As the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games approach, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is seeking to facilitate the admission of approximately 7000 foreign national through Regulatory amendments. VANOC, or the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, has been given the authority to register and accredit foreign nationals who are performing a specific role or function within the organization, which will allow for the admission of such nationals through deemed multiple-entry temporary resident visas, which are not subject to the normal cost-recovery fees.

These Regulatory amendments to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations allow such admission between the dates of December 12th 2009 through March 28th 2010. They are automatically repealed on April 22nd 2010. These amendments were developed though consultations with VANOC and various Canadian government bodies, including Human Resources and Skills Development Canada; The Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Canada Border Services Agency; and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Given the international significance of Olympic and Paralympic Games, these amendments by Citizenship and Immigration Canada are intended to streamline and facilitate the immigration process of VANOC registered members. The consultation of the various organizations ensures that such chagnes do not have a negative impact on Canada’s immigration programs or the health safety of Canadians.

Will Kymlicka is the Queen’s University Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy and author of several books on the topic of multiculturalism. In a recent interview Canada’s Globe and Mail news organization, he suggested that Canada has demonstrated and unprecedented level of integration of new immigrants into its society.

Some of the facts that Kymlicka points to in asserting Canada’s success with immigration include:

• that, unlike many nations promoting immigration, most Canadian immigrants move on to become citizens;
• that the children of immigrant families tend to outperform those of non-immigrant families in regard to education – an anomaly in any Western democracy;
• Canadian immigrants comprising visible minorities tend to demonstrate very high levels of pride in Canada.

Kymlicka does identify some areas in which Canada can improve its immigration integration. He suggests that facilitating the recognition of academic credentials and employment experience will help economic integration.

For years, a common complaint of new immigrants to Canada was that it was difficult to get a solid financial foothold in the first years after arriving. The lack of a Canadian credit history, for example, would prove to be a bar to obtaining credit, which – of course – prevents establishing a credit history. More recently, Canadian banks are specifically catering services to new immigrants, a population that grows by approximately 250,000 annually.

Recognizing the need to address the immigrant community, most of the large Canadian banks appoint a Director of Multicultural Markets in order to ensure that the needs of new Canadians are met. Canadian banks now seek to help a new Canadian with everything from opening bank accounts and applying for insurance and credit cards to giving advice on how to get a driver’s licence, preparing taxes, even deciding where to live or send their kids to school. The Royal Bank of Canada’s communitycorner.ca web site provides details on the demographic and cultural makeup of most communities in Canada. This helps prospective immigrants can check out neighbourhoods, including home values, and find cultural communities they want to be close to.