News Release – Immigration Minister’s visit to highlight strength of Canada-India relationship; address issues raised by Indo–Canadian community

Ottawa, January 7, 2009 — Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney will meet several Ministers in the Indian government, community and business leaders, as well as immigration staff in Canada’s New Delhi and Chandigarh visa offices during a visit to India next week.

“Our government has taken unprecedented steps to strengthen the Canada-India relationship,” said Minister Kenney. “Canada benefits enormously from our friendship with the world’s largest democracy. Canada’s historic ties with India, especially through the Commonwealth, reflect our shared values.”

“The Indo-Canadian community has raised a number of important issues with me, including the need to take action against fraudulent immigration consultants, improve visa processing times, encourage immigration from Indian students to Canada, and build stronger connections between Indian and Canadian businesses,” said Minister Kenney. “I intend to work on fulfilling our government’s promise to modernize the immigration system to make it more efficient and responsive to labour market needs, as well as fairer for applicants.”

Before returning to Canada January 18, 2009, the Minister will also travel to Mumbai, where he will express Canada’s condolences for the terrorist attacks in November 2008, and visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and sites of importance particularly to the Jewish and Ismaili communities.

Members of the media as well as cultural communities interested in receiving a daily selection of photos from the trip, or being notified of media availabilities, should send an email to CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca with their contact information.

For further information (media only), please contact:

Media Relations Unit
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca