Canada seeks extended support and cooperation by Indian Punjab in fight against phony consultants and fake document vendors

At the end of his week long formal visit to India, the Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada (CIMC) Minister Jason Kenney called on Chief Minister Punjab Parkash Singh Badal and sought his support and cooperation to crackdown the "developing industry" of document vendors and phony consultants exploiting large numbers of Punjabis wanting to go to Canada.

According to an estimate, two of every three temporary visa applications are rejected by Canadian officials in Chandigarh due to the fake documents that are submitted with applications. These fraudulent documents include, but not limited to, counterfeit letters from MPs, identification papers, employment offers, university transcripts and diplomas, funeral announcements and even pictures of false wedding ceremonies.

Expressing concern over the issue, CM Punjab assured the Minister that Punjab Government would extent its fulsome support and cooperation to evolve a permanent solution to curb this illegal practice.

CM was apprised in the meeting that few owners of marriage palaces are involved in arranging fake marriages in connivance with travel agents/immigration consultants to provide photographs of marriage in support of proof for the purpose of Canadian visa to illegal persons. CM assured the visiting Canadian Minister that State Government would take stringent action against the erring travel agents involved in the exploitation of women in getting them married with the persons intended to seek Canadian Visa which ultimately result in broken marriages.

"Our Canadian officials in Chandigarh are regularly dealing with fraudulent documents produced by unregistered immigration consultants, including fake passports, fake endorsement letters from Canadian Members of Parliament, fake death certificates and many more," said Minister Kenney. "Although the approval rate for temporary visas has improved over the last year, the large number of unauthentic documents being submitted to the Chandigarh mission is a very serious problem for the integrity of Canada’s immigration system. I am pleased that the Chief Minister of Punjab says he will act on this commitment to crack down on unscrupulous immigration consultants, and I look forward to assessing the success of this promise later this year."

Kenney said unscrupulous consultants have been known to target a program, and then tailor the applications to that program. A recent example involved Canada's live-in caregiver program. A surge of applications for the program in 2007 raised eyebrows at the office in Chandigarh, largely because they were from men, who are not the traditional caregivers in India. Officials subsequently discovered many applicants presented documents that said they graduated from care-giving schools that did not exist.

Kenney said there has been a lack of interest in the past on the part of the Indian authorities to pursue visa fraud, but that he expects much closer cooperation between Canadian officials and Chandigarh police in the future.

Canada is the only country to operate a visa office in Chandigarh. The Chandigarh office of the Canadian High Commission opened in 1997 and first began issuing visas in 2004 after former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien attended the opening of the Consulate General of Chandigarh in 2003. About half of the Indo-Canadian community in Canada hails from Punjab.

Kenney visits Pakistan to review and discuss immigration, manpower and investment issues with key Pakistani officials

On a two-day visit to Pakistan, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada (CIMC) Minister Jason Kenney held official bilateral meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and heads of key ministries to discuss Canada-Pakistan relations with regards to immigration, employment of Pakistani citizens in Canada, and Canadian investment in Pakistan.

During these meetings, Prime Minister Gilani and Minister Kenney discussed regarding enhancing recruitment of Pakistani manpower by the Canadian entrepreneurs involved in development of new agricultural lands in Canada’s labor scarce provinces, and creating ways for employment of different categories of workforce from Pakistan. Minister Kenney assured Prime Minister that he will look at the possibility of making use of the skilled and semi-skilled labor from Pakistan for development of agriculture, construction and industrial sectors in some provinces of Canada.

Prime Minister hoped that Canada would also provide Pakistan with technical and financial assistance for upgrading the universities and vocational training institutions to train Pakistani manpower for this purpose. He stressed on the MOU to be drawn up between the two countries for development and up gradation of professional and technical institutes to maintain the standards that Canada desires.

The Prime Minister also took up the issue of inordinate delay in the processing of immigration cases of Pakistani nationals by the Canadian authorities. He urged that Pakistanis should be treated at par with immigrants from other countries. Minister Kenney agreed by the Prime Minister and assured that he will discuss with visa officers at the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad to review operations as well as facilitating the visa process for business travelers and international students.

The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the Canadian Government for doubling its economic assistance (CIDA) to Pakistan from $30 million to $60 million. Canada recently announced this increase, which will be used to strength local government institutions, basic health care for girls, and primary education for Pakistani children. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister also praised Canada’s continued assistance to Pakistan for human resource development and capacity building.

Minister Kenney informed Prime Minister Gilani that a Parliamentary Forum in Canada would be established next month to promote exchanges between elected representatives in Canada and Pakistan.

Before returning to Canada January 18, 2009, the Minister will also travel to Mumbai, where he will express Canada’s condolences for the terrorist attacks in November 2008, and visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and sites of importance particularly to the Jewish and Ismaili communities. In New Delhi He will be visiting the office of the Canadian Immigration Integration Project (CIIP) and addressing the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber. In Mumbai,

At the close of his visit to Pakistan, Minister Kenney said that the purpose of his visit to Pakistan was to look at the possibility of establishing a more close and friendly relations between the two countries.

