Canada Immigration 加拿大移民

Canada - Local blogger eases immigrant investor searches

 The CBC News (Canada), December 2, 2008

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2008/12/02/pe-investor-search.html

Prince Edward Islanders frustrated by how difficult it is to find information on the government web site about who has received money from immigrant investors have been handed a new tool.

The immigrant partner section of P.E.I.'s Provincial Nominee Program has been the subject of controversy this fall. Potential immigrants were able to come to P.E.I. by putting up money for investment in a local company, but questions have been raised about the quality of the companies eligible for investment, and the involvement of government MLAs in them.

Searching for potential beneficiaries of immigrant partner funds has been difficult because the government website only allows for searches of corporations by company name, and many of them are numbered.

'The government corporation search doesn't allow search by shareholder, and I guess I'm the kind of person when faced with an issue like that, rather than just stopping there, I always sort of try and use whatever skills I have to try and route around the problem,' local web developer and blogger Peter Rukavina told CBC News Monday.

On Friday Rukavina launched his solution. He indexed all the pages on the provincial government website and developed his own search tool for it, which allows for searches by shareholder. The site is attracting many users — 32,000 hits since Friday.

OpenCorporations.org makes it easier to find out which companies may have received money under the Provincial Nominee Program. CBC News searched for common Chinese names and came up with hundreds of businesses with new Chinese shareholders.

Despite the easy, if unofficial, availability of this new information, a government spokesperson said there are no plans to enable similar searches on the government website.

What Obama can learn from us

David Olive
BUSINESS COLUMNIST   18th February 2009

See Video at http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/589123

Ahead of his brief Ottawa visit tomorrow, Barack Obama is getting the message from influential U.S. voices that Canada – and Toronto in particular – are models for the American social and economic renaissance the new U.S. president is pledged to bring about.

"If President Obama is looking for smart government, there is much he, and all of us, could learn from our quiet – okay, sometimes boring – neighbour to the north," writes Fareed Zakaria, bestselling author (The Post-American World) and chief international columnist for Newsweek.

Zakaria notes that, in the industrialized world, only Canada has experienced no bank failures or government bailouts.

Canada's Big Five banks made a combined profit of $8.2 billion (U.S.) last year, while the top five U.S. banks lost a total of $8.3 billion.

"One of the things that I think has been striking about Canada is that in the midst of this enormous economic crisis," Obama told the CBC yesterday, "Canada has shown itself to be a pretty good manager of the financial system in the economy in ways that we haven't always been here in the United States.

"And I think that's important for us to take note of, that it's possible for us to have a vibrant banking sector, for example, without taking some of the wild risks that have resulted in so much trouble on Wall Street."

For 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. The U.S. ranked 40th, and Britain 44th.

In advance of the next Group of 20 summit, in April in London, a G20 working group headed by Tiff Macklem and Rakesh Mohan has been asked to devise a blueprint for more robust regulatory supervision and greater transparency to prevent future global banking crises.

The selection of these two co-chairs is telling. Macklem is Canada's associate deputy minister of finance. Mohan is deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, another nation whose banks did not load up on subprime, or junk, mortgages; collateralized debt obligations (CDOs); and other "toxic waste" now crippling world banks.

The record-sized U.S. housing bubble that burst in 2007 originated with Bush-era policies intended to help people realize the American Dream of home ownership. Regulatory laxity earlier this decade gave rise to a proliferation of subprime mortgage lending. U.S. homeowners also benefit from the longstanding U.S. policy of tax deductibility of mortgage interest, a middle-class entitlement program in everything but name that costs the U.S. government about $100 billion (U.S.) a year. As a result, 68 per cent of Americans own their homes, but that figure predates the millions of home foreclosures anticipated this year and next. In Canada, without those inducements, the home-ownership rate is 68.4 per cent.

But Zakaria points to many other things the Great White North is getting right. A more open-door immigration policy than its "brain-dead" U.S. counterpart that welcomes rather than shuns skilled émigrés. A reformed national pension system now in robust fiscal health compared with a near-insolvent U.S. Social Security system.

And "Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so," Zakaria notes, citing 12 years of federal budget surpluses. Which means Ottawa "can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position." The U.S., by contrast, braced for a $1 trillion (U.S.) federal deficit even before Obama yesterday signed into law a $787 billion (U.S.) economic stimulus package.

