WASHINGTON –
It’s not just the relentless parade of deadly mass shootings, the draconian crackdown on abortion rights or even the prospect of Donald Trump’s return that has Mackenzie Fresquez considering moving to Canada.
Rather, it is the constant feeling that in the United States, a country that should honor the government of Abraham Lincoln, by and for the people, it is powerless to do anything about it.
“I feel kind of hopeless,” said Fresquez, 29, who lives in the Denver suburb of Lakewood with her husband, Isaac.
Both are avid outdoor enthusiasts who work as land surveyors in Colorado, where Fresquez moved from Ohio so he could enjoy the shadows of his beloved Rockies and one day start a family.
But sending children to school in the U.S. no longer seems like a good idea, she said — and there’s no reason to think that will change.
“Even if we elect all the right people — which, even that takes a lot in a country that’s so divided — that’s just how our government is set up and how it’s working right now,” Fresquez said.
“I feel like there’s nothing I can do, even if I become an activist and get everyone to vote – I don’t know if it will change that much.”
Her adopted home has a dark history of mass shootings: Littleton, home of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, is nearby, as is Aurora, where a gunman killed 12 people at a midnight movie premiere a decade ago.
Since May, three mass shootings — Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas, and Highland Park, Illinois — have killed 36 people within two months, including 19 children in a Texas elementary school classroom.
Just last year, Fresquez said, a friend left a Boulder grocery store just 20 minutes before a gunman walked in and killed 10 people. “Things like this just remind me that it really can happen anywhere.”
Statistics from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada show a fairly steady increase in the number of people from the US granted permanent residency in Canada each year since 2015.
After a sharp decline in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of successful applicants in the US reached 11,950 in 2021, up from just 7,655 in 2015 and the highest annual total since at least 1980. this way.
So far, 2022 is shaping up to be another banner year: 3,235 applications were approved in the first quarter, the highest total for that quarter in eight years.
A total of 70,330 US applications have been approved since the end of 2014, including 5,040 in the first five months of 2022 alone.
Progressive-minded Americans have no shortage of motivation.
Most important to many is the Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that for nearly 50 years effectively guaranteed a woman’s right to safe and legal abortion.
Fresquez, whose husband is Latino, said she fears a crumbling separation between church and state in a country where a conservative Supreme Court is dramatically reshaping America’s social and cultural contours.
The couple is considering moving to Alberta, obtaining work permits under a section of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that streamlines the approval process for about 60 different professional occupations.
“There are other precedents based on the same precedent that they rejected when they rejected Roe, one of them being interracial marriage,” she said.
“That’s maybe a bit extreme thinking, but what if something like this is undone? Will our marriage be affected?’
Jo Kreiling, a video game developer who runs Pillow Fight Games from her home in northern Virginia with husband Conrad, said she is actively planning to move her family to Vancouver Island.
Kreiling wants to have another child. But her family vacations every year in North Carolina, one of about two dozen states where post-Roe abortion crackdowns are already in place or underway.
“If I get an ectopic pregnancy in the Outer Banks in two years, will it be safe for me?” she wonders aloud.
“From the big things like Roe v. Wade to the extremely local things, everything plays into the No. 1 idea, ‘It’s not safe to have a family here.’
A stark illustration of America’s hysteria over abortion played out this week in Indiana, where the shocking case of a 10-year-old rape victim has become a political flashpoint.
The girl, who could not get an abortion in her home state of Ohio, traveled to Indiana for the procedure, which was reported to be in accordance with state laws that prohibit abortions after 22 weeks except in medical emergencies.
But that didn’t stop the state attorney general from vowing to investigate the doctor who carried it out, and some right-wing lawmakers and media initially doubted the reports were even true.
Upping the ante and moving to Canada is, of course, harder than it sounds.
While the federal government has a number of different channels and programs designed to attract certain would-be migrants, immigration experts say it’s important to understand that not everyone qualifies.
“There are routes that can be taken, but not by everyone, and knowing how to navigate them requires some planning,” said lawyer Henry Chang, a Toronto-based partner in Dentons’ employment and labor group who specializes in Canadian – American business immigration.
“In Canada, certain skills and qualities are prioritized over others. As a result, not everyone will be able to qualify for permanent residence in Canada.”
There are three main categories for those wishing to immigrate permanently to Canada, and all have strict criteria.
Applicants to the Federal Skilled Worker Program must meet minimum standards of work experience, language skills, and education level before being evaluated on a variety of factors.
A passing score – 67 out of 100 – adds applicants to the pool of applicants known as Express Entry, where they are assessed a second time; the most senior among them are invited to apply for permanent residence.
Prospective migrants with at least one year of recent skilled work experience in Canada with a valid work permit may qualify for the Canadian experience class and be added to the Express Entry pool on that basis.
The federal Skilled Trades program is reserved for those with at least two years of recent work experience in a variety of disciplines, from industrial work and construction to cooks, butchers and bakers.
Most experts agree that the best strategy for those seeking permanent residency is the long term. For example, they may request a study permit to obtain a degree in Canada, which may lead to a work permit that would make the Experience Class an option at a later date.
In Canada, where abortion is decriminalized, the federal Liberal government has vowed to protect a woman’s right to choose, though she has not offered many details.
“This decision does not just affect Americans and Canada is not immune to the potential consequences,” said Sid Cabilan, immigration minister Sean Fraser’s manager of affairs.
“Canada is in regular contact with the US government on issues related to our shared border and immigration. We will continue to work with our US counterparts while ensuring that we remain fair and compassionate on immigration between our two countries.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 17, 2022.
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