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Fred Zindi Music
On June 20, 2014 the Canadian government came up with rules for musicians and other artistes visiting Canada for performances within the country.
Foreign artistes who wish to perform in bars, restaurants or other venues within Canada are now exempt from the requirement to obtain a work permit from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
In the past Canadian promoters and employers who wished to bring foreign artistes into Canada had to seek a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from Employment and Social Development Canada.
Foreign performing artistes hired to perform at a venue whose primary purpose is to sell food and drinks, like bars and restaurants, required a LMIA before applying for a work permit.
This requirement has been amended to remove reference to LMIA. It provides consistent treatment to foreign artistes, regardless of venue type and simplifies the administration of the current LMIA process.
The regulatory amendment provides consistent treatment toward foreign artistes performing in Canada for time-limited engagements, irrespective of venue.
Specifically, any foreign-based musical and theatrical individuals and groups and their essential crew — including performing artistes, for instance, bands and musicians, performing at venues whose primary purpose is to sell food and drinks for time-limited engagements as per current guidelines, will be eligible for a work permit exemption.
In short, musicians can now walk into Canada to do performances without the hassle of waiting for a work permit for weeks.
The Canadian government has instructed its immigration officers to assist all foreign artistes entering Canada with all the help they can provide to make their entry into Canada easier.
With immediate effect, when processing performing artistes entering Canada, as per amended R186(g) (ii), Border Services Officers will no longer need to assess the venue when determining if a work permit is required like they did in the past.
Many musicians in Canada are overjoyed by this move. Dr Tendai Muparutsa, who was undertaking his doctoral studies in Canada in 2012, tried to bring in musicians from Zimbabwe to do six performances with him during the summer, but these had to be cancelled due to delays in processing work permits, which only came out in winter.
A friend of mine, Dr Robert Aucoin, who is a Canadian national, was also pleased by this development.
“Now we can learn all the African moves we have always wanted to but were prevented from seeing these acts live due to the harsh laws for visiting artistes which were in place.
“This is a positive development by my government and I hope all other countries which take arts and culture seriously, will follow suit,” he commented.
This year our own artiste, Jah Prayzah, was scheduled to give performances in the UK. The UK promoters battled with Home Office in Britain to have the band’s work permits issued in time. The concerts did not take place because the work permits did not come out on time.
It is quite frustrating for both the promoter and the artiste, let alone the expectant fans. If the UK had more relaxed work permit rules like Canada has recently done, Jah Prayzah would have given his fans in the UK a treat long ago.
Zimbabwe should make a reciprocal move if the development of the arts is to go anywhere.
If the ministries of Home Affairs and Sport, Arts and Culture in Zimbabwe were to follow the same principles as in Canada regarding foreign artistes coming to Zimbabwe, this country would be more attractive to visiting artistes. Artistes would be sure that their concerts will happen on given dates, instead of waiting for bureaucracy to take its course.
I understand John Legend cancelled his proposed November 2014 “All Of Me” Zimbabwe concert as a result of this uncertainty. He simply did not have time to queue up for a police clearance from the United States.
There had been a lot going on prior to the cancellation. On July 30, a total of 44 UMOJA participants from Mozambique, South Africa and Norway, although they did not require work permits, were refused entry into Zimbabwe by immigration authorities on the grounds that they did not have police clearances from their respective countries.
They did not even know that they needed police clearance papers for each individual in order to enter Zimbabwe until when they arrived as they had been coming to Zimbabwe for the last twelve years.
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) had put in place stringent rules which were aimed at controlling which artistes are allowed to visit Zimbabwe.
Under the new rules, promoters or event organisers wishing to bring in foreign artistes were required to also submit police clearances for each individual artist, in addition to the usual documents.
Caught up in this barrage of rules were UMOJA participants, who were refused entry into Zimbabwe on July 30 because they did not possess individual police clearance papers from their respective countries.
Last year Zimbabwean artistes toured Norway, Britain, The United States, Dubai, Australia and South Africa.
I am not sure who came up with this thinking but imagine a situation in which these countries Zimbabwean artistes go to perform made reciprocal moves of demanding police clearance papers from Zimbabwean artistes, then no Zimbabwean would give performances in these countries.
If the hassles faced in Zimbabwe when trying to obtain police clearance papers are the same in these countries, then the arts in Zimbabwe are doomed.
Besides, why should the NACZ ask only artistes to produce police clearance? My understanding of the requirement for police clearance is the need to control the inflow of criminal elements into the country.
Are they suggesting that criminals are found among artistes only? If not, then this rule must be for everyone, not just artistes. And if that happens, that will also be the end of our foreign tourists and visitors.
They would rather spend their money elsewhere, not because they are all criminals, but because of the hassles involved in trying to obtain police clearance.
Fortunately, the powers that be saw the futility of this ruling and decided to rescind this requirement.
How I wish the work permit requirement could also be removed. Are immigration officials not giving themselves unnecessary work?
I am sure Immigration can find other ways of making money from foreign artistes.
It is time the whole country learned that music unites the world. It is better to ease the rules than making stringent ones which will only put off artistes from visiting each other.
To consolidate collaboration among nations will automatically get rid of what seems to be the pervasive problems of the African continent, for instance, poverty, diseases, corruption and wars. We are fighting these through international collaborations in music and the sooner immigration laws are relaxed for visiting musicians, the better for everyone!
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