My Trip to Japan

Today I would like to digress a bit from standard legal discussion, to share with you my thoughts and observations about a recently undertaken trip. 

A short while ago, I returned from Japan, where I had gone on a business / pleasure trip. 

It is my intention to soon be launching an English language-instruction website, where I will be providing English-language learning opportunities to non-English-speaking lawyers and other professionals, via Skype. I love teaching - I've always been a teacher! This initiative will allow me to incorporate both my love of the law along with my love of teaching.

It appears that throughout Japan (and the Far East, for that matter), there is a palpable recognition and acceptance of the importance of learning and knowing the English language. English is truly everywhere! Most business people whom I met, were able to maintain with me, at the least, a very basic conversation in English.

With Maître Akihide Nagira of Akasak-Aoi Law Office, Tokyo

So while I was in Japan, I met with several lawyers, to spread the good word about my venture and to also hear and learn from them about how I could best fine-tune my program to meet their particular cultural and academic needs. 

A get-anything vending machine!

As mentioned above, this trip was also a pleasure trip. Japan is an exotic, fascinating and exciting country! Many of the standard clichés about Japan, such as 'it's a land of contradictions' and 'it incorporates the new and the old' couldn't ring any truer. When confronted with this reality which is Japan, it was really necessary to have a major mental paradigm shift in order to to grasp and assimilate many of the accepted and standard practices of everyday life of Japan.

And the Japanese people whom I encountered were just so incredibly friendly, helpful and accommodating! Suffice it to say, that as a stocky, tall non-Asian with a big white beard, I kinda stuck out from the crowd!

My 'Japanese-style' yarmulke - Loved by everyone!

On top of all that, I wore my yarmulke [religious head covering] at all times, wherever I went. No doubt about it - I was foreign and I looked seriously different.

Notwithstanding, to the credit of everyone there, I was never ever made to feel uncomfortable or not accepted. No staring, no impolite words and never any rude behaviour. On the contrary, when possible and appropriate, people were curious to find out more about me and my life.

With a memorable shopkeeper in Hakone

Furthermore, if I ever lost my way in Tokyo (more times than I care to mention!), passers-by whom I asked for assistance with directions very often accompanied me to my final destination to ensure that I reached it, even if this meant enduring a considerable detour for themselves.

And the graceful manner of greeting one another! How poised and respectful it is to bow politely to each other upon meeting! Took me a while to get used to it, but by the time that I was ready to return home to Canada, I was bending my head just as well as I got it!

My Japanese host and friend -

Mr Hisanobu Higuchi, CEO of Ishou Keikaku Inc

Mr Hisanobu Higuchi, CEO of Ishou Keikaku Inc, a thriving and dynamic graphic-arts company in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo - really set the bar for demonstrating true Japanese hospitality! He made incredible arrangements and accommodations for me and accompanied me all over Japan, ensuring my safety, security and comfort.

As an example of Mr Higuchi's gracious hospitality, whenever we ate our meals together, he was understanding and supportive of my adherence to my Jewish kosher dietary laws. [These laws, really way beyond the scope of this post, place restrictions on what a kosher-observer may and may not eat. In a nutshell, particularly as it affected me in Japan: no shellfish, no pork and chicken / beef prepared only according to Jewish kosher guidelines. During my stay in Japan, no such meat was available.] 

My sorry meal...and his feast!

Usually, he would be partaking of a delectable, artistically  prepared and visually-enticing bento, while I unpacked my kosher whole-wheat and mozzarella cheese sandwich, packaged in aluminium foil! A different person might have been easily put-off by my refusal to share in the same (national and ethnic) foods as his host, but not only was Mr Higuchi not offended, he was sympathetic and cooperative. He even arranged kosher foods and meals for me, as much as is possible in Japan. [No surprise here, but not much of a demand for kosher food in Japan!]

Kosher Certification for a sushi meal

I also met with his courteous and professional staff on many occasions and was able to talk and interact with them. They were keen to showcase their work to me and to familiarize me with the cutting-edge technological as well as time-proven processes which they employ in their projects. They were all welcoming and eager to hear about and learn of my Jewish and Canadian customs and traditions. Every time that I came into their office, I was treated with honour, respect and friendship.

