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.

inadmissibility provisions: Advocates and opposition politicians say it discriminates against people with disabilities; in December, the House of Commons immigration committee recommended the entire provision be scrapped, according to Metro News. The Liberals have agreed the program is problematic, a message Hussen repeated Thursday in his testimony before the House of Commons immigration committee. The Liberals have been under pressure for months to overhaul the medical inadmissibility provisions of Canada's immigration law, which allows the government to deny people permanent residency if, for example, their condition would create excessive demand on the health care system. The policy is out of step with Canadian values on accommodating people with disabilities. The response will come by April 12, Hussen said the deadline for the government to respond to the committee report. Hussen said the government has been consulting with provinces, and wanted to review the committee's own report before deciding how to move forward. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

license photo: In a plea agreement, he said took personal information from immigration files and then forged identification documents, such as Social Security cards and drivers' licenses, in his victims' names, according to Metro News. Sometimes, he said, he used a picture of a murder victim that had appeared in a newspaper as a license photo. Raphael Sanchez, 44, oversaw deportation proceedings in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington before resigning when charges were filed Monday. He used the forged IDs to obtain lines of credit, used credit-monitoring services to determine which of his victims had the best credit, and listed three victims as dependents on his income tax returns. Raphael Sanchez betrayed that solemn responsibility and abused his official position to prey upon aliens for his own personal gain. It is the duty of our federal immigration authorities to ensure the honest enforcement of our nation's immigration laws, Acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said in a news release. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

manufacturing group: Kent County immigrants get helping hand to join workforce The heating and ventilation company is trying to fill its workforce and encourages families of employees to come along and settle in the community, according to CBC. That idea appealed to Val Lagumbay and his family. So far, she has 26 clients from the Philippines, 21 of them working at the Imperial Manufacturing Group. They moved to Richibucto on Dec. 11. Lagumbay has worked abroad before, but he said having his wife and three children with him has made a huge difference. I was thinking about the future of my kids, he said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

press credentials: Yet it raises more questions about why he was in Syria, according to Toronto Star. He has told U.S. authorities that he was kidnapped and imprisoned by Daesh and had press credentials to do freelance writing about the conflict. The government's justification for holding the detainee without charge, contained in more than 150 pages filed late Wednesday, is loaded with details about the still-unidentified man, who is married and has a 3-year-old daughter. The case has sparked debate about the government's legal right to hold enemy combatants linked with Daesh under congressionally approved war powers written after the Sept. 11 attacks as well as the constitutional rights afforded every American citizen. The FBI interviewed someone who met the detainee in New Orleans in July 2005 when he was a college student. The government's court filing provides a detailed itinerary of the detainee's travels across the world, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Turkey and Syria and the United States where he went to college in Louisiana. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

press pause: Abdi's lawyer, Benjamin Perryman, says federal officials turned down the 24-year-old's request to press pause on a deportation hearing while he pursues a constitutional challenge, according to The Chronicle Herald. Abdi then asked the Federal Court to temporarily halt the deportation hearing scheduled for March 7 and Perryman made arguments on his behalf in Halifax today. Abdi, who never got Canadian citizenship while growing up in foster care in Nova Scotia, was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency after serving five years in prison for multiple offences, including aggravated assault. Perryman argued proceeding with a deportation hearing while Abdi's constitutional challenge is ongoing will cause irreparable harm. Heidi Collicutt, a lawyer for the federal government, told Justice Keith Boswell that Abdi's request presupposes an unfavourable outcome at the immigration admissibility hearing, and it would not be appropriate to stop an independent body from carrying out its statutory mandate. He says the Immigration Division hearing will inevitably lead to a deportation order given the circumstances of Abdi's case, and he would no longer be able to work one of the conditions of his release. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

