95.12EM Emergency Resolution: The Family and The Immigration and Citizenship Plan 1995-2000
Whereas, The placement of parents and grandparents in a category separate from the immediate family (spouse, unmarried children under 19) classification in the proposed Plan could facilitate the elimination of this new category in the future as has happened with the category of retirees (A Broader Vision, P.C. & I. News Release); and,
Whereas, Parents and grandparents in many countries are an integral part of the immediate family, functioning actively in child care and nurture (a necessity for working immigrant parents in the absence of a universal daycare system), they are also available to assist in efforts to establish small family businesses; and,
Whereas, Increased numbers in one category will not necessarily compensate for the shortfall in another (A Broader Vision, P.5.); and,
Whereas, The 1992 regulations have defined dependent children as those under the age of 19 and unmarried, the possibility of parents and grandparents applying for immigration of other adult children is eliminated (A Broader Vision, p.8.); and,
Whereas, The proposed improved sponsorship contract would enforce sponsorship obligations, thereby reducing the resettlement costs to Canada as a whole; therefore be it,
RESOLVED, that the National Council of Women of Canada urge the Government of Canada to redefine the traditional immediate family in the Immigration and Citizenship Plan 1995-2000 to include parents and grandparents, and to make the total for the immediate family 90,000 (instead of 55,000 and 35,000 for the proposed separate categories).