Manitoba government: Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen says the new government intends to help newcomer families make ends meet by lowering taxes, according to CBC. Friesen held a news conference Tuesday morning at Manitoba Welcome Place, an organization dedicated to helping refugees and immigrants settle in Manitoba. Brian Pallister and PC government table first budget today "We thought in our first budget as Manitoba government, rather than do something empty to satisfy a tradition, we would instead follow the Manitoba values of inclusiveness and generosity," Manitoba Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said. Friesen gave new pairs of sneakers to the Teweldes, an Eritrean family of five who recently relocated to Winnipeg via Sudan. Friesen said as a father of three, he understands how little costs add up quickly and can put a strain on any family budget. Senat, 5, the youngest of three children in the family, scored a pair of pink New Balance sneakers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

alternatives: Goodale told a Senate committee on Monday his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he added the issue is complex and requires study, according to Toronto Star. There are problems in the system that go beyond simply changing procedures, Goodale said. By Jim Bronskill The Canadian Press Mon., May 30, 2016 OTTAWA—Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he wants to end the Canada Border Services Agency practice of detaining child migrants. Physical capacity is an issue. In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross said Canada should jail child immigrants only as a last resort and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers. And we need to make some changes there in order to accommodate alternatives. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

international students: The Mount is committed to assisting international students who choose to remain in the province, Paul Barry Mercer, the Mount vice-president of student experience, said in a news release, according to The Chronicle Herald. This includes helping our students to successfully transition from student to employee and new Nova Scotians. This pilot program will connect international student graduates with employers and opportunities to start their careers in locally. The Nova Scotia Scholars Program provides participants with individualized plans to address career building, networking, cultural preparation, work experience and immigration. Venor, started by Craig Coady and Ian Sullivan in Halifax, offers professional and executive search services in Atlantic Canada and beyond, including the U.S. The extracurricular program is run using existing resources—including expertise in the Mount Career Centre and Internatonal Education Centre, as well as support from education practicum students. The partnership with Venor represents a new step for the program and a valuable private sector link to employers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

infection prevention services: Now that most of the families have found permanent housing, those shelters are set to close at the end of the month, according to Metro News. That means refugees may no longer have access to Toronto Public Health services like vaccinations, infection prevention services and dental checkups. Toronto Public Health presented a report to the city board of health Monday, detailing services it been providing to hundreds of government-sponsored Syrians living in six temporary shelters. Dental care is one of many health issues that will require ongoing monitoring for refugees, said Paul Caulford, lead physician at the Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Healthcare in Scarborough. Kids were in pain. I didn't see one Syrian refugee who didn't need a dentist urgently, he said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

unwavering support: But when it comes to the transportation of fossil fuels, Chong is walking a very fine line between unwavering support for new pipelines and his belief that the federal government must consult with Indigenous communities about projects on their unceded territory, according to National Observer. Alberta cannot "be held hostage"Simply put, Chong, the Conservative MP for Wellington-Halton Hills, near Toronto — supports pipelines. He also has a history of breaking ranks with his party whenever he disagreed with policies — even if it meant he would pay a political price for his dissent. They're a safe, efficient means of transporting oil, said the veteran MP, and the federal government has a responsibility to get Canada resource to foreign markets."A landlocked province like Alberta cannot be held hostage by other provinces or stakeholder groups from getting its product to market," he told National Observer at the Conservative Convention in Vancouver last week. "That simply not fair... because after all, we're a country, and in a country, we all work together to ensure that everyone is treated equitably. While this position may have earned him respect in the House of Commons, he may soon run into a sticky situation for his stance on pipelines and Indigenous rights. Chong has always been a firm believer in the correlation between human activity and climate change, and recently launched a bold environmental platform that includes carbon pricing for the oil and gas sector. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

heavy hearts: And so, with heavy hearts, a group from First United Church in Waterloo cancelled its sponsorship of the Eletras family, according to The Waterloo Record. They were looking forward to greeting them. Then it became clear that the mother, father and five children weren't coming for the foreseeable future. They knew the parents had been farmers before unrest in Syria forced them into a Turkish refugee camp. But somehow in the rush to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees earlier this year, as promised last fall by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, this family got missed. The group had even written a letter of welcome to the family. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

