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.

refugee camp: It's a great honour to be able to call myself a Canadian citizen,'' Davies said in a statement, according to Huffington Post Canada. Not many people can say they're a Canadian citizen. The 16-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps phenom received his citizenship on Tuesday, paving the way for a first national team call-up. I'm very proud that I'm one of those people.'' The electrifying midfielder was born in a refugee camp to Liberian parents during that country's civil war in 2000 before the family relocated to Canada when he was five, eventually settling in Edmonton. This is our home. I'm also extremely thankful to my parents for everything they've done throughout the years, carrying the family to this safe environment,'' said Davies. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

renewal application: Colotl's parents brought her to the U.S. illegally when she was 11, according to Metro News. She went on to graduate from college and applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012. As 29-year-old Jessica Colotl awaits the outcome, her latest experience highlights some young immigrants' fears of the Trump administration's immigration policies. She was approved in 2013 and successfully renewed twice but learned in early May that immigration authorities had revoked her status and denied her latest renewal application. I knew it would destroy my life, and it did that basically in a matter of seconds, she said following a federal court hearing in Atlanta on Thursday. Colotl said the news devastated her and immediately forced her to stop working as a paralegal and driving. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rights: Suu Kyi's government has so far resisted those calls, which came from a special UN commission chaired by former secretary general Kofi Annan, according to CTV. Farida Deif, Canada director for Human Rights Watch, urged Trudeau to use the meeting with Suu Kyi on Parliament Hill to specifically push her to accept the UN call. But a major international human rights watchdog and groups representing Burmese refugees in Canada called on Trudeau to push Suu Kyi to allow an independent international investigation into allegations of widespread human rights abuses against the Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine. The prime minister should make clear that Myanmar's full co-operation with this independent and impartial investigation is expected by Myanmar's international donors and friends, said Deif. But during their meeting, Trudeau encouraged her to work with the UN, said his spokesman. Trudeau made no mention of the Rohingya situation during a brief public photo-op with Suu Kyi as the two exchanged pleasantries in his office. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

suu kyi: But a major international human rights watchdog and groups representing Burmese refugees in Canada called on Trudeau to push Suu Kyi to allow an independent international investigation into allegations of widespread human rights abuses against the Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine, according to Toronto Star. Suu Kyi's government has so far resisted those calls, which came from a special UN commission chaired by former secretary general Kofi Annan. AUNG HTET / AFP/GETTY IMAGES file photo By Mike Blanchfield The Canadian Press Wed., June 7, 2017 OTTAWA The meeting had the look of a feel-good visit between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and honorary Canadian citizen Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Burma, also known as Myanmar. Farida Deif, Canada director for Human Rights Watch, urged Trudeau to use the Wednesday meeting with Suu Kyi on Parliament Hill to specifically push her to accept the UN call. Article Continued Below Trudeau made no mention of the Rohingya situation during a brief public photo-op with Suu Kyi as the two exchanged pleasantries in his office. The prime minister should make clear that Myanmar's full co-operation with this independent and impartial investigation is expected by Myanmar's international donors and friends, said Deif. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

tory laughter: And, that's as far as she got before Tory laughter and heckling filled the room making it impossible to hear the Honourable member, according to Rabble. Clearly audible on some tapes of the incident is a Tory member saying, I don't beat my wife. Mitchell stated, One in 10 Canadian husbands beat their wives regularly. Do you, George This was representative of how men viewed the issue of spousal abuse or intimate partner violence as it's now known. On the other hand, we still have a very long way to go. We have made great strides from that distressing display of privileged white male entitlement in our House of Commons. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

