Older children of immigrants no longer admitted

Canada has implemented a new immigration rule narrowing the definition of dependent children which, advocates say, will break apart families and cause enormous hardship.

Prior to August 1, 2014, children of immigrants and refugees who were under 21 years old were considered dependent on their families and were allowed to come and stay with them in Canada. Now, the cut-off age is 18 with only a few exceptions.

Listen‘Enormous family hardship’

“This is going to create an enormous amount of family hardship just in terms of the separation,” says Rick Goldman, an executive member of the Canadian Council for Refugees. He notes siblings under 18 may be separated from those who are 19, 20 or 21, even though in Canada, the older unmarried children are not considered to be independent.

Those who will now left behind may face threats to their security, says Goldman, particularly women living in countries where it is dangerous for single women with no protection from their families.

Advocates are ‘baffled’

In its defence, immigration authorities argue that younger children earn more in the longer term than do those who are older. Goldman call this an incredibly weak argument, noting that authorities do not say the older children will be unproductive or dependent on social benefits, only that they will not do quite as well as their younger siblings. He adds, the older children will be barred at a time when Canada is expected to face serious labour shortages.

“We’re really very baffled at this conclusion the government has come to,” he says. “We think it’s very badly mistaken and the consequences will be grave for many families and for many individual young adults who will be left alone to fend for themselves.”

The change was first introduced one-and-a-half years ago but elicited such protest from immigration and refugee advocates that it was not immediately implemented. The groups wrongly hoped the government would drop it.

‘They snuck it in’

“They did this thing that governments often do,” says Goldman. “They snuck it in in the middle of summer when there’s not many people watching what they’re up to—Parliament is not even sitting.”

The change can be reversed with a stroke of the pen, says Goldman, and he hopes that if this government doesn’t do it, some future government will. Meanwhile immigrant and refugee families, he says, “will be broken apart.”