younger siblings: Mira Akram Al Jawabreh, her parents and three younger siblings were among some 500 refugees aboard a boat that capsized off the coast of Italy in August 2014, according to The Waterloo Record. Relatives were initially told all six had drowned but a mysterious photograph of a dark-haired girl that emerged on a Syrian news website days later stirred hope that Mira had survived. But Noor Al Jawabreh, a Syrian refugee living Kitchener, says she holds out hope her niece is alive and will leave no stone unturned until the girl is found. That hope faltered last Friday, when Noor Al Jawabreh says she spoke to a man in Denmark who told her the girl in the photo was his daughter, not Mira. Wracked by guilt over Mira disappearance, Al Jawabreh said she wants nothing more than to give the girl a new life with her family in Canada. Still, Al Jawabreh says she will keep searching for her niece until more conclusive information surfaces. "In my heart, I feel she is alive," she said in Arabic through an interpreter. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ontario government: The logic is that if you live here and pay taxes, why should your citizenship determine whether you get a say in how your neighbourhood is run After all, voting in Ontario municipal elections is already open to non-resident citizens at least 18 years of age who merely rent or own property in a city, or are the spouse of someone who does, according to NOW Magazine. So why shouldn't a city actual residents get to cast ballots Toronto City Council endorsed the concept in 2013 and doubled down on it last fall, when they asked the Ontario government to look into giving permanent residents the right to vote in provincial elections as well. The idea of letting permanent residents vote in Toronto municipal elections has been kicking around for almost a decade. The provincial government, however, didn't include this change in its recent bill to update the Municipal Elections Act. To no one serious surprise, the Liberal-controlled committee voted it down. So when the bill was considered by the legislature Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, the NDP Percy Hatfield put forward a motion to add it in. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canadian Press: Lake, the executive director of the United Nations Children Fund, watched the doctors pluck pieces of the patient jawbone out of his shattered face using what he called "old instruments" in a setting he described as "sort of an operating room."Lake was shown the anaesthetic that was being used, according to Brandon Sun. Its best-before date was several years ago."It an outrage," the head of UNICEF said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press by telephone from his New York City office."Badly, in a word," is how Lake described the way things are currently going in Syria. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian WyldOTTAWA - Anthony Lake was in a Syrian hospital a few months ago watching surgery being performed on a sniper victim, whose age he could not determine because of the severity of the injuries. That sense of outrage echoed on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, when retired Canadian general and former senator Romeo Dallaire said the Rwandan genocide is being repeated right now in Syria and the world isn't doing enough to stop it. The photos were smuggled out of Syria and depict torture on men, women and children."Through pictures, through scenes, we hope to bring to the attention of parliamentarians and Canadians the true suffering of human beings that are caught in the middle of this maelstrom that we are fiddling with, instead of trying to reconcile," Dallaire said Tuesday. Dallaire was part of a delegation that displayed some of the 55,000 forensic photos that depict atrocities committed against civilians in Syrian prisons by the regime of President Bashar Assad. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Syrian refugee child: In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross says Canada should jail child immigrants only as a "last resort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers, according to Huffington Post Canada. A Syrian refugee child displays his serial number as his family register their information at the Canadian processing centre for Syrian refugees, during a media tour held by the Canadian Embassy in Jordan, at Marka airport, Amman, Jordan on Dec. 8, 2015. Goodale told a Senate committee today his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he suggests the issue is a complex one that requires study. The border services agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public, and those whose identities cannot be confirmed. Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10 days each. The Red Cross says the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants — almost one-fifth of them refugee claimants — in 2013-14 in a variety of facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial and municipal jails. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

: We met and fell in love 10 years ago in college, and it still stands that he the best thing that ever happened to me, according to Huffington Post Canada. I fell in love with him because he was perfect for me -- and he just happened to be from a completely different culture than my own. We are the living, walking, breathing epitome of cultural differences -- he is Hindu, I am Catholic; he is a strict vegetarian, I am not; he comes from a huge traditional Iyengar family, I come from a very small Canadian family. Sure, we have had our challenges. But our journey getting to know each other cultures has been beautiful, mind-blowing and so interesting. There were difficulties being accepted by his family, we still have frequent misunderstandings, we get stared at a lot in public, and we feel a bit isolated in our journey as an intercultural couple because our mix is such a rarity. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Atlantic School of Theology: The fourth annual event gives Haligonians the chance to visit different buildings of architectural, historical and cultural significance, according to The Chronicle Herald. There were more than 25,000 venue visits during last year event, and Doors Open Halifax is hoping to top that as they celebrate their fourth year. Doors Open Halifax runs this weekend, June 4-5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They'll be opening up 31 different spaces around the city, from the Atlantic School of Theology and the Halifax Shambhala Centre to St. There a really nice variety so people can create an experience that personal to them, says Tara Wickwire, president of Doors Open Halifax. Paul Church and the Waegwoltic Club. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

