So many loopholes in our immigration system, who are they fooling? Nanny's, Caregivers and those so-called refugee's. Now that parents and grand-parents don't get permanent resident status, less burden on our health care system and social assistances.
Starting today, Ottawa will stop accepting applications for immigration sponsorships of parents and grandparents until 2014 in hopes of reducing a growing backlog.
In launching the first phase of an action plan to expedite family reunification Friday, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the federal government will take in 25,000 parents and grandparents in 2012, 43 per cent above its 2011 level. Meanwhile, fewer refugees, nannies and people applying to stay on humanitarian grounds will be admitted.
By cutting new applications and increasing intake, Kenney said he hopes to reduce the current backlog of 165,000 parents and grandparents by half in two years.
To relieve the pain of immigrants separated from their older relatives, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will start issuing the new Parent and Grandparent Super Visa on Dec. 1, which will allow members of that group to visit their families in Canada on a temporary basis for up to two years.
The visa — which Kenney said will take only eight weeks to process — will allow holders to make multiple entries over a span of 10 years. But there is a catch: Elderly visitors must obtain private Canadian health-care insurance during their stay here. And applicants must still meet the minimum income requirement to apply.
“So many families say to me they don’t necessarily want moms and dads or grandparents to immigrate permanently to Canada,” Kenney told a news conference in Mississauga.
“They just want them to be able to come and stay for an extended period, to help care for their kids when they are young and also be able to go back home, where they are well settled with other families and friends.”
Kenney said he is confident Canadian visa posts have the resources to handle the anticipated influx of applications for the super visas and the enhanced targets for sponsorships.
While the super visas are welcomed, critics say the mandatory medical insurance will create an instant barrier for many families, favouring those who are well-off.
“This requirement will create a two-tier access to our immigration system. We have argued that there’s no research or experimental evidence that parents and grandparents of new Canadians are an undue burden on our social and medical systems,” said Debbie Douglas, of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.
The government plans to hold consultations next year on how to redesign the parents and grandparents program to avoid future large backlogs when it takes in new applications in 2014.
On Friday, the immigration department also belatedly released the breakdown of the number of immigrants it plans to accept in various immigration streams. In its annual report tabled Tuesday, Ottawa had only said categorically that it would maintain the same immigration level.
In 2012, the government plans to take in 157,000 economic migrants, down 3 per cent from this year, with the quota allotted for live-in caregivers-turned-permanent residents slashed by almost half to 9,000.
Canada will also take in 10 per cent fewer refugees — from 29,000 in 2011 to 26,000 in 2012. Spots assigned to people allowed to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds will be down by 14 per cent to 7,900.
The only category that will see an increase in 2012 is family reunifications, up from 65,500 to 69,000, though the quota for spouses and children will be reduced from 48,000 to 44,000.
OTTAWA—There are 10 non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and there were at least that many reasons offered this week for Canada's failure to obtain one of those seats. Here are the top 10 reasons (excuses) put forward for the rebuff. More surely to come in the days and weeks ahead:
1. It was Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's fault.
“I would say a big deciding factor was the fact that Canada's bid did not have unity because we had Mr. Ignatieff questioning and opposing Canada's bid,” Dimitri Soudas, Harper's communications director, said in the immediate aftermath of the vote. “That was a factor that played ultimately against Canada because people outside of Canada were saying, ‘Well, Germany and Portugal have a united front, their opposition and their governments seem to be fully, 100 per cent behind this bid.' . . . We had an opposition leader that opposed Canada and clearly was not in it for Canada on this one.”
2. No wait. It was because of “principles.”
“Our engagement internationally is based on the principles that this country holds dear; it is not based on popularity,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday.
3. Or maybe ballot secrecy is the issue.
“We take our positions based on the promotion of our values — freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, justice, development, humanitarian assistance for those who need it. Those are the things we are pursuing and that does not change, regardless of what the outcome of secret votes is,” said Harper, also on Thursday.
4. It was Israel.
“Canada's increasing ties with Israel and its defence of Jerusalem have cost it a seat on the United Nations Security Council, diplomats here are saying after days of manoeuvring by Arab countries, Brazil, and Cuba in which the U.S. had nearly disappeared,” journalist Ben Avni wrote in the New York Sun.
5. Then again, maybe it was Africa.
Canadian Press reported this week: “African ambassadors, in particular, pointed to a series of Canadian stances on issues ranging from African debt relief to the Conservative government cutting funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and accusing it of having terrorist links.”
