immigrantscanada.com

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.

meeting: Canada played a key role in advancing both conversations as host of the meeting and by pledging 21 million to increase the number and role of women in peacekeeping missions and military operations, according to National Observer. The pledge was made amid a growing recognition that female personnel are essential when it comes to many peacekeeping tasks, such as helping victims of sexual violence and interacting with local women in the field. The meeting also saw a renewed push to prevent the use of child soldiers and better protect children caught in conflict, as attendees unveiled a series of commitments signed by 53 countries. It also coincides with ongoing concerns about peacekeepers themselves sexually abusing or exploiting the very populations they have been ordered to protect. During her address, Jolie, who is also a special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, listed the many promises, laws and resolutions that have failed to eliminate sexual violence from war. Yet only 7 per cent of the 13,000 police officers deployed as peacekeepers and two per cent of the 87,000 military personnel are women, and those numbers have remained stagnant despite promises to double them. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

asylum seekers: The government of Sri Lanka is for zero tolerance with regard to sexual abuse and so on, Waidyaratne told The Associated Press as he attended the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, according to CTV. The allegations came in a Nov. 8 report by the AP on the asylum seekers and their claims of being abducted and tortured by Sri Lanka's current government. Kapila Waidyaratne called the claims of abuses baseless and unfounded. The Tamils said they were raped, branded or beaten repeatedly. The International Truth and Justice Project - Sri Lanka, which has alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, said it was impossible to believe the government had credibly investigated the claims in a week. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

borrower applications: Things have improved during the fourth quarter and, in the long run, Home Capital will be stronger because of what it learned from the financial crisis, Bissada said in an interview, according to CTV. It has forced us to look at a lot of procedures and processes and made us a much better company. He said Home Capital HCG didn't have enough funds to lend until mid-July -- following an infusion of capital from famed investor Warren Buffett in June -- and then its brokers needed time to submit updated borrower applications. That will, in the long run, prove out to be a better Home Capital, said Bissada, who didn't join the company until August. Depositors reacted to the OSC's accusations by withdrawing about 2 billion from high interest savings accounts from two Home Capital subsidiaries, forcing the company to look for other sources of funds for its lending activities. Earlier this year, the Ontario Securities Commission accused former top executives -- including its CEO and chief financial officer -- of misleading investors about the impact of severing ties with some affiliated brokers accused of fraud. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

brainstorm ideas: The project is a social innovation lab that brings together stakeholders from every sector, including public and private sector officials, academics and immigrants themselves, to brainstorm ideas to increase immigrant retention, according to CBC. Then, the lab will get to work on putting some of those ideas into practise, and tracking how successful they are over a three-year period. This week, the provincial and federal governments announced a combined 400,000 in funding to NouLAB, a joint venture of the Pond-Deshpande Centre and the New Brunswick Social Policy Research Network, to pay for the costs of running the Economic Immigration Lab project. Karina LeBlanc, executive director of the Pond-Deshpande Centre, said the lab allows the problem to be tackled from all angles, rather than leaving individual sectors to try and solve it themselves. She says the lab will help tackle the issue of immigrant retention from all angles. Karina LeBlanc is the executive director of the University of New Brunswick's Pond-Deshpande Centre. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

czech republic: The couple got married shortly after and Baraky applied to sponsor Gabco to Canada at the end of that year, according to Toronto Star. The two thought they could finally be reunited when their spousal sponsorship application was approved in April 2014 as the only hurdle separating them would be getting an authorization to return to Canada, known as an ARC, from Canadian officials to let Gabco back into the country. Gabco, a Roma refugee, was deported back to his native Czech Republic in 2012 after his claim was rejected. Read more Canadian attitudes towards immigration hardening, poll suggests Article Continued Below Canadian government to raise annual immigration intake by 13% by 2020Toronto still top-choice for recent immigrants, as more people flock to the Prairies For more than three years, Baraky and Gabco have been pressing the Canadian visa post in Vienna to get the clearance for Gabco to claim his permanent residency. The news was shocking. The request for the ARC was first rejected in 2016, but the Federal Court of Canada granted an appeal and ordered it to be reconsidered by the visa post. react-empty 192 In September, Gabco's ARC application was denied, again, because the visa officer was not convinced he had a compassionate, compelling and exceptional case. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

debut film: The women discuss how their cultural heritage influences their identities as Canadians and immigrants, according to CBC. The whole conversation is what's your hyphen explained Ali, calling her debut film a nuanced discussion about what black Canadian identities look like. Directed and produced by Samah Ali, Hyphen-Nation features a 14-minute conversation between five women of colour that is inspired by her own cultural experience. And that's what opens it up to so many people to identify with because whether it's themselves or their family members who have an immigration story, everybody typically has a hyphen. Ali explains this is both liberating and tragic. Maryanne Epp on performing, and living, on the street The anti-troll This artist is making social media a safer space one illustration at a time The women are asked if they identify with being black Canadians. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

