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http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=123355&sid=36689457&con_type=3&d_str=20120612&isSearch=1&sear_year=2012
Don't scrap us
Phila Siu
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A group of mainlanders will petition Canada's top diplomat in Beijing today to vent their anger at a proposal to scrap a backlog of pre-2008 immigration applications.
The proposal means 280,000 applicants, some of whom have been in the queue under the Federal Skilled Worker Program for as long as eight years, have waited for nothing.
The group of mainlanders is also appealing to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene, saying they are "more than mere files, we are flesh and blood."
Organizer Jiang Yiming says five people, including himself, will hand in the petition, signed by about 100 mainlanders.
"If they cannot get Canadian residency, it will be like the sky falling on them," Jiang said in Beijing yesterday.
"Some are not happy with living in China. They think there is no freedom of speech here and the standard of living is not very good."
The controversial proposal to ax the backlog was made by Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney in March because "having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces [Canada's] ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today."
If the proposal is passed, the immigration department will close the files of those who applied before February 27, 2008, but who have not received a decision based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012.
About 80 mainlanders and Hongkongers lobbied the Canadian consulate-general in
Hong Kong in April.
Jiang said his group decided to petition the embassy today to put more pressure on Harper.
The 30-year-old works in cosmetics manufacturing. He filed his application five years ago.
"The proposal is just shameful and unreasonable," Jiang said.
But he said he is luckier than others who signed the petition because even if the proposal is passed, he can still apply through other channels. Others, especially the younger applicants, do not have the skills to lodge another application, he said.
"One lady from Hong Kong is 60 and has been waiting for six years," Jiang said. "She told me she would not know what to do if the new policy is passed."
Gabriel Yiu Wing-on, a Hongkonger who immigrated to Canada 21 years ago, will be among those accompanying Jiang this afternoon.
He is confident the proposal will be withdrawn because other potential immigrants, many from India and the Philippines, have also voiced anger.
Yiu, who is in Beijing on holiday and to help Jiang, is an activist in Vancouver and will run in the provincial election next year.
The petition, seen by The Standard, says: "The minister, once the budget is passed, will introduce legislation to abolish our files without anyone ever determining whether we meet the selection criteria."
It says the immigration department adopted a "queue-jumping policy" in 2008, and began to process newer applications in preference to older files.
The group says if the immigration department had adopted a first come, first served policy, their applications would have been finalized in less than four years.
"The eight-year backlog is of the minister's own making," the petition says.
Don't scrap us
Phila Siu
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A group of mainlanders will petition Canada's top diplomat in Beijing today to vent their anger at a proposal to scrap a backlog of pre-2008 immigration applications.
The proposal means 280,000 applicants, some of whom have been in the queue under the Federal Skilled Worker Program for as long as eight years, have waited for nothing.
The group of mainlanders is also appealing to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene, saying they are "more than mere files, we are flesh and blood."
Organizer Jiang Yiming says five people, including himself, will hand in the petition, signed by about 100 mainlanders.
"If they cannot get Canadian residency, it will be like the sky falling on them," Jiang said in Beijing yesterday.
"Some are not happy with living in China. They think there is no freedom of speech here and the standard of living is not very good."
The controversial proposal to ax the backlog was made by Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney in March because "having to process applications that are as many as eight years out of date reduces [Canada's] ability to focus on new applicants with skills and talents that our economy needs today."
If the proposal is passed, the immigration department will close the files of those who applied before February 27, 2008, but who have not received a decision based on selection criteria by March 29, 2012.
About 80 mainlanders and Hongkongers lobbied the Canadian consulate-general in
Hong Kong in April.
Jiang said his group decided to petition the embassy today to put more pressure on Harper.
The 30-year-old works in cosmetics manufacturing. He filed his application five years ago.
"The proposal is just shameful and unreasonable," Jiang said.
But he said he is luckier than others who signed the petition because even if the proposal is passed, he can still apply through other channels. Others, especially the younger applicants, do not have the skills to lodge another application, he said.
"One lady from Hong Kong is 60 and has been waiting for six years," Jiang said. "She told me she would not know what to do if the new policy is passed."
Gabriel Yiu Wing-on, a Hongkonger who immigrated to Canada 21 years ago, will be among those accompanying Jiang this afternoon.
He is confident the proposal will be withdrawn because other potential immigrants, many from India and the Philippines, have also voiced anger.
Yiu, who is in Beijing on holiday and to help Jiang, is an activist in Vancouver and will run in the provincial election next year.
The petition, seen by The Standard, says: "The minister, once the budget is passed, will introduce legislation to abolish our files without anyone ever determining whether we meet the selection criteria."
It says the immigration department adopted a "queue-jumping policy" in 2008, and began to process newer applications in preference to older files.
The group says if the immigration department had adopted a first come, first served policy, their applications would have been finalized in less than four years.
"The eight-year backlog is of the minister's own making," the petition says.
