12. Overview of the Current Point System. (14 November 2005)

In June, 2002, the new immigration point system came into force, which is an improvement on the old point system. The old system required immigrants to fit into categories of jobs that were open  in the different provinces of Canada as determined by the Department of Human Resources. The Department diligently cataloged the categories in which there was a demand for jobs in Canada and it was assumed that if the foreign national possessed those qualifications they would fit perfectly in those jobs.

Well, that did not quite happen that way and it took the government more than a decade and loss of expectations of many immigrants before discovering that there are few flaws in that approach. There were of course many reports expensively prepared to discover the flaws.  One of those reports was prepared by Professor Cummings which pointed out in carefully worded language that the professional bodies were putting up barriers that were aimed more for the protection of the professions than the high Canadian standards of skills.

I asked one Minister in power at the time, “ Why are such highly qualified immigrants invited by the Federal Government under specific categories and they cannot find jobs in those categories?” The Minister’s answer was simple. The federal government has the jurisdiction for matters of immigration and the professional bodies are provincially managed. The top professions like lawyers and doctors are independent self governing bodies. How can the Federal Government interfere with provincial government and the independent professional bodies?  Whilst the two governments argued jurisdiction, the immigrants, including professionals like me went back to school to relearn the law with families to feed and rent to pay.

No one figured that there could be such a thing as “prejudice” or ‘get the Canadian Experience before you come” factor before the immigrant could get a job in his profession. The net result was a lot of stories got published specially in ethnic newspapers of Ph.D.s delivering pizzas. A little embarrassing for the Canadian politicians,  and terribly humiliating for the immigrant. After a lot of soul searching and expensive research,   it was concluded that the highly educated with language skills would be better at adapting to new skills in a new country. So the new point system emphasizing the education and the language was born.

The current system, thought out by then Minister Denis Codere, carried the new legislation  through the parliament, with a few amendments. At first he asked for 70 points out of 100 to be scored, probably an error of a Deputy Minister who drafts the legislation. After the new Act was enacted, it was discovered that only a Ph.D. would qualify to immigrate and the minister quickly brought down the points to 67. Some lawyers brought a class  action against the government for the injustice in the transitional rules which would have denied immigration to many technical people who would have qualified in the old rules. The courts agreed, and many transitional applications are still being processed under court supervision.

Under the current system, the highest points one can score are 16 for the first language, English or French and 8 for the second language; 21 points for 4 or more years of experience in one’s profession, 10 points for being in working age of between 21 and 49; education fetches 25 points for having a master’s degree or Ph.D. and up to 10 points for adaptability which includes having a spouse who has a degree or Canadian work experience or education. There are 10 points allocated for having a job which is approved by Human Resources Development of Canada. Since the Canadian employers do not generally employ foreign applicants without Canadian experience or interview, it is not common to find someone from tropical countries who would score these points.

Under the current system the application fees are about CN $ 550 for the independent applicant and each adult over the age of 21 years and about $ 1050 for an Entrepreneur or Investor. There are additional landing fees which are about $ 975 for each adult. They are called Right of Landing Fees but they amount to head tax on immigrants, many of whom now come from third world countries where it takes many Rupees and Reals to make a dollar. Notwithstanding such large payments the government has not found enough immigration officers to process the applications. They will probably not find them because Cabinet policy and legislation historically in Canada are detached from the administration of the immigration which seems to have its own mind.

Canada is moving forward positively to make Canada a multicultural society and immigration system plays an important role in this development., particularly in the last 30 years. The young and qualified immigrants create a market and labour force that will keep the Canada Pension Plan in business longer than it would in many European countries where the birth rate is low and there is no official immigration policy welcoming the immigrants. One just has to read the news of  the daily riots taking place in France today to see that.