6. Or it could be President Barack Obama's fault.
Richard Grenfell, a Republican commentator on Fox News in the United States: “I find it offensive that the Obama administration chose not only not to get involved with the Canadians, but to instruct all of the diplomats around the world to not get involved in helping the Canadians,” he added, citing sources with the U.S. mission to the UN and the State Department.
7. Or was it India?
“When the time came for Canada to count its friends in its bid for a seat at the United Nations Security Council, India wasn't there,” The Globe and Mail reported this week.
“Those with a close knowledge of how nations voted in the General Assembly say India supported Portugal over Canada in the contest (for a seat).”
8. Maybe the United Arab Emirates scuppered the bid.
From an Associated Press story this week: “The United Arab Emirates lobbied against Canada's bid for a U.N. Security Council seat in the latest blow to relations that soured after disputes over airline routes, a UAE official said Thursday. The Gulf country's opposition followed harsh complaints about Canada's refusal to open more flights for the fast-growing carriers Emirates and Etihad.”
9. Has anyone seen International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan lately?
On the eve of the vote at the UN, Van Loan put out a press release touting a bid to boost trade with Israel. From a PostMedia report: “Some government insiders expressed surprise Monday at the timing of Van Loan’s announcement — even as they welcomed the substance of the initiative . . . Others expressed privately that Van Loan's office might have waited a day or two.”
10. Doughnuts.
From the Economist: “He (Stephen Harper) came to power in 2006 skeptical of Canada's traditional multilateralism (“a weak-nation strategy,” he said) and of the U.N. itself.
Last year, Harper raised eyebrows by choosing to inaugurate a doughnut-innovation centre rather than attend the UN General Assembly.”
UNCANADIAN - There is protest then there's riots, violence and destruction. YOU can speak your mind and protest without the latter. The so called 'Black Bloc' mob who wear black attire and masks are responsible for this and they go around to these events including the Olympics and all they do is cause mayhem.
This is certainly not the Canadian way to protest, it's dispictable and quite disgusting that any Canadian would do this and I highly doubt that they are Canadian. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this on the news, off all places, TORONTO?? Maybe in the middle east, somewhere in the US but in Canada????? Perhaps the shitholes who were part of this destruction are from those two places.
It's just outright stupid and kills the message. The 'Black Bloc' motherf__kers are C O W A R D S !!
The police have use of sound canyons and tear gas, they should use it til these protesters go home.
A breakaway group of violent protesters blazed a trail of destruction through downtown Toronto Saturday, leaving windows smashed, stores looted and left police cruisers in flames.
In what seemed a carefully choreographed breakout, about 70 black-clad protesters ran amok through mostly deserted streets, largely eluding the $1-billion security operation centred on the Metro Convention Centre
The rampage was so sudden, and its geography so apparently unexpected, that some storeowners could only weep in front of their breached and unprotected premises, while bystanders either cowered or snapped photos of the melee.
Clouds of smoke billowed, GO service was completed halted, Union Station closed for the night and TTC service downtown routinely stopped in the wake of protesters moving through the core.
Toronto Mayor David Miller condemned the rampage. “They’re criminals who came to Toronto deliberately to break the law,” he told a news conference. “They are not welcome in this city.”
Tear gas was used for the first time in Toronto's history, at Queen and Peter Sts., Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said.
He admitted Saturday night that police temporarily lost control of the downtown core.
"We have never seen that level of wanton criminality and destruction on our streets," he said, adding a number of officers were injured after being hit by projectiles including bricks.
Blair said as of Saturday night roughly 75 people were in police custody, including several leaders of the militant groups.
Within hours, though, the tally had risen to 130.
The violence exploded in the midst of what had been relative calm, and now has the city bracing for a threatened repeat Sunday.
By mid-afternoon, a relatively peaceful march of about 4,000 people had made its way south on University Ave. from Queen’s Park, their banners and chants drawing attention to everything from climate change to the plight of aboriginals. After travelling west on Queen St., the main group of protesters then starting heading back north on Spadina Ave..
This was the route organizers had announced. To the south, the path was blocked by dozens of police officers aligned in three rows: Those on bicycles at the front, backed up by police in riot gear, with police on horseback in behind them.
Protesters lined themselves against the wall of police, but it soon became clear that no one was going to get through. That’s when dozens of anarchists, all wearing black, began drifting away from the front line.
