Recent Changes to Canadian Immigration Laws - Maggie Stewart

11 المشاهدات· 14/07/30

Al-Rasoul Islamic Society
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Maggie is an associate lawyer at Stewart McKelvey and the Managing Director of Oneight Theatre and Prismatic Festival .

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[0:07]this is a community that's made up primarily of uh first generation

[0:12]immigrants and their families and so it's very important to us to

[0:20]understand the their experiences here in Halifax in Nova Scotia and in

[0:27]Canada and to be able to communicate those to The Wider Community

[0:31]uh by way of background I'm a practicing lawyer at Stuart Melby

[0:35]and I along with my husband Shaheen sadii uh founded a theater

[0:38]company one light theater and a a multi-arts festival Prismatic and we're

[0:43]now the resident company at Aly landing and to give you some

[0:49]context we are the first culturally diverse Theater Company in Canada to

[0:54]take up residents at a purpose-built theater facility the 1 2013 we're

[1:00]very proud to be there but I think it's long overdue we're

[1:04]happy that the first has happened here in Nova Scotia and here

[1:08]in Halifax Dartmouth uh but there's a lot of work to be

[1:11]done the Prismatic Festival is coming up in August it showcases culturally

[1:16]diverse and aboriginal artists it's the only kind of multi-arts Festival uh

[1:23]of its kind in Canada and again you know for such a

[1:26]diverse country with so much talent it really speaks volumes that it

[1:29]wasn't until 2010 that such a festival existed in Canada and we've

[1:35]been very grateful and honored to have the support of all levels

[1:38]of government and also recently we've had the support of significant uh

[1:43]corporate sponsors such as TD Bank group Tellis of course our friends

[1:47]at Cresco who have been with us really since day one and

[1:52]we're always always happy to have them along with us but it

[1:54]it shows that there's a change coming in our community when all

[2:00]levels of government and major corporations start to take interest in the

[2:03]work of culturally diverse and aboriginal artists something is changing and that's

[2:07]a really positive change uh I'm really honored to be a part

[2:12]of that change and to be working with members of our community

[2:15]and people across the country to bring more arts and culture but

[2:19]Prismatic and our work is not just about new foods new dances

[2:24]new music it's really about the health of our communities because people

[2:29]need to see them eles represented everywhere they need to see their

[2:36]Traditions their languages their way of understanding the world put up on

[2:41]our main stages in our art galleries and in our concert Halls

[2:45]if we don't put all cultures in our community at an equal

[2:51]footing and Center what happens is that we're telling our immigrant communities

[2:56]and our minority communities quite clearly that you are not Canadian enough

[3:01]you are not novas scotian enough you are not haligonian enough to

[3:05]be on stage at Canada Day at natal day at our Civic

[3:08]events that is what we are communicating and it's not subtle to

[3:13]the people who are on the other end of that message as

[3:14]unintentional as it may be from the people who are making the

[3:18]decisions and so I'm asking those of you who are here tonight

[3:24]to think very carefully when you are in a position of power

[3:26]and you are making decisions and you are seeking out advice to

[3:33]actively work against creating a second class of citizens in our community

[3:37]to think very carefully about who and what we are representing as

[3:40]our community and what we are telling those people in our community

[3:44]that we ask to come here and to join us when we

[3:48]ask them to come here and to join us it can't be

[3:52]only at our universities or in our workplaces it has to be

[3:56]everywhere for everyone and so that is a a piece of my

[4:00]work and I know that that relates to some of the work

[4:04]that our guests are doing uh when I was introduced it would

[4:07]said that I was going to speak about uh immigration law I

[4:11]don't practice immigration law and so I did some research and I

[4:15]wanted to bring some things to your attention and really it's things

[4:17]that I think a lot of people in this room know about

[4:21]but many other Canadians don't there has been some very significant changes

[4:24]in the recent months to uh how immigrants and visitors to our

[4:28]country are treated that I think will shock a number of you

[4:32]and and I hope it does because I think this is the

[4:37]only way to draw attention to it in September 2013 between September

[4:41]and December 2013 the Canadian government now requires that citizens of 30

[4:47]countries around the world when they apply for visas any kind of

[4:51]Visa student visa visitor Visa work visa even if they've had a

[4:58]Visa before and they've been to Canada before every every one of

[5:01]them must now submit Biometrics which means they have to provide fingerprints

[5:05]to the Canadian government and it's not enough to just have the

[5:08]fingerprints and enclose it in your application and mail your application in

[5:11]you must go to an approved Canadian office to provide these Biometrics

[5:16]now what is more shocking still is that of the 30 countries

[5:20]that require this 12 do not have Canadian embassies that provide this

[5:25]service now what does this tell you this is actively discouraging and

[5:31]preventing people from obtaining visas to come to Canada of those 12

[5:36]countries Iran Iraq Afghanistan that makes up almost the majority of people

