I’m proud to share with you my advocacy has succeeded. Since 2015 our government has prioritized infrastructure spending, transforming our communities and growing the economy. Now, I’m proud to say that the “cheques are in the mail” for the Broadway Subway.

See here: goo.gl/fd7yqt and here: goo.gl/wzmQ4k for links to Tuesday’s announcement, and see here for the original Vancouver Observer article detailing my work: goo.gl/jsfUS

As you might remember, I highlighted the inaction on this important project for our community from the previous #Conservative government. During the 2015 election, I helped make this project a priority for our #Liberal government.

Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership, the stalemate has been broken. Cheques are now in the mail and we are putting people to work on this project. This lays a great foundation for University of British Columbia to be connected to #SkyTrain one day!

Learn more from Vancouver Is Awesome here:goo.gl/Nt3Qu4

OTTAWA — A surge in exports of energy, aircraft and pharmaceutical products helped propel Canada’s economy higher in the second quarter of this year, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

The economy rocketed to an annualized pace of 2.9 per cent in the period from April 1 through June 30, compared with a slightly revised annual pace of 1.4 per cent in the first three months of 2018, the agency said.

Economists had expected an annualized pace of 3.0 per cent for the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Statistics Canada said the sharp hike in growth was mainly the result of higher exports, which saw an increase of 2.9 per cent in the quarter.

That was the highest growth rate for that category in four years, led by energy exports, which accelerated at a rate of 5.6 per cent.

Exports of goods were 6.3 per cent higher in the second quarter, driven particularly by pharmaceuticals while exports of aircraft, aircraft parts and engines grew by 13.4 per cent.

Service exports edged 0.2 per cent lower.

Imports, meanwhile, were higher by 1.6 per cent, faster than the 1.0 per cent growth rate recorded in the first quarter. Statistics Canada said much of that growth was a result of higher refined energy imports to offset an expected shutdown of four Canadian refineries in April and May.

Household spending was also higher, up 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, compared with the 0.3 per cent growth seen in the first three months of the year.

The increase was mainly a result of higher bills for utilities including water, electricity and gas, and because households were spending more for services such as renovations, up 0.8 per cent.

Housing investment rebounded in the second quarter, up 0.3 per cent compared with a revised 2.7 per cent drop in the previous three month period. But spending on home ownership transfer costs and new construction was lower.

Business capital investment was higher by 0.4 per cent, but that was the slowest pace of growth seen in the segment since the fourth quarter of 2016 and largely the result of a slowdown in purchases of machinery and equipment.

Via The Toronto Star:

In what is being hailed as a victory for troubled bee populations, the federal government is moving to ban the outdoor use of pesticides that are widely applied to canola, corn and soybean crops in Canada, the Star has learned.

Beekeepers and environmentalists have blamed the pesticides — called neonicotinoids — for contributing to honeybee die-offs in recent years. On Wednesday, Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) will announce a plan to phase out the outdoor use of two neonicotinoids — thiamethoxam and clothianidin — over three to five years due to concerns about their effects on aquatic invertebrates, according to two people who were informed in advance of the decision this week.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor declined to confirm details of the announcement before it is made Wednesday.

John Bennett, senior policy adviser for Friends of the Earth Canada, has campaigned for restrictions on neonicotinoids since 2013 and said he was briefed on the proposed phase-out in a conference call Monday. He said Ottawa’s decision, while focused on aquatic life, will help bees because of links between increased die-offs and the planting of neonicotinoid-treated seeds reported in recent years.

“This is a major change,” Bennett said. “It’s just very exciting to see that they’re finally starting to take it seriously.”

Jim Coneybeare, a third-generation beekeeper in Wellington County and president of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, was also informed of the decision and said the phase-out can’t come soon enough.

Coneybeare and Bennett said Wednesday’s announcement will be similar to the PMRA’s proposal in November 2016 to phase out the third neonicotinoid used in Canada, called imidacloprid. The PMRA reported at the time that high volumes of the pesticide in the environment were “not sustainable” and harmful to aquatic insects that are important sources of food for fish, birds and other animals.

