tolerance policy: A look at the latest developments CONFUSION ON THE BORDERarticle continues below Trending Stories No hormones, no plastic straws and now no meat A&W goes beyond' burgers Bank on road closures in Vancouver for June 24 half marathon Cannabis dispensaries get real Oct. 17, 2018; municipal leaders can't wait Canadian winemakers uncork ad campaign to 'Free My Grapes'Trump's order to stop separating migrant children from their parents spread confusion along the border, with officials sending conflicting signals about the state of the administration's zero tolerance policy, according to Vancouver Courier. Some parents said they did not even know where their children were. Trump himself took a hard line on the crisis, accusing the Democrats of telling phoney stories of sadness and grief. Others said they had been deported without them.A senior administration official said that about 500 of the more than 2,300 children taken from their families at the border in recent weeks have been reunited since May. The federal public defender's office for the region that covers El Paso to San Antonio said Thursday that federal prosecutors would be dismissing cases in which parents were charged with illegally entering the country and separated from their children. There were also signs that the administration was dialing back, at least for now, its zero tolerance policy of prosecuting all adults caught crossing into the U.S. illegally. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

country agreement: I think that the evidence is clear and has been since the creation of the Safe Third Country Agreement in 2004 that the United States is not a safe country for refugees, she said, according to National Observer. The United States' standards for refugee protection fall short of what the 'safe third' agreement requires for designation of a country as safe. Efrat Arbel is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia and was lead investigator on a Harvard Law School examination of the agreement in 2013. ; She believes strongly that Canada should never have signed onto the agreement and should absolutely suspend it now, especially in light of recent policy changes in the United States regarding asylum seekers. The Safe Third Country agreement is based on the core principle that people seeking refugee protection must file their claim in the first safe country they arrive in, unless they qualify for one of a few exceptions. So, if an asylum seeker comes to Canada at an official border crossing from the United States and tries to claim refugee protection, they will be refused entry and encouraged to make their claim in the United States - the safe country from which they just came. The other core tenet is that Canada considers the United States a safe country for refugees. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

handful: For a select few, there is hope, according to Vancouver Courier. For a handful of immigrants who came to the U.S. from Central America many as unaccompanied minors poetry has given them a chance to tell the world both about their journeys north and through the byzantine immigration system.article continues below Trending Stories No hormones, no plastic straws and now no meat A&W goes beyond' burgers Bank on road closures in Vancouver for June 24 half marathon Vancouver massage therapist charged with sexual assault Why Vision Vancouver's Andrea Reimer doesn't aspire to be mayor A lot happens in life, most of it sad, an occasional happiness, and sometimes you have no choice but to play the clown and laugh on the outside, even though inside we feel less than failures, wrote one of them in a poem titled The Future. Some cling to pleasant memories from home. The collection of poems in Dreaming America, published last year, was assembled by a Washington and Lee University professor and students who visited the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Staunton, Virginia, lockup and helped the young immigrants put pencil to paper, giving voice to a largely unheard population at the centre of an increasingly heated U.S. policy debate. Their claims were included in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in October. The Associated Press reported Thursday that immigrants as young as 14 at the centre said they were beaten, locked away in solitary confinement for long periods of time and left alone naked in cold cells. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

safety canada: It has long been shared with Canadian border and immigration officers who compare the names of people arriving in, or applying to come to, Canada against the roster, according to National Observer. Information sharing was a focus of discussion in March 2016 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met then-U.S. president Barack Obama in Washington. Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien recently received a federal assessment of the new version of the program known as Tuscan, short for Tipoff U.S./Canada, to gauge its implications for sensitive personal data. ; Established in 1997, Tuscan is a U.S. list of names and other basic information about known or suspected terrorists. Public Safety Canada and the U.S. Terrorist Screening Centre signed an updated Tuscan arrangement in early June 2016, with the changes expected to take effect in summer or fall of 2017, say internal memos released under the Access to Information Act. However, authorities are still fine-tuning details of the revised Tuscan. Officials say the new arrangement is now in place. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

