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.
Reuters – Israel Approves Detention Without Charges for African Migrants
Israel’s parliament has moved to ensure African migrants who enter the country illegally can be held without charge, despite a Supreme Court ruling that had struck down a previous detention law. Legislation approved late on Monday set a maximum detention period of one year for new illegal migrants, a change from a term of up to three years stipulated in a previous law annulled by the court in September. But with a newly-built Israeli border fence effectively choking off what had been a stream of African migrants crossing from Egypt, the new law could also have an impact on some of the estimated 50,000 mainly Sudanese and Eritrean nationals already in the Jewish state.
Global News – Mandela’s Party Could Still be Denied Entry to Canada – for Terrorism
South Africans who fought against apartheid in Nelson Mandela‘s party could still be considered terrorists and denied entry to Canada – and opposition MPs are calling on the Conservatives to change the system once and for all. Some members of the African National Congress – the liberation movement that won power in 1994 – have criminal records or incited and committed violence in the pursuit of equality in the apartheid era. That means they are subject to Canadian security regulations, including engaging in terrorism. […] According to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a foreign national can be deemed inadmissible for security grounds if he or she has engaged in subversion against a democratic government, terrorism or acts of violence.
Ryerson University Research News – Quebecers Say They Are the Healthiest Canadians: Ryerson Study
Thinking of settling in Canada as your new home? Consider moving to Quebec. Immigrants and those who were born in “la belle province” report they are the healthiest Canadians, according to a national landmark study by Ryerson University. The study, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), is the largest of its kind examining regional disparities in the health of native-born Canadians, newcomers to Canada, and Chinese immigrants. Lu Wang, a geography professor and lead author of the study, notes that little has been published on regional health differences of immigrants, particularly those who have arrived in the last 10 years. “We wanted to focus on Chinese immigrants, who are the largest recent immigrant group and the second largest visible minority group in Canada. Despite Canada’s publicly funded universal health-care system, immigrants are under-utilizing health services, facing strong barriers in accessing primary health care, and are experiencing deteriorating health.”
CBC – Millionaire Immigrants Invest in Quebec – and Then Move On
The vast majority of millionaire immigrants who come to Canada through Quebec’s immigrant investor program do not stay in that province, allowing Quebec to keep millions in job creation dollars while other provinces carry the costs of settlement. Numbers from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, obtained by a Vancouver immigration lawyer, show that 90 per cent of those immigrants are not living in Quebec when they re-apply for permanent resident visas five years later. […] He paid the federal government to search its own database to determine how many of those immigrants are still in Quebec. As it turns out, only around 10 per cent are still in the province.
Calgary Herald – Calgary Agency Launches Information Program to Give Immigrants Head Start
A Calgary agency is hoping to ease the transition for immigrants with a program that will begin equipping them with information about Canada before they arrive. The Welcome Resources Information Program is designed to give immigrants a head start and quickly direct them to agencies that can help them when they arrive, rather than going through a prolonged settlement process. “We cannot just open our doors and wait for the clients to come to us,” said Salim Sindhu, executive director of the Calgary Immigrant Educational Society, which launched the program Tuesday. A key part of the program is a website also launched Tuesday, calgaryconnect.ca, that provides information about life in Calgary and Canada to prospective immigrants before they leave their home country.
Calgary Herald – Processing Errors Allow Hundreds of Doctors to Gain Immigrant Status
A decision to turn a blind eye to processing errors that allowed more than 500 foreign-trained medical doctors to immigrate to Canada even though they didn’t necessarily meet the criteria is raising questions about fairness. Documents obtained by Vancouver lawyer and immigration policy analyst Richard Kurland through access to information laws indicate visa officers in Warsaw processed about 1,000 applications from doctors during a “blitz” to reduce backlogs nearly two years ago only to realize they’d done so using out-of-date guidelines. In an email, a Citizenship and Immigration Canada official suggested the mistake would require reviewing not just these but a number of other positive decisions that were not part of the blitz, and asked Ottawa if it was OK to simply use the new criteria going forward despite the potential for backlash.
