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Canada Faces A Shortage Of Immigrants

A P Kamath

For the third year in a row, Canada is not going to reach its annual target of 200,000 immigrants. Ottawa announced this week there would be about 20,000 less immigrants than the target -- and many immigrant attorneys, politicians, social workers and immigrant groups say they are not surprised at the shortage.

Qualified immigrants have become savvy in recent years, many immigration experts believe.

"You hear that Canada wants doctors, businessmen and high-tech employees," says Sukhbir Singh, an immigrant in British Columbia. "But you also read about how many Canadians do not like immigrants from our part of the world. So many qualified people wonder whether it is worth coming over here."

There is a long waiting period, some times it takes more than two years for qualified persons to get immigration papers, says Lillian To, who runs Success, a pro-immigrant advocacy and self-help organization. And then Canada has not produced an effective way of establishing the credentials of immigrants.

"So many engineers end up being dishwashers in Canada," she complains, "because their degrees are not properly evaluated."

Many Sri Lankan engineers, who migrated seeking political asylum, recognize To's complain. They feel they have been short-changed by the Canadian system.

There is an acute shortage of medical doctors and nurses in Canada, and yet, To says, the red tape is not easy to deal with. "There should be better customer service," she says.

In many instances, when the Canadian visa materializes, the would-be immigrant has received American or Australian visas.

"And most of them opt for America or Australia," says a secretary who migrated five years ago from India. "People get tired of waiting, and often the treatment at the high commission isn't good. Naturally, people get fed up and look around for another country to migrate."

Of the 200,000 immigrant visas, about 70 percent went to qualified immigrants, 15 per cent to those who had siblings or parents in Canada and about 10 per cent to refugees and those seeking political asylum.

"My uncles had an opportunity to seek political asylum in Canada," says a New York-based Sikh businessman. "But they decided to try for American refuge because they had heard stories of long wait for Canadian visa."

Vancouver used to be a favorite destination for many Sikhs, given the fact that there are about 100,000 Punjabis in and around the British Columbian city.

"But many people want to skip Vancouver, want to skip Canada itself, when they hear about the fighting in the gurdwaras and the increasing number of attacks against the immigrants by the right-wing youth groups," says the businessman.

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