wonton restaurant: When they arrived, his family rented out a claustrophobic attic near Commercial Drive and Leung took a night job as a dishwasher in a wonton restaurant while he learned English by day.article continues below Trending Stories No hormones, no plastic straws and now no meat A&W goes beyond' burgers Bank on road closures in Vancouver for June 24 half marathon Vancouver massage therapist charged with sexual assault Why Vision Vancouver's Andrea Reimer doesn't aspire to be mayor Six years later, Leung opened his own produce store at Richmond's Blundell Centre and by 2017, there were 32 of the now well-known shop, Kin's Farm Market, across B.C. Leung says he always follows his grandmother's advice to make his business successful Work hard on your career, build a great and bright future, be successful in business, and bring honour to the family and ancestors, she would say, according to Vancouver Courier. The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award has recognized Canadian immigrants and their contributions to society for the past 10 years. Hailing from Guangzhou, China, Kin Wah Leung landed in Vancouver in 1981. This year, hundreds of nominations were received, with 75 finalists reviewed by a judging panel of previous winners. Congratulations to all winners and nominees. The RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards celebrate the outstanding accomplishments and leadership of newcomers across Canada, said Ivy Chiu, Senior Director, Newcomer Strategy at RBC. Now in its 10th year and with over 250 newcomers recognized, the awards highlight our country's diversity, and the contributions and positive impact newcomers have been making in our communities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

bill features: He's rarely seen himself reflected in a space that prioritizes fit white bodies, or much of any spaces for that matter, according to NOW Magazine. Agents have told him he's funny as hell, but say they can't work with him because there's nowhere to place him in Canadian media. As a self-professed chubby Black gay dude, comedian Brandon Ash-Mohammed has never felt welcome at Pride. So Ash-Mohammed created The Ethnic Rainbow, a monthly stand-up show that launched in February, for these very reasons. If you don't feel welcome by traditional Pride, come chill with us and party in the margins, he says. The bill features exclusively LGBTQ comedians of colour, and for its Pride edition, Ash-Mohammed is providing a space for those who've similarly felt excluded. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration policies: Trump downplayed the crisis that has threatened to envelop the White House amid days of heart-wrenching images of children being pulled from their immigrant parents along the nation's southern border, according to The Chronicle Herald. He made only a brief mention of his decision to sign an executive order after spending days insisting, wrongly, that his administration had no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of federal law and a court decision. Hours after reversing himself to end the forced separations of migrant families, President Donald Trump returned to the warm embrace of his supporters at a raucous rally to defend his hard-line immigration policies while unleashing a torrent of grievances about the media and those investigating him. We're going to keep families together and the border is going to be just as tough as it's been, Trump told the cheering crowd in Duluth on Wednesday night. Democrats put illegal immigrants before they put American citizens. Seemingly motivated to promote his hawkish immigration bona fides after his about-face on forced separations, the president denounced his political opponents and those who make unauthorized border crossings, suggesting that the money used to care for those immigrants could be better spent on the nation's rural communities and inner cities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrant children: Ralph Northam announced the probe in a tweet hours after The Associated Press reported the allegations, according to Toronto Star. They were included in a federal civil rights lawsuit with a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino youths held for months or years at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center. Gov. The Associated Press report also cited an adult who saw bruises and broken bones the children said were caused by guards. The abuse claims are detailed in federal court filings that include a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino teens jailed there for months or years. Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Staunton, Va., say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrant families: I'm still on the highest level of alert, according to The Chronicle Herald. I still think we're in a state of national crisis, New Jersey Sen. Fiery Democratic leaders from Vermont to New Jersey to Texas met President Donald Trump's executive order to stop dividing immigrant families with deep skepticism, promising waves of protests, border visits and congressional oversight to shine new light on the Republican administration's immigration tactics. Cory Booker told The Associated Press in an interview. The kitchen-sink approach comes as Democrats work to sustain the energy of the Trump resistance heading into this fall's midterm elections when the GOP's House and Senate majorities are at stake. Yet for all the outrage, the fallout from Trump's policy to separate children from their parents at the border and his subsequent reversal on Wednesday highlighted a scattershot strategy from a Democratic Party still searching for new leadership and a consistent message as the Trump presidency stretches deeper into its second year. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

