Tuesday, December 30, 2008

HERE IS A LOONEY-TOON IF I HAVE EVER HEARD OF ONE...

It never ceases to amaze me that there is a wacko lurking in every corner! This looney-toon blames immigration and "moral degradation"...look who is talking!I think this guy forgot that the Russian population is decreasing by 700,000 people a year due to low birth rate and mass emigration, and by a system controlled by corrupt oligarchs which has accumulated all the state's wealth by pillaging resources. I also do not believe that Russia is a particularly "moral" country :-) Buy...this is good for a laugh....But who paid for this "research"?


As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S. - WSJ.com

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

RECESSION IMPACTS IMMIGRANTS

Established immigrants increasingly stuck in low-education jobs

CARLY WEEKS

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

December 23, 2008 at 8:55 AM EST

Could a recession prevent university-educated immigrants from finding a career in Canada?

A new report from Statistics Canada reveals that the proportion of degree-holding immigrants who ended up working as store clerks and taxi drivers even after living in Canada for more than a decade rose significantly after the last recession in the early 1990s.

The change indicates that the troubles new immigrants often face may not be temporary, and may be exacerbated by rocky economic conditions, according to Diane Galarneau, an analyst with the Perspectives on Labour and Income magazine at Statistics Canada, who conducted the study.

The report, released yesterday, found that it was much harder for "established" immigrants - those who had lived in Canada for 11 to 15 years - to find jobs that matched their education level in 2006 than in 1991.

In 1991, only 12 per cent of established male immigrants with a university degree were in jobs that required little education, such as taxi or truck driving. In 2006, that number had risen to 21 per cent.

The trend among established degree-holding female immigrants was similar, though slightly less pronounced: Their rates in low-education jobs rose from 24 per cent in 1991 to 29 per cent in 2006.

The findings reflect serious problems that have plagued Canada's immigration system in recent years, according to Izumi Sakamoto, a professor in the faculty of social work at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies.

Ms. Sakamoto highlighted the fact that federal policy often gives preference to immigrants of a certain profession, such as engineers, over others. Although such policies help attract highly skilled workers, in the past they often didn't match the needs of Canada's work force, leading to a surplus of professionals who had trouble finding work.

While those discrepancies have been addressed in recent years, the problem hasn't been entirely corrected. It also doesn't help that thousands of highly skilled immigrants who have lived in Canada for years continue to work in jobs they are overqualified for, a problem Ms. Sakamoto blames squarely on inadequate government action.

"Fundamentally it's a failure of the state if immigrants don't get the job right away," Ms. Sakamoto said.

Another problem is that immigrants often only qualify for federal immigration programs designed to ease the transition to Canada a few years after they arrive.

Canadian governments must do more to assist university-educated established immigrants find jobs they are qualified for, Ms. Sakamoto said.

Ms. Galarneau cautioned that Statistics Canada did not study the link between recession and the ability of educated immigrants to find jobs that match their skills. But the numbers seem to indicate there is an association, which could spell trouble for new immigrants coming to Canada during the current economic downturn.

Unlike degree-holding individuals born in Canada, who may lose their jobs during a recession but can probably find work quickly or at least once the economy recovers, immigrants face a different set of challenges.

If university-educated immigrants can't find a job that matches their skills within a few years of arriving in Canada, it becomes even more difficult to do so as time goes on, Ms. Galarneau said.

"If they don't practise right after they're arriving [in Canada] it's hard because their skills are deteriorating over time," she said. "It's hard to get into the occupation maybe seven years after their arrival. If they start in the taxi job, it may be hard to get out of the taxi job."

Shifting immigration patterns also accounted for some of the changes, according to Ms. Galarneau. More immigrants are coming from Asian countries now compared to 1991, and fewer speak French or English, which could be a major obstacle in finding jobs that match their skills.

"These factors were a big explanation for the deterioration," Ms. Galarneau said.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

STUDY REVEALS INTEGRATION DIFFICULTIES

University-educated immigrants less likely to find good jobs in Vancouver: study


By Chad Skelton

December 22, 2008

More than a quarter of university-educated immigrants in Vancouver are still working in low-skilled jobs a decade after arriving in Canada, a higher proportion than in any other major city in the country, according to a new study by Statistics Canada.

The study, released Monday, looked at how Vancouver immigrants who arrived from 1990 to 1994 with university degrees were faring. It found that 24 per cent of the men and 33 per cent of the women were still working in low-skilled jobs — such as clerks, cashiers or taxi drivers.

That’s higher than the national average of 21 per cent for men and 29 per cent for women, and also slightly higher than the country’s other major immigrant-receiving cities such as Toronto and Montreal.

Don DeVoretz, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University who studies immigration, said Vancouver’s rates may be higher because the city lacks the kind of research-heavy industries that hire lots of engineers and mathematicians.

Overall, the study found that well-established immigrants — those who have been in Canada between 10 and 15 years — are faring much worse now than they were in the early 1990s

Since 1991, the proportion of such immigrants in low-skilled jobs jumped from 12 to 21 per cent for men and from 24 to 29 per cent for women.

During that same time, the rate stayed more or less the same for Canadian-born men and women, at about 10 per cent.

Researchers have long known that recent immigrants to Canada often struggle to find work that matches their skills.

What makes this recent study worrying, said study author Diane Galarneau, is that it suggests those barriers don’t erode over time.

“We used to see this for recent immigrants and now we’re starting to see it for established immigrants,” she said. “This is a form of underemployment and it reduces their contribution to Canada.”

However, some local immigration experts said the study’s findings should be treated with caution.

Dan Hiebert is a geography professor at the University of B.C. and co-director of Metropolis B.C., which studies immigration issues.

Hiebert said research clearly shows that people who start their working lives during an economic downturn have less success over their careers than those who start working during a boom.

As a result, he said, the poor performance of established immigrants in 2006 may simply be due to the fact they arrived in this country during a recession in the early 1990s, when jobs were more scarce than they were in the 1970s or 1980s.

DeVoretz said the figures may also reflect the fact that a number of the most skilled immigrants to Canada in the 1990s — in particular those from Hong Kong — have either gone back to their home country or moved to the U.S.

“Over time, the people who are left are less talented,” he said.

Despite their reservations about the study, both DeVoretz and Hiebert said immigrants face genuine difficulty in finding work to match their training.

DeVoretz said the best solution may be to stop admitting immigrants based on their level of education — which may or may not be recognized in Canada — and instead develop an employment-based immigration system that admits those who already have a firm job offer here.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

IS CANADA THE NEW TEXAS FOR MEXICAN MIGRANTS?

This is quite interesting. Listen to this interview in KUOW 94.9 from Seattle, WA. It seems that illegal Mexican day labourers, who have been "imported" into the US by "coyotes" and other organized criminals who exploit them, are now seeking to enter Canada as the new "land of milk and honey". Why? Because Canada has an overly generous, naive refugee system, where Mexicans can linger for a few years, get Work Permits, free health coverage, social assistance, welfare, and otter benefits courtesy of the taxpayers, even if their claims are bogus. Mexico now is the NUMBER ONE producer of refugee claims in Canada, and Mexicans are aided in their quest by the lack of visa requirements to travel to Canada. As one Mexican migrant puts it in Spanish during the interview below "Canada nos espera con brazos abiertos" ("Canada awaits us with open arms"). This is nonsense. It is also a dangerous notion, as this false impression spreads amongst migrants and those who seek to exploit them. NOTICE: CANADA DOES NOT NEED DAY LABOURERS. We need SKILLED workers who can do specific jobs and can function in the labour market, speak English or French, integrate into society, pay taxes and contribute. We do NOT need people who want to work for cash and send all their earnings abroad. We do NOT need more people who come to collect social assistance or to get free health care, because we have enough residents in waiting lists for medical services already. Canada is not the repository of all those who want a freebie. Also, we have an economic crisis and HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT IS A REALITY IN CANADA NOW. It is also absolutely necessary to impose a visitor visa requirement on Mexico, where corruption and organized drug cartels are the norm. We cannot afford to allow any of these characters into Canada. Understood? Listen to the interview with the link below. It is quite revealing. To listen, go to:

http://kuow.org/program.php?id=16542


Seattle Day Laborers Head to Canada
12/17/2008

In the midst of economic uncertainly, many people wonder what's up ahead. Key factors like unemployment and foreclosures offer some insight. Another is immigration. Anthropologist Robert Kemper of Southern Methodist University in Texas says a strong economy is why Latino immigrants flocked to Washington in the 90s. KUOW's Liz Jones checked in with migrant workers in Seattle to see how the economic downturn is affecting them.


THE MID–MORNING SUN IS JUST BURNING OFF THE CHILL AT CASA LATINA'S DAY LABOR CENTER IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE. ABOUT EIGHTY LATINO MEN CROWD TOWARD THE FRONT GATE, EAGER FOR WORK. A TRUCK HAS JUST PULLED UP. THE DRIVER WANTS TO HIRE TWO MEN FOR LANDSCAPING.

A MANAGER NAMED SILVAN GONZALES SENDS OFF TWO GUYS...THE ONLY ONES TO LAND JOBS SO FAR TODAY.

REPORTER: "Kind of slow today, huh?"

GONZALEZ: "Yeah, it's pretty slow. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. The work is slow. What I can do? Nothing, huh?

LATELY, ONLY FIVE OR SIX PEOPLE A DAY FIND WORK HERE. MOST JOBS ARE LANDSCAPING, CLEANING OR OTHER MANUAL LABOR. CONSTRUCTION–RELATED WORK HAS MOSTLY DRIED UP.