hatred: Germaine, 76, are each charged with two counts of wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, namely Jews and women, Toronto police said Wednesday, according to Metro News. Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said it is the first time in the province that hate crime charges have been laid alleging the wilful promotion of hatred against women. James Nicholas Sears, 54, and Lawrence Leroy St. In a multicultural and inclusive province like Ontario, the promotion of hatred stands in direct opposition to our fundamental values of equality and diversity, Naqvi said in a statement. Toronto police said they received numerous complaints about the distribution and content of Your Ward News between March 2015 and June 27 and allege the accused published and disseminated editions that promoted hatred against members of the Jewish community and women. Hate crimes are, by their very nature, serious offences because their impacts can be devastating, spreading from the individual, through the social fabric of our communities as a whole. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrant rights: Student Mauricio Pons made the claim as he announced he was stepping down as vice chairman because of the hate speech, according to Metro News. Images published by the Miami New Times show the group shared messages such as call ICE, on a day students demonstrated for immigrant rights. Florida International University's spokeswoman Maydel Santana said on Tuesday the student affairs' division had no record of previous reports implicating the College Republicans.A former club leader said he notified student affairs in April about similar chats. A meme of a photo of the August car attack in Charlottesville referred to its victims as snowflakes. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

men.a u.s: The government of Sri Lanka is for zero tolerance with regard to sexual abuse and so on, Waidyaratne told The Associated Press as he attended the U.N. Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, according to Metro News. The allegations came in a Nov. 8 report by the AP on the asylum seekers and their claims of being abducted and tortured by Sri Lanka's current government. Kapila Waidyaratne called the claims of abuses baseless and unfounded. The Tamils said they were raped, branded or beaten repeatedly. The United States condemns torture, rape, and sexual violence anywhere in the world. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men.A U.S. State Department spokesperson said they are concerned by the allegations against Sri Lanka's security services. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

minister jean-yves: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to meet with Hariri and Saudi officials, according to CBC. France, Lebanon's onetime colonial ruler, has been trying to mediate in the crisis, and Macron paid a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia last week. Macron's office said in a statement Wednesday that he made the decision after speaking to Hariri and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Hariri's family has longtime connections to France. Lebanon again at mercy of Saudi-Iran rivalry Saudi's young crown prince moves to secure power Macron, speaking to reporters Wednesday during a climate meeting in Germany, stressed he's not offering Hariri exile, but wants him to come to France for a while to help calm tensions in Lebanon and dispel fears that he is a Saudi prisoner. After speaking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, the president has invited Saad al-Hariri and his family to France, the Elys e said in a statement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

minister: Over the last few days, the prime minister has been in Asia where he has had the chance to confront two notorious human-rights violators Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Burma's de facto government leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to The Chronicle Herald. Meanwhile, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was in Bonn, where she pressured other governments to get serious about fighting climate change. But it never quite delivers. On the face of it, both were promoting what the Liberals call progressive values. Duterte is accused of having more than 7,000 suspected drug users and pushers murdered without trial since he became president last year. Indeed, Trudeau said he did mention human rights to Duterte when the two ran into each other on the sidelines of an economic summit in Manila. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

non-racialized families: Children from racialized families or families of people of colour are more than twice as likely to be living in poverty as those from non-racialized families, or 23.3 per cent compared to 11.4 per cent, says the report, according to Toronto Star. And about 84 per cent of Toronto's Indigenous families with children are living in poverty. But even more troubling is the racial divide among the region's poor children, according to the report being released Wednesday by a coalition of social agencies serving vulnerable families. When it comes to newcomer families many of whom are also racialized almost half of Toronto region children whose parents arrived in Canada within the past five years live in poverty. The report is particularly worrying in light of recently released census data that shows more than half of city residents identify as members of visible minority communities. That is almost three times the rate of poverty experienced by children in non-immigrant families, according to the report titled Unequal City The Hidden Divide Among Toronto Children and Youth. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