Looking further ahead, Richard Florida, the urban economics guru, sees Toronto angling for the same global heft as Chicago and Tokyo. "I sense we are in great shape to move up in the global ranks," says Florida, now based at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Florida followed the example of his mentor, the late urbanologist Jane Jacobs, in relocating two years ago to Canada from his native U.S.

Like New York and London, Toronto is a finance, media and entertainment centre, forecast to be among the fastest-growing business sectors over the next generation. Unlike those cities, Toronto also has an abundance of technological research, and more social stability and ethnic diversity. And in recent years the city's cultural amenities have expanded considerably.

Florida readily concedes that stubborn problems like income inequality and a deteriorating basic-industry sector have yet to be tackled. But in a cover-story essay in the current Atlantic magazine, the venerable U.S. public issues journal, Florida identifies Toronto among fast-growing "mega-regions" most ideally suited to rapid growth. Atlantic gave Florida's article four covers, showing the skylines of North American cities with the best prospects for sustained prosperity – Toronto, New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Yet Florida discourages U.S. comparisons. "Stop looking south for models," says Florida, based for 17 years at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. "They ain't there. The U.S. is in very deep crisis. It's time for Toronto to break out and lead."

For Zakaria, health care is likely Canada's high card.

"Canada's health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 per cent of GDP, versus 15.2 per cent here)," Zakaria writes, "and yet does better on all major indexes."

Obama once said if he was designing a U.S. health-care system from scratch, it would be modelled on Canada's universal single-payer formula. But that model is too easily demonized in the U.S. as "socialized medicine" to be politically viable.

So Obama is instead pushing a clumsy public-private hybrid designed to at least provide coverage for the 46 million Americans without health insurance.

Still, Obama finds the "socialized-medicine" bogeyman risible. In an interview in the liberal U.S. journal Nation three years ago, the then-U.S. senator from Illinois was asked if the single-payer option "is revolutionary or reformist."

"Anything that Canada does can't be entirely revolutionary, it's Canada" Obama laughed. "When I drive through Toronto, it doesn't look like a bunch of Maoists."

David Olive writes on politics and business. He can be reached at dolive@thestar.ca.

Minister Kenney announces expansion of settlement services for newcomers in libraries in southern Ontario

News Release

Brampton, February 27, 2009 — The federal government is expanding assistance to newcomers into 14 more libraries in southern Ontario, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

Originally piloted in Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton, the services will expand to Brampton, Kitchener, Richmond Hill, Windsor and London with the aid of $1.9 million in federal funding to seven service providing organizations, the Minister said, speaking at the Chinguacousy Branch Library. The services will be delivered through the Library Settlement Partnerships Program, which places settlement workers in public library branches.

“Our Government is helping make settlement services more accessible to immigrants,” said Minister Kenney. “This investment will give newcomers in our community access to settlement services to help ease their transition to life in Canada. Their success will strengthen this community and Canada.”

The library settlement workers offer group orientation workshops and help newcomers research local housing, transportation and employment opportunities. They also engage in community outreach to help make the wealth of resources and services in public libraries more accessible to newcomers.

“The library serves as a gathering place for newcomers,” said Ahmed Iqbal, Executive Director of the Brampton Multicultural Community Centre. “We are very pleased to work more closely with the Brampton Library. This dynamic partnership, funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), will enable us to integrate our services and coordinate efforts to reach more newcomers, thereby improving their access to much needed services in our growing community.”

Settlement services are an essential part of the federal government’s immigration program. Since 2006, the Government of Canada has substantially increased funding to support settlement programs and services; an additional $1.4 billion is being invested over a five year period in all provinces and territories outside Quebec. The 2008 Speech from the Throne includes increasing the uptake of immigrant settlement programs as a government priority.

For more information on CIC programs and a backgrounder on the seven organizations receiving funding as part of today’s announcement, please visit our website at www.cic.gc.ca.

