Newcomers held back

Canada's laws, policies pressing issues: report
By Bill Dunphy
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 13, 2006)
A newly released report by a Hamilton researcher says Canada's laws and policies are undermining the efforts of newcomers to become self-sufficient and productive citizens.

"Few issues are as pressing," researcher Sarah Wayland says in the report, jointly commissioned by the Law Commission of Canada and the Community Foundation of Canada.

"Immigration ... accounts for more than half our population growth and about three-quarters of our labour market growth."

Most economists believe our economic health is dependent on growth, which is driven by immigration. If immigrants fail to thrive (they are doing worse than previous generations of immigrants) then, the theory goes, so will we.

"The difficulties newcomers face as part of their settlement experience must be recognized as Canadian problems, rather than 'immigrant problems,'" Wayland says. In her report, Wayland urges the private and non-governmental sectors to get involved in finding solutions to these problems, and says they have a key role in providing employment opportunities.


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