“This is something we’ve said all along. You can’t just dump this stuff out into the environment and not see effects,” Coneybeare said. “And it’s not only affecting honeybees; it’s affecting a lot of things.”

If finalized, the proposals would see Canada follow the European Union, which banned the outdoor use of these pesticides over concerns about honeybees in May.

The latest survey from the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists reported bee colony losses of 32.6 per cent over the winter months in 2018, the highest level since 2009. According to Health Canada, no single factor has been identified as the cause of these bee declines: loss of habitat, diseases, viruses, and pest infestations may be to blame, alongside pesticide exposure.

In 2012, responding to concerns about a rise in bee deaths, the PMRA launched a review of neonicotinoids and their effects on pollinators. Two years later, the PMRA concluded that dust blown up when seeds treated with the pesticides are planted was contributing to bee deaths, and worked with growers to ensure a new, dust-reducing lubricant was used on planting machines.

Citing the “growing body of scientific evidence” that the pesticides are “highly toxic” to bees, Ontario also introduced regulations in 2015 to reduce the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated seeds by 80 per cent over the next two years. The province now requires corn and soybean farmers to test their soil for the presence of pests before they’re allowed to use neonicotinoids.

Bennett said Wednesday’s proposal — the result of a separate review that doesn’t include the effects of the pesticides on pollinators — will add to those protections as concerns about aquatic invertebrates lead to greater restrictions.

Bennett said he was informed Wednesday’s proposal will be followed by a 60-day consultation period, in which he expects the government will hear feedback that will inform any final time frame for the phase-out. “It’s still something to celebrate, but what we’ll argue about now is how long it takes for them to actually do it,” he said.

Jillian Bender, a spokesperson for CropLife Canada, a consortium of pesticide manufacturers and plant science industry players, said in an email that her group is aware of a government decision Wednesday on two products, but declined to comment until details are published by the PMRA. The Grain Farmers of Ontario also declined to comment before the announcement.

Bayer, one of Canada’s major manufacturers of clothianidin, said in a statement to the Star that it will conduct a “thorough review” of Wednesday’s proposal and continue to support growers’ “use of this valuable tool by continuing to provide Health Canada with sound, science-based evidence.”

For the original Toronto Star article, please see:goo.gl/1k8Vwz

Or learn more directly from Health Canada:goo.gl/PKGuJS

Here’s why!

Canada is committed to international climate leadership:

• Pledged to implement a plan to reduce emissions by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030, while pressing for a more ambitious Paris climate agreement.
• Committed $2.65 billion to support climate action in developing countries, which are the hardest hit by climate change and often have limited capacity to prevent and cope with its consequences.
• Launched the Powering Past Coal Alliance with the United Kingdom – creating a group of countries, states, provinces, and businesses all dedicated to ending the use of coal-fired electricity.
• Played a leading role in the global ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an agreement to phase down polluting hydrofluorocarbons.

Canada has a comprehensive climate plan to fight climate change:

• Canada’s first ever national climate plan, signed by all of our provinces and territories and will help Canada meet or exceed our Paris climate commitments.
• Canada’s national plan will put a price on carbon:
  • Ensure a fair carbon price across Canada starting at $10 per tonne in 2018 and rising by $10 per year to $50 per tonne in 2022.
  • Provide flexibility to provinces and territories to enact the system that best meets their needs.
  • Return all revenues to the province from which they came.
• Eliminate traditional coal power and ensuring that 90% of electricity is generated from clean sources by 2030.
• Limit air pollution and reducing health issues such as asthma by reducing methane emissions by 40% to 45% by 2025.
• Lead by example through the new Centre for Greening Government in the Treasury Board Secretariat. Through the work of this centre of excellence we are on track to reduce the government’s own greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 80% by 2050.

