Gov’t of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

[evanovitch]

OTTAWA, Ontario:

CANADA plans to welcome close to 300, 000 new migrants in the next year says Immigration minister Jason Kenney who tabled his industry report in parliament last Friday (October 30).

Kenney says the figure which could range between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents in 2010 will be in keeping with plans to meet the country’s ‘medium- to long-term economic needs’.

“ In 2010, Canada will again welcome more new permanent residents than the average annual intake during the 1990s,” said Minister Kenney.
focus

“The focus of the 2010 plan is on economic immigration to support Canada’s economy during and beyond the current economic recovery.”

<span style="font-weight: bold">In particular, the admission ranges for immigrants nominated by the provinces and territories have been increased.</span>

Second, by increasing the admission ranges in the Provincial Nominee Program, the Government of Canada is helping to ensure that the benefits of immigration are distributed across this country.


Although the Action Plan has been in place for less than a year, early indications are that it is paying off.

“<span style="font-weight: bold">People applying now under the federal skilled worker program can expect to receive a decision within six to twelve months, compared to up to six years under the old system,” </span>said Minister Kenney.

“We’ve also brought the backlog of federal skilled worker applicants down from over 630,000 to 425,000-a reduction of more than 30 per cent.”

“Before we changed the system, we had to process every application received.
Since many more people applied every year than could be accepted, a backlog was created,” said Minister Kenney. “Now that we are processing only those applications that meet specified criteria, our Government is making significant progress in reducing the backlog.”

[RichD]

Re: Gov’t of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

and in related news:

Almost 42,000 immigrants have gone underground and are being sought on warrants for deportation -- one quarter of the 160,000 people who are in different stages of removal from Canada, according to just-released government documents.

There are more surprising numbers: More than half being removed are from Greater Toronto, the destination of choice for a staggering 60 per cent of all newcomers to Canada.

Toronto Police Association officials said they're concerned because people facing deportation are desperate and will do anything to escape arrest.

&quot;We are most concerned for our front-line officers,&quot; association president Mike McCormack said yesterday. &quot;This raises safety concerns since these people are desperate and want to avoid compliance.&quot;

The association has had a lawsuit ongoing for 15 years against the department alleging negligence in the June 1994 shooting death of Toronto Police Const. Todd Baylis by two-time deportee Clinton Gayle.

&quot;It's been 15 years since Baylis was killed and it shows that very little has changed,&quot; McCormack said, adding the association will petition immigration minister Jason Kenney to speed up deportations.

The August 2009 statistics were obtained from the Canada Border Services Agency by Quebec lawyer Richard Kurland and made available to the Toronto Sun.

CBSA spokesman Patrizia Giolti confirmed the document was released by her officials but refused further comment.

The document said of the 160,000 offenders awaiting deportation, some 85,500 are awaiting a decision of their refugee appeals, 14,800 are appealing to the Federal Court of Canada and 17,800 are waiting for travel documents.

It said immigration officers are actively searching for 42,000 immigrants who have gone underground and are sought on warrants.

&quot;The numbers of people being removed is staggering,&quot; Kurland said yesterday. &quot;That number is bigger than many small cities.&quot;

He said there are many thousands of others in Canada who are unaccounted for by immigration authorities because they've gone underground or have left the country.

&quot;A large amount of the people are from the GTA,&quot; Kurland said.

&quot;Many arrive in Canada and settle in Toronto.&quot;

The document said the top countries for deportation include Mexico, the U.S., St. Vincent and the Grenadines, China and Jamaica.

It said it costs about $1,500 to deport a person without an escort and up to $15,000 for deportees who require two escort officers. In some cases, up to $500,000 is spent to charter a jet to deport dangerous offenders.

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[Yuriatin]

Re: Gov’t of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

and in sorta related news:

November 06, 2009 15:56 p.m. ET
<span style="font-weight: bold">Genetic tests for UK asylum seekers draw criticism</span>
11/5/2009, 5:37 a.m. ET
MARIA CHENG
The Associated Press

(AP) — LONDON - Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers <span style="color: #FF0000">in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality</span>, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups.

The United Kingdom Border Agency launched the pilot project in September amid suspicions there might be a large number of asylum applicants lying about their home countries. An agency spokesman said <span style="color: #FF0000">Britain was the only country using genetic tests in this way</span>.

Experts, however, say the tests are based on flawed science and there's no way genetic swabs can provide meaningful evidence regarding nationality.

Concerned about potential fraud, the Bush administration launched a pilot DNA testing project in 2007 to vet applicants to a program that allows family members of African refugees already in the United States to join them.

The project, which wrapped up in March 2008, found an extremely high rate of fraud-87 percent-among applicants claiming to be related to each other, the State Department said, and the resettlement program was suspended until those concerns could be addressed. The U.S. does not use genetic tests to try to prove nationality.

Authorities in Britain described the testing as voluntary and said applicants would be asked to provide a mouth swab or hair or nail sample only in cases where questions arise about their nationality and they would be free to decline. <span style="color: #000099"><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic"> (and then surely, denied)
</span></span></span>
The government argues such tests can provide valuable-although not conclusive-evidence in assessing whether or not asylum seekers are telling the truth about their country of origin.

So far, the tests are being used only on people who claim to be from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, though if successful, officials say the plan could be rolled out further.

Several experts slammed the effort as &quot;fundamentally flawed science,&quot; and a petition has been sent to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for the project to be dismantled.

&quot;Genes are not aware of national borders,&quot; said Sir Alec Jeffreys, a geneticist at the University of Leicester who developed techniques for DNA fingerprinting.