As they did so, Quebecois communists lit a flare and led the crowd in chants.
Then, around 4 p.m. came the signals. Using what is known as the Black Bloc tactic, members of the group shouted calls, and sprinted back east along Queen, armed with hammers, pool balls and whatever hard objects they could find along the way.
Other protesters followed in their wake, all of it seeming to catch police by surprise.
Several people attacked a cruiser with an officer still in it, smashing the front window with flag poles and rocks. A small group of police, many in standard uniform, came out, swearing and waving their batons.
They formed a protective wall around two cruisers but began to back up, abandoning them after rescuing their colleague and apparently removing any weapons.
The protesters moved in, mounting one of the cars.
Some played with the police radio and sounded the distinctive police horn. Two protesters got into a debate over how much trashing was enough, but the violence continued, with one of the two abandoned cruisers eventually being set on fire.
The violence was beginning in earnest.
One protester, who stashed a hammer inside his jacket, gingerly skipped up to storefronts, smashed the window, then casually skipped back to the crowd where he melded into a sea of black.
Others grabbed newspaper boxes that hadn't been removed, tossing them onto the road to block any police cruisers that might arrive.
Most shop owners along Queen had stayed open, thinking all was safe, but that notion was quickly put aside as protesters ran into a parking lot across from the Black Bull Tavern and smashed a CTV jeep with rocks they picked on Soho St.
When it appeared police and protesters were about to clash, some frightened protesters retreated into the Scarpino shoe store at Queen and John Streets.
“People were scared,” said Ashley Lacoursiere, who works in the store. “We all started running into the store.”
Staff at Steve’s Music store flashed peace signs at the protesters, but then retreated to a second floor window when things turned ugly.
Inside the TD foyer at Queen and Bay Sts., a woman and a security guard huddled behind an ATM as protesters hurled objects at the window — a sliver of cement, a blue billiard ball, a wooden stick.
After each was thrown, another protester swooped in and snatched it back, replenishing the arsenal.
As the protesters moved on, a man opened the bank’s door and led the cowering pair away from the protesters.
“I’m okay,” said the woman as she cried and shook.
The mob then moved south on Bay to King St., lighting another cruiser on fire. The air downtown was filling with smoke as protesters sprayed graffiti on buildings, writing such slogans as “No Corporate Greed.”
When they come upon some parked police cruisers and vans, they began smashing them. One of the group wrote "murderer" in orange across the hood of a white cruiser.
After heading further south, and setting fire to a police cruiser, the protesters started shouting “tear gas” as police moved closer.
Donning masks and pulling bandanas over their faces, the protesters then retreated toward Yonge St., where the spree continued north.
"This isn't violence,” said one man as protesters clad in black clothes streamed across Yonge St., smashing windows at banks, sports' stores and fast-food restaurants. “This is vandalism against violent corporations. We did not hurt anybody. They (the corporations) are the ones hurting people,"
"This is all part of the sexist, male-dominated war machine we live in," explained another male protester.
As onlookers and reporters tried to snap photographs of the vandals, their peers would swoop in and cover the camera lenses with their palm. As the march went on, they became more sophisticated and began surrounding their partners with umbrellas and flags.
At College. St., the group headed west and the vandalism continued. But when one group of masked protesters began to vandalize an empty BMW some of their colleagues came out of the crowd and yelled, "Stop it. They're not our enemy."
The man causing the damages retorted, "Yuppies are our enemy."
At police headquarters, about 50 officers in full riot gear stood guard, but they didn’t move against the protesters even after they smashed the windows of the police museum.
By the time protesters got back to Queen's Park they were met by a squadron of police. About 200 piled out of buses and about 20 came on horseback.
They cordoned off the area, dressed in full riot gear including gas masks. Five shots were heard, setting off a cloud of smoke, but Blair denied they were rubber bullets.
There was an eerie quiet as protesters began to plan their next move. Realizing they were cornered, a large group of anarchists huddled together. You could see that they were changing clothes and trying to shield themselves from police identification. Then they simply dissipated.
"No justice, no peace, f--ck the police," many still chanted. "This is what democracy looks like, that is what a police state looks like."
A man identifying himself as "Roy", who appeared to be a Black Bloc sympathiser, said that his group “keeps the other protesters safe because the Black Bloc are the bad protesters."
