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NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY
THE HONOURABLE MONTE SOLBERG
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION

SKILLS FOR CHANGE

2006 NEW PIONEERS AWARDS CEREMONY

Toronto, Ontario
March 30, 2006

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Minister Colle,

Ms. Cullingworth (Executive Director of Skills for Change),

Honoured recipients of New Pioneers Awards,

Members of the media,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you all for your warm welcome. I’m pleased to be here with you tonight as we honour the recipients of the New Pioneers Award.

This is a time to celebrate together the contributions of six very special people — Natalie Wood, Kim Hoang Trinh, Sharangabo Ntare Patrick, Sridhar Krishnan, Gaetano Gagliano and Carl James. Through their actions, these six people have made a great nation an even better place to live and work and raise our families. They have made contributions in the arts, science and technology, communications, accounting, administration and education. As winners of the New Pioneers Award, these six have joined a growing, distinguished national roster of high achievers. They have excelled in creating awareness of the wonderful talents that newcomers bring to Canada.

I haven’t been on the job for very long, but I’ve already come to see that when grassroots organizations work with the government, we can get some things done. Frankly, our nation wouldn’t be nearly as dynamic without that type of partnership.

Governments can be pretty slow and hide-bound. Sometimes, by themselves, they just aren’t very good at getting results. That’s why it makes so much sense for governments to harness the energy and passion of local people in local organizations who put their heart into getting results. Community-level associations like Skills for Change have a pivotal role to play with all levels of government — providing counsel, expertise, constructive criticism and fresh ideas. TRIEC helps newcomers enter the work force more quickly so that they can show their stuff and apply their skills. And, when newcomers finally do get that chance, guess what? They are almost always successful.

That said, as the Minister of Immigration, I know we have to get better results for newcomers. And we’re starting to make some changes. We need to do a better job of recognizing foreign credentials. We have committed to introducing legislation to extend citizenship to foreign-born children adopted by Canadian parents. And we will cut the Right of Permanent Residence Fee in half because we want to send the message that we value immigrants.

There is no question that Canada has the most wide-open and compassionate immigration system in the world. But that doesn’t mean we can sit on our hands: we’re going to make it even better.

Ladies and gentlemen, immigration to Canada is always about something more important than just better jobs and higher pay, as important as these are. It’s also about signing on to a set of values that sets Canada apart as one of the world’s great nations.

More than anything else, Canada is about personal freedom, equality of opportunity, commitment to rule of law, democracy, respect for others and compassion.

That is Canada, and that is what we celebrate in our honourees tonight.

Thank you.