economic exploitation: At Save the Children, we have been pushing for decades to help working youths up to the age of 18 improve their lives and those of their families. During our many years doing this work we have come to understand that while the economic exploitation of children is clearly unacceptable, the whole picture of children involved in work is much more complex than it appears at first blush, according to The Star. The long history of children working in garment factories in Bangladesh provides unique insight into this reality and Since the deadly collapse of the factory in Bangladesh, international attention has focused on the working conditions in garment factories in developing countries especially for children. A powerful series of articles in , The Clothes on Your Back , recently delved into this and related issues. And we are seeing a renewed call for action from many organizations around the world. But is ending all forms of child work the right solution? Child work is not a uniform phenomenon. While some forms of work are harmful, there are types of labour that are beneficial for children. Work can provide children the opportunity to develop skills, self-confidence and to participate in their community. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ho Chi Minh City: Potent marijuana grown indoors in Canada and the United States is easy to buy in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, say regular smokers, and sells for up to 10 times the price of locally grown weed. That's perhaps surprising given that marijuana is easy to cultivate regionally, and bringing drugs across continents is expensive and risky, according to Huffington Post. The characteristics of cannabis use in the country also drive the trade. The drug is used mostly by foreigners and well-heeled Vietnamese, who are prepared to pay for quality. Vietnamese have long shown preferences for imported goods of all kinds and it appears cannabis is no exception and HANOI, Vietnam - For the young Vietnamese dope smokers rolling up outside a smart Hanoi cafe, local cannabis is just not good enough. As with their Adidas caps, iPhones and Sanskrit tattoos, so with their choice of bud: only foreign will do. Some experts say the trade can be explained by the dominant role Vietnamese diaspora gangs play in cultivating the drug in western countries, making sourcing the product and smuggling it to Vietnam an easier proposition than it might be otherwise. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

health care: The throne speech Wednesday outlined "hot spotting" pilot programs for Saskatoon and Regina as one way to tackle new pressures that growth has put on health care and education, according to Times Colonist. "You can imagine how many others ... where if we were properly meeting their needs in ER that first time ... whether it's mental-health care or whether it's addictions treatment, if we were able to do that, it's going to just reduce the number of visits," he said and REGINA - In an effort to cut emergency room backlogs, the Saskatchewan government plans to focus on helping people who repeatedly show up in hospital ERs. In a news conference before the throne speech was read in the legislature, Premier Brad Wall said the top five users of emergency rooms accounted for more than 500 visits to ERs last year. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Mohamed Mahjoub: Federal Court Judge Edmond Blanchard will decide on the validity of a national security certificate imposed on Mohamed Mahjoub in a case that has exposed serious flaws in Canadas security apparatus, according to 660 News. At the same time, I m optimistic about the outcome of the courts decision and TORONTO An Egyptian man who has lived for 13 years branded as a terrorist threat to Canada on secret evidence hes never seen is anxiously awaiting a key ruling in the long-running saga expected any day now. I am nervous a little a bit, Mahjoub admitted Wednesday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Royal Canadian Air Force: Shot down over Belgium at age 26, with a Canadian insignia on his arm and his American citizenship in doubt. Thats how the end came for this graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, according to The Star. He was also a gun-jumper: one of the more than 840 American volunteers who would not wait until their country joined the war against Hitler. Instead, they put their passports on the line, joining, training and, eventually, dying as members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and WASHINGTON Richard Fuller Patterson was a strapping young flyer with a world of promise when he died, alone and forgotten, almost 72 years ago in the cockpit of his Spitfire. Patterson was an heir to a name that still means something in Virginia: the Pattersons of Richmond founded the iconic Lucky Strike tobacco brand that the whole world, it seemed, was smoking during the Second World War. Fuller, as the charismatic fighter pilot was known, was the golden boy. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Yet Prime Minister Stephen Harper now proposes to radically alter the balance of power between Ottawa and public sector workers in what amounts to a stealth blow to the civil service, according to The Star. By rights, such a sweeping nonbudget change should be brought before Parliament as a separate bill. Canadas lawmakers ought to have the chance to carefully study and debate the merits of handing the government such power, and the Tories should have to make a compelling case for its necessity and People have fought and died in Canada for the hard-won right to unionize and strike. More than four million workers, a quarter of the labour force, now belong to a union. And organized labour has been a powerful force for good, campaigning for living wages, safer workplaces and benefits such as child care, flexible work time and sick leave. Non-unionized workers benefit, too, as such standards become commonplace. The Conservatives want the federal government to have the exclusive right to decide who is essential and cannot strike. Currently some 40,000 of the Public Service Alliance of Canadas 187,000 members are essential. The change would undermine bargaining rights, potentially double the number of essential workers and sap their ability to use job action to press demands. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Saskatchewan: Welcome to the opening of the Third Session of the Twenty- Seventh Legislature, according to CTV. Saskatchewan has grown by more than 100,000 people in just six years a rate of growth not seen since the earliest days of our province and Mr. Speaker, members of the Legislative Assembly, honoured guests, people of Saskatchewan. Just a few weeks ago, our provinces population surpassed 1.1 million people. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

President Barack Obama: BERLIN - The German government has obtained information that the United States may have monitored the mobile phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel and she called President Barack Obama on Wednesday to demand an immediate clarification, her spokesman said, according to Reuters. "She made clear that she views such practices, if proven true, as completely unacceptable and condemns them unequivocally," the statement read and By Noah Barkin In a strongly worded statement, the spokesman said Merkel had told Obama that if such surveillance had taken place it would represent a "grave breach of trust" between close allies. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Farmers of North America: Farmers of North America says there is a chronic shortage of skilled and unskilled labour in almost every sector of agriculture from the grain fields of Saskatchewan to the cattle feedlots of Alberta to the orchards of British Columbia and Ontario, according to Times Colonist. The company's pitch is that it can get workers more quickly and with less hassle than farmers who deal directly with Ottawa and SASKATOON - A company is offering to help farmers cut through the "paperwork jungle" of the federal temporary foreign worker program to hire the labourers they need. For a fee of about $4,000 a person, the Saskatoon-based firm says it will work with an international recruiter who has long experience with the federal program to help farmers hire help from areas that include Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Ireland. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

young workers: Deputy chief economist Derek Burleton says demographic and economic shifts may be hitting young workers particularly hard, but he doesnt believe projections of across-the-board labour shortages and skills gaps, according to Huffington Post. We are seeing a labour market thats going through significant change, but you can argue thats always been the case and Dire warnings of a widespread Canadian labour crisis and a lost generation of young workers have been overblown, according to a market analysis by TD Economics. There are a lot of concerns about the labour market and in some respects its not as bad as many believe, he said Monday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.