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.
Radio-Canada – L’arrivée tardive des travailleurs étrangers a coûté cher aux agriculteurs
L’arrivée tardive, voire l’absence, des travailleurs saisonniers étrangers dans la région a eu de graves conséquences pour les agriculteurs cette année. Certains ont perdu plusieurs dizaines de milliers de dollars. C’est que depuis deux ans, le gouvernement canadien a resserré les critères pour l’embauche de ces travailleurs.L’entreprise de recrutement de main-d’œuvre étrangère FERME prétend que 2000 travailleurs sont arrivés plus tard que prévu et que 150 autres n’ont pas pu entrer au Canada. Cela représente une perte de 53,7 millions de dollars pour la dernière année.
Toronto Star – Ontario Liberals “Dropped the Ball” on Worker Protection Bill
Workers’ rights advocates are warning the Ontario government’s proposed worker fairness bill requires urgent amendments, after the legislature moved on Monday to expedite the passage of the law. Bill 18 is a conglomerate of two previous workplace protection bills that fell victim to political paralysis under the Liberal minority government. Earlier this week, Liberal MP and former Minister of Labour Yasir Naqvi put forth a time allocation motion to send the bill to a committee hearing on Thursday and to its third and final reading on Tuesday. […] But Deena Ladd, of the Workers Action Centre, who appeared before Thursday’s committee, said she was concerned that Bill 18 in its current form does not require companies who use temporary employees to take adequate responsibility for them. Currently, companies who hire workers through agencies are not responsible for any of the employees’ rights under the Employment Standards Act. If passed, Bill 18 will make client companies and temp agencies jointly responsible for workers’ unpaid wages and overtime. But all other worker rights under the ESA will remain under the purview of agencies that often have little to no contact with temporary employees once they are hired by a client company.
Sarnia Observer – Global Citizenship Summit Focuses on Diversity
For a few moments Wednesday, Karena Derjik had a glimpse of what life can be like in some of the world’s most impoverished areas. […] The World of 100 game, organizers said, is designed to show the disparity of resource distribution in the world, with chairs representing wealth, and other symbols representing access to food and water. […] Derjik was one of about 200 students taking part in the game, the opening activity at the first Global Citizenship Summit at Lambton College. Spearheaded by college faculty Ruth Geurts, Amy Weiler, and Ruth Drewitt, the event also included a multicultural dining experience Wednesday evening, featuring different ethnic cuisines, followed by a number of presentations on global citizenship. “This event focuses on the idea of a global community,” said Weiler, a student activities coordinator and English as a second language teacher. “As part of my job in the international department I try and give the international students Canadian experiences,” she said. “But with this idea, we can give Canadians the international experience as well, as a way to open minds.” More than 260 of the college’s 3,600 full-time students are international students, who’ve traveled to Canada from abroad to study, college officials said. That doesn’t include 312 international students at its Toronto campus.
Toronto Star – Contingency Plans in the Works if Government Loses Refugee Health Care Case
Immigration officials are working furiously to finalize contingency plans for refugee health care coverage in the event the government loses a court battle this week on how much coverage refugee claimants ought to receive. The long-running fight over the existing program is before the Federal Appeal Court on Thursday with the government arguing it needs more time to comply with last summer’s Federal Court decision that the current program is unconstitutional. […] In the court documents, the government outlines all the steps it would need to take to implement a new system, including getting it approved by cabinet and making sure border officers and immigration officials are up to speed on the changes. The four months it was given weren’t enough, the government argues. […] But the lead lawyer for the refugees said four months is plenty of time.
Canoe – SCOC: No Need to Accept Refugees with Serious Crimes
Refugee claimants who have previously committed non-political, serious crimes in other countries cannot seek safe haven in Canada, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a 5-2 decision, Canada’s highest court said the country’s refugees laws apply to anyone who committed a serious crime outside Canada prior to asking for refugee status, whether or not the seeker served time or is a fugitive. The specific court challenge came from a 59-year-old Cuban citizen, who was stripped of his refugee status in the U.S., entered Canada illegally in 2008 and applied for refugee status. […] The courts pointed to the United Nations refugee convention, adopted into Canadian Law. It states a claimant is not allowed refugee protection if he or she committed a serious, non-political crime in another country prior to asking for safe haven.
CBC – Language Commissioners Push for Francophone Immigration
Commissioners of official languages are pushing the federal government and provincial governments in New Brunswick and Ontario to do more to increase immigration in francophone communities outside of Quebec. New Brunswick’s Katherine d’Entremont issued a call for more French-speaking immigrants in April, saying more needs to be done to ensure 33 per cent of immigrants to the province are francophone. Graham Fraser, the federal language commissioner, François Boileau, the Ontario language commissioner and d’Entremont issued a news release on Thursday that called the francophone immigration situation “worrisome.” “Immigration is crucial to the vitality, indeed the future, of official language minority communities,” said Fraser. Nationally, only two per cent of immigrants who settle outside of Quebec are French-speaking, while the francophone community outside of Quebec is about four per cent of the general population, or approximately one million. […] New Brunswick’s government has committed to having francophones comprise 33 per cent of immigrants to the province by 2020. Ontario has set a five per cent target for francophone immigration.
