When to call the lawyers:

Consulting an immigration lawyer does not speed up the process of applying for landed immigrant status, nor does it ensure that an applicant will be accepted to become a permanent resident, according to the Quebec government. Still, for a process designed to be completed without legal representation, immigration lawyers abound, even steps away from Concordia University.
The Government of Quebec states on its website that you do not need an intermediary to help you with the immigration process. The government claims the process is meant to be easy and simple enough for everybody. The immigration Quebec website advises,
“It is not necessary to use the services of an intermediary to handle immigration procedures. It is very important for applicants to know that handles all applications it receives in the same way. No priority or special treatment is given to the file of an applicant who retains the services of an immigration intermediary.”
Just opposite Concordia’s downtown campus, you can spot a big sign sporting the Canadian and Quebec flags, advertising lawyer’s services to would-be immigrants. The office of Jean-Michel Labelle, located on Guy Street, charges $60 for a first consultation meeting alone.

Immigration and Citizenship
– By The Numbers –

Proportion of foreign-born highest in 75 years.

According to the 2006 Census:

there are 6,186,950 foreign-born people in Canada, making up one in five of the total population, the highest proportion in 75 years.

Between 2001 and 2006, Canada’s foreign-born population increased by 13.6%, 4 times higher than the growth rate of 3.3% for the Canadian-born population

1,110,000 immigrants came to Canada between 2001 – 2006; 3.6% of Canada’s total population of 31.2 million.

immigrants born in Asia, including the Middle East, made up the largest proportion (58.3%) of newcomers

85.1% of the foreign-born eligible for Canadian citizenship in 2006 had become naturalized

For the first time in 2006, one Canadian in five was allophone, that is, people whose mother tongue is neither English nor French.

In 2006, allophones represented 20.1% of the population, up from 18.0% in 2001.

The proportion of francophones decreased from 22.9% to 22.1%, while the proportion of anglophones in 2006 was 57.8%, down from 59.1% in 2001.

The increase in the share of allophones is mainly related to the number of immigrants who arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2006.

During this period, an estimated 1,110,000 newcomers settled here, and four out of five of them were allophone.

The 2006 Census reaffirmed the position of the Chinese languages as Canada’s third most common mother tongue group, behind English and French.

– Statistics released in a report by Statistics Canada Dec 4, 2007.