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After much debate and questioning in the House of Commons, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister Diane Finley has released the principles that would guide implementation of proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). A senior official from CIC held a briefing to explain the principles and to provide more clarity on the changes.<\/p>\n
The proposed amendments would give the immigration minister the power to fast-track applications from workers with specific skills that are in demand in Canada. Doctors and health-care professionals were cited as examples. The senior official at the briefing explained that CIC will create a high-priority list based on consultations with the provinces and territories, the Bank of Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, as well as employers and labour unions. He suggested that family reunification would also be on the priority list. This \u201cfavoured-status\u201d list could initially include about a dozen different skills sets, he said, explaining that the list will be tabled in Parliament and transparent to the public. It would evolve over time based on the changing needs of the Canadian labour market .<\/p>\n
The amendments would also allow the minister to set annual limits on the number of applications that the department can process, the senior official went on to say, which would allow for applications to be returned if they are received too late in the year (after the limit has been reached).<\/p>\n
The senior CIC official assured that the proposed amendments to IRPA would be in compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Human Rights Act. \u201cThe possibility that we would discriminate on the base of race, religion, language, or geographic destination is simply not possible,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
As early as today, the House of Commons is expected to vote on an NDP amendment to the bill that would remove the immigration amendments from the larger budget implementation bill. Considered a matter of confidence, if the NDP amendment is voted for by the majority of the House, an election would be triggered.<\/p>\n