Friday, March 27, 2009

Conservatives do not Practice what they Preach on Immigration

Jason Kenney has been saying some sensible things about our immigration system. Most notably, he has said that Canada needs to place more emphasis on language skills. As studies have shown, the best predictor of how well an immigrant will do financially is how well they speak French or English. It is neither in our national interest to have immigrants lag behind economically or in the interests of the immigrants themselves. As Kenney said "Someone who has been here for 15 years and can't speak English or French is basically locking themselves out of the vast majority of jobs and is isolating themselves socially, and that is a tragedy."

The problem is that Conservatives do not practice what they preach. Indeed, while there is ample evidence (e.g., Turkish guest workers in Germany) that armies of disenfranchised workers, whether they be illegal or guest, are a recipe of disaster, the number of guest workers allowed in has exploded since the Conservatives came to power. Moreover whereas the typical guest worker was once American transferred to branch office in Canada, the fastest growing category of guest worker is now the unskilled type. The problem is that Conservatives have, in true Conservative fashion, turned over a greater percentage of the immigration file to the provinces and Western provinces in particular have used the program to undercut labour. The Canadian tax payer has paid to have cheap labour sent in from other countries for the sole purpose of cutting wages of the Canadian tax payer. Forget Conservative talk about bringing in much needed skilled workers, this was the kind of positions Alberta was hoping to fill through its guest worker programs this summer: Front desk clerk, short order cook, baker, maid, assembly line worker, server, buser, bellhop, valet, and cafeteria worker, laundry attendant, pet groomer, general labourer, and hair dresser. And every time to Kenney gives lip service to importance of language, someone should remind him that all that is required of such would be immigrants is that they score 4 or 24 on the language assessment. In other words, they can still be functionally illiterate and still get it in.

Needless to say, despite the downturn there is no talk of reducing the number of guest workers from likes crony capitalists like Gordan Campbell. Indeed, the situation is such that even though the stated purpose of the stimulus plan is to get money following gain locally and to provide Canadians with jobs there is talk using guest workers (primarily Mexican) on the extension of the federally funded sky train extension; Canadian federal stimulus money could be flooding into Mexico.

Now Kenney’s talk of limiting the number of refugee mess is equally welcome, but just as with language skills Conservatives making things worse and not better. Yes Canada needs to dramatically reduce the number of refugees it accepts. I would personally like Canada to cap the number of refugees it accepts at 5,000 a year including dependents. However, fixing the problem goes far beyond drawing up tougher standards. The biggest hurdle to reforming the refugee system is insuring that refugees are processed quickly, that they cannot delay deportation with endless appeals and that there is mechanisms in place to insure they leave the country when they are ordered out. Regardless of the merits of their case, the longer refugees remain in country the greater the likelihood that they will stay. Under the Conservatives things have gotten much worse. It now takes a refugee claimant a year and half to get a hearing. Under the Liberals that number was one year. If Kenney was truly serious about reforming the system he would see to it that such hearings happen in a manner of months, limit or eliminate appeals and ensure that there is a system set up to sure that failed claimants have left the country. I am not going to hold my breath though.

5 comments:

WesternGrit said...

It's beyond that. The notion of "preferring" better "language-skilled" immigrants is a veiled acquiescence to the extremist supporters of the Reform Party. They despise people who they think "can't speak the language", and this placates them. Kenney has no intention of increasing immigration from English speaking nations like India or Trinidad, or even Fiji or Jamaica.

You see, with not just Conservatives, but a lot of the mainstream population, there is a false assumption that people who speak with an accent, or are of a "visibly different" background, do not speak the language... It comes from statements like, "I hate when those people speak their language in the grocery store line-up... Why can't they speak English"... I recall a student at the University of Regina, sitting behind me, who yelled out "In English!" to a prof who the rest of us could understand quite well, but who had a bit of an accent. This is the kind of yokel that Kenney is appealing to, with that comment.

I'm all for increasing language training for new arrivals. I think it is the most cost-effective way of helping people adjust and grow, but we need to do more - much more - to fight for the rights of all those immigrants who struggle to find work due to the discrimination they receive because of slight accents... accents which won't just go away through a lifetime.

I do NOT believe we ban good people, for lack of language skills. Intelligent people will ALWAYS learn the language. We also have to consider the 1000s of "grandparents" who came over "family class", who help immigrant families get a leg up (or catch up to) "Canadians" by providing daycare, cleaning, cooking, etc., services.

The "typical" South Asian extended family in urban Vancouver or Toronto has grandparents who have immigrated over to help. These people were sponsored by their children, and typically don't speak the language, or not very well. They often take on menial jobs to support the family (security guard, kitchen staff, etc.). More frequently, they live at home - fully supported by the family - and provide cooking, cleaning, free day-care, and other support for a young family.

