Ethnic Group Dept: The research, led by Dr. Joel Ray, says these babies are usually the correct weight for their ethnic group. The study was published Wednesday in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada, according to Vancouver Sun. "In a diverse Canada, we have babies being born normally at different values for different ethnic groups, and we therefore should, by understanding that, use the correct birth-weight curves for those ethnic groups. We should adjust. We have that obligation." Babies born to immigrant parents are often incorrectly diagnosed as being significantly underweight, causing undue anxiety for new parents and unnecessary medical appointments for the new child, according to research out of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "Because a lot of these ethnic groups are now very large and a major part of our newborn community, we're talking about performing a set of unnecessary steps in a very large number of babies. And that's not the goal of weighing the baby," Ray said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Israel Dept: Authorities in Israel ratcheted up security at home and abroad following Tuesday s explosions in the Thai capital, escalating a confrontation over Iran s suspect nuclear program and raising fears of war, according to The Chronicle Herald. Israel has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, and Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists and bANGKOK, Thailand Israel accused Iran of waging a covert campaign of state terror that stretched this week from the Middle East to the heart of Asia after a bungled series of explosions led to the capture of two Iranian nationals in Bangkok. On Monday, an Israeli diplomat s wife and driver were wounded in New Delhi when a bomb stuck to their minivan exploded, and another device was defused on an Israeli Embassy car in Tbilisi, Georgia. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada Dept: The first barrage of data from the 2011 census, released Wednesday, showed that there were 33.5 million people living in Canada in May of last year and that for the first time ever, more of them are living west of Ontario than in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, according to The Chronicle Herald. While other countries are struggling to maintain their populations, Canada s is actually picking up speed and oTTAWA The population in Western Canada has finally surpassed that on the other side of Ontario a trend that has been decades in the making, but was compounded by the recent recession. At the national level, there was a healthy 5.9 per cent surge in population from the previous census in 2006, giving Canada the fastest growth pace of all the countries in the G8. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

America The Beautiful Dept: Some of that may be true, although I found his nerdy rendition of America The Beautiful a couple of weeks ago endearing. He certainly seems so privileged that he honestly doesn t understand just how privileged he is. And I suspect many of his far-right stances during this campaign aren t truly representative of his beliefs; he s pandering to the extreme factions of the party, those motivated enough to go out and vote in primaries, according to The Chronicle Herald. But as I ve watched the race for the Republican presidential nomination twist and turn, I wonder: Would any candidate have been able to unite the wildly divergent Republican voters any better than Romney has? Is the story not Romney s weakness as a candidate, but a stratified Republican base that is remarkably different than it was even four years ago, thanks to the emergence of the Tea Party and mitt Romney s come in for a lot of criticism from Republicans and beyond: He cannot win over conservatives. He cannot bridge the enthusiasm gap. He cannot connect with voters. He s a rich man woefully out of touch with the average American. He lacks personality. He s a nerd. He s a secret moderate. Democrats do it too, which is why you heard Barack Obama vowing to reopen NAFTA, among other pet causes of the left, when he ran for president in 2008. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Government Dept: That s what Don Drummond recommends in his new report, which takes a wide-ranging look at streamlining a vast bureaucracy that eats half the money Ontario s cash-strapped government spends on programs, according to The Star. Ministries and agencies will then have to drive out inefficiencies to absorb any wage increase and if civil servants and public sector workers want pay raises, they should find the money through cheaper ways to do their own jobs. This government should provide a zero budget increase for wage costs, the report said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Jobs Dept: In the short term, faced with a projected record number of retirements, we are increasingly turning to immigrants to fill the employment gap. According to Emploi-Qu bec, 730,000 positions will have to be filled by 2015, and the prediction is that 16 per cent of those jobs will be filled by immigrants. That number jumps to 1.4 million jobs in 2020, with 17 per cent of these jobs to be filled by immigrants, according to Montreal Gazette. The first step is recruitment. We currently welcome