years, or of an offence under an Act of Parliament for which a term of imprisonment of more than six months has been imposed;
Grande criminalité
36. (1) Emportent interdiction de territoire pour grande criminalité les faits suivants:
a) être déclaré coupable au Canada d'une infraction à une loi fédérale punissable d'un emprisonnement maximal d'au moins dix ans ou d'une infraction à une loi fédérale pour laquelle un emprisonnement de plus de six mois est infligé;
19 In this case, Mr. Derbas admits that he was found guilty in Canada of the criminal offence under section 267(b ) of the Code which provides as follows:
Assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm
267. Every one who, in committing an assault,
. . .
(b ) causes bodily harm to the complainant,
is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months
Agression armée ou infliction de lésions corporelles
267. Est coupable soit d'un acte criminel et passible d'un emprisonnement maximal de dix ans, soit d'une infraction punissable sur déclaration de culpabilité par procédure sommaire et passible d'un emprisonnement maximal de dix-huit mois quiconque, en se livrant à des voies de fait, selon le cas:
[...]
b ) inflige des lésions corporelles au plaignant
(1) Did the immigration officer err in refusing the applicant's permanent residence application on the pretext that he was inadmissible pursuant to paragraph 36(1)(a) of the IRPA?

Standard of review

20 It has been consistently held in the case law that the appropriate standard for the judicial review of a decision varies according to the nature of the decision. For a question of law, the standard is that of correctness, for a question of fact, that of patent unreasonableness; and for a mixed question of fact and law, that of reasonableness. The Supreme Court of Canada confirmed this approach in Mugesera v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) , [2005] 2 S.C.R. 100 .

21 This question raised is one of mixed fact and law, therefore the reasonableness standard will be applied.

The merits of the officer's decision

22 Mr. Derbas was convicted of assault, an offence which is "an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months" [Emphasis added by the Court.] (Code, paragraph 267(b )).

23 The IRPA clearly establishes that a protected person can be given permanent residence status when his or her application complies with the Regulations and when that person is not inadmissible for one of the grounds contemplated in subsection 36(1) (IRPA, section 21).

24 Mr. Derbas alleges that he pleaded guilty to the offence punishable on summary conviction under section 267 of the Code, an offence liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding only eighteen months, and not an indictable offence, which in fact is not contemplated by paragraph 36(1)(a ) of the IRPA (Applicant's memorandum, page 20, paragraph 2).

25 When analyzing criminal inadmissibility, Décary J.A. notes in Cha , supra :
[27] The section distinguishes between the criminality of permanent residents and that of foreign nationals. It distinguishes between offences committed in Canada and offences committed outside Canada. It distinguishes between offences that are qualified as "serious" (an offence punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years or an offence for which a term of imprisonment of more than six months has been imposed) and offences which, for lack of a better word, I will describe as "simple" (an offence punishable by way of indictment or two offences not arising out of a single occurrence).
[28] Parliament, therefore, wanted certain persons having committed certain offences in certain territories to be declared inadmissible, whatever the sentence imposed. Subsections 36(1) and (2) of the Act have been carefully drafted. Nothing was left to chance nor to interpretation.
. . .
[30] As I read subsection 36(3), Parliament has provided a complete, detailed and straightforward code which directs the manner in which immigration officers and Minister's delegates are to exercise their respective powers under section 44 of the Act. Hybrid offences committed in Canada are to be treated as indictable offences regardless of the manner in which they were prosecuted (paragraph 36(3)(a )). Convictions are not to be taken into consideration where pardon has been granted or where they have been reversed (paragraph 36(3)(b )). Rehabilitation may only be considered in defined circumstances (paragraph 36(3)(c )). The relative gravity of the offence and the age of the offender will only be a relevant factor where the Contraventions Act , S.C. 1992, c. 47 and the Young Offenders Act , R.S.C., 1985, c.Y-1 apply (paragraph 36(3)(e )).
[Emphasis added by the Court.]

