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 – Province Challenges OHIP Coverage to Injured Workers
Kenroy Williams and Denville Clarke, who came to Canada under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), were among nine Jamaican migrant workers caught in a car accident in August 2012 while being driven by their employer to a farm in Oakland, Ont. […] Williams and Clarke have remained in Canada on visitors’ visas past their contract expiry in order to receive treatment. The Health Services Appeal and Review Board of Ontario ruled last month that the province must continue to provide health coverage to the duo in medical emergencies. On Thursday, the Ontario government filed a notice asking the tribunal to reconsider and reverse the decision. A health ministry spokesperson confirmed the information but declined further comment.
Radio-Canada – Une centaine d’intellectuels rejettent la future charte des valeurs québécoises
Sous le titre « Nos valeurs excluent l’exclusion », une centaine de professeurs de cégep, d’universitaires et d’intellectuels ont signé une lettre ouverte contre le projet de charte des valeurs que le gouvernement du Québec, par la voix du ministre responsable Bernard Drainville, compte déposer à l’Assemblée nationale la semaine prochaine. Tout en se réclamant de principes comme « l’égalité entre hommes et femmes et la laïcité », les auteurs de la lettre croient qu’ils ne doivent pas être séparés des valeurs comme « le refus du racisme, des stigmatisations, de toutes les formes de domination et d’inégalité quelles qu’elles soient ».
The New York Times – National Parks Try to Appeal to Minorities
Only about one in five visitors to a national park site is nonwhite, according to a 2011 University of Wyoming report commissioned by the Park Service, and only about 1 in 10 is Hispanic — a particularly lackluster embrace by the nation’s fastest-growing demographic group. One way the service has been fighting to break through is with a program called American Latino Expeditions, which invited Ms. Cain and her three colleagues. Groups like theirs went to three parks and recreation areas this summer — participants competed for the spots, with expenses paid for mostly through corporate donations — part of a multipronged effort to turn the Park Service’s demographic battleship around.
iPolitics – Feds Approved Most Requests for Temporary Foreign Workers
Federal officials have denied only 17 per cent of temporary foreign worker applications since 2006, an access to information request shows — raising questions about how easy it is to get a rubber stamp for importing labour. Since January 2006 to July of this year, the department formerly named Human Resources and Skills Development Canada received 843,321 requests to bring in foreigners to cover labour shortages. Of those, officials approved 599,948 of them, a whopping 71 per cent, the ATIP document showed.
Globe and Mail – Immigration Boosting Housing Sector: Report
With every report of continued strength in the remarkably stubborn Canadian housing market (and we have had more such indications this week), the question gets asked: How can Canada’s housing sector possibly keep this up? National Bank Financial believes it has one compelling answer: Immigration. In a report issued Thursday, NBF senior economist Matthieu Arseneau argued that Canada’s unusually high level of net migration in the 20-44 age group is underpinning a high rate of formation of new households in the country, and that has been driving housing demand.
Jamaicans, Haitians and Colombians are the first to feel Canada’s tighter rules requiring applicants’ biometric data for issuing visitor, student and work permit visas. As of Wednesday, visa applicants from those countries have had to provide fingerprints and pictures along with an $85 fee as Canada rolls out new biometrics requirements first announced last December. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander says biometrics will help keep undesirable people out of Canada. […] The list of countries from which biometric data will be collected will grow to 30 by December and include places like Albania, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
