1. In December, 1950, the Regulations dealing with admission of Asians were amended to raise from eighteen years to twenty-one years the age of admissible children.¹⁴⁹

2. In June, 1951, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration announced in the House of Commons that favourable consideration would be given to application by Canadians of Chinese extraction, in cases where the application was for the admission of unmarried children over twenty-one up to the age of twenty-five, when circumstances would warrant their admission on the grounds of "real hardship and perhaps suffering".¹⁵⁰

3. On the 10th of March, 1955, the undersigned announced before the Special Committee on Estimates that from that date it was "proposed to adhere to the Regulations in Chinese cases just as we do in the case of persons of other Asian origin";¹⁵¹ in other words, the only applications to receive favourable consideration after the 10th of March, 1955, in the case where the proposed immigrant was an Asian, would be those in which the application was for the wife, the husband, or the unmarried children under twenty-one years of age, of any Canadian citizen resident in Canada who is in a position to receive and care for his dependents.

4. The handling of Asian cases presents many administrative problems, as their customs are very different from European customs. In addition, vital statistics are not maintained in most of the countries of Asia. The identification of the proposed immigrant as the person described in the application can only be made by checking the statements made by the applicant as well as those made by the proposed immigrant. Very often the applicant in Canada, in order to facilitate the admission of the persons he desires from Asia, will apply for one person at a time so as to avoid conflicting statements.

5. Experience has shown that immigrants become settled in this country more readily when they establish themselves here as a family unit.

6. In order to facilitate the administration of Asian immigrants, encourage the re-union of families, and prevent numerous misrepresentations, it is considered advisable to amend the Regulations now in existence so as to provide that unmarried children under the age of twenty-one will be admissible only if the father and the mother have already been landed in Canada, or if the father or the mother, as the case may be, is landed concurrently with the child or children of the applicant.

7. For humane reasons, it is felt that Canadians of Asian origin, in view of the conditions now existing in Asia, should be allowed to apply, on compassionate grounds, for their parents. This privilege, which has existed for Europeans, could without increasing the security risk, be extended to Asian immigrants in cases where the mother is sixty years of age or over and the father is sixty-five years of age or over.

I, THEREFORE, RECOMMEND:

(a) That the Regulations governing the admission of Asians to Canada be amended to read as follows:

"20. (2). Subject to the provisions of the Act and to these Regulations, the landing in Canada of Asians is limited to any immigrant who satisfies the immigration officer in charge that he is the husband, the wife, or the unmarried child under twenty-one years of age of any Canadian citizen resident in Canada who is in a position to receive and care for his dependents, but no such child shall be landed unless his father and his mother have already been landed in Canada or his father or his mother as the case may be is landed concurrently with him."

(b) That as a matter of policy, favourable consideration be given to applications from Canadian citizens residing in Canada for the admission of their Asian parents when, in the case of the mother, the proposed immigrant would be sixty years of age or over and, in the case of the father, sixty-five years of age or over at the time of entry to Canada.¹⁵²

J.W. PICKERSGILL