recruitment officer: Police diversity fails to keep pace with Canadian populations Police must build relationships with Indigenous Montrealers, advocates say Compare that to the city's general population 32.8 per cent of Montrealers are visible minorities or Indigenous, according to CBC. Ingrid Cataldo, a recruitment officer with the SPVM, says the police service is trying to increase its contingent of visible minority officers. According to the SPVM's 2016 annual report the latest to be published 8.5 per cent of its police officers identify as Indigenous or as a visible minority. We think that more the police department reflects the population it serves, the better it is in understanding different values, different cultures, different languages, she said. Critics say recruitment efforts aren't strong enough, and targeting minorities for hire isn't all that has to happen. However, the number of minority officers has remained stuck at around eight per cent for the past decade. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

security ally: I believe that the public's demands and questions should be met and answered, according to The Chronicle Herald. It was not immediately clear whether lawmakers had accepted the resignation. I want to be part of the solution, Hailemariam Desalegn said in remarks carried by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation. Ethiopia, one of Africa's fastest-growing economies and a close security ally of the United States, has been rocked by months of protests demanding wider freedoms that have left hundreds dead and tens of thousands detained. The 53-year-old prime minister said he will continue in his role until the power transition is completed. The government in recent weeks released more than 6,500 detained opposition figures, journalists and others after the prime minister in an unexpected announcement in January said he wanted to widen the democratic space for all. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

service officer: His investigations have worked toward indicting suspects who would then be put on trial at a Hague-based court known as the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, according to Metro News. Schwendiman has not yet issued any indictments. Specialist Prosecutor David Schwendiman issued a statement saying he will leave the post at the end of March because his three-year term as a U.S. State Department foreign service officer is coming to an end and cannot be extended. My leaving does not signal a change in policy or commitment to the work of the Specialist Prosecutor's Office and Specialist Chambers on the part of the U.S. or the European Union or the international community as a whole, he said. No one responsible for the crimes covered by the mandate of the Specialist Prosecutor's Office and Specialist Chambers should for one second think that my departure has anything to do with any lack of commitment to the investigation, he said. Schwendiman, who took the prosecutor's job in 2015, said he issued the statement to make clear he was not resigning or being fired from his post as prosecutor of a court that is unpopular among Kosovo's rulers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

wood buffalo: The original Criminal Code charges were stayed in Fort McMurray provincial court on Wednesday, according to CBC. Alberta Justice spokesperson Dan Laville said Wednesday that police continued to investigate the fatalities after the original charges were laid, and that work included finalizing an accident reconstruction report. The 48-year-old man now faces one count of careless driving under the Traffic Safety Act. On the basis of the new evidence, Laville said in an email, the Crown determined the charges of dangerous driving causing death did not meet the prosecution standard of 'reasonable likelihood of conviction.' The collision happened in the Fort McMurray subdivision of Wood Buffalo on Real Martin Drive. Here's the reply from AlbertaJSG about why it stayed criminal charges against a man charged with dangerous driving causing the deaths of Hadi 'Dani' Eljamal & Sana Elache in Fort McMurray ymm We also updated our web story. David Thurton/CBC Neither the department nor the Crown would say what the new evidence was. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

works agency: Mladenov also cited Gaza's 47 per cent unemployment rate, rising to 60 per cent for young people, he said, according to CTV. Llorentty Soliz said he highlighted that the situation in Gaza has been worsened by the U.S. suspension of millions of dollars in funding for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Bolivian Ambassador Sacha Llorentty Soliz said Nikolay Mladenov, the special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the council that drinking water is short, hospitals have been closed and doctors stopped doing surgeries. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, known as UNRWA, was notified Jan. 16 that the U.S. was withholding 65 million of a planned 125 million installment. Llorentty Soliz said he told the council the primary responsibility for the catastrophic situation in Gaza rests with Israel. The U.S. demanded a fundamental re-examination of the agency in addition to changes to its programs, which have been heavily criticized by Israel. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

bloemen: Speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen's gold was part of a banner day for Canada's Olympians, according to National Observer. The luge relay team of Alex Gough, Sam Edney, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith won silver. After settling for silver in the men's 5,000 metres, Bloemen had lamented that he didn't have more in the tank to challenge Kramer for gold. Pairs figure skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford took bronze. Skating with confidence and consistency in the second-last pair, Bloemen laid down a time of twelve minutes, 39.11 seconds. His tank was full of high-grade octane on Thursday, as Bloemen dominated the competition in the men's 10,000 metres and won the gold medal in an Olympic-record time. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

