Permanent Residents

Immigration Minister Dept: Bill C-43, the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act, would ease the way to deport refugees, permanent residents and visitors for "serious criminality," crimes where the punishment is six months or more in jail. MPs are debating the bill at second reading Monday, according to CBC. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday the bill reduces the number of appeals "abused by serious foreign criminals to delay, sometimes for several years, their deportation." The opposition NDP says a bill before the House of Commons today would give too much power to the immigration minister. It also gives the immigration minister powers to determine who can be kept out of or allowed in the country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.