For further information (media only), please contact:

Alykhan Velshi
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Alykhan.Velshi@cic.gc.ca

Madona Mokbel
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
416-954-7868

Backgrounder

• Government of Canada supports expansion of settlement services for newcomers in libraries across Ontario

Minister backs refugee status for gay Iranians

 

Urges UN commissioner to process applications for those facing abuse while stranded in Turkey

Feb 28, 2009 04:30 AM

Tonda MacCharles
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA – The cause of gay refugees who flee persecution in Iran only to face harassment in Turkey has caught the attention of the federal immigration minister, who says Canada is willing to facilitate their resettlement here.

Jason Kenney wrote the Canadian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to urge quick processing of their applications after a story appeared last month in the Toronto Star.

That story centred on Iranian Arsham Parsi, now a Toronto-based advocate whose "Iranian Queer Railroad" project tries to help gay and lesbians in legal limbo in Turkey reach Canada or the United States.

"I can't imagine more legitimate grounds for protection than folks who are facing potential execution in Iran for their sexuality," Kenney said in an interview. "These are people who are clearly in need of protection, and Canada has already received a number of gay and lesbian Iranian refugee claimants through the UNHCR, typically through Turkey."

Kenney suggested Canada had accepted a few dozen. His office could not provide a more precise number as this type of "persecution" is not specified for "government assisted refugees."

Parsi told the Star he recently helped secure refugee status from the UNHCR office for 45 Iranian gays, who were awaiting interviews at the Canadian and U.S. embassies.

Kenney said Turkey "deserves credit" for being a place of initial refuge for the asylum seekers, but added "it is not an ideal permanent settlement location, and a lot of them are stuck in pretty awkward circumstances while they're waiting for their applications for status to be processed."

Kenney's letter to the UNHCR says "homosexual Iranians who have been granted asylum in Turkey are subjected to persecution (random beatings, harassment, etc.) in the country of asylum, and that homosexual Iranians are in a uniquely precarious position."

Kenney told the Star more gay and lesbian Iranians could be accepted here under current targets.

"We have targets for both government-assisted and privately sponsored refugees that are set for different regions of the world and I believe that within those targets we could easily accommodate more of these folks as government-assisted refugees, which is how they would be if they're coming in through the UNHCR."

But Kenney said he cautioned their Canadian-based advocates they must ensure "these are legitimate claims."

The Immigration and Refugee Board has recently rejected what it says is a number of fraudulent claims based on sexual orientation.

Kenney also said Ottawa was looking "at ways to address the issue" of the low number of visa approvals for Iranians.

Canada has a "very awkward diplomatic relationship with Iran," he said, which makes it difficult for visa officers attempting to enter Iran under diplomatic passports. "It's a sensitive matter, and I don't want to say anything more."

IRB Celebrates its 20th Anniversary: Message from the Chairperson

I am delighted and honoured to greet you as we mark and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB). An occasion such as this gives us, members and staff together, an opportunity to reflect on where we have been and where we are going.

As 1989 began, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were sovereign countries and the Berlin Wall was still dividing East Germany from West Germany—at least until November of that year. Soviet troops were still deployed in Afghanistan in support of the Marxist government of the day and neither India nor China were the economic powerhouses they are today.

Hand-held computers, cellphones and MP3 players were still a dream.

But for all the changes we have seen over the years, there are some things that must and do remain constant.

In 1989, Parliament created the IRB as an independent accountable administrative tribunal responsible for deciding refugee and immigration matters fairly, efficiently and in accordance with the law. Trailblazing Gordon Fairweather, who passed away late last year, was appointed the first Chairperson of the IRB.

Today, 20 years later, we continue to fulfill our important mandate on behalf of Canadians in a manner that reflects our country’s humanitarian and security values, the rule of law and Canada’s international obligations.

IRB personnel recognize the profound impact of our actions and the consequences of the decisions rendered. It is with a deep sense of commitment to those who appear before us and to all Canadians that we carry out our important responsibilities.

But the environment in which we operate is complex and unpredictable, as the number and type of cases we receive are influenced by shifting migration patterns, refugee movements and other factors beyond our control, including the decisions of CIC and the CBSA. In the past 20 years, even the scope of refugee determination has changed, with the adoption of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) in 2002 and its expanded definition of persons in need of protection and Federal and Supreme Court of Canada decisions interpreting and applying our legislation. 

All of the divisions within the IRB are experiencing substantial growth in their caseloads and this trend is expected to continue, particularly in the case of the Refugee Protection Division (RPD), which has been receiving claims at a rate well above the level for which it is currently funded.

