Legal Credentials Dept: What she didn't have was the professional connections, according to Montreal Gazette. "I wanted insight into the legal profession in Canada so I joined the mentorship program at TRIEC Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council ," she says and if it hadn't been for mentoring, Ria Madan might still be job hunting. Now a contract negotiator for Rogers, she came to Canada from India in August 2008 with solid legal credentials and years of senior experience with a major international bank. That's where her mentor Michael Schafler of law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto came into the picture. It's his support that put Madan on track to a new career. As reported in the news.
@t contract negotiator, immigrant employment

Adventurous Women Dept: She walked across the continent and north through B.C., ending up in Telegraph Creek, where she'd heard Jozef was panning for gold, according to Vancouver Sun. It's that Vancouver Opera thinks book clubs would relish reading about adventurous women, the 1920s immigrant experience and what the province was like back then as a prelude to attending a performance of the opera Oct. 16, 19, 21 or 23 and the opera Lillian Alling will have its world premiere in Vancouver next month. With music by John Estacio and libretto by John Murrell, it's the true story of a Russian woman who landed at New York Harbour's Ellis Island in 1927 and set off on foot to find a man named Jozef, to whom she was bound by a solemn vow. What's the connection with books? As reported in the news.
@t telegraph creek, vancouver sun

Recent Poll Dept: AUSTRIA: The anti-immigrant Freedom Party, which won 17.5 per cent of the vote two years ago in national elections, is advocating a ban on Muslim minarets and face veils in current regional elections. Its leader is running for the post of Vienna mayor. More than 15 per cent of the population in Austria is foreign-born, according to the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development, according to Montreal Gazette. BULGARIA: The country's anti-Roma and anti-Muslim Attack party took 9.4 per cent of the vote in last year's election, making it the fourth-largest group of MPs in parliament and pARIS - Anti-immigrant, far-right and populist political parties have played an increasingly influential role in European politics since the global economic crisis. Here's a rundown: BRITAIN: Prime Minister David Cameron is fulfilling his campaign vow to restrict non-European Union immigration. A recent poll indicated two-thirds of Brits believe immigration, in a country where 11 per cent are foreign-born, makes the country a worse place to live.'' As reported in the news.
@t regional elections, montreal gazette

Finance Experience Dept: Nigel Wright, 47, a managing director of Onex Corp., was expected to be named to the position early next week. But rumours began circulating Thursday night and sources confirmed the appointment on Friday, according to CTV. The news comes amid a tough summer for the Conservatives, who have fallen into a statistical tie with the Liberal opposition and face criticism for the cost of holding the G20 Summit in Ontario, and its decision to scrap the mandatory long-form census and stephen Harper has selected a Bay Street lawyer as his next chief of staff, in a move aimed at buoying the government's economic efforts. "Nigel Wright is a successful business leader," one government source told .ca. "The prime minister recruited Nigel because he has the business and finance experience that is needed to strengthen our plan for job creation and economic growth." As reported in the news.
@t liberal opposition, nigel wright

Canadian Officials Dept: The woman, who is still in the custody of immigration officials, gave birth to a healthy baby girl during the early hours of Friday morning at an unnamed hospital, News has learned, according to CBC. The woman did have a detention hearing scheduled for Friday, one day before her due date, but that hearing has now been postponed until Sept. 28. The woman is one of four pregnant women who arrived on the MV Sun Sea on Aug. 13 and a Tamil woman who has been held in custody since arriving on a migrant ship this summer gave birth to a baby girl in a Vancouver-area hospital early Friday morning. The woman's husband was also on board the migrant ship, and their child will now be a Canadian, officials confirmed. As reported in the news.
@t immigration officials, hospital news

Nicolas Sarkozy Dept: - BRITAIN Prime Minister David Cameron is fulfilling his campaign vow to restrict non-European Union immigration, according to Calgary Herald. - GERMANY A book critical of immigrants for failing to assimilate, by banker Thilo Sarrazin, resulted in a denunciation from Chancellor Angela Merkel and his resignation from the German central bank's board. There is speculation that a far-right party could break the five per cent threshold to win seats in parliament for the first time since the Nazi era and anti-immigrant, far-right political parties have played an increasingly influential role in European politics since the global economic crisis. Here's a rundown: - FRANCE Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right National Front bounced back in spring regional elections. President Nicolas Sarkozy is clearing illegal Roma camps in an attempt to win that vote back. As reported in the news.
@t president nicolas sarkozy, angela merkel

Wait Time Dept: The desire to become a new citizen in Calgary requires a lot of patience. The city has one of the longest wait times in the country. Canada's Citizenship and Immigration office has a backlog of applications with a wait time of nineteen months. As reported in the news.
@t wait times, country canada

Rocco Dept: Background : In a March 4 speech, Rossi said the city needs a transit system that will support the wave of newcomers coming to Toronto over the next decade, according to The Star. The one million figure soon became a staple in Ford s talking points. On a televised debate, he questioned the value of immigrants when, he said, the city struggles to serve the needs of the people already living here and claim : Rocco Rossi and Rob Ford have both said Toronto will be absorbing one million newcomers over the next 10 years. We re getting one million new people in the next 10 years. That s either a fabulous economic opportunity or a recipe for disaster, he said. As reported in the news.
@t one million, newcomers

Six Hours Dept: Hilton flew out of Tokyo's Narita Airport on Wednesday after submitting to six hours of questioning, according to media reports, according to Calgary Herald. Hilton flew to Japan via private jet Tuesday so she could make several promotional appearances for her various lines of branded fashion stuff, but was barred from entering the country because of her recent drug arrest and you now have more reason to visit Japan: Paris Hilton isn't allowed into the country. "I'm going back home, and I look forward to coming back to Japan in the future," Hilton told reporters, adding, "I'm really tired." As reported in the news.
@t paris hilton, private jet

Refugee Status Dept: The new category would have allowed claimants who arrived in a large group to be detained for two weeks rather than the usual 48 hours before their first hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. To put the 500 Tamils in perspective, about 30,000 people claim refugee status every year in Canada, according to Montreal Gazette. Fortunately, the prime minister rejected the proposal on Tuesday, choosing instead to focus on the smugglers. These smugglers profit from other people's misery, secure in the knowledge that Canada's strict legal procedures mean claimants will remain in the country, at least for a while. But as tempting as it is to tailor-make legislation to deal with people-smugglers, Canada already has laws that can be used against them. The real challenge is to get hold of them, especially if they remain offshore and but the people they were smuggling, people so frantic to flee that they are willing to hand over everything they own to get somewhere safe, were never a fair target. Yet as recently as Tuesday, this was a distinction that was lost on members of the Conservative government. They proposed creating a new category of "mass arrival" refugee claimant in the wake of the arrival of nearly 500 Tamil refugees off the coast of British Columbia last month. Mass-arrival claimants would have been turned into a lower category of less-believable refugee claimants simply because of the method they used to leave their homeland. Canadian legal scholars were fast to point out the unfairness of subverting people's constitutional and human rights in that way. As reported in the news.
@t tamil refugees, immigration and refugee