A FEW MONTHS AGO, ABOUT 60 PEOPLE A DAY FOUND JOBS HERE. WORK ALWAYS FALLS OFF IN WINTER, BUT NEVER THIS MUCH. SEVERAL MEN WHO WORKED STRAIGHT THROUGH LAST WINTER, SAY NOW THEY'RE LUCKY TO WORK ONE DAY A WEEK.

GONZALEZ: "The people say they want to go back Mexico because the family needs money."

WHILE SOME HEAD SOUTH, OTHERS HEAD TOWARD A DIFFERENT BORDER: CANADA.

GARCIAS–QUINTANA: "It's a good option, to go to Canada. I think there's a lot of work in construction, especially with the Olympic games coming."

MANUEL GARCIAS–QUINTANA IS 40 YEARS OLD. HE SPENT LAST WINTER IN CANADA. HE'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER HIS FIRST DAY THERE.

GARCIAS–QUINTANA: "How could I forget? My first impression was how expensive it was. I went to Walmart and looked at prices. It was tremendous. That really struck me."

MANUEL'S LIVED IN THE STATES FOR 25 YEARS. HE MOSTLY WORKS IN CONSTRUCTION.

HE THINKS CANADIANS TREAT DAY WORKERS WITH MORE RESPECT, AND THE PAY'S A LITTLE BETTER. NOT MUCH, BUT ENOUGH.

IT WAS EASY FOR MANUEL TO FIND JOBS THERE – HE'D JUST SHOW UP AT CONSTRUCTION SITES AND ASK.

PAPPARD: "Particularly over the past three or four years as the economy heated up, there has been a real demand."

WAYNE PAPPARD HEADS THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL FOR CANADA'S B.C. AND YUKON TERRITORIES.

PAPPARD: "The day labor workforce, or undocumented workforce, certainly that is getting ever more present here in the lower mainland."

MANY WORKERS MIGRATED NORTH WITH HOPES OF FINDING WORK RELATED TO THE OLYMPICS. ANTICIPATION OF THE UPCOMING GAMES SPARKED A WAVE OF NEW PROJECTS – BOTH IN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING.

BUT PAPPARD WARNS THAT WORK IS ON THE DOWN–SWING, AND THE GLOBAL RECESSION IS STARTING TO TAKE A TOLL. HE OFFERS SOME CAUTIONARY ADVICE TO DAY LABORERS WHO HAVE THEIR SIGHTS SET ON CANADA.

PAPPARD: "I'd make sure that you got enough money to come up here and take a look around and get back home. That you got a home to go to. The situation is rapidly deteriorating here. I don't think it's going to get much better in a year or so, at least two years."

BUT IT SEEMS THAT GLOOMY FORECAST MAY GO UNHEEDED. AT THE ABBOTTSFORD BORDER CROSSING, EAST OF BLAINE, POLICE RECENTLY REPORTED A SURGE IN BORDER JUMPERS. LAST MONTH THEY RESPONDED TO EIGHT CALLS AND ARRESTED SIX PEOPLE...MOST OF THEM LATINOS. DESPITE THAT, BORDER OFFICIALS HAVE NOT SEEN AN OVERALL INCREASE OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS ENTERING CANADA.

BACK AT CASA LATINA, A WORKER NAMED OSCAR ROMERO HAS HEARD GOOD AND BAD STORIES ABOUT CANADA. TO HIM, IT'S NOT WORTH THE RISK.

ROMERO: "I'd like to go see for myself, but I don't think I'll do it. I know some people who went to Canada and they came back right away. They didn't know where to go. Some of them ended up sleeping in the streets. I don't think this will continue in the U.S...in the most powerful country in the world."

RECENTLY, OSCAR TRAVELED TO SIX DIFFERENT STATES LOOKING FOR JOBS AS A HOUSE PAINTER. WORK WAS SLOW EVERYWHERE. HE CAME BACK TO SEATTLE BECAUSE AT LEAST THE PAY IS BETTER HERE.

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN HAS HIT OSCAR HARD. WITHOUT A JOB, HE COULDN'T PAY RENT ON HIS APARTMENT. NOW, HE SLEEPS AT A SHELTER. THAT'S A TREND CASA LATINA MANAGERS HAVE RECENTLY SEEN WITH MORE OF THEIR WORKERS.

ANOTHER CHANGE IS WITH FAMILY VISITS TO MEXICO. TYPICALLY, SOME MEN HEAD HOME IN DECEMBER. BUT THIS YEAR, MANY WENT BACK A MONTH OR TWO EARLIER. IT'S THE FIRST TIME THAT'S HAPPENED IN THE CENTER'S 10–YEAR HISTORY.

AMBIENT: "At day center, men talking in background."

I WANDER ACROSS THE GRAVEL COURTYARD TO CHAT WITH MANUEL – THE GUY WHO WENT TO CANADA LAST YEAR. HE PLANS TO GO BACK TO VANCOUVER IN FEBRUARY.

GARCIAS–QUINTANA: "Canada nos espera con los brazos abiertos."