border officials: Days later, after an outcry from Indian officials, the officer was suddenly reissued a visa and flown back to Toronto, according to Toronto Star. In a statement in May, Canada's High Commissioner to India, Nadir Patel, expressed regret about the incident but would not reveal the rejected visitor's identity citing privacy protection. ANIRUDH BHATTACHARYYA / HINDUSTAN TIMES By Nicholas Keung Immigration reporter Wed., June 7, 2017 The federal government is admitting border officials made a mistake when a retired anti-insurgency officer from India was deemed inadmissible to Canada and denied entry. Immigration officials subsequently confirmed the person as Tejinder Singh Dhillon. Canada border officials explained the refusal by indicating on a form letter that the 67-year-old had served a government that engages or has engaged in terrorism, human rights violations, crime against humanity or genocide. Dhillon, a retired senior officer with the Central Reserve Police Force CRPF India's largest paramilitary force under the home affairs ministry, was refused admission in May at the Vancouver airport on the way to his niece's wedding in Toronto. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

british streets: Valeria Khadija Collina last spoke with her 22-year-old son, Youssef Zaghba, by telephone just two days before he and two other men plowed a van into a crowd near London Bridge and went on a stabbing rampage, according to Toronto Star. Eight people were killed and dozens wounded. The Associated Press By Paisley Dodds And Nicole Winfield The Associated Press Wed., June 7, 2017 LONDON The youngest of the London Bridge attackers pleaded with his mother to settle with him in Syria but instead moved to Britain where his extremist views hardened and he fell into the company of a bloodthirsty gang that launched the latest attack on British streets, his mother said Wednesday. All three of the assailants were shot dead. But he changed, she said, when he went to Britain about a year ago and was seduced by radical views propagated on the internet. Zaghba, an Italian national of Moroccan descent, initially told his mother that he wanted to go to Syria to start a family in a religious Islamic climate not to fight. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

post-trump vision: You can read the full half-hour speech here, according to Globe and Mail. The tl;dr version is because the United States has shrugged off the burden of world leadership, Canada and other countries must step up to defend the global order against threats as disparate as terrorism and climate change. Yesterday, Chrystia Freeland laid out the government's post-Trump vision for foreign relations. Now, with the government's reasoning established, it will unveil what it plans to do about it. This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa, Mayaz Alam in Toronto and James Keller in Vancouver. The defence policy review more here released at midday local time, will explain the military's plans for overseas deployments and what the government plans to spend in procurement over the next 20 years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian foods: First Nations people shared their food, knowledge about how to grow produce in a new land, how to boil down maple sap for syrup, and the best way to trap animals, according to Hamilton Spectator. Eventually the settler population became so proficient they felt they didn't need help and ultimately fenced off their foods from the First Nations people, Croutch says. While salmon, maple syrup, mussels, oysters, wild rice, venison, corn, beans, squash and various types of berries are thought of as typical Canadian foods, Croutch says they were mainstays of indigenous meals long before English and French settlers set foot on this side of the ocean. Our food systems have been appropriated.... And then they slapped regulations and licences and laws on our food system, Croutch said in an interview at last month's Terroir Symposium in Toronto for members of the hospitality industry. And it can be expensive. So now we have to buy their food. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

company: The company says it is not making money from the new platform and relief organizations that have partnered with Airbnb will help match hosts to refugees, according to The Chronicle Herald. The idea came from one host's request to open up her New Yorkdwelling to some of those left homeless by hurricane Sandy in 2012, said Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. Anyone who lives in the nearly 200 countries where Airbnb operates can list free space to those uprooted by war, persecution or natural disasters. The company built a system to allow people to do that and within days more than 1,000 such listings appeared. We realized that we could take this thing to a whole 'nother level simply by shifting from being reactive to being proactive, Gebbia said. Since then, Airbnb has done the same dozens of times across 17 countries following emergencies, he said, eventually deciding to make the system a permanent fixture of the home-rental service. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

interview wednesday: He was in the system and he took his life, Tshakapesh said in an interview Wednesday, according to CTV. He was damaged physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Simeon Tshakapesh, deputy grand chief of the Innu Nation, says his boy, Thunderheart, took his own life May 24 after two years of treatment for solvent abuse -- much of which took place far from his home in Natuashish. He wasn't the same. Despite his deep sorrow and anger, Tshakapesh is now calling on the federal and provincial governments to dramatically alter the way they treat aboriginal youth with substance abuse problems. He couldn't recover. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