latino youths: Ralph Northam announced the probe in a tweet hours after The Associated Press reported the allegations, according to CTV. They were included in a federal civil rights lawsuit with a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino youths held for months or years at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center. Gov. The AP report also cited an adult who saw bruises and broken bones the children said were caused by guards. Children as young as 14 said the guards there stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads. Northam, a Democrat, said the allegations were disturbing and directed the state's secretary of public safety and homeland security and the Department of Juvenile Justice to report back to him to ensure the safety of every child being held there. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

record numbers: Four years ago, Barack Obama faced a similar crisis when record numbers of Central American immigrants fleeing violence began showing up at the border, according to The Chronicle Herald. Officials had to deal with the same court case the current administration began fighting Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump issued a new executive order to stop separating migrant families whose parents were arrested for illegally entering the country. The Trump administration isn't the first to grapple with the question of how to handle tens of thousands of immigrant families stopped along the U.S.-Mexico border. More than 60,000 family units which the U.S. government defines as a parent and child were stopped along the border in the 2014 fiscal year, a fourfold increase from a year earlier. Initially, the Obama administration released mothers and children with notices to appear in immigration courts in the cities where they were headed. In the last fiscal year, that number exceeded 70,000. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

paul meadlo: Questions about babies have arisen again at the White House, this time about thousands of immigrant children, some only months old, ripped from their parents and jailed in cages on the orders of President Trump, according to Rabble. That question, asked half a century ago, And babies was posed by veteran investigative journalist Mike Wallace while interviewing a young Vietnam veteran named Paul Meadlo. These four words, broadcast by CBS News in 1969, had a profound impact on the American public, the Nixon presidency and the course of the Vietnam War. And babies, Meadlo answered. What followed came to be known as the My Lai Massacre. He was an Army private who, along with scores of other U.S. soldiers, conducted a raid on March 16, 1968, attacking a Vietnamese village called My Lai. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

republicans: Those defections -- nearly 1 in 5 GOP lawmakers -- underscored the party's chasm over immigration and the election-year pressures Republicans face to stay true to districts that range from staunchly conservative to pro-immigrant, according to CTV. Thursday's vote set the stage for debate on the second bill, this one crafted by Republican leaders in hopes of finding an accord between the party's sparring moderate and conservative wings. The conservative measure was defeated 231-193, with 41 Republicans -- mostly moderates -- joining Democrats in voting against it. That compromise was considered too lenient by some conservatives and seemed likely to fall, too, and aides said the final roll call would wait till Friday. As if the internal GOP turmoil was not enough, the party's political exposure on the issue has been intensified by heartbreaking images of migrant children separated from families and complicated by opaque statements by Trump. Rejection of both would represent an embarrassment for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has supported them. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

retraining immigrant: I didn't get the job, he laughed, years later, according to Toronto Star. Fundraisers and alumni of the Immigrant Access Fund, a micro-loan charity aimed at retraining immigrant white-collar workers, at a function on June 20. He needed to get from downtown Calgary to Innisfail for a 9 a.m. job interview during the first snowstorm of the year. Brennan Doherty / Star Metro Jose Diola, an IT professional from the Philippines, arrived in Calgary in 2010. Brennan Doherty / Star Metro Christy Sarmiento, a Filipino data analyst, now works for Alberta Health Services. After stints working low-wage jobs, he managed to work his way back into his old profession thanks to a loan from the Immigrant Access Fund. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trump: The images struck her, as a mother, as a human being, according to Toronto Star. U.S. First Lady Melania Trump travelled to Texas to see first hand the condition and treatment that migrant children taken from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border are receiving from the federal government. She wanted to see everything for herself, Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told reporters travelling with her. Following public outcry and criticism from members of his own party, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to stop the separation of migrant children from their families, a practice the administration employed to deter illegal immigration at the border. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar accompanied the first lady on the trip. Chip Somodevilla / GETTY IMAGES Trump's itinerary includes visits to two sites in McAllen, Tex. a detention centre housing children separated from their parents and an intake facility for apprehended parents and children. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