26 In a matter where the interpretation of section 36 of the IRPA was at issue and in which there was also an allegation like the one alleged by Mr. Derbas in this case, Madam Justice Danièle Tremblay-Lamer, stated the following in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Kelley , 2007 FC 82, [2007] F.C.J. No. 271 (QL), regarding the interpretation of subsection 36(3) of the IRPA:
[15] The respondent was convicted under section 264 of the Criminal Code , and therefore was liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.
[16] The applicant submits that as he could potentially be sentenced "up to and including ten years of imprisonment", the respondent meets the requirements of subsection 36(1) of the Act.
[17] The respondent submits that having been convicted of a summary offence he was only liable to a maximum term of imprisonment of six months rather than ten years, and therefore the IAD was correct in holding as it did.
[18] I disagree with the respondent. Subsection 36(3) of the Act is clear that offences that may be prosecuted either summarily or by indictment are deemed to be indictable offences, even where prosecuted summarily.
[19] Thus, I find that the IAD committed a reviewable error by incorrectly finding that the "maximum term of imprisonment is less than 10 years" in relation to subsection 264(3) of the Criminal Code . Clearly, this offence qualifies as "serious criminality" by virtue of subsection 36(1) as it was punishable for a term "not exceeding ten years", which necessarily includes the possibility of a ten-year sentence.
[20] In misinterpreting subsection 264(3) of the Criminal Code , along with subsections 36(1) and 36(3) of the Act, the IAD erred in its application of subsection 68(4) and section 197 of the Act. In the circumstances of this matter, the correct interpretation was that the respondent's stay of execution of the removal order was cancelled by operation of law and the appeal was terminated
[Emphasis in the original.]

27 The criminal offence provided under paragraph 267(b ) of the Code is nevertheless liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years. Accordingly, this observation alone is sufficient to engage subsection 21(2) of the IRPA and to support a finding that the permanent residence application filed by Mr. Derbas as a person in need of protection cannot be granted.
28 As Madam Justice Judith Snider points out in Hernandez v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) , 2005 FC 429, [2005] F.C.J. No. 533 (QL), at paragraph 6: "serious criminality [is defined] as being an offence which is either "punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years" or "for which a term of imprisonment of more than six months has been imposed"." Accordingly, she determines that Mr. Derbas falls within the ambit of paragraph 36(1)(a ) of the IRPA.

29 In this case, Mr. Derbas is also under the purview of paragraph 36(1)(a ) in that he is inadmissible for serious criminality and therefore inadmissible to Canada.

Conclusion

30 In this case, the immigration officer simply applied the IRPA provisions to the case before us. In light of the above, the officer did not at all err in his decision so as to justify the intervention of this Court.

(2) Did the immigration officer render a decision that violates or denies the right guaranteed under section 7 of the Charter?

31 Mr. Derbas alleges in his arguments that the officer breached the provisions of the Charter and that his deportation to Syria would breach section 7 of the Charter. He adds that these sections should be interpreted in light of international human rights standards.

32 The respondent submits that these arguments are premature and inappropriate and that the decision now being impugned is the one by an officer pursuant to subsection 21(2) of the IRPA, refusing the application for permanent residence filed by Mr. Derbas.

33 To date, it has not been established that the Minister has decided to enforce a removal order against Mr. Derbas. It is therefore premature at this stage for him to raise his argument against a removal order.

34 The Court must point out, as the respondent indicates, that the PRRA application filed by Mr. Derbas was approved on January 11, 2006, the applicant is therefore a protected person within the meaning of the IRPA. Mr. Derbas is therefore subject to the principle of non-refoulement, recognized at subsection 115(1) of the IRPA (Tribunal record, results of pre-removal risk assessment application, page 16).

35 According to subsection 115(1), the protected person cannot be removed to a country where they would be at risk of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion or at risk of torture or cruel and unusual treatment or punishment (IRPA, subsection 115(1)).

36 The IRPA nevertheless provides an exception to this principle of non-refoulement, for persons regarding whom the Minister has issued an opinion that the person should not be present in Canada based on either a danger to the public, a danger to Canada's security, or the nature and seriousness of his or her past actions in Canada. There is nothing in this matter that shows that such an opinion has been or will be issued against Mr. Derbas.

