tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-kings-college-3440/articlesThe University of King's College2021-02-23T14:49:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1544532021-02-23T14:49:34Z2021-02-23T14:49:34ZWhy a net-zero future depends on the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385684/original/file-20210222-13-689yz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C91%2C4568%2C2676&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two people walk their bicycles along a flooded street on the waterfront of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as Hurricane Irma passes through on Sept. 10, 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most of us growing up along Canada’s East Coast never worried about hurricane season. Except for those working at sea, we viewed hurricanes as extreme events in remote tropical regions, seen only through blurred footage of flailing palm trees on the six o’clock news. </p>
<p>Today, a warming ocean spins hurricanes faster, makes them wetter and drives them towards Atlantic Canada and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2867-7">even further inland</a>. Hurricanes, winter storms and rising sea levels will continue to worsen unless we slow climate change. </p>
<p>The lifeblood of coastal economies and societies has always been the connection between land and sea, and that’s become more evident with climate change. But this isn’t just a coastal story anymore. </p>
<p>The oceans moderate the world’s climate through the <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-ocean-heat-content">absorption of heat</a> and <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6432/1193.full.pdf">carbon</a>. And just how much carbon the ocean will continue to absorb for us remains an open question. Whatever we do, it must be grounded in our growing wisdom of the deep connections between life on land and in the sea.</p>
<p>As Canada commits to a net-zero future and plans its post-COVID economic recovery, innovations and investments could backfire if they reduce the ocean’s ability to absorb our excesses.</p>
<h2>Links between land and sea</h2>
<p>The ocean has always directly affected the climate on land. The well-being of communities across the globe is directly linked to the ocean’s capacity to continue its regulating role of heat and carbon cycles. </p>
<p>Drought in the Prairies is tied to water temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. When temperatures are most extreme, they signal the possible arrival of a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0306738101">megadrought</a>.”</p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JCLI3475.1">Australia, the occurrence of below-average rainfall, lasting several years</a>, can be predicted by high Indian Ocean temperatures. This dries soils and lowers river flows, resulting in major community impacts such as water restrictions, declines in agricultural production and increased frequency of bushfires.</p>
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<img alt="Fire burning near a road sign warning of kangaroos." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385351/original/file-20210219-15-1nidb2s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fire burns in the grass near Bumbalong, south of the Australian capital, Canberra, on Feb. 1, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)</span></span>
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<p>The success of Canada’s climate policies will therefore hinge on understanding how ocean processes are changing and society responds. The opportunity is at hand: Canada has committed to net-zero carbon in 2050, and to economic recovery once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the nation after the throne speech on Sept. 23, 2020.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The federal government’s throne speech in September highlighted the oceans as critical to economic recovery post-COVID. The “blue economy,” mentioned in the throne speech, includes fisheries, aquaculture and offshore wind energy. </p>
<p>These two commitments are fundamentally linked: economic recovery and carbon neutrality both depend on the ocean’s ability to continue to regulate climate through heat and carbon absorption. </p>
<p>But the development of national policies on climate change, both in Canada and internationally, has generally ignored the ocean in climate calculations. Scientists lobbied intensely before the Paris Climate Agreement just to <a href="https://unfccc.int/documents/8707#beg">make sure the ocean was mentioned</a>. </p>
<h2>Changes to the ‘carbon sink’</h2>
<p>We dare not further neglect the most important global storage depot on Earth: the ocean stores <a href="https://scholarsandrogues.com/2013/05/09/csfe-heat-capacity-air-ocean/">hundreds of times the heat</a> and <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/TAR-03.pdf">50 times more carbon</a> than the atmosphere, and takes up <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6432/1193.full.pdf">more carbon</a> than all the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13063-y">rainforests combined</a>.</p>
<p>Ocean carbon and heat absorption also provide a critical natural timescale against which we can measure our effectiveness in battling climate change. Fluctuations in the ocean “carbon sink” — the amount of carbon the ocean can remove from the atmosphere — will change the urgency with which we need to act. </p>
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<img alt="Waves crashing over a seafront road covered in debris." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=160%2C311%2C5269%2C3423&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385349/original/file-20210219-19-1t54pow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Hurricanes and winter storms will continue to worsen unless we slow climate change. Hurricane Lorenzo hit the Portuguese island of Faial in October 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Joao Henriques)</span></span>
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<p>For example, a waning carbon sink shrinks our window to curb land-based carbon emissions. But a growing sink might give us more time to enact difficult but necessary carbon policies that will have disruptive <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-finally-has-a-climate-plan-that-will-let-it-meet-its-carbon-targets-by-2030-152133">economic consequences</a>. </p>
<p>There is no time for delay, and rewards come quickly; strong scientific evidence demonstrates that ocean processes controlling this absorption can either weaken or strengthen measurably in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0006-5">just a few decades</a>. </p>
<p>Heat is absorbed physically from the atmosphere and mixed through the ocean on the scales of millennia. But carbon is absorbed through a complex network of chemical and biological processes, including coastal ecosystems such as kelp, mangroves and seagrasses that sustain local economies. Plankton (the tiny plants and animals that feed everything from mussels to whales) store carbon, so their behaviour and biology become a critical factor in the climate discussion. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-mangrove-forest-mapping-tool-puts-conservation-in-reach-of-coastal-communities-151458">New mangrove forest mapping tool puts conservation in reach of coastal communities</a>
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</em>
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<p>We urgently need better observations of the ocean’s continued role as our heat and carbon sink. </p>
<h2>Shifting carbon sink</h2>
