Could the Pandemic be the Moment Needed to Make Canada’s Immigration System More Fair?
Senator Omidvar comments on the need for immigration to continue during COVID-19.
When refugee Naim Karimi left Pakistan years ago, his wife and two children stayed behind. Twice rejected for asylum in Canada, he was granted permanent residence last year on humanitarian grounds. In March, finally in a position to be reunited with his wife and kids, Karimi submitted the family’s passports to the Canadian High Commissioner in Islamabad. The next day, Pakistan was locked down.
Maria Landaeta of Venezuela spent two years studying at Vancouver’s Capilano University. She was working for a Burnaby casting company when the news came in March that it was shutting down and laying her off — five months short of the one-year Canadian work experience needed for permanent resident status.
Khim Smith was working as a live-in caregiver in Toronto. In April, several weeks into the pandemic, she was let go by her employer and asked to move out overnight. She has three children — ages 12, 17 and 23 — to support back home in Grenada, and “nowhere to go.”
With borders closed and flights ground, COVID-19 largely brought world migration to a halt.
For those whose lives are split between the country of their dreams and the country of their origin, it has been a slow-motion nightmare. Now, as the world slowly reopens, they wonder what lies ahead.
In a new post-COVID-19 order, experts say, Canada will need to reconfigure its immigration system, the country’s economic engine. What kind of workers will Canada need, post-COVID? What kind of jobs will be available?
The pandemic has redefined the phrase “essential worker” in this country, showing that many of those who do what have long been dismissed as “low skill” jobs are in fact keeping the economy running. Is it time to afford more of these people a chance at the Canadian dream?
“This pandemic is a seismic geopolitical event, and it will transform migration,” Marie McAuliffe, the head researcher for the International Organization for Migration, told a recent World Economic Forum briefing.
“COVID-19 has become the great disrupter.”
Sen. Ratna Omidvar, long an advocate for immigrants, said the federal government should continue to make every effort to attract immigrants despite potential uncertainty and processing delays.
“There are a lot of unknowns, but maybe this could be the opportune moment for the government to plan for the next few years to ramp up (immigration) for the jobs that will be there to meet a post-pandemic economy … look for immigrants, whether they are personal support workers, agricultural workers or scientists,” Omidvar said.
Read the full article on The Toronto Star’s website