After an election in the US, it’s not unusual for people on both sides of the political divide to send us questions about immigrating to Canada. With the election of Donald Trump, right now is no different. Most of the questions revolve around moving to and working in Canada, with some questions about Canadian health care and housing prospects.

Jim Metcalfe – Pace Law Firm: While “amnesty for illegals” is a hot topic in the US right now, Canada has had its share of amnesty discussions, too. Indeed, every twenty years or so, the government of Canada has had some form of amnesty for unauthorized immigrants who have overstayed their visa but ended up well established in Canadian work and life.

Jim Metcalfe – Pace Law Firm: The Canadian government has stated that it will allow 300,000 immigrants into Canada in 2017. When you factor in Syrian refugees, this is approximately the same number as 2016:

Andy Semotiuk – Pace Law Firm: Roughly one out of every 12 newborns in the United States can be classified as a so-called ‘anchor baby.’ Pew research shows that some 295,000 children were born to undocumented immigrants in 2013. The number of pregnant ‘birth tourists’ who come to the US legally to take advantage of the fact that all persons born in the United States are citizens of the United States was recently estimated at 36,000 a year. Meanwhile, in Canada:

In this clever video from the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the show’s host tries his hand at passing a Canadian citizenship test.

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Hon. Gerry Weiner

Hon. Gerry Weiner – Pace Law Firm: I spent a lot of time thinking about my friend and colleague Jim Prentice this weekend. I was stunned last week to learn of his untimely death in a plane accident late Thursday evening.

In this interview, Toronto immigration lawyer Andy Semotiuk discusses some recent immigration news items in Canada and the USA.

Jim Metcalfe – Pace Law Firm: Maryam Monsef, the federal Minister of Democratic Institutions, has been “outed” because she was not born in Afghanistan but in Iran:

In this interview, Pace lawyer Andy Semotiuk talks about some recent immigration news.
Andy, a recent government poll says that about 75% of Canadians are either happy with the current number of people immigrating to Canada, or they think that it might be too many. Meanwhile, Minister McCallum says that almost all of the people he talks to want more immigration. What gives?

Hon. Gerry Weiner – Pace Law Firm: I was very pleased to attend the Business Forum of the Canada China Business Council last week in Montreal. In attendance were Prime Minister Trudeau, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and other high ranking political and business people from both countries.