&quot;Nationality is a legal concept, and it's got nothing to do with genetics at all,&quot; said Jeffreys, adding that the kind of genetic research needed to identify ethnic origins according to DNA in Africa has never been done.

Human rights experts said the voluntary label was misleading.

&quot;If people do not consent to this test, that could jeopardize their application or otherwise be construed negatively,&quot; said Jill Rutter, a spokeswoman for Refugee and Migrant Justice, a London-based legal charity for asylum seekers and migrants.

&quot;Refugees might not be in a position to understand what's going on and they could be without legal representation when this request is made,&quot; Rutter said. &quot;It puts them in a very vulnerable position and their rights may be infringed upon.&quot;

Refugees may be eligible for asylum in Britain if they can prove they face persecution at home because of their race, religion, political views, sexual orientation, or other factors.

Last year, nearly 26,000 people applied in Britain; of the more than 19,000 cases where decisions were made, 3,725, or 19 percent, were granted asylum. People from more repressive or chaotic countries, like Sudan or Somalia, often have a better chance of gaining asylum than those from more stable countries like Kenya.

In a document describing the project, the Border Agency acknowledges &quot;testing will only provide a clue to the person's ancestral lineage allowing a probable identification with a particular country.&quot;

The agency had originally planned to use genetic test results as definitive proof of nationality, but scaled that back after scientists protested. A spokesman for the agency said results would only be used in combination with other ways of determining an asylum seeker's nationality, such as language analysis and interviews, and would not be used to deport anyone.

&quot;We are only trying to establish the efficacy of this approach,&quot; said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. The Border Agency expects to test about three samples a week during the 10-month-long project.

The tests will also be used to determine if the children asylum seekers are trying to bring into Britain are actually related to them. In addition to the pilot program in the U.S., such testing on children has also been conducted in France.

Besides genetic tests, British officials are also performing isotope analysis of asylum seekers' hair and nail samples. Scientists can look at the composition of certain elements like oxygen or strontium in hair and nails to see where a person has been.

But these isotopes are present only so long as the hair and nails have recently been growing, meaning such tests will only give clues into an applicants recent whereabouts.

&quot;I don't see how hair and nails can be used to tell you anything about (birth) origins,&quot; said Jane Evans, an isotope expert at the National Environment Research Council in Nottingham.

It is possible to get more precise information about a person's origins using isotopes, but only with a bone or tooth sample, she said.

Britain has been a lightning rod of controversy in the debate over security versus civil liberties.

It has one of the largest DNA databases in the world, with more than 5 million samples collected by authorities to help fight terrorism and crime.

In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights recently ordered Britain to destroy nearly 1 million DNA samples and fingerprints on its database-samples taken from children, people who had never been charged or people acquitted of crimes.

Since terror attacks in the U.S. and Britain, authorities have also used DNA collection as an important counterterrorism tool.

DNA samples taken on battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan from detainees and suicide bombers have provided clues about terror cell members and how they are linked to global cells, British security officials said.

Samples taken during terror raids in Britain have also allowed investigators to trace suspects to suspects abroad, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of their work.

Experts said that while it is legitimate for the government to try to confirm asylum seekers' claims, it has to do that in ways compatible with the principles of a democratic society-and with a credible test.

<span style="color: #FF0000">&quot;Genetic testing may be able to tell you where somebody's ancestors started out, but it doesn't tell you where they're from,&quot;</span> said John Harris, a professor of bioethics at Manchester University, who also sits on the government's Human Genetics Commission.

&quot;It won't give them anything worth knowing, and it's very likely that what it will give them is misleading.&quot;

[foolya]

Re: Gov’t of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

They have a sinister plan and are collecting specimen for their database.

[X]

Re: Gov’t of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

.. and in somewhat, somewhat <span style="font-style: italic">related </span> news
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 14pt">Scientists discover that bats practice oral sex</span></span>

The short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx is the first bat species to have been observed engaging in oral sex.

New research headed by Min Tan of China's Guangdong Entomological Institute discovered that female short nosed fruit bats would often lick the shaft of the male bats' penis during penetration. Before this discovery published in PLoS ONE, only a few species—such as bonobos, orangutans, and, of course, humans—are known to engage in oral sex.

The activity of oral sex—always performed by the female bat on the male—was not rare, but happened in 70 percent of the recorded sexual instances. In addition Tan found that when the female bat engaged in oral sex, the act of penetration lasted longer: with on average of six seconds added to the copulation for every one second of fellatio. In addition, males never withdrew from the female when she was performing fellatio.

The sexual behavior of only a few bat species has been recorded due to the fact that the flying mammals are nocturnal and their roosts are often inaccessible to humans. Therefore, Tan went to great lengths to uncover the sexual behavior of her subjects. Tan and her team captured 60 short-nosed fruit bats, housed them, and filmed their sexual escapades after dark.

Fruit short-nosed bats are polygamous. The males craft tents out of foliage where females join them for copulation.

The researchers are not sure why these bats engage in fellatio, however they posit several theories, including that the oral sex by prolonging penetration may in some way increase the likelihood of fertilization. Or the oral sex could assist in preventing sexually transmitted diseases in the bats through antibodies in their saliva.



Citation: Tan, Min, Jones, Gareth, Zhu, Guangjiang, Ye, Jianping, Hong, Tiyu., Zhou, Shanyi, Zhang, Shuyi, &amp; Zhang, Libiao. Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time PLoS ONE, 2009, 4 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007595
</div></div>

[turtledude]

Re: Gov’t of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

what's next?