Another concern related to women and immigration policy which has an indirect influence on learning opportunities, is that the CEIC holds formidable enforcement powers in relation to all immigrants. The dependent immigrant is more likely to run afoul of those powers than the independent one. The Commission has the right to enforce its own laws; and its officials serve as accuser, judge, jury and executioner on appeals made against their own decisions. This power is particularly offensive to immigrant women who are brought here under contract to provide cheap household services. If they should attempt to change their status, or if they should be accused of the crime of prostitution, they are immediately liable to be deported. This is true if they attempt to change their status from worker to student, or from student to worker, or even just their marital status.

One further policy which is very difficult to avoid is the policy of the CEIC to not provide any statistics which indicate the breakdown of men and women participating in various activities. This is true for occupational training statistics as well as for deportation statistics. The Commission holds to a policy that there shall be no sexual discrimination and that, therefore, statistics should not reflect any sexual differences. This means we cannot easily obtain a picture of how women are being treated by the various branches of the Commission. For example, we do not know the major reasons for deporting women nor how these might relate to learning opportunities. The only statistics on immigration which are readily available are those on the total numbers of women who enter as immigrants, their ages and marital status. Statistics of other types must come from census figures and labour force data.

Finally, we would like to bring to your attention two situations in which groups of women have developed learning programs for immigrant women which appear to be successful and creative. These two programs are as follows:

a.) The Manpower Industrial Training Program (CMITP) can be used to provide language courses for immigrant workers who are already employed and who would benefit from increased fluency in the relevant official language. For example, in Vancouver a combined effort among several community agencies resulted in English language programs for workers at Jantzen of Canada Limited. The teacher and learning resources were provided by the Vancouver Community College, and the workers wages for the time spent in class by Jantzen and CMITP. The course evaluation shows that trainees developed a better understanding of their work situation and procedures, improved their comprehension of workrelated vocabulary, and reduced their absenteeism and their need for interpreters. The trainees had never been able to take language classes outside work hours, even though many wanted to. Their response to the course and the instructors was positive. Their only negative response was that the course was too short. Most wanted to continue to receive this type of instruction at their place of work. The courses were held at 7:45 a.m. for one hour, five days per week, for six weeks. The costs were shared three ways and amounted to $7.48 per student hour. Of this total, $2.22 was paid by the Vancouver Community College; $2.70 by Jantzen of Canada Ltd.; and $2.56 by CMITP. This was a pilot project developed through the efforts of the Immigrant Women's Advocate Committee of Vancouver.¹

^1. B. Lund, "Evaluation of the English language training program for immigrant women workers at Jantzen of Canada Limited: Final Report". (Vancouver: City of Vancouver, Department of Social Planning, 1976).