Immigration and Career Training Minister Jeremy Harrison introduced a detailed proposal which would give Saskatchewan control over immigration, similar to Quebec’s immigration agreement with the federal government..The name of the new immigration program is the Saskatchewan Immigration Accord (SIA)..SIA gives Saskatchewan complete control to “nominate newcomers moving to Saskatchewan control over the family class of immigration, a transfer of federal resources for settlement services to the Province of Saskatchewan, and a guaranteed provincial allocation of nominees each year that would be proportionate to the population of Saskatchewan within Canada,” said Harrison..Both the Saskatchewan Party (SP) and the Saskatchewan NDP agree the province needs to increase its population, but NDP Opposition Critic for Immigration Aleana Young wants to know the criteria..“But let’s be honest here, Quebec uses its powers to screen immigrants, particularly when it comes to language. If the Sask. Party wants to act like Quebec, they should share what criteria they plan on screening immigrants for,” Young told the Western Standard..The SP has created controversy in the past with the family class of immigration..In May 2012, with no notice, the SP put in new rules for family migration, which caused protests outside the Saskatchewan Legislature..The new rules meant only one family member could be sponsored at a time, whereas, under the old program, they could sponsor multiple family members for permanent resident visas at the same time..The way it works is an immigrant who is a permanent resident or Canadian citizen can sponsor only one person at a time, that person needs a job offer before arriving, and they have to work at the same job for six months before the immigration process for the next family member can begin..The NDP and immigration organizations want clarity over how the family class would operate under provincial control. .The SP eliminated the family reunification class in the immigrant nominee program and Young said it should be a critical part of the province’s immigration policy..“There are common sense steps we’ve long been calling for that the Sask. Party government could take, today, to increase immigration. They scrapped the family reunification class for the immigrant nominee program,” said Young..“Immigration is critical to our economy. Bringing this program back is an action they could implement today to increase not just our immigration numbers but our newcomer retention.”.Harrison wants the federal government to give the province control of immigration, including the family class..“By transferring selection of all immigrants to our province, including in the family class, the federal government can focus on addressing the outrageous processing times for admissions that are causing such issues for hundreds of thousands of potential new Canadians,” said Harrison..Ali Abukar, Saskatoon Open Door Society CEO, said improvements can be made to the immigration system that have a positive impact on newcomers..“It’s not about who, it’s about the how and that needs to be improved … I think we all know that there are challenges that impact immigrants,” said Abukar..In 2007, the SP campaigned on their “Promise of Saskatchewan” election paper and it talked about the importance of the immigrant nominee program “as a source of tax base expansion” for the province..In 2012, the SP accepted changes made by the federal government to the family sponsorship part of the immigration policy..Immigrants fill many menial jobs which Canadians prefer not to do and they do not give job offers when the immigrant is in another country..For example, a Subway restaurant in Regina is currently offering $20 an hour to make sandwiches, which is a great starter job for a new immigrant, but Subway will not offer that job to someone in another country as the sandwich shop needs someone right now to fill the job..The Saskatchewan and federal government both acted on family migration in 2012..Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney did not like the “generous” Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP), which allows 4,000 nominees (in 2012), but allows individuals to nominate an unlimited number of family members..The SP asked the federal government to increase the SINP program, which it did to 6,000, but with the new rules on family migration..If the federal cap of 6,000 is not increased, it will delay the international recruitment of Saskatchewan employers as the province reaches the cap each year..“Our province has gained a great deal of experience and developed very significant capacity in the past decade and a half in administering and managing the SINP,” said Harrison..If Saskatchewan gets its “proportionate share of national immigration, as contemplated in the Saskatchewan Immigration Accord, [it] would see at [a] minimum 13,000 positions allocated to the province in 2022,” said Harrison..“The transfer of responsibility for delivering settlement programming to the province also makes sense. We know our partners, local circumstances and needs better than the Government of Canada does,” said Harrison..“Simply put, we know our provinces' needs and labour markets better than the Government of Canada.”
