Immigration

Three-year-old Deerat Kaur Chahal enjoys some time at Skaha Park. Her family and her are being deported if a reprieve isn’t given. (Mark Brett / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)

Okanagan MP, community rallies to keep young family from being deported

Hardeep Singh Chahal, his pregnant wife Kamaldeep Kaur and daughter want to stay in Penticton

Three-year-old Deerat Kaur Chahal enjoys some time at Skaha Park. Her family and her are being deported if a reprieve isn’t given. (Mark Brett / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter)
The Canada sign in Victoria’s Inner Harbour is pictured in early 2023. The provincial government will up support for temporary residents starting in 2024 as B.C.’s demographics continue to change. (Black Press Media file photo)

Provincial government boosts supports for newcomers to B.C.

Funding for provincial settlement services goes up to $25.6 million from $6 million in 2024

The Canada sign in Victoria’s Inner Harbour is pictured in early 2023. The provincial government will up support for temporary residents starting in 2024 as B.C.’s demographics continue to change. (Black Press Media file photo)
Searchers look for victims Friday, March 31, 2023, after a boat capsized and left eight people dead in Akwesasne, Que. Authorities investigating the disappearance of an Akwesasne man whose boat was found near the bodies of eight migrants pulled from the St. Lawrence River say he was connected to the case. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Search suspended for man linked to dead migrants, police say efforts exhausted

Authorities have said the area’s geography makes it a popular spot for human smugglers

Searchers look for victims Friday, March 31, 2023, after a boat capsized and left eight people dead in Akwesasne, Que. Authorities investigating the disappearance of an Akwesasne man whose boat was found near the bodies of eight migrants pulled from the St. Lawrence River say he was connected to the case. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Searchers look for victims Friday, March 31, 2023, after a boat capsized and left eight people dead in Akwesasne, Que. Authorities investigating the disappearance of an Akwesasne man whose boat was found near the bodies of eight migrants pulled from the St. Lawrence River say he was connected to the case. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Police connect missing Akwesasne man to migrants found dead in St. Lawrence River

Four Indian nationals whose bodies were found have been identified by Indian authorities

Searchers look for victims Friday, March 31, 2023, after a boat capsized and left eight people dead in Akwesasne, Que. Authorities investigating the disappearance of an Akwesasne man whose boat was found near the bodies of eight migrants pulled from the St. Lawrence River say he was connected to the case. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
An Egyptian soldier sits on his armoured vehicle in front of a Freedom and Justice Party Arabic-language poster supporting Muslim Brothehood candidates outside a ballot counting centre in Giza, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The party and the Brotherhood have since been outlawed. Egyptian asylum seekers spoke Monday alongside NDP MP Don Davies at his constituency office in Vancouver, decrying the CBSA’s treatment of recent claimants affiliated with the Freedom and Justice Party and the potential denial of their refugee bids. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Amr Nabil

Egyptian asylum seekers decry ‘Islamophobia’ by Canada’s border agency

Border Services challenging some refugees over ties to outlawed political party

An Egyptian soldier sits on his armoured vehicle in front of a Freedom and Justice Party Arabic-language poster supporting Muslim Brothehood candidates outside a ballot counting centre in Giza, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The party and the Brotherhood have since been outlawed. Egyptian asylum seekers spoke Monday alongside NDP MP Don Davies at his constituency office in Vancouver, decrying the CBSA’s treatment of recent claimants affiliated with the Freedom and Justice Party and the potential denial of their refugee bids. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Amr Nabil
Houses and townhouses are seen in an aerial view in Langley, B.C., on Wednesday May 16, 2018. A new report says home construction in British Columbia will need to quickly rise to unprecedented levels to offset the impact of record immigration on the housing market.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Unprecedented construction needed in B.C. to offset record immigration: Report

Report: province must build 25 per cent more new homes than usual for the next five years

Houses and townhouses are seen in an aerial view in Langley, B.C., on Wednesday May 16, 2018. A new report says home construction in British Columbia will need to quickly rise to unprecedented levels to offset the impact of record immigration on the housing market.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A family of asylum seekers from Colombia is met by RCMP officers after crossing the border at Roxham Road into Canada from Champlain, New York, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Immigration advocates say they are disappointed that Canada and the U.S. have agreed to restrict the flow of asylum seekers across their shared border. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Canada-U.S. deal on migration will limit safe options for asylum seekers: advocates

Deal follows global trend: widening legal pathways while cutting off the irregular ones

A family of asylum seekers from Colombia is met by RCMP officers after crossing the border at Roxham Road into Canada from Champlain, New York, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Immigration advocates say they are disappointed that Canada and the U.S. have agreed to restrict the flow of asylum seekers across their shared border. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Razak Iyal, one of two asylum seekers who walked across the Canada/US border in December and lost his fingers because of severe frostbite, is photographed as he enters his refugee hearing in Winnipeg, Tuesday, June 13, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

Two men who lost fingers crossing into Canada become Canadian citizens

Pair among wave of refugee-claimants who snuck into Canada from the United States in 2016

Razak Iyal, one of two asylum seekers who walked across the Canada/US border in December and lost his fingers because of severe frostbite, is photographed as he enters his refugee hearing in Winnipeg, Tuesday, June 13, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
Lenya Wilks poses for a photo in Surrey, B.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Wilks says she felt like the “only Black person in Surrey” when she first moved to the city east of Vancouver last year. But the Black population in the region is growing fast and residents who who once might have left in search of community are increasingly staying to forge their own, says Wilks, senior manager of the Surrey Local Immigration Partnership. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Marissa Tiel

‘You’re not the only one’: Vancouver’s Black population rising fast, census shows

Metro Vancouver has historically had one of the smallest Black populations in the country

