Jason Kenney, Canada's immigration and citizenship minister, did the rounds of most newsrooms in Ottawa – including ours — explaining the government's position on a story my colleague Peter O'Neill broke yesterday that, beginning early this morning, all visitors to Canada from the Czech Republic and Mexico need a visa to get into Canada. The visa requirement, by itself, doesn't prevent people from coming to Canada but, because it involves more paperwork that must be completed in advance of a visit, it does discourage spur-of-the-moment trips and can be a barrier that will reduce visitors from a given country.
In response, the Czech Republic recalled its ambassador to Canada and several refugee assistance groups decried the message.
Here's what Kenney had to say on Twitter (@MinJK) about the issue (The time element is relative to about 9 pm EDT):
- Two important announcements about protecting the integrity of Canada's immigration system: http://is.gd/1xvyM http://is.gd/1xvGf4:15 PM Jul 13th
- Its important to understand that visas are normal, not exceptional. There is a visa requirement on all foreign nationals in the law (IRPA)..23 minutes ago
- @starkob Several weeks notice was given to the 2 relevant governments, but public notice would likely lead to a flood of last minute claims 11 minutes ago
- @mattjuniper Actually standard practice is to give no notice: the 48 hour grace time was extraordinary. Longer notice = flood of ref claims.27 minutes ago from web in reply to mattjuniper
- ..and on most (140+) countries. Exemptions are granted for some countries if they meet objective criteria, such as low rate of asylum claims20 minutes ago from web
- # Re: more staff, tripling the size of the IRB would be insufficient to deal with the current refugee backlog: 30% increase in claims in 2008.9 minutes ago from web
All roads lead to Rome.