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."
Premier John Horgan says in a news release the government will defer stumpage fees for the next three months to help forest companies with their financial liquidity during the crisis. Stumpage is the fee forest operators pay the province to harvest, buy or sell trees from Crown land.
A traffic stop by Vancouver police led to a device being detonated by the bomb squad on Tuesday. The incident began when a suspect was pulled over in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and officers noticed what appeared to be fentanyl in his car.
The Canadian Armed Forces is deploying its famed Snowbirds aerobatics team on a cross-country tour aimed at boosting morale as Canadians continue to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
As some provinces considered staggered steps Wednesday towards reopening their economies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear some of them may ease restrictions at different speeds.
Almost one-third of businesses could stay open if physical distancing rules remain in place for six months, but nearly as many suggest they won't survive that long, according to survey results from Statistics Canada that provide a window into the financial strain of anti-pandemic rules on companies large and small.
Doctors say they're becoming increasingly concerned about how they're going to handle the swelling backlog of elective surgeries once the immediate COVID-19 threat has ebbed.
