Good News For The Polish-canadian Community
April 18, 2008
Peter Goldring, Member of Parliament for Edmonton East and vice-chair of Parliament’s Canada-Poland Committee, was pleased to announce that Canada’s Conservative government has removed the travel restrictions requiring Polish citizens to obtain a visa to visit Canada.The Edmonton announcement was made March 1 at Mr. Goldring’s constituency office with 25 members from the Polish-Canadian community and MLA Thomas Lukaszuk. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley made her announcement in Toronto the same day.
“This is in keeping with Canada’s Conservative government’s great initiative to be much more engaged throughout the world, facilitating improved trade and commerce.” Mr. Goldring states. “The move makes traveling to Canada much easier for Polish friends and family of Canada’s substantial Polish Canadian diaspora.
“I am especially pleased to have this come to fruition after several years of promoting the idea in Parliament while working extensively with central and eastern European countries for mutual benefit.”
Visa restrictions have also been lifted for citizens of Slovakia, Lithuania and Hungary. In 2006 temporary resident visas were issued to 33,363 Polish citizens, 6,385 Hungarians, 3,780 Slovakians and 989 Lithuanians.
“This is something that the 800,000 Canadians of Polish ancestry have been calling for,” Mr. Goldring states. “It will certainly benefit family and business travel between our two countries and recognizes the long and historical partnership between them.”
The move makes sense, Mr. Goldring says, since Poland is Canada’s largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe, with more than $1.2 billion in annual trade between the two countries. “It is also a country with shared values,” he points out, “a member of the European Union and NATO.”
There are about 70,000 people of Polish ancestry in Edmonton, giving the city the largest Polish-Canadian community outside Ontario.
Visa-free status for Poland and the other three countries takes effect immediately.