The service provided by the non-English-speaking immigrant family members save Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars every year in daycare costs, family services costs, and help lessen crime. I'll explain that last point (crime): In ages past, immigrant communities have (as now) always struggled. Irish, Italian, Scottish, Jewish immigrants often arrived, settled in specific locales, and worked extremely hard to make a go of Canadian life. With both parents working extremely hard, it was often difficult to manage the kids, and often more of a likelihood they got involved in something bad, or illegal. Some recent immigrant groups have also faced this struggle, but studies show that homes where the grandparents raise and care for the kids tend not to have this problem.

My point: Maintain - even increase - immigration of non-English speakers. Help them learn the language "our way" (there are schools in their homelands, but often the training is suspect). Pick the best and brightest - no matter their background - and keep Canada a destination for the world's best and brightest. If Kenney has his way, his plan would preclude Canada from attracting anyone from places like China (where English is not an official language)... keeping us from attracting some of the best minds in the World.

I recall having a tennant at one of our properties in Regina, who was a Chinese professor. He spoke little to no English. He came to our home with a translator. I learned a lot from him, and he took a few months to learn English. He is one of the world's leading experts in Chinese holistic medicine. His presence in Canada is a gift, and a benefit to Canada. He would not have been an immigrant to Canada if Kenney had his way. Thank God our PM was Chretien at the time...

Koby said...

******** The "typical" South Asian extended family in urban Vancouver or Toronto has grandparents who have immigrated over to help.

Yep

******** These people were sponsored by their children, and typically don't speak the language, or not very well.

Yep.

********* They often take on menial jobs to support the family (security guard, kitchen staff, etc.). More frequently, they live at home - fully supported by the family - and provide cooking, cleaning, free day-care, and other support for a young family.

Yep

********* The service provided by the non-English-speaking immigrant family members save Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars every year in daycare costs, family services costs

Maybe but come nowhere near to paying for the costs of brining and keeping them here. People 60-64 cost the health care system more twice as much on a per capita basis than that of any the younger demographics. People 70-74 cost the health care system more twice that as people in their 60-64 on per capita basis. People 80-84 cost the system twice as much per capita basis as people 70-74 and on it goes.

Then there is the fact that this group of seniors is taking money out of a pension system they did not pay into.

******* My point: Maintain - even increase - immigration of non-English speakers. Help them learn the language "our way" (there are schools in their homelands, but often the training is suspect).

You switched from talking about family unification, specifically why people should be able to sponsor their parents and grandparents to language qualifications. There are no language qualifications for family unification.

****** “Intelligent people will ALWAYS learn the language.”

Come again. The fact that some immigrants never manage to learn English is not proof that they are not intelligent. Dion struggled for years with English and even when he did pick it up it was never perfect. Dion had resources and time available to him that most immigrants could only dream of. He also had the smarts. Learning a second language is hard and its gets harder the older one gets.



******* If Kenney has his way, his plan would preclude Canada from attracting anyone from places like China (where English is not an official language)...

There are 1.4 Billion Chinese, and 1.1 billion Indians. We are not talking about the German language. There millions upon millions of people in each of these countries that speak English and speak it well. It is not just China and India. All over the non English speaking world, parents are sending their kids to extra classes so that they can learn English.

WesternGrit said...

Koby... THIS illustrates very simply why you and I think differently:

"Come again. The fact that some immigrants never manage to learn English is not proof that they are not intelligent. Dion struggled for years with English and even when he did pick it up it was never perfect. Dion had resources and time available to him that most immigrants could only dream of. He also had the smarts. Learning a second language is hard and its gets harder the older one gets."


Your judgment of what "good" or even satisfactory English skills are very different. It is a point I touch on in my comment. I find Stephane's English very satisfactory. The fact that there is an underlying bigotry that made people question his competence is something WE all have to work on...

There IS work to do...

WesternGrit said...

And you obviously didn't understand me... I was lauding immigrants FOR their intelligence. I mean we weed them out with such earnest and regressive techniques already, that we seldom have any without University education these days...

I'm "switching" from discussing family reunification to the rest of the immigration stream because Kenney has been hard at work killing off "family reunification"... and my outrage is against his views on the matter, period.

Koby said...

Dion’s English is fine and it hard to imagine it hindering him in virtually any endeavour except politics. However, he struggled for years with English and even though he had all the resources anyone could dream of there is still a huge gap between what he is capable of expressing in French as opposed to English. Anyway, as to the matter at hand, the implication of what you said was that if someone does not learn the language that they are not intelligent. I obviously disagree. I am not going to belittle someone as dullard for not learning functional English. There are going to be plenty of smart people who will never manage to pick up the language. Now, maybe, that is not what you meant.

Family unification should be killed off. It is a boondoggle and is contrary to stated aim of using immigration to deal with the problems associated with a greying population. As a defender of high levels of immigration you should also be aware that it will be used those who want to reduce immigration levels as whole. It is their ace in the hole.