TORONTO — The controversial issue of the deportation of persons who have lived in Canada from a very young age was recently tackled, head on, by a hearings officer with Canada’s Immigration Appeal Division (IAD).

“These persons arrive at age two or three and are often removed to a country which is virtually foreign to them,” said Charles Dombrady.

His comments came during an information session held to explain Canada’s new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) to representatives of the Consular Corps stationed in Toronto, Canada.

The session, which was organised by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), featured presentations on topics including:

* changes to family sponsorships;

* immigration appeals;

* admissibility hearings; and

* the new permanent resident card, which all immigrants to Canada must have by this December if they intend to travel outside of Canada.

Representing Jamaica were consul general to Toronto, Vivia Betton, and consul, Deon Williams.

The IRPA, which came into effect last June, seeks to modernise Canada’s immigration policy by attracting workers with flexible skills and speeding up family reunification. One of its core principles is maintaining the safety and security of Canadians and Canada’s borders.

Dombrady said the new Act allows people to appeal their deportation or removal orders to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB).

“The Board looks at what the person has been doing here all along,” he explained. “Has the person been a contributor to Canada or has that person broken Canadian laws. We also look at the hardships they may face in the country they are being removed to.”

Dombrady added that where minors are concerned, the “best interest of the child” is considered.

“The Board has to look at how the child will be affected and who is providing for the child,” he said. “What are the special circumstances surrounding the child, and if the parent who is under the removal order is the sole parent.”

Persons who do not have the right to appeal include those who are a security threat to Canada, which may include persons who have been involved in espionage, organised crime, crimes against humanity, or who have committed serious crimes.

Addressing the consular representatives on changes to family sponsorship, Sharon Ferreira, an immigration programme specialist, said under Canada’s new immigration laws, sponsorship applications for spouses, common-law partners and dependent children — including adopted ones — have been given the highest priority.

She said the Canadian government considers reuniting family members so important, that as of next February, there will be a commitment to process these applications within a six-month period.

Since the Immigration Act of 1976, which has been amended more than 30 times, Canada has made it possible for family members to join their relatives in Canada.

At different times, the list of family members eligible for sponsorship has been restricted or expanded. Today, those family members who can be sponsored are parents, grandparents, dependent children, adopted children, an orphaned brother, sister, niece, nephew or grandchild who is under 18, and spouses — either common-law or conjugal partners.

“A spouse would come from a legal marriage between a man and a woman,” explained Ferreira, “while common-law partners have been living together for at least one year. Conjugal partners have a relationship for at least one year but they don’t necessarily live together”.

If the Canadian citizen or resident does not have any close relatives living in Canada, then it is possible to sponsor another relative, regardless of age.

Other changes aimed at strengthening the family reunification section include:

* increasing the age for dependent children from 19 to 22 years;

* decreasing the duration of spousal sponsorship obligations from 10 to three years; and

* eliminating the “excessive demand” criteria for medical inadmissibility of immediate family members.

Previously, persons could be denied admittance to Canada on the grounds that their illness would cause an excessive demand on the country’s social and health services.

Although many Jamaicans came to Canada through the family reunification programme, in recent years, more and more skilled Jamaicans have migrated through the points system or self-sponsorship.

The new Act has shifted the emphasis for selecting these skilled workers from “an occupation-based model to one that focuses more on choosing skilled workers with the flexible and transferable skill required to succeed in a fast-changing, knowledge-based economy”.