Administrative tribunals should be dynamic and supple, anticipating and responding to changing needs. And we certainly have demonstrated our ability to be both flexible and proactive.

I am convinced that the reason for our success is the highly skilled, compassionate and dedicated group of people that make up the IRB. Everyone within the IRB has continued to persevere in a sometimes challenging work environment, always doing their best to help the people who need us.

We have been fortunate to receive several new appointments over the past few weeks. I am committed to continuing to work with our Minister and his staff to identify qualified candidates for appointment to add to the existing pool, to recommend the reappointment of meritorious members and to address the need for additional resources to meet the mounting workload pressures. Of course, it will always be our responsibility to continue to find new ways to become more efficient and for staff and members to work co operatively and with mutual respect. 

To that end, we will pursue fulfillment of the strategic priorities we have set for ourselves for 2009-2010. We will work to further increase our capacity to resolve cases and manage the inventory, strengthen relationships with partners and stakeholders and continue to build an integrated, flexible and effective organization. Achieving these priorities will ensure that we are well equipped to respond to whatever challenges we may face.

Throughout this year, we will be marking milestones in our history, acknowledging our achievements and saluting the people who have made it all possible. At 20 years, the IRB is still young, but in that short period of time, we have accomplished so much because of the dedicated work of the IRB’s members and staff.

And over the next 20 years, we will continue to harness our ingenuity and creativity to make changes where warranted, and to count on our professionalism and integrity to hold fast when things should stay the same. The IRB’s success is due to the contributions of all of its personnel and I am proud to be Chairperson of such a professional organization.

Bonne fête CISR, Happy Anniversary IRB.

Brian Goodman
Chairperson, IRB

RULES TO PREVENT ABUSE OF FOREIGN WORKERS COMING SOON

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Crackdown on labour violations coming

TheStar.com

Ottawa to tackle abuse of foreign workers

February 24, 2009
Bruce Campion-Smith
OTTAWA BUREAU CHIEF

OTTAWA – The federal government intends to bring in new regulations to punish employers who exploit foreign workers by forcing them to toil in poor working conditions for low pay.

The new rules, expected by the end of March, would prevent employers with repeated violations of labour laws from being allowed to bring in foreign workers, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told the Star.

"I will be coming forward with draft regulations later in the spring to look at ensuring that the employers who abuse the system, a small minority, are ineligible to use it," he said in an interview.

But Kenney says the government has no intention of turning off the tap on the tens of thousands of workers who arrive from abroad to fill jobs in Canada, despite rising unemployment.

"We do anticipate there will be a reduction in applications for temporary workers and work permits because of the downturn ... but there continues to be acute labour shortages in certain regions and industries so the program will be useful to those employers," he said.

Just last week, Kenney said he and Human Resources Minister Diane Finley met with representatives from the food and restaurant industry who pressed for more foreign help.

"They're still desperately crying out for more temporary foreign workers because they say they advertise for line cooks, for waiters and are unable to get people in Canada," Kenney said.

But opposition politicians are concerned the temporary foreign worker program robs Canadians of jobs, and that foreign workers are being exploited and abused.

Kenney said the proposed regulations would address concerns about employers abusing workers.

"In a tiny fraction of cases there are abuses," he said. "We're aware of those and we're prepared to take additional regulatory action, for instance, to bar employers who have multiple offences from ... applying for work permits."

Currently, Ottawa can't take action against an employer found in violation on provincial labour laws on issues such as working conditions or wage rates, he said.

Liberal Senator Pierrette Ringuette says Ottawa has a duty to better police the temporary foreign workers program and ensure that unemployed Canadians aren't being shut out of jobs by workers brought in from abroad.

"The temporary foreign workers program, it's exactly that. It's temporary and should be adjusted to the circumstances," she said.

Sergio R. Karas B.A., LL.B.

About Me

Sergio R. Karas

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I am a Canadian lawyer (Barrister and Solicitor) and a Certified Specialist in Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Law by the Law Society of Upper Canada, a recognized expert in Canadian immigration law. I am an honors graduate in Political Science from York University and I obtained my Law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. I speak fluent English, French and Spanish and have a working knowledge of Italian, Portuguese and German. I am a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), current Chair of the Citizenship and Immigration Section of the Ontario Bar Association (OBA), Pasat Chair of the Immigration and Nationality Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) and Past Vice-Chair of the Canada Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law. I am also a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).

