immigrantscanada.com

Independent topical source of current affairs, opinion and issues, featuring stories making news in Canada from immigrants, newcomers, minorities & ethnic communities' point of view and interests.

andy buck: When he arrived, his sons were just 14 and 17 so they stayed back in the UK with his ex-wife, according to CTV. Andy brought his oldest son Alex over as a dependent when he turned 19 and his other son, Ben, was planning to make the move in January 2015 when he would turn 19 but that didn't happen. Andy Buck came to Canada in 2008 for work and became a Canadian citizen in 2014. In 2014, the federal Conservatives changed the age of dependency for sponsorship from under 22 years of age to under 19. The change goes into effect on October 24th and it is not retroactive so families that applied to sponsor dependents between August 1st, 2014 and October 24th, 2017 will still need to comply with the Conservative government policy. The Liberal government is switching the age of the dependency law back to under 22 but it won't happen in time to help the family. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

couillard: The premier said while the issue took a backseat to economy, finances and healthcare for the first half of his mandate, he would have been disappointed had his first term finished without tackling the subject of Quebec-Canada relations, according to The Chronicle Herald. That's why we were elected, but also to do things like this, to have proposed to Quebecers and Canadians but to Quebecers above all the affirmation of who we are and a path to regain contact with the rest of country, that's a part of the full job of a premier for me, Couillard said. Couillard, a staunch federalist, committed to reopening constitutional dialogue on Thursday, with the long-term goal of restarting negotiations that could lead to Quebec finally approving the 1982 Constitution. While there is no timeline or definite plan for opening constitutional negotiations, Couillard is hopeful the vast coast-to-coast discussion he is launching will eventually lead there. The 200-page document defines Quebec as an inclusive, francophone nation with control over its own institutions and Couillard believes a place within Canada. On Thursday, Couillard unveiled his government's official policy on the place of Quebec within Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

drainage ditch: Her friends say she did not tell them about any plans to move north, but it is believed she may have been planning to move to Toronto to live with her daughter, according to CTV. Officials say her body was found in a drainage ditch in Noyes, Minn., the closest American community to Emerson, Man. Friends of Mavis Otuteye, 57, told CTV News that she was a religious woman and had been living in Delaware. It's most likely that she was attempting to get to Canada. If Otuteye was indeed an asylum seeker, her death would be the first fatality connected to the recent wave of illegal border crossings. Evidently, she didn't make it, Matt Vig, deputy sheriff with the Kittson County Sheriff's Office, told CTV News. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

el: The point is not that there be a complete recovery of all ills in the country, Kelly said, according to Metro News. The point is, whatever the event is that caused TPS to be granted that event is over, and they can return. In an interview with The Associated Press, Secretary John Kelly sent strong signals that immigration benefits known as temporary protected status should not be as open-ended as they have become for tens of thousands of people from Haiti and Central America. That might shock 86,000 immigrants from Honduras and another 263,000 from El Salvador, who constitute the vast majority of the program's current beneficiaries. Immigrants from El Salvador were included in 2001 after a series of earthquakes. The Hondurans, along with more than 5,000 immigrants from Nicaragua, became eligible for the temporary protections in 1999 because of destruction from Hurricane Mitch a year earlier. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

halal market: He's the general manager at Sun Gold Specialty Meats Ltd. in Innisfail, which has been around under various owners since 1974, according to CBC. In the last 10 years, lamb is the only red-meat protein that is growing in per-capita consumption, he said. 2011 Alberta increases sheep flocks King canola, fewer cows, aging producers Digging into the agriculture census Kliner says since the late 1990s demand has roughly doubled, numbers which still pale compared to other red meats. It's most definitely growing, Miles Kliner told CBC News. In the grand scheme of things, it is still very small, but for the lamb industry it is very large, he said of the increase. In the mid-2000s an opportunity emerged the halal market for Muslims. The processing plant has expanded beyond simply selling carcasses to value-added services. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