I realized partway into my trip, that  I had developed  an emotional and spiritual bond with the Japanese people. I felt a kinship with them, with their values and their experiences.

Indeed, we are very very different peoples. Different religions, different cultures, different ideas. Different practices that control and guide our lives. 

Of course we both live and partake in the same Western culture, but as I learned, 'Western culture' can be very huge with many differences between different regions.

However, through my friendship with Mr Higuchi and with my better acquaintance with Japanese persons and the Japanese way, I discovered that we are really not  all that different from each other! We all share the same worries and concerns of people of our generation. We have families and friends whom we love and worry about. We share similar interests in life. We are curious and seek to explore and discover each other's cultures. We hope for a better future for our children and the next generation.

After the devastation of WWII, Japan revitalized itself! What a place!

Tokyo - close your eyes for a moment and you can imagine that you are in Manhattan! The public infrastructure, the transit system, the commercial and business life, the cosmopolitan people - I won't enumerate every incredible development and great aspect, but suffice it to say that for a country that was severely crushed during the last great war, they have really risen to incredible heights now.

Once, while walking in Tokyo with my friend Mr Higuchi, I commented to him about the apparent old-age of a certain structure. He looked at it and without any particular emotion, he noted how that building had been lucky to have survived the bombings on Tokyo.

As a North-American, those words struck me hard! Living here in this generation, we have been habituated to a certain level of peacefulness and security in our lives. Not many of us could ever imagine our homes and cities being a target of attack and warfare. I believe that one of the tragedies of  9/11 - aside from the very obvious ones, of course - is that we in North America now feel much more vulnerable, open to attack. Our previously believed impregnable fortress has been breached and violated.

At the site where the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima

I also went to visit Hiroshima, the site of the horrendous nuclear bombing during the last days of WWII. The city had been decimated, totally destroyed. Today it is a vibrant city, resurrected beyond belief.

My family and many members of my Jewish community, are originally from Europe. During WWll, their homes, their communities and their lives were utterly destroyed and shattered. After the war ended, they and many other Jews came to Canada as  refugees and painstakingly rebuilt their lives. Today we have a beautiful life and a booming and prosperous community in Canada.

Thus, as a child of survivors, I feel a special closeness and empathy towards Japan and her people. I saw with my own eyes how Japan has been rebuilt after it's own destruction and desolation of WWll.

I travelled with my Japanese host and friend to Hiroshima, to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the Children's Peace Monument and the Peace Memorial Museum, in order to learn about and share the pain and burden of the Hiroshima and Japanese people. And while there, I was also reminded and  felt the pain of my own Jewish people, who was sadly ravaged and lost six million innocent lives on the other front.

But like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Hiroshima and Tokyo and Japan - and my people - have risen again.  We have worked hard with focus to rebuild our homes, our families and our lives. We have created a better future for the following generations. There is hope for a better future in mankind.

A ‘Top’ Immigrant

Hello and welcome!

I would like to share with you an interesting article which recently caught my attention. It was posted on Market Watch [29 May last, linked on The Wall Street Journal online], entitled ‘Canada Has Spoken: Top 25 Immigrants of 2012’. In the ensuing piece, the journalist describes the award presented by Canadian Immigrant Magazine and sponsored by rbc, to people whom they consider to be Canada’s ‘top’ 25 immigrants of 2012. This honour was bestowed in recognition of “the untold and inspiring stories and achievements of newcomers to Canada”.

A review of the list of honourees indicates that all have indeed seemingly accomplished great goals. Among the listed is an “avid” volunteer; a university professor; a realtor; a lawyer; a Member of Parliament; an architect and a physician, just to mention a few. What all of them have in common is that each one is deemed to have made great personal strides, as well as significant contributions to his/her community and to society at large.

