Through the back door: Canada is such a wonderful country in which to live that many people, from all over the world, sometimes take enormous risks to get here. Many come here illegally to work and contribute to society in every way. When they are found to be here illegally their removal from Canada is usually heart-breaking.

Canada's immigration selection system has some weaknesses. One of them is that people are deported who work in areas where there are labour shortages, particularly in the construction industry.

It's estimated that there are 10,000 to 15,000 illegal immigrants in Ontario and about 200,000 nationally who work in the country's underground economy. Many of the workers come from countries with high unemployment, and stay in Canada for years. But, even though their skills are needed in the workforce, blue-collar workers often don't qualify as legal immigrants. That's because they don't have the required points the system allots for education, ability to speak French or English, experience, age, and adaptability.

The construction industry for one says the government needs to change the system by at least allowing temporary work permits. Many say the system's bias in favour of academic qualifications and against the trades doesn't make any sense economically.

Construction represents 9.5% of Canada's total gross domestic product, and 7.5% of Ontario's, and Ontario and Alberta don't have enough Canadians to till the jobs.

One member of the Toronto Home Builders' Association told The Globe and Mail he has hired Argentinean doctors because bricklayers can't qualify to come to Canada. At the same time, a construction worker from Argentina who came to Canada in 1997 hopes to evade immigration officials after being ordered deported in 2000.

In March 2006, Canada's Immigration Minister Monte Solberg said Canada doesn't want to encourage people to enter the country illegally. Saying that it's important for everyone to play by the rules, he announced that tens of thousands of undocumented workers here would not be granted amnesty (the right to stay as permanent residents).

However, three months later, in June 2006, the House of Commons committee on citizenship and immigration took a different view. It called on the government to halt deportations of all undocumented workers while a new immigration policy is put in place.

But, not all members of the committee agreed with the suggestion. In October 2006, Ottawa ruled out amnesty for the estimated 200,000 undocumented

workers. The government said it would be unfair to others who have applied legally and are waiting their turns.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Border Services Agency plans to remove about 10,000 people from the country in 2006. And, the federal government is trying to find ways of making Canada's immigration program address its labour needs. As well, Ontario plans to introduce a program that would allow the province to bring in workers with specific skills and give applicants priority processing by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Our immigration system is so cumbersome that many undesirables are able to stay in Canada by exploiting the bureaucratic process.

Harjit Singh, for example, who owned a pizza parlour in Brampton, Ontario for 17 years had a refugee claim rejected in 1992. But, it wasn't until February 2005 that he was finally deported. Mr. Singh claimed he would be the target of police in his native India for criticizing the government. However, it was discovered that he had been convicted of migrant smuggling there. He also faced charges of people smuggling in Canada that were dropped after he allegedly threatened witnesses. And, he was found liable in a million dollar credit-card fraud.

Six appeals to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds extended Mr. Singh's stay by 13 years. When he boarded a plan to New Delhi a Globe and Mail report said his family portrayed him as the victim of a cruel system. That same report explained that, after his return home, Mr. Singh kept himself busy building a $300,000 mansion in Jalandhar, India.

In another case, a Hungarian refugee claimant, Mihaly Illes, arrived in Canada in 1992. He went to jail for drug dealing and was finally deported in 2000 only to return a few months later. Four years after that, in 2004, he was sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Criminals often know how to work the country's immigration system to their advantage, and Canada is often criticized for allowing it to happen.

As The Globe and Mail has pointed out, the same problems keep returning despite government promises to correct the system.

In 2003, Auditor-General SheBa Fraser reported that the immigration-enforcement system had incomplete computer databases, and was horribly backlogged with 11,000 cases that hadn't even been assigned to anyone. She also cited too few detention spaces, drawn out court battles, and a lack of resources. In addition, databases showed about 30,000 outstanding immigration-arrest warrants for removals that had never been enforced, some up to seven years old. About half of the immigrants who had been asked to leave simply didn't show up for their removal interview or scheduled departure.

There are a number of scams operated by people seeking to gain entry to Canada and one of the most popular is the fake marriage.

Chinese and South Asian communities in particular enter into arranged marriages often to virtual strangers. West Indians, Americans, Filipinos, Fijians, and exotic dancers from Eastern Europe also sometimes marry to get into Canada.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 9,000 to 20,000 Canadians a year marry foreigners already in the country and file inland spousal sponsorship applications. Foreign students and temporary workers, who number in the tens of thousands, are among those who try to persuade someone in their community to sponsor them. As well, an estimated 60,000 Canadians marry overseas every year and file international spousal sponsorships. CIC says it rejects eight to 10 percent of inland applications and about 15 percent of overseas applications. In marriages of convenience that aren't discovered, the couple divorces when the spouse receives permanent residency. Sometimes they marry someone else back home to sponsor them.