Underfunding war crimes program lets criminals avoid deportation, report says

By Marianne White, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 24, 2009

 

 

Canada's war crimes program has limited financial and human resources to investigate all alleged war criminals and deny them safe haven or prosecute them, according to a new federal report.

Among them is Leon Mugesera, a Rwandan man now living in Quebec City who was deemed a war criminal by the Supreme Court of Canada and ordered out of the country in 2005. He is still in Canada and exhausting all legal avenues.

In its 2006-07 annual report on Canada's Program on Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes, the Canada Border Services Agency noted it faces challenges to balance its heavy caseload with its budget.

The report notes that "continued funding pressures" force the agency to focus on "the most cost-effective measures," such as early detection and preventing war criminals from entering Canada.

Sergio Karas, a Toronto immigration lawyer, said what upsets him more than the underfunding of the war crimes program is that so many convicted war criminals manage to stretch out their stay for years, even decades.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Events that Shaped the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada

As we begin a year of celebrating the IRB’s achievements, let’s take a step back and remember the main events that shaped the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada from the very beginning.

1976 : Under the 1976 Immigration Act, in force April 10, 1978, refugee determination was the prerogative of the Minister of Employment and Immigration Canada (EIC), acting upon the advice of an advisory body, the Refugee Status Advisory Committee (RSAC).

1985: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the landmark Singh decision that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights entitled refugee claimants to an oral hearing where credibility was an issue.

In the Plaut Report, made to the Minister of EIC, Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut proposed to reshape the refugee determination process and advocated the creation of an independent board that would determine refugee status after an oral hearing.

1986: The UN awarded The Nansen Medal to the people of Canada in “recognition of their major and sustained contribution to the cause of refugees.”

1989: On January 1, 1989, a new refugee determination process was put in place in Canada. Bill C-55 amended the 1976 Immigration Act and established the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), composed of two divisions: the Immigration Appeal Division (IAD) and the Convention Refugee Determination Division (CRDD). The Immigration Appeal Board (IAB) and the RSAC ceased to exist.

At the same time, a Special Backlog Clearance Program was established to expedite the processing of approximately 115,000 refugee claims that had not been determined prior to January 1989.

1993: Bill C-86 transferred the Adjudication Branch from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to the IRB and established a third division, the Adjudication Division, which conducted inquiries and detention reviews. 

1993: Chairperson’s Guidelines on Women Fearing Gender-Related Persecution recognized that gender-related persecution is a form of persecution which can and should be assessed by the Refugee Division panel hearing the claim. The Guidelines on Child Refugee Claimants, respond to the special needs of children appearing before the Board. This made Canada the first country operating a refugee determination system to adopt such guidelines.

1993: With the use of international legal instruments and interpretive guides, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Ward to establish a framework for the meaning of “particular social group” in the refugee definition. Furthermore, the decision reiterated that a claimant must establish that he or she is unable or unwilling to avail him- or herself of the protection offered by all of his or her countries of nationality. 

1994: Videoconferencing was introduced to conduct Adjudication Division inquiries.  

1995: Bill C-44, which came into force on July 10, 1995, dealt mostly with serious criminality. Amendments to the Immigration Act were made to speed up the removal of criminals and to prevent persons convicted of serious crimes from having their claims referred to the CRDD if the Minister was of the opinion that they constituted a danger to the public. 

1997: The Auditor General released a report on the treatment of refugee claims. The report concluded that a major review of the refugee determination process was needed, as the current process did not provide protection quickly to those who needed it, and did not dissuade those who did not merit or need the protection from making a claim.

1998: In January 1998, the Immigration Legislative Review Advisory Group (ILRAG) released a report that recommended the creation of a “protection agency” to replace the existing IRB.

Following public consultations across Canada, the Minister of CIC responded to the ILRAG report in a document entitled Building on a Strong Foundation for the 21^st Century. Most of the ILRAG’s recommendations, as they related to the new refugee system, were not accepted. 

2000: Bill C-31, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), received first reading in the House of Commons on April 6, 2000, and then died on the order paper when an election was called later that year.