Certainly, these immigrants ought to be acknowledged for their shining accomplishments! For starters and at a very elementary level, it isn’t exactly a stroll-in-the-park to pick yourself up from your familiar native surroundings and relocate to a new, foreign setting and environment, often to a destination which is unknown, untested and unsure. Stepping outside-of and beyond your regular comfort zone, a zone which we all normally spend a lifetime building-up and perfecting, can be a very challenging and daunting undertaking!

Furthermore, many immigrants come to this country speaking neither English nor French, with few social and/or financial resources to have their back. It is only with an incredible amount of fortitude, courage and determination, usually with the implicit hope of securing a better future primarily for their children, that they work tirelessly towards forging a new life here in Canada.

Thus, if these 25 immigrants have achieved any level of success on the accepted ‘scales’ of success, then they truly ought to be acknowledged and commended for having advanced so far in their newly-adopted country.

I must tell you, that throughout my life, I have met and befriended many many immigrants. Indeed, our own illustrious city of Montreal is very multi-ethnic. Growing-up, the older generation, relatives, their friends and acquaintances, my teachers at school, the counter-people at the bakery and vegetable store and all other community stores — was there anyone who wasn’t a newcomer to Canada?!

As an aside: This was so much the case, that I recall a light-bulb moment which I had as a teenager, at a time when my small world revolved mainly around the Jewish-immigrant population which I knew in Montreal and New York.

On one occasion, I travelled to a relative’s house somewhere in the United States. On the Sabbath, we went to a synagogue for the morning services. At the front of the chapel, I saw an elderly Hasidic rabbi sitting, with a long flowing white beard. Okay, so far very nice but respectfully, as a Montrealer I was very accustomed to seeing Hasidic rabbis with long flowing beards, so there was seemingly nothing out of the ordinary or unusual for me.

However, when he started speaking to give his sermon, that’s when I nearly fell off my seat! The rabbi addressed the congregants in impeccable non-accented English! Here before me was a true bona fide American-born boy, something which I had heretofore never witnessed! Frankly, I was too flustered and confused to be able concentrate on what he was saying. It was way too incredulous to me and I was really trying to assimilate this seemingly contradictory and unintelligible scenario. An American-born Hasidic rabbi?? With a long white flowing beard?? And he speaks English so incredibly perfectly and fluently, with not the slightest trace of any European accent?? Couldn’t be!

Back to what I was discussing, also in my practice as an immigration lawyer, have I met many immigrants and prospective immigrants. People who have yearned to immigrate to our shores for whatever the reason — to escape an oppressive regime; to give their children a better life than would have been possible in their country of origin or simply because they have married a Canadian and look forward to establishing a new life on a new soil.

And herein lies my bone of contention: Sorry and I don’t mean to rain on the ‘top 25’s’ parade, but to me the question screams: how does one actually define ‘success’? What exactly does it mean to be a top immigrant’? What is the basis for the expressed admiration for these who have allegedly excelled so? Who makes this determination and by which legitimate standards are these triumphs measured?

I ask these questions, because frankly, I believe that almost all of the immigrants whom I have met and whom I have befriended over the years, they should be considered as ‘top’ (and even more so), though perhaps using a different measuring stick. They all deserve to be credited for the nothing-less-than astonishing progress and stellar achievements which they have accomplished in Canada.

We all know that we each have a limited amount of time each day to do all of our affairs. We may plan the day in advance in our minds the night before or we may set it down to paper in a planner. Whichever, fact is that no matter how you choose to slice it, participating in any particular activity, whether by choice or not, whether cheerfully or not, will by force, take away potential time from a different activity. Respectfully, this is just a plain simple fact of life. One cannot be involved in any two activities at any one given time, or to paraphrase a well-known Yiddish expression: 'you can't dance at two weddings at the same time'! There is only so much one can do in any 24-hour period. Being engrossed in one action automatically comes at the expense of a different one. Something just has to give.

