Conservative policy will end family-focused immigration

New Conservative immigration measures that came into effect this year will make it harder for families to reunite in Canada.

“The Conservative government has abandoned Canada’s commitment to help reunite families who have emigrated here,” said the Official Opposition critic for immigration and citizenship Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe (Pierrefonds – Dollard). “I regularly meet constituents who are doing everything they can to reunite with their family and feel like they are not being treated fairly by this government. These new Conservative measures will only aggravate the situation.”

Changes implemented as of January 2nd 2014 include:

• Increasing required income by 30% for sponsoring families;
• Increasing liability and relevant costs from 10 to 20 years;
• Cutting by three years the age of admissible dependants of emigrating parent leaving some youth behind;
• Capping the number of sponsorship applications at 5,000 after completely blocking them for two years.

“As of a week ago 7,000 people had applied, so for the vast majority of those who will apply this year the moratorium remains in effect,” said Andrew Cash (Davenport). NDP critic for Multiculturalism, “Additionally new requirements increase the level of income and liability required to sponsor a parent or grandparent, making sponsorship a luxury.”