Okay.
The first and second wave were predominantly economic immigrants, although a substantial number of the second wave were also political refugees, but like the third wave, very few of them had any knowledge of English or French. As well, very few had any form of higher education, and many were illiterate, but they all had a willingness to work hard and build a better life for their children. And that’s precisely what they did. Ukrainian pioneers cleared vast tracts of woodland in the prairie provinces, turning them into fertile agricultural lands. Had they and other eastern and central European pioneers not cleared the prairies, American settlers would have inundated them and the map of Canada would be much different than it is today.
However, under today’s point system, none of them would make it into this country. They wouldn’t pass the language requirements. They wouldn’t pass the education requirements. Ironically, while we give potential immigrants points for higher education, we do not, in most cases, recognize their foreign certificates. As a result, they find themselves underemployed and disillusioned.
The current point system does not allow the immigration of those kinds of labourers and skilled workers Canada desperately needs. Instead, we bring in temporary workers. Often they are exploited. Most come without their families, because when they are recruited in, say, Ukraine and wish to bring their wives with them, their wives are rejected by visa officers on the grounds that the family is not likely to return to Ukraine. This causes great stress, and after their work terms are up, they are shipped back to where they came from.
It should be noted that my wife’s parents came to Canada as kind of temporary workers. They signed a contract to work in the beet fields near Lethbridge for two years. But unlike today’s temporary workers, they came in as an immigrant family, and after their two years were up, they were free to move wherever they wished and to become full-fledged citizens. They were not shipped back to a displaced persons camp in the American-occupied zone of Germany, the country to which they were taken as slave labourers from their native Ukraine during World War II.
Canada needs immigrants, not temporary workers. To bring in the immigrants and their families, who will be willing to work hard to build a better life for their children, we need to change the priorities in the point system. I am not opposing the point system per se. Canada’s point system is good because it provides an objective framework by which to judge potential immigrants. Other countries are looking toward us as a model. We need to change the emphasis given certain criteria.
We put too much emphasis on knowledge of English or French, we put too much emphasis on higher education, and we put too much emphasis on economic assets. We even have a special business class. Where we should increase the point emphasis is in the following areas.
Family reunification. This has always been a historic objective of immigration to Canada, but it needs more emphasis. Immigrants with family here already have a support group. I would suggest expanding the family class to include extended as well as immediate families.
Skilled labour: people with the skills for those trades that are hard to fill in Canada.
People willing to fulfill contract labour. For all those hard labour or menial jobs that local residents do not want to do, by all means bring in contract workers and give them the full protection of Canadian labour laws, but don’t bring them in as single temporary workers and force them to leave their wives behind, and don’t ship them back once their term has finished. Let’s do what we did after World War II. Let’s bring them in as immigrants with their families. Once they fulfill their contracts, let them go where they wish and apply for Canadian citizenship.
People willing to settle outside the major immigration targets. The vast majority of immigrants settle in Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver. We need to divert people to other parts of the country. This can apply especially to occupations like doctors and nurses, desperately needed in less populated parts of the country.
Groups that already have community-based support agencies. Organizations like the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services in Edmonton provide a very valuable service to new immigrants, which greatly helps them—