REPORTER: "Hablas como un Canadiense."

MANUEL GRINS AND DECLARES, 'CANADA WAITS FOR US WITH OPEN ARMS." I TEASE HIM THAT HE TALKS LIKE A CANADIAN.

GARCIAS–QUINTANA: "Oh thanks, I hope so, one day."

HE SAYS HE HOPES TO ONE DAY.

BUT OUT HERE, MANUEL KEEPS HIS TRAVEL PLANS UNDER WRAPS. HE'S AFRAID IF THE OTHER GUYS FIND OUT, THEY'LL ALL BUG HIM TO COME ALONG WHEN HE HEADS BACK ACROSS THE BORDER. LIZ JONES, KUOW NEWS.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

PROFESSIONALS UNDER NAFTA TO GET EXTENDED PERMITS

Minister Kenney announces 3-year renewable work permits for NAFTA professionals
Ottawa, December 15, 2008 — Professionals seeking to work temporarily in Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) can now receive work permits for up to three years, the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, announced today. Previously, NAFTA workers were required to renew their work permit every 12 months.

“NAFTA work permits are an excellent option for North American professionals seeking to work in Canada including lawyers, doctors, dentists and teachers. In addition, this will also help Canadian employers remain competitive by ensuring they have access to necessary skilled labour,” said Minister Kenney.

“This extension, along with our Action Plan for Faster Immigration, will greatly benefit the Canadian economy by helping ensure greater continuity and stability for both employers and workers,” continued Minister Kenney. “In a time of economic uncertainty, highly skilled migrants encourage innovation and economic growth, making us more competitive economically.”

By easing the administrative requirements, employers can now be more confident that they will have access to the skilled labour they need for a longer period. The change matches the United States’ new rules on issuance of Trade NAFTA (TN) work visas to Canadian and Mexican professionals under NAFTA.

All three NAFTA countries (Canada, the United States and Mexico) recognize that greater work force mobility in North America, within certain professions, has net economic benefits.

Monday, December 15, 2008

SERGIO R. KARAS QUOTED IN "THE LAWYERS WEEKLY"


Managing the economic meltdown

Canadian lawyers face new challenges


By Christopher Guly
Ottawa
December 19 2008


As Canadian lawyers watch their American colleagues lose clients — or their jobs — in the current economic meltdown south of the border, Ontario’s Dimitri Lascaris is acting on the litigation fallout from the U.S. financial crisis.

Last month, the partner in the class action department of Siskinds LLP in London, Ont. filed a proposed $550-million class action in the Ontario Superior Court against one of the world’s largest insurance companies, American International Group (AIG) Inc., its U.K.-based subsidiary, AIG Financial Products Corp. (AIGFP) and current and former directors and officers of both corporate entities, claiming that Canadian investors in AIG suffered massive losses.

The application is the first to use a provision of Part 23.1 of the Ontario Securities Act, which allows investors to sue companies that have a “real and substantial connection” to Ontario even if they are not “reporting issuers” in the province.

The class action arises out of a type of derivative AIGFP was trading, known as credit default swaps, and the resulting crash in AIG’s stock price when it became known that the credit default swaps exposed the company to “crippling liabilities,” placing AIG on the verge of collapse, said Laskaris in an interview.

“Public statements by the management of AIG to investors about the risks associated with credit default swaps and the way the company was valuing them are at issue in our lawsuit on behalf of Canadians who purchased shares of AIG during the period [Nov. 10, 2006 to Sept. 16, 2008] when AIG was making alleged misstatements about its credit default swap business,” Laskaris said.

He explained that thousands of Canadians could be involved in the class action against AIG, which is now effectively owned by U.S. taxpayers following a $150-billion US government bailout loan.
The Siskinds-led action will seek certification of a national class.

Expect more of these types of suits in the future, said Lascaris, who told The Lawyers Weekly that his firm is considering a number of class-action cases against financial institutions — most of them Canadian.

To avoid the current type of financial mess and credit crunch in the future, Lascaris said there needs to be radical reform, beginning with executive compensation gone “wildly out of control, not only in terms of the amount of money people get paid to operate unprofitable companies, but also in the incentive schemes to generate unsustainable but extraordinary short-term profits for executives that expose a corporation to considerable risk and leave shareholders to pick up the bill while they go off into the sunset as multimillionaires.”

He would like to see governments prohibit executive compensation that awards lucrative bonuses based on a company’s short-term performance — or, at an extreme, to impose a cap on executive compensation entirely.

But Lascaris added the latter might not be necessary if shareholders in public companies were able to exercise “meaningful control” over executive salaries and compensation.

However, University of Ottawa law professor Vern Krishna said corporate directors are elected to determine executive compensation, and giving shareholders such power is both “idealistic” and “unworkable” since not all investors have any understanding of management issues, as an example. As well, Krishna pointed out that in a free-market system, governments cannot oversee compensation in private companies unless there’s a plan to transfer their ownership to the state.