homeland security: They bear logos of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security, and say residents should report people in the U.S. illegally, according to Metro News. Mayor Muriel Bowser, on Twitter and Facebook, says the flier is meant to scare and divide residents. The fliers were found Thursday on cars and lampposts around Washington. D.C. remains a sanctuary city, she said.ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell said in a statement that the fliers are dangerous and irresponsible. The Washington Post reports that D.C. police are instructed not to co-operate with federal authorities working to deport immigrants. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration: Amanda McDougall, who represents District 8 of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, was asked to appear before the standing committee on citizenship and immigration in Ottawa about a pilot program to bring immigrants to Atlantic Canada, according to CBC. But McDougall said she didn't get a chance to speak because of a filibuster by Alberta MP Michelle Rempel, the Tory immigration critic, that lasted for more than an hour until the committee adjourned. Coun. The worst part is, there was myself and several other witnesses who were going to speak to this, said McDougall, the former manager of immigration partnerships at Cape Breton University. These people are coming from all over Atlantic Canada who spent time preparing. What a waste. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

kevin rebeck: We're very disappointed the government's not willing to negotiate at a bargaining table, according to The Chronicle Herald. They're choosing the heavy-handed approach of legislation to get their way, said Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour. The announcement came as the Progressive Conservative government was working to pass the bill through a final vote, along with about two dozen others, on the last day of the spring legislature sitting. Their intentions have been very clear, so we're working to make sure that we can launch a legal challenge in the coming weeks. We can't accept billion-dollar deficits any more. Premier Brian Pallister said the wage freeze is needed to bring the deficit under control, and his Progressive Conservative government was elected last year to get the province's finances in order. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

knees: So has Madrid, according to Hamilton Spectator. So has Oslo. London has endured. Beirut and Jerusalem remain. In the last 16 years, New York has endured an attack that killed thousands and took down its two tallest skyscrapers, a financial calamity that nearly brought the world's economy to its knees and a storm that caused 70 billion in damage. Boston was and is strong, as are Paris, Nice and Quebec City. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

mervon mehta: Twelve musicians, many of them playing ancient instruments from their home countries, show off their talents Friday night as the New Canadian Global Music Orchestra in a concert at Koerner Hall, according to Toronto Star. They'll play original compositions by each of the band members, created in collaboration with each other and band leader David Buchbinder. Nicola Betts By Trish Crawford Music Thu., June 1, 2017 They've come from all over the globe China, Pakistan, Mexico, Greece to make music in a new world. Mervon Mehta, the executive director of performing arts for Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, conceived of the project as a celebration of the diversity of Canada as the country celebrates its 150th anniversary. Article Continued Below I'm an immigrant, says Mehta, who was born in Vienna and is the son of famed Indian conductor Zubin Mehta. He got the idea during the last federal election when then-prime minister Stephen Harper used the term old stock Canadians, suggesting different status among Canadians. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

montreal police: It's baffling, especially because we have so many cases of racial profiling, said Farid Charles, who was a victim of racial profiling in April 2010, according to CBC. Turmoil within Montreal police could be contributing to racial profiling, activist warns The Quebec Human Rights Commission recommended Charles be given 33,000 in compensation after two police officers arrested him while he waited for a friend outside a take-out restaurant in LaSalle. The slow pace of change, outlined during a public consultation on the issue at city hall on Monday, has left victims discouraged and calling for action. Farid Charles was a victim of racial profiling in 2010. At Monday's meeting, Cmdr. Elias Abboud/CBC You need the data, and you need someone to take ownership of the fact that there is a problem and say, 'Let's research the problem, and let's fix the problem and prevent it from happening again,' Charles said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

nazi-approved artwork: Trump himself has to be challenged, he said, according to The Chronicle Herald. You can recognize it's happening. In Israel for the opening of his first exhibition in the Mideast country, the controversial artist, whose work often deals with the grim side of human nature, said people are locked in an almost permanent battle with their leaders and governments. It's not so easy. He stood on his artwork titled Soft Ground, a hand woven 250-square-meter 2,700-square-foot carpet that replicates the floor of Munich's Haus der Kunst, the gallery where Nazi-approved artwork was displayed during the Third Reich. Ai spoke at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where his exhibit Maybe, Maybe Not, is to open on Friday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

poloz: In early November, Poloz and the HCC performed at the Ontario Music Educators' Association Resonate 2016 conference in Niagara Falls, according to Hamilton Spectator. Some of the feedback they received after their Friday-night showcase performance was startling. Late last August, artistic director Zimfira Poloz and 53 of her HCC Ilumini choristers jetted off to Paradise Island, The Bahamas, for America Cantat 8, a noncompetitive triennial festival featuring choirs from North and South America. We were surprised about how many music teachers in Ontario had never heard about the Hamilton Children's Choir, said Poloz over the phone to The Spectator from her Mississauga home last week. It was very interesting. People were coming to our room after we finished and were asking, like, where we were located. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