province: Bad enough that Canada has been steadily sliding in voter turnouts, falling well below most developed nations over the decades despite a 2015 federal election blip . The bigger problem lies with Canada's biggest province In Ontario elections, far fewer voters bother to cast ballots than they do in federal campaigns, according to Toronto Star. The most powerful province in the country suffers from the weakest electoral turnouts of all edging out even traditionally apathetic Alberta as the worst performer. In Ontario, it couldn't get much worse a province more democratically disengaged than any other. That makes Ontario Ground Zero for a double democratic deficit a place where voter turnouts are not merely anemic federally, but utterly abysmal provincially. Over the next few months until voting day, I will try to do things a little differently asking not just who deserves your vote, but whether anyone will get it. Article Continued Below What's behind the provincial apathy Can our political parties do anything about their collective failure to engage voters and will they Ahead of the June 7 Ontario election, rival politicians will be vying for your vote as they always do, and journalists will be reporting on their various manoeuvres. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rugby player: Though Vikilani has spent almost his entire life in Canada, having moved from Tonga with his family when he was three, he never applied for citizenship, according to CTV. The judge credited the former rugby player, who was once on Team Canada's radar, for showing remorse, and accepted the defence's argument that the crime was an alcohol-fueled mistake. Prosecutors had argued Taitusi Vikilani should be put away for four years, a sentence that would have prevented the young immigrant from appealing a potential deportation order. Alcohol changed his character that night, but he hasn't had a drink since and I doubt very much he'll ever have a drink again, Vikilani's lawyer Patrick Beirne said outside court. That was of little consolation to the family of the victim, James Enright, who was just 27 years old when he was killed. On top of his prison term of six months minus a day, Vikilani was also given three years' probation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

sri lanka: The government of Sri Lanka is for zero tolerance with regard to sexual abuse and so on, Waidyaratne told The Associated Press as he attended the U.N. Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial conference in Vancouver, according to The Chronicle Herald. The allegations came in a Nov. 8 report by the AP on the asylum seekers and their claims of being abducted and tortured by Sri Lanka's current government. Kapila Waidyaratne called the claims of abuses baseless and unfounded. The Tamils said they were raped, branded or beaten repeatedly. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said they are concerned by the allegations against Sri Lanka's security services. The AP reviewed 32 medical and psychological evaluations and interviewed 20 men. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canada: A smiling, friendly group, they ran around playing together like any other kids, and were excited about starting school in Canada. ; But now a year has passed and the subdued and fearful expressions written across their young faces make me wonder what happened in the time in between, according to National Observer. Three Syrian families who came to B.C. as refugees told me they've had to pull their children from class recently. They had just arrived in Canada. The children gathered in the room all go to the same school. We're being bullied by some kids at school, a boy with soft brown eyes tells me. What happened I ask. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

adiba: Marlene Leung/CTV News Some of the details may be distressing to readers, according to CTV. By the time she was 25 years old, Adiba had been bought and sold six times by Islamic State militants in Iraq. July 2017. The first was in August 2014. The five months Adiba spent in his captivity was the longest amount of time the Yazidi woman was with any of her captors. A month later, she was bought by another ISIS militant who waited just three months before selling her to another man who tortured and raped her. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

asian nations: I cannot hide my deep concern with the dramatic movement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Myanmar Burma to Bangladesh, Guterres told the ASEAN leaders, according to Toronto Star. Suu Kyi sat close to him but looked mostly at a wall screen showing the UN leader. He met with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the sidelines of its summit in Manila. Read more Once fighting non-intervention policies, Burma leader Suu Kyi now benefits from Southeast Asia's silence Article Continued Below Canadian government will match private donations toward Rohingya refugee crisis Papa! Help Me!' Boy cries out as boat with Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma capsizes Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled Burma's Rakhine state since late August, when the military launched what they called clearance operations in response to insurgent attacks. Our correspondent reports from a sprawling makeshift city that houses hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people, driven from their homes by Burma's military. The refugees say soldiers and Buddhist mobs attacked them and burned their villages to force them to flee. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

level: The network will work with researchers and organizations across the province to find out what issues are holding back marginalized groups, including ethnic minorities, youth refugees, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students, and what's being done to help them, according to Metro News. We don't have to reinvent the wheel, but we need to know what is happening across the province; to map what practices are happening at the community level, the school level and the school board level, said Ruth Kane, director of graduate studies for the Faculty of Education. The University of Ottawa's network, known as R seau de Savoir sur l' quit /Equity Knowledge Network, will launch Wednesday at Hillcrest High School. What practices are in place that are working to break down barriers for some of these youths, and how can we translate them across different contexts. Carl James of York University. The launch will include workshops for teachers, slam poetry interludes, as well as keynote speaker Dr. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

drug users: Over the last few days, the prime minister has been in Asia where he has had the chance to confront two notorious human rights violators Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Burma's de facto government leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to Toronto Star. Meanwhile, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was in Bonn where she pressured other governments to get serious about fighting climate change. But it never quite delivers. On the face of it, both were promoting what the Liberals call progressive values. Duterte is accused of having more than 7,000 suspected drug users and pushers murdered without trial since he became president last year.A few days earlier in Vietnam, Trudeau had what his special envoy to Burma Bob Rae called a tough conversation with Suu Kyi. Article Continued Below Indeed, Trudeau said he did mention human rights to Duterte when the two ran into each other on the sidelines of an economic summit in Manila. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

