James Moore Dept: It would be nice to think that they all knew the back-story to the triumph they were gathered to celebrate. Given the country s enduring cultural silos, that s highly unlikely, according to The Star. Over the past three decades, a lot of threads have gone in the making of the red carpets that the production teams and casts of Quebec-made films so routinely march upon these days and mONTREAL Hundreds of real and lesser VIPs including a string of cabinet ministers and MPs converged on the Ottawa s National Arts Centre at the invitation of federal heritage minister James Moore Monday night for a special screening of Monsieur Lazhar , Canada s 2012 Oscar nominee for best foreign film. It s the second year in a row that a Quebec movie puts Canada s name on the Oscar short list. That s anything but a fluke. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Interior Minister Claude Gueant Dept: Interior Minister Claude Gueant, for many years Sarkozy s chief of staff, told students on Saturday that all civilizations are not created equal, according to The Star. It was a discourse on values ??and republican France, he told the newspaper about Saturday s speech and one of French President Nicolas Sarkozy s closest political allies has tossed a landmine into the still-raw multiculturalism debate in France, less than three months before the presidential elections. He pressed the point Monday in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro , shrugging off accusations Sarkozy was trying to court supporters of the ultra-right, anti-immigration National Front. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canadian Diplomats Dept: The Prime Minister s Office has quietly ordered the federal immigration department to review the cases of Afghan citizens who helped Canadian diplomats and soldiers in Kandahar and Kabul often at great personal risk but were snubbed in their bids to come to Canada, the Star has learned, according to The Star. The surprise review comes amidst criticism that the Conservative government had betrayed a promise of Canadian citizenship to Afghans who had worked alongside Canadians on the battlefield and oTTAWA More than 100 Afghan citizens who put their lives on the line to help Canada s Afghanistan mission are getting a second chance to resettle here. The news could mean that Sayed Shah Sharifi, an interpreter whose story has been featured in the Star , could get another shot at coming to Canada. His initial application had been rejected, even though his service to the Canadian military won him accolades. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Dept: You will wake up Sunday morning determined not to overdo it. That s a given and it does you credit, according to The Star. Now you re depressed. So you start heating up frozen chicken wings at 7 a.m. to chase that feeling away and iNDIANAPOLIS Here s how Super Bowl Sunday will go down for you and a hundred-odd million people just like you. But you will fail, and you already know you will fail. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Mentorship Program Dept: This week, the African Diaspora Association of the Maritimes launched a mentorship program to help people of African descent become more employable. The whole purpose is to give them a connection . . . to persons in their field, said project manager Keira Carey, according to The Chronicle Herald. We are matching 20 mentors with 20 mentees for the duration of the three months, Carey said and a group of African students and recent graduates are getting a leg-up in the job market. The three-month program runs through to the end of March and is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Bill Brownstein Dept: Bill Brownstein, Montreal Gazette columnist and author of a book on the smoked meat institution, told News that several of his sources confirmed the sale, though the implications of the deli changing owners still isn t clear, according to CBC. Schwartz s owner Hy Diamond, who took over the business in the late 1990s, has been suffering ill health for the last year and wanted to ensure the deli remained in local hands, Brownstein said. Schwartz's has operated on Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal for more than 80 years and rumours that one of Montreal s most recognizable landmarks may be changing hands heated up Monday after several reports emerged that the sale of Schwartz s Deli was imminent or already on the plate. Maybe the ink is not yet dry, but I believe if it isn t imminent, it has been done, he said, adding that all the major players in the deal are bound by confidentiality agreements. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Citizenship Ceremony Dept: Re: Kenney regrets citizenship ceremony imposters Feb. 3 . Bureaucrats faking an immigration ceremony? Why not? Politicians who pretend it has nothing to do with them? Of course! Like all those fake, high-paying jobs that our unemployed young people aren t qualified for? Like the fake, plush, pension plans that most private-sector workers never could quite afford? Like all those folks feigning old age? We have fake jobs for them too!, according to The Chronicle Herald and just faking it? Never mind. Our economy will be saved by all those fake immigrants filling fake jobs and surplus houses. That s how we ll afford those plush pensions for politicians. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Homeless Count Dept: The Calgary Homeless Foundation CHF says its 2012 homeless count shows an 11.4 per cent decrease in the number of people experiencing homelessness since 2008, according to CBC. I think the single biggest factor is the government of Alberta s investment in affordable housing and the support services that you need to really support some people once they get into homes, Richter said and for the first time in 20 years the rate of homelessness is dropping in Calgary, according to numbers released on Monday. CHF head Tim Richter credits provincial policies with reversing a trend that routinely saw the number of homeless Calgarians increase 20 or 30 per cent every few years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada Border Services Agency Dept: According to court documents obtained by the , Mikael Jim Prone claims to be a self-employed businessman living between France and Guangzhou, China, according to CBC. A Canada Border Services Agency investigator claims the passports were found in Prone's backpack and a French citizen will appear in Richmond provincial court Tuesday to face charges of human smuggling. He arrived at Vancouver airport last November on the same Air China flight as an Iranian brother and sister who made refugee claims on arrival. The pair travelled to Canada on Israeli passports which they discarded before disembarking. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Quebec Dept: Much has been said about the fact that, at the time, Quebec had no provincewide registry of the various agencies interventions. Would it have raised a red flag if the second team of social workers had known of an earlier intervention? This is far from certain; in Quebec at least, child protection agencies and the courts are extremely careful when it comes to removing a child from their natural environment. Breaking up a family and sending kids to foster homes can be much more damaging than keeping them in a dysfunctional household, according to Globe and Mail. These people were from Afghanistan, and they knew about the honour code. But even they apparently couldn t envision the monstrous scenario that would take place. A cousin of Zainab who lives in Montreal told the National Post that the worst he feared for her was that she would be forcibly sent to Dubai and their basic complaint was that they were afraid of their father. But how many teenagers growing up in repressive households aren t? Another complaint that they didn t have enough freedom was again typical adolescent behaviour. And two of the girls recanted their accusations again, typical behaviour from ambivalent immigrant kids caught in cultural and generational conflicts, torn between rebellion and submission, anger at and love for their parents. In any case, who could have foreseen that a father could coldly engineer the murder of three daughters? The only people who intuited that Mohammad Shafia might have criminal intentions were relatives of his first wife, Rona Amir, who had confided to her sister that she feared for her life, as well as relatives of his second wife, Tooba Yahya, who d testified they d heard him say that Zainab, the 19-year-old daughter, was a slut and that he wanted to kill her. They had personal contact with the family and knew about the oppressive atmosphere in the family home. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.