Indians to benefit from Canada's family reunification programme
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Jul, 2021 04:31 PM
A record number of 40,000 immigrant families will be allowed to sponsor their parents and grandparents to bring them to Canada in 2021.
This means 30,000 additional applications will be accepted as against the annual intake of 10,000 under the Parents and Grandparents Programme (PGP), which is aimed at family reunification.
Since Indo-Canadians are one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, they will be the major beneficiaries of the programme.
Applications can be submitted online over a two-week period, starting September 20.
Using the random selection process, those whose applications are accepted would be allowed to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada.
Since the sponsors have to show a certain minimum income requirement, the Canadian government has allowed them to include state benefits received during the Covid lockdown towards their income. This will ensure that applicants are not penalised for lost income during the pandemic.
Unveiling the programme, Canadian Immigration Minister Marco E.L. Mendicino said, "The importance of family has never been clearer than during the pandemic. That is why we are delivering on our commitment to help more families reunite in Canada.
"By strengthening the Parents and Grandparents Programme, inviting a record number of sponsors to apply, and by adjusting our requirements to adapt to the current times, we are once again proving our commitment to helping Canadian families stay together, and thrive together."
Trudeau's updated delivery schedule from Pfizer also includes 10.8 million doses to be delivered between April and June, and all remaining doses – 40 million in total – arriving by the end of September.
That requirement is also set to be applied at the land border as of Monday. Beginning Feb. 22, those arriving via the land border must also take another COVID-19 test at the end of their quarantine.
There is no ban on travel and snowbirds don't think of themselves as vacationers, said Crooks, a professor at Simon Fraser University who's done research for years with snowbird communities in Florida and Arizona.
“Today, we are reporting 449 new cases, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 72,305 cases in British Columbia. “There are 4,317 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 224 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 63 of whom are in intensive care
