Conneting with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney

CI:  What are you doing to make Canada a destination of choice for qualified, productive immigrants given that: Canada is in a recession; the economies of India and China are booming; it is so difficult for immigrants to get jobs and certification; and Australia and New Zealand are becoming more competitive as immigrant destinations?

JK: First of all, we’re at a huge disadvantage because of the processing times. The backlog that built up in the 1990s from 40-50,000 cases to more than 800,000 cases when we took office, and the five-year waiting queue, is totally unacceptable. When Australia and New Zealand can process skilled immigrants in six months, and it’s taking us sometimes six years, we’re putting ourselves out of competition. That’s why we took difficult and somewhat controversial steps in our Action Plan for Faster Immigration, including the priority occupations that will allow people to get processed now within six to 12 months in our 38 key categories that were defined after consultations with provinces and others. I know there is some skepticism and opposition to that approach about it, but something had to be done.

We’re also developing greater flexibility in the system, through expanding provincial nominee programs and allowing qualified skilled foreign workers a pathway to permanent residency through the Canadian experience class (CEC). Finally, we’re looking at attracting more qualified foreign students — the prime minister has asked me to focus on this. Again, the CEC provides a pathway to permanent residency for these students, which is a huge marketing advantage.

We’re also doing some administrative things to reduce the lengthy processing times. We’re spreading the work more around in our missions abroad and have increased the budget for our ministry to speed up processing.

And, finally, we have to do a better job in preparing people for their arrival in Canada. The pilot stuff we’re doing through our Foreign Credentials Referral Office, such as the Canadian Immigration Integration Project (CIIP), which is providing intensive seminars for selected permanent residents before they arrive, is a new product to make us more competitive, because it gives immigrants a head start on their immigration experience to Canada.

(Mr. Kenney with Vietnamese Community in Vancouver)

CI: The new national occupations classification list (a list of eligible skilled workers as of Feb. 27. 2008) includes professionals in various fields whose credentials will not be recognized here, including engineers and doctors. Will the government fast track not only their entry into, but also their licensing in Canada?

JK: Well, we would if we could. As you know, the federal government doesn’t regulate the recognition of professional credentials. And that’s not an answer that immigrants want to hear. But that is the division of powers.

The good news, I think, is governments at all levels are finally starting to get the urgency of this issue of credential recognition. In fact, the prime minister led the premiers to the first-ever national agreement on foreign credential recognition at the first ministers’ meeting here in Ottawa [in mid-January]. And they’ve agreed to a timeline by the end of this year to come up with national benchmarks for accelerated credential recognition. This is a hugely important development.

And so, no, can I guarantee that a doctor coming in under the fast-track process will be practising within a couple of months of their arrival? No, I can’t. But I can say that things are getting better. Many of the provinces are putting pressure on the professional agencies to expedite credential recognition. We’re looking at ways, for instance, they can recertify medical practitioners who have degrees from particular universities.

I think that progress is being made on the issue of foreign credential recognition, but there’s still a lot more work to be done.

CI: Why then, though, would doctors and engineers be on that list?

JK: Because they’re most needed. I mean the list was developed after consultation with the provinces and with other stakeholders, and medical professions were at the top of the list. It’s not true that all doctors who come to Canada end up driving taxi cabs. The fact is that many do find their way into practice. We have doctors from South Africa working in Saskatchewan, which aggressively recruited them through their provincial nominee program, and many physicians have been able to get their credentials recognized through the kind of pre-recognition I’m talking about through certain medical institutions. Engineers, perhaps, are a little more challenging. Again, I think we’re making progress on that front.

Look, with or without the ministerial instructions under Bill C-50, go back six months under the old system and we were still bringing in engineers and doctors. We’re not going to stop trying to recruit people in these areas in industries where we need their skills until we come up with a final solution to the credential recognition problem. We can’t wait that long. Especially in the medical field; we need these people desperately.

(Minister Jason Kenney speaking in parlament)

CI: What happens with all the people who applied before Feb. 27, 2008, and still have to wait for six or more years for their application to be processed?

JK: They’re all guaranteed that they will be processed in the same order in which their application was received. It’s that any future applicants, as of February 2008, who don’t fall within the 38 categories will get a letter shortly indicating that they don’t qualify for the identified occupations in the skilled worker program, but we will point out to them other programs for which they can apply, including the provincial nominee programs and temporary foreign workers programs.

CI: How long do you think it will take to remove the backlog or at least reduce it by 50 per cent?

JK: I guarantee you, that in 2009, this will be the first time in 15 years that we begin to see the backlog start to go down, rather than up. It’s been going up relentlessly since 1993; 2009 will be the year that we turn the corner. It won’t be dramatic in the short term. But our projections are that we can reduce the backlog by a third within the next three to four years. And that’s significant given the size.

If we did not take action, the backlog would be cresting over a million files in this calendar year. We didn’t want to go past that psychological breaking point, of a million files in the queue. I’m very optimistic — no, I’m more than optimistic — I’m 100 per cent confident that we will begin to see the numbers go down.

CI: What about the investor category? Will they be processed faster? The numbers are growing really fast.

JK: We’re very concerned about that. One thing I’m focused on in the short term are modifications that improve the immigrant investor program, particularly in this recessionary period, we need to maximize our bang for the buck. One way of making it more competitive is reducing the processing times for the immigrant investor program. Quebec has a much more successful program that attracts more immigrant investors than the federal one, so we’re looking at replicating some of their program design.

CI: While we’re looking at Quebec, what about the Alberta model, which allows immigrants to sponsor skilled extended family, like uncles, aunts, nephews and children?

JK: I’m willing to consider that as well … One of the beauties of our system is that it’s very flexible. One of the geniuses of a federation is that the provinces can act as policy laboratories to develop best practices. I think the Alberta program is very strong, as is the Quebec one. If people are willing to bring substantial capital to the country to ensure that they’re going to pay at least indirectly for the social programs that they’re dependants use, then there’s a real economic logic to it.

CI: One last question: family reunification — there’s a two-year waiting list to start the process, and then a five-year waiting list … what’s going on?

JK: Boy, that’s a tough one. It’s the most political sensitive issue we’re facing. People are frustrated with the waiting times, I understand that. The department advises me that in the last two years, certain areas of family reunification have been accelerating by up to 40 per cent. We obviously prioritize the immediate family members. And I think we’re making some strides on that front. But, frankly, look it wasn’t our government who developed this huge waiting list. Sorry to make a partisan point, but I’m going to: in 1993, when the Liberals came to office, the total queue of all streams was about 40,000 files. When we came to office, it was more than 840,000 files.

It’s tragic. I understand the frustration [sighs heavily]. If there was some magic wand we could wave to get all these applications processed in one year, believe me I’d be waving it. But there’s not, and it’s going to take time for us to turn this around. I just have to ask people to be patient in the meantime.

(The Canadian Immigrants)