The title of a recent article published on the site of the Nature scientific newspaper asks the following question: “What is the best place to organize a scientific conference currently?”.
The article of the English journal stresses that the United States, due to the sling of the Trump administration against science, of the repression against immigrants and the ban on visitors from certain countries, have become much less attractive.
We can also read there that several conferences which were to take place in the United States were relocated to Canada, including an international conference on comparative cognition held in Montreal last spring.
However, the article published by nature underlines that, despite appearances, Canada is not the ideal place to accommodate international conferences, because it is a country where there are “many restrictions” at the entrance and which even appears at the bottom of the list of the “classification of welcoming countries”.
In this ranking, created by Arton Capital, a Montreal firm that specializes in advice services for investor immigrants, Canada is 79th out of 95.
The “classification of welcoming countries” assesses countries “according to the number of passports they accept without visa”, summarizes Mohammed Bennis, associate vice-president at Arton Capital, in an interview with the Canadian press.
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Despite its name, the record “is not negative or derogatory”, assures Mr. Bennis, it is rather a tool that allows us to understand “which countries allow visitors to travel without having to ask for a visa, a process which is sometimes difficult”, he stressed by adding that “it is a classification which underlines the freedom to travel”.
According to this ranking, visitors from 145 countries must, if they want to make a stay in Canada, obtain an electronic travel authorization and citizens in 52 countries are forced to request a visa to stay in the country.
Only Americans can travel to Canada without an official document issued by Ottawa.
“When there are international conferences, Canada allows, in some cases, to accelerate visa requests”, but “it is not as simple as coming with only a passport,” said the associate vice-president at Arton Capital.
“But it is certain that, if we look at a factual way, there are other countries which could be able to welcome more people” to participate in business congresses or scientific conferences, “since they allow greater mobility in the incoming sense,” summed up Mohammed Bennis.
In addition to the list of “welcoming countries”, Arton Capital produced “the passport index”, a determined classification “according to the number of destinations that a passport makes it possible to reach without visa”, explained Mohammed Bennis.
The Canadian passport, which allows you to travel to 121 countries without having to get a visa, makes it very good and arrives at eighth row.
Countries, such as Canada, which are at the bottom of the list of “welcoming countries” are often those which, conversely, are at the top of the “passport index” list.
Tourisme Montréal disagree
In an exchange with the Canadian press, the Montreal tourist spokesperson indicates that this type of classification can bring confusing and maintains that the Quebec metropolis is well placed to accommodate congresses and international conferences.
“This year again, Montreal ranked first for the reception of international associative congresses in North America and it is the ninth consecutive year that we rank in the front row,” argues Aurélie de Blois.
The spokesperson underlines that in 2023, Montreal was appointed “first city in America for the hosting of international events by the Union of International Associations (UIA), which testifies to the quality of our infrastructure, our expertise in event organization and the overall attractiveness of the city”.
However, she adds, “it is true that the entry procedures in Canada can represent a challenge for certain clienteles” and “we therefore continue our awareness efforts with the competent authorities to ensure that Montreal remains accessible, welcoming and competitive on the international scene”.
Participants in conferences that require asylum
In recent years, Canada has faced an increase in asylum requests made by foreign nationals who arrived in the country with visitor visas.
In some cases, visitors take advantage of international conferences and congresses to try to obtain refugee status.
For example, in 2022, several media had reported that many delegates, including the leaders of the International Society on AIDS, had not been able to attend the Montreal AIDS conference, due to the refusals of the Canadian government.
A year later, we learned, thanks to internal documents obtained by the Canadian press, that almost one in six who participated in this important conference on AIDS in Montreal requested refugee status after the event.
The documents obtained by the Canadian press under the Access to Information Act showed that 1020 visa requests for the conference were rejected, 36 % of them. And that 10 % of requests had still not been processed at the end of the event.
Canada finally delivered 1638 visas for the conference. The documents reveal that at least 251 people, or about 15 % of participants, asked for asylum after entering Canada.