But as police began to move in, telling people at Queen’s Park to “go home,” protesters slowly began retreating into the night, leaving everyone to wonder what Sunday will bring.
Police Chief Blair said Saturday night that police will be monitoring a block party held by some protesters at Church and Wellesley Streets, starting late and continuing into the wee hours.
But as the evening wore on, it was clear the protesters were being joined by others more interested in a drunken lark.
Some managed to reach the three-metre high security fence around the main convention area, only to abandon it minutes later and be pushed north toward First Canadian Place by police.
Blair said Toronto police remain dedicated to allowing peaceful protest but several groups of anarchists attach themselves to legitimate protests "for the sole purpose of engaging in acts of violence and destruction."
The chief said he is "profoundly disappointed" in the violence but said those behind it will be held accountable.
"We know many of the members of these groups. Over the past several days we have apprehended several of their leaders. Tonight we began removing members of the mob from our streets.
These arrests will continue as necessary. Those responsible for acts of vandalism will be held accountable. We know who many of them are and we have photographs of many others . . . "
With files from David Rider, Madeleine White, Brendan Kennedy, Raveena Aulakh, Jennifer Yang, Liam Casey, Jesse McLean, Jayme Poisson, Jim Rankin, Robyn Doolittle, Emily Mathieu, Amy Dempsey and Wendy Gillis
Gimme a break! And then Go Cry a River! Canada owes you NOTHING. It's just like those ethnic groups (talibans) who immigrate here and walk around as if Canada owes them everything.
You think Canadian border is bad? Go try the USA and see what you get.
I've seen and heard all sorts of US border patrol stories how they treat those with different ethnicities horribly, so this isn't just a Canada thing. And besides the border patrol officers do not work for Tourism Canada, they're not there to make a good first impression, they're there to let illegals in and the talibans to come into the country as it's a safe haven. Seriously though, they're not there be all lovey dovey. Those who complained probably were giving attitude or were being disrespectful.
I've traveled a lot and not once have they been rude to me, they asked stupid questions but that's cause they have nothing better to do. It also has to do with me not eating, farting, snorting in front of them. If they want good treatment go to Israel, customs in that country don't even say anything, they just stamped my passport.
Want a kleenex?
OTTAWA—Munching on a pretzel usually doesn't lead to an inquisition and accusations of drug use.
But it can if you're dealing with a Canadian border officer, according to documents obtained by the Star.
The episode is just one of the complaints filed with the Canada Border Services Agency by travellers visiting and returning to the country who say they are left with a negative impression and, in some cases, traumatized by their experience with the officers.
While countless visitors and returning Canadians are met with courteous, professional service at land crossings and airports, others complain of autocratic behaviour and humiliating treatment by CBSA officers.
The complaints, obtained by the Star through an Access to Information request, include accounts of officers cursing and yelling at Canadians and visitors, and threatening them with sniffer dogs or arrest for seemingly minor infractions - or for even having the temerity to ask a question.
There were 1,421 complaints filed with the CBSA in 2008-09, down slightly from 1,607 the previous year.
“We felt harassed and belittled by what happened,” wrote one American woman, who said her initial crime was to eat pretzels while a border official was talking to her husband on a Toronto-bound Amtrak train in Niagara Falls on June 7, 2007.
She said the officer told her to, “Stop eating those pretzels. That's very rude when we come on board.”
The writer said that's when the trouble began. The agent accused the elderly couple and their 50-year-old friend of several things, including being on drugs or drunk. That was too much for America trio; they caught the next train back to Rome, NY, forgoing the trip to Toronto they had planned for a year.
“We will never encourage others to travel by rail to Canada,” the woman wrote.
Travellers also complained of being scolded like schoolchildren, having their cars and personal belongings ripped apart and thrown helter-skelter. But it's the personal degradation that appears to bother people the most.
In another case, not having a job landed a Canadian man in hot water.
“He was as asked if he was unemployed and why he was not looking for a job and what was the problem why he hadn't found a job … I don't think being unemployed is a crime … but he (the officer) made us feel it was,” said his partner in her complaint letter of September 2005, after crossing back into Canada at Sarnia.
When a vacation-bound American family showed up at the Pigeon River crossing southwest of Thunder Bay in August 2008 without all the necessary identification, the Canadian border officer lashed out, according to the complaint: “I guess you didn't realize you were coming to (a) whole other country … I guess you just didn't give a s—t, did you?”
