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.
The 24-year-old former combat interpreter for Canadian forces in Kandahar arrived in Toronto last Sunday, after a two-year fight to get to Canada. After delays and rejection, front-page stories by the Star’s Paul Watson and finally an intervention from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he was approved on a visa under a special program set up to protect Afghans who faced retaliation from Taliban-led insurgents.
A decade ago, just 10 percent of the beds in the [U.S.] nation’s civil detention system were in private facilities with little federal oversight. Now, about half the beds are part of a sprawling, private system, largely controlled by just three companies: Corrections Corporation of America, The GEO Group, and Management and Training Corp. And the growth is far from over, despite the sheer drop in illegal immigration in recent years. CCA was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2000 due to lawsuits, management problems and dwindling contracts. Last year, the company reaped $162 million in net income. Federal contracts made up 43 percent of its total revenues, in part thanks to rising immigrant detention.
Obama administration officials said Friday that they would begin on Aug. 15 to process applications from hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants expected to seek two-year deferrals of deportation. Applicants will be charged $465 for each request. […] To encourage the maximum number of young people to come forward, Homeland Security officials gave assurances that information from the applications would not be used for immigration enforcement, which is handled by a separate agency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/us/young-immigrants-can-file-to-defer-deportation-aug-15.html?_r=1
Charlottetown MP Sean Casey, and other members of parliament, are speaking out over Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the lack of support for immigrants on the Island. In June, the CIC immigration offices in Charlottetown, Saint John and Moncton closed. After the federal budget was delivered the Citizenship and Immigration Office in Charlottetown was left one half-time employee who does not work directly with the public.
After pressure from lawmakers, US homeland security officials have reiterated that a foreigner’s longstanding same-sex relationship with a US citizen could help stave off the threat of deportation. Homeland security spokeswoman Marsha Catron said on Friday that binational gay couples are eligible for consideration under a federal program designed to focus government resources away from low priority deportation cases.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/03/gay-relationships-us-deportation-cases?INTCMP=SRCH
As Canada’s population becomes ever more global, with immigrants bringing wealth from all over the world, a new kind of problem has emerged for estate planners and financial advisers. When estates are bequeathed inside Canada, the laws are often straightforward on what needs to be done, with a proper will and an executor being at the top of the list. But when one or more other countries come into play – as is so often the case with immigrants to Canada – the rules of the game become increasingly muddled.