“People always say why doesn’t the government regulate as if it’s the cure-all for every ailment that occurs. It isn’t. Government has to walk a fine line between completely hands-off and being overly intrusive,” said Krishna, who also serves as tax counsel in the Ottawa office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.

He explained that one of the causes of the current financial crisis in the U.S. was the Clinton administration’s repeal in 1999 of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act — legislation that separated commercial banks from those involved in investments.

“The political impetus for sub-prime mortgages stemmed from President Clinton’s desire and policy initiatives to help low-income families,” Krishna said.

The “perfect storm” created by the current economic downturn could generate considerable legal action in several practice areas, such as international trade and investment as well as litigation resulting from a potential escalation of cross-border trade disputes, according to McCarthy Tétrault’s John Boscariol, who heads the firm’s international trade and investment law group and is a partner in the litigation group in Toronto.

“When there are slowdowns, particularly in the context of a crisis, governments tend to erect trade barriers in an effort to protect employees and manufacturing in their country — measures that could violate obligations under trade agreements,” said Boscariol, who chairs the Ontario Bar Association’s international law section and serves as co-chair of the Canada committee for the American Bar Association (ABA)’s international law section.

Already, there are concerns that incoming U.S. President Barack Obama and his Democrat colleagues in Congress could spark one of the largest protectionist initiatives in recent memory. That in turn could lead to other actions on this side of the border.

“When markets slow down, companies bring forward more trade remedy cases, more countervail cases and more anti-dumping cases,” said Boscariol. “When companies start to suffer, they tend to blame imports.”

He adds that with massive government subsidization underway in the U.S., there could be legal challenges in Canada over whether such subsidies run afoul of U.S. trade obligations. So far, the European Union “has fired a warning shot over the bow,” indicating that it would be prepared to take the U.S. to the World Trade Organization if the U.S. government proceeds with a financial bailout of its auto industry and it’s found to have violated international trade law.

With all of these possible disputes on the horizon, some lawyers could be flooded with work.

But there will be slowdowns too, such as in the area of mergers and acquisitions where activity on the private equity side has “slowed to a trickle,” according to Paul Crampton, a partner in the competition and antitrust law group in the Toronto office of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and a member of the steering group of the ABA’s international antitrust committee.

He said that some strategic buyers are also finding it difficult to access financing from financial institutions to lend them money. “The other problem is that with the equity markets bouncing around, a target’s market cap is moving all over the place. And if the buyer wants to use his own stock as part of the condition for the deal, that stock is also moving around,” said Crampton, whose practice focuses largely on international mergers and federal legislation on investments as related to the acquisition of Canadian businesses. “In the current economic uncertainty, trying to project future cash flow and earnings is difficult because it’s not quite clear how severe the recession is going to be in the U.S. and how bad a cold or cough Canada will get from it.”

And then there’s the human capital aspect of the current economic crisis, which Toronto immigration lawyer Sergio Karas is witnessing.

With the price of crude oil spiralling downward, Shell, BP and other major oil and gas exploration companies are either scaling back, slowing down or cancelling projects in Alberta’s tar sands. As a result, they will need fewer foreign skilled workers, who happen to be Karas’ clientele.

“Experts say it costs anywhere from $38 to $80 per barrel to make heavy crude from the oil sands economically viable, and only certain refineries have the capacity to handle that heavy crude,” said Karas, who is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in Canadian citizenship and immigration law, and serves as chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s citizenship and immigration section and co-chair of the International Bar Association’s immigration and nationality committee.

“It costs the Saudis under $10 U.S. to get oil out of the ground and they produce light sweet crude, which is easy to refine. If there’s less market demand for crude, why would companies invest billions of dollars in the oil sands?”

He explained that employment-related immigration would also suffer as the crisis facing Canada’s automobile industry worsens and auto-parts makers, which rely on foreign labour, will freeze hiring.
Karas predicts that overall the country’s entire immigration system will face tremendous pressure.

FEW RESOURCES TO PROSECUTE WAR CRIMINALS

It is not a secret that war criminals from all parts of the world, as well as gangs, mobsters and other undesirables view Canada as "slow" in prosecuting and "soft". Part of the problem is that individuals who gain status in Canada through the refugee system and eventually slip through the cracks know that time is on their side, and even when they are prosecuted, the string of judicial reviews and "humanitarian and compassionate" grounds reviews are almost interminable. For example, convicted Palestinian PFLP terrorist Mahmood Mohammed Issa Mohammed is still in Canada after 20 years (unbelievable!), and accused Rwandan genocide suspect Leon Mugesera is still living freely in Quebec City even after the Supreme Court of Canada cleared the way for his deportation more than two years ago. The second part of the problem is underfunding: Canada spends an enormous amount of taxpayers dollars in the refugee system, with a view to "expedite" cases, but underfunds the vital component of investigation to determine who these refugees really are, and whether they really merit protection. This is particularly worrisome because most "refugees" show up at Ports of Entry with false documents and assumed identities created by organized crime rings or terrorist organizations who "export" them to "collect taxes" from their work in Canada. Time for a change: the government should stop being so "nice" and enforce the law to protect those who have managed to escape the war criminals and gangsters who persecuted them, and boot out quickly those who assume false identities, or are suspects in war crimes investigations. They have no right to be in Canada.