The complainant was backed up by a senior CBSA official who said the officer “admitted that his comments and behaviour on that day were uncalled for .”
Senior CBSA officials typically send a form letter in response to the complaints, thanking the correspondent for the opportunity to respond, and expressing hope that “any future encounters with representatives of the Canada Border Services Agency will be more pleasant and without incident.”
But in some cases, the officer will be reprimanded, or at least spoken to.
Another traveller wrote about a seniors' bus tour which crossed into Canada at the Thousand Islands Bridge last September. Border officers hauled them off the bus so a sniffer dog could examine them and their luggage.
“We stood in line and received taunts from a man directing the dog. He said, ‘How's that … did that scare you?' …. He was enjoying it as a spectator's sport,” states a complaint from one of the passengers.
The complaints also included the following:
• “As a Canadian, I was appalled at the attitude, tone and disrespectful manner in which this officer performed (or did not perform) her duties. To put it bluntly, she was a bully on a power trip,” wrote a Canadian resident who returned on a bus from a three-day shopping to New York State.
• “‘You're coming into my country and that's how you show your respect? By putting on your makeup? (again huffing noises and a look of disgust),'' recalled a female passenger, recounting how she was berated by a female border officer for touching up her makeup as they pulled up to the booth.
• “When I hear the agents' plea to carry firearms in their capacity, it quite honestly frightens me to think of this agent having a weapon available to her …,” writes a woman, a daily commuter from Windsor to Detroit, whose transgression was not stating the exact number of hours she's been in the U.S.
Norway is tops, Niger worst; China and Iran climbing
Oct 05, 2009 10:53 AM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK – Norway enjoys the world's highest quality of life, while Niger suffers the lowest, a United Nations agency said Monday, as it released a ranking that highlights the wide disparities in well-being between rich and poor countries.
Canada was listed fourth, well ahead of the United States which was in 13th place.
The annual Human Development Index, unveiled in Bangkok by the UN Development Program, takes into account life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and per capita gross domestic product in 182 countries.
"A child born in Niger can expect to live to just over 50 years, which is 30 years less than a child born in Norway. Furthermore, the differences in per capita income are huge for every dollar earned per person in Niger, US$85 are earned in Norway," UNDP said.
Norway was followed by Australia and Iceland on the list, which drew on statistics dating from 2007, before Iceland was hit hard in global economic crisis. Afghanistan and Sierra Leone rounded out the bottom of the ranking.
Trends in the index since 1980 showed an average improvement of 15 per cent in countries' scores. The greatest long-term improvements have been shown by China, Iran and Nepal, but progress has been concentrated in education and health rather than income, said the agency.
Afghanistan is new to the list this year – reliable statistics were not previously available – but otherwise leaders and laggards are largely the same.
However, five countries rose three or more places – China, Colombia, France, Peru and Venezuela – while seven countries dropped more than two places – Belize, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, and Tonga.
The index was released as part of the UNDP's annual Human Development Report, which this year highlighted migration.
"Most migrants, internal and international, reap gains in the form of higher incomes, better access to education and health and improved prospects for their children," said the report. "These gains often directly benefit family members who stay behind as well as countries of origin indirectly."
It also suggested that as the populations age in developed countries, they could benefit from increased migration to boost their work forces.
But it cautioned that encouraging migration should not substitute for "efforts by developing countries to achieve growth and improve human well-being."
Immigration Canada announced yesterday that ever since Canada lifted Visa requirements for Mexicans and Czech Republic's citizens in 2007, thousands have arrived at airports and are claiming refugee status in Canada, and now there is a huge uproar and anger at the Canadian government because everything is about to change. Now, citizens from the two counties will need visa's to visit Canada.
There was a blowback from the Czech Republic.
Too bad soo sad.
Newsflash!!! Visiting a country is not a right, it's a privilege. Just like driving car among other things.
You want answers, I'll give you answers! People are running away from your country to come to Canada by bypassing the lineup at the Immigration line and abusing the system while those who are waiting and doing it the right way as they wait at the other side of the world across the world to be reunited with their family.
Why wouldn't one seek refugee status in Canada? As soon as you file an application you automatically receive Welfare until the hearing and outcome. Thanx to the Canadian taxpayers. And only %10 of the refugee applications are approved.
Anytime you travel from overseas into Canada, Immigration is waiting at the door of the airplane to look at traveler's passports. Gee, I wonder why!
GO TO THE USA if you don't like it!