The government is building the low-carbon economy of tomorrow:

• Launched the $1.4 billion Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund to support provincial and territorial priorities to reduce carbon pollution.
  • This program will emphasize energy conservation and efficiency to save Canadians and Canadian businesses money while reducing emissions.
  • British Columbia will receive up to $162 million for projects that include reforesting public forests, and improving energy efficiency of buildings.
• Making historic investments in public transportation across the country, to connect people and communities while reducing emissions. We’re investing $3.4 billion over three years to improve and expand public transit systems across Canada, and an additional $25.3 billion over the next 11 years.
• Supporting the future of clean transportation technologies with $62.5 million for infrastructure for alternative fuels, including charging stations for electric vehicles and natural gas and hydrogen refueling stations.
• Investing $21.9 billion over 11 years for green infrastructure which will include targeted investments to support greenhouse gas reductions and enable greater climate change adaptation and increased resilience.
• Extending the tax support for clean energy until 2025 to encourage investment in a clean energy generation and promote the use of clean energy equipment.
• Helping Canadians living in rural and remote communities to reduce their reliance on diesel for electricity and heating by investing in affordable and clean energy solutions such as hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, and bioenergy, through the Clean Energy Innovation Program.
• Helping build a clean economy and reduce polluting greenhouse gases by launching the Emerging Renewable Power Program, which will fund projects on renewable energy technologies.
• Encouraging Canadian Industrial manufacturing facilities to reduce energy use and related costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the Energy Star Challenge.

We have made historic commitments to ocean protection:

• Reached a historic agreement in principle to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean, proactively before any commercial fishing began.
• Spearheaded the adoption of the 5-Nation Ocean Plastics Charter at the G7, and committed $100 million through a marine litter mitigation fund to prevent plastic waste from entering the oceans, address plastic waste on shorelines, and better manage existing plastic resources.
• Created the $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan, focusing on four pillars:
  • Creating a world-leading marine safety system that improves responsible shipping and protects Canada’s waters;
  • Restoring and protecting marine ecosystems and habitats, using new tools and research, as well as taking measures to address abandoned boats and wrecks;
  • Strengthening partnerships and launching co-management practices with Indigenous communities, including building local emergency response capacity; and,
  • Investing in oil spill cleanup research and methods to ensure that decisions taken in emergencies are evidence based.
• Making polluters pay in case of spills or accidents, through the Pipeline Safety Act.
• Reopened the Kitsilano Coast Guard Base that was closed by the Harper government. Since reopening in April 2016, Kitsilano Base has dealt with more than 470 Search and Rescue calls and over 150 environmental response tasks.
• Providing members of coastal Indigenous communities in British Columbia with the skills and tools to enhance marine safety through Indigenous Community Response Training.
• Banned microbeads, a major source of plastic pollution and threat to aquatic life.
• Increased the proportion of protected marine and coastal areas from 1% in 2015 to over 7.5%, surpassing our goal of 5%. This includes Canada’s largest marine conservation area in Tallurutiup Imanga/Lancaster Sound in the Arctic.
• Helping the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales with concrete measures by introducing new fishery management measures to protect their preferred food source, Chinook salmon, and reducing disturbance to whales while they forage.
• Took concrete action to protect the North Atlantic Right Whale by reducing the maximum speed limit in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence to 10 knots, closed the snow fishery in all of Crab Fishing Area 12, and issued a notice to the commercial fishing industry asking fishers to watch for whales and report any sightings.
• Invested $6.85 million over five years in the Abandoned Boats Program that cleans up abandoned or wrecked boats from small craft harbours.

