an alliance of university, community, and government partners dedicated to fostering welcoming communities and promoting the integration of immigrants and minorities across Canada
The Media Roundup provides links to recent and archived articles, in both English and French, on immigration and diversity appearing in the national and local news. Some international content is also included. Articles are updated weekly.
CBC – Immigration Watch Flyer in Brampton not Hate Crime, Police Say
Anti-immigration flyers distributed in Brampton, Ont., last month do not meet the definition of a hate crime, according to police. The flyer questions the direction of the city’s racial demographics, contrasting an apparently old, black-and-white photo of a group of white people with a colour photo of a group of Sikhs. The caption under the latter reads: “Is This Really What You What?” “While the flyers may be considered racist and offensive, they do not cross the legal line into hate crime as determined by the Supreme Court of Canada,” Peel Regional Police said in a release Thursday after concluding an investigation. “As such, there are no reasonable grounds to warrant criminal charges in this case.”
CBC – How a Little Alberta Union Helps Temporary Foreign Workers Become Canadian
The Local 1118’s collective agreement stipulates that if employers hire temporary foreign workers, they must help them apply to become permanent citizens. Among other things, that means unionized companies under the Red Deer-based Local 1118 can’t hire temporary foreign workers who don’t meet eligibility requirements for residency, such as speaking English. If they do, the employer must help them meet the requirements, including teaching them the language. […] Up to 2,500 of the local union’s 4,300 members are temporary foreign workers who have either become permanent residents or in the process, says UFCW Local 1118 president Albert Johnson. […] However, Johnson notes the union doesn’t support the federal government’s program itself. “What we’ve managed to do with our employers is make a bad program into a livable program,” he says. “The answer to this whole foreign worker issue is not temporary foreign workers. It’s permanent immigration.”
Live Punjab – Canada Post Unveils Stamp to Mark Komagata Maru Incident
Canada Post unveiled a new stamp on May 6 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Komagata Maru incident. The stamp was unveiled on Parliament Hill to start Asian Heritage Month. Canada Post issued the stamp to mark the centennial of this event and also recognizing the steps that the country has taken towards a more tolerant and diverse society. The stamp is available in all post offices and online, and features an artistic rendition of images from a small collection of archive photos, shot on board and during the voyage. Besides, two collectible Official First Day Covers are also available. The purpose of the stamp is to bring to the notice of Canadians about an exclusionary immigration policy that deterred hundreds of Indian migrants from entering in 1914, and also the change in Canada over the years.
Canadian HR Reporter – Kenney Defends Temporary Workers Hired in Windsor, Ont., as Highly Skilled
Most of the temporary foreign workers hired in the manufacturing sector over the past three years in Windsor, Ont. — a hotbed of unemployment hit hard by the global recession — were skilled workers who repaired and installed industrial equipment, Jason Kenney said Wednesday. “The overwhelming majority of these (labour market opinions) were issued for industrial instrument technicians and mechanics for less than six months,” the embattled employment minister said in the House of Commons before tabling some of his department’s data on the region. “These would typically be people who are installing equipment, equipment that is purchased from perhaps the United States, who come up here to either repair or install equipment.” He chastised Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland for suggesting they were dubious hires. Freeland has questioned why so many temporary foreign workers were hired in Windsor when it grappled with an unemployment rate that hovered above nine per cent for much of 2013, one of the highest levels in the country.
CBC – Temporary Foreign Worker Program Sanctions Nova Scotia Trucking Company
The federal government has sanctioned a fourth employer that was using the Temporary Foreign Worker Program pending an investigation into the company’s requests for Labour Market Opinions, which are required to prove the need to hire a temporary foreign worker over a Canadian. The owners of Eassons Transport in Berwick, N.S., saw its permits to hire workers through the program suspended on May 1, according to a notice quietly posted on the web site for Employment and Social Development Canada. The notice said the trucking company had its permits suspended because “there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the employer or group of employers provided false, misleading or inaccurate information in the context of the request for that opinion.” “Any allegation of abuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be vigorously investigated,” said Jordan Sinclair, a spokesperson for the department of Employment and Social Development Canada, in an email to CBC News on Thursday.
Radio-Canada – Dépliants « racistes » à Brampton : pas un crime haineux selon la police
Le service de police régional de Peel affirme qu’un prospectus anti-immigration distribué le mois dernier à Brampton ne peut pas être considéré comme un crime haineux en vertu du Code criminel. Le dépliant présentait deux images, la première montrant un groupe de personnes blanches et la seconde montrant un groupe de sikhs. Sous la deuxième photo, il y a la question : « est-ce que c’est vraiment ce que vous voulez ? » Les policiers de Peel soutiennent même si le prospectus du groupe Immigration Watch Canada peut être considéré comme « raciste et offensant », il n’est pas illégal. Des résidents de Brampton avaient été scandalisés par le dépliant.
