Americans top list of illegals working in Canada: report

This is a message to all American illegals living here and to the American authorities.
Ten years ago, when myself and members of our family were not Canadian citizens, went back home, overseas. At the time, we had no idea that we needed a transit Visa to get into the precious country U.S. Same thing for Canada. We used our passports from our native country, passports and citizenship we will always be proud of. I will have to say that the Canadian as well as American citizens when travelling to our country do not need any Visa, courtesy of our own Authorities back home. Or how they negotiated their status. Instead, we get slapped in our faces and are told that we need one. Well, we bought the ticket and off we went overseas. The plane had to stop in Minneapolis and then we had to exchange it with another one, KLM, if I remember correctly. The minute we stepped into the airport, we were escorted to a specific area where we were not allowed to get out and walk into the airport. They treated us like criminals. They forced us to wear badges, indicating that we were in transit, just like the Nazis did to the Jews in WWII. Useless to say that we had a huge argument and that we had no intention whatsoever to remain in the States, just like we had no intention to live in Canada for the rest of our lives (we had enough time to figure everything out and see the discriminating process explained easily in your article). After two hours of grueling wait, we had to go to the KLM area. A US Nazi escorted us, our passports were in their hands. The passports were given to the flight attendants and could not see them until the plane landed in Holland. These are the Americans and letting them stay here illegally, when we had to pay huge fees to get legally into Canada (we are professionals with degrees and years of work, honest citizens), letting them stay here illegally is another slap on our faces. We are glad we left Canada and the North American continent. You are too precious and too important for the rest of the world. We are happy to be HOME now, where we belong. So, you may go to Hell, Americans!

Now if it was the other way around..........God help you............you would be treated like a criminal if you went to the US and (GOD FORBID)ended up in a line up in a food bank .

Send them back,just like anybody else who came here illegally.We don't need the "cream of American society"sneaking into Canada across our borders.
Isn't it the American govt. saying that Canada was allowing people to sneak into the US ?? They should get a big mirror and have a good long look at the problem.
Why are Americans claiming "refugee status" in Canada?
Apply legally from the US & WAIT YOU TURN JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

mascare- problem with Americans coming here illegally, they are a large percentage of the time deserters from the US military. first off there is no draft so they signed up voluntarily. we see several articles in the paper every year and they are always the same, they voluntarily signed up for the free college but after they got the free education and they were required to actually do military stuff they scampered across the border claiming to be a conscientious objector and of course with Toronto being that bastion of socialism they support this mentality to the nth degree.

As for Cris, after reading your little whiny rant where you compare moving in transit through a foreign country to the holocaust? I am glad you are back home home, please stay there, we have enough whiny self entitled jerks of our own we dont need you. Last time I travelled over seas I went through the exact same scenario only in Europe so its not something new. Grow up.

They took ur Jerbs ! (Thank you Southpark)
That said...
We need to maintain some form of sanctuary (on both sides of the border) to provide a buffer for when politicians get overeager and engage in crazy actions.
Who knows, perhaps at some point in time people in Canada might even regard soldiers that refused to go kill Iraqi's as conscientious objectors as worthy of refuge as did the Americans who provided , W.L. Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau refuge in 1837.
A relief valve in both directions is a good thing.

US citizens should be treated the same way as they treat canadians. after 9/11 i never visited
US even in transit as i feel as a canadian i am no. 1 in the world and i cannot allow a filthy
american to humilate me because i am on US soil. How these filthy americans are coming to
canada to work illegally,

When I came to Canada, I done it LEGALLY. I see no reason for ANY American to come to work here in Canada, just because. They need to do it legally. I did. Then I became a Canadian and as far as I am concerned I am a Canadian and US citizen. Come on Americans, get it done right. They should send you back to the states and deny your entry for 5 years.