SOHL: Funding pulled from heritage language schools in Saskatchewan SOHL operates 80 heritage language schools and organizations and they teach about 40 languages at schools in Regina, Saskatoon and elsewhere in the province, according to CBC. Now a petition spear-headed by SOHL is circulating calling on the ministry to reinstate funding for language schools and they're looking for signatures, according to Tamara Ruzic, executive director of SOHL. "I could understand if we're talking about millions of dollars here ... but we're talking about $225,000 that benefited over 80 non-profit organizations," Ruzic told CBC Radio The Morning Edition. "This cut, to be blunt, has been a slap in the face to the dedicated volunteers who have been doing this for 25 years." Ruzic said the grant money allowed SOHL to give volunteer teachers an honorarium, as well as pay for school supplies, transportation and — in some cases — lunches for students. In March, the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages said they received notification the Ministry of Education was pulling a $225,000 grant, which had been provided for the past 25 years, due to less than favourable economic conditions in the province. With the grant money being pulled, she said it likely many of the weekend language schools will end. "I think a lot of them will continue the best they can but I am afraid some of the smaller ones, the ones that don't have a lot of money— the newer ones — they might shut down," Ruzic said. Losing language schools equals loss of culture Sabine Wecker is a teacher and coordinator at Regina German Language School. Executive director of the Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages says the province should not be cutting language schools at a time when more immigrants are moving to Saskatchewan. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

marketing opportunity: Some people don't look at either choice as being ideal, according to Huffington Post Canada. Searches that involve the phrase "immigrating to Canada" seem to be growing and some Canadian communities are seeing it as a marketing opportunity to attract new people. And as the primaries continue, it would appear that people in the U.S. are starting to explore their options beyond voting for the candidate of their choice. So if the possibility of Trump or Clinton becoming president may make you think about leaving the country, there are some things to consider beyond just immigration rules if you want to come to Canada. Even if you come to Canada, you will probably still have to file a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service every year unless you also decide to renounce your citizenship. U.S. citizens are taxed based on residency and citizenship. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

routinely conduct diversity training: Many have been doing so for well over a decade, according to Toronto Star. But it hard to know what difference that made in the absence of hard data. Mon., May 30, 2016 Police forces across Ontario routinely conduct diversity training, anti-racism initiatives and outreach programs aimed at better connecting with minority communities. An inquest jury recommended further training initiatives this past week specifically to defuse unconscious bias on the part of officers. But what needed, as well as more training, is a comprehensive way to measure the effectiveness of what been done so far. The panel, which looked into the police shooting of Jermaine Carby in Brampton two years ago, was right to highlight racial profiling as an issue that still demands action. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Irish community: The stone, stained black from exhaust fumes, sits in a little-visited industrial zone near the foot of the bridge, and some members of the Montreal Irish community say the city needs to do a better job of honouring the chapter of Canadian history it represents. "This is the largest single burial site of the Great Hunger in the world outside of Ireland itself," said Victor Boyle, one of the directors of the Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation. "It also the first memorial to that event outside of Ireland." But he says that while cities such as Toronto have prominent memorials to their Irish ship fever victims, Montreal much-larger number of dead are going unrecognized, according to Hamilton Spectator. On Sunday, about 100 members of the Irish community took part in an annual walk to the site. A 10-foot tall engraved stone, placed on a median between the lanes of traffic, announces that the site is the resting place of some 6,000 Irish immigrants who died of typhus in "fever sheds" along the riverbank in 1847-48 after fleeing famine in overcrowded ships. The ceremony, led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, has taken place in some form or other since 1865 — six years after the stone was erected by mostly-Irish Victoria bridge construction workers who stumbled across the graves. Boyle says the park would honour not only the Irish victims but also the Montrealers who risked their health and safety to help them, ranging from clergy members to British soldiers to Montreal mayor, John Easton Mills, who contracted typhus and died in 1847 after visiting the fever sheds. Now, Boyle foundation is trying to get permission to transform a parking lot adjacent to the site into a memorial park in time for Montreal 375th anniversary in 2017. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

