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."
US President Donald Trump fires state department inspector general, Steve Linick. Mr Trump said Mr Linick no longer had his full confidence and that he would be removed from office in a month.
Amazon says it will be ending its pandemic-related pay incentives for workers in its Canadian warehouses at the end of the month. Company spokesperson Kelly Cheeseman confirmed Saturday the online retail giant will stop paying employees the extra $2 per hour and double overtime incentives they had been receiving since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
A Liberal MP is calling for an investigation into whether Conservative leadership candidate Erin O'Toole is inappropriately using taxpayer-funded resources on his campaign. Robert Morrissey says he received an email from O'Toole's personal Parliament Hill email address on May 12, with the subject line "endorsement," that thanked him for his support. It was not Morrissey, however, but Conservative MP Rob Morrison who was about to publicly endorse O'Toole.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government will work closely with Air Canada to see if any more help can be offered after the airline announced mass layoffs yesterday. Air Canada will lay off more than half of its 38,000 employees next month as it grapples with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A rising death toll from overdoses in B.C. during the COVID-19 pandemic has advocates, government officials and health-care workers concerned about a public health emergency that has been overshadowed by the response to the virus. The BC Coroners Service says 113 people died in March of suspected illicit drug toxicity, the first time in a year that deaths from overdoses across B.C. exceeded 100.