quebec institute: The study found that Quebec is among the provinces with the great income inequality before government redistribution, according to CTV. But Quebec is also among the most egalitarian due to policies like progressive taxation, tax credits and generous benefits, said Jean-Guy Cot the institute's associate director. Is Quebec Equal is a survey of social mobility in the province conducted by the Quebec Institute, a partnership between HEC Montreal and the Conference Board of Canada. However, Cot said the effects of those policies are mostly short-term, in that they don't give citizens the tools to increase their income. Economists advocate more social investment to help the poorest reach a higher income level. The redistributive policies put in place in Quebec do not help the poorest households any more than in other Canadian provinces, according to the report. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

refugee camp: Both nations deny he's a citizen, according to Metro News. He was granted permanent U.S. residency in 1985. Lunn was born to Cambodian parents in a refugee camp in Thailand. He has been convicted of crimes, and immigration officials have unsuccessfully tried to deport him multiple times. Information from The Boston Globe, His lawyers say those failures demonstrate he wouldn't be removed in the foreseeable future, so it would be unlawful to keep him detained.A ICE spokesman declined comment. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

school year: As I laughed along at the responses to this tone-deaf and callous couple including a tongue-in-cheek GoFund Me campaign it dawned on me that I'd once been the kind of tenant the writer joked about demolishing a house around, according to Huffington Post Canada. At the end of 1993, my parents sprang it on me that we were all moving to San Francisco. I hadn't thought about it in years, but then Twitter went crazy on Tuesday, responding to a story in Toronto Life, a first-person account called We Bought a Crackhouse. I fought this bitterly, mainly because I was crazy about a boy at my school, but I didn't tell them that. My mom knew Lillian Demko through friends. I argued I should finish up the school year, for the sake of my grades and graduation date. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

tag player: Either Meilleur had discussed her potential appointment as commissioner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's principal secretary, Gerald Butts as she told MPs on May 18 or she had not, and Joly was right when she told the House Wednesday that Meilleur had never discussed the appointment with Butts or Trudeau's chief of staff, Katie Telford, according to Huffington Post Canada. Joly responded that Telford and Butts had never spoken to Meilleur about her appointment. TAG START player CA Play In Place Autoplay for AOL Canada function commercial video var TAG END date 6/1/17 Thomas Mulcair said Joly and Meilleur can't both be right. I would like to be precise in the fact that never was there any discussions relating to the fact that she could become the official languages commissioner, Joly said. Duly noted that the minister has just said that Madeleine Meilleur intentionally misled this Parliament, the NDP leader said. Aha! Mulcair, his head nodding up and down, had his opening. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

time band: The day is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. with up-and-coming pop-rock group Valley, which performed last weekend at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto and continues through the evening with Walk Off The Earth taking the stage at 7 30, according to Hamilton Spectator. Also performing are 80s synth-rock band The Spoons 4 30 p.m. country singer-songwriter Tebey 6 p.m. and Burlington party-rock stalwarts The Killin' Time Band 3 15 p.m. and the White Pine Dancers 1 45 p.m. . Festival executive director Dave Miller said he was particularly pleased that Walk Off The Earth was able to make it to the festival. The festival, in partnership with the city of Burlington, announced Thursday it is holding a special Canada 150 celebration at Spencer Smith Park on the downtown waterfront with an all-Burlington musical lineup. The June 11 concert will be the Burlington-based pop-rock band's first Sound of Music performance in five years. Last year, Walk off the Earth was named group of the year at the Juno Awards in Calgary. Since that time, the band has gained international recognitions, as well as seven Juno nominations. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

kevin rebeck: We're very disappointed the government's not willing to negotiate at a bargaining table, according to Brandon Sun. They're choosing the heavy-handed approach of legislation to get their way, said Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour. The announcement came as the Progressive Conservative government was working to pass the bill through a final vote, along with about two dozen others, on the last day of the spring legislature sitting. Their intentions have been very clear, so we're working to make sure that we can launch a legal challenge in the coming weeks. We can't accept billion-dollar deficits any more. Premier Brian Pallister said the wage freeze is needed to bring the deficit under control, and his Progressive Conservative government was elected last year to get the province's finances in order. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

