Vol. 134, No. 26 — December 20, 2000

Registration
SOR/2000-418 30 November, 2000

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT

Order Prescribing the Fee to be Paid by Foreign Nationals to Participate in an International Youth Exchange Program in Canada

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, pursuant to Order in Council P.C. 2000-1723 of November 30, 2000(see footnote a), made pursuant to paragraph 19(1)(b)(see footnote b) of the Financial Administration Act, hereby makes the annexed Order Prescribing the Fee to be Paid by Foreign Nationals to Participate in an International Youth Exchange Program in Canada.

Ottawa, November 30, 2000

John Manley
Minister of Foreign Affairs

ORDER PRESCRIBING THE FEE TO BE PAID BY FOREIGN NATIONALS TO PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERNATIONAL YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN CANADA

INTERPRETATION

1. The definitions in this section apply in this Order.

"international youth exchange program" means a reciprocal exchange program established pursuant to an arrangement concluded between Canada and a foreign state that enables nationals of that state to engage in short-term work or study activities in Canada. (programme d'échanges internationaux visant la jeunesse)

"national", in relation to a foreign state, means an individual who possesses the nationality of that state as determined in accordance with the laws of that state. (national)

FEE

2. Any national of Australia or New Zealand who applies to enter Canada under an international youth exchange program shall, if the application is approved, pay a fee of $150.

PAYMENT

3. The fee referred to in section 2 shall be paid on approval of the application.

COMING INTO FORCE

4. This Order comes into force on the day on which it is registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Orders.)

Description

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) facilitates over sixty bilateral and multilateral Youth Exchange Programs in more than twenty countries. These International Youth Exchanges (IYE) are agreed on a reciprocal basis. One goal of this arrangement is to exclude, or at least reduce, any adverse effect on local labour markets. Reciprocity of opportunity is accepted as the basis for agreement, rather than strict numerical balance.

IYEs are made up of several components, including:

— The Working Holiday Program (WHP), which accounts for 80% of the program participation, provides young people the opportunity to enter Canada or a foreign country for an extended holiday, and to supplement their travel expenses through incidental employment;

— the Student Work Abroad Program (S.W.A.P.), is identical to the WHP but is restricted to full- or part-time students;

— the Young Workers' Exchange Program (YWEP), provides university and college graduates who are seeking practical experience in fields related to their formal training with work opportunities; and

— the Co-op Education Program (Co-Op), which offers university and college students with some practicum experience abroad as part of their curriculum.

DFAIT manages the overall program framework, negotiates reciprocal arrangements with other governments, provides information to potential Canadian participants in the programs, and facilitates working arrangements for the non-government organizations (NGO) and not-for-profit agencies that directly assist program participants. DFAIT will also take on responsibility for costs incurred at local missions that are required to support the programs but which are not directly related to processing of work permits. The Department of Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) provides work authorizations to foreign nationals entering Canada under one of the programs. The Department of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) provides the necessary intelligence pertaining to the youth labour market in Canada and offers needed support to Canadian employers wishing to take advantage of work opportunities for young individuals from abroad.

It is proposed to introduce a participant fee payable by participants entering Canada under an IYE program from Australia and New Zealand, countries which account for about 40% of total incoming participants. Both countries now charge a fee to Canadians entering their countries. The increasing volume of participants from these countries in particular, have put pressure on the resources of the departments involved to process the applications and to promote Canadian participation in the programs. The IYE programs operate on a reciprocal basis such that the number of incoming participants to a country should be approximately the same number of outgoing participants. In this regard, increasing demand from countries to send more participants to Canada means that Canada has to be able to send more Canadians out in order to maintain a relatively stable balance.

Revenues from the fees charged will be used by DFAIT to offset the increasing costs associated with the management of these programs, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, and to some extent due to the growing demand from nationals of other countries to enter Canada under one of the programs.

The introduction of a participation fee will allow Canada to properly process incoming participants and to be able to promote the program among Canadian youth, and thus to maintain the reciprocity element of the program. The fees charged under this Order will apply to participants from Australia and New Zealand.

Alternatives

Possible options include maintaining the current program level, generating revenues to be able to allocate additional resources to meet the increasing program demand, or reducing the scope of the program.

There are insufficient resources now dedicated to the management and administration of these programs to adequately respond to the demand that has arisen in recent years and that is expected to increase in coming years. Globalization of trade, cultural exchange and opportunity for personal development is expected to lead to increased expectations for participation in these programs. The department is not equipped to pro-actively respond to increasing demand for participants wanting to enter Canada, nor to promote the program among Canadian youth. Available resources cannot now handle the current level of demand, let alone the increasing level of demand for increased quotas.

Re-allocating resources from within the department to meet the demand for the program is not feasible, given the budget reductions faced by the department in recent years. In the absence of revenues from the participation fee, no resources will be devoted to promoting the program, thus making it likely that Canadian participation will decrease. This, in turn, will lead to a need to reduce the quotas of countries sending participants to Canada, in order to retain the reciprocity of the program.

It is not feasible to manage the program without a firm resource commitment. Reliance cannot be placed on the possible re-assignment of unused budget resources towards the end of a fiscal year.

Australia and New Zealand now charge a participation fee to Canadians who travel to their country under one of these programs. Since a key feature of these programs is reciprocity, it is reasonable to charge fees to incoming participants.

Within the ambit of the government user fee policy, these participants obtain a distinct benefit under the program and thus should expect to pay for some of the costs involved. The fee will not be charged to participants from countries where there is no equivalent fee charged to Canadians.

A fee will not be charged to Canadians visiting Australia and New Zealand under one of these programs, since they already pay a fee to the other country. Charging a participation fee to an outbound participant would not be fair when they pay a fee to enter the other country.

Benefits and Costs

The key benefit from the use of these resources will be to increase the international awareness of Canada's future leaders and to positively influence future leaders of foreign countries about Canada. In this manner, the program is expected to make a significant impact on the development of Canada's cultural, trade and diplomatic relations in the new millennium.

Program participants from Australia and New Zealand coming to Canada will pay the fee since they benefit from the programs. Thus, the fees will be fair and equitable. The fees charged ($150) will be of a similar value to that charged to Canadians by those countries.

Treasury Board policy requires that funds raised through specific cost recovery initiatives be used specifically in support of the program services against which the fees are collected. DFAIT commits itself to this policy and will ensure that the funds are applied to the costs of delivery of the programs within Canada and to the costs of supporting the program at missions abroad (other than the costs directly associated with processing work permits which fall under CIC responsibility and which will continue to be funded by CIC).

Consultation

Consultations have taken place with non-government organizations involved in assisting and facilitating the participation of Canadians and nationals of other countries in international youth exchanges. No significant problems were raised during these discussions, with the exception of the principal NGO involved in the program from the UK.

Consultations also took place with officials from the governments and embassies of Australia and New Zealand. Since a fee under the Immigration Act Fee Regulations is now charged to participants from New Zealand, there is no objection from New Zealand and Australia to changing the basis for the fee.

Compliance and Enforcement

The fee is payable upon acceptance of an application to enter Canada and will be self-enforcing in that participants will be required to pay the fee prior to obtaining their letter of introduction to Canada.

Contact

Michel Gigault
Head, Youth and Personalities Exchanges Section
International Academic Relations Division
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G2
Tel.: (613) 996-4527
FAX: (613) 995-3238

Footnote a

SI/2000-111

Footnote b

S.C. 1991, c. 24, s. 6

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