2002: The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) was re-introduced in the House of Commons on February 21, 2001, as Bill C-11 and came into force on June 28, 2002, replacing the Immigration Act. The new Act maintained the IRB, but this time included four divisions. The CRDD was renamed the Refugee Protection Division (RPD), the Adjudication Division became the Immigration Division (ID), and the IAD maintained the same name. The IRPA also called for the establishment of a new division, the Refugee Appeal Division (RAD). In March 2002, before the new Act came into force, it was announced that proclamation of the sections of IRPA related to the RAD would be delayed.

2003: The Chairperson's Action Plan was a three-year initiative that represented a return to the vision of what an administrative tribunal should be - "simple, quick and fair". It involved: standardizing and simplifying processes, providing greater institutional guidance for decision-makers, and improving the efficiency of refugee protection hearings. 

2005: The IRB launched a case management strategy to give priority processing to simple refugee protection claims; this is commonly referred to as the Fast-Track Policy.

006: Guideline 8 on Procedures with Respect to Vulnerable Persons was introduced to provide procedural accommodation for individuals who are identified as vulnerable persons and assist members in carrying out their duties in these cases.

006: IAD Innovation was undertaken to transform the IAD into a less court-like, more responsive tribunal that is able to render decisions more quickly and efficiently, with the same high standard of justice.

2006: Private Member’s Bill C-280 was introduced to implement some outstanding provisions of the IRPA, specifically those related to the RAD. The Bill was referred to the Senate after third reading in the House of Commons on May 30, 2007, and reintroduced in the Senate on October 16, 2007, when Parliament started its new session. An election call in the fall of 2008 cleared the order paper again. The RAD-related provisions have not yet been proclaimed and therefore the RAD has not been implemented.

Freed Syrian refugee is a $575,000 man

Monitoring Hassan Almrei in Mississauga townhouse a costly process

Mar 04, 2009 04:30 AM

Michelle Shephard
NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER

 

Hassan Almrei, 35, under house arrest after seven years in jail, adjusts a tracking device on his leg. Monitoring the Syrian refugee in his Mississauga townhouse is a costly process.

For two hours each day, Hassan Almrei sits tethered to an electrical outlet as he charges the clunky GPS bracelet permanently affixed to his right ankle. He can't let it run out of juice, or the security agents responsible for tracking him will come running.

Almrei also logs the time and name of his pre-screened visitors with Pavlovian efficiency as soon as he hears a knock on the door. Three ceiling cameras watch his every move, windows have alarms, his phone is tapped and one room is occupied by a black box the size of a small fridge, which emits a high-pitched hum and is described only as a "component (that) is required to monitor Mr. Almrei in his home," by a Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson.

This is life inside a three-storey Mississauga townhouse where the 35-year-old Syrian refugee moved following his release Friday after seven years in jail.

It will cost about $575,000 a year to pay for the agents' salaries and the "operations and management" of the electronic equipment, agency spokesperson Tracie LeBlanc says. But, notes Mike Larsen, a researcher at York University's Centre for International Security Studies, there may be other costs, such as wiretap analysis done by Canada's spy service. Then there are the surveillance notes, videos and pictures that need to be analyzed by separate agency agents.

"This remains indefinite detention ... it is still the imposition of control and the deprivation of liberty without charge or trial," says Larsen, who has filed dozens of Access to Information requests to the federal government about the immigration law, and who is a friend of Mohamed Harkat, an Ottawa man who likewise was imprisoned under a national security certificate.

"The real costs are less tangible, and they are measured not in dollars spent but in the indignities inflicted on Mr. Almrei."

The costs – to taxpayers and Almrei – are likely to continue for some time.

Almrei was the last of the security certificate cases released from a specially built detention centre near Kingston, dubbed "Guantanamo North" by critics, after a judge agreed that seven years without trial was too long to detain someone.

Based on the public record of the case, the allegations against Almrei do not appear as serious as those against some of the others, which Justice Richard Mosley highlighted in his January decision. He is not alleged to have been an Al Qaeda operative or engaged in violence.

The government contends he does support an extremist ideology, which began when he was a teenager fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Public allegations also state that he was part of "an international forgery ring," although he is not accused of forging documents himself. Almrei has admitted he procured a false passport for a Syrian friend who was later associated with illicit money transfers and deported by the United States.

