1. Here is a primer on the most critical changes.
Immigrants
• Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced he was going to wipe out the federal
skilled workers program backlog and establish a new pool of immigrant skilled workers. The
announcement triggered a legal challenge to be heard in Federal Court in January 2013.
Known as the Expression of Interest System, the new program will allow employers to choose
potential candidates from a ready pool of pre-screened skilled workers. It's similar to a program
currently used in New Zealand and Australia.
• Kenney announced a new direction in the federal skilled workers program, opening the door
for skilled trades workers and offering permanent residency to electricians, welders, heavy-duty
equipment mechanics and pipefitters to help relieve the labour shortage amid a construction
boom in places such as Alberta and Ontario, which will host the Pan American Games in 2015.
• Kenney has given himself, in Bill C-43, legislation that is still before Parliament, sweeping
powers to bar people from being allowed into Canada for "public policy considerations."
In the same bill, Ottawa has changed the rules governing deportation of criminals who are
permanent residents. If passed, the bill would make it easier for Ottawa to deport an immigrant
with permanent resident status who has been sentenced to six months or more for a crime.
There would also be no right to an appeal.
At present, the law only allows such action if someone has been sentenced to two years less a
day, and there is a right to appeal. The new law, if passed, will effectively impose a "one strike
and you're out" rule, according to critics.
• Kenney has tightened up the rules around spousal sponsorship and conditional permanent
residence status, triggering criticism from human rights lawyers, refugee groups and women's
groups.
Foreigners sponsored to enter Canada as spouses must stay in the relationship for two years
before they're granted permanent residence status under the new law.
If they don't, they face deportation. Kenney argues that the new law will crack down on marriage
fraud. The caveat: It does not apply to those who are victims of abuse or neglect, Kenney said.
• The minister of immigration announced that Ottawa would be changing the point system
used to judge skilled-immigrant applications, emphasizing language skills and professional
credentials equivalent to Canada's. Language proficiency will become a more important factor in
whether applicants are approved.
Refugees
• Kenney performed radical surgery on Canada's refugee system. He moved to designate
specific refugees as "irregular arrivals" — which allows for mandatory arrest and detention for
up to a year. The law was prompted by two boatloads of Tamil refugees who in 2009 and 2010
arrived on the shores of British Columbia.
The law calls for officials to detain migrants for investigation. What's more irregular arrivals are
banned from applying for permanent resident status, sponsoring family members and acquiring
refugee travel documents for five years even if their refugee claims are accepted.
• Ottawa has created a list of safe countries of origin — countries considered capable of
providing state protection for their citizens. A total of 27 countries have been named, 25 of
them from the European Union. They include: Austria, Croatia, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta,
Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.

2. Countries will be designated safe if their combined rejection, withdrawal and abandonment rate
of asylum claims exceeds 75 per cent or when the withdrawn and abandoned caseload tops 60
per cent.
Refugees from "safe" countries will have their case fast-tracked through the refugee process,
with their claims heard within 30 to 45 days. They will not be able to appeal the decision and will
be removed from Canada in a year. All other eligible refugee claimants will receive a hearing
within 60 days after their claim is referred to the refugee board.
• In a surprising move to the medical community and refugee advocates, Kenney announced
that Ottawa would cut health benefits to refugee claimants. He claimed the move would save
Ottawa $100 million over five years and discourage "unfounded" refugees from coming to
Canada to seek medical care.
• In another move to protect Canada's borders, Kenney, under the Protecting Canada's
Immigration System Act, introduced biometric measures — the collection of fingerprints
and photos — from applicants in 29 countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma,
Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Haiti, Pakistan, Vietnam
and Yemen.
This fingerprint information will be sent to the RCMP for storage and will be checked against the
fingerprint records of refugee claimants, previous deportees, persons with Canadian criminal
records and previous temporary resident applicants before a visa decision is made.
Citizenship
• Prospective Canadian citizens must now provide proof of language proficiency — in English
or French — before they can apply for citizenship. The new regulation will affect candidates
between the ages of 18 and 54. Immigration officials will return applications of those who do not
provide evidence of proficiency.
• Kenney announced in September he would be revoking the citizenship of 3,100 people
— mostly from the Persian Gulf States — who had lied about their residency and failed to
reside in Canada for three of the four previous years when they applied for citizenship. The
announcement came after the creation of an immigration fraud tip line in 2011.
Temporary Foreign Workers
• Rules surrounding temporary foreign workers were radically rewritten. Close to 191,000
temporary foreign workers came to Canada in 2011, 67,000 in Ontario.
• Changes were made to allow employers to pay temporary high-skilled foreign workers up to
15 per cent less than the prevailing local wage. In the case of low-skilled workers, it's 5 per cent
less.
• In December, Ottawa eliminated the special parental benefits for foreign migrant workers who
contribute an estimated $3.4 million to the country's employment insurance system.
This means 30,000 migrant workers who are employed under the Seasonal Agricultural
Workers Program are not eligible to take leave and collect any benefit while caring for newborns
or sick children. Migrant workers have never been eligible for full EI benefits but previously they
could access special benefits for up to 35 weeks — even if they were outside of Canada.