Environmental protections dismantled by the previous government are being restored:

• Strengthened environmental assessment regulations that will protect our environment, rebuild public trust in federal assessment and regulatory processes, and provide predictability for businesses by investing $1 billion over five years.
• Investing $1.3 billion over five years, including $500 million to create a new Nature Fund to protect species at risk, expand wildlife areas and sanctuaries, manage protected areas, implement the Species at Risk Act, and establish a coordinated network of conservation areas.
• Committed to increase protected terrestrial areas and inland water from 10% to 17% of Canada by 2020.
• Renewing federal support for the Experimental Lakes Area that was lost under the previous government
• Protecting the Great Lakes in order to deal with issues such as cleaner drinking water by investing $44.84 million in the Great Lakes Protection Initiative. This is part of the $70.5 million of new funding for freshwater protection.
• Passing Bill C-69 to enact better rules for environmental and regulatory reviews in Canada by ensuring that they are guided by science, evidence, and Indigenous traditional knowledge. The modernized regulations will provide greater certainty and help move good projects forward in a responsible, timely, and transparent manner.
• Passing Bill-68, which will make changes to the Fisheries Act to restore the protections for fish and fish habitat that were lost under the previous government. These changes will also modernize safeguards and support the independence of inshore fisheries.

Canada is making historic investments in scientists and research:

• Protecting, preserving, and recovering endangered whale species by investing $167.4 million over five years in research and actions to help address threats arising from human activities.
• Supporting cutting-edge research in polar science and technology to advance our knowledge of the Canadian Arctic by investing $20.6 million over four years, starting in 2019-20 with $5.1 million per year ongoing to POLAR Knowledge Canada.
• Helping producers and farmers address emerging issues in agriculture, such as climate change and soil and water conservation through an investment of $100 million for agricultural science research.
• Adding 1,200 green jobs for young people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the natural resource sectors.
• Gave Canadians the ability to access information about the government’s greenhouse gas emissions for the first time on Open Data Portal.
• Launched the first Offshore Fisheries Science Vessel, a ship built under the National Shipbuilding Strategy that will be used by the Canadian Coast Guard to study the health of fish stocks and the ocean environment.

We are committed to do more:

• Developing a Clean Fuel Standard in consultation with provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, and other partners to reduce the pollution to our air and water.
• Protecting Canada’s freshwater using education, geo-mapping, watershed protection, and investments in the best wastewater technologies.
• Increasing protection of Canada’s marine and coastal areas from 7.5% to 10% by 2020.
• Expanding National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries.
• Working with the United States and Mexico to develop an ambitious North American clean energy and environment agreement.
• Establishing seven new lifeboat stations with four in British Columbia in the areas of Victoria, Hartley Bay, Port Renfrew, and Nootka; and three in Newfoundland and Labrador in the areas of Twillingate, Bay de Verde, and St. Anthony.
• Adding two new tow vessels for the West Coast and emergency tow kits on 25 of the Canadian Coast Guard’s large vessels across Canada.

The eventual arrival of driverless cars in Vancouver has prompted the creation of a pilot project to make sure they’re safe.

Currently, they’re not allowed anywhere in Canada.

Speaking at the City of Vancouver’s Manitoba Yard, Councillor Andrea Reimer says it makes sense to be ready long before driverless cars are here.

“You’re not going to stop technology if people want it, so the question for government’s –there was a period of time where governments tried to stop technologies or ignore them, um, they happen and I think some of the impacts of that weren’t well-mitigated as a result of that. So, I think we have to accept that if people want driverless cars, they’re going to be here. The question is how fast and how ready are we when they show up?”

Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray was also on hand to promise 386-thousand dollars for research over four years as part of a nearly three million dollar study already being done by Transport Canada.

“Do some research and trials. Organizations like the City of Vancouver that want to do the very best for their citizens.”

When asked how worried she is about recent reports of deadly crashes involving driverless cars, Murray says that’s part of this research.

“Well, I would say that this is a process and of course, any time that there is an accident or someone is injured or killed, we feel that deeply and it’s very concerning.”

In March, a driverless Uber SUV struck and killed an Arizona woman as she was walking across a street.

Investigators later determined the system used to automatically apply brakes in potentially dangerous situations had been disabled.

