Pathways to Prosperity: Canada

Migrants, refugees, undocumented people, workers and students are taking to the streets on August 23rd to call for full and permanent immigration status for all. Parliament may be prorogued but migrants are still in crisis. Actions in ten cities and five provinces are calling for the expansion of the newly announced pathway to permanent residency for some refugees in healthcare to include everyone in the country without permanent resident status.

https://financialpost.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/globe-newswire-releases/migrants-rally-across-canada-calling-for-expansion-of-regularization-program-to-all

Since 2006, Rainbow Railroad has helped more than 900 LGBTQ+ people escape violence and persecution in their home country. Now, because of COVID-19 restrictions, the organization says much of their work has slowed and vulnerable people have been put at greater risk. Same-sex intimacy is criminalized in more than 70 countries around the world,

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/lgbtq-refugees-face-unique-roadblocks-from-covid-19-restrictions-1.5070421

Advocates say a new measure that gives asylum seekers working in health-care an early chance at permanent residency is a step in the right direction, but is “very limited” in scope and excludes thousands of others with precarious immigration status in Canada. The federal government announced the temporary measure on Friday. It will provide a pathway to permanent resident status for asylum seekers who are working in the health-care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, if they meet certain criteria.

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/provincial/program-that-grants-some-asylum-seekers-permanent-residency-leaves-too-many-people-behind-486205/

As long as someone hasn’t sworn their allegiance to the country, they are still just permanent residents and are unable to vote or run for political office. The immigration department has since slowly moved the citizenship ceremonies online. But in the meantime, some would-be citizens who have already passed their exam and are in the queue to go in front of a citizenship judge are being told they can’t take their oath because their criminal clearances expired while they’ve been waiting for their turn.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/08/16/covid-19s-latest-victims-would-be-citizens-waiting-to-take-their-oath-face-new-delays-over-expired-clearances.html

As the U.S. moves to hike the fee to become an American citizen, Canada plans to eliminate the cost entirely. Yet nearly a year after the Liberals made an election campaign promise to waive the $630 fee, newcomers to Canada who are now feeling a financial pinch from the pandemic are still waiting for the government to deliver.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/citizenship-fees-liberal-campaign-promise-pandemic-1.5686395

Les restrictions de voyage ont empêché les enfants de John McCall de venir au chevet de leur mère lorsqu’elle est décédée plus tôt cette semaine. L’homme de Peterborough, en Ontario, veut maintenant s’assurer que ce qui est arrivé à sa famille n’arrive pas aux autres. Dans une entrevue accordée à La Presse Canadienne, le ministre de l’Immigration, Marco Mendicino, s’est dit conscient que beaucoup de gens se trouvent dans des situations déchirantes et il a dit sympathiser avec elles.

https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/2020-08-15/fermeture-de-la-frontiere-des-familles-reclament-un-assouplissement-des-regles.php