Canada Dept: While minority-language publications remain anonymous to most Canadians, their combined readership is in the millions -- more than the country's largest daily newspapers, according to CBC. Canada's ethnic newspapers and magazines -- often one-person operations typed up in the homes of recent immigrants -- are now hoping to raise their game even higher and canada's increasingly influential ethnic-press industry will seek a financial boost from the upper levels of government to better its business and journalistic know-how. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, listens as master of the ceremonies Thomas Saras hosts a gala dinner at a professional development seminar for the National Press and Media Council of Canada in 2009. Saras is asking for federal and provincial government funding for future training seminars for multicultural journalists. Nathan Denette/Canadian Press The ethnic press also wields clout inside the Prime Minister's Office, where, more than ever, the industry is viewed as a coveted conduit to the multicultural vote. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Asylum Seekers Dept: Fearing that the illegal migrants were headed their way, the Australians tracked the MV Ocean Lady and the MV Sun Sea almost from the moment those on board left Sri Lanka and alerted Canadian authorities to their existence and progress, according to people here familiar with the file, according to Vancouver Sun. On one hand there has been anguish over their fate, as when several dozen asylum seekers from the Middle East drowned when their weather-beaten Indonesian vessel crashed 14 months ago into rocks on Australia's Christmas Island - an incident that received an extraordinary amount of attention, because the horrific drama was captured on video and there were great sighs of relief in Australia when two ships carrying 568 Tamil asylum seekers sailed north of the island continent before crossing the Pacific Ocean to make landfall in Canada in 2009 and 2010. Canada has got off easy so far. Hundreds of such vessels having already reached Australia since 2008 carrying thousands of "boat people" from South Asia and the Middle East on board rickety fishing vessels. What to do with these uninvited migrants is a politically toxic issue here. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada Dept: Last year, Citizenship and Immigration Canada unveiled a $500,000 monument at Halifax s Pier 21 in memory of MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 907 Jewish refugees who were refused entry to Canada in 1939. The monument, The Wheel of Conscience, reminds Canadians of our collective responsibility to others, according to The Star. Bill C-4 calls for a balanced refugee reform. In certain cases, the law would prevent recognized refugees from reuniting with their families or from traveling abroad to visit them, limiting their mobility rights for up to five years and minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney says Bill C-4 will punish human smugglers, but in reality the law would punish refugees who have given up everything to reach Canada. But the reintroduction of an immigration bill that punishes refugee claimants for seeking refugee status in Canada suggests that we don t seem to have learned much from the St. Louis. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Population Growth Dept: Once the centre of Canada s growth, Ontario is still growing at a healthy rate, 5.7 per cent, but nowhere near the pace it once boasted. Faced with diminishing job prospects in the manufacturing and auto sector, Ontarians are migrating to other provinces after the fallout from the recession. That, coupled with lower levels of immigration, means it s the only province that didn t see an increase in population growth. Toronto s growth rate increased by 4.5 per cent, but the real change was in Brampton, which jumped by 20.8 per cent, fuelled by an influx of immigrants from South Asia and, in particular, expansion in the Sikh community, according to Globe and Mail. Quebec saw its share of the Canadian population slide further, as it has for several years. It s now down to 23.6 per cent from 29 per cent in 1951. By contrast, Ontario s share climbed from 32.8 per cent in 1951 to 38.4 per cent in 2011. Still, Quebec s population did increase 4.7 per cent, thanks to higher levels of immigration and fertility and ontario: The looming slump Quebec: A shrinking share (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Newfoundland And Labrador Dept: Despite the ever-present prospect of better jobs outside the region, the four Atlantic provinces managed to grow their ranks during the past five years by placing a greater emphasis on attracting and retaining immigrants from abroad, according to The Chronicle Herald. Even Newfoundland and Labrador, long a perennial population loser, managed to post its first positive growth rate since 1986 1.8 per cent and aFTER DECADES of losing its young people to the lure of high-paying work in Ontario and Western Canada, the Atlantic region is showing signs of having turned things around, the latest census figures show. Census figures released Wednesday show Eastern Canada with a growth rate of 1.9 per cent, led by Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick at 3.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively. Growth was modestly higher in Nova Scotia 0.9 per cent, up from 0.6 for the previous five-year period. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ethnic Press Dept: The ethnic press also wields clout inside the Prime Minister's Office, where, more than ever, the industry is viewed as a coveted conduit to the multicultural vote, according to CTV. The man who represents 540 of the publications says many of these editors scrape by on tiny budgets and still have a lot to learn about Canada and while minority-language publications remain anonymous to most Canadians, their combined readership is in the millions -- more than the country's largest daily newspapers. Canada's ethnic newspapers and magazines -- often one-person operations typed up in the homes of recent immigrants -- are now hoping to raise their game even higher. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Nova Scotia Tories Dept: The policy question sparked a lively discussion at the party s annual general meeting, with a majority voting in favour of it in the end, according to The Chronicle Herald. "Why not expand their mandate so that we are . . . encouraging foreign students who are studying in the region to stay here, develop the innovation that they ve worked on at university and work with them with the immigration departments of the four provinces to help them stay here and start businesses here," he said and nova Scotia Tories were split Saturday on wanting a future Progressive Conservative government to provide money for foreign students to set up businesses here, with some saying the province needs to keep Nova Scotia students here, too. Peter Moreira, author of Backwater: Nova Scotia s Economic Decline, led a party task force on immigration and the economy. He said the idea is to build on a current initiative in the four Atlantic provinces called Springboard Atlantic, which helps turn research at universities into money-making ventures. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada Dept: Industrious work by Canadian Press reporter Jim Bronskill revealed the Conservative government has apparently done a volte face in allowing Canada s spy service to use intelligence derived from torture in order to protect public safety, according to The Star. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has quietly told CSIS the government now expects the spy service to make the protection of life and property its overriding priority and the controversy surrounding the trafficking by Canada s security service, CSIS, of so-called intelligence extracted by torture has been thrust, once again, into the spotlight. The order represents a reversal of policy for the Conservative government, which once insisted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service would discard information if there was any inkling it might be tainted, The Canadian Press reported. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Public Pressure Dept: The centre is currently slated to close in March of 2014, but the Canada Employment and Immigration Union believes public pressure could change that and it is planning an EI rally next weekend in Montague, according to CBC. "Hopefully put some pressure on the politicians to leave it open. We are going to have some postcards to send to Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Finley," she said and the union representing workers at the EI processing centre in Montague has launched a campaign to convince the federal government to keep the centre open. "We are trying to generate some public support, let the public know what's going on," said local union spokeswoman Donna MacDonald. She said that she hopes the rally will result in a change of the government's plans. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Working Poor Dept: Between 2000 and 2005, the area s working poor grew by 42 per cent, to 113,000 people, according to a groundbreaking report based on Statistics Canada labour and income data, according to The Star. Working many hours and holding full-time, year-round employment is no longer a guarantee of escaping poverty, says the report, entitled: The Working Poor in the Toronto Region; Who they are, where they live, and how trends are changing. The legions of Toronto area workers pouring coffee, cleaning toilets and otherwise toiling for low wages in office towers and factories is growing dramatically. Across the region, they accounted for 6.4 per cent of the working-age population. But inside the city of Toronto, they surged to 8.2 per cent of the workforce, or 70,700 people, says the study by the Metcalf Foundation , released on Saturday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.