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.
Hamilton Spectator – South Korean Family Still Fighting Deportation
Sungsoo Kim’s South Korean family has been denied permanent residency in Canada because of the potential health-care and social-services costs for their 12-year-old autistic son, Taehoon. Kim is still awaiting word on his new appeal to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to be allowed to stay — continuing the uncertainty the family has faced for several years already. But the good news is that his employer Pattison Outdoor Advertising in Mississauga — where Kim is the administrator of the IT help assistant — was able to secure another two-year extension in October on his work permit, he said. The old one had expired in July, but the new one allows him to keep working until Oct. 1, 2014, Kim noted.
Le Soleil – La police de Québec travaille à éviter le profilage racial
La blanche et catholique ville de Québec prend des couleurs. La hausse de l’immigration contraint la police à ajuster ses méthodes pour éviter le profilage racial. Le nombre d’immigrants dans la capitale a plus que doublé de 2000 à aujourd’hui. Il est passé de 17 000 au tournant du siècle à quelque 42 000 en 2012. Il compte pour un peu plus de 5 % de la population totale. Pendant la même période, le nombre de plaintes en déontologie policière pour profilage racial était en hausse à l’échelle provinciale, surtout à Montréal.
Le Devoir – Ottawa veut pouvoir révoquer la citoyenneté de Canadiens mêlés à des actes terroristes
Alors qu’on apprenait mardi qu’un deuxième ressortissant canadien aurait été mêlé à un attentat terroriste mené à l’étranger, le ministre de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration y voit le signe que le Canada devrait modifier ses lois pour permettre de révoquer la citoyenneté aux Canadiens qui ont une double nationalité et qui participent à de tels actes. En réponse aux révélations des dernières semaines, le ministre a annoncé qu’il consulterait un de ses collègues pour amender son projet de loi afin de sévir contre les ressortissants à double nationalité qui commettent de tels gestes. D’autres pays occidentaux compteraient de telles lois, selon lui.
The Guardian – Visa Changes Mean Foreign Students Turn Their Back on “Unfriendly” Britain
Press coverage about British attitudes to international students has been damning in India. But universities agree that Indian students have been particularly turned off by the tough new rules on post-study work visas. Many take out loans in India and valued the chance to work afterwards to pay these back and gain experience. There are still special visas available, but the path is much less clear, and most […] will return home after graduating. The changes were driven by a government target to reduce net migration from 183,000 to the “tens of thousands” by 2015. But vice-chancellors are furious that students are counted as migrants.
Montreal Gazette – US Gov’t Spent $18 Billion on Immigration Enforcement in 2012, Topping Other Federal Offices
The Obama administration spent more money on immigration enforcement in the last fiscal year than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report on the government’s enforcement efforts from a Washington think-tank. The report on Monday from the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan group focused on global immigration issues, said in the 2012 budget year that ended in September the government spent about $18 billion on immigration enforcement programs run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US-Visit program, and Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol. Immigration enforcement topped the combined budgets of the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Secret Service by about $3.6 billion dollars, the report’s authors said.
Times-Colonist – Bureaucrats Forced Into Last-Minute Pitch to Save Some Refugee Health Benefits
Civil servants in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration had to scramble to make the case for preserving some refugee health-care benefits destined for the government’s cost-cutting axe, newly released documents show. And they were forced into a last-minute pitch to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to save part of the interim federal health program, despite having argued some eight months earlier that the proposed policy was flawed. The series of emails and memos released under Access to Information laws seem to contradict Kenney’s assertion in June that benefits for resettled refugees were never meant to be axed.