Offering people foodbank services is hardly a municipal service. We are not talking about paying their utility bills or fixing a pothole outside their home. Foodbanks run on donations and are sometimes subsidized by city districts "IF" they are not affiliated with any religious order. Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, etc; receive a tax exception but not much else. I guess what I am really saying is that in the past churches and certain areas such as cemeteries where considered sacred ground. I do not think giving hungry people food should fall under the domain of municipal services.

These ideals are what this country was founded on. Everyone has the right to eat regardless of whatever means they found their way here. This is a universal right. The most frustrating part of this is that many of the people who have commented here are now Canadian Citizens they may now speak English or French; they may now have jobs and pay taxes to this country but they clearly do not understand what it truly means to be a Canadian. No country should refuse to feed hungry people.

Life is but a dream folks, some live it others awake from it. Fact is there are rules and regulations we all must follow and at the same time respect all the various Countries laws. Really simple we do this 1 to 20 or we are illegal end of story. Oh by the way open the food banks to criminals I think not-sure our Gov. was not behind this sounds like their logic!?

I am a Canadian born and bred, but I also have another nationality. My children are Canadian, but also have another nationality. My husband was born another nationality, and I had to sponsor him to come to Canada after many years of marriage.... where he was treated like SH1T. Was it because he spoke another language, or had a different race, or was a different religion? You might jump to that conclusion. But guess what?! He's more English than Canadians can claim to be, white, and anglican. The fact is that he suffered from discrimination as bold and brassy as daylight. He was told he had no right to be here by our neighbours - literally, and was completely unable to find a job because his work experience abroad was deemed "irrelevant". Tthough jobs were available in his industry, people got their jobs on the basis of "who they knew, not what they knew" - and we ended up having to sink our life savings into starting a business so that he could work. Eventually after many years of struggling night and day to run his own business, hampered by the inability to get decent commercial credit to be able to facilitate cash flow, because "he had no credit history in THIS country", his business failed and we had to go back to HIS country. But not before we lost everything we'd ever had! It's not just "illegal" immigrants who suffer in Canada. To those of you who claim that Canada is a loving, welcoming, just, fair country - please - take off the rose coloured spectacles! Your "vision" of Canada just doesn't measure up to reality. The deck is stacked against immigrants - legal or not. And as for the aspect of Americans, Australians, Kiwis, Brits, Irish and citizens of other nations where English is the first language coming here to work illegally note that if our current immigration system actually recognized and welcomed the opportunity to make it easier for THESE people to obtain temporary work permits to fill jobs that Canadians can't or won't do, then you WOULDN"T see illegal immigration at all from these countries. The fact is that it is almost impossible to come to Canada UNLESS you are a refugee. End of story. The system is so broken that only a wrecking ball could fix it! So it's hardly surprising that people sick of the 2 year minimum backlog for legitimate applications decide to treat the system with the contempt that it deserves and just walk in!

I am not sure what the big hoopla is about. I have volunteered at several foodbanks, and even run events to raise food for them, and not once in any of those visits was anyone asked for identification as a Canadian citizen. So, my question is, what is this new "access without fear" movement about? Were people being turned away from the foodbanks? I mean heck, I have even witnessed people who had blue collar incomes using foodbanks and no one asked them for a bank statement.

As for illegal Americans in Canada. I am sure the situation is the same on the other side...that is, illegal Canadians in the US. What upsets me is that Americans are allowed to work in Canada for short periods of time with no repercussions but Canadians cannot do the same in the US. I understand the economy is crap in the US, but if their citizens can work in Canada for less than 5 days and not suffer consequences, then the same should be true of Canadian citizens and residents.

I don't subscribe to the theory that all applicants to Canada should be treated absolutely equally. Before you rush to judgement on that statement, read this in full.... I have every empathy for people who want to come to Canada for a better life. There is no crime in wanting to have a better life for your family. I have no racist sentiments (I have friends from every colour, ethnic background, religion, and most of my friends have another language as their first language) However, I'm going to say it because it needs to be said and most Canadians are too gutless and scared of being "branded" a racist to actually speak it. Such a typical Canadian affliction - the fear of being "seen to be prejudiced". Facepalm ;) - only in Canada!

