A refugee who came to Canada as a child and got committed in the world of crime is now been ordered deportation to his homeland Somalia, a place which he has not seen ever since he was eight years old. Abadir Ali, 26, the concerned man has been given the status of being dangerous to the nationals of Canada by the immigration officials of the country. A troubled youth forced Ali to get into the crime world.

In a ruling held recently, Judge Leonard Mandamin has confirmed that the man imposes much thread to the national of Canada outweighing the personal risks he would face in his native country. Reports say that Ali is currently upheld in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre and has been struggling his deportation since the last twenty four months.

Felix Weekes, who is his lawyer, has come to his defense, stating that Ali has no one familiar in Somalia. In addition, he is not acquaint of his native language as well as the culture of Somalia. He in anger said that these immigration officials are sending this kid to a place to which he is completely unknown of! He does not know anything about Somalia.

Also, a Somali community in Ottawa has précised their worries about this particular incident and has sent a petition signed by almost two hundred people to CIC. The petition says that sending Ali back to his native land is equal to giving him a death sentence. It has also asked the government of Canada to delay or boycott the deportation till the time the conditions in his native land are not improved.

A housewife-cum mother residing in Ottawa who intended to get into job prospects after nine long years of her life was denied to do the same because she is WHITE.

Sara Landriault, the concerned woman, said that her kids stay in school on a full time basis, hence she made up her mind to opt for employment options out of home. She surfed and net and landed upon a position at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a job which she though would suit her qualification in an apt manner.

After submitting the resume and going for a telephonic interview, she was shocked to know that just because she is white, she can’t apply for the same.

She went on to say that it is good to offer equal opportunity but at the same time an equal opportunity employer should not bar any applicant from applying for a job, juts because of “race.”

It was not long back when Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl spoke on the issue of discriminatory hiring practice which was implemented by different employers in various jobs.

Canada is not a country which discriminates on the facets like race or class. Hence, an incident of this kind is something which can be seen as an exception and an aspect which is hard to digest. The country has welcomed so thousands of immigrants from all over the world, where “race” didn’t seem an issue at all.

According to a new report brought out by the Conference Board of Canada, the policies for immigration have to be modernized in order to avert the suppression of the growth in the economy of the nation which could come about due to the shortage in labor. The Board based in Ottawa hints that it is important to match the skills of the foreign skilled migrants walking into the nation with those that are required by the nation. The report has been written by Glen Hodgson, who is the Chief Economist at the Conference Board.

Hodgson has also predicted that the supply of workers would soon be an issue. This is especially pertaining to the economic development of the nation as steady job growth being the norm with the population consisting of baby boomer generation and people close to the retirement age. As per him, without catering to better policies for immigration, the nation would be a shortage of the necessary workforce.

It has been recommended by the Conference Board to give more importance to the skills of the applicant while assessing their applications for immigration. This has to be done keeping in mind the skills required by the nation. These policies should be implemented at all levels including the government, more usage of the temporary foreign workers to cater to the short-term needs. With this, the employers should also be included in the process of selecting the applicants for immigration. Also, making it easier for all the foreign students as well as the temporary foreign workers applying for permanent residence was one of the suggestions. Improvised recognition of professional credentials which have been earned abroad was another suggestion.

At the same time, it would be easier to achieve the economic objective by the maintaining the number of immigrants coming to Canada on an annual basis catering to the social objective. This could be increased steadily.

The current rate of immigration is 265,000 per year. It is being assumed by the report that this rate would grow to 350,000 on an annual basis by 2030. However, the Conference Board does not recommend the Federal Government to have a monopoly especially when it comes to this area of public policy.

As Canada is feeling the urge to attract more and more new skilled and younger workers into it, the country’s federal, provincial, as well as territorial governments came together to have talks on how to improve the country’s immigration system for that purpose. The meeting of the governments held in Ottawa.

In the meeting, Canadian immigration minister said that in order to confirm the country’s position in the world economy and face future challenges, Canada needs to retain its immigrants, as well as attract overseas skills it requires at this point of time. He was also caught saying that the combined efforts of Canadian governments would help the country reach it goals and prove itself as one of the best world destinations for the overseas immigrants.

