Skilled Immigrants: Language Proficiency

Political Debates Dept: Of course, the bar for citizenship should not be set too high, but high enough that language proficiency can be properly assessed. A multiple-choice written test is a poor measure. Testing people s listening and speaking skills is a more accurate predictor of fluency. Citizenship and Immigration wants all newcomers to be able to take part in routine conversations about everyday topics, follow simple instructions and directions and use basic grammatical structures and tenses. This is entirely reasonable. Why shouldn t language proficiency be a requirement for citizenship?, according to Globe and Mail. The integration of immigrants in such countries as Germany and the Netherlands has been much more problematic precisely because newcomers were not able to learn the language, or to acquire citizenship easily and without the ability to converse in one or more of Canada s official languages, newcomers cannot participate in mainstream institutions. They cannot partake in the culture and society around them, listen to political debates on television or talk to their neighbours. Highly skilled immigrants with better language skills also get better jobs. Ottawa invests millions of dollars in settlement and language training for newcomers. Canadians support high levels of immigration because they perceive that immigrants make an economic contribution, and because they see multiculturalism as a focus for our national identity, said Jeffrey Reitz, a University of Toronto sociologist. But Canadians also want immigrants to blend in and learn English or French. That is one of the goals of multiculturalism. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.