War crimes squad needs money as prosecution costs soar

The Canadian Press
16 hours ago

OTTAWA — Canada's war-crimes squad needs more money to do its work, as the cost of prosecuting just one alleged war criminal hits $4 million, says a new report.

The team's case load, already onerous, will remain heavy as more immigrants come to Canada from countries where atrocities have occurred, says the Justice Department document.

The RCMP in particular needs more money to investigate alleged war criminals and people accused of crimes against humanity. And the Canada Border Services Agency needs cash to fix a computer system that's supposed to track suspects, the report concludes.

"The limited resources available for investigation, in relation to the inventory of serious cases, place an important limitation on the program's contribution to the objective of denying safe haven," says the draft document, dated Oct. 14 this year.

The evaluation was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

A final version of the document, prepared by the consulting firm Goss Gilroy Inc. for the Justice Department, is expected to be made public early next year.

Even the simplest prosecution of an alleged war criminal costs taxpayers $4 million, and the bill for revoking citizenship can hit $1.3 million if the person appeals the decision, researchers found. Extraditions to a foreign country cost about $500,000 each.

Those sky-high costs eat into a limited annual budget of about $15.6 million, shared among the RCMP, Citizenship and Immigration, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Justice Department.

The present war-crimes program was launched in 1998 to better co-ordinate Canada's modern efforts to prosecute and deny safe haven to war criminals, a policy announced in 1987 by the government of Brian Mulroney.

The annual funding of $15.6 million has not changed since 1998. The current five-year funding commitment is scheduled to end March 31, 2010.

A briefing note last year for Stockwell Day, then public safety minister, acknowledged the program is being squeezed.

"Given inflation, increased salary costs, accommodation, and new corporate support costs since 1998, funding for the program has in effect been significantly reduced," it said.

Between 2001 and 2006, officials removed 221 people and prevented another 2,100 from entering the country.

Despite those successes, which have been lauded around the world, the current work load is overwhelming investigators and Crown prosecutors.

"Even if the inventory (of cases) were halved by use of more stringent criteria, it would still exceed both the investigative capacity of the RCMP War Crimes Section and the budget for prosecutions available to the DOJ (Department of Justice) War Crimes Section," the report warns.

The first person charged in Canada under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which became law in 2000, was Desire Munyaneza, for his alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was arrested in Toronto in 2005 after a five-year RCMP probe.

The Goss Gilroy study estimated prosecution costs of $4 million by examining an "African" case and a "European" case, neither of which it identified further.

The study notes that the cost would typically be spread over 30 months, and that travel alone accounts for about $1.5 million of the total.

Last year, the four departments agreed to use scarce resources to prevent more alleged war criminals from entering Canada, rather than for prosecutions of persons already living here, despite pressure from human-rights groups that Canada use the courts more often.

The strategy, seen as more cost-effective, is endorsed by the Goss Gilroy evaluation.

A Justice Department spokeswoman, Carole Saindon, said it would be "premature to comment" on whether the draft report's recommendations will be adopted.

"The program partners are continuing to target their efforts on the most crucial and cost-effective activities to support program objectives," she added in an email response to questions.

The report is especially critical of a key database created by Citizenship and Immigration but later transferred to the Canada Border Services Agency.

The agency is unable to exploit the so-called Modern War Crimes System database because the programming is incompatible with the CBSA's own computer systems.

"This means that CBSA, as the main user of MWCS, cannot input new information into the system, or update it, as the platform used by the agency is not compatible with the one used by CIC (Citizenship and Immigration)," says the document.

The report calls on the government to provide money to upgrade the system.

The Goss Gilroy Inc. evaluation cost $196,000.

Friday, December 12, 2008

MISSING PASSPORTS RAISE CONCERN

Why do we read this so often? From time to time, news of missing passports hit the press. Why are these important documents treated so casually? More news to come: the Privacy Commissioner has exposed serious shortcomings as to how passport applications are handled...