public safety minister: And we need to make some changes there in order to accommodate alternatives." In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross said Canada should jail child immigrants only as a "last resort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers, according to CBC. We can and must do better,' public safety minister says of immigration detainee health Ontario health workers demand end to 'inhumane' immigration detention process Trudeau tracker: Have the Liberals kept their promise on C-51 The border services agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public and those whose identities cannot be confirmed. Goodale told a Senate committee on Monday his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he added the issue is complex and requires study. "There are problems in the system that go beyond simply changing procedures," Goodale said. "Physical capacity is an issue. The Red Cross says the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants — almost one-fifth of them refugee claimants — in 2013-14 in a variety of facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial and municipal jails. Higher number of detainees However, the number of young detainees was almost certainly higher because the figures did not include those who were not formally part of a detention order, but nonetheless found themselves behind bars with a parent or guardian. Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10 days each. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

strange place: Once settled in Canada, the refugees struggle to adapt to a strange place and a new language, all the while bearing the emotional burden of their past, according to CBC. Watch Adrienne Arsenault documentary on the Farwans in the video at the bottom of this story One family gave the CBC The National extraordinary access to their private lives as they made their life-altering journey from Syria to Lethbridge, Alta., by way of Jordan. Not so well known is the sadness they carry with them as they rebuild their lives far from home, missing loved ones left behind. This is a portrait of the Farwan family. We first met Jebreel, 6, and his family last December in Irbid, Jordan, where the family of 10 had settled three years earlier after fleeing the civil war in Syria. When we met the Farwans, they were living in Jordan. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Louie Sam: How the West Was Undone'3:10 to Yuma' mans up, according to Tyee. The Riot that Changed Canada How rampagers against Asians in Vancouver helped launch a famous PM. The Freeing of Charles Mitchell How a prisoner slave was liberated just by stepping onto Victoria soil. Photo courtesy of Huntington Library. Read more: Media image: Sign Up for the Tyee Newsletter Eternity Street: Violence and Justice in Frontier Los Angeles John Mack FaragherW.W. Norton In February of 1884 an angry American mob crossed into British Columbia, seized a Sto:lo youth named Louie Sam from the custody of a B.C. deputy, and set about lynching the boy from a tree. The sordid tale might make for a powerful Hollywood movie. The vigilantes, led by two white men, claimed Sam had murdered a white shopkeeper in Washington state, but historians are almost certain he was innocent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Hamilton: It that simple, according to NOW Magazine. The community of Hamilton is doing more to help them than most nations, including my own. There are a lot of people in need of a lot of help, says Matt Berninger, frontman for The National. Berninger, originally from Cincinnati and now based in L.A., speaks a hard truth: the United States has only accepted 2,600 refugees, while Hamilton alone has taken in 1,200. Berninger and Reid saw the challenges faced by Syrian refugees first-hand when travelling from France to Britain. There are only nine cities in Canada carrying the responsibility of helping these people get into the fold of Canadian life, says the National manager Brandon Reid. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada Border Services Agency: Goodale told a Senate committee on Monday his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he added the issue is complex and requires study."There are problems in the system that go beyond simply changing procedures," Goodale said. "Physical capacity is an issue, according to Brandon Sun. And we need to make some changes there in order to accommodate alternatives."In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross said Canada should jail child immigrants only as a "last resort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickOTTAWA - Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he wants to end the Canada Border Services Agency practice of detaining child migrants. The border services agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public and those whose identities cannot be confirmed. Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10 days each. The Red Cross says the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants — almost one-fifth of them refugee claimants — in 2013-14 in a variety of facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial and municipal jails. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

: And we need to make some changes there in order to accommodate alternatives." In a confidential inspection report made public in January, the Red Cross said Canada should jail child immigrants only as a "last resort" and must find alternatives to detention for such vulnerable newcomers, according to The Waterloo Record. The border services agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public and those whose identities cannot be confirmed. Goodale told a Senate committee on Monday his department is looking at alternatives to locking away children, but he added the issue is complex and requires study. "There are problems in the system that go beyond simply changing procedures," Goodale said. "Physical capacity is an issue. The Red Cross says the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants — almost one-fifth of them refugee claimants — in 2013-14 in a variety of facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial and municipal jails. However, the number of young detainees was almost certainly higher because the figures did not include those who were not formally part of a detention order, but nonetheless found themselves behind bars with a parent or guardian. Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10 days each. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Montreal Irish: On Sunday, about 100 members of the Irish community took part in an annual walk to the site, according to Metro News. The ceremony, led by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, has taken place in some form or other since 1865 -- six years after the stone was erected by mostly-Irish Victoria bridge construction workers who stumbled across the graves. The stone, stained black from exhaust fumes, sits in a little-visited industrial zone near the foot of the bridge, and some members of the Montreal Irish community say the city needs to do a better job of honouring the chapter of Canadian history it represents."This is the largest single burial site of the Great Hunger in the world outside of Ireland itself," said Victor Boyle, one of the directors of the Montreal Irish Memorial Park Foundation."It also the first memorial to that event outside of Ireland."But he says that while cities such as Toronto have prominent memorials to their Irish ship fever victims, Montreal much-larger number of dead are going unrecognized. Now, Boyle foundation is trying to get permission to transform a parking lot adjacent to the site into a memorial park in time for Montreal 375th anniversary in 2017. He also wants to salute the many Quebecois families who adopted Irish orphans into their families. Boyle says the park would honour not only the Irish victims but also the Montrealers who risked their health and safety to help them, ranging from clergy members to British soldiers to Montreal mayor, John Easton Mills, who contracted typhus and died in 1847 after visiting the fever sheds. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Democratic Party: Much has been made of data showing young women ditching Clinton for her Democratic Party rival, Bernie Anoa Chonga, recently quoted in the Guardian voicing her opposition to Clinton, possibly spoke for a whole slew of so-called third-wave feminists when she said, There are a lot of issues that affect low-income women, immigrant women and women of colour that her brand of doing things is not going to address, according to Toronto Star. For many women in the U.S. and in this country, mainstream feminism is still a subject of white-on-white discrimination. By Shree Paradkar Toronto Star Sun., May 29, 2016 If Barack Obama presidency ended up showing us that racism is truly alive and well in the United States, Hillary Clinton run for the White House has exposed the deepening fault lines within Western feminism. It a rallying cry by middle-class white women for the rights of women like themselves that happens to benefit other women who attain that level of privilege. The plight of our missing and murdered indigenous women is not a cultural issue. The Toronto Filipina nannies' struggles to be unified with their families is not just an immigration issue. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Winnipeg City Councillor: Starting over: One Syrian refugee family story, in their own words "We had people arriving here at 11 a.m. and this really didn't get started until 1 p.m.," Gilroy said. "That goes to show how popular this was and how many people wanted to come out today." Winnipeg City Councillor Cindy Gilroy said she was pleased by the turnout on Saturday, according to CBC. Along with a bouncy castle, jigging, hoop dancing and traditional Arabic dances, 30 information booths provided information about services to refugees ranging from public library access to what to do in case of an emergency. Hundreds of newcomers and volunteers showed up at the Old Exhibition Grounds on Sinclair Street, now home to the North Centennial Community Centre. Police were on hand to explain how 911 works and the city handed out family library cards and recreation passes, Gilroy said. Among the 25,000 Syrian refugees Canada has accepted, 1,000 have settled in Manitoba with just over 800 choosing to live in Winnipeg, according to a Social Planning Council of Winnipeg news release. John McCallum, immigration minister, swarmed with thanks by WPG Syrian refugees #Refugee Welcome Fair @IPWinnipeg @spcw1919 "I'm hoping that we're really connecting with families, getting them the supports that they need," she said. "We're here today to welcome a thousand refugees that have come to Winnipeg to make it their home." Federal Immigration Minister John McCallum and his provincial counterpart Ian Wishart also attended Saturday fair, said Gilroy. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

historic site: One e-mail in particular stood out from the others, according to The Chronicle Herald. It was from Geoff Biddulph from the Lunenburg County Historical Society, and he wrote to tell me about an important historic site that I had neglected to include in my column. It would seem that a lot of people are in agreement with my observation that the South Shore rich past holds great potential in helping to build the region future prosperity. He felt it was just as important as the other locations I had mentioned, and he was right for pointing out my omission. If there was ever a site in Nova Scotia that had historical significance, then this site, a newly intended capital city site where French colonists were brought in to form the core Acadian families that would eventually spread through Nova Scotia and beyond, is of great historical significance, he continued. Here is what he had to say: I enjoyed reading your article on our past is our future, but was surprised when you gave examples of historical places but omitted Fort Point in LaHave that was the capital of Acadia from 1632 to 1635, he wrote. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.