approximately 50,000 immigrants annually. Of these, about 70 per cent are classified as economic immigrants. It is important to note that we have adjusted our selection grid in order to better match immigrants' profiles with the needs of our job market and accelerate their immigration to Quebec and as The Gazette pointed out in a recent editorial "In the census data, some warnings for Quebec," Feb. 9 , the aging of the baby boomers and their ongoing withdrawal from the workforce present significant challenges for Quebec, as they do for jurisdictions across North America. The Quebec government is working hard to meet this challenge head-on, putting in place policies and procedures to attract and retain qualified new Quebecers. Ultimately, however, this has to be a societal project, and success depends on our partnering with businesses, universities and CEGEPS, and other key stakeholders. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Iran Dept: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the violence, while Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations baseless and said Israel was trying to damage his country's relations with Thailand and fuel conspiracy theories, according to The Star. Two of the men were detained in Bangkok on Tuesday after fleeing the destroyed house, while a third was arrested Wednesday in neighbouring Malaysia after boarding a flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur overnight and bANGKOK Israeli officials ramped up accusations Wednesday that Iran was launching covert attack plots, saying sticky bombs found in a Thai house rented by Iranians were similar to devices used against Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. Thailand's government was struggling to piece together what a trio of Iranian men were plotting when a cache of explosives detonated by mistake in their home in Bangkok's busy Sukhumvit Road area a day earlier. Bomb disposal teams combed the Iranians' house again Wednesday looking for more evidence, while security forces were searching for an Iranian woman they said had originally rented it. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Refugee Board Dept: Asylum seekers whose claims are rejected, withdrawn or abandoned will also be banned from applying for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds within a year of the refugee board s decision, a government source confirmed with the Star , according to The Star. Canada does not currently have a list of safe countries of origin, countries considered capable of providing state protection to its citizens. However, democratic countries such as Mexico and Hungary currently key source countries of Canada s refugee claimants are likely to be designated as such by the immigration minister once the new act takes effect, other sources say and the federal Conservatives will table a new bill Thursday removing the right of appeal for failed refugee claimants from so-called safe countries, the Star has learned. These changes will essentially return the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, passed by the House of Commons in 2010, to its original form restoring the most contentious clauses removed by the then Conservative minority government under opposition pressure. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Felix Potvin Dept: A goalie making the sign of the cross as Felix Potvin did before t of every game didn t bother anybody, hardly got noticed, because it was an intimate gesture: O Lord, please keep me safe from slapshots to the head. Tim Tebow on one knee, finger to the sky, is exhibitionistic and proselytizing. Is it I? the apostles asked at The Last Supper, when told by Jesus that one of the dozen assembled would betray him. Tebow s pious theatrics smack of Me! Me! Me!, according to The Star. Tim Thomas forcibly yokes the two and then commands us to keep them separate and sports and politics are a toxic mix, even more repellant than Jocks & Jesus. I don t need athletes spreading the gospel. What I need even less is athletes wearing their political ideology on their sleeve and pulpit-tweeting. It s sports , not a civics class. I resent complications. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Nahlah Ayed Dept: "My parents don t like the way I dress," said the 16-year-old. "They want me to be like them, but I don t know anything about their culture.", according to CBC. 's Nahlah Ayed and The National travelled to Churchill High School, Ayed s alma mater, to explore the experiences of children born to immigrant parents. Watch the TV piece, titled Generation One, tonight on The National and at Winnipeg's Churchill High School, Ronia Arab just looks like a typical student. But at home, she s been fighting with her parents over the Canadian way she dresses and carries herself. While her Iraqi family wears traditional Muslim garb her mother wears the hijab in public and her father wears suits the Edmonton-born teen is more likely to dress in leggings, boots, T-shirts and cardigans. After numerous fights with her father, Arab left home and has been living in a group home for about a year. Generation One: Children of immigrants Nahlah Ayed reports from Winnipeg's Churchill High School. John Rieti/ (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.