The ministers from all the levels (governments) are committed to be cooperative in executing the country’s immigration system and would help welcoming and assisting new immigrants. Canada is already known for its welcoming nature when it comes to immigrants.

The governments in the meeting discussed many issues, including the significance of planning different aspects of immigration, including visa policies in order to make the department more complying for the needs of the economy. Immigrants and their success play an important role in making the Canadian immigration system to be responsive towards the Canadian economy. The ministers also had talked matters like progress on the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. These provisions will help overseas workers in getting recognized for their training and eventually engaged in skilled work as soon as possible.

According to Jason Kenney, the Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism for Canada, withdrawing any form of visa policies would take a year. This is specific for Mexico where in the citizens of Mexico have to apply for temporary Residence Visas or a Tourist Visa to enter Canada. This law was brought about in 2009. The main reason behind introducing this law was due to the increasing number of asylum seekers from Mexico.

The Minister also mentioned that no government in any world is in a position to reckon its decision all over again especially when it comes to liberalization of visa. This could only be done if the problem of refugees is taken care of.

The issue of visas has been a major point of discussion when the Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico was in Ottawa to visit the Canadian Prime Minister. As per the news sources, a major discussion would take place on the issue.

According to Calderón, the right to make amends in policy by Canada is highly respected. At the same time, Mexico regrets this decision which has come about due to certain events.

The requirements for the visa for the Mexicans are not having a very positive impact on the middle class segment of Mexico. Around 250,000 travelers from Mexico visited Canada before the new visa norms were put in place.

Canada is one of the developed nations of the world. So, when it comes to the standards of education, they offer better infrastructure and education than other developing nations. With many perks and facilities, it is a great place for many international students to come, live and study.

In order to understand how the system of higher education works, it is important to look into the constitution dealing with this aspect. The territories and provinces hold the responsibility for dealing with the universities in the nation. As per the British North America Act brought about in 1867, the legislature in each Province was free to make laws pertaining to education. This act is now known as the Constitution Act since 1982.

This has led to a polarized system of education for each province. However, the only exception is for the Aboriginal people where in the Federal Canadian government is responsible for financial their higher education.

Canada has eighty three universities which have the authority of grant degrees and are independent in nature. These universities are spread across different provinces with seven in Montreal, five in Vancouver, three in Ottawa and many more. The largest of these institutions is the University of Quebec which has 87,000 students.

The body which consists of the Canadian universities is known as the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). There are two different types of post secondary institutions here namely colleges and universities. The colleges here are commonly known the Community Colleges and offer only diplomas. On the other hand, the universities offer various courses of study catering to undergraduate, post graduate as well as doctoral programs.

The major source of funding for these universities is the provincial governments. Some part is also catered by the Federal Government as well. Above all, Canada offers the perfect ambiance to live and study as well as contribute to the economy of the nation at a later stage.

As far as the new US guidelines are concerned, it would become mandatory for the Canadian airlines to provide personal facts about the travelers intending to fly over the country to the government of United States.

According to Chantal Bernier, who is the assistant privacy commissioner in Canada, United States has the authority over its sky space; hence things are not in Canada’s limits. Now Canada is concerned about the latest U.S. security rules which would breach the privacy of the passengers traveling via Canadian airlines. The parliamentarians affirmed that there is nothing that Ottawa can do about the recent security measures implemented by the U.S.

According to the flight policy, the condition demands that suspicious passengers (including the Canadians) can be barred from boarding their planes which fly over the United States. However, planes flying between Canadian cities are barred from the conditions.

The privacy information include name, date of birth, along with their itinerary information and other details linked with the passport documents. Also, Bernier clarified that the information can be further used for other aviation security purposes and hence there are chances that the information might be disclosed also.

He said that all they can do is to ask the government of the United States to make adjustments to its program to maintain the privacy of its Canadian residents. He said that unfortunately they don’t have any authority to bring changes to this law.