RCMP, privacy commissioner looking into missing mailed passport applications

The Cape Breton Post

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. (CP) — Canada’s privacy commissioner and the RCMP are looking into the disappearance of several courier packages containing passport applications.
Seven packages containing a total of 107 passport applications and supporting documents have been reported missing in the last 15 months.
They were sent by Canada Post’s Priority Courier in packages addressed to a Passport Canada processing facility in Gatineau, Que., and all originated at Service Canada outlets.
The most recent incidents involved three packages sent Oct. 31 from the southern Alberta cities of Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, as well as Cranbrook, B.C.
Canada Post spokesman John Caines said Wednesday from Ottawa that a special RCMP immigration and passport unit is now assisting postal inspectors to try to track down the missing packages.
He wouldn’t say if foul play is suspected.
In addition, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is now expanding her examination of security problems at Passport Canada to include transportation methods for passport applications.
Last week, Stoddart reported she found serious security risks with the way Passport Canada collects, handles and discards sensitive personal information.
“We have received a letter from Passport Canada informing us that some passports have disappeared in the mail, and we’re looking into it,” said Stoddart’s spokeswoman, Valerie Lawton.
“As part of our examination of this issue, we’ll be looking at mailing procedures involving passports.”
In her report, Stoddart noted that passport applicants could be vulnerable to identity theft if the highly sensitive information in their applications, such as credit-card numbers, names, addresses, birth dates, birth certificates and sometimes social insurance numbers, fell into the wrong hands.
The missing packages came to light in late November after a Lethbridge woman learned her passport application, which she left with a Service Canada receiving agent, had been lost with 18 others in a package sent via courier Oct. 31.
Canada Post says the package arrived at the Lethbridge post office Nov. 3, and the trail ends there.
Two other packages containing a total of 36 other passport applications similarly vanished at the same time in Medicine Hat and Cranbrook.
The Lethbridge woman, who asked her name be withheld, said she felt her concerns about her security were being downplayed by the various agencies involved.
Since then, Passport Canada has confirmed that two other packages of passport applications disappeared March 27 after being couriered from Service Canada offices in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. Similar incidents have also been confirmed involving two packages originating in Drummondville, Que., on July 7 and Langley, B.C., on Aug. 30, 2007.
Officials with Passport Canada and Canada Post insist such incidents are rare and the mail system is secure and trustworthy.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

INTEGRATION INTO THE LABOUR FORCE TAKES TIME

Integrating immigrants into the workplace takes time

Even after 15 years, newcomers tend to display values that are notably different

Vas Taras, Haskayne School of Business, Financial Post
Published: Tuesday, December 09, 2008


Thousands of studies and practical experience have demonstrated that culture-sensitive HR management practices improve performance in the modern, diverse workplace. Due to cultural differences, management methods that work well in Calgary will not be as effective in Beijing.

It is well known what management practices are effective in different parts of the world. But how about managing immigrants? What is the optimal approach to an employee who, for example, grew up in China and immigrated to Canada 10 years ago? Should it be assumed that the person still has Chinese cultural values, or should it be expected that the person has been Canadianized? How long does it take for an immigrant employee to acculturate? What are the factors that can speed up or slow down the acculturation pace?

A recent University of Calgary study addressed these questions by exploring the pace, extent and predictors of acculturation. Close to two thousand immigrant employees from Calgary participated in the research project. The focus of the study was on acculturation of work-related values that govern individual behaviour in the workplace.

The recently released findings indicate that acculturation is a slow, non-linear process. Supporting some earlier acculturation theories, it was observed that immigrant workers experience a brief "honeymoon" period that lasts a few weeks to a couple of months. At this stage, newcomers appear to perceive the Canadian business culture only positively; they readily embrace is and try to assimilate.

The very brief "honeymoon" with the host culture is followed by a period of negative value acculturation that lasts for one to two years. This stage, often referred to as "cultural affirmation," is characterized by an intense cultural shock and the observed initial rejection of culture of the host society and is believed to be a coping mechanism for dealing with the unknown foreign world.

In their second or third year after their arrival in Canada, immigrants adapt to the challenges of living in a new society and enter a stage of a steady, gradual acculturation and internalization of local values and practices. However, the process is very slow and the extent of value assimilation is practically negligible in the first decade. The data show that even after 15 years, immigrants tend to display values that are notably different from those of Canadians. Only about 20 years after immigration do the differences in values of Canadians and immigrants become minor, yet most immigrants do not assimilate completely even two decades after immigration.

In addition to values, visible attributes of acculturation, such as English proficiency, preference for local cuisine, music, clothing style and media were also measured to test whether value acculturation could be predicted based on observable elements of culture. The data show only a weak relationship between values and visible elements of culture, suggesting that not every international who is proficient in English likes local food, music and television and also thinks like a local. And vice- versa: Not everyone who looks different has different values.

Probably the most important and practical finding of the study relates to the importance of contacts between immigrants and locals. The results showed that a lack of interaction with representatives of the host culture may not only slow down the acculturation process, but can even reverse it. Immigrant employees who reported being at odds with Western business culture and displayed values drastically different from those of locals were the ones who reported a very limited contact with Canadians. Virtually all respondents who reported that Canadians constitute less than 10% in their social networks displayed negative acculturation. In terms of specific numbers, the probability of rejection of local culture is twice as high if Canadians constitute 15% of the people with whom immigrants interact on a regular basis at work or at home, compared with the sample average of 45%.