iran daesh: Tehran Police Chief Gen, according to Toronto Star. Hossein Sajedinia announced late Wednesday night that five suspects had been detained for interrogation, according to a report in the semi-official ISNA news agency. The Associated Press By Amir Vahdat Associated Press Aya Batrawy The Associated Press Wed., June 7, 2017 TEHRAN, IRAN Daesh, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility Wednesday for a pair of stunning attacks on Iran's parliament and the tomb of its revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 40. Sajedinia did not offer any further details. He did not elaborate. Reza Seifollahi, an official in the country's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by the independent Shargh daily as saying that the perpetrators of the attacks were Iranian nationals. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

manni gill: We're living in a multicultural society and people still think this way Before it was removed, the graffiti on his bus shelter ad near 88th Avenue and 152nd street said Kill all Muslims, according to CBC. They're killing us. I was kind of surprised, said Manni Gill, a Sikh. Realtor Manni Gill says he was surprised to discover racist graffiti on one of his bus shelter ads in Surrey. He said he shared the photo on Facebook to remind others that racism still exists in Canada. Manni Gill/Facebook Gill discovered it after receiving messages from friends and family who had seen it. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

marginalized groups: That's because hostile attitudes toward racial and ethnic minorities, which seem to be more pronounced in the Trump era, have been previously linked to adverse health effects, the authors say, according to CTV. Those health effects can include stress, increased risk of developing various diseases, babies born too early and premature deaths, the authors say. Marginalized groups are most likely to be affected by the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to the authors of the article, which will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine. Elections can matter for the health of children and adults in profound ways that are often unrecognized and unaddressed, the lead author of the article, David R. Williams, says in a news release. Williams and his co-author Dr. Williams is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a professor of African and African-American studies at Harvard University. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ads: Porter CEO Robert Deluce said in a statement the decision had no bearing on any political views or partialities and was made independent of any such considerations, according to Huffington Post Canada. But he added that the airline apologizes for confirming the move on Twitter by using the word blacklist,'' which he said was inappropriate and regrettable. The Toronto-based airline said Wednesday the decision was made after it became aware that its ads were appearing on the site, run by media personality Ezra Levant. Because of the increased use of automated software, many companies do not always know where their digital ads are placed. The media website also launched an online petition against Porter. Porter's removal of the advertisements drew praise and scorn on social media, with some supporters of The Rebel vowing to boycott the airline over the decision. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

party efforts: So how does it feel to be trolled by the most powerful man in the world His answer, according to the Associated Press I don't know how to tell you this, but I really don't care ... I really couldn't be bothered about what Donald Trump tweets, according to Hamilton Spectator. Here's the history of their very public conflict. But recently, as his city has dealt with a wave of terrorist attacks, he's also had to contend with a different kind of onslaught the full fire hose of President Donald Trump's Twitter feed. May 9, 2016 Khan takes office. He was a Muslim and the first ethnic minority to be mayor in London, and he had beaten back Conservative Party efforts to connect him to alleged Muslim extremists. When Khan took office, it was clear that he differed significantly from Trump, then a presidential candidate. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

relief organizations: The company says it is not making money from the new platform and relief organizations that have partnered with Airbnb will help match hosts to refugees, according to Huffington Post Canada. The idea came from one host's request to open up her New York dwelling to some of those left homeless by hurricane Sandy in 2012, said Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. Anyone who lives in the nearly 200 countries where Airbnb operates can list free space to those uprooted by war, persecution or natural disasters. The company built a system to allow people to do that and within days more than 1,000 such listings appeared. Airbnb co-founder/CPO Joe Gebbia speaks onstage during The Downtown Story at The Theatre at Ace Hotel during Airbnb Open LA. Photo Getty Images for Airbnb We realized that we could take this thing to a whole 'nother level simply by shifting from being reactive to being proactive,'' Gebbia said. Since then, Airbnb has done the same dozens of times across 17 countries following emergencies, he said, eventually deciding to make the system a permanent fixture of the home-rental service. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rights: Suu Kyi's government has so far resisted those calls, which came from a special UN commission chaired by former secretary general Kofi Annan, according to CBC. Farida Deif, Canada director for Human Rights Watch, urged Trudeau to use the meeting with Suu Kyi on Parliament Hill to specifically push her to accept the UN call. But a major international human rights watchdog and groups representing Burmese refugees in Canada called on Trudeau to push Suu Kyi to allow an independent international investigation into allegations of widespread human rights abuses against the Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine. The prime minister should make clear that Myanmar's full co-operation with this independent and impartial investigation is expected by Myanmar's international donors and friends, said Deif. We have some way to go before we become a working, democratic, federal nation such as yours, but I'm sure we'll get there, Suu Kyi told Trudeau. Treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya raises alarms Myanmar military plane missing with 120 on board Trudeau made no mention of the Rohingya situation during a brief public photo-op with Suu Kyi as the two exchanged pleasantries in his office. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

serge brammertz: Fifty years after the Holocaust in World War II that killed 6 million Jews and many thousands of others, he said a new generation came to understand the meaning of genocide in Rwanda, according to Metro News. The African nation's government estimates more than 1 million Rwandans perished in three months of machete and gunfire attacks mostly aimed at the country's minority Tutsi population by extremist Hutus Brammertz said the conflicts in former Yugoslavia taught the world a new vocabulary for the horrors inflicted on innocent civilians ethnic cleansing. Serge Brammertz told the U.N. Security Council there is a refusal by officials and others to accept the facts gathered by U.N. tribunals documenting ethnic cleansing and other crimes in former Yugoslavia and genocide in Rwanda in 1994. In case after case, he said, the tribunal found that senior political and military officials implemented criminal campaigns of ethnic cleansing. Yet, today, genocide is denied. Citing the mass graves discovered around Srebrenica in Bosnia, Brammertz said his office proved beyond reasonable doubt that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in 1995 through the execution of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

syrian children: Over 40,000 have been welcomed since November 4, 2015, according to Rabble. Data as of January 29, 2017. Every day, about 90 Syrian refugees arrive in Canada. The war in Syria has now lasted six years. Every week hundreds of families flee. 69 Minutes of 86 Days is the part of the story that hasn't been told. According to UNICEF, one in three of today's Syrian children have never experienced anything but war and flight. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

u.s.-backed government: The IS affiliate emerged in 2014 and refers to itself as the Khorasan Province, an ancient term for an area that includes parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asian states, according to CTV. It has pledged allegiance to the IS group in Iraq and Syria but consists mainly of disgruntled former Taliban and other insurgents from South and Central Asia. The rumblings of discontent come as the IS affiliate, which refers to itself as the Khorasan Province, is at war with both the U.S.-backed government and the more well-established Taliban, with which it differs on tactics, leadership and ideology. The letter, obtained by a jihadi fighter with ties to the IS affiliate and then provided to AP, was signed by Moawiya Uzbekistani, the apparent nom de guerre of an Uzbek militant, who claims to have become the leader of the IS affiliate after the death of Abdul Hasib, who was killed in a joint U.S.-Afghan operation in April. Even if this information is true, then it's the ISI of Pakistan behind this function and we don't accept it, because we all fight for Allah and his religion, the letter says, warning against infidels, intelligence services and the deceitful acting from behind the scenes. Uzbekistani rejects reports that another fighter, who he identifies as Sheikh Aslam Farouqi, has been chosen to lead the group and suggests Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is behind the rumours. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

york dwelling: The company says it is not making money from the new platform and relief organizations that have partnered with Airbnb will help match hosts to refugees, according to CBC. New transitional home will serve Muslim women in Windsor The idea came from one host's request to open up her New York dwelling to some of those left homeless by hurricane Sandy in 2012, said Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. Anyone who lives in the nearly 200 countries where Airbnb operates can list free space to those uprooted by war, persecution or natural disasters. The company built a system to allow people to do that and within days more than 1,000 such listings appeared. We realized that we could take this thing to a whole 'nother level simply by shifting from being reactive to being proactive, Gebbia said. Since then, Airbnb has done the same dozens of times across 17 countries following emergencies, he said, eventually deciding to make the system a permanent fixture of the home-rental service. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

admissions status: One commenter called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child pi ata time, according to The Crimson, according to CTV. Others made jokes about the Holocaust, sexual assault and child abuse. The Harvard Crimson reported that some students in the incoming freshman class created a private Facebook group in December where they traded images and messages that were often sexually explicit and sometimes mocked racial minorities. Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane declined to comment, saying Harvard doesn't discuss the admissions status of individual applicants. The Crimson did not identify any of the students who said their admission offers were withdrawn. The university tells accepted students that their offers can be withdrawn if their behavior brings into question their honesty, maturity or moral character, among a variety of other reasons. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian border: The recent discovery of the body of a Ghanaian woman, who had presumably been trying to walk across the U.S.-Canada border near Emerson, Man., in search of an eventual reunion with relatives in Toronto, marks a sad but inevitable next chapter in the ongoing saga of asylum seekers trekking across the border in a fearful attempt to flee the United States, according to Hamilton Spectator. The woman, identified as 57-year-old Mavis Otuteye, is thought to have died of exposure, just a kilometre from the Canadian border. It's surprising that it hadn't happened before this. Her death is tragic, but the fact we have not seen more fatalities is nothing short of miraculous. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, breaking the silence he has maintained on provincial issues due to a byelection-related information blackout, charged that the federal government and its U.S. counterpart must take long-overdue action to address the issue. With this tragedy, the debate over what Canada must do to either deter or deal with border crossings is re-engaged. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian citizens: AUNG HTET / AFP/GETTY IMAGES By Peter Goodspeed Tues., June 6, 2017 It is time Canada spoke some harsh brutal truths to Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar also known as Burma and one of only six honorary Canadian citizens, according to Toronto Star. The Nobel Peace Laureate, who has long been regarded as the female Asian equivalent of Nelson Mandela, is in Canada this week to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to get some tips on federalism and constitutional reform. Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi travels to Canada this week to consult with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on constitutional reforms. But the top agenda item on any and every meeting she has in this country should be her government's persecution and near genocidal treatment of Burma's Rohingya Muslim minority. In fact, since last October, Burma's NLD-led government has waged a brutal security clearance operation in Burma's Rakhine State that has led to the killing of hundreds of Rohingya people and the forced the displacement of more than 30,000 others. Since her National League for Democracy won a crushing majority in national elections in Burma in November 2015, Aung San Suu Kyi has done virtually nothing to help the Rohingya people, who, for decades, have been widely described as the most persecuted people on Earth. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

cent decline: The country's economy was already struggling with official unemployment of 27.7 per cent, as well as financial fallout from scandals surrounding President Jacob Zuma, according to CTV. This year, Fitch and Standard & Poor's lowered South Africa's credit rating to below investment grade after Zuma fired Pravin Gordhan, a finance minister seen by many South Africans as a bulwark against alleged corruption at top levels of government. A 0.7 per cent decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year followed a 0.3 per cent contraction in the last quarter of 2016, meeting the definition of a recession as two or more quarters of negative growth, the South African government said Tuesday. Calls for Zuma to resign have increased within the ruling African National Congress party, fueling uncertainty about the country's leadership. It is a toxic combination of policy uncertainty and grand corruption which has led us to this point, Mmusi Maimane, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, said after the recession was announced. Citing leaked emails, South African media have reported on the alleged influence of the Gupta family, Indian immigrant businessmen with close ties to Zuma who have been accused of trying to manipulate the government for financial gain. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.