Indians to benefit from Canada's family reunification programme
Darpan News Desk IANS, 21 Jul, 2021 04:31 PM
A record number of 40,000 immigrant families will be allowed to sponsor their parents and grandparents to bring them to Canada in 2021.
This means 30,000 additional applications will be accepted as against the annual intake of 10,000 under the Parents and Grandparents Programme (PGP), which is aimed at family reunification.
Since Indo-Canadians are one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, they will be the major beneficiaries of the programme.
Applications can be submitted online over a two-week period, starting September 20.
Using the random selection process, those whose applications are accepted would be allowed to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada.
Since the sponsors have to show a certain minimum income requirement, the Canadian government has allowed them to include state benefits received during the Covid lockdown towards their income. This will ensure that applicants are not penalised for lost income during the pandemic.
Unveiling the programme, Canadian Immigration Minister Marco E.L. Mendicino said, "The importance of family has never been clearer than during the pandemic. That is why we are delivering on our commitment to help more families reunite in Canada.
"By strengthening the Parents and Grandparents Programme, inviting a record number of sponsors to apply, and by adjusting our requirements to adapt to the current times, we are once again proving our commitment to helping Canadian families stay together, and thrive together."
Health Canada is updating the label for the Oxford-AstraZeneca and COVISHIELD COVID-19 vaccines to add capillary leak syndrome as a potential side-effect.
Survivors of a residential school in northern British Columbia have given the community strength and courage to keep pushing in a decades-long fight to demolish the building, says the deputy chief of the Daylu Dena Council.
The latest Pew Research Center survey found 87 per cent of 1,011 Canadian respondents see the U.S. as the better economic ally, up from 73 per cent in 2015.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he asked that the national flag on the Peace Tower remain at half-mast for Canada Day to honour the Indigenous children who died in residential schools.
In total, 4,941,795 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 1,368,464 of which are second doses.
