LANGUAGE TEST PLANS DROPPED

Ottawa drops English exam

TheStar.com

Move on immigrant test follows Star story

June 04, 2008
Lesley Ciarula Taylor
Immigration Reporter

Ottawa has dropped its idea of making all immigrants take a rigorous British-made language test to get into the country.

"They realized the ludicrousness of it," Alex Stojicevic, chair of the immigration section of the Canadian Bar Association, said yesterday.

"The optics of it were terrible. Telling Americans they need a language test to come to Canada makes us look silly."

Stojicevic wrote to Immigration Minister Diane Finley three times to object to the rule change and Monday night got a call from Leah Olson, Finley's senior policy adviser, with the news the immigration lawyers had won.

The Star published a story Monday about the three-hour International English Language Testing System exam created at the University of Cambridge in England. Immigration officials championed its impartiality and efficiency, but language experts objected to its academic tone and un-Canadian content.

The ministry proposed all immigrants, without exemption, take the three-hour International English Language Testing System exam – or a French equivalent – already used by Britain and Australia to judge how well newcomers speak English. A mandatory test at one of hundreds of testing centres around the world would make the system fairer, quicker and more efficient, the government said when it proposed the changes in April. Immigration lawyers had wanted exemptions for native English speakers or lower pass marks for tradespeople.

"It was just a simple proposal. It's not moving forward," was all Finley press secretary Tim Vail would say.

That means the status quo remains and prospective immigrants can produce their own documents to prove how well they speak English, or take the IELTS test.

If the government wants a fair and efficient test, Carleton University Professor Janna Fox of the School of Linguistics has a plan ready to go. "A team of Canadian experts could quickly come up with a practical, efficient, economical and Canadian solution" that visa offices could use around the world, she said. "It isn't as if we don't have a long history of excellent test development."