nazi-approved artwork: Trump himself has to be challenged, he said, according to Brandon Sun. You can recognize it's happening. In Israel for the opening of his first exhibition in the Mideast country, the controversial artist, whose work often deals with the grim side of human nature, said people are locked in an almost permanent battle with their leaders and governments. It's not so easy. He stood on his artwork titled Soft Ground, a hand woven 250-square-meter 2,700-square-foot carpet that replicates the floor of Munich's Haus der Kunst, the gallery where Nazi-approved artwork was displayed during the Third Reich. Ai spoke at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where his exhibit Maybe, Maybe Not, is to open on Friday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

press show: The map was included in a 2015 application to the EB-5 visa program that allows overseas investors to obtain U.S. residency in exchange for investments of 500,000 or more in rural areas or those with high unemployment, according to Brandon Sun. The maps are legal, and many other developers engage in the practice. Emails obtained by The Associated Press show that the family of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner placed its 65 Bay Street building in Jersey City in a map stringing together two dozen other areas, some with high unemployment. But the practice is one of the reasons the EB-5 visa program has come under criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. The Kushner property is co-owned with developer KABR Group. James Yolles, a spokesman for the Kushner Cos., declined to comment. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

african country: Greg Janzen was reacting to the death of Mavis Otuteye, a 57-year-old woman believed to be from the African country of Ghana, whose body was found late last week near Noyes, Minn, according to Huffington Post Canada. We were always expecting to find someone in the ditch when the snow melted, which we never did,'' he said. It was just a matter of time until an asylum seeker died trying to illegally cross the border into Canada, the reeve of Emerson, Man., said Tuesday. Then the Red River didn't flood nearly as much as we expected so we thought it would be clear sailing, but now we have this.'' The Kittson County sheriff's department said an initial autopsy concluded the cause of death was possible hypothermia, though a final autopsy is still pending. Photo Lyle Stafford/Reuters The police said they believe Otuteye had been heading to Emerson, which is just across the border from Noyes. A sign post for the small border town of Emerson, near the Canada-U.S border crossing. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

anti-immigrant messages: Scott said the anti-immigrant messages accuse him of giving away Canadian jobs to immigrants and also single out his wife who was born in Taiwan, according to CBC. Rachel Notley Alberta's most threatened premier Female politicians speak out about sexist, violent cyberbullying One of the notes accuses Scott of trying to flood Fort McMurray with temporary foreign workers, calling the workers scabs. Scott said he has received four messages; two in notes posted on his law firm's doors and two in voicemails on his phone. The note also describes Scott as being married to a woman from Red China. I consider these to be racist attacks and there is no place for it. It's an attack on my family, Scott said, adding he's very concerned. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

u.s: I think Canadian law is to be held responsible for that woman's death for that innocent woman's death, according to CBC. Body of woman, 57, found near Manitoba border believed to be asylum seeker, U.S. police say Manitoba Ghanaians want to help after border crosser found dead Otuteye was a 57-year-old who police believe was a citizen of Ghana. The Canada-U.S. Safe Third Countries Agreement, which took effect Dec. 29, 2004 sealed her fate, said Bashir Khan on Wednesday. Officials think she died of hypothermia last week as she made her way through Minnesota toward Canada. Winnipeg immigration lawyer Bashir Khan blames the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S. for the death of a 57-year-old presumed asylum seeker. Investigators in the U.S. are still looking into the death. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

brandi carlile: Returning favourites include fiddler Ashley Mac Isaac, country singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell and Foy Vance, a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland, according to CBC. The lineup is more than 60 acts deep. Headliners for the Aug. 10-13 event include City and Colour, Leon Bridges, Brandi Carlile and The Decemberists. That's always the mix how many are going to come back, how many are going to be new, Wickham said. Someone said to me, 'How do you get young people to come down to the festival ' And I said, 'You book young acts that they like.' And that's what's happened. We probably tended to be a little bit overly loyal up 'til five years ago, and then we said, 'Well, we'd better get hold of this generation.' City and Colour is slated to play Sunday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

budget: If approved by Congress, the 2018 budget blueprint would lower overall refugee funding to 2.7 billion from 3.1 billion a 13 per cent drop, according to Metro News. That includes U.S. contributions to international aid groups helping refugees in other countries. The latest effort comes through Trump's federal budget proposal, which calls for a 25 per cent cut in funds for resettling refugees on American soil. But the funds specifically earmarked for U.S. refugee admissions would face a steeper reduction, to 410 million from 544.7 million as recently as 2016. The budget request also eliminates the separate emergency refugee and migration funds that Congress allocated 50 million to in the 2017 appropriations bill. Figures for the current fiscal year, which ends in September, aren't available yet. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.