37 For all of these reasons, Mr. Derbas has not shown that this Court's intervention is justified.

Judgment

THE COURT ORDERS that
1. The application for judicial review be dismissed;
2. No serious question of general importance be certified.

BEWARE OF IDENTITY THIEVES!

The following story appeared in the ABA Journal and every traveler should be on guard. As you can see, ID thieves are not only shady characters in dark rooms, but can also be sophisticated and educated people who use their knowledge for nefarious purposes:

Internet Law

ID Fraud Case a Cautionary Tale for Business Travelers

Posted Jan 10, 2008, 11:34 am CST By Martha Neil

A Colombian engineer pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami yesterday to a 16-count indictment concerning an identity fraud scheme that netted him up to $750,000 from unsuspecting business travelers worldwide and could easily be copied by other thieves.
To perpetrate the crimes, Mario Alberto Simbaqueba Bonilla, 40, simply checked into high-class hotels and installed keystroke "spy" software on computers in their business centers, reports the Miami Herald. Then, as business travelers and other hotel guests used the same computers to log into their personal accounts and conduct financial transactions, the spyware saved this information for Simbaqueba to retrieve remotely from another location.
Authorities say he installed spyware on computers in at least 25 hotels between 2004 and 2007, stealing the identities of at least 600 victims and using their funds and credit fraudulently obtained in their names to pay for a lavish globe-trotting lifestyle, the newspaper recounts. A former wife who is still at large allegedly cooperated in the scheme, helping Simbaqueba to conceal his whereabouts by allowing him to use her computer in Illinois as a base for his operations. The scheme reportedly was discovered only after 17 soldiers were fleeced of their payroll deposits and the Pentagon investigated, tracking an electronic evidence trail to him.
Simbaqueba faces a prison term of up to 10 years when he is sentenced in March on the conspiracy, fraud, and identity theft charges to which he pled guilty yesterday.
''I wish this was a complex scheme, but it was breathtakingly simple,'' says U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. Hence, other travelers who use hotel business centers are also vulnerable to such high-tech predators, he warns.
Most of the losses in Simbaqueba's case reportedly were paid by banks, brokerages, airlines and other corporations.

THIs IS A MOCKERY OF THE REFUGEE SYSTEM

The Laibar Singh case in Vancouver is beginning to make CBSA look like a bunch of impotent bunglers, and the Canadian refugee system as a big joke. A second attempt to deport this failed refugee claimant who has already had many days in court, has failed because the mob has managed again to thwart the rule of law. I really do not care about the merits of the case or lack thereof, but I do care about the message being sent to the world: "come to Canada by fraudulent means, use our refugee system, and if you do not like the result, you do not have to go as long as you have a personal mob to protect you with the complicity of a religious institution, and if you get sick, we will pay your bills too, even if it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, because we re nice Canadian bleeding hearts and we are worried that your friends may get upset if we enforce the law". I am sure this will inspire great confidence in Canada and its legal institutions. See article in today's Globe and Mail:

Singh case tests border agency's strength

Government risks appearing impotent if it keeps delaying deportation, adviser warns

IAN BAILEY
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
January 10, 2008 at 4:52 AM EST