espionage saga: The Supreme Court will announce in coming weeks whether it's going to hear the case, though no date has been set for the decision, according to National Observer. The government is appealing a ruling that returned Canadian citizenship to Vavilov after it was revoked by Ottawa. They're asking the Supreme Court of Canada to dismiss the government's application for a hearing of the legal issues at the heart of the strange espionage saga that has left Alexander Vavilov, 23, in limbo. ; Accepting the federal position would result in uncertainty about an individual's fundamental right to citizenship, Vavilov's counsel say in a brief filed with the high court. Vavilov, 23, was born in 1994 as Alexander Philip Anthony Foley to Donald Heathfield and Tracey Ann Foley. The FBI turned up at the family's Boston-area home eight years ago. The following year the family including an older boy, Timothy left Canada for France, where they spent four years before moving to the United States. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

applications: Processing times are 12 months for those who filed an application prior to December 2016, while applications after that date take about 26 months, according to CTV. The Liberals had made family reunification programs an immigration priority upon coming to office in 2015 and have been gradually increasing the number of newcomers admitted in those programs since. Hussen says the backlog of applications now sits at 15,000, down from 75,000 in 2016. In 2018, admissions are projected to hit about 66,000. Hussen says the government understands how important it is to reunite couples and it also makes for a stronger country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

daca applications: The Trump administration should be able to alter the policies and priorities set by its predecessor, Garaufis said, according to CTV. He said his order does not require the government to grant any particular DACA applications or renewal requests. U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis in Brooklyn said in a written order that the Republican president indisputably has the power to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program but relied on flawed legal positions in doing so. The ruling came in lawsuits brought by immigration rights groups and 15 states and the District of Columbia. DACA was implemented unilaterally after Congress declined to extend these benefits to this same group of illegal aliens, he said. Justice Department spokesman Devin O'Malley said the order doesn't change the government's position that DACA was an unlawful circumvention of Congress. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

dutch: The Dutch government announced that Lubbers died in Rotterdam surrounded by his wife and children, according to CTV. No cause of death was given. He was 78. Prime Minister Mark Rutte hailed Lubbers, who led the Dutch government from 1982 to 1994, as a statesman who dragged the Netherlands through tough economic times. Lubbers' conservative economic policies were in step with his counterparts in Washington and London during the 1980s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. With his broad knowledge and experience and his tireless creativity, he knew how to find a solution for every problem, Rutte said on Facebook. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

emergency request: On Feb. 15, a Federal Court will hear an emergency request to temporarily stop Abdi's deportation, according to Toronto Star. The broad strokes of Abdi's story are these. Yet it has ballooned into a needless battle exposing federal and provincial indifference to non-citizen children. Instability was the only constant in the life of this man, born 24 years ago in Saudi Arabia to a Saudi father and Somali mother. Article Continued Below At age 8, child protective services scooped him and his sister out of their aunt's home for reasons unknown. He lived for four years at a refugee camp in Djibouti and then at age 6 landed in Canada along with his sister and aunts. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