Others try to enter the country by applying as nannies, which is legal. However, in 2006 surprising numbers of would-be male nannies from the Punjab applied to work for their relatives in Canada. According to CIC, the Canadian mission in Chandigarh, India receives 200 applications a month, with a 79 percent refusal rate. It turned out that while there were scores of nanny schools in just one Punjabi city (Jalandhar), many of them lacked facilities, equipment and students, but had lots of graduates.

FACT FILE

While most Canadians suppport immigration, a 2004 Ipsos-Reid poll found that 71 percent of Canadians think the refugee system "requires a major re-think" and 80 percent said Ottawa should look for ways to reduce the cost of running it. A later poll also found that 53 percent of Canadians do not approve of automatic Canadian citizenship for children born on Canadian soil from non-Canadian parents who are visiting the country.

The acceptance rate of refugee claims has dropped steadily from a high of 84 percent in 1989, when there were 12,000 claims, to 40 percent of 25,000 claims in 2004.

In some cases only one person is aware that an arranged marriage is a fraud. The innocent victim is dumped as soon as the spouse receives immigrant status.

Canada allows more than 200,000 immigrants a year to enter the country but has only 300 detention spaces for immigration offenders.

Unlike in the United States, there is no requirement for married couples to live together for two or three years before permanent residency is given in Canada: the spouse receives landed status immediately.

By 2005, immigration and refugee cases accounted for 84 percent of the cases before the Federal Court, up by 300 percent over the previous decade.

WORKERS UNITE

According to a recent report commissioned by the Laborers' International Union of North America, undocumented workers in the Greater Toronto Area "pay taxes, create jobs and wealth ... but live in fear of being deported" while they often have to work for less than minimum wage.

In May 2006, millions of mostly Mexican illegal migrants in the United States stopped working, skipped school, and stopped shopping for a day.

The boycott took place in cities across the country including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Diego. It was designed to show how much economic clout the estimated 12 million illegal workers have, and to pressure the government to liberalize immigration laws.

Many businesses were forced to close for the day, including a number of large factories.

It's estimated that half a million illegal migrants cross the Mexican border into the U.S. every year. They work mostly in low-paying jobs in agriculture, construction, restaurants, meat-packing plants, and as maids and gardeners. They often are exploited by their employers in working conditions that some describe as modern-day slavery.

The illegal Mexican immigrants pictured here were flown from Tuscon, Arizona, to Mexico City in 2004 under the U.S. government program to curb attempts to enter the country illegally.

PEOPLE SMUGGLING

Migrant smuggling is a multi-billion dollar business. One operation moved 300 Indian and Pakistani citizens from Canada into the U.S. from July 2001 to October 2002. Several organizers of this particular ring eventually went to jail but many others evade authorities.

According to Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, smugglers are adept at using a variety of means to move illegal immigrants. ClSC's 2005 Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada cited one incident, "... a Chinese and a Pakistani national were detained after they had been assisted crossing into the U.S. on a freight train from Canada. Many illegal migrants enter Canada intending to remain here, while others are in transit to the U.S. Smuggling fees paid by some migrants to arrive in Canada have ranged from approximately $20,000 to $50,000 (U. S.) per person."

According to the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, an intergovernmental think-tank based in Vienna, smugglers collect about $5.8 billion a year from the EU alone, charging between $4,000 and more than $11,000 to move someone from Pakistan to Europe. Extras such as arranged marriages, and false residence permits cost thousands of dollars more.

It can be a very risky business. In 2004, 464 people died crossing from Mexico into the United States, and about 2,000 people drown every year in the Mediterranean on their way from Africa to Europe.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. A Chilean family has been in Canada for 28 years while fighting deportation because the father, Fernando Arduengo, was a member of that country's brutal secret police during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Mr. Arduengo says he was forced to collaborate with the police. His estranged wife, Nieves del Carmen Arduengo also worked for Chile's secret police. By August 2006, the couple was being sponsored by their two adult children who were born in Canada. By all accounts the couple are well-liked by colleagues, neighbours, and friends, and have never been in trouble with the law in Canada, and provided information about Chilean repressive practices to Amnesty International and other investigators. Their supporters think they should be allowed to stay in Canada. Others think not. What do you think?

2. Critics said the government sank to new lows in drawing out families facing deportation orders when it picked up children of undocumented workers from schools in Toronto. The families were failed refugee claimants who didn't show up for their removal interviews. Opponents to the move said children should not be the target of immigration officials because of the actions of their parents. And, they think the Canada Border Services Agency should devote itself to removing convicted criminals from the country, not undocumented workers. Discuss this issue and other ways you think the government could handle the problem.

Website

Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, 2006 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pub/annualreport2006/index.html