<p>The North Atlantic Ocean is the most intense carbon sink in the world: 30 per cent of the global ocean’s carbon dioxide removal occurs right in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10028-z">Canada’s backyard</a>. If we extend Canada’s net-zero calculation to our exclusive economic zone (waters within 200 nautical miles of our coast), our net carbon emissions could change significantly. </p>
<p>Current estimates suggest including the oceans would reduce net emissions and help us get to net zero faster, but what happens if that changes? We must understand fully the processes controlling the “sink” to make the right climate policy choices. </p>
<p>This recalculation could shift our thinking on how to rejuvenate the Canadian economy. <a href="https://miningwatch.ca/blog/2021/2/3/canadian-organizations-call-canada-halt-mining-seabed">Investment in controversial industries such as deep-sea mining</a>, which can supply materials needed for renewable ocean-based energy technologies like those used in offshore wind, can at the same threaten the very ocean ecosystems and food systems on which we depend. Formulating effective policies in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-rush-is-on-to-mine-the-deep-seabed-with-effects-on-ocean-life-that-arent-well-understood-139833">face of these uncertainties is a major challenge</a>. Our path forward must build on our growing understanding of the deep connections between societal and ocean well-being.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-rush-is-on-to-mine-the-deep-seabed-with-effects-on-ocean-life-that-arent-well-understood-139833">A rush is on to mine the deep seabed, with effects on ocean life that aren't well understood</a>
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<p>Canadian researchers, including those at the Ocean Frontier Institute where we are based, are poised to address the fundamental questions about the ongoing role of the ocean in absorbing carbon, and to help develop appropriate policies. These conversations cut across traditional academic boundaries. In the past, ocean research was separated into the natural and applied, the social and human sciences. Now, we all need to work together. </p>
<p>The role of the ocean has been neglected for too long and must be drawn to the centre of the carbon discussion as we plot our trajectory to net-zero carbon in 2050. Canada’s carbon policies can lead the way internationally if they are grounded in strong, and strongly integrated, natural and social sciences. It is time for the research community to step up in their support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anya M. Waite receives funding from the Canadian funding body Canada First Research Excellence Fund. She works for the Ocean Frontier Institute and Dalhousie University. She is co-Chair of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad deYoung receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Milley and Ian G. Stewart do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Economic recovery and carbon neutrality are linked. Both depend on the ocean’s ability to continue to regulate climate.Anya M. Waite, CEO and Scientific Director, Ocean Frontier Institute; Professor and Associate VP Research, Dalhousie UniversityBrad deYoung, Robert Bartlett Professor of Oceanography, Memorial University of NewfoundlandChris Milley, Adjunct professor, Marine Affairs, Dalhousie UniversityIan G. Stewart, Associate professor of Humanities, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982332018-06-13T00:02:30Z2018-06-13T00:02:30ZChaos coming to Canada after U.S. decision on refugees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222898/original/file-20180612-112627-174hlwz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of asylum seekers raise their hands as they approach RCMP officers while crossing the Canadian border at Champlain, N.Y., in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent decision by the United States against victims of domestic violence has doomed the Canadian government’s attempts to stem the flow of would-be refugees flooding into Quebec from New York.</p>
<p>The short-term consequences will be more chaos at the border and in the policy units of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canadian Border Services Agency. The long-term consequences will be more tension between Ottawa and Quebec City, and better fortunes for the Conservative Party.</p>
<p>This wasn’t a deliberate attack. Canada is just collateral damage in the U.S. war on immigration.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced June 11 that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/us/politics/sessions-domestic-violence-asylum.html">victims of domestic violence will no longer be able to claim asylum in the U.S.</a> even if authorities in their home country are unable or unwilling to protect them.</p>
<h2>No asylum for domestic abuse victims</h2>
<p>Specifically, he overturned an immigration appeals court ruling that granted asylum to a woman who suffered domestic abuse and who could not get protection from authorities in her own country of El Salvador.</p>
<p>How does this relate to Canada?</p>
<p>Sessions’ proclamation puts U.S. refugee policy in direct conflict with the refugee policy of Canada. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222900/original/file-20180612-112618-1kb0zfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An asylum seeker is searched after crossing into Canada from Champlain, N.Y., near Hemmingford, Que., in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
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<p>Canada turns back would-be-refugees who arrive from the U.S. because, in theory, the two countries have similar asylum systems based on similar values and international law.</p>
<p>The 2002 <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement/final-text.html">Safe Third Country Agreement</a> rests on three pillars: That both countries follow two United Nations treaties, the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1984 Convention on Torture; that both have administrative systems that fairly and properly evaluate refugee claims; and that both respect human rights and have an independent and impartial judicial system.</p>
<h2>Sneaking into Canada</h2>
<p>The agreement requires would-be refugees seek asylum in the U.S. if they land there first, but there are exceptions. One way around the law is to sneak into Canada and ask for asylum without crossing at an official border.</p>
<p>This rule applies to almost anyone who is in the U.S. regardless of how they got there. For example, Central Americans may have entered the U.S. illegally after walking through Mexico. Nigerians may have flown in with a study visa or tourist visa.</p>
<p>In some cases, people may have been in the U.S. legally for years. Realizing they will be killed if they go home, they then come to Canada for protection because they think they have a better chance winning a refugee claim here than in the U.S. Some may even have applied for refugee status in the U.S. and been rejected.</p>
<p>(For example, the Salvadoran woman that Sessions said couldn’t file a refugee claim would have a very good chance in Canada if she came here — but only if she sneaked into the country. If she showed up at an official border crossing, she would be turned back to the United States.)</p>
<h2>Crossings increased after Trump’s win</h2>
<p>It used to be rare that people sneaked across the border to avoid the Safe Third Country Agreement so they could ask for asylum in Canada, but that changed after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency. </p>