The finding highlights the danger of ethnic segregation, be it in the form of mono-ethnic work groups or residential ethnic ghettoes. The lesson for practitioner managers and immigration policymakers is clear - promote interaction among locals and new Canadians in the workplace. If contact between the two groups is limited, over time people may actually grow apart, become less tolerant and accepting of each other and poison the work environment.

Financial Post

- Vas Taras obtained his PhD in HR and Organizational Dynamics from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

HIRING AN IMMIGRATION LAWYER SAVED THIS FAMILY A LOT OF GRIEF

Ex-patter: Canada Highs

One family explain why they left Britain behind to set up home in Vancouver

Peter Townsend, 49, and family - Susan, 36, China-May, 10, and Louis, 5 – left London for a new life in Canada in 2002

Where do you live? In West Vancouver, just across the Lion’s Gate Bridge from the city centre. It’s 15 minutes by car to the beach or mountains, where we can ski.

What did you get for your money? A detached five-bedroom house with a swimming pool on half an acre, overlooking the Burrard Sound. We paid C$1. 3m for it in December 2005 – about £620,000 at the time.

What’s your background? I was born and raised in London, and had been living in Paris for 14 years, where I was working in marketing, when I met Susan, a Danish-born model. Within a year, we had moved back to London, got married, bought a flat in Fulham and started a new business. That was in 1995.

Why Canada? We were fed up with the UK, and we wanted more time, more space and better value. We considered France and Australia, but settled on Canada, then Vancouver.

Was it easy? No. Househunting from halfway across the world (brief holidays aside), selling our business and our home, then shipping all of our possessions at the same time as the extended and complicated immigration process, was a mammoth task. Thankfully, one of Susan’s talents is the ability to manage a project with military skill.

What about the paperwork? The visa-application system for Canada can be long and drawn-out. We employed an immigration lawyer, which saved us a year’s wait and helped to keep us calm.

What are the schools like? China-May was in private school back in Britain, but settled almost immediately into her new state school here. She and her brother now have Canadian accents and sound just like all their friends.

So what’s it like, really? People seem more energetic and optimistic here, with a slightly naive but refreshing can-do attitude. With two kids in school, we have built up a large circle of friends very quickly.

Have you changed? Moving here has peeled away the ageing layers of European cynicism – I have even retrained as an estate agent.

What do you miss? The ease of visiting other countries with different cultures. We also miss the old buildings and architecture you walk past every day in Europe – anything more than 60 years old here is considered historical or pulled down. And, of course, friends and family. We certainly don’t miss the M25 or the London congestion charge. It rains as much as in the UK, if not a little more, but somehow we don’t notice it. We are all looking forward to the ski season.

Where? Vancouver, a 9½hour flight from London

What? City-centre flats start at £230,000. You can pick up a family house in a good suburb for £350,000; a sea view will cost nearer £700,000

Friday, December 5, 2008

HOW SAFE CAN YOU FEEL AFTER READING THIS?

Passport offices putting personal info at risk, privacy audit finds

'Irony' Noted

Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, December 05, 2008

Darren Stone, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA - Privacy and security problems at Canada's passport offices add up to a "significant risk" for Canadians applying for passports, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada found in an audit released yesterday.

The audit, part of the commissioner's annual report tabled in Parliament before it was prorogued until late January, itemizes how privacy matters are given "short shrift" at every step of the application process.

At the front end, passport applications and supporting documents were kept in clear plastic bags on open shelves. At the back end, documents containing personal information, including credit-card numbers, and, sometimes, social insurance numbers, were tossed into regular garbage and recycling bins.

Shredded documents could be easily put back together.

The audit also found that computer systems allowed too many employees to access passport files, including locally hired staff in consular offices abroad, who had access to files processed by any other mission. Such basic controls as audit logs and encryption of stored personal information were not in place.

Passport Canada also provided inadequate privacy training for employees, an issue "of concern" across government institutions.

"These privacy and security shortfalls are particularly worrying, given the high sensitivity of the personal information involved in processing passport applications," the report states.

"There is a risk of consequences -- identity theft, for example -- to individual passport holders if their personal information goes missing or is stolen. It's clear that stronger safeguards are required to protect this data."

In an interview, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said she was surprised by the audit results.

"Quite frankly, I was surprised in a process, which is not new, that we did find so many gaps, particularly the gaps in missions abroad."

She added, "The irony wasn't lost on us ... that it would show up at the place that is producing Canada's premiere identity document."

Last year, Passport Canada processed more than 3.6 million passport applications. It has more than 30 million passport records in its control.

Mike Beaupre added one more file when he submitted his application to a passport office in Ottawa yesterday. "Considering that we're getting these passports to increase security, I think it's pretty detrimental to our security," he said of the audit findings.

The backdrop to these failures is a "dispersed" approach to privacy responsibilities, split between Passport Canada and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the audit found.

Passport Canada is an agency of the department, which has a mandate to issue passports.

Ms. Stoddart said the "good news" is that both the agency and the department are "very open to our suggestions and are implementing most of our recommendations."
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