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.
Winnipeg Free Press – First Nations Consulted on 2013 Immigration Targets as Tories Break New Ground
The Conservative government has wrapped up its consultations on next year’s immigration targets by breaking new ground — a precedent-setting sit-down with First Nations. And by meeting with a traditionally disadvantaged group — one that has vocally questioned Canada’s generous immigration policy — the government may be signalling what’s to come in 2013. Rick Dykstra, the parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, met Thursday with representatives of the Assembly of First Nations and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
Globe and Mail – Immigrant Influx Fuels Uptick in Multigenerational Households
According to the latest batch of census data released this week, they’ve gone from 1.8 per cent of households in the country in 2001 to 2 per cent in 2011. They constituted 10.5 per cent of households in Brampton and 5 per cent of households in Mississauga – two cities with large South Asian populations. In Markham and Richmond Hill, which have seen a lot of Chinese settlement in the past decade, they made up 8.1 per cent and 5.4 per cent of the population, respectively. In B.C., the trend was seen in Surrey (7.6 per cent) and Abbostford (6.1 per cent) which also have large South Asian populations.
Globe and Mail – Venture Capitalists Take Lead Role in Immigrant Visas
Venture capitalists are eager to become overseas scouts to lure potential technology stars to Canada as part of the federal government’s plan to fast-track immigration of promising entrepreneurs. A statement from the immigration ministry last week said a Startup Visa program launching next year would set aside as many as 2,750 immigration places for innovators with investment backing from Canadian venture capitalists. […] A major change to the system is that applicants will have to be sponsored by Canadian venture capital or angel investor groups and be identified as having the potential to employ several Canadians in the first year of operation.
Toronto Star – Former Toronto Refugee Honoured with 2012 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award
Hawa Aden Mohamed traded a safe life in Toronto for war-torn Somalia because she was determined to see education transform the lives of girls and women in her homeland. A former refugee herself, Mohamed, better known now as “Mama Hawa,” packed up with her husband in 1995 and returned to her strife-riven homeland to launch an education and vocational centre. On Tuesday, Mohamed was named winner of the United Nations’ 2012 Nansen Refugee Award for her “exceptional, tireless and inspiring humanitarian work for Somalia’s refugee and displaced girls and women.”
The Guardian – Arizona Police to Enforce Immigration Law in Full as Judge Gives OKs
A judge has ruled that police in Arizona can immediately start enforcing the most contentious section of the state’s immigration law, marking the first time officers can carry out a requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally. The decision on Tuesday by US district judge Susan Bolton is the latest milestone in a two-year legal battle over the requirement. It culminated in a US supreme court decision in June that upheld the provision on the grounds that it doesn’t conflict with federal law.
Toronto Star – Abuse of Migrant Workers “Endemic” in Canada, New Study Says
A new report released Monday by the Metcalf Foundation says Canada’s current immigration and labour laws virtually doom temporary migrant workers to mistreatment. […] Migrant workers in Canada have tripled in the past decade, to 300,111 in 2011 — about one-third of them in low-skilled jobs, according to the report titled “Made in Canada: How the Law Constructs Migrant Workers’ Insecurity.” While stories of migrant worker abuse are not new, the study by Osgoode Hall Law School professor Fay Faraday examined the legislative and regulatory practices to get to the root causes of the issues faced by migrant workers.