<p>Last year, more than 18,000 people crossed fields, ditches and streams to reach Canada without being screened at an official border station. Most of them crossed from New York into Quebec.</p>
<p>The Quebec government was not amused. It complained about the cost of sheltering the asylum seekers and popular opinion turned against the flood of would-be refugees.</p>
<p>At the same time, internal polling showed Canadians in general were becoming less sympathetic to immigration, partly because of the influx of irregular refugee claimants.</p>
<p>Canadian Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen moved quickly to try to reverse the trend <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hussen-nigeria-asylum-seekers-1.4668579">with a multinational publicity campaign</a>. </p>
<p>Opposition MPs have seized on the issue, hammering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to turn back all refugee claimants who come to Canada from the U.S., even if they don’t cross at an official border.</p>
<h2>Trudeau urged to quit agreement</h2>
<p>On the other side, many of Trudeau’s allies have urged him to abandon the Safe Third Country Agreement, saying the U.S. no longer protects refugees as it should. Even members of the Liberal government that originally signed the agreement are <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-lets-ensure-our-border-remains-a-beacon-of-hope/">urging Trudeau to suspend it</a>.</p>
<p>Immigration lawyer Peter Edelmann predicted that Sessions’ ruling will force Canada to act.</p>
<p>“This announcement makes it clear that the minister needs to reconsider if the U.S. is a safe third country,” he said.</p>
<p>“It is clear that for a woman who is facing violence and has a credible fear, sending her to the U.S. is not sending her to a safe place. There appears to be no argument that the U.S. is a safe third country for that claimant.”</p>
<p>Before this week, Trudeau seemed more inclined to toughen the border and the agreement than to abandon it.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222901/original/file-20180612-112608-1t1kyz5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen speaks to reporters outside the House of Commons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle</span></span>
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<p>Hussen recently mused about changing the Safe Third Country Agreement so that Canada could automatically reject asylum seekers even if they didn’t enter Canada at an official border crossing. The new system would rely on fingerprints and eye scans taken when people first arrived in the U.S. and then made what are now called “irregular crossings.”</p>
<h2>It’s messy</h2>
<p>So, it’s messy. But Sessions just made it much messier by flat-out promising to return women to homes and countries where they are likely to be beaten and even killed.</p>
<p>There are other areas of refugee law where the two countries diverge, but this is one the Liberal government will not be able to ignore. </p>
<p>The prime minister has staked the moral authority of his government on gender equality. From the gender-balanced cabinet (remember <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-trudeau-liberal-government-cabinet-1.3304590">“Because it’s 2015”</a>?) to the G7 focus on female empowerment and economic equality, raising the status of women has been the signature value of his government. </p>
<p>If Trudeau abandons the Safe Third Country Agreement to allow more refugees to enter at the border, he will be going against the trend of public opinion in Canada and handing the Conservative Party a ready-made issue for the next federal election.</p>
<p>If he strengthens the Safe Third Country Agreement, he will knowingly risk the lives of women who are hunted in their own homelands. </p>
<p>If he does nothing, the flow of asylum seekers sneaking into Canada will increase, and he will be labelled weak and indecisive.</p>
<p>Remember <a href="http://time.com/4162306/alan-kurdi-syria-drowned-boy-refugee-crisis/">Alan Kurdi</a>, the Syrian toddler whose death on a beach in Turkey helped turn the election for Trudeau? Someone in the Prime Minister’s Office must be shivering with the thought the next election could feature the body of a woman who was turned away from Canada because we consider the United States a safe country. </p>
<p>Chaos is coming.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Toughill owns Polestar Immigration Research, which produces journalism and original research reports about Canadian immigration for media clients, foundations and institutions. Professor Toughill maintains accreditation with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council as part of her ongoing commitment to in-depth immigration research.</span></em></p>A recent decision by the United States to deny asylum for victims of domestic abuse will have unintended consequences for Canada.Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962302018-05-09T23:00:53Z2018-05-09T23:00:53ZThe importance of international students to Atlantic Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217943/original/file-20180507-46328-lufmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International students and immigrants learn about the Canadian workplace at the BEST conference at Dalhousie University in Halifax in March.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kelly Toughill)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anita faced a tough choice when she discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant. </p>
<p>If she took a term off school to care for her newborn, her family would lose its dream of settling in Canada. So, eight weeks after the summer birth, with her diplomat husband away on a long-term work assignment in the Caribbean and two more children at home, the international student from Cameroon returned to class full-time.</p>
<p>“I couldn’t understand why they would say no,” Anita said of Ottawa’s refusal to extend her student status to cover her maternity leave. “I wasn’t taking any money from government. It wouldn’t cost them anything. Why? Why would they say no?</p>
<p>"I cried every day. It was so hard. I cried and cried and cried. But I had to go back.”</p>
<p>Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2017/09/speaking_notes_forahmedhussenministerofimmigrationrefugeesandcit.html">has repeatedly urged international students to stay in Canada,</a> and the governments of all four provinces in Atlantic Canada have created special pathways to help international students transition to permanent resident status.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/newcomers-find-jobs-prosperity-in-atlantic-canada-if-they-stay-95509">Newcomers find jobs, prosperity in Atlantic Canada -- if they stay</a>
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<p>But only 11 per cent of the students who graduate from Atlantic Canada universities and colleges are still in the province of their study one year after they become permanent residents, according to research, as yet unpublished, by Prof. Michael Haan of the University of Western Ontario. </p>
<h2>Students fear breaking the law</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.i-graduate.org/services/international-student-barometer/">A new survey</a> shows that a fear of running afoul of Canada’s complex immigration laws is one factor driving students to leave the country after graduation.</p>
<p>The International Student Barometer is the largest survey of students in the world. More than 2,000 international students in Atlantic Canada were included in the latest survey, released March 1, 2018.</p>