Minister Kenney outlines his government’s policy on immigration and recounts newcomers’ integration efforts

Canada’s newly appointed Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, has avowed his government’s commitment for delivering a "dynamic" immigration program and integrating newcomers successfully.

Speaking at his first presentation on "Immigration & Integration: Keys to Canada’s Future" to Winnipeg’s Canadian Club on Thursday, Minister Kenney outlined his government’s philosophy behind modernization of the immigration system and highlighted some of the recent efforts that government has undertaken to facilitate the successful integration of newcomers.

"Just as immigration has been essential to Canada’s economic development, it is an indispensable part of our future economy," Minister Kenney told the audience when describing the background of recent changes in Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) through Bill C-50 earlier this year. "But let me be clear: our government inherited some very serious challenges in the immigration system that must be fixed if we are to ensure that immigration works well for Canada, and for newcomers, in the future."

Minister Kenney declared these changes a big step to better aligning immigration with labor market needs, and to reducing the massive backlog and unacceptable wait times. He also disclosed that, in a little while, he is releasing a list of those professions and trades which are most urgently in need of new workers, so immigrants abroad who apply to come to Canada as Skilled Workers, and whose experience or training match these categories, will have their applications processed on a priority basis.

He also noted recently announced Canadian Experience Class and the improvements in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program as part of his government’s modernization of the immigration system.

When recounting the range of actions his government has taken in recent years to help new Canadians succeed, Minister Kenney highlighted the (a) improvements made in Provincial Nominee Programs; (b) Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) established last year; (c) 50 per cent cut in Right of Permanent Residence Fee; (d) strategic plan to encourage immigration in Francophone minority communities; (e) five-year, $1.4 billion plan to improve settlement services across the country; and (f) reduction in taxes to allow both new and established Canadians to prosper and make the best choices for their families.

"Newcomers will continue to be a source of growth and strength. And we must keep up our end of the bargain by doing what we can to ensure their successful integration into Canadian society," Minister Kenney told the Canadian Club of Winnipeg. "I think we can all agree that our immigration policy is a success when newcomers choose to become Canadian citizens because they know in their hearts that we live in a great country."

At the end, Minister Kenney announced the creation of annual Paul Yuzyk Award, which will be presented each year to an individual or organization that has demonstrated excellence in promoting the multiculturalism in Canada.

Conservative’s ethnic-outreach specialist promoted as the new Minister for Citizenship and Immigration

The Honorable Jason Kenney has been appointed new Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism by the Prime Minister Stephen Harper after a sweeping cabinet shuffle on Thursday.

Former Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney’s duties since January of 2007, when he took on the Secretary of State position, have been to connect new Canadians, and the various communities they populate, with the government of Canada and unofficially advocate as a Conservative ambassador to these groups on behalf of the party.

As a junior minister for multiculturalism for nearly two years, Mr. Kenney was well-known for his endless strings of dinners and gatherings with minority communities across Canada, making ceremonial declarations, a few formal apologies for Ottawa's past misdeeds and also wooing Conservative votes among groups that traditionally favored the Liberals.

Boosting ethnic-outreach specialist Jason Kenney to Immigration is a huge step up. He has been promoted as immigration minister at a time when new legislation gives his job unprecedented powers to decide what kind of worker gets into Canada first. Now the government is hoping that, as the new immigration minister, the young MP for Calgary Southeast will be able to use his strong ethnic ties to roll out the controversial immigration reforms rammed through by his predecessor, Diane Finley. Those reforms were contained in a budget bill passed during the final days of the last Parliament to further restrict immigrant selections.

Mr. Kenney, however, is pledging to align immigration policy to the economy's labor needs, rather than for political gain.

Mr. Kenney's appointment to the cabinet post also came with hopes by advocacy groups and the ethnic communities. They hope he will address their concerns over what they see as a dramatic shift in immigration policies that increasingly view newcomers as an economic unit, wanted for nothing more than their job skills.

Jason Kenney was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 and re-elected in 2000, 2004, 2006, and most recently in 2008 with 76 per cent of the vote. In January 2007, Mr. Kenney was appointed Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity). He previously served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Mr. Kenney was Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and a member of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

Prior to seeking election, Mr. Kenney served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Mr. Kenney was born in Ontario and raised in Saskatchewan, where he graduated from Notre Dame College. He did undergraduate studies in philosophy at the St. Ignatius Institute of the University of San Francisco.

Former Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney would retain his duties in Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity but bring these under the umbrella of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Although, the broad cabinet overhaul enlarged Prime Minister’s second-term cabinet by ten per cent but it is expected that it will give the Conservatives' hard-edge image a younger feel with dramatically improved gender balance and decent ministers from almost every region of the country. The cabinet is now super-sized at 38 members, up four from its last version.