VANCOUVER — The Canada Border Services Agency risks the appearance of impotence if it allows public protests to keep driving its agents away from deporting a paralyzed refugee claimant from India, a member of the agency's advisory committee says.
Don DeVoretz, also an economics professor at Simon Fraser University, made the comments yesterday after border agents, facing about 300 supporters of Laibar Singh at the Guru Nanak Temple in Surrey, called off a bid to take the 48-year-old man into custody. It was the second time in a month that protest has derailed their plans for Mr. Singh.
"They can't continue to go on doing this indefinitely," Prof. DeVoretz, co-director of SFU's centre of excellence in immigration studies, said in an interview. "Just repeating this process with the same outcome is not tenable."
Asked about the harm to the system, he said: "You can't try and enforce an order and have it rejected indefinitely. It makes them impotent."
But Prof. DeVoretz suggested it would be un-Canadian for officials to swoop in and secretly remove Mr. Singh by force. "This is not our tradition," he said. "That's not the kind of business we're in."
Instead, he proposed that Canada make a deal to take care of Mr. Singh's health issues when he is returned to India. Mr. Singh has said he won't be able to get proper medical treatment in India.
"That's the way out of it. It's the honourable way, the correct way, the Canadian way."
For several years, Prof. DeVoretz has been a member of the Canada Border Services advisory committee, which provides independent advice and acts as a sounding board on trends and developments that might affect the management of the border and priorities and operations of the agency. He noted that the 22-member committee does not deal with individual cases, but said he would be glad to offer his advice on the Singh case if asked.
He said he expects the issue could be a problem for the Conservatives if a federal election is called in the spring. "If we had an election this spring and this was an issue, it would be a cause célèbre."
Mr. Singh, who was granted sanctuary at the temple yesterday, entered Canada on a false passport in 2003. An aneurysm in 2006 left him a quadriplegic. With help from supporters, he took shelter in an Abbotsford temple in June after being ordered deported. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has twice extended Mr. Singh's stay, but a deportation order was issued in December.
Last month, a crowd of about 2,000 people at Vancouver airport forced the CBSA to call off an attempt to send Mr. Singh back to India.
And at about 4:30 a.m. yesterday, supporters forced yet another cancellation of a deportation effort. Mr. Singh's lawyer, Zool Suleman, had been informed the CBSA was coming to collect his client. Mr. Suleman rejected suggestions that the smaller crowd reflected a decline in support for his client.
"I think it suggests that people don't like waking up at 3 a.m. in the morning and coming out on a cold, wet day. This entire removal was structured in such a manner that there was the shortest possible amount of notice to Mr. Singh," he said.
"In light of that, it's amazing that two- to-three hundred people were there."
He said his client is pleased. "He's tired, but, over all, relieved not to be leaving."
Mr. Suleman said talks are under way with the CBSA to figure out what to do. He said agents told him they backed off because they wanted to respect the sanctity of the temple, saw the public support and were wary of creating tension by removing him, and wanted guidance from their superiors.
"There's a dialogue going on," he said. "We're hoping to communicate with them to see what the next step is."
Mr. Singh wants permanent residence status in Canada. "He has voluntary medical attention. He has a caregiver. He has a tremendous amount of support. He's obviously paralyzed and the medical opinion is that's not going to change so [the question] is how do we make him productive and integrated."
Paula Shore, a spokeswoman for the border agency, refused to comment on the specifics of the Singh case yesterday, but noted that her organization does not condone people hiding from deportation in places of worship.
"The fact that someone is hiding in a place of worship to avoid removal does not influence the government's decision concerning the case," she said. "Our goal is always to affect removal as expeditiously as possible once an order may be issued."
Mr. Day also would not comment on the Singh case, but told reporters yesterday he expects people to act on orders issued to resolve such immigration disputes. "We expect people to live by their word and by their commitment," he said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080110.wbcsingh10/BNStory/National/home

VERY INTERESTING ANALYSIS BY BROCK UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS

Brock Professors look into the future of Canada

By: Katherine Gottli
Posted: 1/8/08

While the New Year has only just begun, 2008 promises to be an interesting news year in Canada, but also all over the world. With the United States federal election to be held in November, the headlines over the next year will certainly be covered with information about the unique group of candidates all vying to take over the position from President Bush.Though the election will potentially overshadow Canadian news, it is not to say that there are not important Canadian issues to be dealt with in the New Year. According to John Sivell in the Department of Intercultural Studies at Brock University, "cultural contact and communication" are predicted to be very important provincial and national issues."Immigration policy issues with respect to the growing perception that Canada more and more needs to attract qualified newcomers, and yet is functioning far less effectively than some other nations (especially the United States) in terms of making it possible for newcomers actually to practise their trades or professions here [will be important in 2008]" said Sivell.This notion is echoed by Statistics Canada, which indicated that in 2005, even after two to four years in the Canadian job market, approximately 36 per cent of immigrants still had no connections to the job market, and just a little under 30 per cent were not able to find a job in their field. Along with immigration, the well-being of our already culturally diverse nation will be in the news this year, according to Sivell. Language issues, as well as the provision of medical and social services, will be hot topics for Canadians.To accompany the federal election in the United States, issues regarding the Canadian military and oil prices, both examined extensively over the past year, will still remain in the news in Canada in 2008. "The continuing national debate about Canada's role in Afghanistan, particularly in cultural terms [for example], the balance between military and development activity/spending, the appropriate stance in relation to religious/cultural practices, communication between Canada and the governments not only of Afghanistan but also of other NATO nations concerning the sharing of responsibilities ... if there is a federal election in 2008, this will be a key theme, for sure," Sivell said.Martin Head, professor of earth sciences at Brock, predicted in 2007 that over the next year the oil prices would continue to rise, and on Jan. 2, his prediction proved accurate as oil prices reached their all-time high of $100 per barrel.Head believes that the prices can be attributed to the "escalating industrialization of China and India, and of course by North America's gratuitous addiction to energy".While some may see this as a negative, Head believes that it will be beneficial for Canada's economy."This is very good news for Canada's natural resource industries - especially oil and gold - and the booming economies of Alberta and now Saskatchewan should run for a good while," Head said.While both Head and Sivell spoke mostly about issues relating to Canada, Sivell also mentions that international news dealing with (though not exclusive to) Kenya, Sudan, Iraq, Iran and Thailand will make headlines this year.

VERY WORRISOME BUT UNSURPRISING TREND

Canada is a haven to gangsters on the run

GARY MASON
Globe and Mail Update

January 7, 2008 at 7:09 AM EST

GUATEMALA CITY — Canada is becoming an attractive destination for Central American gang members running from the law or trying to escape police scrutiny, says an assistant prosecutor in charge of gangs.
Robert Morales, a prosecutor with the Ministerio Publico, Guatemala's criminal justice branch, says he knows of gang members from this Central American capital who are seeking refugee status in Canada.
"We know that there are members of Mara 18 and MS-13 who are in Canada and are seeking to stay there," Mr. Morales said. "I came across a gang member who was working in a call centre here. He'd just returned from a long stint in Ontario. We're hearing about Canada more and more often in connection with gang members here."
It was recently reported that Ernesto Roberto Contreras Mendoza, an El Salvadoran member of the notorious MS-13 gang, was walking the streets of British Columbia. He has had his application for refugee status denied but can't be deported until criminal charges he is facing for assault and uttering threats are dealt with. Meantime, he is out on bail.
"There is no question that Canadian authorities are concerned about the worst gang elements from Central America migrating north and escaping some of the heat down here," Mr. Morales said.
Superintendent John Robin, head of the RCMP's integrated gang task force, said in an interview Central American gang members are looking to escape a crackdown on their activities in countries south of the Mexican border.
"I think they [gang members] have a feeling that police here won't treat them in the harsh manner they get down there," Supt. Robin said.
He hastened to add, however, that we are not seeing Central American gang members in Canada in anywhere near the numbers that exist in the United States. He said part of the reason the RCMP is working with justice officials in Guatemala is to build ties and intelligence connections that will help keep an eye on the movement of gangsters down there.
"We want to avoid ending up like the U.S., which is dealing with the problem of Central American gangsters on a much bigger scale," Supt. Robin said.
Gangs are one of the central issues facing political leaders and judicial authorities in Central America. El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, brutalized by decades of civil war and grinding poverty, are home to the greatest concentration. Some put the overall number of gang members in Central America at more than 100,000.
In Guatemala, as elsewhere, the gangs make money mostly by setting up extortion rackets. They levy impuestos, or self-styled taxes, against bus drivers, store owners and home owners who operate or live in their neighbourhood. Gangs have even been known to levy "rape taxes" on the parents of young girls. The monthly payoffs are made to ensure the safety of their child.
Mara 18 and MS-13 have become far more vicious than any other gangs. Both have their roots in Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s, when more than one million people fled Central America, mostly El Salvador, amid political violence and civil war. Mara 18 is an offshoot of 18th Street gang (Mara is Salvadoran slang for gang). MS-13 is short for Mara Salvatrucha, whose members are initiated with a 13-second beating.
The children of those who arrived in Los Angeles formed gangs to protect themselves against the gangs that already existed there. Many of these kids and their parents were deported in the 1990s, returning to Central America, where gangs have been thriving since.
Mara 18 and MS-13, who have long marked themselves with massive and intricate tattoos, have become notorious for their trademark beheadings, mutilations and the torture-killings of rival gangsters and informants. In recent years, governments, police and citizens have begun taking a more hard-nosed approached to gang members, many of whom have been rounded up and shot for simply being marked with gang tattoos.
Gang members have taken to putting their tattoo markings in less obvious places and even adopting a preppy dress style to avoid the attention of those on the lookout for them.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080107.wxmasonside07/BNStory/International/