<p>It is Nannette Ripmeester’s job to explain the results of the survey to governments, associations and institutions around the world. The biggest problems in Atlantic Canada, she says, are unrealistic expectations and false perceptions.</p>
<p>For example, four in 10 international students say they might leave Atlantic Canada after graduation because there is no suitable job in their career. However, research shows that immigrants to Atlantic Canada <a href="http://perceptionsofchange.ca/atlanticcanadianimmigrationtrends.html">actually fare better than immigrants to other regions.</a></p>
<p>A particularly troubling insight from the survey, said Ripmeester, was that one in four international students in Atlantic Canada said they might leave the region after graduation because of work permit or visa restrictions.</p>
<p>“Students come here because they want a job and they leave because they think there are no jobs available and there is difficulty with visas,” said Ripmeester. “But that is all not true.”</p>
<p>The stakes could not be higher.</p>
<h2>Universities rely on international students</h2>
<p>More than 25,000 students currently hold permits to study in Atlantic Canada. They are keeping universities afloat as domestic enrolment plummets; they are a major part of the regional economy and they are a prime source of the immigration needed to counter the region’s rapidly aging population.</p>
<p>Atlantic universities have become deeply dependent on international students. Enrolment from Canadian students <a href="http://www.atlanticuniversities.ca/statistics/aau-survey-preliminary-enrolments">dropped 10 per cent in the last 10 years</a>, and the proportion of university spaces taken by international students has doubled. Some universities, like Saint Mary’s and Cape Breton University, now draw almost a third of their students from outside Canada.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, flanked by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball, left, and Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan, talks about a program to help international students in Moncton, N.B. in February 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to research released this winter, international students contribute $795 million a year to the economy of Atlantic Canada. <a href="https://www.camet-camef.ca/images/2018-02-20_EconomicImpactofInternationalStudents-WEB.PDF">The study</a>, conducted for the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training, found that international students are responsible for 6,731 jobs in the region and contribute $22 million annually in taxes. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.atlanticuniversities.ca/sites/default/files/documents/CONSUPReports/University%20Export%20Value%20NS%202017.pdf">2017 report commissioned by the Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents</a> estimates that in-province spending by international students is Nova Scotia’s fourth-largest export: Smaller than the seafood industry, but larger than forestry.</p>
<p>Canada has one of the easiest immigration paths for students in the world, yet the survey found that international students in Atlantic Canada have the same level of anxiety around work permits and visas as international students in Europe and the United States, where it is almost impossible to stay after graduation.</p>
<p>Anita asked that her real name not be published because she’s currently applying for permanent resident status. She fears that publicly discussing her story might affect her file.</p>
<p>She was caught by a rule that says students must be engaged in continuous full-time study to be eligible for a post-graduation work permit. </p>
<p>It would have been very difficult for her to understand the immigration consequences of pregnancy in advance. Until last year, campus immigration advisers routinely advised students that they could take a term off for illness, pregnancy or family emergencies as long as their school reported them to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as on “authorized leave.” That was wrong.</p>
<h2>Eligibility lost</h2>
<p>In fact, students lose their eligibility for a work permit after graduation even if they leave school for cancer treatment, to care for a dying relative — or to give birth to a baby.</p>
<p>When Canada introduced the <a href="https://visaguide.world/canada-visa/permanent/express-entry/">Express Entry</a> system three years ago, many students who had been planning their immigration for years <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/international-students-in-limbo-under-immigration-system-changes/article23588415/">suddenly lost their path</a>. The program used most often by students was shut down, and most students didn’t have enough points to be chosen out of the Express Entry pool of candidates.</p>
<p>Ottawa <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/express-entry-reforms/">revised the point system</a> in November 2016 to make it easier for students to become permanent residents through Express Entry, but students must be very knowledgeable and very careful to make sure they will qualify.</p>
<p>For example, hundreds of international students were caught by a rule change that decreed graduates of private colleges are not eligible for the crucial post-graduation work permit. That change was not clear on IRCC’s website and even immigration lawyers and consultants sometimes missed it when advising clients.</p>
<p>Then there are students who take a job hoping to accumulate the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html">one year of Canadian employment experience needed for Express Entry</a> only to discover too late that working as a bank teller, a food server or a receptionist won’t qualify them for the fast-track immigration program. An applicant, in fact, needs experience as a manager, a professional or in a job that the government considers skilled.</p>
<p>They are small stories that represent big problems for students, their institutions and the local economy.</p>
<p>IRCC has recognized the confusion. Last year it set up a system to improve service and communication. And in early 2018, the government revamped its website so that students can clearly see whether attending a specific school in Canada will qualify them for a post-graduation work permit.</p>
<p>Haan, of the University of Western Ontario, found that international students were less likely to settle in Atlantic Canada than other regions, but he also found that retention varies widely by citizenship. </p>
<p>Chinese students are the least likely to stay, which is bad news for Atlantic Canada since Chinese students make up more than a third of the international students in this region.</p>
<p>Anita’s not leaving Charlottetown. She says life would be easier for her in Montreal, where most people speak her mother tongue, but her children are happy in Prince Edwards Island and all her neighbours look out for each other. She won’t give that up.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article derives from The People Imperative. Kelly Toughill researched and wrote the report for the Public Policy Forum, which is conducting a three-year project on Atlantic immigration and revitalization.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Toughill heads Polestar Immigration Research, a small media company that produces original journalism and research reports about Canadian immigration. The company's clients include many media outlets and non-profit groups, some of which are partially funded by the government of Canada. Professor Toughill maintains accreditation with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council as part of her ongoing commitment to in-depth immigration research.
