Canada's Immigration...An essay type of point

Forward: The following is an original essay based on Canada's points system for immigrating into the country. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and should not be taken in any other way.  Sources used are listed in the hyperlink below.  

    
      One of the major complaints about the Canadian point system is that our country seems to pose a double standard for individuals wanting to immigrate. The reality that we have a growing demand for skilled trades workers may not be entirely surprising for people to hear, but the rough estimate is that by 2020 we will need 320,000 new workers to fill that type of position. With the majority of our young population not willing to work for hard earned careers, it's understandable that one of the last things people want to do is to educate themselves to become skilled trades workers. As a country, it then seems that our simplest option would be to allow immigrants into the country to fill those jobs for us. However, the people educated to fill these positions cannot enter the country since their level of education does not award them enough points.

     It may be unknown to the majority of our population that Canada requires immigrants to have at least 80 hard earned points to enter the country. Even if an immigrant posseses the maximum amount of possible points in the four other categories, with only a certificate in skilled trades they can find themselves four points short of entering Canada, unless they are fluent in French or have arranged employment approved by HRDC. This is because for 15 years of full time study, immigrants only earn 20 points, whereas if you have a master’s and 17 years of full time study, you are awarded 25 points, something that still, if you are not proficient in English, can keep you out of the country.  

     What then, do we as a country do, if our need for skilled trades is slowly becoming desperate? It seems that the simplest option would be to slightly adjust the education category so that each level of education past high school is worth five more points than it currently is. With this set in place, it would make it slightly easier for immigrants to enter, while still requiring them to be proficient in English and the other categories. By only raising the education value by five, the same immigrants that have the maximum amount of points and a fifteen year education could find themselves at 81 points, just enough to let them into the country. It may also make it slightly easier for other immigrants to enter and possibly persuade them to go to school for an extra year so that not only will they become five points closer to entering the country, but also be more educated in the field of work that they plan to pursue in Canada.

     

       Having said this, in conclusion, research shows that as of January 2^nd, 2013 Minister Jason Kenney of immigration and multiculturalism launched the federal Skilled Trades Program to ensure that greater consideration is given to the skilled trades industry when processing immigrant applications, moving us a step forward.

Sources

Snow Day! A Pearl

     Friday was officially my first snow day since I started school and I figured...even though it's not entirely a big deal, that I would write about it for fun...mostly I just want to post a few pictures. 

     I spent the majority of the day inside the house, believe it or not, doing homework, writing and jamming on my guitar and piano until Emmah asked me to join her outside for some fun. I hate cold, but I decided I wanted to take some pictures down at the park as this was the first Canadian snow storm we've had in years. It wasn't a very smart decision, but the outfit I wore outside consisted of jeans, a sweatshirt, crocheted headband, cowl and, since I don't have any snow boots of my own, my sister's zebra rain boots with no socks. In other words, I could have worn a bikini and been warmer. 

     On my first step off the porch I sunk into a giant snowbank, letting out a screech that echoed off of the court. After trudging around the side of the house, Emmah and I continued to trek across the street and down the hill of the park where we were confronted by a chilling wind that froze my cheeks. Emmah, dressed up in appropriate attire, jumped from snow mound to snow mound, hiding behind blanketed evergreens and letting out her usual cries of joy while I froze my fingers off taking pictures of the winter wonderland...I realized then that it was a bad idea to forget my mittens at the house. 

     It took no more then ten minutes before I was frozen half solid, couldn't feel my fingers, and decided that I had to go to the bathroom. Emmah was full of nothing but giggles as I asked her to please come back to the house with me so that I could put proper boots and mitts on. The stupidity of my clothing decisions had both me and my little sister laughing for quite some time, but the best, most hilarious part of the day took place after I changed. Once I was warm and dry again Emmah taught me how to take part in her very own invented activity; sledboarding. 

     I'd seen her do it before, but there had never been very much snow so I never thought it was very much fun. On Friday however, there was more than enough to do it properly and prove me wrong. Sledboarding is Emmah's idea of snowboarding with a twist. She takes her green, plastic sled, props it up on top of a hill, stands on it and then tilts so that she can slide down the mound. Of course, the hills aren't very big, but she has the art of it mastered and can even dance while she does it...while Hollly and I seem to fall almost every single time! Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun and I suggest that you try it sometime! 

     Nothing says family like some quality time snow shovelling, and so to finish off the night, that's exactly what we did. Afterwards, we decided to drive to the movie store, and while out we picked up some pizza for a fun night on the couch. It's short and simple to conclude with this, but all in all it was a  very cool day...literally!

Remembering a Passion

     February has started, along with Semester Two on the school calendar. After just about a week I'm beginning to adapt to my new classes and locker location, but I still find that I miss my old habits a little. The one that I miss the most is spending second period in the music room, pouring out my heart into something beautiful, (sometimes something not so beautiful) and learning about ways to expand my musical horizon. 

     After school today, I sat down at our piano and realized that it had been over a week since I played anything at all and I felt out of practice, even though a week is hardly drastic. I miss being able to sit down and work on pieces that I'll be presenting, writing or recording, the way that I did for music class. 

     I decided to make a list of every song that I remember playing throughout last semester and combine them all into a giant medley that I can listen to, not only for remembering what I learned, but also because each song has its own knapsack of memories that makes me smile. It took me the night, but I think I finally worked in every song that I either performed, wrote or recorded throughout all of my music classes.

     Maybe you'll recognize some of the songs, maybe they'll hold memories for you too, or maybe they're nothing but pretty melodies to listen to. For me they are a great reminder of the things I learned, and a memento of all the amazing, talented people I met and got to work with along the way. Here's to learning, passion, friendship, music and what was simply, an awesome first semester!  

 ~In Honour of Music Class~

Little Projects

I've been in a crafting mood lately, and for a change I decided to try my hand at some crocheting instead of knitting. After I exhausted the traditional granny square I was glad to pick up some interesting books from the library that contain beautiful patterns. I'll admit I was a little scared to start on something new because the last few times I tried to work on a project each ended in a tangled up failure, however I figured that it would be best to start with something cute and simple. My latest project, which I completed today, is a pair of baby mittens!

This was one of the main patterns that stood out to me as I was flipping through the pages of my third borrowed book and I surprised myself when I learned how easy they were to make. Between single and double crochet stitches I whipped up these precious hand warmers in a little over an hour and then tied a violet ribbon around the ends to complete the sweet accessories.

The nice thing about these is that they are fast to finish and still look special, plus there's next to no counting involved and you can make them for a boy or a girl by simply switching the colours. However, to be honest what really makes the entire mitten is the ribbon around the end. It draws attention with a contrasting colour and causes you to focus on the detail of the pattern, leaving you to ooo and aww over how cute the two of them are.

Although I have no idea who's baby these will be for, they were a fun project that will leave somebody's little fingers toasty!

 
 

~Special thanks to Nicki Trench for the pattern~