Canadian Jewish Congress Seeks Liberalization of Immigration Law

Requests that the Canadian Government’s plans for revising the immigration laws be strengthened and liberalized were made here before a joint committee of Canada’s Parliament by a delegation representing the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services.

Saul Hayes, CJC executive vice-president, presented the oral submission, to be followed by a written brief, requesting that the new law include a specific nondiscrimination clause, clarify provisions for the admission of refugees, liberalize the rules regarding deportation, and objecting to a proposal requiring a literacy test as a prerequisite to admission into Canada.

The submission was voiced at a public hearing here of a special joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons, dealing with immigration. Regarding the proposal for a literacy test, the Jewish delegation objected to that proposed requirement and also suggested that the concept of “occupational skills” could lead to the exclusion of otherwise desirable immigrants.

The delegation also expressed “uneasiness” over projected identification cards for immigrants; criticized a proposal for placing sole responsibility for counseling new immigrants in a Government department on manpower; and dealt with the problem of “joiner of families” and the possibility of the extension of categories of families who could be sponsored either by citizens or by immigrants who had landed in Canada.

A brief on the issue of immigration law revision was presented by the United Council for Human Rights, of which the CJC is a member organization. This brief called, among other things, for wider sponsorship regulations to permit immigrants to bring in their stepfathers, stepmothers, stepchildren, adopted and illegitimate children. The Council also objected to the fingerprinting of immigrants and to the proposal that they carry identification cards.

The Catholic Immigration Services and the CJC took issue with a policy statement declaring that unsponsored immigrants must qualify for professional or skilled occupation status, or be required to have completed a minimum of 11 years of schooling.