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On July 23 during a stopover in Park Extension, Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said it was a “matter of principle” that Statistics Canada should be able to freely gather information from Canadians, including newly-arrived immigrants, even though the Conservative government wants to do away with regulations that would make it compulsory to answer detailed questions in next year’s census.
Immigrants and census
“It’s especially important for immigrants who sometimes don’t speak one of your official languages yet,” Ignatieff told a room full of supporters who turned up at the Dera Restaurant on Jarry St. West to hear him and Papineau Liberal MP Justin Trudeau speak. Ignatieff is currently on a tour touching base with people all over Canada. Trudeau was accompanying him for part of the journey through Quebec.
“If you want to deliver services in Park Extension, you’ve got to understand what’s going on in Park Extension,” Ignatieff continued. “If you don’t have the census, if you don’t have (people) knocking on the doors and asking the immigrants questions with sympathy and respect, you won’t get the information in order to help Canadians. So we feel that the government of Canada, the Conservative government, has chosen ignorance in place of knowledge and ideology in place of facts. And I’m convinced that every community in Canada wants facts and knowledge instead of ignorance and ideology.”
Long census form
The Conservative government wants to eliminate the long form in next year’s census. They maintain that it is an invasion of privacy and that a potential jail threat for failing to complete the form is unjust, even though jailing is almost never imposed. The long form is usually filled out by 20 per cent of the population. The government wants to replace it with a form to be filled out by more people, although they will answer it on a voluntary basis.
Answering questions from leaders of multicultural groups on the limited employment prospects for immigrants, Ignatieff said, “We need more immigration, we need more people. We need to be the country of open doors and open hearts. That’s number one. Secondly, we need to make sure that we look at the qualifications of foreign-trained professionals when they apply for citizenship, not when they arrive. If you begin to evaluate what you need to do to get qualified in Canada when you apply, then when you get here you won’t have to drive a taxi or work on a farm.
Simplifying immigration
“We can’t afford to waste a single person in this country,” he added. “I have been in lots of rural districts of Quebec where they can’t get doctors and they can’t get nurses. There are lots of places around here where they’re short of doctors and nurses. So we’ve got to start evaluating credentials when you apply for citizenship, when you arrive. And then there’s a very strong case for what you would call a National Fairness Commissioner to make sure that foreign-trained professionals are treated fairly by the doctors, the engineers and all the groups that assess your qualifications. Because Canadians and all the people who come to this country want fairness and they want respect and they will get it under a Liberal government.”