OTTAWA — NDP critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) and NDP critic for Labour Matthew Green (Hamilton Centre) announces a plan to end the exploitation of migrant workers in Canada. They are joined by Elizabeth Kwan from the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and Derek Johnstone from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan questioned why the Ukrainian emergency visa program has not been repeated for people in other conflict zones.
“The government has announced measures for those who have already left Lebanon, but nothing for those who are in still in grave danger and desperate to get to safety, Kwan said.
"At the time, officials actually pointed out to (the Liberal government) that this would be precedent-setting and it would be difficult for them to explain why they would not apply this to any other countries that might be in conflict zones where Canadians have loved ones and in grave danger. And those officials are exactly right," said federal NDP Immigration Critic Jenny Kwan.
"What the communities and what the NDP wants for the government to do is to treat all the communities equitably and fairly," added Kwan. "They say that it's discriminatory, they say for Ukrainians they have this high standard of special immigration measure, but that measure is not being applied for anyone else. Not for Lebanese, not for Palestinians in Gaza, not for Afghans who served Canada... all of those have limitations and are not nearly as broad as the Ukrainian measures."
"So, people are asking, ‘what is the difference?’ and the obvious answer for them is the colour of their skin."
Current MP Jenny Kwan is one example of a politician who held two elected positions at once. She did it for the last six months of her term as a Vancouver city councillor in 1996 when she was elected as an MLA.
"Instead of triggering a byelection, I elected to serve out my term," she said in a statement, which also described the challenge of juggling both roles.
Kwan attended to council business until she needed to be in Victoria in late June of 1996 for the legislative sitting.
"Thereafter, I sought and received leave to be absent from council meetings," she said. "To ensure there was no double dipping, I also did not accept my council salary upon being elected provincially."
NDP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), her party’s immigration critic, told The Hill Times that the Sudanese family reunification is “deficient” and “extremely restrictive.”
She said the regime for Sudanese family members stands in contrast to the speed and size of the program to bring Ukrainians fleeing the war to Canada.
“Community members are rightfully pointing out the stark difference of the political decision of the government to facilitate special immigration measures from one country versus that of others,” Kwan said. “How is it that the government can come in with an arbitrary cap of 3,250? And then when we’re talking about the Ukrainian situation, there was no cap.”
“You have to question: why do some countries with conflict situations have caps and others don’t?”
Kwan, speaking to The Hill Times prior to the unveiling of the new immigration levels plan, said a reduction would exacerbate the situation.
“I am very worried about that—that the government will choose political expediency over lives,” she said.
After the release of the new plan, Kwan said in a statement that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Ont.) announced the changes thinking that “scapegoating newcomers will somehow turn his political fortunes around.”
The NDP has accused Trudeau's government of blaming immigrants for affordability problems that have put pressure on Canadian households.
"The prime minister thinks that scapegoating newcomers will somehow turn his political fortunes around," NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said in a statement.
"The truth is, it won't."
Earlier this week, current national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin said she had seen no evidence there are “traitors” in Parliament and that some of the conclusions in the NSICOP report made her “very uncomfortable.”
Mendicino said he believes there is a need to “clear the air” about NSICOP’s findings.
“I am very worried that the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence,” he told the inquiry.
“I think it is extremely important that we heed the opinion and the evidence that has been given to this commission, from Ms. Drouin, from CSIS, around the fact that… this NSICOP report has gone further than where they are at in the assessment of the intelligence,” he added.
Under questioning by Sujit Choudhry, lawyer for NDP MP Jenny Kwan, Mendicino agreed that officials need to clear the air on foreign interference and parliamentarians.
"I am very worried that the entire conversation around foreign interference and parliamentarians is being transformed into a kangaroo court, with very little regard for the process of understanding how we assess intelligence, especially given its rapidly evolving nature," he said.