So-called ‘successful’ people and/or businesses are not born, but rather (self-) created. And not created in a vacuum, but in the laboratory of real-life. The individuals behind these successes often devote a very great deal of hard work and sweat to realize their sought-after dreams and goals. Long hours of work; toiling late into the night; rarely if ever taking days-off and/or vacation days; a heavy and constant work schedule; immense pressure and/or stress; absence from family and friends; extended periods of diminished financial remunerations; ignoring one’s physical, mental and spiritual health — these are but a few of the serious and heavy sacrifices which may result from striving to achieve any anticipated and worthy goal.

Thus, (and please, 100% not to cast any kind of aspersions of any sort on the ‘top’ 25 and other such immigrants, but) the entrepreneur who has gained financial and social status through her relentless devotion to her work, but was so absorbed and driven that she ignored her health and now has serious, critical health issues — is she considered a ‘success’? A volunteer who constantly thinks of others and so willingly comes to the aid of needy persons, while his own family sorely pines for some quality and yes, quantity time with him  — is he a ‘success’? Or the business-person / professional who thinks nothing of staying late at work on a daily basis, while ignoring his own physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs — is he/she worthy of being called a ‘success’?

The immigrants with whom I am familiar, by and large, have worked vigorously to strike a delicate balance between all the powerful and competing ‘pulls’ of their hectic lives. The post-WWll generation who was cast ashore onto Canada, was composed mostly of financially-impoverished refugees. When they landed here in Montreal, not only did they encounter abject financial poverty, they also faced a lack of proper resources to assist them with their cultural and communal needs.  And they set themselves into action, taking on painstaking hard work.

We living today in our fat-cat society may take for granted the luxurious lifestyle which we have. Most of us have advantage of incredibly developed and sophisticated infrastructures, which service our needs in our daily lives. By and large, this has also been a period of great prosperity for us all.  Yet, much of this is not the progeny of our own attempts and struggles, but rather has come about only through the incredible foresight and labour of our generous predecessors.

In addition and more importantly, that same generation also made sure to invest even greater amounts of energy into the pursuit of building and providing secure families and homes and communities for us all to live in. They ensured us with spiritual, emotional and physical stability as best as they could, especially after the adversities which they had endured. Our communities have matured and have been strengthened and consolidated in great part to their selfless exertions.

So this is the stuff of mundane, ho-hum, boring, uneventful, unglamorous, everyday immigrant life. No spotlights and runways, no climbing Mt Everest, no discovery of a cure for any ravaging disease or illness, no multi-lingual, multi-billion, multi-national corporations and definitely nobody handing out any trophies, flowers or awards. Just plain ol’ steady and secure meat-and-potatoes stuff. But in full honesty, any less deserving of credit and our immense and unwavering gratitude? I humbly submit not.

The previous generation that went about preparing ‘normal’ lives for us, they are the true ‘top’ immigrants! They are the ones who deserve the greatest accolades, acknowledgement and recognition. Perhaps the ‘top’ 25 do too, but certainly the thousands and thousands of immigrants who, time over and over, in city after city and country after country, have quietly and unassumingly gone about their daily grind and lives, paving a more hopeful and glorious path for their descendants, in order to endow them with the best possibilities ever.

Okay, so you tell me now please, who are the true and real ‘top’ heroes here??

Thanks for listening.

Changes to the Federal Skilled Worker program

You know the expression: 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'? No matter how you act, someone will sure enough turn up with a negative comment about what's going on. I really believe that this dictum is so true and can readily apply to most or all situations.

Please read my comments below and consider the author's opinion.

Turn on your radio, turn to your favourite news talk-show and for years you will have heard much debate about our immigration system and the kind of immigrants coming to Canada. Ranting like 'Why do we need more university-educated workers coming to Canada?' 'Why aren't we getting more labourers to help us here with our shortages?' 'There are so many [you put in the name of the practitioner] who come to Canada and drive taxis!' There was and still is no lack of couch-chair political commentators willing to offer their wise suggestions and wisdom on how the immigration system could and should be run, in a more productive and proficient manner.

