The pandemic has highlighted the importance of essential workers, yet before the launch of the new pathways, there were limited options for workers in many of these occupations to become permanent residents. The new programs open the doors to essential workers and recent graduates who are working in Canada. In 2020, the immigration minister went on record to say that it behooves us to find pathways to permanent residence for these people. Indeed, he was right. Canada’s borders shut down in March 2020. Immigration numbers from abroad were slashed to the lowest levels since the 1940s when the wa ..read more

With vaccine development and distribution ramping up in much of the world – including Canada – there are glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel that has been the coronavirus pandemic. And a long tunnel it has been, upending life as we once knew it with unprecedented and massive challenges that affect newcomers, including but not limited to travel restrictions. The Government of Canada deserves kudos for many of the steps it has taken in the meantime. Reciprocating one major act of kindness with another, it has announced a plan to grant permanent residence ..read more

You might think of immigration as a one-off, if, dramatic process, in which an individual leaves his or her country of origin and in a span of several hours, lands, as a permanent resident, in a different one. In this model, there is (hopefully) extensive preparation, but the actual immigration is a relatively distinct event. Such was the case generations of immigrants, in the past and it remains the process for some immigrants today. More and more, however, immigration is a gradual and extensive process. When you think about it, this development is logical. Extensive research indicates that a ..read more

Kitti Toris is a young woman who turned 18 a few days ago. Born in Hungary, she came to Canada in 2016 to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Viktoria and Laszlo Radi.   Kitti is estranged from her mother, and Viktoria and Laszlo Radi are Kitt’s legal guardians, in both Hungary and Canada. However, due to the complexity and expense of adoption procedures, the Radis never formally adopted Kitti. This important discrepancy meant that the Radis could not sponsor Kitti as a family member even though she was clearly a member of the family. Instead, Kitti attempted to gain a ..read more

The end of 2020 quickly approaches. This year has been unlike any other. The coronavirus has upended the best-laid plans and brought with it unexpected and unprecedented challenge, upheaval, and suffering to Canadians and those wishing to become them. But the same circumstances have also brought out remarkable acts of creativity, compassion, and kindness. I want to take this opportunity to reflect on these events, and what they may tell us about the year to come. The year 2020 began with Canada’s economy thriving, thanks to immigration. Coronavirus had already broken out in parts of the world ..read more

New Canadians immigrate to Canada through a variety of immigration pathways. One of the most popular is conjugal sponsorship. Historically, sexual intimacy has been a key consideration in determining whether a couple is really a couple. But that framework appears to be changing, with dramatic results. In September 2020, the Federal Court of Canada issued a landmark ruling. Justice Fuhrer granted judicial review of a Canadian permanent resident’s attempt to sponsor a conjugal partner. Their names were abbreviated in public records, the man applying to sponsor was called A.P. and the woman he wa ..read more

Marcelin François, an asylum seeker who worked part-time as a nurse’s aide, died of coronavirus in the loving arms of his wife this past April. François was one of an estimated 1,000 asylum seekers working in Quebec’s health sector, fighting the coronavirus pandemic on the front lines. Many of them do not have access to healthcare, because they have no status in Canada. The federal government is working on a program that will give asylum seekers a pathway to permanent residence for working in healthcare during the pandemic. It has yet to be approved by Cabinet. I am glad to see the spirit of C ..read more

It is easy to get jaded by all the negativity the coronavirus pandemic has caused in our everyday lives, as a result, we forget how in times of crisis there presents an opportunity for human kindness to reveal itself. Canadians are often perceived as being polite, kind, and generous. Many of us take modest pride in this fact, and subliminally it leads us to perpetuate that image through acts of goodwill. From the sea of negativity in media reports, there exists a few pearls; stories of Canadians helping the most vulnerable and spreading positivity during these difficult times. Take the Winnipe ..read more

As coronavirus started to become more of a serious concern in North America we were told to wash our hands and slow down the spread of infection through social distancing. “Flatten the curve” became the catchphrase to mean prevent the virus from spreading so as not to overwhelm the capacity of the healthcare system. Provincial governments started taking it seriously as the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases suddenly jumped in early March. Schools were the first to be closed, sending children back home. Following that, parents were either working from home or laid off from their jobs as many bu ..read more

Fifty-seven Canadians lost their lives after an airplane was shot down outside of Tehran last week. It took the news a couple of days to refine the details of the Tehran plane crash. We now know it was two missiles that took down the Boeing 737 en route to Kyiv. All 176 passengers were killed. Canadians were the second-most represented nationality among the victims after Iranians. Justin Trudeau has said that 138 passengers were connecting to Canada. It is baffling as to why the airspace was even open to civilian aircraft given the escalated tensions between the U.S. and Iran. As details of th ..read more