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.
La Presse canadienne – Les immigrants ont de grands défis financiers
Les immigrants font face à un grand nombre de défis pour s’adapter à un nouveau pays, mais parmi les plus grands figurent ceux de bâtir une carrière et une bonne situation financière. Selon Statistique Canada, quelque 1,16 million de personnes ont immigré au Canada entre 2006 et 2011, comptant ainsi en 2011 pour 3,5 pour cent de la population canadienne totale. De tous les pays du G8, le Canada a la plus grande proportion de résidants nés à l’étranger. Un rapport publié en octobre de l’Institut Info-Patrimoine BMO conclut que les nouveaux arrivants sont confrontés à beaucoup d’épreuves financières à leur arrivée. Le rapport a établi les cinq plus grands défis des immigrants à leur arrivée au Canada, qui sont de trouver un emploi adéquat, apprendre une nouvelle langue, s’adapter au climat, un manque de soutien de leur pays d’origine et les contraintes financières. «Le début d’une nouvelle vie au Canada peut être une expérience enthousiasmante, mais l’adaptation à un nouveau pays comporte de nombreuses inconnues et difficultés, dont quelques-unes des plus importantes sont liées aux questions financières.
Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada – Communiqué – Le ministre Uppal souligne le 70e anniversaire de la libération d’Auschwitz-Birkenau
Tim Uppal, ministre d’État au Multiculturalisme, s’est joint aujourd’hui à d’autres dignitaires étrangers pour rendre hommage aux victimes de l’Holocauste et du génocide nazi à l’occasion du 70e anniversaire de la libération du camp de concentration et d’extermination d’Auschwitz-Birkenau. Entre 1940 et 1945, plus d’un million de personnes — principalement des Juifs — ont été exterminées au camp de concentration d’Auschwitz-Birkenau, qui est devenu un symbole durable de l’Holocauste. La date du 27 janvier, jour de la libération du camp par l’Armée rouge, a été proclamée Journée internationale dédiée à la mémoire des victimes de l’Holocauste. L’événement, qui s’est tenu à Cracovie, où étaient rassemblés un grand nombre de survivants de l’Holocauste, a également permis de faire connaître la Fondation Auschwitz-Birkenau, fondée en 2009 dans le but de financer les efforts de conservation et de préservation du site. Le Canada appuie fortement la fondation; en 2012, le gouvernement fédéral lui a versé un don de 400 000 $ afin de contribuer à la préservation du site commémoratif d’Auschwitz-Birkenau pour les générations futures.
Now Toronto – My Call From a Former Hunger Striker Inside the Lindsay Superjail
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) detains migrants who lack permanent immigration status. The agency says many are a public threat or might go into hiding unless they are locked up. Some of the detained are eventually deported to their home countries. Others cannot be sent back because their lives would be in danger, yet the government offers them no pathway to permanent status, even those who worked and paid taxes in Canada for years. […] In this context, CBSA’s detention and deportation of migrants, particularly those whose presumed crime is simply that they lack permanent status, seems intended to maintain a sense of fear and remind migrant workers of the precariousness of their situation. […] Immigration lawyer Macdonald Scott, who’s represented some of the men in the Lindsay superjail, says the government is deporting people without giving them proper access to legal representation. “It’s almost impossible to get counsel in touch with them,” Scott says in a phone interview. “The chance that someone is going to be able to get in there and stop the removal is almost impossible.”
Timmins Press – International Student Enrolment Climbing at Northern
Northern College is reporting a “substantial increase” in the number of international students studying at its campuses and online. In total, 24 international students from three continents have started a post-secondary program at the college this school year, a substantial increase from only four new international students during the past two years combined. The majority of these students are from India, with additional students coming from China, Mauritania, Nigeria and the United States. Most international students are enrolled in the engineering technology and trades, business and community services programming areas, according to a release issued by the college Monday. […] The college began its current international recruitment efforts in 2009, taking an approach that includes working with a network of recruitment officers abroad. […] “International recruitment is a great way for us to take advantage of the additional capacity we have in some of our programs, and to ensure that some high-quality programs without substantial domestic enrolment, due to changing demographics in Northern Ontario, remain viable offerings,” said Fred Gibbons, president of Northern College.
Vancouver 24 Hours – LGBTQ Immigrants “Minority Within a Minority”
The myriad of issues facing immigrants who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans or Questioning (LGBTQ) is precisely what a six-month pilot project is trying to get to the bottom of. I Belong is a pilot project launched in Burnaby and New Westminster last October that’s aiming to support LGBTQ immigrant newcomers by addressing the intersecting effects of sexuality, gender, race, cultural diversity, class, criminalization and colonialism. On Monday, a community dialogue event drew more than 65 people, from LGBTQ immigrants to service providers, together at Trout Lake Community Centre to gather ideas on how to support the “minority within the minority,” according to Roja Bagheri, program coordinator with MOSAIC Settlement and Family Services. […] Bagheri said there aren’t any service providers out there for LGBTQ immigrant newcomers as a whole. […] Since the beginning of the project, the group has worked with 25 LGBTQ newcomers and a host of service providers. The recommendations from the dialogue, surveys and research will be compiled into a public report after the culmination of the pilot project in March, Bagheri said. […]The project received six months of funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Durham Region – Helping New Immigrants to Durham Important
Fahim Sharaf, the executive director of the Durham West Agency for South Asian Canadians, was born in Afghanistan and came to Canada 22 years ago. […] The Durham West Agency for South Asian Canadians is a new organization and Mr. Sharaf said the hope is to meet monthly to help newcomers. “How can we really help newcomers in Durham? They have to learn the school system, the laws,” he said. “This is what we are focusing on in the long run, to do that.” One agency helping newcomers is The Welcome Centre in Ajax, which is part of the Community Development Council of Durham (CDCD). (There’s also a Welcome Centre in Pickering that’s operated by the Durham Region Unemployed Help Centre.) Hermia Corbette, the Ajax centre’s manager, said the centre offers four core services — language assessment, language instruction, employment services and settlement supports — and between 150 and 180 people use the centre each day. […] The centre is based on a model first offered in Markham, Vaughan and Newmarket. “Durham Region is building on those existing models. We want to create a safe, welcoming space for them.”
