Canada recruiting immigrants from the Punjab in review!

*Globe and Mail
Immigration minister orders review of visa officer's alleged remarks
*IAN BAILEY December 21, 2007

VANCOUVER -- Federal Immigration Minister Diane Finley has launched a
review of alleged remarks made by Canada's chief visa officer in New
Delhi that British Columbia's Attorney-General said offended members of
a visiting delegation.

"We take all allegations of bias on the part of the department
seriously. The minister has directed senior department officials to look
into the comments made by a visa officer," said a statement from Mike
Fraser, Ms. Finley's communications director.

This week, Wally Oppal drew attention to visa officer Brian Hudson's
alleged comments to a delegation of university and college officials,
involved in continuing efforts to attract more students and
professionals to Canada.

Mr. Oppal, also B.C. minister for multiculturalism, was in India at the
time of the meeting, but was not present for the comments. He said he
was informed that Mr. Hudson told the delegation he did not understand
why Canada was recruiting immigrants from the Punjab, which has high
crime, forgery and human-trafficking rates.

Mr. Oppal has said that some have called the alleged comments racist
though he has not used the word himself.

Contacted by The Globe and Mail at his office in New Delhi, Mr. Hudson
deferred comment to officials in Ottawa, saying he was "not going to
jump into the political arena."

Mr. Oppal linked his concerns to the broader issue of whether Canada is
drawing enough students and qualified professionals from the region, a
brewing issue in B.C.'s South Asian community.

Ms. Finley took issue with that concern.

"We accept more immigrants from India than any other country but China,
and 10,000 more last year than a decade ago - from 19,000 in 1997 to
more than 30,000 last year," she said in a statement.

She also noted that four out of five students from India applying to
degree-granting universities and colleges in Canada are accepted.

"Overall acceptance rates for student applications in the Chandigarh
office have risen steadily from 14 per cent in 2004 to 20 per cent in
2006," the statement says.

Mr. Oppal said he is "encouraged" that Ms. Finley is taking the
allegations seriously. "I am really confident she will do the right thing."

He said the issue of fairness has been a source of concern for the South
Asian community for years.

"The buzz has been around the community for as long as I have been in
public life," said Mr. Oppal, a former appeal court judge first elected
in 2005.