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.
For the second time, a Federal Court judge has overturned a decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board denying an Ottawa refugee claimant asylum. In a decision dated Oct. 1, Justice Mary Gleason ruled that the reasoning in the decision of the IRB member who turned Gabino Zacarias down last year was “so erroneous that it must be set aside.” […] The IRB member’s findings, Gleason found, were “based on impermissible conjecture and conclusions that contradict the evidence before the board and thus cannot stand.” […] Gleason found that “overly subjective conclusions based on an individual’s posture or perceived attitude are not within the appropriate purview of a credibility assessment.”
Ottawa Citizen – Chinese Workers Brought in to Fill B.C. Coal Miner Shortage
The first of a group of 200 temporary Chinese workers approved by the federal government will start arriving in B.C. in coming weeks to work in the burgeoning northeast coal industry, a mine project spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. In total, anywhere from 1,600 to just under 2,000 Chinese nationals could find full-time work in four projects being proposed in coming years for the region, due to the shortage of underground mining skills in Canada, according to industry officials. […] Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokeswoman Nancy Caron said the TFW program is employer-driven and usually requires that companies prove they are unable to find suitable Canadians to fill the job posts. She and various industry officials said Canada’s labour shortage in the mining sector is well-documented.
Winnipeg Free Press – Alberta Company Owned by Priest Fined for Exploiting Foreign Workers
An Alberta company owned by an Orthodox priest has been fined $215,000 for bringing in foreign welders and machinists from Europe and exploiting them for profit. Kihew Energy Services Ltd. pleaded guilty Tuesday to breaching the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in what police are calling a human trafficking case. […] The investigation found that Kihew placed ads in a Polish newspaper and on a website to recruit European welders and machinists to come to work in Canada. […] The court found that Kihew contracted out the foreign workers to several businesses at a high hourly rate of pay but the workers themselves made very little. Court was told Kihew made about one million dollars through the scheme.
The Weekend Telegram – Immigration Could Help Solve Labour Shortage [in PEI]
Fly-in, fly-out operations are being proposed to fill the rush of skilled trades and construction management positions for rapidly expanding mining operations in Labrador West. For example, flying workers in and out of site is being considered for construction of the Kami iron ore mine, according to the environmental impact statement filed for that project. […] For Newfoundland and Labrador, there is a financial incentive to see new Canadians hired over outside workers. There are tax considerations, and temporary foreign workers are likely to send more of their earnings outside the province, rather than injecting their paycheques into the local economy.
The insistence by federal officials that two University of Regina students from Nigeria must be deported for violating their visa conditions by working off campus for a short time not only seems like bureaucratic overkill but runs counter to Canada’s objectives of courting the world’s best and brightest as immigrants. Even by the standards of the law-and-order federal government, the punishment being meted out to Victoria Ordu and Ihuoma Amadi seems excessive, treating them little differently from the “serious criminals” targeted by Ottawa’s Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act.
Star Phoenix – Immigration: An Important Part of the Economic Puzzle
Presently, the province of Saskatchewan is looking for skilled workers capable of easily integrating into its rapidly growing economy. Over the past seven or eight years, the Fransaskois community has been making inroads in developing its own capacity in the field of immigration with this objective in mind. […] Throughout this process, the island of Mauritius has also proven to be capable supplying highly skilled workers. Mauritius is a small, trilingual country where English, French and Creole are spoken. […] Key partners in this endeavour are the International organization for Migration, Prud’homme International of Regina and the Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise.