[5:44]who attend this mosque and that means when my mother-in-law my 70-year-old

[5:48]mother-in-law the grand grandmother to my children wants to come and visit

[5:55]her grandchildren she has to travel from Shira Iran to Turkey she

[5:58]has to attend in the Canan Adan Embassy she has to submit

[6:01]to the humiliation of being fingerprinted as if she were a criminal

[6:04]she has to then return to Iran perhaps return to Turkey if

[6:09]they want to interview her and maybe maybe she will get a

[6:12]visa and she will have to do this each and every time

[6:16]she wants to come to Canada to visit her family this is

[6:21]every student applying for a Visa this is every employee that you

[6:24]want to bring to Canada to provide expertise this happened months ago

[6:30]and no nobody talks about it why because the people who have

[6:33]control over the information over the decisions it doesn't affect them your

[6:40]grandmothers don't have to be fingerprinted to come and visit your employees

[6:44]live down the road but that affects that decision affects each every

[6:49]person in this room it affects their ability to make connections with

[6:54]their family it affects their ability to bring employees here to work

[6:57]in their businesses it affects their ability to bring people over to

[7:01]study at the universities and people are not talking about this people

[7:07]are deeply hurt as you can imagine by this decision and I

[7:12]think they're equally hurt by it because it has happened so swiftly

[7:16]and without discussion and without any kind of backlash within Canadian citizenship

[7:21]more recently you may have heard about Bill c24 uh this bill

[7:27]was passed just a few weeks ago at the end of June

[7:32]in our federal government uh I urge you because I only have

[7:34]a few minutes to talk about it the Canadian bar association wrote

[7:37]very uh plain language easy to follow submissions about the consequences of

[7:42]this bill you can find it if you Google Canadian bar assciation

[7:48]Bill c24 looks like this I urge you please go find it

[7:51]and read it in Canada despite all the hurdles and tests and

[7:55]difficulties to become a citizen once you become a citizen you are

[8:00]are equal to all other citizens it doesn't matter where you came

[8:03]from it doesn't matter what your life was before if you come

[8:06]and you make it and you become a citizen you were equal

[8:09]there was one until last month there was one difference between myself

[8:13]and my husband as Canadian citizens and that was he could have

[8:18]his citizenship revoked if they found that he had materially misrepresented himself

[8:21]in his application for Citizens that was it that was the only

[8:28]thing now with Bill c24 they have introduced a number of new

[8:31]ways to revoke citizenship and to revoke it not only from people

[8:37]who have immigrated to Canada but to revoke it from people like

[8:41]my child because my child has access to Second citizenship and they

[8:46]can revoke my daughter's citizenship because she could go to Iran they

[8:51]have introduced the punishment of Exile into Canada which our Supreme Court

[8:55]has found to be unconstitutional and perhaps a violation of international human

[9:01]right standards they have introduced second class citizenship they have introduced something

[9:06]that Canadians should be shocked by because this is the thin edge

[9:10]of the wedge this is where we start to divide good Canadian

[9:15]citizens from other Canadian citizens permanent Canadian citizens from temporary Canadian citizens

[9:20]the ones that we really trust to be here and the ones

[9:26]maybe not so much and this we all know history does not

[9:29]deal well with those countries that start to differentiate between their citizens

[9:34]history does not deal well with countries that start to require Biometrics

[9:39]and the Gathering of unnecessary personal information from People based merely on

[9:47]where they live in the world this is shocking in Canada in

[9:51]a country that Prides itself on multiculturalism Prides itself on immigration Prides

[9:57]itself on being open to the world and in one short year

[10:03]we have introduced two major changes to how we treat the citizens

[10:06]of our country and their families who live outside of our borders

[10:10]and I am communicating to you that people are very very upset

[10:20]by this I'm upset and I stand as a person of privilege

[10:22]was born in Canada my citizenship is uh less at risk in

[10:27]fact my citizenship because I also have access to citizenship is is

[10:34]now compromised but I can only imagine how this must feel to

[10:40]somebody who took that risk and brought their whole family to Canada

[10:44]and imagine that this would be a place of freedom and equality

[10:46]and where they could feel that they were safe and secure and

[10:52]could build a life here and now all of that is at

[10:54]risk by these changes to the laws and so I'm here tonight

[10:59]to convey to you that when our communities stand and fight against

[11:05]these changes when they come together and they petition the government for

[11:10]change they challenge it in the courts they go to the media

[11:14]all Canadians must stand together all Canadians must see that this is

[11:19]shocking that this is unacceptable that this is not the Canada that

[11:24]we want to live in and it's certainly not the community that

[11:27]we are contributing to so I urge you to read more about

[11:33]these changes everything is available very simply on Canadian government websites all

[11:36]the immigration information all the changes to Bill C uh c24 please

[11:42]go and read them please be there with the community when they

[11:46]fight against this it's absolutely necessary that we reverse these kinds of

[11:51]trip paths that were headed down and put Canada back to where

[11:54]it belongs Thank you very oh

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Recent Changes to Canadian Immigration Laws - Maggie Stewart

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