If you have English as your first language (or French and want to go to Quebec) then you should jump to the top of the immigration list. That's not racist - that is practical. It's NOT about your ethnic origin, or your religion (many people now born and raised in English speaking countries are neither white nor of Christian origin - but their first language is English because that is the culture that they have been immersed in as a child) Canada is an English/ French speaking country, with an English nod to the fact that the French were here first, so the govt felt the need to make us a "bilingual country" and provide all govt. services in French as well. So.... when the balance of population sees us at equal levels of Mandarin/ Cantonese/ Punjabi/ Hindi/ Arabic speakers as first languages, how long will it be before you now have to speak one of THOSE languages in order to get a govt. job, just as you now have to speak French to get a govt. job? We now already see a situation in Richmond, BC, where the majority of the population are so unable to understand English that there are no English signs AT ALL in the local area. The balance of population in that city speak either Mandarin or Cantonese. Whilst Madarin and Cantonese are surely useful languages in China, these people are in Canada, where English/ French are supposed to be the first languages! The difficulty is not that I don't want people who speak other languages in Canada - far from it! I positively welcome diversity! I know 3rd and 4th generation Canadians who still maintain their Polish, Hungarian, Danish, German, Japanese, and Chinese cultural traditions with great pride! It isn't about not wanting to give other cultures the opportunity to come to Canada. The difficulty is that our currrent immigration gives absolutely no preference to people who DO speak English or French as a first language! Trust me! I know because I had to fill in all 90 pages of my husband's application to come to Canada! It's done on a points scoring system, and the number of people in your family (not necessarily YOU - the APPLICANT) who have a PhD actually has far more bearing on your application that whether or not you speak English! The things that the Canadian Government has prioritized as "valuable" are completely out-of-sync with the reality of why we want people to come to Canada! You might be qualified out-the-ying-yang in your own country - that's great! But as a high-scoring priority on the test used to admit immigrants it is about as irrelevant as could be! We have Consultant Doctors driving taxis because they couldn't get their credentials recognized when they moved here! How about the Canadian government wake up to the fact that if you are applying to come to Canada from an English (or French) speaking first-world country, that you are far more likely to be able to have your qualifications recognized? It's certainly not about whether intelligent, skilled professionals can do their job - undoubtedly they can, it's about whether the Professional Associations and employers will put obstacles in their way once they arrive preventing them from actually taking up the jobs that the Canadian government hopes that they will fill, thus giving them priority to come to Canada in the first place!!!! The government would be far better giving priority to English/French first-language speakers, and realizing that most people coming here are going to have to take lesser jobs than they had in their own countries, period, so that the shortage in skilled trades, for example can be filled with unemployed Irish manual labourers etc. That was how our country was built in the first place! Can you imagine how dysfunctional Canada would be if they'd applied our current "Education-first" criteria to the immigrant farmers who built our Praries?!?! How about to the fishermen who were fishing the Grand Banks? I wonder how many of THEM had PhD's?!?!?! The simple answer to that is NONE! But without exception that they all spoke, or learned to speak English or French well enough to assymilate! Realize that unless we are going to become a country of over-qualified, unemployed,academics who can't actually communicate with each other, someone needs to get to grips with how broken our immigration system is! Realize that having English or French as your first language should give you access to a short-list system, with the highest points being awarded to people who already have relatives in Canada and/or have practical skills (skilled trades) or are simply prepared to take the many manual labour jobs that Canada currently can't fill - but some recognition needs to be made of the fact that when they take up those lowly paid jobs they WILL need financial assistance. At present no-one can make a living doing manual labour, so despite the fact that as an economy we need those jobs done, we aren't prepared to pay enough to maintain someone at the minimum standard of living. These people are barred from any financial assistance due to their immigrant status, and THAT is wrong. They are doing us a favour Canada - not the other way around! Canada should be not only thanking them, they should be guaranteed to be able to feed their families as the very minimum! The ideal solution is to adopt the attitude that Australia has - If you are under 25, or married to someone under 25 who is accompanying you, then you can come in as an immigrant labourer and do the thankless manual labour jobs that Aussies won't do. You come in for a specific short period of time, work your butt off, and see the country. That's how students backpack across Australia - by supplementing their beer budget by fruit picking! Yet Canada doesn't allow students to do the same. In fact - they are positively barred from doing so! Only in Canada eh!!!!

