Winnipeg School Division Dept: The division has had a net gain of close to 1,000 students this school year, growth that shows no signs of slowing, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Sister MacNamara School is at capacity after 70 children more than anticipated moved into newcomer housing downtown and phenomenal immigration-driven increases in enrolment have put tremendous pressure on schools in the inner city and northwest neighbourhoods of Winnipeg School Division. "Specific schools are really impacted," inner-city superintendent Karen Siler said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Florida Dept: Both men were appearing Friday with the Hispanic Leadership Network. Florida has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters, who figure to play prominently in the largest and most diverse primary so far in the state-by-state nominating process to challenge President Barack Obama in November, according to The Chronicle Herald. Immigration is a flashpoint issue ahead of Florida s Tuesday primary for the Republican candidates, who are trying to strike a balance between sounding compassionate and firm about stemming the tide of illegal workers. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters and jACKSONVILLE, Fla. More than a million Hispanic voters are the prize as Republican presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich resumed campaigning Friday after a feisty, final debate before Florida s primary on Tuesday. We are not anti-immigrant, we are not anti-immigration Romney said to applause, suggesting the news media had unfairly tarnished his party s reputation among Hispanics. His refrain also echoed a theme that was at the heart of one of several clashes with Gingrich at Thursday night s debate in Jacksonville. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Rwandan Genocide Dept: CLOSE to one million people died in the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s, and this week, after a 17-year legal battle in Canada, Leon Mugesera, who is accused of inciting that slaughter, was finally handed over to Rwandan authorities for trial. Canadian authorities apparently believed this alleged author of that tribal massacre might be mistreated in Rwandan jail and so he lived comfortably in Montreal while his appeal ran its seemingly endless course, according to Winnipeg Free Press. It may be then, as some French commentators are suggesting, that is not just coincidence or a pure act of historical humanitarianism on the part of President Nicholas Sarkozy's government that France this week made it a criminal act to publicly deny the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians was an act of genocide and leon Mugesera RYAN REMIORZ / THE CANADIAN PRESS Had he been accused of robbing a convenience store in Kigali, Mr. Mugesera might have been sent back years ago, but somehow the enormity of the crime of genocide seems to be beyond our grasp unless it is useful for political reasons. There are, for example, about 500,000 Armenians in France, many of them eligible to vote in next year's presidential election. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Upper Class Dept: Now comes Charles Murray to lob a grenade into this progressive wishful thinking. His new book, Coming Apart , to be released next week, argues that the most important gap between the upper class and what we used to call the working class is no longer economic or social. It s cultural, according to Globe and Mail. The differences go far deeper than a taste for Chablis versus two-fours. They extend to such basic matters as how you raise your kids and what it means to be a man and we can all clap for that I guess. Inequality has soared, and that should worry everyone. The trouble is, solutions are hard to come by. Raising taxes on the rich might be a good thing, but it won t narrow the gap. So what will? Some people want massive investment in early childhood education for disadvantaged kids. Some want massive job-creation programs, or a massive increase in training for the unskilled. Such solutions would need vast amounts of public money, but maybe they d be worth it. As recently as the 1960s, he writes, people were united by a common understanding of American values. Just about everyone believed in marriage, two-parent families and hard work. But now, class values have dramatically diverged. We have developed a new upper class with advanced educations, often obtained at elite schools, sharing tastes and preferences that set them apart from mainstream America, he writes in The Wall Street Journal. At the same time, we have developed a new lower class, characterized not by poverty but by withdrawal from America s core cultural institutions. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Pension System Dept: Of those reforms, Harper said, getting a grip on slowing the rising costs of the country's pension system is particularly critical, according to Montreal Gazette. The opposition NDP and Liberals said that such a move would financially cripple millions of Canadians, and that at a time when world leaders were talking about addressing income inequality, the prime minister's words indicated the opposite may happen in Canada and dAVOS, Switzerland - Prime Minister Stephen Harper signalled his government will bring forward major transformations'' to the country in the coming months - in areas such as the retirement pension system, immigration, science and technology investment and the energy sector. In the wake of Harper's speech, it now appears the Conservative government could be poised to gradually change the Old Age Security system so that the age of eligibility is raised to 67 from 65. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Mohammad Shafia Dept: The lone eyewitness did not testify at the trial, and jurors - now deliberating behind closed doors - were not told of his existence, according to Montreal Gazette. Jurors are considering whether prosecutors proved that Afghan immigrant Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, are each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. The accused pleaded not guilty, prompting a trial that lasted more than three months and heard from 58 witnesses. Three of the 10-member Shafia family's children were found dead in a submerged car discovered June 30, 2009, at the bottom of a shallow canal in Kingston, in eastern Ontario and jurors now deciding the fate of three members of a Montreal family accused of killing four other family members are unaware that there was an eyewitness to some events at the isolated spot where the victims were found dead. His account is among dozens of pieces of information that were withheld from the jurors, in some cases because of rulings by a judge before or during the trial. The information could not be reported publicly until the jury retired to begin deliberations. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Alphanso Dept: Alphanso built walls within walls inside their small yard, creating a maze of rusted, corrugated zinc. They kept their front gate locked at all times and entered their home by climbing through a hidden opening in the back, according to The Star. The barricades increased in late October walls grew higher and reinforced with planks of wood around the same time the Warrens 2-year-old son, Joshua, seemed to disappear. He no longer hung from Alphanso s shoulders on walks to the store; his familiar crying was not heard and kINGSTON, JAMAICA On Clifton Rd., in the impoverished inner-city of Jamaica s capital, Stephanie and Alphanso Warren s home was a physical expression of their reclusiveness. They were like a nation to themselves, said neighbour Courtney Boothe. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Raoul Wallenberg Dept: Some of those foreigners were diplomats from neutral nations, for example Turkey or El Salvador, who ignored their superiors orders and issued visas to Jewish refugees. But others just happened to be in Europe and risked their lives to save Jews, according to Globe and Mail. Maria Errazuriz, the social worker from Chile But there, on the walls, between names from Denmark and Greece, is an inscription for someone from Vietnam. Elsewhere are also unexpected names from countries such as China or Chile. Even if their stories are not as celebrated as those of Oskar Schindler or Raoul Wallenberg, the following three examples, recounted to mark Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, underline how individuals of all origins obeyed a higher calling and helped rescue others from genocide. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Hayat Shah Dept: In American Dervish , author Ayad Akhtar, who is also an actor, playwright and screenwriter, has captured a coming-of-age tale from a perspective to which Western readers have too little exposure that of a Muslim boy coming to grips with his place and his faith in American society, according to The Star. Akhtar's skill as both a screenwriter and playwright contributes to the lush visual presentation and the graceful writing in this book. Akhtar co-wrote and starred in The War Within , a 2005 drama about a Pakistani engineering student suspected of terrorism that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Akhtar has also written the stage plays Disgraced and The Invisible Hand . In American Dervish , Akhtar slips easily inside the mind and body of a pre-adolescent and then adolescent boy. Hayat's love and admiration for Mina is bound inextricably to his sexuality, as it awakens without guidance or healthy discussion. But the central themes of the novel revolve around the role of women in Muslim society and the bigotry and racism some of the more fundamental characters in the book display toward Jews and she was the most beautiful, confident and magnetic woman Hayat Shah had ever seen: and when Mina Ali, his honorary aunt, came to live with the Shah family in their Milwaukee home, it was t of a lifelong love affair. Akhtar has set his first novel in his own hometown, in the early 1980s. The core of the narrative takes place two decades before 9/11, but Akhtar deftly explores the tensions that already exist between the desires of immigrant Muslims for the secular lifestyle they both fear and admire, and the tenants of a religion that is, as Hayat is repeatedly told by his mother, policed largely by Muslim men. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada Dept: If you listen carefully to what all of the senior conservative government officials are saying these days, it appears they want to turn Canada into an economic juggernaut. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Stephen Harper told investors and bankers that Canada is getting ready for major transformational change. Having scolded the Europeans for the failure of their post-war welfare state, Harper told them that Canada, worried about its aging population, will soon be dealing with the pension costs, which their nations have failed to tackle until it's too late. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.