Dave Mabell
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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The Harper government's immigration policies are keeping families apart, a veteran Member of Parliament warns.
Instead, they should be encouraging families to reunite in Canada, says Ontario MP Jim Karygiannis. And immigrant settlement agencies - like the successful service in Lethbridge - must be provided stable, long-term funding.
Karygiannis, the federal Liberals' critic for multiculturalism, is in Lethbridge today to speak at a dinner organized by the party's federal constituency association. Earlier in the week, he met with Liberal and immigration officials in Calgary to assess the situation in Alberta.
In an interview, the 27-year MP pointed out his riding - Scarborough-Agincourt, in metro Toronto - has a large population of recent and second-generation immigrants. While some are from his parents' homeland, Greece, he said the majority are from China.
While the prime minister is currently visiting China, he said, Canada has been too slow to recognize that nation's importance as a major trading nation.
"China is a trading partner we should not ignore," but that's been the story until recently, Karygiannis said.
Now it's not just Western Canadians who've grasped that fact and taken steps to foster business partnerships there, he noted. And because Chinese have been part of this nation's fabric for so many years, many Canadian business people can use that family background to further develop trading relationships in China.
Yet parents and grandparents from China and elsewhere are being forced to wait many years before being allowed to immigrate to this country, Karygiannis pointed out. The federal Conservative government's officials are putting too much focus on short-term solutions like temporary workers and skilled tradespeople.
"The immigration system we have now is far from fair," he said. "The family unit is under attack by this government."
When his family moved to Canada, he explained, the grandparents helped raise the children while mom and dad were out working to provide for the others.
"The elders are able to provide stability," Karygiannis said.
It's not just major centres like Vancouver and Toronto that are attracting today's immigrants and refugees, he noted. They're also coming to Lethbridge, to other cities across Western Canada - and even to the nation's most rural province, Prince Edward Island.
"The face of Canada is changing, and Karygiannis said effective immigrant settlement programs are vital to helping newcomers adjust to their new home.
But too many of those programs are operating on a year-to-year basis, he said.
"They need sustainable and predictable funding."