heryka miranda: They are mothers and daughters, sisters and friends, and aunties, according to Rabble. They are people. I am glad these statistics are being recorded and analyzed but these women are not just statistics. The short film Ecstasy is an attempt to approach the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women through the relationship of sisters. - Cara Mumford. In an in-depth interview, Heryka and Cara explore the origins of this new film and what it is trying to accomplish. Heryka Miranda worked on the initial scouting and live dance performance which Metis/Anishinaabe filmmaker, writer and director Cara Mumford is using in her film Ecstasy. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

jordanian prince: He appealed Tuesday to the international community to face up to the unimaginable horrors the detained migrants are facing, according to CBC. UN rights monitors this month visited four facilities in Tripoli operated by Libya's Department of Combating Illegal Migration. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein decried unimaginable horrors faced by 19,900 migrants now detained in the North African country, more than 2 times the number in mid-September. Zeid, a Jordanian prince, said the monitors were shocked at the sight of thousands of emaciated and traumatized men, women and children piled on top of each other, locked up in hangars with no access to the most basic necessities. Migrants gather at a detention centre in Gharyan, Libya on Oct. 12. While UN agencies and other humanitarian groups have access to them and seek to provide health care and some food, Zeid said it was not enough because the EU and its member states have done nothing so far to reduce the level of abuses suffered by migrants. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

maungdaw beach: Video of the scene is unsettling Rohingya men, women, and children can be seen trapped on the beach, holding their hands out for help, according to CTV. CTV's Daniele Hamamdjian reports that some have been stuck on Maungdaw beach in Myanmar's Rakhine State for as long as two months, after fleeing the violence in their villages. A television crew from Sky News captured haunting footage of a group of Bangladeshi men risking their lives to cross the Myanmar border to transport Rohingya refugees to safety. Some of them are clearly, very sick, a Sky News reporter said. A week-old baby, a crying mother, and an emaciated woman can be seen in the video, all waiting for help. Soldiers have planted landmines beyond the beach, forcing the Rohingya Muslims to retreat. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

muslim ban: The president is making every effort to implement a campaign promise that's un-American and unconstitutional, said Mark Hetfield, president of the refugee support organization HIAS. The only way to stop him is through the courts, according to The Chronicle Herald. Last month, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked most of Trump's third travel ban just before it was due to take effect. They're the latest sign that after nearly 10 months, the battle over the president's travel restrictions and whether they represent the Muslim ban he promised during his campaign or a legitimate effort to improve national security is far from over. A judge in Maryland separately blocked it to a lesser degree, saying that Trump could bar people from six mostly Muslim nations Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as long as they did not have bona fide relationships with people or organizations already in the U.S. The travel ban also applies to travellers from North Korea and to some Venezuelan government officials and their families, but the lawsuits did not challenge those restrictions. The three-judge panel due to hear those arguments agreed in part on Monday, saying in effect that the ruling from U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu went too far. The Justice Department sought to put the Hawaii judge's ruling on hold pending arguments scheduled for Dec. 6 at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

population growth: My government has set ambitious targets for near and long-term population growth, the government said in its throne speech, read by Lt.-Gov, according to Toronto Star. Antoinette Perry Tuesday as she opened the fall session of the legislature. The Island's population topped 152,000 this year, and the government has set the goal of reaching 160,000 by 2022. Read more They can't fill the jobs' New Brunswick adds new cabinet portfolio on population growth In the coming year, my government will take further steps to maximize retention rates for new immigrants. Nationally, growth was 1.2 per cent. Article Continued Below According to Statistics Canada, the population of P.E.I. grew 1.7 per cent between July 2016 to July 2017. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

refugee processing: Trump signed his latest executive order on refugees last month, after his 120-day ban on refugee processing expired, according to Metro News. It imposes tight new restrictions on refugees from 11 countries that have been deemed to warrant extra screening and it indefinitely suspends a program that reunites refugees with their spouses and children. On the same day that a federal appeals court allowed part of President Donald Trump's travel ban to take effect, advocacy groups have filed a new lawsuit challenging the administration's efforts to restrict or ban certain refugees from entering the U.S.HIAS, the International Refugee Assistance Project and other groups sued the administration Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, saying that Trump's latest efforts to restrict refugees disproportionately affect Muslim refugees and thus perpetuate the discriminatory Muslim ban that he promised as a candidate. The administration says it's necessary to ensure national security. 11 22 a.m.A U.S. appeals court is allowing President Donald Trump's newest version of the travel ban to partially take effect. Travelers who have those relationships will be allowed entry. The ruling Monday will keep people from the six mostly majority Muslim countries included in the travel ban who do not have a bona fide relationship with someone in the U.S. from entering the country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.