For the original article, see: https://goo.gl/U9ktp3

In special hearings of the House of Commons immigration committee last week, the opposition Conservatives accused the federal government of mismanaging the refugee file and driving up costs for provinces and cities such as Toronto and Montreal. The federal government says it is dealing with a “challenge, but it is not a crisis,” and that it is fulfilling its international obligations. Both sides accuse each other of using language of “fear and division.”

Beyond the war of words in Ottawa is the global context: A record number of people around the world are fleeing war, persecution and armed conflict. The vast majority of them are displaced internally, or leave for neighbouring countries.

Canada too has seen recent increases – though in the global context, this country has experienced far smaller inflows. Last year, Canada received less than 0.2 per cent of the overall refugee population in the world, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The majority of refugee claimants arrived this year and last through regular entry points, such as an airport. Since the start of 2017, however, an influx of people has come by land, crossing the border from the United States between official entry points.

Most of these crossings occurred in Quebec, with 1,179 arrivals in June. Although these numbers have subsided – in June they fell to a one-year low – since the start of last year more than 31,000 people have crossed into Canada this way. Their arrival corresponds with the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose approach to refugees differs markedly from Canada’s. Under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, refugee claimants who first arrive in the United States and then seek entry to Canada will likely be denied. A growing chorus of Canadians are calling for the suspension of the agreement, which they say would diminish the need to cross at unofficial border points.

This influx has caused concerns over costs. In July, the premiers of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba jointly called on the federal government to review its policies on border crossings outside of regular ports of entry, “fully compensate” the provinces for impacts to services from the recent increase and “make the necessary investments” to ensure that hearings are adjudicated in a timely way.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government has formally requested $200-million from the federal government to cover the costs of resettling thousands of asylum seekers now in the province, who crossed between ports of entry.

Toronto estimates the direct costs to the city budget this year for housing refugee claimants in motels and college dorms, food and other support services at about $72-million.

Under growing pressure, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also shuffled his cabinet in July, putting former Toronto police chief Bill Blair in charge of both border security and the “irregular migration” file.

The issue of refugee claimants has become divisive for politicians and confusing for many Canadians. Here are some facts:

Is this situation unprecedented?

Globally, the refugee population rose to 25.4 million at the end of last year, the highest level since at least the Second World War, according to the UN refugee agency. About half of this population comprise of children. The number of people who became refugees last year grew by about 2.9 million people, the biggest annual increase on record.

Canada received about 50,000 refugee claimants last year. Though that is about double 2016 levels, by way of context, “this is literally one day in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, during the peak of the Rohingya crisis,” said the UNHCR’s Canada representative Jean-Nicolas Beuze.

“When we’re speaking about a crisis, a crisis of refugees does exist – but it’s not in Canada, it’s not in the U.S., and it’s not in Europe. The big numbers remain in the developing world, whether it’s Bangladesh, Uganda, Lebanon – those are the countries that are facing a refugee crisis.”

Movements of people typically happen in waves, depending on geopolitical conditions. In Canada, the number of new claims for refugee status recorded by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) last year was the highest number since record-keeping began in 1989, though it’s very similar to 2001 levels.

As for border crossings between ports of entry, though Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said comparable data isn’t available before 2017, a senior government official said the number of irregular border crossers last year was the highest in at least six years.

On a monthly basis, the recent peak was in August, 2017, with an average of 184 asylum seekers a day. The average is now 42 people a day.

Does Canada have an outsized refugee population?

On a per capita basis, Canada doesn’t crack the top 10. The countries with the highest number of refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, as of the end of last year, were Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, according to the UNHCR’s global trends report for 2017. Syria is still the main country of origin for refugees worldwide, at 6.3 million people.

In global movements of refugees last year, 99.8 per cent of people went to countries other than Canada, the UNHCR says.

And in proportion to Canada’s overall population, incoming refugees represented 0.13 per cent of this country’s total population last year, the agency says.

