Folks coming to Canada on short-term permits, together with examine visas, don’t want police clearance from their dwelling nations, the Canadian authorities has clarified. This comes as a reduction to worldwide college students, of whom Indians kind the most important group, amid the latest confusion.
The clarification got here from Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada, on Could 28 throughout a session of the Home of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
Marc Miller’s response got here after sustained questioning by Indian-origin Conservative Member of Parliament Arpan Khanna.
Justin Trudeau’s Canadian authorities has been going through strain and criticism from either side over their immigration insurance policies. After a housing scarcity and strain on well being companies, Canada determined to curb the inflow of worldwide college students, important for the North American nation’s financial system.
“Just some weeks in the past, [Justin] Trudeau’s incompetent Immigration Minister lied about legal background checks on short-term residents. The media agreed along with his story. In the present day he was compelled to inform the reality below oath,” mentioned Arpan Khanna, MP from Oxford, Canada, in a publish on X.
Khanna shared a video of him questioning Miller and the minister’s response.
Marc Miller denied making any claims that the federal government had claimed to get rid of police background checks for immigrants to Canada on short-term permits, together with pupil visas, as a result of they by no means existed to start with.
“I’ve by no means mentioned that such certificates are needed for short-term residents,” Miller mentioned, including that Arpan Khanna and his colleagues have been making an attempt to mislead individuals.
“We do biometric verification,” Miller mentioned.
Nonetheless, the Canadian Immigration Minister said: “The [verification] “Certificates could also be required if an officer decides to take action as a part of a cascading safety test.”
To a follow-up query from MP Arpan Khanna about what number of of these certificates had been submitted by immigrants, Marc Miller declined to enter particulars.
Canada’s Immigration Minister didn’t appear very assured in such checks, saying: “You possibly can think about how unreliable these certificates could be.”
There have been many developments just lately on the problem of immigration coverage in Canada.
Prince Edward Island turned the primary province in Canada to scale back the variety of immigrants to be absorbed as everlasting residents.
Indian college students on examine visas went on starvation strikewhich has entered its fifth day, because of the change in coverage, as they now face deportation from Canada.
The starvation strike happens within the context of the Resolution by the Authorities of Prince Edward Island (PEI) to scale back the variety of staff for everlasting residence in 2024, from round 2,100 to 1,600, a 25% reduce.
This reduces the variety of immigrants who could be nominated for everlasting residence in Canada via the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).
