Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tom Pang and I'm here representing the Chinese Canadian Community Alliance, a community organization in Toronto, Ontario. I was, during the late 1980s, the president of the Chinese Community Centre of Ontario, which is an umbrella group of over 40 Chinese Canadian organizations. Later I also served as co-chair representing Ontario on the National Congress of Chinese Canadians, a national umbrella group of over 200 organizations.
Back in 2008, when the federal government proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in order to reduce immigration application backlogs and improve wait times, the Chinese Canadian community, at large, was very divided on this issue, and mostly on the pro side. After studying these changes thoroughly, the Chinese Canadian Community Alliance decided to support this view. During that period I was often invited to appear on radio and TV interviews, public forum debates, and also to write columns for the local Chinese paper to explain the true nature of the changes. Looking back, I'm glad the Chinese Canadian Community Alliance made the right decision.
MinisterKenney commented recently that the backlog of federal skilled worker applications is now half of what it was in 2008; however, this is just the first step. On June 24 of this year, Minister Kenney announced additional measures to further improve our immigration system.
Back in the 1980s, I once remarked to the media that if Canada needs taxi drivers, let's bring in taxi drivers, let's not bring in highly educated people who will wind up driving taxis. I understand changes are made to give priorities to applicants of arranged employment and also to applicants with experience in an occupation in high demand. This is really what I would call a great leap forward.
However, I will emphasize that foreign credential recognition is still a major problem. I appreciate that the ministry has been working very hard on trying to solve this issue. The complications seem to be with dealing with various provincial governments and professional groups.
The ministry has also kept new federal investor applications. One thing that often puzzles me is the investor program. Obviously, it is a common and acceptable practice for investor applicants to borrow the capital from local financial institutions, provided they pay the interest on the money up front. If this is true, there doesn't seem to be any new capital coming to Canada. How does this plan benefit our economy?
I have also noticed Minister Kenney put emphasis on official language skills. I totally agree that new immigrants should brush up their English or French language skills before--and not after--their landing in Canada. Canada's also increasing refugees under the United Nations refugee program from 10% to 20%: taking in two out of ten refugees worldwide. On the other hand, more than 50% of refugee applicants were rejected. This is of course due to some unethical so-called consultants and human smugglers. The ministry is obviously doing a good job to stop those criminals. But the problem is not only limited to consultants and smugglers. On several occasions I personally have witnessed some goings on in that regard.
Finally, let me talk about family reunification. At present there's a huge backlog of parents and grandparents trying to come to Canada. Indeed, if they only want to come to Canada to be with their family and not to take advantage of our generous social programs, then all we need to do is to give them an extended visa. They will pay for their own transportation, their own health insurance, their own living expenses. That way we solve the backlog problem and they get to be united with their family.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members, for your time.