The situation is different for some European countries. In Sweden, for example, asylum claims reached 169,000, or 1.7 per cent of its population, in 2015, noted an April report by former Canadian immigration deputy minister Neil Yeates. “Translated into the Canadian context it would be akin to a surge of more than 600,000 claims – double total current immigration levels and more than a tenfold increase in 2017 refugee claims.”

Where are people crossing?

The majority of people making refugee claims in Canada are using the regular channels, such as making a port-of-entry claim at an airport.

Last year, the IRCC recorded 50,445 refugee claims. Fewer than half of these – 20,593 – were “interceptions” or asylum seekers crossing the border at unofficial points who were apprehended by the RCMP.

So far this year, 10,744 people have crossed this way (fewer than half of total claims, which total 25,710 in the first half of the year). These numbers declined in May and June, to the lowest level in a year, a drop the federal government says is due to its dissuasion efforts. In June, on average 42 border crossers came into Canada a day at unofficial points, of which 39 were in Quebec. In recent months, most people crossing this way were from Nigeria, followed by Congo, Haiti and Colombia, according to the federal government.

Still, movements can ebb and flow, It’s difficult to tell whether the recent decline is a lasting trend or a temporary blip.

As for outcomes, nearly half of claimants who crossed this way and whose cases were finalized were granted refugee status. Of the finalized IRB decisions on people who crossed between ports of entry last year and early this year, 47 per cent were accepted, 36 per cent of claims were rejected (some of whom may appeal the decision) and the rest withdrawn or abandoned. (For context, of these claims, there were 3,462 finalized cases between January, 2017, and March, 2018, and 20,116 claims still pending.)

Are they illegal?

A political debate has raged over language and whether asylum seekers crossing between official points are entering Canada illegally. The term “irregular” is viewed by some as vague jargon and a euphemism. The use of “illegal” (Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls them “illegal border crossers”) is seen by others as inflammatory and dehumanizing.

Legal experts say Canada’s immigration laws are clear: “They’re not illegal border crossers,” said James Hathaway, founding director of the University of Michigan’s program in refugee and asylum law, who is Canadian, and a leading global authority on refugee law.

Internationally, Canada is signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Within Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) is the legislation that governs the flow of people – i.e., non-citizens who enter Canada. The legislation that governs the flow of goods into Canada is the Customs Act, which applies to everyone, citizens and non-citizens.

Article 31 of the UN refugee convention says receiving countries may not penalize refugees for how they enter a country, as long as they present themselves “without delay” to authorities and show “good cause” for their presence.

In line with international practice, Canadian law under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, Section 133, says that someone who has claimed refugee protection, and is either waiting for a hearing or has been accepted as a refugee, can’t be charged under the IRPA with an offence over how they came to Canada.

Illegal entry is not an offence in Canada’s Criminal Code. But the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations 27 (2) says anyone who does not enter at a port of entry must check in “without delay” at a border point.

Many of Ontario’s new arrivals came via the U.S.-Quebec border, crossing at places other than a designated port of entry. If they promptly go to, or are taken to, a port of entry after they arrive, they have not breached immigration law, said Audrey Macklin, a professor and chair in human-rights law and director of the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto. In any case, if they file a refugee claim after they arrive, and are recognized as refugees, the manner by which they entered Canada doesn’t legally matter.

“If someone a) comes forward voluntarily, and b) explains that the reason they crossed the border illegally was they were looking for protection, it’s clear as a bell: You may not under any circumstance penalize them” for how they arrive, said Prof. Hathaway, who is also a professor at the university’s law school.

In other words, the laws recognize that someone fleeing for their lives may not have the time or ability to collect documents or their passport, or to apply and wait for travel visas, and that desperate people may need to take desperate measures to escape life-threatening situations.

And once they seek protection in another country, that country is obliged to hear their claim to refugee status and make a determination on that claim.