florida trips: The travel advisory issued by 15 groups warns immigrants from other states to reconsider Florida trips or to be ready to encounter immigration agents at airports, sea ports and bus stations, according to Metro News. We are taking the step of warning our communities that as the Florida lawmakers, state, local and federal do not take steps to push back against the anti-immigrant policies, we do not feel like our communities are safe in the state, said Tomas Kennedy, deputy political director at the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Leaders from immigrant rights and non-profit organizations said new co-operation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and 17 Florida sheriffs is also spreading fear in the state. The advisory comes as Florida braces for its busy spring break season in March, when its beach resorts and theme parks attract millions of people. Activists staged several rallies across the state Wednesday, including at Greyhound bus stations where at least two recent Border Patrol arrests of passengers were caught on cellphone videos. The government estimated more than 4 million travellers from Canada and other countries arrived from January to March in 2017, compared with almost 27 million visitors who came from other states. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration applications: According to Hussen, the number of spousal immigration applications in the queue has dropped to 15,000 from 74,900 a year ago, and the average processing time has also been sharply reduced to 12 months from 26 months, according to Toronto Star. The Government of Canada is committed to family reunification. To celebrate Valentine's Day, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen hosted a news conference at a Mississauga dessert shop to update his department's dramatic reduction of the spousal sponsorship backlog. We understand how important it is to reunite couples. Canadians who marry someone from abroad shouldn't have to wait for years to have them immigrate or be left with uncertainty in terms of their ability to stay. It also makes for a stronger Canada, said Hussen. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration officials: Immigration officials also have made a significant dent in what had become a vast backlog of files, bringing it from roughly 75,000 files down to about 15,000 in just over a year, according to CBC. Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen told CBC News it was the humane thing to do. The average wait is now one year in about 80 per cent of cases, down from the previous two-year wait, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. We wanted to make sure families were not unnecessarily kept apart and family reunification is a very key priority for our government, he said in an interview. Foreign spouses hit snags Liberals to scrap policy that rejects sick immigrants Canada to welcome 1 million immigrants over 3 years Hussen said the results were achieved by deploying a tiger team of staff to tackle the backlog, and by simplifying the application process to avoid delays and duplication. And that is why spousal sponsorship was, is and will continue to be a key part of our immigration system. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration proceedings: Prosecutors with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section allege that Sanchez stole the identities of seven people in various stages of immigration proceedings to defraud credit card companies including American Express, Bank of America and Capital One, according to The Chronicle Herald. Neither Sanchez nor his lawyer, Cassandra Stamm, immediately returned emails seeking comment Tuesday. Raphael A. Sanchez, who resigned from the agency effective Monday, faces one count of aggravated identity theft and another of wire fraud in a charging document filed Monday in U.S. District Court. According to court rules, the type of charging document filed in Sanchez's case called an information can be filed only when a defendant has agreed to waive his or her right to be indicted by a grand jury; it's typically an indication that a plea agreement is in the works. The charging document contained few specifics about the allegations, but did give one example It said that in April 2016, Sanchez sent an email from his government account to his Yahoo account that included personal information pertaining to a Chinese national identified only as R.H. The information Sanchez sent included an image of R.H.'s U.S. permanent resident card, the biographical page of R.H.'s Chinese passport and a utility bill in R.H.'s name. The court's calendar showed that Sanchez is due to enter a plea Thursday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

nian gao: This is probably due to the Chinese being the first Asian ethnic group to settle in Canada back in the late 1800s. as labours to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, according to Toronto Star. As one of the largest ethnic groups in the GTA, they make up about 11 per cent of the population or 700,000 people. In Toronto, the celebration has often been referred to interchangeably as Chinese New Year. While Chinese New Year revellers celebrate by eating noodles, steamed fish and glutinous rice cakes called nian gao, other Asian communities that follow the lunisolar calendar are also kicking off New Year festivities with their own feasts this weekend. Read more Article Continued Below Braised veal a romantic Valentine's Day entr eTake a shawarma crawl through Scarborough Flock's salad is packed with veggies, but is it a good option for weight loss react-text 169 Han Trinh, seated left, and husband Ngoc Tuy Nguyen, with the feast. From Tibetan rice beer to Vietnamese head cheese to South Korean rice cake soup, here's a taste of the dishes three families in the GTA are cooking up for Lunar New Year. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rekha sharma-crawford: An attorney for a man living in Kansas who is fighting deportation to Bangladesh says his family and supporters are encouraged that he was returned to Missouri but his ultimate fate is still completely up to federal immigration officials, according to Metro News. Syed Ahmed Jamal, of Lawrence, was housed in the Platte County jail after arriving in Kansas City about 2 30 p.m. The Latest on a Kansas father fighting efforts by the U.S. to deport him to Bangladesh all times local 5 45 p.m. Wednesday. His attorney, Rekha Sharma-Crawford, said during a news conference at the jail that immigration officials could agree to allow Jamal to return to Lawrence under orders of supervision until the case is decided, which could take months. He was taken off a plane in Hawaii and sent back after a federal immigration board approved a stay as he battles to remain in the U.S., where he's lived for 30 years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