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA – The Czech Republic's ambassador to Canada planned to leave the country today, partly in protest and partly to plot his country's reaction to new visa restrictions on Czech visitors to Canada, the embassy in Ottawa said.
Ambassador Karel Zebrakovsky planned to leave less than 24 hours after Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced the federal government will attempt to stop what it sees as an unacceptable number of refugee claimants from both the Czech Republic and Mexico with new visa requirements that go into effect at midnight tomorrow.
In Prague, where Canadian officials think thousands of the Roma minority have been launching fraudulent refugee claims, the reaction was fierce.
Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer branded the restrictions a "unilateral and unfriendly step." He was speaking after an emergency government meeting to discuss the new visa requirements, Reuters reported.
"Obviously this is a concern for the Czech Republic," said an embassy spokesperson in Ottawa.
There have been nearly 3,000 Czech asylum bids since visa requirements were dropped in 2007. In 2006 there were less than five such applications, the immigration department said in a release announcing the decision.
Prime Minister Fischer said the Czech ambassador in Ottawa would be returning to Prague for consultations.
In retaliation, the Czech government will require Canadian diplomats and civil servants to obtain visas before entering the country on official business, he said. But Prague is powerless to place visa requirements on all Canadian visitors to the country because it is a member of the European Union and must harmonize immigration policies with all of the 27 member countries.
Czech diplomats will also begin raising the Canadian visa problems with the European Commission in a bid to reach a mutually agreeable resolution.
The country's consul general in Toronto, Richard Krpac, said Canada's decision may force tourists to look elsewhere when planning their vacations, such as the United States where there are no visa hassles.
Refugee advocates slammed the decision, saying it would block people who are fleeing life-threatening situations in both Mexico and the Czech Republic. Human rights organizations continue to document persecution and systemic discrimination of the Roma minority in the Czech Republic.
Geraldine MacDonald, president of the Refugee Lawyers Association, said the government has been slow to fill vacancies on the Immigration and Refugee Board, making it the real architect of an application backlog.
"To take this action against these two countries specifically on the grounds that there is a high volume of refugee claims from these countries is contrary to the human rights principles and sense of justice that Canada stands for," MacDonald said in a statement.
The restrictions on Mexican visitors to Canada could have even greater economic ramifications.
Mexico was the sixth largest source of tourists to Canada last year, and the numbers had been steadily increasing. However, Mexican asylum claims make up one quarter of all applications that Canada receives, the government says.
A Canadian Tourism Commission website geared toward Mexicans, called "Escape from the Routine," was still boasting that a ``valid passport and return plane ticket is all you need" to visit Canada.
The tourism industry is urging the federal government to delay the visa requirement for Mexican visitors until Nov. 15.
"What really hurts about this is that there's was no warning at all ... and all of a sudden, basically the day the doors were supposed to open on the beginning of the peak season, they're being shut in our face a little bit," said Hume Rogers, of Ottawa's Capital Hotel and Suites.
A group of hotels, restaurants and tour operators from Ontario and Quebec that rely on business with Mexico said the government's move came without advance warning and in the middle of a recession.
"This has blindsided our industry," Rogers said.
Rogers had 25 rooms booked for 10 days this month with a Mexican tour group.
Carlo Dade, executive director of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, said the government's decision didn't offer any exceptions for the growing number of Mexican business travellers, or the possibility of a program to pre-clear frequent visitors such as that which Canada has with the U.S.
In Mexico City, people with plans to visit Canadian cities this summer flooded the Canadian embassy and their travel agent with calls, trying to figure out what they needed to do to get their documents on time. A 48-hour grace period for Mexicans with imminent travel was to expire at 10 p.m. ET Tuesday.
A source with the Mexican government said the embassy had given little information or guidance to people on what steps were required or how long the process would take. A notice on the embassy's website directs travellers to send their documents by courier to the embassy.
Carla Rosa, director of GrupoTravel's head office in Mexico City, said people are reluctant to give their documents to a third party for transport, and are showing up at the embassy anyway.
"It's a mess," said Rosa, who said many people will lose their money.
A government spokesperson said things are actually running smoothly at the embassy in Mexico, with line-ups in "the low hundreds."
One line at the embassy has been arranged to hand out information kits and applications, and the other for those with completed applications and the new $85 fee. People in emergency situations are being given priority.
With files from Richard Brennan and The Canadian Press
Friday, November 4, 2011 