There are ways that the mode of entry can breach the Immigration and Refugee Act. If someone crosses at an unofficial border point, doesn’t promptly go to a port of entry and doesn’t file a refugee claim, that entry violates the IRPA. If a person is rejected as a refugee, their manner of entry could be in breach of the Immigration Act and they could be charged. In practice, however, this is rarely carried out as it’s more efficient for Canada if they leave or are deported.

Otherwise if someone enters Canada and files a claim, and while that claim is pending, there is nothing illegal about them. “What they’re doing is what the governments that drafted the treaty said they can do,” said Prof. Hathaway.

Government of Canada signs at unofficial border crossings say it is illegal to cross the border here. This, said Prof. Macklin, refers to the Customs Act, not the IRPA. The Customs Act stipulates that everyone arriving in Canada enter only at a customs office. This act, however, is intended for regulating imported goods, and for those who cross-border shop, not for asylum seekers. Three experts in refugee law told The Globe and Mail they are not aware of any time that refugee claimants who crossed at unofficial crossings have been charged with violating this act.

The blanket term “illegal border crossers” is “inaccurate and misleading,” said Prof. Macklin, as it stigmatizes people as lawbreakers when their conduct is either not unlawful or its legality cannot be determined at the moment of entry, she said. People who cross between border points and are taken directly to a port of entry are not in breach of immigration law.

“It’s important to acknowledge that using the term ‘illegal’ is not just a good-faith disagreement about terminology,” she added. “The use of ‘illegal’ is deliberately pejorative. It is intended to encourage the public to criminalize people who seek asylum and to portray them as a menace, so that we forget that refugees are people fleeing persecution who are asking Canada to fulfill its legal undertaking to protect them.”

Since decisions on refugee status can’t be made immediately, it’s only later that it can be determined whether the border crossing was unlawful or not. So the lawfulness of the act of crossing by someone seeking refugee protection cannot be determined until after a claim has been decided. And a claimant’s manner of entry to Canada is irrelevant in assessing the merits of their claim.

The Immigration and Refugee Board – an independent tribunal – uses the term “irregular” border crossers.

The RCMP uses the term “interceptions.”

Prof. Macklin prefers irregular. “The use of the term ‘irregular’ acknowledges that we cannot know the legal significance of their entry at the moment of entry because their claim to refugee protection will not be determined until later.” It also acknowledges “that this is not what is understood to be the typical, usual, routine way of crossing the border.”

The language is so charged that Calgary-based lawyer Raj Sharma prefers the term “border crossers” without any modifiers. He compares the situation to a marriage that is annulled. “It’s like the law is scrubbed,” said Mr. Sharma, who formerly worked at the IRB. Ultimately, he says “irregular” is a more appropriate term, given the nuances in the laws.

What is the process?

These are typically the steps: If someone crosses between official ports of entry, they are arrested and detained by the RCMP. Everyone is screened through security checks, including fingerprinting, criminal checks and health checks. Those found inadmissible on security grounds are prohibited from proceeding with their refugee claims. Those who are not flagged in the security screening process may proceed to have their refugee claims heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

If their claim is accepted – meaning they have shown they face persecution or threats to their lives in their home country – then they receive protected-person status, and can apply to become a permanent resident.

If their claim is denied, some appeal the decision but most must leave the country or face deportation.

While waiting for a decision, refugee claimants can apply for a work visa and social assistance and access some health care; their children can go to school.

The growing number of claims in the past year has caused a ballooning backlog of hearings for decisions on refugee status. Average wait times for a decision on whether someone can stay in Canada are now 20 months or longer, up from 16 months last fall, according to the IRB.

Are they jumping the queue?

Canada has two separate processes for admitting newcomers: the immigration stream (which includes refugees resettled from abroad) and the asylum stream. The immigration process generally has a wait list, and once accepted they apply for permanent-resident status. This process doesn’t apply to asylum claimants.

An immigrant “is a person who chooses to move, and a refugee is a person who is compelled to move. If you’re compelled to move by a fear of being persecuted, there isn’t a queue for you – there’s a distinct procedure,” said Prof. Hathaway.