</span></em></p>Ottawa and the governments of all four Maritime provinces have created pathways to help international students transition to permanent resident status. But fear causes too many to return home.Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/957702018-05-06T16:31:49Z2018-05-06T16:31:49ZHow newcomer entrepreneurs are making a difference in Atlantic Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216759/original/file-20180429-135830-szko6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=141%2C292%2C1339%2C866&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Suzanne Phillips and Adish Gebreselase are seen at Splitt Ends Unisex Hair Design, a storefront salon in Halifax that Phillips sold to the Eritrean immigrant last year. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kelly Toughill)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Adish Gebreselase is golden.</p>
<p>The barber from Eritrea represents the highest hopes and dreams of government policy makers in Atlantic Canada: A newcomer who is running a business and creating jobs.</p>
<p>Perhaps that’s why Suzanne Phillips is crying.</p>
<p>“I’m just so happy for him,” she said, watching Gebreselase being interviewed at the end of her shift. “And I’m so happy for my baby.”</p>
<p>Her “baby” is Splitt Ends Unisex Hair Design, a storefront salon in Halifax that Phillips opened with her mother 30 years ago and where she has worked ever since. She sold the shop to Gebreselase in September.</p>
<p>“It was time,” she said. “You have to have new blood, new ideas. There was so much stress: The books, managing staff. I was exhausted, just so exhausted.”</p>
<p>Thousands of small business owners in Atlantic Canada are exhausted. They want to retire, but in a region that’s rapidly aging and has fewer young people — and fewer still who stay —there is no one to take over or buy their businesses.</p>
<h2>Encouraging immigrants to start businesses</h2>
<p>Provincial governments in Atlantic Canada have been trying to encourage immigrants to become entrepreneurs for more than a decade. There are immigration programs for newcomers who want to start businesses and for those who buy existing businesses.</p>
<p>Early versions of the programs in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island collapsed <a href="http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/immigrant-investor-program-in-maritimes-collapses-in-scandal-lawsuits">in allegations of corruption</a>. Immigrants had to invest in private businesses owned by local residents and it was unclear what they received in return — other than permanent resident status.</p>
<p>P.E.I.’s program has been the most controversial. Only 20 per cent of the immigrants who were nominated for permanent resident status between 2008 and 2013 were still in the province at the end of that period. By contrast, 60 per cent of newcomers who arrived in P.E.I. as refugees in that period stayed, and 73 per cent of family-sponsored newcomers stayed.</p>
<p>A 2012 change to the program required immigrants post a $200,000 bond to ensure that they stayed in the province after landing. But many have treated that as the cost of immigration and moved to Toronto and Vancouver anyway.</p>
<p>P.E.I. nominated 269 immigrant entrepreneurs for permanent resident status on the basis of their business plans between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Only 92 entrepreneurs qualified to get the business portion of their bonds back, and 30 of those closed their businesses shortly after. The province kept more than $18 million in forfeited bonds.</p>
<h2>Nominated by a community</h2>
<p>P.E.I. changed its system again in 2018. Now immigrants who want to buy a business can be nominated by a town and will be <a href="https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/topic/immigrate-pei-entrepreneur">scored on a point system</a>. But it’s unclear what is required to win a town nomination and the bond system remains in place. </p>
<p>New Brunswick recently relaunched <a href="http://welcomenb.ca/content/wel-bien/en/becoming_an_immigrant-entrpreneur.html">its entrepreneur stream</a> with a similar system that evaluates applications on points and requires a bond, but the price of entry is half that of P.E.I.’s: $100,000.</p>
<p>Nova Scotia’s <a href="https://novascotiaimmigration.com/move-here/entrepreneur/">new program</a> does not require a bond. Launched at the beginning of 2016, it requires newcomers to run a business for at least a year before they apply for nomination. So far, 1,844 newcomers have gone through the preliminary process to indicate they will be applying, but the province has not nominated anyone for permanent resident status yet.</p>
<p><a href="https://novascotiaimmigration.com/move-here/international-graduate-entrepreneur/">Nova Scotia</a> and <a href="http://www.welcomenb.ca/content/wel-bien/en/becoming_an_immigrant-entrpreneur/content/post-graduate-entrepreneurial-stream.html">New Brunswick</a> also have special immigration streams for international students who want to start businesses after they graduate from a local college or university.</p>
<p>Newfoundland does not have a provincial immigration stream dedicated to entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>Gerry Mills, former executive director of Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, says many newcomers are starting and buying businesses, but they tend to be people who have already been in Canada for a while and didn’t come through one of the special immigration streams for entrepreneurs.</p>
<h2>Growing Eritrean community</h2>
<p>Like Adish Gebreselase.</p>
<p>He, his pregnant wife and his three-year-old daughter landed in Canada in January 2014. Gebreselase had been a barber in Eritrea and in the Middle East. They came to Halifax because his wife has relatives in the city and they have friends in the growing Eritrean community.</p>
<p>He found a job at a salon in Halifax. A year later, a mutual friend introduced him to Suzanne Phillips.</p>
<p>Phillips’ mother and grandmother were both stylists, and her father was a barber. She launched the little shop on the ground floor of an apartment building with money she inherited from her grandmother. Her mother was her business partner.</p>
<p>Halifax has changed a lot since 1986, when Phillips opened Splitt Ends. The bus that stops outside her shop follows a route that serves universities that now rely on international students to survive. </p>
<p>One recent night, six students got off at the stop: Two dark-skinned women with intricate braids woven around their scalps; two young Chinese women with long flowing black hair, a tall, broad white man with very short hair and a lanky man with cascading curls.</p>
<p>“We can do anyone’s hair now!” said Phillips, who continues to work at the salon she no longer owns.</p>
<p>“It used to be that if a Black person came to the door, I had to say, ‘Sorry,’ because we didn’t have those skills here. Not anymore.”</p>
<h2>No government loans or grants</h2>
<p>Gebreselase started working at the salon last summer and bought it in September.</p>
<p>Staff at the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia helped him navigate the sale, but there were no government loans or grants involved. The salon employs four people.</p>
<p>Phillips boasts about Gebreselase as a mother would: How he worked as a cleaner last summer every night from 10 p.m. to midnight after finishing his shift at the salon, how he has enrolled in a high school program at Nova Scotia Community College to fill the morning hours before the salon opens, how he fills every moment with homework or salon business.</p>
<p>“This fellow is a workhorse.”</p>
<p>Gebreselase does not brag. Asked about going to school, he said: “I need something to do in the morning.”</p>
