Advocates push Liberals to relax Hong Kong immigration rules – National | 24CA News
A press convention in Markham, Ont., final week hosted by Liberal MP Paul Chiang appeared to supply good news for Hong Kongers hoping to flee the island more and more underneath Beijing’s thumb: Canada would elevate schooling necessities for Hong Kong immigrants with Canadian work expertise.
The transfer, which the Liberals framed as assist for Hong Kong residents in assist of “freedom and democracy,” was designed to pave the way in which for extra everlasting residency purposes – persevering with the custom of Canada offering a secure haven for Hong Kongers.
But the announcement raised eyebrows amongst pro-democracy advocates. Their issues had been twofold: the Canadian authorities didn’t drop the requirement for Hong Kongers to get a police examine to immigrate to Canada – a set of permissions that places them on the mercy of the authorities they’re attempting to flee – and the announcement was hosted by a gaggle perceived to toe a pro-Beijing line, the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham (FCCM).
“It’s very nice window dressing to have a big press conference to announce the lifting of the education requirement. But it doesn’t address the meat of the issue, which is the fact that a lot of people still can’t come to Canada,” stated Cheuk Kwan, a longtime activist and the co-chair of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.
The Liberal line is that Hong Kongers is not going to be denied entry to Canada for an offence that isn’t thought-about legal in Canada – similar to protesting towards China’s crackdown on the previous British colony and its new nationwide safety regulation.
But Kwan stated Hong Kong authorities can merely withhold a police certificates for individuals who have been scooped up by police for his or her pro-democracy protests.
The venue for the announcement – the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham (FCCM) – has advocates like Kwan calling into query the federal government’s dedication to pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The FCCM is perceived by advocates as toeing a pro-Beijing line. Global News requested Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser’s workplace how the venue was chosen, if he was conscious of the issues that the FCCM was perceived as pro-Beijing, and what message making the announcement on the FCCM despatched to activist communities.
Fraser’s workplace didn’t tackle these questions.
“On July 11, our government announced it is welcoming more Hong Kongers to Canada who need our support, while simultaneously helping Canadian businesses fill labour gaps with workers who already have work experience here,” wrote Bahoz Dara Aziz, a spokesperson for Fraser’s workplace, in an announcement.
“This was done in collaboration with Canada-Hong Kong community groups and is a direct result of those discussions, building on our government’s previous actions to support the many meaningful exchanges between Canada and Hong Kong while standing up for the people of Hong Kong.”
Global News despatched a number of emails to Paul Chiang, Fraser’s parliamentary secretary and the Liberal MP for Markham-Unionville who made the announcement on July 11. Chiang didn’t reply to these emails.
Global additionally tried to contact Dr. Ken Ng, the chairman of the FCCM’s board. Those messages weren’t returned.
There had been 213,855 immigrants from Hong Kong in Canada in 2021, in accordance with Statistics Canada’s census information. Canada noticed a wave of immigration within the late Eighties and early ’90s, often attributed to issues over the switch of Hong Kong from the British to China.
Concerns concerning the new nationwide safety regulation – which supplies Beijing larger management over the territory, and launched new terrorism offences – raised the potential for a brand new wave of immigrants fleeing authorities, who’ve now supplied a 1 million Hong Kong greenback (CAD$168,800) bounty for help in arresting dissidents who’ve already fled the territory.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