And to be frank, maybe just maybe some of these folks had some valid points. Who hasn't heard the nightmarish stories of the foreign highly-trained professionals who immigrate to Canada, can't find a job in their chosen career field and sadly end up working in a totally different profession?! Why not be honest about it all and tell prospective immigrants upfront that we are looking for a certain type of immigrant with these specific credentials? Trust me, it would save a lot of heartache! And the clincher is that if someone still  truly and sincerely wants to come to Canada, he can get the desired training in order to fit into one of those 29 areas. (True, some still require a healthy university training; but some do not.) Ultimately, it really is ok if the government changes its criteria from time-to-time in order to adjust to new realities and situations. A more transparent system, from both the government's and the potential immigrant's points-of-view would allow applicants to proceed with more  focus, certainty and empowerment.

Well, it appears that the Minister has listened to these calls! During this past summer, the Federal Skilled Worker program underwent an overhaul. Generally speaking, effective 26 June last, a person applying under this program must submit the results of his language test and a) have an 'arranged employment' i.e. an employer offering a job; or b) have at least one year of experience in the previous 10 years in the list of 29 professions provided by the government. The maximum number of applicants to be accepted for processing under this program (which does not include 'arranged employment') is set at 20,000 per year, with a cap of 1,000 applications within each occupation category. As of 29 October last when the government released its most recent figures, 2,988  applications (out of 20,000) have been received; the largest groups are 900 in the ' Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management' category and 405 in 'Registered Nurses' category.

Now at least, prospective immigrants may have a better shot of knowing what's really in demand and finding a job when they arrive in Canada.

So what's a bloke to do if his profession is not on the list? Some thinking / strategizing is required. There are other options, like applying through Quebec's system (get a life - just learn some French!). Or trying through the available Provincial Nomination programs or other federal programs.

Changes?? Can be a drag, but isn't everything in life a 'work-in-progress'?

Do You Have Your Student Visa Yet?

It's summer, for crying out loud! The heat, the beach, ice cream, no coats, no boots, no shoveling, flowers and trees in full bloom, vegetable and fruit produce aplenty. Summer tires, convertible tops down, radios blaring, loads of pedestrian-traffic downtown, air-conditioning. Day camp, overnite camp, bbq's, summer decks, ice cubes and lemonade. Rain, laundry hanging to dry on clotheslines, alternate-side parking, going to the park with your kids, sidewalk sales. Crocs! Bumping into friends on the street you haven't seen all winter. Going on vacation. It's a great time, summer. Nature's breather until fall comes around knockin' at our doors to make sure that we don't forget that winter is really but a bitterly cold day away. Sorry to interrupt your summer's daydream and remind you of the autumn, but there are pressing matters which must be attended to now and cannot wait until after the summer. Namely: are you, your child or someone you know from outside Canada, planning to come study in Quebec (or Canada) for the academic year of 2007-08? If so, the information in this post is vital for you.

Generally speaking, Canada allows non-Canadian visitors into her borders for short visits, usually for a period of up to six months at a time. Depending on country of origin, a person may or may not require a permit or visa to enter. Thus, for example, US citizens may normally enter Canada for a period of up to six months with no visitor visa necessary; Venezuelans, on the other hand, will require a visitor visa.

These 'temporary' guests are allowed to come and...visit. And that's it! They are not allowed to work and /or study, unless they have first received a special dispensation from the federal government for that purpose, namely a work or study permit. In this post, I would like to discuss study permits.

Coming to study in Canada can truly be an exciting and rewarding experience. In Quebec, our educational system has many fine world-class institutions, in good company with the better known international ones. Open up a Montreal Yellow Pages and a quick survey of schools will indicate that indeed, there is almost every kind of educational possibility available here in Quebec. Coupled with a sizable and varied international student body (last year about 25,000 persons came from around the world), studying here is an experience that can provide anyone with a great future and a lifetime of precious memories.

Furthermore, our bilingual French and English character acts as a true-life laboratory language experiment. (Just promise yourself that you will ignore and stay away from associated political overtones.) The fact is that there is no other city in the world that can rival our bilingual (or even multi-lingual) status. Even if you were to choose to live and function in a unilingual English or French environment, you could not help but be infected, one way or another, with the feeling of cosmopolitanism that one gets from living in a city that speaks these two beautiful international tongues.