It is a not so simple question of what role the government should play in society. Governments have to answer to the people at election time for the policies of providing services and the taxation policies.
I have a personal conviction, which you may not agree with. The Government should be minimiumally invasive in both providing services and taxation.
Should the government be involved in providing social services of any kind???
What should be the limits of taxation to provide services??

I think the government is too big and spends too much.
Anyone in favor of increased taxes???

In my opinion, if you're born on the planet Earth, you should be able to work wherever you want! All of this political 'red tape' is a bunch of bunk! What right does anyone have to prohibit anyone from making a living anywhere? Much of the world's crime is related to this 'box-them-in' philosophy. Wake up to the new world economy if you're looking for peace!

James, from planet Earth

Fire the A-hole who proposed this action!

I think it is just the next step in free trade. We ought to open our borders to actual American citizens who wish to work in Canada, and maybe then the Americans would do the same for us. I'm sure there are Americans who have a reason to be in Canada, just as there are Canadians who have reason to be in the USA. Of course in that case, neither would be working illegally in the other's country. I think it is time to show the rest of the world that we actually are generous; we ought to provide services to those who are in our midst. Maybe other countries will catch on.

Country of origin should be (and to me, is!) irrelevant. It's the letter of the law that should be taken into account. Here's a personal story:

My husband was transferred by his company from Canada to the US in the early '90s. His boss didn't need our baby daughter & me - so our papers weren't filed. Only my husband's. And thanks to clerical nightmares, my husband didn't see a paycheque for months! Christmas arrived, and I was in a panic that we wouldn't have anything to eat over the holidays. I humbly approached the welfare office in the state we were living in, asking for a small amount to get us through the holidays. They were very understanding & sympathetic, but said no. We weren't US citizens. And of course, Canadian assistance was out of the questiion as we were residing in the US! It's called "being between a rock & a hard place....".

All that being said, it was our own fault. I should have been more diligent about ensuring ALL the paperwork was filed so we didn't run into that devastating "hiccup". So if OTHER countries don't permit illegal/undocumented workers access to the public systems, why should Canada? We don't have unlimited resources!

Which brings me to my feelings on undocumented / illegal aliens & workers in Canada. No. Period. If you want to live & work in this country, file the papers, fill out the forms, and wait. If you don't want to do that, pick somewhere else to move illegally! As for the fruit pickers or the busboys/girls, or any other job that Canadians think they're too good to do, there are currently thousands of backlogged LEGAL APPLICANTS trying to move to this country. I'm sure they'd be quite happy to take a job that "we" don't have any interest in doing.

Yes, this opens up a whole can of worms. Such as, those people who are abusing our IE or welfare systems, why aren't they doing the so-called unwanted work?

But that's a whole other topic of discussion! I just think our public access systems are pretty overwhelmed as it is. To begin opening it up to non-Canadians depletes the limited resources for people who are here, legal, and need that assistance.

Just my humble opinion.... :-)

Stop crying about how bad life in Canada is....why don't you go back to where you came from?

Well, same issue rise French invasion in Quebec.

Mexican illegals in the US and Canada; Canadian illegals in the US and illegal Americans in Canada, while Mexico is aflush with illegals from Central and South American en route to the US or Canada (though many do stay in Mexico). The whole thing is just one big illegality!