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.
Brampton Guardian – Settlement Agency for Newcomers Opens Offices in Brampton
AWIC, a community and social services, operating in Toronto for more than 35 years, has opened an office in Brampton. The new offices at 7900 Hurontario St. Suite, 207 will serve as a settlement, social and community agency offering a host of services for newcomers to Canada. […] Over the past few years, staff at the agency’s offices said they were fielding calls from people from Brampton and Mississauga seeking AWIC’s help. That prompted a decision to open a new location in Brampton. […] The agency offers new immigrants one-on-one counselling on the Canadian way-of-of-life and helps individuals and families with their job-search, and advice on accreditation of their credentials, housing and health services, explained Jayashree Pandey, counsellor, AWIC.
The Tyee – Tuition Fees Could Save Some Vancouver Community College ESL Programs: President
An announcement that permits public post-secondary institutions to charge students tuition for some English as a Second Language (ESL) courses means Western Canada’s largest ESL provider could continue to run some of its recently defunded programs. It isn’t enough to save the whole program, however, which costs $11 million a year to run. Four of five ESL departments at Vancouver Community College are scheduled to shut down at the end of this month after federal funding came to an end. Since 2010, the college has received provincial and federal funding for the departments through the Canada-BC Immigration Agreement. The agreement ended last April, ending federal funding and forcing the college to rely on a small amount of money to keep the departments running until Dec. 17. The departments offer a range of ESL level programs, from English for beginners, to pre-college and professional level English for students upgrading their education, wanting their foreign credentials recognized, or looking for a job in their field.
Edmonton Journal – Mexican Refugee Family in Edmonton Beats Long Odds to Gain Permanent Residency
The Dominguez family came to Alberta from Mexico after someone threatened to kidnap their middle child. It has taken six years, three applications to Canadian agencies, thousands of dollars in legal fees and countless hours of stress, but the Edmonton family last week received an early Christmas gift: permanent residency status. “It was a big relief and it was the outcome of the things we’d worked on as a family to get done,” said Jose Dominguez Morales, 20. He is the eldest son in the family of five and started to translate for his parents as soon as they arrived. He is now a student at NAIT who has received soccer scholarships to play at the school. The Dominguez family was part of a wave of Mexican refugee claimants who came to Canada starting in about 2005. Mexico was the top source country for refugee claims until 2009. But the acceptance rate for refugee claimants from Mexico has always been far less than for other countries. It was 11 per cent in 2008 when the Dominguez family arrived. The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) maintains the NAFTA partner is a democracy that affords protection to its citizens.
L’Express – Toujours plus d’émigrants vers le Canada
285 000 immigrants pour 2015, c’est le chiffre record annoncé par le gouvernement de Stephen Harper, qui souhaite ainsi augmenter considérablement le nombre de nouveaux arrivants au Canada. Depuis plusieurs années, la moyenne annuel était en effet de 250 000 résidents permanents. “Mais le marché du travail a changé, explique Chris Alexander, le ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration canadien, venu à Paris à l’occasion de la conférence de l’OCDE sur l’émigration, les 1 et 2 décembre. Nous avons besoins de travailleurs spécialisés, dans toutes les provinces, mais nous n’en trouvons pas toujours. Ainsi, la Saskachewan, qui connaît le plein emploi, peine à recruter.” Les francophones sont également encouragés à venir s’installer, et pas seulement au Québec. “La francophonie est la pierre angulaire de notre identité, ajoute le ministre, non seulement il est essentiel d’aider nos communautés francophones à relever le défi démographique, mais il faut aussi développer le bilinguisme, ce qui ne rebute plus les jeunes francophones. La preuve,30% d’entre eux vivent actuellement auYukon et autant en Colombie-Britannique, ce qui est relativement nouveau.”
Radio-Canada – Pénurie de travailleurs temporaires étrangers dans certaines régions du Canada
Ottawa avait annoncé l’été dernier des changements au programme des travailleurs étrangers temporaires au Canada pour limiter les abus. Ce programme permet de combler les manques d’une main-d’œuvre vitale dans certaines régions. Mais depuis quelques semaines, ces changements sont devenus un véritable cauchemar pour de petites entreprises. La saison commence à battre son plein dans certaines régions où le travail est plutôt saisonnier. Ville de villégiature par excellence, Whistler attire les skieurs de partout dans le monde. Mais selon bien des commerçants, la ville n’est pas prête, car la pénurie de main-d’œuvre est criante. André St-Jacques, copropriétaire du populaire Bearfoot Bistro, est confronté à un vrai casse-tête, car il n’arrive pas à embaucher au niveau local pour sa cuisine. Il avait l’habitude de faire appel à une main-d’œuvre étrangère dans le cadre du programme des travailleurs temporaires étrangers. Mais depuis l’été dernier, le programme a changé. Résultat : « J’en ai pas d’employés, y’en a pas à engager, y’a personne ». Que ce soit à Banff en Alberta ou à Whistler et dans d’autres centres de vacances très prisés par la clientèle internationale, certains commerces embauchaient même jusqu’à 30 % de travailleurs temporaires étrangers.
Globe and Mail – Ottawa to Cherry Pick Most Desirable Economic Immigrants for Fast Track Access to Canada
The new system, which debuts Jan. 1, is the culmination of years of overhauls by the governing Conservatives who want Canada to be more nimble in the global scramble to recruit foreign talent and more hard-nosed about choosing newcomers who are of benefit to this country. […] Ottawa will function as matchmaker under the new system, pairing prospective economic immigrants with the needs of private-sector employers. Companies won’t have unfettered access to search the pool of Express Entry applicants for hires but will rely on the government to offer them potential matches. This matchmaking function, however, will not be running as of Jan. 1, the federal government says in a November presentation given to stakeholders and obtained by The Globe and Mail. This feature will come in spring, 2015, a spokesman for Employment and Social Development Canada said Tuesday evening. […] Richard Kurland, a Vancouver-based immigration lawyer, said he’s concerned Ottawa is replacing a “a transparent predictable process” with one that gives bureaucrats too much discretion to decide who gets into this country.
