Canada Dept: I ve tried everything. But all I keep getting is let down. If he got his permanent residency he still wouldn t be able to work for months and I m told he would still have to wait for approval for 18 months. He can stay but if he cannot work that isn t good. If he finds a job he has to get a labour-market opinion, which means he will have to wait for months just to be able to work. And the business that wants to hire him has to fill out a lot of paperwork and it has to be a job a Canadian cannot do. Does this make any sense? Is there no way I can get around this? We wanted to get married this year and start our life. But now we can t. I just want to be happy again and be able to start my life with him, according to The Star. Q. It came to my attention this week that my UK. passport expires this month, so I decided to go on line and download a renewal form. What a surprise. It said that all passports are now being handled in Washington and not at the British High Commission in Ottawa. The charges for a passport are listed at around $250 U.S. and a fee of $33 U.S. for courier services. These must be paid by credit card or certified cheque when sending in the renewal. This is outrageous as at least Canada and the UK are related but the UK. has nothing to do with the U.S. Have you heard anything about this? I have applied for Canadian citizenship, which should be finalized within the next few months and I was hoping to carry dual passports but not at this outrageous charge and q. My fiance is from the U.S. and I want him to be able to live here. He is leaving next week and it breaks our hearts to see him go. This is literally my last option. A. As a citizen of a foreign country your husband-to-be needs to go through immigration procedures before he can settle here. Those are simply the rules. There was a time when it was very difficult for spousal sponsorships to be processed from within Canada. In those days, the would-be spouse in most cases had to leave Canada and await processing. Some years ago, the immigration department realized the strain this kind of separation can cause and changed the rules to allow an application for spousal sponsorship to be submitted and processed from within Canada. That was a progressive move. What you would seem to be proposing is that officials go one step farther and waive the work-permit requirements for those who are married to a Canadian citizen. But I believe many others would argue that at a certain point the rules have to be applied. My suggestion is this: If it is your intention to marry at a later date, why not get married now so that you can initiate the spousal sponsorship from within Canada. That way your fiance could remain in Canada while you get the ball rolling to obtain a work permit. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Freda Guttman Dept: Improbable as it seems, the draw is a panel discussion. No music, no stand-up, no spoken word. Just earnest Kevin Yuen Kit Lo as moderator, carefully drawing out the personal experiences of his guests: visual artists Coco Riot and Freda Guttman, filmmaker Malcolm Guy and poet Vincent Tinguely. Grey heads, except for Lo and Riot, who looks 20-something and describes herself as "a queer Hispanic migrant artist." Guttman has a 40-year track record as installation artist, printmaker and political activist. President of Productions Multi-Monde, Guy is known for documentary films treating immigrant issues, dating from the late '80s, according to Montreal Gazette. "Reality is a narcotic," Tinguely tells the crowd. "Entertainment numbs." Art cannot be aloof from what's happening in the street. "It must be a weapon to tear holes in the web of illusion," he says, quoting liberally from an essay he wrote for the occasion and on a chilly Thursday night in January, the country kitchen temperature in Caf Cagibi's backroom is pushed upwards by a standing-roomonly crowd. While most people wrestle with bulky coats and backpacks, early arrivals who snagged a seat on the couch must crane for a glimpse of the featured event. Climate change, police violence, corporate excess, gentrification - none of the above are specifically on the menu, yet all are in the air. Consensus among the span of ages is as thick as a fresh-cut slice of whole wheat bread. The topic is art and activism. Not if but how art can be used to rouse awareness and draw people into action on the burning socio-political issues of our time. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Sayed Shah Sharifi Dept: The Star has been asking the PMO to get involved ever since Immigration Minister Jason Kenney made a promise which turned out to be hollow that Afghan interpreters would be fast-tracked and get special consideration to relocate in Canada. Federal immigration officials vacillated about accepting most of the visa applications, saying the Afghans had to prove extraordinary and individualized risk and serious injury in order to be approved. That s hard to do when faced with such cruel and evasive enemies as the Taliban, according to The Star. The interpreters and cultural advisers often worked on the battlefield under fire for Canadians in Kandahar and other risky parts of Afghanistan. Most were highly praised for their efforts. One of the men whose visa request was turned down, Sayed Shah Sharifi, was described by his former boss, Capt. Alexander Duncan, as someone who would contribute greatly to Canada as a citizen. Although Sharifi worked the required 12 months for Canadians, immigration officials said there were credibility issues with his application and dismissed his claim that Taliban insurgents were threatening his life and more than 100 Afghans who put themselves in personal danger by working as interpreters for our military may be getting another chance to seek a new life in Canada. It took pressure from the public and the media, as well as direct intervention from the Prime Minister s Office. Finally. Only 97 out of the hundreds of applicants and their families had actually been allowed to move to Canada by the end of 2011. Now, after the PMO got involved, some restrictive criteria to verify personal danger have been set aside and other limitations relaxed. It should end major roadblocks for Afghan interpreters and advisers who are seeking to resettle in Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Honour Killing Dept: But legal experts and those who work in women's shelters say that once the words are stripped away, the crime is one that happens often in Canada: women being killed for not doing as they are told, according to Montreal Gazette. It's a violent assault on women because they're women.'' MONTREAL - For months during the Shafia murder trial in Kingston, Ont., the term honour killing was bandied about as if it were some exotic ritual that only happened in other countries with cultures far removed and backward from our own. I think we're fascinated right now with the concept of honour killings because that was the name given to it by the prosecution and the accused but that doesn't change what the underlying activity is,'' said Pearl Eliadis, a Montreal human rights lawyer. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Federal Government Dept: Statistics Canada has now released the first instalment of the data from the 2011 Census that took place in May of last year. These data relate to population and dwelling counts. Further instalments of data related to age and sex of the population, families, households and marital status will be made available through the year, according to Vancouver Sun. For the 2011 Census, the federal government decided to eliminate the long-form census that had 53 questions while maintaining the short form with eight questions. Two questions on language that were previously in the long form were added to the short form. Still being a census, the short-form questionnaire remained mandatory. The quality of the short-form data being released starting Wednesday, therefore, should be broadly as good as that released from the previous censuses and there is considerable interest in Canada on census issues, as became quite obvious during the controversy over the long-form census in the summer of 2010, which led me to resign as chief statistician of Canada. From 1971 to 2006, the census included two parts: the short form and the long form. The short form included questions of a tombstone nature with the main objective being a head count. The long form included the remaining questions that were focused on getting respondents' socio-economic information in areas such as the labour market, income, transportation, education, disabilities, housing, citizenship and ethnicity. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

The Republican Party Dept: In a recent episode of the television show The Simpsons, Homer, who is transformed into an opinionated Fox News-type talk-show host, enthusiastically supports aging rocker and outspoken conservative Ted Nugent as his choice for the Republican Party presidential candidate. The animated Nugent voiced by Nugent himself promises that if he wins he will move the White House from Washington, D.C., to Kalamazoo in Michigan, his home state, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Considering Romney's less-than-stellar performance thus far -- he has flipped-flopped on such issues as abortion, gay rights, immigration, gun control and climate change -- as well as the divisiveness within the Republican Party, it is tough to imagine Obama can lose the election. Admittedly, undecided voters in key swing states can wield a lot of voting power. Yet, if anything is certain in American politics, it is that even weaker candidates can become the president of the United States and byron Rollins / The Associated Press archives U.S. President Harry Truman holds the Chicago Daily Tribune, which, based on early results, mistakenly announced Dewey Defeats Truman, on Nov. 4, 1948. Sounds nutty and improbable? No more so than the Republican Party's go-for-the-jugular primary and caucus battle -- or farce, depending on your point of view -- that has played out during the last six months. Despite the stubborn resolve of Newt Gingrich, and possibly Rick Santorum, to hang around until the Republican convention in the summer, it appears likely Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, will win the privilege of challenging President Barack Obama and the Democrats in November. This will not sit well with the more conservative Tea Party members of the Republican Party, who regard Romney as too moderate. But other than not voting or more desperately campaigning against him and thereby helping Obama, there is little they will be able to do about it. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Harper Dept: Prime Minister Stephen Harper s four-day trade mission to China has had a taste of it all, bouncing from Beijing, to Guangzhou, and on Saturday to the southwestern inland city of Chongqing, according to The Star. Moments later, Harper tried to practice a little foreign influencing of his own and gUANGZHOU, CHINA Ping pong, pipelines and pandas. Harper used a keynote speech here Friday to slam the foreign money and influence behind critics of Canada s oil sands even as he welcomed Chinese investment in Canada s energy sector. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Health Care System Dept: The affordability of a higher-quality health care system does merit debate. Also affordable housing, the cornerstone of poverty reduction. Also education reform that better matches students with a workplace that, as a business think tank complained last week, is suffering a desperate shortage of skilled workers despite 1.42 million Canadians out of work, according to The Star. In the short space of a week, an overtly partisan actor a Liberal Party distracted by a leadership campaign was able to collect 12,000 signatures in an online petition opposing cuts to seniors benefits and say what you will of Stephen Harper s success in scaring Canadian seniors with his recent musings about cutting seniors benefits. It does not warrant the public debate that the most charitable of the PM s critics on this issue have tepidly welcomed. The PM is wrong about the sustainability of Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement, paid to the poorest Canadians. And Canadians have let him know it. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Census Data Dept: Statistics Canada released the first batch of numbers from the 2011 census on Wednesday and the population of Cape Breton Regional Municipality decreased by 4.7 per cent since the last census in 2006, according to The Chronicle Herald. When the 2011 census was taken last May 10, the population of Cape Breton Regional Municipality was 97,398, compared with 102,250 from the 2006 census and oTTAWA New census data show the population of Cape Breton Regional Municipality fell below the national growth rate over the last five years a period that saw the country spiral into the most serious economic tailspin since the Great Depression. The national growth rate was 5.9 per cent, while the population of Nova Scotia increased by 0.9 per cent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Newfoundland And Labrador Dept: When comparing the 2001 and 2006 censuses, Nova Scotia led Atlantic Canada with 0.6 per cent growth. That rate increased to 0.9 per cent between the 2006 and 2011 censuses, but Nova Scotia now trails New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, according to The Chronicle Herald. Newfoundland, because of its booming offshore oil industry, has seen its population growth rate climb to OTTAWA Nova Scotia has been leapfrogged by its Atlantic Canadian cousins and now has the slowest population growth in the region, census data released Wednesday reveals. This is a major flip. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.