Michael Stanley: A spokesman for Albertas Justice Department said in a statement on Saturday that although Michael Stanley has a criminal record of violent offences, the charges he is currently wanted for arent severe enough to justify asking American authorities to turn him over, according to The Star. Police have been trying to track down Michael Stanley since Oct. 1 when the electronic monitoring bracelet he was wearing was cut off. The bracelet was found on the roof of a business in Lloydminister, which straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary and EDMONTON The Alberta government wont ask the federal government to seek the extradition of a convicted sex offender who police say fled Canada for the United States. Mr. Stanley is not currently charged with any offences of violence in Canada, Dan Laville said in an email Saturday evening. The charges currently against him do not typically warrant engaging the extradition process. We advised our federal counterparts of the decision Saturday afternoon. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Quebec: A national poll has taken a measure of bigots who exaggerate the power of those they dislike. Nearly a third of Canadians believe Muslims have too much influence in their province. In Quebec, 43 per cent think so. This is ironic, given that Canadian Muslims report feeling under siege and helpless to stop the demonization directed at them because of Muslim mayhem elsewhere in the world, according to The Star. The findings come amid an ugly debate in Quebec over its plan to ban religious symbols and clothing, especially the hijab, for those on the public payroll. And there are increasing incidents of hijabi women being harassed not just in Quebec but in Ontario and elsewhere and Jews have historically been falsely accused of wielding too much power. Now Canadian Muslims are, especially in Quebec. A second poll corroborates the increasing hostility toward Muslims again, more so in Quebec. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Despite generous corporate tax cuts, massive deficit financing and an all-out effort to open up much-needed new markets for Canadian exports, the rebound from the 2008-09 recession has never lived up to Finance Minister Jim Flahertys expectations, according to The Star. Still, Harper knows that focusing on the economy is a political no-brainer and OTTAWA Prime Minister Stephen Harper will use the throne speech to try to make a virtue out of an economy that has defied all efforts by the Conservatives to bring it back to full health. Economic growth in Canada has fallen short of the forecasts cited in Flahertys annual budgets for the past five years and 2013 will be no different. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Edward Snowden: In short video clips posted by the WikiLeaks website on Friday, Snowden said that the NSAs mass surveillance, which he disclosed before fleeing to Russia, puts us at risk of coming into conflict with our own government, according to The Star. Snowden described them as a dragnet mass surveillance that puts entire populations under sort of an eye that sees everything even when its not needed and MOSCOW The former National Security Agency systems analyst, Edward Snowden, said that the mass surveillance programs used by the United States to tap into phone and internet connections around the world are making people less safe. A U.S. court has charged Snowden with violating the Espionage Act for disclosing those programs. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Charles Bert Massey: At a tense time in the citys growth with young men heading off to war; massive immigration, with many of those newcomers living in poverty; and an eroding class structure as the new wealth of entrepreneurs encroached on the snobbish establishment a member of Torontos famous Massey family was gunned down on his Walmer Rd. doorstep by a teenage maid laying in wait, according to The Star. In her painstakingly researched The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master and the Trial that Shocked a Country , historian Charlotte Gray documents the drama of the murder and subsequent trial and paints a picture of a Toronto that was careening toward a future that no one could predict or control and It was a sensational murder that titillated the very Protestant and very conservative Toronto of 1915. Carrie Davies, an 18-year-old domestic from England, immediately confessed to firing the fatal bullet into Charles Bert Massey, but the scandalous details that unfolded in a Toronto courtroom was Massey a cad who indeed tried to sexually assault the petite and helpless virgin? fuelled a newspaper war and divided and distracted a city undergoing major change. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Alice Munro: Canadians everywhere are standing taller with the news on Thursday Alice Munro has won the Nobel Prize for literature. It goes without saying a Nobel being awarded to a Canadian polishes the national brand, but it should be emphasized the accomplishment is very much hers and not ours. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. The protagonists of her stories, published in some 15 collections since 1968, are typically women from small-town southern Ontario, women of genteel poverty who make small choices that echo throughout their lives. Munro's language, while always precise, is at the service of character and psychology. Not to discount her formal innovations of structure and point of view, Munro eschews flash. She does not beg for readers; they must come to her. CP Related Items Articles Sales surge for new Nobel literature winner, Canadian author Alice Munro Author's win a new chapter in her career Munro first Canadian woman to receive Nobel for literature Munro's works well-known to city academics Poll How many Alice Munro short stories have you read? More than five Fewer than five None View Results Munro, 82, has remained committed to her commercially dubious genre, the short story, for more than 50 years. This while most of her colleagues in the trenches of literature chased fame and fortune via the novel. But Munro's real genius lies not in her steady focus but in her rare ability to locate the universal in the particular. Like Jane Austen or George Eliot before her, her canvas has been the daily concerns of average people in parochial settings. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Edward Snowden: Of course he didnt say this in person at the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs this month. Snowden is living in Russia, though I dont know how long he will live. He sent them a nice letter, according to The Star. The Internet was a communications revolution and then it was betrayed. Governments are now inside your head, inside your house and, frankly, inside your underpants. They track everything you do online, follow you wherever you go and list your friends and Mass surveillance is the greatest human rights challenge of our time, Edward Snowden says. He is right. But there is a grand effort going on right now by governments worldwide to subvert efforts to call a halt to mass surveillance. We are in the middle of a huge PR battle. Its aimed at you, so pay attention. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: G. L. Peiris says Harper and Canada are alone in the boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and that all other 53 countries of the group are attending, according to Huffington Post. Harper, who says the boycott is in protest of Sri Lanka's human rights abuses, is also threatening to yank Canadian funding to the Commonwealth, which at nearly $20 million annually makes Canada the second-largest financial supporter of the bloc and Sri Lanka's foreign minister says Prime Minister Stephen Harper is "totally isolated" in his decision to ditch the upcoming Commonwealth summit in Colombo, Agence France-Presse reports. "Canada is totally isolated in this situation because we have the overwhelming support of all other countries," he said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Bargnani: You suck Bargnani! he screamed, according to The Star. The newest Knick was booed upon introduction. He was booed whenever he touched the ball against the Raptors . He was booed when he passed, then cheered when he missed and In the small moment of silence between the end of the Star Spangled Banner and t of O Canada, some kind-hearted soul in the upper bowl set the tone. Down on the court, Andrea Bargnani stared straight ahead, unfazed. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Lampedusa: Helicopters ferried the injured to Lampedusa, the Italian island that is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and the destination of choice for most smugglers boats leaving Tunisia or Libya. It was off Lampedusa that a migrant ship from Libya capsized on Oct. 3 with some 500 people aboard. Only 155 survived, according to The Star. The two shipwrecks were the latest grim reminder of the extreme risks that migrants and asylum-seekers often take in an effort to slip into Europe every year by boat. Facing unrest and persecution in Africa and the Middle East, many of the migrants think the escape route to Lampedusa, which is barely 113 kilometres from northern Africa, is worth the risk and VALLETTA, MALTA For the second time this month, a smugglers boat overloaded with migrants capsized in the Strait of Sicily on Friday as it made the perilous crossing from Africa to Europe. At least 27 people drowned, but 221 people were rescued in a joint Italian-Maltese operation, officials said. Fridays capsizing occurred 105 kilometres southeast of Lampedusa, but in waters where Malta has search and rescue responsibilities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.