<p>Asked about why he chose Atlantic Canada, and why he chose to run a business instead of work for one, he cited friends and family, and security.</p>
<p>“It’s quiet here, and in Canada you can do whatever you want. It’s better to have your own business. Money is nothing if you don’t have peace of mind.”</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article derives from The People Imperative. Kelly Toughill researched and wrote the report for the Public Policy Forum, which is conducting a three-year project on Atlantic immigration and revitalization.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Toughill heads Polestar Immigration Research, a small media company that produces original journalism and research reports about Canadian immigration. The company's clients include many media outlets and non-profit groups, some of which are partially funded by the government of Canada. Professor Toughill maintains accreditation with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council as part of her ongoing commitment to in-depth immigration research.</span></em></p>Provincial governments in Atlantic Canada have been trying to encourage immigrants to become entrepreneurs for more than a decade. Some are boldly answering the call.Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/957312018-04-30T19:52:43Z2018-04-30T19:52:43ZHow Atlantic Canada’s businesses are trying to attract immigrants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216669/original/file-20180427-135810-1e1rb25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Atlantic Ballet Theatre will soon premier Alien, a new piece that explores the immigrant experience. Of the ballet's 21 full-time employees, 12 are immigrants who come from nine different countries. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Stephen MacGillivray/Public Policy Forum</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Susan Wilson made history this year when Canadian conglomerate J.D. Irving Ltd. made her its first director of immigration.</p>
<p>Irving, Atlantic Canada’s largest private company, has been recruiting overseas for a long time. Employees in its giant IT centre come from 14 different countries and make up 11 per cent of the staff. There are scores of foreign-born workers in its forestry, trucking and manufacturing divisions, but the company has never before set up a department dedicated to their needs.</p>
<p>Irving launched a centre of excellence in immigration at the beginning of 2018 because it knows that the labour shortage in Atlantic Canada is poised to go from tough to devastating. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216665/original/file-20180427-135810-wgzjvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jim Irving, CEO of J.D. Irving Ltd., chats with IT staff from Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria and India at his company’s headquarters in Saint John, N.B.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">J.D. Irving Ltd.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The company will hire more than 8,000 people over the next three years. Francis McGuire, president of the federal government’s Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, predicts that up to one third of those workers will come from outside Canada. He says the region is moving into a labour drought and that some businesses will not survive without international recruitment.</p>
<p>“In the 1990s, you’d have a call centre job fair and you’d have 1,000 people. Now you get 31 people and all of them are employed, they are just looking to improve their situation,” he said.</p>
<p>“This is a dramatic change in the landscape of the Maritimes. The paradigm has completely shifted. The public discourse has to catch up, and government policies have to change.”</p>
<h2>Thousands of jobs, no one to fill them</h2>
<p>Reports by the <a href="https://www.apec-econ.ca/publications/view/?do-load=1&publication.id=328&site.page.id=51001">Atlantic Provinces Economic Council</a> , the <a href="http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=9138">Conference Board of Canada</a> and the pivotal 2014 <a href="https://onens.ca/img/now-or-never.pdf">“Report of the Nova Scotia Commission on Building our New Economy”</a> have all warned of upcoming labour shortages. <a href="http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=2850001&&pattern=&stByVal=1&p1=1&p2=-1&tabMode=dataTable&csid=">Statistics Canada</a> reports that the region had more than 23,000 jobs without the workers to fill them.</p>
<p>But for many companies, the crisis is already here. Big companies, small companies, high-tech start-ups and century-old family firms all reported trouble finding the people they need to operate. </p>
<p>The labour shortage is masked by unemployment rates higher than the national average, explained McGuire, because many local residents either don’t have the skills in demand or can’t move to where their skills are needed.</p>
<p>Ganong Bros. Ltd. lost customers this year because it was short 40 workers and couldn’t fill orders for the famous chocolates it has made in St. Stephen, N.B. since 1873.</p>
<p>Len Tucker owns Tim Hortons franchises in Deer Lake and St. Anthony, NL. He, his wife and his daughter all work full-time in the family business because they are chronically short five or six employees.</p>
<p>“If someone walks in the store, we hire them,” he said. “We don’t let them leave. We don’t even let them go out the door.”</p>
<p>Many people are working on solutions.</p>
<h2>Convincing workers to put down roots</h2>
<p>All four provinces have developed immigration streams that help employers recruit workers from outside Canada. In 2017, the federal government established the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/atlantic-immigration-pilot.html">Atlantic Immigration Pilot</a>, a three-year experiment that gives business a lead role in deciding who can settle in Canada. </p>
<p>The hope is that the new program will convince workers from abroad to put down roots. </p>
<p>Employers can recruit internationally without going through a lengthy approval process that requires advertising for Canadian workers, but they must develop a settlement plan to help employees adjust to Canadian life. </p>
<p>The bonus for workers is that they can bring their families with them immediately and they are fast-tracked for permanent resident status. The Atlantic Immigration Pilot can shave years off the time it takes a foreign national to become a permanent resident of Canada.</p>
<p>As of Feb. 1, 2018, almost 900 employers in Atlantic Canada were approved to participate in the program; more than 1,000 employees had either applied for permanent residence through the pilot or were preparing their paperwork to do so; 150 applications for permanent residence had been approved.</p>
<p>The pilot did not meet its ambitious goal to bring 2,000 workers into the region in its first year, but it’s picking up speed quickly, in part because the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency has dedicated 15 staff just to visit employers and help them understand the benefits of the program — and how to do the paperwork.</p>
<p>“This translates into new workers and their families arriving in Atlantic Canada every month to fill job vacancies and help grow the economy,” Faith St. John, a communications adviser for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), wrote in response to a query about the program.</p>
<h2>‘Worldwide labour shortage’</h2>
<p>Day & Ross Transportation Group was one of the first companies to bring workers to Canada using the Atlantic Immigration Pilot. It took about eight months to get through the paperwork; two computer programmers from India arrived in November and an IT specialist from Cuba arrived in December.</p>
<p>“There is a worldwide shortage of labour in our industry,” said Mark Osborne, vice president of human relations for Day & Ross.</p>
