Canadian immigration processing times are increasing as a backlog of applications is building up at visa offices. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney suggested that a simple solution may exist – decrease the number of applications Canada accepts from people wanting to join their families in Canada. 
From October 17 to 23 Canada celebrates Citizenship Week. This celebration attracts over 4,000 people from across Canada to participate in activities to reflect on citizenship and Canadian values. More than 60 Canadian citizenship ceremonies are taking place around the country where Canadians will reaffirm their commitment to Canada. 
British Columbia has revised its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) to permanently include long-haul truck drivers as part of its program. Previously, long-haul truck drivers were considered under a pilot project program. 
Canada has put an end to an ineffective refugee program in order to put more efforts into working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and refugees in greatest need of Canadian help. 
Forbes has ranked Canada number one has the top destination in the world for business. Canada moved up from number four last year, thanks to a higher score in the tax category. Thanks to a unique Canadian program, new Canadian citizens are offered a free 12-month entrance pass to attractions across the country. The program is called the Cultural Access Pass, CAP, and is managed by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. The program is quickly gaining popularity. Three years ago only six facilities participated. Now, the program enrols 80 citizens a day with over 1,000 attractions across the country. 
An Ontario community, Simcoe County, is welcoming immigrants with open arms. The county is one of 45 in Ontario that has been asked by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to host a partnership aimed at analyzing the needs of current residents and newcomers. 
The Government of Canada views immigration as one of the most important factors in strengthening the economy following the recession and has noted that changes may come to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. 
A recent compilation of rankings by the U.S. website Newsweek found Canada to be the third-best country in the world to be a woman. 
Canada has become the first country to sign the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Anti-Semitism. The Protocol, which developed during the Interparliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism (ICCA) in Ottawa last year, is aimed at stopping hatred and discrimination, including anti-Semitism. 
According to Investissement Quebec, an economic development agency, 86 companies and more than 8,000 jobs have moved to Montreal as a result of a government program. The program allows 37.5 percent of a video-game company’s payroll to be subsidized by Montreal in the form of a refundable tax credit. 
A recent study on Canadian immigration policies has found that immigrants who move to Canada as independent skilled immigrants had the highest earnings of four categories of immigrants studied: independent primary skilled immigrants, accompanying economic immigrants, family class immigrants, and refugees. 
Diane Ablonczy, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs (Americans and Consular Affairs), recently announced improvements to make Canada more easily accessible for Latin American travellers. 
According to the new QS World University Rankings, Montreal’s McGill University is the top-ranked university in the country. McGill moved up from 19th place last year to 17th place worldwide this year. 
Beginning next month, CICNews.com will be adding a new Q&A feature to its monthly newsletter. Readers will have the opportunity to send in their Canadian immigration questions to be answered by Attorney David Cohen. 
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) launched their online consultations regarding the appropriate level of immigration and mixes between economic, family class, and protected persons (refugees). 
According to Statistics Canada, Alberta had the highest weekly earnings in Canada this sumemr. The agency also noted that Alberta has the highest annual growth rate in the country. 
The University of Alberta recently announced that they are welcoming more Indian students than ever. Indian students seeking high-quality education at inexpensive costs are looking abroad, especially to Canada. 
A recent labour study conducted by Statistics Canada showed that Canada’s labour force is declining, especially in certain provinces like New Brunswick. Canada’s labour force participation rate is expected to be between 59 percent and 62 percent by 2031. The labour force participation rate last year was 67 percent. 
Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney recently announced a pilot project aimed at attracting more working families to British Columbia. The pilot project will allow family members of most temporary foreign workers to work for any employer in the province. 
The province of Saskatchewan, like most of Canada, is already experiencing a shortage of doctors and with the aging population, more shortages are expected. In response to the shortage, Saskatchewan employment recruiters are looking outside of Canada for the cure. 
Doing research and being mentally prepared are very important for newcomers to Canada. A recent Royal Bank poll found that more than 58 percent of Chinese and South Asian immigrants said that emotional preparedness is the key to adjusting to a new life in Canada. 
Last month, Canada’s unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent from 7.4 percent in June, two percentage points lower than the United States. While economic forecasts predicted that 15,000 jobs would be added in July, 25,000 new full-time positions were created, aiding in the drop of the unemployment rate.Canada has long been home to many Muslim immigrants. According to the 2006 Census, there were close to 1 million Muslims living in Canada. The majority of Muslim immigrants live in the province of Ontario, with the larger groups settled around Toronto. Immigrants of all religious backgrounds choose to immigrate to Canada as there is no official religious discrimination according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. According to two indexes released this week, Canadian employers are steadily increasing recruitment. The Monster Employment Index showed that online recruitment in the second-quarter of this year was at its highest level since 2008. The Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS) also showed that increased employment opportunities has brought the Canadian employment industry to near pre-recession levels.
