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.
Toronto Star – Congolese Refugees “Interviewed” in Canada by Officials They Fled From
The federal government allegedly paid for a cross-Canada trip by officials from Congo — a country known for its human rights abuses — to “interview” Congolese nationals facing deportation to their homeland. The allegations, made by some of the refugee claimants who were interviewed, have prompted outrage in the Congolese Canadian community, whose members expressed shock that the government would work with a regime it has placed under a travel warning. […] Although the Democratic Republic of Congo is among a handful of countries under a moratorium on removals, CBSA’s Graham said the ban does not apply to individuals deemed inadmissible to Canada for reasons of criminality, security, organized crime or human rights violations.
CBC – Skilled Immigrants to be Offered “Express Entry” to Canada in 2015
The Canadian government is forging ahead with a new immigration system that will offer “express entry” to qualified immigrants starting in 2015 as a way to help fill open jobs for which there are no available Canadian workers. Express Entry, formerly known as Expression of Interest, will be “a swifter path to Canada that will select immigrants based on the skills and attributes that Canada needs based on those identified by government but also by employers,” said Immigration Minister Chris Alexander during a news conference in Richmond Hill, Ont., on Tuesday. While the change in the name of the program was quietly announced in a news release two weeks ago, the government has been remodelling Canada’s immigration system for the last 18 months or so. […] Alexander said Canadian employers would be able to bring in workers through the Express Entry system with the long-term view that they would remain in Canada.
RDÉE – Communiqué – Un expert en intégration des immigrants sera conférencier au déjeuner du Forum en immigration économique
Juan Manuel Toro Lara, un orateur animé qui est reconnu comme expert très engagé dans l’intégration des personnes immigrantes, sera un des principaux conférenciers au Forum en immigration économique au Rodd Brudenell River Resort à Brudenell du 26-28 mai. « Nous avons invité M. Toro Lara d’adresser la parole au déjeuner du forum du 28 mai surtout parce qu’il reconnait et valorise continuellement le fait que les immigrants francophones peuvent contribuer grandement à l’essor des communautés francophones en situation minoritaire du Canada, » signale le coordonnateur du forum international, Francis Thériault.
Toronto Star – Filipino Canadian Paper Celebrates 25th Anniversary
For the past 25 years, Hermie and Mila Garcia have followed the same routine every other week: up till the wee hours proof-reading and fact-checking on Thursday and then rising early Friday to check on the bundles coming off the press at a Yorkdale Mall area print shop, the ink still fresh on the pages of their family newspaper. As their Philippine Reporter reaches its quarter-century milestone this spring, the couple has seen it grow from a 12-page, 2,000-copy black-and-white publication to a 56-page, 12,000-copy full-colour biweekly. […] Despite declining ad revenues, the couple stuck it out and was helped by an influx of Filipino immigrants in the mid-1990s, who were hungry for news from back home and in Canada. The number of permanent residents coming from the Philippines has tripled in the last decade, to nearly 33,000 a year.
CBC – B.C. Refugee Mental Health Help Funding Drastically Cut
Federal funding cuts that came into effect this month have substantially reduced British Columbia’s free refugee mental health assistance program. The program’s annual budget has been slashed from $616,000 to $260,000, a reduction of just under 60 per cent. Two of the four groups offering mental health counselling to refugees in the province have shut down their programs, and the number of full-time staff has been reduced from six to three. Those three are now responsible for serving what the Immigration Services Society of B.C. estimates to be 2,000 refugees coming to B.C. each year — 800 of which have official status. Dylan Mazur of the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture calls the situation “a crisis in refugee mental health care.” In 2012, then-immigration minister Jason Kenney announced Canada would resume the management of federally funded settlement programs in British Columbia. The change forced the organizations to apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for their portion of federal funding. The applications for this year’s funding were denied.
Globe and Mail – Foreigners Approved to Fill Hockey Coaching Positions in Canada
The federal government approved the hiring of hockey coaches through the temporary foreign worker program – an immigration stream meant only for jobs Canadians can’t fill. In six cases since 2010, the government approved Labour Market Opinion (LMO) applications to bring in hockey coaches under the TFW program, documents obtained through the Access to Information Act show – saying, in essence, no Canadian could be found. […] Canadian immigration law generally exempts pro athletes from needing to get work permits, but certain coaches are required to; only those from countries that freely allow reciprocal hiring of Canadian coaches are exempt.