<p>“But people don’t realize it’s not just drivers. Transportation is complex. We track behaviour, emissions efficiency, location. We need people in IT, finance, accounting, dispatch.”</p>
<p>Trucking is not the only traditional job that has been transformed by technology. </p>
<p>When Irving puts out a call for forestry workers, it is no longer looking for strong backs and well-oiled chainsaws. The company now uses a sophisticated light system to chart every tree, stream, slope and gully in the forests that it owns and manages. Cutting down trees has turned into a computer job. </p>
<p>Workers still operate machines, but they are looking at a computer screen guided by more than 25 billion data points. The axe has given way to the joy stick.</p>
<p>A key part of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program is getting employers to go beyond their traditional role and help newcomers thrive outside of work. The theory is that recruits will only stay if they are happy.</p>
<h2>‘On-the-ground-support’ for immigrants</h2>
<p>That kind of on-the-ground support is something the Atlantic Ballet Theatre has been doing for more than a decade. The Moncton-based dance company has perfected many of the best practices that big business is now being urged to adopt.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=625&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=625&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=625&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216670/original/file-20180427-135806-1pkmqif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Atlantic Ballet Theatre is staging immigration summits that will combine performances with day-long workshops about immigration challenges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen MacGillivray/Public Policy Forum</span></span>
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<p>“Our viability depends on foreign workers,” said co-founder and CEO Susan Chalmers-Gauvin. “We have to pay very close attention to our people to see if they are happy or if they are sad. I am always keeping an eye.”</p>
<p>Of its 21 full-time employees, 12 are immigrants. They come from nine different countries.</p>
<p>Louis-Philippe Dionne, the operations manager and a former company dancer, scouts apartments for new recruits before they arrive. He meets dancers at the airport, takes them to Service Canada to get a social insurance number and to the bank to set up an account. </p>
<p>The company brings a retired professor into the studio for English lessons before and after rehearsals. Dancers are escorted to church, to the supermarket and the mall. Dionne makes sure the dancers have good winter boots and coats and links the dancers to local families who share their culture.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216671/original/file-20180427-135814-cljv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Susan Chalmers-Gauvin of the Atlantic Ballet Theatre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen MacGillivray/Public Policy Forum</span></span>
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<p>Chalmers-Gauvin says she spends up to 20 per cent of her time dealing with cultural and immigration issues.</p>
<p>McGuire says the next task is education for the whole region. </p>
<p>“This has completely changed the mentality in the Maritimes,” he said. “We are going through a massive education piece. It is a tremendous sociological challenge.”</p>
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<p><em>This article derives from The People Imperative. Kelly Toughill researched and wrote the report for the Public Policy Forum, which is conducting a three-year project on Atlantic immigration and revitalization.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Toughill heads Polestar Immigration Research, a small media company that produces original journalism and research reports about Canadian immigration. The company's clients include many media outlets and non-profit groups, some of which are partially funded by the government of Canada. Professor Toughill maintains accreditation with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council as part of her ongoing commitment to in-depth immigration research.</span></em></p>Atlantic Canada has thousands of available jobs with no one to fill them. Here’s what various companies, big and small, are doing to attract and retain immigrant workers.Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/955092018-04-29T15:50:16Z2018-04-29T15:50:16ZNewcomers find jobs, prosperity in Atlantic Canada – if they stay<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216040/original/file-20180424-94118-3jyg0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It took Anna Tselichtchev two years to love Atlantic Canada. This tree helped.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kelly Toughill</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If Anna Tselichtchev had been able to flee rural New Brunswick when she first arrived, she would have been gone in a flash. Now, she wouldn’t leave for anything.</p>
<p>The factors that transformed the mother of two from an Israeli with itchy feet to a dedicated Atlantic Canadian are the focus of intense study in this part of the world as policy makers, employers and academics puzzle over how to boost immigration to help the regional economy.</p>
<p>Immigrants who stay in Atlantic Canada have higher employment levels, higher wages and face less discrimination than immigrants to other parts of Canada, yet the region struggles to attract newcomers and has the lowest retention rates in Canada.</p>
<p>Atlantic Canada is engaged in a radical experiment in population management that has profound implications not just for this region, but for the country as a whole. The demographic bomb that threatens Canada is set to go off here first:</p>
<p>— Atlantic Canada has Canada’s lowest birth rate, highest median age and often sends more residents to other parts of Canada than it takes in.</p>
<p>— Francis McGuire, president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, points out that there are more than 20,000 jobs unfilled in the region.</p>
<p>— Across Atlantic Canada, one in every five residents is already over the age of 65. That compares to a rate of one in six across Canada.</p>
<p>— Newfoundland and Labrador schools have lost a third of their students since 1996; more people have died than were born in the province for each of the last three years and the average age is almost three years older than the Canadian average of 41. The <a href="https://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/PopulationProject/">Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development at Memorial University</a> predicts the provincial population will drop 10 per cent by 2036 and that some towns could see drops of 30 per cent or more.</p>
<p>— New Brunswick had an actual population decline in 2016 and has lost one fifth of its school-age children in the last two decades.</p>
<p>— In Nova Scotia, the resilient economy of Halifax is the only factor propping up the province’s population. Every region outside the provincial capital declined in the last census.</p>
<h2>Immigration the solution</h2>
<p>Many agree that a massive increase in immigration is an inescapable part of the solution. All four provincial governments have made boosting immigration a key priority and Ottawa has stepped in with Canada’s first regional immigration program: The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/atlantic-immigration-pilot.html">Atlantic Immigration Pilot</a>.</p>
<p>But deciding to transform your society with new blood is easier than actually doing it.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-truth-about-migrants-they-want-to-work-pay-tax-make-friends-and-integrate-14058">The truth about migrants – they want to work, pay tax, make friends and integrate</a>