source source: Processing times are 12 months for those who filed an application prior to December 2016, while applications after that date take about 26 months, according to The Chronicle Herald. The Liberals had made family reunification programs an immigration priority upon coming to office in 2015 and have been gradually increasing the number of newcomers admitted in those programs since. Hussen says the backlog of applications now sits at 15,000, down from 75,000 in 2016. In 2018, admissions are projected to hit about 66,000. Source Source The Canadian Press Correction Correction Note to readers This is a corrected story. Hussen says the government understands how important it is to reunite couples and it also makes for a stronger country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

syrian refugees: The project stemmed from a desire to make the students feel welcome and to ease their transition to Regina life, according to CBC. We are part of this community' Syrian refugee hosts Regina radio program in Arabic I used to worry about my life every day,' Syrian students share their stories for Remembrance Day The looks on the faces of some of the parents recognizing that, for once, there's a place where they're wanted, that they can call home it's priceless, Perry said on Tuesday. The Regina George Lee Backpack Project started two years ago in response to Syrian refugees coming to the city, says Jeff Perry, the president of the Regina Public Schools Teachers' Association. Jeff Perry said he thinks the backpack project is fantastic as it showcases students helping students. There were about 350 backpacks handed out in the first year. Dan Plaster/CBC The project saw students from Campbell Collegiate prepare backpacks full of supplies for Syrian students to help them get started with school right away, Perry said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

man shot: The only people who spent more time in those courts were the court staff, RCMP, security, judges and lawyers.article continues below Trending Stories Vancouver police investigating after man shot on Vancouver's West SideB.C. Green Party's Andrew Weaver loses defamation lawsuit Michelle Obama on social media think twice or by committee before you tweet Want work/life balance Schedule it, says Michelle Obamarelated First Nations groups decry Colten Boushie murder trial verdictI followed the case intensely via Twitter, following numerous reputable journalists who were rigorously live-tweeting the case, according to Vancouver Courier. None seemed to get everything, but by following enough of them and seeing the concurrence between what they put out, it was the closest coverage I have ever seen of a case without actually sitting on those hard wooden pews in Battleford Court of Queen's Bench. 22-year-old Colten Boushie was shot and killed on a farm in Saskatchewan in August 2016. - Facebook A distraught Debbie Baptiste, the mother of Colten Boushie, leaves the North Battleford courthouse after hearing the not-guilty verdict Friday night. - Averil Hall In following the commentary and news coverage afterwards, it has become apparent that several myths have arisen on both sides of the affair, and some things that should be considered. First off, let me start by saying I covered the North Battleford Provincial Court and Battleford Court of Queen's Bench from 2004-2008 for the Battlefords News-Optimist, averaging one to three days in any given week. Let's begin by noting the chief justice of Saskatchewan's Court of Queens Bench chose to assign himself as the judge for this case. If anyone should be expected to ensure a fair trial, one would think it would be the chief justice of province. That's right from the top. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

african-american official: As a young, black player, all Alphonso had to do was watch Hockey Night in Canada or the Stanley Cup Final and he saw fellow minority Jay Sharrers working as a linesman, according to The Chronicle Herald. To be able to see someone who kind of looked like me working at the biggest stage of his job, it was unreal, Alphonso said. He didn't have to look far to see it was possible. The 34-year-old Alphonso is the NHL's only African-American official, and Calgary Flames assistant Paul Jerrard is the league's only black coach. I think it's an evolutionary process, said Sharrers, who recently retired. With the sport's expansion to some nontraditional markets across the United States, there are almost two dozen black players in the NHL, but Sharrers, Alphonso and Jerrard serve as inspiration for more to follow into positions of authority. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.