N Cox Esq
RESTRICTED
HKD
021/3
Hong Kong Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
LONDON,
SW1A 2AH
My Moris
Helpful. Il convider
BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION
80 ELGIN STREET
OTTAWA K1P 5K7
©
27/
Joxed to PS/CH
13 August 1991
Dear Cox,
DEFERRED RIGHT OF ENTRY FOR HONG KONG CITIZENS INTO CANADA
1. As you will know, we had no success last year in seeking to persuade the Canadian Government to adopt our Right of Abode Scheme for people from Hong Kong. I am convinced that there is no likelihood of persuading them to change their mind. Nor do I think fresh legislation is likely.
2.
Canadian officials claim, however, that the flexibility in Canadian immigration rules is sufficient to allow people from Hong Kong to establish residence qualifications in Canada and return to Hong Kong. They argue that this goes some considerable way to meeting the objective of the Right of Abode proposals.
3.
We should be grateful for your advice as to whether we should be asking officials here to interpret their rules in any particular way to meet our own objectives. We are not sufficiently familiar with what Hong Kongers want to know if there are any particular snags they face in moving between Hong Kong and Canada in a way which would help to maintain confidence in Hong Kong. Philippa Hadley's letter of 29 July to the Department gives an example of what outside pressure has been able to achieve.
4. I would not want to raise your hopes too high. Officials stress the "universalist" nature of Canadian immigration policy and the keen interest various lobbies take in how the rules are applied. We are told that both of these factors mean that any concession given to immigrants from one source has to be offered more widely. But it seems to us that there may conceivably be room to do something at the margin which would benefit Hong Kong. that seems to be feasible, we should be glad to have a try.
Yours ever,
CC: ND Moakes, APA HKD, FCO
Pele Martin-
P M Newton
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