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<p>Only 18 per cent of the immigrants who landed in Prince Edward Island in 2011 were still there five years later. The rates are better in New Brunswick (52 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (56 per cent) and Nova Scotia (72 per cent), but they still fall far behind Ontario and Alberta, which kept 91 per cent of the immigrants who arrived in 2011, and British Columbia, which had a retention rate of 88 per cent over the same period.</p>
<p>Ottawa began shifting immigration responsibility to the provinces about 20 years ago.</p>
<p>The learning curve was steep. Initial programs in several provinces fell apart.</p>
<p>Now provincial recruiters target specific countries, make sure that potential newcomers know that Atlantic Canada is cold, rural and not particularly diverse, and they design immigration programs that encourage newcomers to settle.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=671&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216683/original/file-20180427-135817-1wd439x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=844&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">How Canada’s Atlantic provinces are trying to attract – and keep – newcomers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public Policy Forum</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The decision to come to Atlantic Canada and the decision to stay are two very different things.</p>
<p>Surveys show that immigrants leave the region in search of better jobs, but research suggests that’s not what they will find. In fact, immigrants in Atlantic Canada fare better economically than the average immigrant across Canada, and in some cases better than native-born Canadians.</p>
<h2>Higher wages in Atlantic Canada</h2>
<p>A profile of immigrant tax filers in Atlantic Canada published by Dalhousie University professors <a href="http://perceptionsofchange.ca/atlanticcanadianimmigrationtrends.html">Yoko Yoshida and Howard Ramos</a> found that immigrants to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland were more likely to be employed and earned higher wages than the average immigrant in Canada who landed at the same time. Immigrants to P.E.I. were below the Canadian average, as were spouses of primary applicants and refugees.</p>
<p>Professor Ather Akbari at Saint Mary’s University found that <a href="http://www.smu.ca/centres-and-institutes/newspostings/october2017immigrantsleadarticle.html">immigrants in Atlantic Canada actually earn more than Canadian-born workers</a> with similar skills who live in Atlantic Canada, though that wage advantage has narrowed over the last decade.</p>
<p>Research also disputes the familiar assumption that urban areas are more welcoming than small towns. </p>
<p>Dalhousie University’s Ramos recently looked at actual experiences of discrimination based on ethnicity, race and language. Overall, the incidence of discrimination was far lower in rural areas than in big cities. Atlantic Canada came out particularly well, with very low rates of discrimination compared to Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia.</p>
<p>To be sure, newcomers do encounter hate and discrimination in Atlantic Canada, as in any other place.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/newfoundland-needs-immigrants-and-anti-racism-action-now-94712">Newfoundland needs immigrants and anti-racism action now</a>
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<p><a href="http://thebruns.ca/2018/01/19/anti-semitic-group-claims-responsibility-for-white-supremacist-posters-found-on-unb-campus/">Neo-Nazi posters</a> have been plastered on the campus of University of New Brunswick and on light poles in Charlottetown. Earlier this year, a Royal Legion manager in P.E.I. demanded that a Sikh customer <a href="http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/tignish-pei-legion-to-issue-apology-for-demanding-sikh-man-remove-religious-head-covering-179003/">remove his turban</a>.</p>
<p>Gerry Mills, former executive director of the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, says there are three keys to retention: Jobs, family and community.</p>
<p>“We shouldn’t underestimate the last one, the community one. If the children are happy in school, if the partner has fulfilling work, if the family is included in community events and contributing to the whole community, if they are able to practice their faith,” says Mills.</p>
<h2>Friendly Atlantic-Canadians</h2>
<p>Israeli immigrant Esti Barlevy tells a story about her first day in Saint John, when a stranger said “hello” to her on the street and asked how she was doing.</p>
<p>“I thought, ‘Why would he do that?’ I thought, ‘Why would he care?</p>
<p>"Then I realized that people here just care about each other for no benefit to themselves. People just care. It was a shock. I had never seen that before. In Israel, they wouldn’t ask how you are even if they know you.”</p>
<p>When the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration <a href="http://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/CIMM/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=9399895">held hearings on immigration in Atlantic Canada</a>, several witnesses said the government shouldn’t make it easier or faster for newcomers to become permanent residents in the region because they’ll leave as soon as they get the precious Permanent Resident card that allows them to work anywhere in Canada.</p>
<p>Anna Tselichtchev agrees.</p>
<p>Interviewed in the fluorescent-lit break room of a small office in Woodstock, N.B., Tselichtchev described a slow transformation. </p>
<p>First, she realized she had to flee the violence of Tel Aviv. Then she brought her two young boys to join her husband, who had snagged a job as a trucker in rural New Brunswick. Then she found herself slowing down in ways she could not have imagined in her go-hard-and-get-things-done lifestyle in Tel Aviv. She waited to get a work permit. She volunteered. She made Canadian friends.</p>
<p>In early spring of her second year in Canada, she peered out the window of their home and saw tiny hints of light green dotting the winter-bare limbs of the old oak in the yard. She couldn’t believe that seeing those shards of new life made her want to cry.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t even leaves, just little things … Nature is beautiful here. New Brunswick is beautiful, and this makes me so happy. Maybe when I was 20 I couldn’t see this beauty, but I cannot lose this beauty now.”</p>
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<p><em>This article derives from <a href="https://www.ppforum.ca/publications/the-people-imperative-strategies-to-grow-population-and-prosperity-in-atlantic-canada/">The People Imperative</a>. Kelly Toughill researched and wrote the report for the Public Policy Forum, which is conducting a <a href="https://www.ppforum.ca/project/immigration-atlantic-revitalization/">three-year project</a> on Atlantic immigration and revitalization.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Toughill heads Polestar Immigration Research, a small media company that produces original journalism and research reports about immigration in Canada. The company's clients include many media outlets and non-profit groups, some of which are partially funded by the government of Canada. Professor Toughill maintains accreditation with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council as part of her ongoing commitment to in-depth immigration research. </span></em></p>Immigrants in Atlantic Canada have higher employment levels, higher wages and face less discrimination than other Canadian immigrants, yet the region has the lowest retention rates in the country.Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.