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.
Edmonton Journal – Immigration terms Unable to Describe Canadian Identity
“First-generation Canadians are typically born in a different country and then they migrate here,” said University of Alberta PhD student Jasmine Thomas. Thomas is a sociology student studying the potential barriers to employment that newcomers face. The confusion comes in when people who are young immigrate to a new country and when the children of immigrants try to find ways to explain their heritage, Thomas said. […] Academics understood the confusion and developed a term to describe the experiences of young children who move to Canada. Generation 1.5 refers to people who immigrated to Canada when they were under the age of 15.
The Guardian – EU Students Say Permit Delays Are Putting Degrees at Risk
The National Union of Students says it has received floods of complaints against the UKBA in recent months, from those who need to work during their studies, as well as from non-EU students applying for post-study work visas. Hundreds signed a petition this month complaining that delays mean they have had to do without their passports and other documents for months, in spite of paying more than £500.
Local business groups and agencies working with recent arrivals to Canada met with the federal government’s travelling road show on immigration Wednesday to push for better programs for newcomers to address Windsor and Essex County’s workforce needs. […]Chungsen Leung, parliamentary secretary for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, met about a dozen local “stakeholders” on the immigration file and after the meeting said the consultations, held at the CIC offices on Walker Road, had proven useful as the government goes about setting future immigration policy, taking into consideration the differing situations of each region.
Ottawa Citizen – Refugee Health Crackdown Justified: Kenney
Mexican, Hungarian, Colombian and American refugee claimants used Canadian health care services more than any other asylum claimants, according to new figures obtained by Postmedia News which the government argues support its claim that so-called bogus refugees are abusing the system. […] Given the high rejection, abandonment and withdrawal rates for refugee claimants from some of these countries, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney argued this is proof the government was right to crack down on the breadth of health services that are available to refugee claimants.
Calgary Herald – Ottawa to Crack Down on Fraud, Human Trafficking Among International Students
The federal government wants to toughen the rules surrounding student visas in the hopes of cracking down on fraud and human smuggling — even though it’s not clear just how big a problem this is. Quietly published in the Canada Gazette late last month is a proposal to weed out international students who arrive on a student visa as a means of gaining access to Canada’s labour market and don’t actually enroll in school. There are also concerns that some are ending up at sub-par institutions that ultimately hurt Canada’s credibility on the international stage.
Winnipeg Free Press – Lamoureux Asks for Research Behind Tory Health-Care Cuts
Winnipeg Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux wants the federal Conservatives to provide the research that led to their decision to cut refugees off of temporary health-care coverage. […] He said if the concern is refugees get more from interim health care than Canadians do, maybe the governments should ensure Canadians get more rather than giving refugees less. […] Nearly 25,000 people claimed refugee status in Canada last year. Almost two-thirds of the claims were rejected.