Ottawa has been declared the best city to live in Canada by a magazine. MoneySense magazine released its annual ranking of Canadian cities recently, which considered various factors like housing prices, weather and crime rates as the basis for the findings. They considered a total of 179 cities and towns in Canada that have more than 50,000 inhabitants.

Earlier, Ottawa was placed at the top slot in 2007 and 2008, however, in 2009 Victoria displace the city. As Victoria’s cost of living is growing for the average Canadian, Ottawa has restored the top rank once again, thanks its economy, job opportunities, low crime rate and stable population growth.

According to Duncan Hood, the magazine’s editor, Ottawa has many reasons to be in the first spot on the list of cities and towns. Foremost, the city happened to be the most recession-proof city among all Canadian cities, followed by adequate job opportunities. Ottawa has the most public service workers and these workers did not lose their employment, neither they had cuts in their salary. Thus, while most Canadian cities had to experience the reverse results of the aforementioned, Ottawa remained firm during the recession.

Below are the top ten cities to live in Canada according to MoneySense’s study:

1. Ottawa-Gatineau
2. Kingston, Ontario
3. Burlington, Ontario
4. Fredericton, New Brunswick
5. Moncton, New Brunswick
6. Repentigny, Quebec.
7. Brandon, Manitoba
8. Victoria, British Columbia
9. Winnipeg, Manitoba
10. Levis, Quebec

The full list of best places to live in Canada will be released on May 3, 2010.

Well, post Haiti earthquake the Canadian government has announced (http://blog.abhinav.com/canada%E2%80%99s-special-immigration-measures-for-haitians/) many steps towards helping the Haitians in Canada reunite their families who had been affected by the widespread disaster. Amongst the steps, the government was to fast track the about 5,000 sponsorship applications of those who were significantly harmed by the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake!

But, of late reports say that Haitian-Canadian communities in Ottawa are disappointed by the time-consuming procedure, thereby obstructing them from bringing relatives from Haiti. Prior to the earthquake, Canada had this rule that anyone who wanted to reunite with family in Canada was required to apply from outside the country. This rule has been waived off for Haitians, thereby allowing them to enter Canada on temporary visas, while their application for permanent residency is still in process.

Reportedly, to this point of time 1,600 temporary residency permits have been issued to Haitians ever since the devastating earthquake hit the nation. Besides, 205 permanent residency visas have been issued till now. However, the process is too slow and there are lots of cases that are unresolved.

But, the process of fast tracking applications is not an easy task either. Since the Canadian embassy in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince was destroyed during the earthquake; the processing of documents and applications is affected. However, immigration officials are trying their best to accomplish their job with their new unit in Ottawa. But, the Haitian-Canadian community’s fury over the Canadian immigration’s relaxed process is growing day by day, as their frustration level is rising because of not getting reunited with family members. However, it’s never too late. They are hoping that the Canadian government would be more flexible and make the family reunification quicker!

Every country has its own set of custom rules, Canada is no different! Like every country, Canada too does not allow certain things or in other words they are subjected to restrictions! Here is brief information about the shipping of certain goods:

• When you take animals like dogs, horses or birds along with you to Canada, you must make sure that you follow the health instructions/regulations. Besides, you must carry appropriate vaccination documents.
• If you are planning to carry food products like meat, learn about the regulations set by the Meat Inspection Division of the agricultural department, Ottawa. Learn about it before your arrival, else the products may be seized in the airport.
• Likewise, if you are taking plants and other plant materials with you, you must require to seek the permission from the Plant Products Division (Department of Agriculture), Canada beforehand.
• You are permitted to take wedding gifts with you, without paying duty charge, if you are planning to get married within three months after your arrival in Canada or if you were married three months before arrival.
• If you are taking some inheritance goods with you, you must carry a copy of the document that proves it, along with the death certificate of the deceased.
• If you are taking any type of liquor, you must pay duty fee and taxes for it! Moreover, the permits for any quantity are must.
• Firearms like revolvers, or pistols need permits. However, there are no restrictions in carrying rifles and shotguns that are meant for sports.
• If you are importing items like cars being bought after the month of March in 1977 that worth $10,000 with you, then you must pay for custom duty charge, along with taxes.