Here in Canada we see a lot of young immigrants coming into our country on a regular basis. We can look around us and see many different types of people. But, what we often do not notice is that there are not very many elderly immigrants. Yes, there are a few that came over when they were younger but we often do not often see new elderly immigrants. Is this just because immigration seems like too much work to go through if one knows they only have a certain number of years left or is it Canada that is regulating how many elderly immigrants we are allowed to have come over.
According to the Canadian Government website , it is not usual for an elderly person to apply to Canada unless they are being sponsored by family or they have great reason to be here.
Most elderly people come to Canada to reconnect with family or to live somewhere peaceful and enjoyable before they move on. It is rare that an elderly person will take the time to fill out all the paper work unless they need to come to Canada. For many it is just too big of a hassle.
According to Hugh Grant and Gretta Wong Grant from the University of Winnipeg:
“The human rights code in most Canadian jurisdictions restricts the employment rights of the
elderly, either by defining “age” to exclude those 65 years of age and older or by identifying
a bona fide mandatory retirement plan as reasonable limitation on the equality rights. This
paper considers the possibility that these restrictions entail “adverse effect” discrimination
for immigrants to Canada. Since many immigrants arrive relatively late in their working life
and with little personal wealth, denying them the right to employment may inadvertently
create an undue economic hardship by limiting their capacity to accumulate sufficient
savings for retirement.” http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2007/lcc-cdc/JL2-33-2002E.pdf
If elderly people over 65 are unable to work once they arrive in Canada then for many elderly people it is a waste of time to come to Canada. If they have enough money to support themselves for a while that is good but what happens when they run out of money and are unable to work. I think that if the age limit on work was removed then we would be seeing a lot more elderly immigrants coming to Canada.
Good post Brittany! As you stated in your blog it is not as easy for elderly people to immigrate to Canada as it is for younger people. If the government allowed people to work later in their life it would also open up opportunities of coming to Canada in the first place. The only thing that concerns me is that elderly immigrants would be forced to work into very old age, and would never recieve enough pension afterwards to support themselves!
ReplyDelete-Eliza R.
This is a good post! I understand that there are very few elderly immigrants, but I think this is very unfortunate. It is not their fault they are too old to work and I wish the process would be easier for them; they should be able to enjoy the years they have left.
ReplyDelete-Marina R
I wonder why someone age 65 is considered to be too old to work by law? On the one hand, it's good to have the chance to retire after many years of working. But some people really enjoy their work or need to keep working... not sure about the rationale related to age 65.
ReplyDeleteFrom a policy perspective, if a country has lots of workers and not enough jobs, we see strict retirement regulations. But if there aren't enough people in the country to do all the jobs, mandatory retirement regulations ease up or disappear.
Just something to think about...
There is a news came out recently ans stated that most Canadian workforce will work until 70. If we change the view of the retire age. Don't you think the "age 65" is a barrier for elder people who wish to keep working?
ReplyDeleteBut I think the government should loose up their immigrant policy toward elder people because this create the hesistation for elder people immigrate to Canada.
Sarah