The two groups are processed by separate organizations: Immigration applicants are processed by IRCC, while asylum claims are decided by the IRB.

Asylum claimants are also not taking the place of refugees who are coming to Canada from abroad for resettlement, IRCC said in an e-mail. Its website says that because asylum claimants are in a different stream from resettled refugees, those crossing the border at unofficial points “are not queue jumpers.”

Refugees “are unique in the sense that they are recognized for the situation they are in, that they’re fleeing some sort of terrible situation, i.e., persecution,” said Jamie Chai Yun Liew, immigration and refugee lawyer and associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of law. “Because of that recognition of the special situation they’re in, you can’t accuse someone of queue jumping. There’s no such thing as queue jumping in refugee law.”

Refugees have a right – protected by international law – to seek asylum, whether they arrive by foot, boat or plane, notes the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. “There is no queue.”

Canada does set an annual target for the number of refugees. For this year, the target (which is not a cap) is 43,000 refugees and protected persons; for next year it is 45,650 people.

Why can’t Canada just turn people away at the border?

In many cases, Canada does turn people away at the border. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States, in effect since 2004 as a way to address pressures on asylum systems from global migration growth, they must ask for protection in the first safe country they arrive in. This means if they come from the United States and present themselves to a Canadian border agent at a land-border port of entry as a refugee claimant, they are generally denied and sent back.

The agreement does not, however, apply to some groups, such as unaccompanied minors, nor to those who cross into Canada other than at an official border post and make an in-land claim. This is precisely why many of those seeking protection have crossed at non-designated points, rather than at an official crossing where they would be automatically directed back into the United States. In Manitoba, and especially in winter and at night, this has posed safety risks for both claimants and patrol officers who conduct search and rescue.

This agreement is being challenged in the Federal Court of Canada, as lawyers argue that the United States under President Donald Trump can no longer be considered safe, and that the agreement violates parts of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It’s not just refugee advocates saying so. The agreement “should be suspended right away,” said Chris Alexander, former Conservative immigration minister. “No Canadian who believes in upholding our obligations under international humanitarian law can say, in all good conscience, that the U.S. is a safe country.”

This would reduce the need to risk crossing at unofficial places, and let asylum seekers make claims “safely and efficiently” at official points of entry. Though this would cause an increase in claims initially, he said, “it would restore order to our rules-based system.”

If the STCA were suspended, “irregular migration would evaporate tomorrow,” said Prof. Macklin. “People would just go to a regular port of entry … and show up in an orderly fashion, and ask for protection.”

As for simply closing the door to asylum seekers, “we cannot and should not do this,” Mr. Alexander said. “Asylum seekers have the right to make claims, especially given the additional barriers erected by the Trump administration. We should ensure they are able to make claims safely and efficiently at points of entry, while resourcing the IRB properly so that it can rapidly come to grips with its growing backlog.”

For the original article: goo.gl/2m8knt

Output grew in 19 of Canada’s 20 industries in May — the most comprehensive monthly expansion since August 2004. The broad increases drove headline growth in gross domestic product to 0.5 percent, the largest increase in a year, thanks to better weather and increased oil production.

GDP doesn’t often grow this thoroughly. In the last 20 years, there’s been just three months where 19 or more sectors have increased together. On average, the number of industries expanding per month is just 13.

“Clearly this means growth isn’t driven by solely one-off factors, and the solid breadth suggests the Canada economy has some gas in the tank as we move into the potential headwinds caused by the impact of trade tariffs,” Brian DePratto, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, said in a phone interview. “Underlying momentum is solid.”

See the original article: goo.gl/teFfXW

The Vancouver Quadra CYC is now recruiting new youth in grades 9 to 12 for year three.

I invite you to learn more about the council’s work in the video above and for any interested young people to apply here before September 21^st, 2018!

Original article: https://goo.gl/UFGBa5