While the Immigration Minister is reported by one Chinese media source as promising to support immigration, other ethnic media source opinion pieces complain about delays and barriers to access, as well as about low income levels, and the unintended consequences of certain measures, hoping Immigration decision makers will hear their voices, echoed by mainstream reports in The Hill Times of MP frustration... (see https://www.hilltimes.com/2021/12/13/this-is-a-screwed-up-system-frustrated-liberal-mps-want-to-slash-immigration-processing-times)

Read on to see what they are saying.

Housing prices soar another 5% as Canada confirms 410,000 immigrant target - Chinese
Canada hopes that more immigrants can promote economic growth and alleviate the worsening labour shortage caused by the pandemic. But new immigrants may cause the real estate market to continue to soar, and the central bank warns that this is stimulated by a "sudden influx of investors." A government source said that Prime Minister Trudeau is expected to achieve the target of recruiting 401,000 new permanent residents this year and is preparing to target 411,000 new immigrants next year. With the declining fertility rate, successive Canadian governments have relied on immigration to promote economic growth. Last year's fertility rate hit a record low. As the pandemic triggers the early retirement of elderly Canadians, attracting immigrants has become even more important. In addition, Canada’s goal is high-quality immigrants, who can often bring money and income to buy property. Canadian Immigration Minister Fraser told Reuters: "Canada needs immigration to create jobs and promote our economic recovery. Not only is one out of every three Canadian companies founded by immigrants, but new immigrants are also helping Canada solve the problem of labour shortages."
WEB - CFC NEWS (Daily4) - Ottawa, 10/12/2021 - ARTICLE, Chinese

Canada's immigration minister predicts delays in accepting Afghan refugees - Tamil
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says it will take up to two years before Canada can fulfil its promise to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. According to the Canadian immigration minister, even if Canada has the will to accept Afghan refugees, political will alone is not adequate to bring all the Afghan refugees to Canada. Dealing with the Taliban is an almost impossible task at present. Canada treats the Taliban as a terrorist organization. Under this circumstance, expecting the Taliban to work with Canada to move Afghan refugees to this country looks like an almost impossible operation. The fact that Canada has no diplomatic relations with Afghanistan makes the situation even more complex. Even though the Canadian government could expedite the processing of applications by Afghan refugees, unless the situation on the ground in Afghanistan improves, it will be a challenge to bring the refugees to Canada.
RADIO - East FM 102.7 (Daily7) - Toronto, 08/12/2021 - Analysis, Tamil

Ongoing immigration processing delays leave many in limbo in Canada and overseas - Chinese
Since Canada announced that it will accept 1 million immigrants in three years, many people have embarked on the immigration journey. A family has moved to Canada to wait for the approval of their immigration application, but reality has left them in a dilemma. In 2017, Talwar sold his house in New Delhi, India, and moved to Saskatoon. He then submitted a PR application for himself and his family through the Provincial Nominee Program. At the time of submission, the information on the IRCC website showed wait-times up to 18 months. In other words, according to the normal speed, his immigration application will be approved in 2020, but in reality, he has not received a response from IRCC. Since January 29, 2020, his immigration application status has not progressed. For two years, he has been in contact with IRCC through online forms, emails, and phone calls, but every time he only received a system reply. According to data from IRCC, as of October 27, Canada had a backlog of nearly 1.8 million immigration applications.
WEB - Van People (Daily7) - Vancouver, 11/12/2021 - ARTICLE, Chinese

BC students should be aware of online courses and PR eligibility - Chinese
Canadian Students' Union - Some time ago, IRCC announced that international students can continue to study online before August 31, 2022 without affecting the time limit for graduation work permits. This was great news to students who were stuck overseas and unable to get back to Canada to continue their studies in person. However, the editor issued a warning and reminder to international students that if they study online courses outside of Canada for more than 50% of the total class hours, they will lose their eligibility to apply for the BC PNP. According to the new announcement, students can now complete their studies online and still be eligible to apply for the PGWP. However, this is not the case for some provincial nominee programs. Take the BC PNP as an example: Applying to the BC PNP international graduate category requires applicants to complete no less than 50% of classroom learning in Canada. Even if the institute offers 100% online courses, BC PNP still requires half of the online courses to be completed in Canada.
WEB - Van People (Daily7) - Vancouver, 11/12/2021 - ARTICLE,  Chinese

Canadian immigrant income rankings - Chinese
Chinese newcomers who have just immigrated to Canada usually settle in one of the two largest urban centres - Toronto and Vancouver. But people may not expect that these two cities happen to have the lowest salaries. Statistics Canada showed that the median annual income of immigrants in 2019 is much lower in major hub cities. In places such as southern Ontario, where the Chinese are concentrated, the income of immigrants who came to Canada 10 years ago was even lower. At the same time, in small cities, the income of immigrants is much higher than the national average. Canada may be one of the most desirable places for Chinese immigrants, but they also have to pay a lot for it. Aside from high housing costs, the median income of immigrants who have been in Canada for 10 years was only $33,700 per year. Even after 10 years, the wage gap is still wide. This may be related to the cities where immigrants settled. In many cases, Canadian immigrants do earn much less than their domestic-born peers.
WEB - Vansky (Daily7) - Vancouver, 10/12/2021 - ARTICLE, 3/4 page web, 2nd, Chinese
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