ANOTHER COLOSSAL WASTE OF MONEY BY THE FEDS

The proposed Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg (popularly a.ka. "Winterpeg"), will cost taxpayers over $ 100 ( before cost overruns, of course!) and serve no purpose other than becoming a bone of contention amongst different ethnic groups. Rather than wasting such an enormous amount of money in a "white elephant", why does not the government use the money to fix its mistakes in education, health care, and even immigration policy? I can tell you that an injection of 4100 to hire more visa officers overseas would go a long way....This is just a waste of funds for political expediency, in a place where no one is rushing to go to. When was the last time you heard someone say "I am going on vacation to Winnipeg"...Pleeeeez...See this commentary:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2008/01/03/4750194-sun.html

INDIA WILL IMPLEMENT ADVANCED PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEM

The following article was published today in the Times of India. It is obvious that India wishes to be considered "safe" for the purposes of travel, so its burgeoning economy can continue to grow with massive trade in services and allow its citizens to fly around the world with minimal security concerns. Now...if they could only manage to build a decent airport that is not a dump with a good road leading to it, and announce plane delays on a timely basis rather than two hours after their supposed departure, it would be an even nicer place to do business (oh, yes, and breaking up telephone monopolies and cleaning out air pollution and garbage would be great too!)

Advance flier info system from April

4 Jan 2008, 0015 hrs IST,Vishwa Mohan

NEW DELHI: India will have an advance passenger information service (APIS), on the lines of the system in use in US, which will provide information such as passport and travel details about incoming passengers allowing immigration authorities at six Indian airports to scan the manifests for likely terror threats. The advanced technical system will be operational at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Cochin airports from April 1. After running a pilot project for Air India, all international airlines will now have to provide information about passengers and crew within 15 minutes of taking off on flights bound for India. At present, besides the US, APIS is operational in nine countries: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, South Korea, China, Mexico, South Africa and Japan. APIS was installed in the US after 9/11 and there have been occasions when aircrafts have been diverted after American authorities objected to the presence of certain persons on a flight. But the advance information has allowed immigration officers to run checks on databases and also look for indicators like countries visited and nationality. The system has been criticised as a form of profiling where mere nationality or ethnicity can be a reason for questioning, but security agencies feel that it gives them valuable lead time. It is also felt that immigration clearance could become easier for those who don't fall in suspect categories. Union home ministry has decided to go ahead with APIS and pilots of international flights will pass on travellers' names, date of birth, nationality, sex, passport number, country issuing the passport, country of permanent residence and visa number as well as date and place of issue to immigration authorities at destination airports. "The decision to operationalise APIS at six airports from April 1 was taken recently in a high-level meeting held by home secretary Madhukar Gupta. Civil aviation and tourism officials also took part where they discussed modalities to make it operational at remaining airports by the end of this year," said a senior home ministry official. Though the passenger information would first be passed on to the immigration authorities for faster immigration clearance at airports, the data will also be shared with security agencies to check presence of any "suspicious element" on board from their records. This system is currently being tested at Delhi's international airport.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Advance_flier_info_system_from_April_/articleshow/2673126.cms

INTERESTING ARTICLE ON MULTICULTURALISM

Canada has been viewed by governments and international bodies the world over as a leading example of the successful accommodation of ethno-cultural diversity. Yet in 2007, the multicultural model came under intense scrutiny — a trend likely to continue into 2008 — and many now argue the policy has outlived its usefulness. See this interesting article:

http://en.epochtimes.com/tools/printer.asp?id=63557