And finally, who can forget the weather?! Ah, the weather! You have to accept it , to embrace it, to love it. Summers are great, but aahh...the winters! The snow, the snowstorms, the piles and piles of snow, the cold, the brutal cold. And yes, the skiing, the skating, the sledding and being the first to make footprints and imprints in the snow, anticipating that loud crunch under your boots. Or if you're not the sporty type and would rather prefer winter cocooning, well, there's lots of that too. How's standing inside your cozy living room late at night, staring out the window, basking in the heat pouring out of your radiator while nursing a double, steaming hot chocolate, mindlessly watching the cascading sheets of snow accumulate in artful and deliberate snow dunes, burying trees, cars and anything left helplessly outside. Or perhaps simply cultivating and nurturing relationships by just spending more time with friends and family indoors. Montreal is not your beach destination getaway. This climate builds character and really must be experienced.

OK, you're convinced. You're coming. Great!

However, in order to be able to come take advantage of the Quebec / Canada learning experience, you must first obtain a study permit if you are not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident and to this there is some effort and focus involved. It's not as simple as coming to Quebec for a visit, deciding on a school, filling in the application, going off to some downtown government office and receiving the study permit that day. If only! On the other hand, it's not an impossible task to do either, but it does require will, patience and planning. There are many tasks and details to pay attention to, which eventually all come together in your application.

Planning is crucial because even when you think that you're on top of your application and that you've got your end covered pat, you might quite rudely discover that suddenly you have to contend with external, unforeseeable and development-delaying circumstances over which you have utterly and absolutely no control! For example, you're ready to send out your application, but need some small information / a letter from your intended school or your bank or whomever. Guess what? You call them, only to be told that they're closed / gone off on vacation for three weeks till the end of whenever / working on a reduced staff / can't find your file or some other willy-nilly excuse and you're left holding the bag. The government-person-type who will ultimately be processing your application at the receiving end is certainly reviewing many, many others as well and if you want your application to be processed properly and quickly, without getting stuck in the system, you want to be 100% sure that you have crossed your t's and dotted your i's. Your application must be complete and perfect.

Coupled with the above, according to statistical information provided by the CIC for the period of April '06 to March '07, it took an average of a minimum of 28 working days (which translates into much more time when you include those inevitable nasty statutory holidays, Saturdays and Sundays) to process a study permit. This number has to be higher prior to the start of the school year.

Also, you have to be in possession of your initial study permit before you come to Canada as a student. You cannot come in as a visitor and then obtain your study permit. It is regularly not possible to have an initial study permit request completed in Canada.

Unfortunately, I have been contacted by would-be students to Quebec, who have been stymied by such a lack of proper planning. Believe me, it's upsetting to see how distraught these potential students become when they encounter these otherwise avoidable delays. Thus, in order to avoid big-time aggravation and disappointment, as well as possibly missing those seriously crucial first days of school, when everybody else gets the best ofs, it it absolutely necessary to start thinking and acting on your study permit now, if you haven't already begun.

Very generally and in a nutshell, in order to get a study permit, a person must submit the following:

• all the completed forms and documentation;
• a letter of acceptance from the school which he/she plans on attending;
• proof that he/she has enough financial funds to cover the tuition; and living expenses and return transportation at the end of the studies for all family members;
• proof that he/she will be leaving Canada at the expiry of the study permit (don't worry - renewals are possible);
• a police certificate with a clean police record, if requested;
• a medical examination, if necessary; and
• additionally, Quebec-bound students must first obtain a CAQ or a Certificat d’acceptation du Québec (Certificate of Acceptance) from the Quebec government, before applying for a Canadian study permit.

As Quebec provides health insurance to all her citizens, it is necessary for a visiting student to also prove that he/she is in possession of valid health insurance.

Depending on where you are coming from will also determine where your application for the study permit must be presented.

Thousands of people come to Quebec / Canada each year, in many different capacities. You can too. Put down the suntan lotion and get crackin'. Good luck!