Canadian Immigration Information Centre

Poll shows Canadians believe immigrants are a burden on social programs

<p>According to a poll completed this week, more than 50% of Canadians believe that immigrants represent a burden on Canada&#39;s social programs. About 66% want the government to give priority to educated or highly skilled foreign nationals seeking to immigrate to Canada. Survey results were closely tied to education levels - respondents with the highest level of education were less likely to believe that immigrants were a burden on the country&#39;s social system.&#0160;17,601 people were interviewed for the survey in 23 countries. Almost 40% of Canadian respondents said they believed immigration has had a positive impact on the country. Another 35% said they believed immigration has had a negative impact.</p>

Amnesty International asks Canada to protect privacy of fugitives on War Crimes Wanted List

<p>Amnesty International has sent an open letter to the government of Canada in which it is asking the government to ensure that safeguards are in place to protect the privacy of <a href="http://www.canadianimmigrationinformation.com/2011/07/canada-seeks-alleged-war-criminals-in-canada.html" target="_blank" title="Canadian Immigration Information Centre">foreign nationals</a> who are the subject of a Canada-wide arrest warrants for violations under international law or the&#0160;<em>Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. </em>The Canada Border Services Agency created a War Crimes Wanted List on its website with the list of 30 foreign nationals in Canada who are wanted for removal. Amnesty International&#0160;expressed concern that the photos and names of the fugitives were made available on the website because of the potential reputational harm to those persons. &#0160;</p> <p>The War Crimes Wanted List has been successful in locating seven of the fugitives. Two of the fugitives were deported from Canada. One was determined to be the United States.&#0160;</p> <p>Amnesty International&#0160;suggests that Canada prosecute those on the list rather than returning them to their country of origin. In the open letter, Amnesty International says that under international law, Canada is prohibited from deporting a foreign national if the person faces a serious risk of human rights violations such as torture, execution or enforced disappearance.</p> <p>That is not the case, however. Under the <em>Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, </em>Canada agreed not to expel a foreign national if there are substantial grounds to believe the foreign national would be subject to torture in the receiving country. This is not absolute and pursuant to the Convention, the prohibition against removal is subject to&#0160;reasonable limits that can be demonstrably justified under Canadian law.&#0160; What this means is that if a foreign national’s presence in Canada would pose a threat to Canada or Canadians, or would otherwise undermine the integrity of the immigration system, the foreign national may be deported regardless of the Convention.&#0160; Circumstances where a foreign national’s presence may pose a threat to Canada or Canadians include serious criminality, terrorist threat or other serious security risk (such as war crimes).&#0160;</p> <p>Moreover, under the <em>Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, </em>foreign nationals who are refugees in Canada should not be expelled to countries where their life or freedom would be threatened because of their race, religion, nationality, political views or membership in a social group. The right against expulsion is also not absolute in Canada. Under this Convention,&#0160;certain activities or conduct disqualify a person as a Convention refugee, including if the foreign national committed a crime against peace, a war crime, a crime against humanity, a serious non-political crime outside the country of refuge before being admitted as a refugee, or an act against the principles of the United Nations.</p>

China arrests Lai Changxing after extradition from Canada

<p>The Chinese government arrested Lai Changxing shortly after his arrival in China yesterday. Lai Changxing lived in Canada for the past 12 years. He was extradited from Canada this week. Lai is accused of bribing officials and operating a smuggling ring from his headquarters in the city of Xiamen, China. According to Chinese officials, when the smuggling ring was busted, the government recovered US$6.8 billion of goods at Lai&#39;s properties. 14 associates of Lai were given the death penalty in China as a result.</p> <p>Lai battled extradition for four years from his home in Vancouver. He argued that he could face torture and execution if he was returned to China.&#0160;</p>

Canada seeks alleged war criminals in Canada

<p>The Canada Border Services Agency has published a <a href="http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/wc-cg/menu-eng.html" target="_self" title="Wanted by CBSA">list of 30 foreign nationals</a> whom it says are in Canada and have violated human or international rights under the <em>Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act </em>or under international law. The alleged war crimes violations would render them inadmissible to Canada.</p> <p>The Canada Border Services Agency <a href="http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/wc-cg/menu-eng.html" target="_self">website</a> indicates that the foreign nationals are from Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia. Most are believed to have settled in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta.</p>

Court in Canada rejects payment of health care for illegal immigrant

<p>The Federal Court of Appeal in Canada has refused to consider an appeal from an illegal immigrant seeking to have her health care costs paid by Canada. The immigrant, Neil Toussaint, a foreign national from Grenada residing in Toronto, claimed that the government&#39;s refusal to pay her medical costs was unconstitutional because it deprived her of the right to life and security of the person. The Federal Court of Canada held that illegal immigrants are not entitled to federal health coverage when they are not legitimately in the immigration system. The Court also held that paying the health costs of illegal immigrants would undermine the immigration system and would render Canada a safe haven for free medical care for other illegal foreign nationals. See our earlier post <a href="http://www.canadianimmigrationinformation.com/2010/03/illegal-immigrant-sues-in-canada-for-free-medical-care.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>

Canada proposes new body to regulate immigration consultants

<p>The federal government of Canada has proposed the establishment of a new regulatory body to oversee immigration consultants to be called the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council. The new Council will replace the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants. This latter group was criticized for failing to regulate the conduct of its members.&#0160;</p>

U.S. seeking extradition of 3 Canadians wanted for money laundering and illegal gambling with ties to PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker

<p>The U.S. government is seeking the arrest and will seek the eventual extradition of three Canadians indicted in New York today for money laundering, bank fraud and illegal gambling. The three Canadians being sought are:</p> <ul> <li>Isai Scheinberg, currently living in the Isle of Man;</li> <li>Nelson Burtnick, currently living in Ireland; and</li> <li>Ryan Lang, currently living in Canada.</li> </ul> <p>Eight other individuals, mostly residents of the U.S., were also indicted. The defendants include the founders of three of the largest Internet gambling sites – PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.&#0160;</p> <p>According to the indictment, the defendants fraudulently circumvented anti-money laundering laws and the <em>Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act </em>through various means, including by lying about their business operations and investing in small banks to control the decisions made with respect to online gambling clients.&#0160;</p> <p>The U.S. has also filed a concurrent civil complaint seeking to recover from the Canadians and other defendants, US$3 billion that is alleged to be proceeds of crime. Prior to the unsealing of the indictment, the defendants&#39; bank accounts were frozen in 14 countries, including Canada. If the Canadian defendants are arrested and extradited to the U.S., they each face at least 20 years in prison if convicted of the money laundering offences.&#0160;</p>

MV Sun Sea refugees allude to being trafficked to Canada and owe debts to the traffickers

<p>According to this report in the <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/perversion-of-the-law-forces-migrants-to-pay-smugglers-lawyer-argues/article1964235/" target="_blank" title="Globe &amp; Mail - Perversion of law forces migrants to pay smugglers">Globe and Mail</a>, several of the migrants on the MV Sun Sea appear to have admitted that they were trafficked, and not smuggled to Canada and owe debts to the traffickers that they have no intention of repaying. Minister Kenney, the federal immigration minister for Canada, has said that according to evidence he received from the Australian government, Sri Lankan foreign nationals who are trafficked into places like Australia or Canada are &quot;often pressed into criminal service in areas like credit card fraud.&quot; Payments to human smugglers or human traffickers are illegal. A person is trafficked, and not smuggled, if they continue to be indebted to the group who smuggled them. Persons who are trafficked are typically coerced, threatened or forced to provide free labour or services or forced to pay substantial sums to the traffickers for long periods of time. If the payments are made to human trafficking operators in Sri Lanka who are members of the LTTE, or in furtherance of the activities of the LTTE, the payments can be considered terrorist activity financing. Terrorist financing activity is prohibited in Canada.&#0160;</p>

Immigration and Refugee Board orders Tamil migrant deported from Canada

<p>The Immigration and Refugee Board has ordered a migrant who entered Canada illegally aboard the MV Sun Sea deported. The man, whose identity cannot be revealed under Canada&#39;s privacy laws, admitted he was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist group in Canada, from 1991 to 1996. A foreign national with terrorist ties is generally inadmissible to Canada under the <em>Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, </em>for security grounds if they engaged in an act of subversion against a government; or engaged in terrorism; or is or was a member of a terrorist organization. The foreign national with ties to the LTTE can also be inadmissible to Canada under serious criminality grounds for committing an act outside of Canada that is an offence in Sri Lanka and if committed in Canada, would be an offence punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least ten years (e.g. money laundering or terrorist activity offences in the <em>Criminal Code of Canada).&#0160;</em></p>