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.
CBC – More Refugee Claimants Get 2nd Chance with New Appeal Process
The first available figures from Canada’s new Refugee Appeal Division show more refugee claimants are being given a second chance than under the old federal court review process. The figures obtained by CBC News from the Immigration and Refugee Board from 2013 and the first three quarters of 2014 show that about 19 per cent of finalized claims were successful in either being overturned in favour of the claimant or sent back to the Refugee Protection Division for reassessment. […] Refugee experts say the numbers reveal how many mistakes weren’t being caught under the old system. But they add many more mistakes are still going undetected because the process is too restrictive, and those mistakes could be sending people back into dangerous or even deadly situations. Under the old system of judicial review, only about seven per cent of rejected claimants were granted leave to appeal their cases to the Federal Court. That means the number of people who are now getting a chance at an appeal has nearly tripled.
Toronto Star – Vietnamese Refugees Arrive in Canada
It took a quarter century for Sabay Kieng to reach the arrivals hall at Pearson International Airport’s Terminal One. Kieng was one of 14 Vietnamese refugees to arrive in Toronto Saturday to a new Canadian home, after living stateless in Thailand for 25 years. […] A total of 105 refugees will arrive in Canada before the end of the year, as part of an agreement with the federal government initiated during talks with the Vietnamese community that began in 2005. What is remarkable is that it took decades for the group to find a home, making them arguably among the world’s most forgotten refugees. […] Kieng and his family were among the so-called “boat people” who left their country to escape the Communist regime. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, close to a million people fled to other lands. In Canada, 60,000 refugees from the Indochina area were resettled here in less than two years starting in 1979. Many others, like Kieng, entered nearby Thailand where they remained stateless.
Courrier international – Obama veut agir unilatéralement sur l’immigration
“Le président Obama est visiblement prêt à agir unilatéralement pour régler la question de l’immigration et en particulier à utiliser ses pouvoirs exécutifs pour éviter la reconduite à la frontière à quelque cinq millions d’immigrés clandestins vivant aux Etats-Unis”, explique The New York Times dans son éditorial. “Il s’agirait notamment de permettre aux parents d’enfants nés sur le sol américain, donc jouissant de la citoyenneté américaine, ainsi qu’aux personnes entrées illégalement sur le territoire américain lorsqu’elles étaient enfants, de bénéficier d’un statut de résident temporaire et d’un permis de travail”, relate le quotidien new-yorkais qui a été le premier à publier la nouvelle. Obama pourrait également “assouplir les conditions pour les immigrés ayant des compétences dans le domaine des hautes technologies”, ajoute le journal. Le fait qu’Obama veuille contourner le Congrès pour légiférer sur l’immigration n’est, bien sûr, pas du goût des républicains qui ont remporté la majorité à la Chambre des représentants ainsi qu’au Sénat lors des élections législatives de mi-mandat du 4 novembre.
Toronto Star – Every 10 Minutes, a Stateless Baby is Born
According to the United Nations, there are roughly “10 million people worldwide who lack a nationality and the human rights protections that go with it.” This month, the UN’s refugee agency signalled its desire to end the problem of statelessness within the next 10 years. But it’s a very big problem. The reasons someone is born stateless are legion. Wars and unrest drive tens of thousands into a refugee limbo away from their homes (see the crises in Syria and Iraq); administrative rules and bureaucracy make access to citizenship papers for some communities very difficult (as is the case in corners of the post-Soviet world); ethnic or religious discrimination in some countries lead to tens of thousands being wholly denied citizenship rights (as is the case for the Rohingya Muslims of Burma). […] The UN agency is campaigning for more governments to sign on to existing UN conventions regarding the rights of stateless peoples and it is also pushing for more pressure on governments to reform their citizenship laws.
Toronto Star – Toronto Group Reaches Out to Help Gay Refugees Start New Lives in Canada
Four summers ago, Jason Kenney — then Canada’s immigration minister — threw down a gauntlet before the country’s GBLT community. Many had approached him about particular refugee cases — gay Iranians facing state executions; lesbian Jamaicans attacked with machetes. “It’s time,” Kenney said, for gay organizations to “step up” and start sponsoring these refugees themselves. The following spring, Kenney announced a $100,000 “pilot project” to help groups do just that. The fund would provide three months of income support for the newly arrived refugees, coming from countries where homosexuality is life-risking. The announcement twigged Lazier, an emergency room doctor who’d fought for women’s and gay rights decades ago. Her life as an openly gay woman was now safe and comfortable. […] She called the Metropolitan Community Church, where minister Brent Hawkes performed the country’s first legal gay marriage while wearing a bulletproof vest 14 years ago. So did another six people. […] So, the “MCC Toronto Group of Five,” as they call themselves (even though they are seven), became a formal constituency group of the church. Last November, they accepted their first refugee — another gay Iranian named Amir Pourshariati. One of the members, Philip Shea, offered a room in his home.
BBC – Barack Obama Defends US Immigration Reform Pledge
US President Barack Obama has defended plans to use his overriding executive powers to push through changes to the nation’s immigration system. He said Congress had been given ample opportunity to come up with its own plan but had failed to act. Republicans in Congress say such action would be beyond Mr. Obama’s authority. His remarks follow media reports he plans to extend protection from deportation, potentially affecting as many as five million immigrants. […] At the centre of the reports is a plan to extend the president’s “deferred action” plan, which was designed to protect young adults who were brought to the US illegally as children from being deported. The plan is to include parents of children who are US citizens or legal residents. The action is designed to prevent the break-up of families via deportations. The number of those affected by the suggested policy is based on how long an individual has lived in the US.