Lenya Wilks poses for a photo in Surrey, B.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. Wilks says she felt like the “only Black person in Surrey” when she first moved to the city east of Vancouver last year. But the Black population in the region is growing fast and residents who who once might have left in search of community are increasingly staying to forge their own, says Wilks, senior manager of the Surrey Local Immigration Partnership. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Marissa Tiel
Children walk between tents, in Aslanli, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in a catastrophic earthquake huddled around campfires in the bitter cold and clamored for food and water Thursday, three days after the temblor hit Turkey and Syria. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Canada may fast-track immigration applications from people in earthquake zone

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser signalled this week that Canada may fast-track applications…

Children walk between tents, in Aslanli, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in a catastrophic earthquake huddled around campfires in the bitter cold and clamored for food and water Thursday, three days after the temblor hit Turkey and Syria. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Grace Mukadzambo is a Courtenay resident who was to be deported to her native Zimbabwe, but the deportation order has been cancelled. Paul Bozenich photo

B.C. resident facing deportation gets 11th-hour reprieve while packing her bags

Community members, elected officials rally behind plight of Grace Mukadzambo

Grace Mukadzambo is a Courtenay resident who was to be deported to her native Zimbabwe, but the deportation order has been cancelled. Paul Bozenich photo
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arrive at the Hamilton Convention Centre, in Hamilton, Ont., ahead of the Liberal Cabinet retreat, on Monday, January 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

Passport backlog update expected as federal cabinet retreat enters second day

Offices unable to deal with passport renewal applications as COVID-19 restrictions eased last year

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, arrive at the Hamilton Convention Centre, in Hamilton, Ont., ahead of the Liberal Cabinet retreat, on Monday, January 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn
A woman checks out a jobs advertisement sign in Toronto on Wednesday, April 29, 2020. The Conference Board of Canada says the country’s smaller cities have an opportunity to make a bigger economic impact in the coming years thanks to pandemic-driven trends and the federal government’s new immigration plan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Smaller cities can benefit from immigration uptick and pandemic shift: Research

Conference Board of Canada says more evenly distributed migration would be helpful

A woman checks out a jobs advertisement sign in Toronto on Wednesday, April 29, 2020. The Conference Board of Canada says the country’s smaller cities have an opportunity to make a bigger economic impact in the coming years thanks to pandemic-driven trends and the federal government’s new immigration plan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
U.S. Border Patrol agents Katy Siemer, left and David Marcus stand outside the Customs and Border Protection facility in Pembina, N.D., on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. A year after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to walk to the United States from Manitoba, the agency tasked with patrolling the border says others have not been deterred from attempting the same treacherous journey. THE CANADIAN PRESS/James McCarten

One year after death of Indian migrants at border, U.S. still sees illegal crossings

Drastic uptick seen of people entering North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin illegally from Canada

U.S. Border Patrol agents Katy Siemer, left and David Marcus stand outside the Customs and Border Protection facility in Pembina, N.D., on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. A year after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to walk to the United States from Manitoba, the agency tasked with patrolling the border says others have not been deterred from attempting the same treacherous journey. THE CANADIAN PRESS/James McCarten
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. As Canada plans to significantly ramp up its immigration levels in the coming years, some policy experts are worried about potential effects on health care, housing and the labour market. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Liberal minister says Canada needs more immigration as targets get mixed reviews

As Canada plans to significantly ramp up its immigration levels in the…

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. As Canada plans to significantly ramp up its immigration levels in the coming years, some policy experts are worried about potential effects on health care, housing and the labour market. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The federal government is changing the financial requirements for international students wishing to study in Canada. (Photo courtesy of UVic)

B.C.’s international students face big cost-of-living requirement hike

Increase from $10,000 a year to $20,635 is the first of its kind since the early 2000s

The federal government is changing the financial requirements for international students wishing to study in Canada. (Photo courtesy of UVic)
Consultant Jody Johnson presented a report to a Nov. 28 Langley City breakfast meeting of groups that work with refugees and immigrants showing the immigrant population in the Langley area is increasing faster than any other Metro Vancouver municipality. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)

Langley area had the biggest increase of immigrants in Metro Vancouver: report

Latest census numbers show 35 percent increase from 2016 to 2021 in City and Township

Consultant Jody Johnson presented a report to a Nov. 28 Langley City breakfast meeting of groups that work with refugees and immigrants showing the immigrant population in the Langley area is increasing faster than any other Metro Vancouver municipality. (Dan Ferguson/Langley Advance Times)
People walk past the University of Toronto campus in Toronto on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Educated immigrants face underemployment as Canada leads G7 in educated workforce

Number people in Canada with a bachelor’s degree or higher rose to 6.4 million in 2021

People walk past the University of Toronto campus in Toronto on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joined by Minister of International Trade Mary Ng after a news conference following his participation in the APEC summit in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. Federal officials are set to make an announcement about Canada’s long-promised Indo-Pacific strategy in Vancouver today. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Indo-Pacific strategy launch boosts military spending and visa processing in region

Feds committing $2.3 billion

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is joined by Minister of International Trade Mary Ng after a news conference following his participation in the APEC summit in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022. Federal officials are set to make an announcement about Canada’s long-promised Indo-Pacific strategy in Vancouver today. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Inna Fomina, who came to Canada to take refuge from the war in Ukraine, stands with her son Adrian Derevianko, 10-month-old, outside their home in Ottawa, on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Ukrainian refugees embrace peace and quiet in Canada as war rages on

Inna Fomina’s story one of horror and displacement, but also one of hope and resilience

Inna Fomina, who came to Canada to take refuge from the war in Ukraine, stands with her son Adrian Derevianko, 10-month-old, outside their home in Ottawa, on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang