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Independent topical source of current affairs, opinion and issues, featuring stories making news in Canada from immigrants, newcomers, minorities & ethnic communities' point of view and interests.

Guinea and Papua

camp: The United States has resettled 54 of them in recent weeks and is considering taking almost 1,200 more, according to Metro News. The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruled in April last year that the male-only camp at the Manus Island naval base was unconstitutional and ordered it be closed. Australia pays Papua New Guinea, its nearest neighbour and the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru to house asylum seekers who attempt to reach the Australian coast by boat. Papua New Guinea responded by opening the camp gates so that asylum seekers would no longer be locked up and the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments agreed in April that the camp would be closed by Oct. 31. Department secretary Mike Pezzullo said they would be trespassing on the naval base on Nov. 1 if they did not leave. Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection deputy commissioner Mandy Newton told a Senate committee that 606 men refused to leave the Manus camp and move to accommodation in the township of Lorengau, about half an hour's drive away. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.