"I'm not an angel; I did a stupid thing in my life. But to label someone a terrorist without trial, there is nothing worse," Almrei said in an interview from his home Monday.

Over coffee and plates of baklava, Almrei said the transition to his own place has been strange. Sometimes he still peers outside or around doors, expecting to see guards. On an escorted outing over the weekend (he's allowed three four-hour trips out per week) he had to return early, exhausted by the unaccustomed walking.

Almrei's new home, rented and furnished by friends and supporters, is in a good neighbourhood. Court-ordered conditions prohibit the Toronto Star from revealing its location.

The security restrictions, the strictest Canadian courts have imposed, seem appropriate, albeit costly – if Almrei is what the government contends.

Or, he's a victim of an overzealous government during a time of panic – detained a month after the 9/11 attacks and forced into an epic legal battle to avoid deportation to Syria.

This uncertainty explains the intense focus on Almrei's case and that of four other Arab men facing expulsion under national security certificates, a provision in immigration law invoked after 9/11. The law has been tested at the Supreme Court twice and is likely to head there again.

In 2007, the Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional. But the law was rewritten to introduce the role of special advocates, so that security-cleared lawyers could challenge the government's classified evidence in closed-door hearings. Almrei's case is set for April and will be the first to test the new legislation.

The larger legal question, however, will be whether the courts allow Canada to deport someone to a country with a record of human rights abuses. Canada is a signatory to international treaties that prohibit the removal of someone likely to face torture or death in the other country, and since Almrei was accepted in Canada as a refugee a year before his arrest that risk has already been acknowledged.

Canadian courts may also look to a House of Lords decision two weeks ago that cleared the way for the U.K. to deport a dozen terrorism suspects who challenged their removal based on similar fears. The ruling upheld the government's position that those concerns are alleviated by written assurances from Jordan and Algeria pledging fair treatment.

One hurdle too many

 

There are journalists and there are prophets, and David Halberstam (1934-2007) was one who used the horizon rather that his rear-view mirror to drive his writing. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, he foretold the following: “When we show up at hotels or airports, we do not have to lug with us all kinds of documentation to prove that we are who we say we are; that has to be a curious kind of privilege, and it is going to be more difficult to preserve in the future.”

I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s a big deal. While it is prudent to carry ID cards and other pieces of identification, I prefer it when people take me at my word.

I have been pleasantly surprised that Canada, generally, continues to be a nation where this is still possible, although with such a finicky neighbour to our south, this privilege continues to erode over time. Corruption, of course, makes the documents themselves suspect.

It is in this context that I read about Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s remarks about a “developing industry” in India that is compromising the visa process. India is, after all, one of Canada’s largest source nation for immigrants and a major world power. On a recent visit, the minister was appalled that people were willing to swear by anything, submit phony documents, lie through their teeth and make up university certificates and medical histories — all with a view to landing in Canada.

This may have come as news to Kenney, but for anybody with even a passing acquaintance of India or the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is part of the mystique that envelops the country.

According to news accounts, the minister was particularly dismayed at the level of corruption in Chandigarh — a Canadian mission that was opened in 2004 — with an astounding rejection rate of 56 per cent for visitor and student visas. And let’s not kid ourselves: if this is happening with “temporary residency” visas, it is also happening with immigrant visas. Artists who specialize in producing documents to order do not discriminate between those who want to come to Canada for a few months and those who want to eventually become citizens of the True North.

While calling on the local government to crack down on these scam artists, Kenney wondered aloud about how these shortcuts are affecting genuine applicants. “[T]hese document vendors and unscrupulous consultants are undermining the chances of legitimate visitors and immigrants to get to Canada … We want legitimate law-abiding people who qualify to be visitors to immigrate with as little trouble as possible. Those who engage in this kind of fraud clog up the system.”

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has obviously gotten better at detecting fraud, just as their American counterpart, which recently discovered that only 20 per cent of those claiming to be relatives of refugees who were admitted to the United States were, in fact, from the same family. They confirmed this using DNA tests, and as a consequence shut down the refugee family reunification programs in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Gambia.     

Canada would be shooting itself in the foot if it were to shut down its visa offices in India. But it should also be worrying about how it can minimize the number of hoops that honest people have to jump through to get to Canada. Every hurdle is one too many.

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