On the Demolition of the Family Class: an interview with Don Davies

(published at the Mill woods Mosaic, Nov 15th, 2011 issue)

As the Conservative government takes advantage of their majority in the Parliament by merrily passing one bill after another, they’re also radically changing the face of the Canadian immigration system.

The latest among these changes hit the press last November 4, when Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced that Canada would no longer be accepting family class applications effective November 5.

Don Davies, MP for Vancouver-Kingsway and the Official Opposition Critic for Citizenship and Immigration, was immediately up in arms. “The Minister is capping applications on family sponsorships but increasing the numbers on the economic class? He’s going at this the wrong way. Having family members around them keeps new immigrants happier and less isolated, which is ultimately good for the country and good for the economy. We are the second largest country in the world. Our population is only 34 million. We have enough space.”

A true New Democrat who has seen the living standards of the working class get lower and lower over the years, Don Davies got into politics because he wants to help improve the Canadian quality of life. His interests include housing, job creation, wealth-sharing, education and healthcare for everybody. But most of all, he believes in encouraging immigration, not only of the rich and the highly educated, but of everyone else who wants to come to Canada with their families.

“One day I googled the text of the poem inscribed on the Statue Of Liberty, and I was struck by the wisdom that it expressed. Both the American and the Canadian immigration policies were based on this,” says Don Davies. “But it doesn’t seem to be happening anymore.”

“…Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore...” He quotes. “ These are the best kind of immigrants. These people left their home country to escape poverty and oppression and they come here to change their lives. These are the ones who work the hardest and become the best citizens. ”

Instead, Mr. Davies sees a continuous reduction of the family and the refugee classes in the last 15 years, as the economic class increases in numbers. In fact, after changing the rules of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program into a non-recyclable four-year term per worker, closing the family class immigration is only the latest step that the Conservatives have taken towards this end.

The Link, the leading Indo-Canadian newspaper published in Vancouver BC, agrees with Mr. Davies, but also hints at veiled racism: “this is certainly a concerted, directed effort on the part of the Tories … as they realize that the mix from Asia is getting bigger and bigger every year. It is also based on data that in 2030 – visible minority immigrants will overtake the non-visible minority population in Canada. By reducing the family class immigration- which has the largest group of immigrants coming from Asia – specifically from China and India – it is affecting this group and reducing the demand.”

If the NDP were forming the next government, what would they change in the current immigration policies then? Immigration Critic Don Davies has very definite ideas.
First thing he’ll do is increase the number of immigrants. Mr. Davies wants to push for 1 percent immigration, raising the number to 340, 000 immigrants per year, from the current 254,000. He wants to restore the balance of immigration numbers under the family, economic, and refugee classes.

On the Temporary Foreign Worker Program: “The TFWP is nothing but problems,” Don Davies says. “The current system treats the TFWs like an economic piece of equipment. Temporary workers are isolated, they have no access to services, and they are vulnerable to exploitation.” He would reduce the number of temporary foreign workers but give every one of them the option to apply for landed status.
On the Live-in Caregiver Program: Davies confesses that he likes the LCP, but would make several major changes to its requirements.

“It takes a foreign live-in caregiver an average of seven years before she could bring her family to Canada. That length of separation has resulted in countless divorces and traumatized the children. Why keep these families apart if they would be brought in together in the future anyway? It’s a waste of time and it’s bad for the economy.”

Don Davies would like to see the live-in caregivers immediately given permanent residency upon entering the country, and living out with their families. Members of her family would come in under work visas.

On foreign diploma accreditation: “What the government is doing at the moment is talk to the provinces and to every professional group in each province, to come up with a standard for diploma accreditation. We have 10 provinces and about 50 professional groups in each of them. They’ve been at this for years. I don’t think it’s going to work.” Mr. Davies says. “In my 48 years, I have never seen all ten Canadian provinces agree on anything.”

In fact, Don Davies has tabled a motion for the federal government to take a leadership role in the diploma accreditation business. He suggests that the Canadian government talk to every country of origin and together establish standards for diploma accreditation by consulting with its universities, and to make the enforcement of these standards a federal motion. He says he’s carefully watching how the Conservatives will deal with this issue.

From my point of view, Davis and the NDP appear to be on the right track. Let’s help them make it happen.