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.
Al Jazeera America – Marked for Deportation, Iraq War Resisters Fight to Stay in Canada
For more than five years, former U.S. soldier Rodney Watson has lived as a prisoner, confined to a church that serves a poor neighborhood here. Wanted on charges of desertion in the United States and marked for deportation from Canada, he’s invoked the protection of sanctuary. Following a tradition established in medieval times, the Canada Border Services Agency officers have refrained from entering the church. Watson is safe from arrest as long as he stays within its walls. There are as many as two dozen men and women like Watson living in Canada today. Self-described conscientious objectors or resisters to the 2003 Iraq war, they have applied to Canadian refugee and immigration boards, but their applications have been stalled in courts for years. They remain in various states of legal limbo. Most live with their families and are awaiting the outcome of immigration appeals. A few have work permits, while others are forced to sit idle. Some have exhausted legal options and have gone into hiding.
RFI – Immigration: le défi de David Cameron à l’Union européenne
Sous pression des courants europhobes et des chiffres de l’immigration, David Cameron a détaillé hier, vendredi, ses mesures pour juguler l’afflux d’immigrés européens et mis dans la balance l’avenir du Royaume-Uni au sein de l’UE. Dans un discours très attendu mais que certains espéraient plus musclé, le Premier ministre britannique a plaidé pour une limitation des prestations sociales destinées aux travailleurs issus de l’Union, abandonnant toutefois l’idée d’instaurer des quotas d’entrée. Ce discours jugé décisif pour l’avenir de David Cameron à six mois des élections législatives s’est avéré plus nuancé que prévu. Le Premier ministre a ainsi pris soin de rappeler les bénéfices de l’immigration pour le Royaume-Uni et appelé les électeurs à lui faire confiance sur une question qu’il sait prépondérante actuellement. Mais il a aussi voulu adresser un avertissement clair aux dirigeants européens : « Je négocierai une réforme de l’Union européenne et la question de la libre-circulation sera au centre de cette négociation, a indiqué David Cameron. Si j’y parviens, je ferai campagne pour maintenir ce pays au sein d’une UE réformée. Si nos inquiétudes ne trouvent aucun écho et que nous ne parvenons pas à modifier de manière plus avantageuse les termes de notre relation avec l’Union, alors bien sûr je n’exclurai rien. »
Globe and Mail – Permanent Resident Visas for Foreign Investors Should Cost More: Lawyer
The Canadian government is poised to relaunch a program that grants permanent residency to foreign millionaires but a veteran immigration lawyer says he fears Ottawa is still underpricing what amounts to a path to citizenship. Ottawa announced in February it would end the decades-old Immigrant Investor Program, saying the $800,000 investment required of newcomers, as well as other conditions, “significantly undervalued Canadian permanent residence.” In the 2014 budget, the federal government said it would replace the program with one that would require foreign applicants to make a venture capital investment in early-stage startup companies. This is an effort to ensure the money applicants invest in Canada has greater economic impact than the old program, which required foreigners to make what amounted to an interest-free loan to the government. Richard Kurland, a Vancouver-based lawyer with decades of experience in the field, said he expects an announcement from Immigration Minister Chris Alexander within two weeks and predicts the minimum investment required under the revamped program will be about $1.5-million.
Toronto Star – New Rules for Federal Live-In Caregivers Program
Ottawa has officially changed its decades-old live-in caregivers program to a two-stream program that will restrict the number of foreign nannies or caregivers it will accept. Under the program, which comes into effect Sunday, caregivers will no longer have universal access to permanent residence status after working in Canada for two years. They must now apply under two categories — those caring for children, and those caring for people with high medical needs. Ottawa will allow 2,750 caregivers under both new streams to access permanent residency, for a total of 5,500 applicants a year. A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris Alexander’s says about 4,500 applicants have applied for permanent residence under the old program from 2011 to 2013. The changes are bad news for caregivers, says Pura Velasco, a spokesperson with the Caregivers Action Centre, a Toronto-based group with 1,000 plus members. “The pathway to permanent residency has been revoked,” says Velasco, a former caregiver herself. “It’s gone.” Under the terms of the old program caregivers had a “guaranteed pathway to permanent residency,” Velasco says. But not anymore, thanks to the annual cap.
Vancouver Desi – MOSAIC Tackles “Honour-Based” Violence Against Women and Girls
Non-profit immigrant settlement agency MOSAIC B.C. launched a campaign Friday to raise awareness about ‘honour-based’ violence against women and girls. The Status of Women Canada-funded project, There is No Honour in Violence Against Women, is the result of a two-year project led by MOSAIC B.C. Over the past 20 months, the organization conducted focus groups with clients from various local anti-violence service providers and women from immigrant and refugee communities. And according to MOSAIC’s senior manager of specialized services, Marc Larrivée, half of those service providers reported dealing with cases that dealt with violence “in the name of honour.” […] “Our work has shown that the focus must remain on violence against women and not to stigmatize immigrant women with the notion that what they may have experienced is vastly different from what Canadian-born women have faced,” Larrivée said, adding that the common question from most focus groups was, ‘Why is what’s happening to me so different than my Caucasian (neighbour)?’ “It’s really important that immigrant and refugee people don’t feel as though their culture … is being put up as something vastly different,” he said. “It’s not going to help women come forward.”
The Guardian – Cameron to Tell EU: Cut All Tax Credits to Migrants
Immigrants from the European Union will have to work in Britain for four years before they can claim benefits, David Cameron is to propose in a major speech setting out his vision of how the EU can control the free movement of workers – and how he is willing to leave the union if he does not get his way. In an attempt to restore his shattered credibility on immigration, the prime minister will say on Friday that Britain’s EU membership is now dependent on nation states being able to withhold almost all benefits from EU migrants. The proposal, which would affect more than 300,000 EU migrants working in Britain and claiming tax credits, is designed to reduce the disparities between the take-home pay earned by EU migrants in Britain and that earned in their home country, and is aimed squarely at the low-skilled end of the labour market. The plan to make Britain a less attractive place is an implicit acknowledgement that cutting back on EU migrants’ access to out-of-work benefits – the main thrust of coalition policy so far – is ineffective, since migrants come to work rather than live on benefits.