theatre artists: Cult songsmith Stephin Merritt brings his experience The Magnetic Fields 50 Song Memoir to the Elgin Theatre on June 22 and 23, while Yolanda Bonnell one of our theatre artists to watch in 2016 world premieres her solo show bug, a reflection on cycles of abuse and addiction among Indigenous women, according to NOW Magazine. The show previews to June 21 and runs June 22-24. Luminato's final weekend The arts festival wraps this weekend, but not before some of our most-anticipated shows. Liza Balkan debuts an all-new version of her acclaimed documentary theatre piece about police violence, Out The Window, which runs June 21-24; and a remount of The Ward Cabaret, a musical adaptation of a book about Toronto's first multicultural neighbourhood, ends its Luminato run on June 22. Thursday-Sunday June 21-24 . Various venues and prices. big weekend finally arrives, featuring Trans March, Dyke March, the Pride Parade, plus Kehlani and Brandy concerts. Check out NOW's Luminato coverage here. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

executive order: Four years ago, Barack Obama faced a similar crisis when record numbers of Central American immigrants fleeing violence began showing up at the border, according to Vancouver Courier. Officials had to deal with the same court case the current administration began fighting Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump issued a new executive order to stop separating migrant families whose parents were arrested for illegally entering the country.article continues below Trending Stories No hormones, no plastic straws and now no meat A&W goes beyond' burgers First look at Parq Vancouver casino resort Fire ban goes into effect on July 6More than 60,000 family units which the U.S. government defines as a parent and child were stopped along the border in the 2014 fiscal year, a fourfold increase from a year earlier. The Trump administration isn't the first to grapple with the question of how to handle tens of thousands of immigrant families stopped along the U.S.-Mexico border. In the last fiscal year, that number exceeded 70,000. At times, immigrants were transported from Texas to Border Patrol facilities in other states so agents could keep up with ballooning arrivals. Initially, the Obama administration released mothers and children with notices to appear in immigration courts in the cities where they were headed. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

latino youths: Ralph Northam announced the probe in a tweet hours after The Associated Press reported the allegations, according to Vancouver Courier. They were included in a federal civil rights lawsuit with a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino youths held for months or years at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center. Gov. The AP report also cited an adult who saw bruises and broken bones the children said were caused by guards.article continues below Trending Stories No hormones, no plastic straws and now no meat A&W goes beyond' burgers Fire ban goes into effect on July 6Northam, a Democrat, said the allegations were disturbing and directed the state's secretary of public safety and homeland security and the Department of Juvenile Justice to report back to him to ensure the safety of every child being held there. Whenever they used to restrain me and put me in the chair, they would handcuff me, said a Honduran immigrant who was sent to the facility when he was 15 years old. Children as young as 14 said the guards there stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

tv series: The book portrays the team as a unifying force in a mill town that had been uneasy with an influx of immigrants.article continues below Trending Stories No hormones, no plastic straws and now no meat A&W goes beyond' burgers Mayoral candidate Wai Young promises to scrap bike lanes in Vancouver Doctor honoured for courageous action that saved gunshot victim Warren Christie gives the gift of time Author Amy Bass said Wednesday the option doesn't necessarily mean the story will end up as a movie or TV series, but she's glad there's interest, according to Vancouver Courier. Assistant coach Dan Gish says he expects the players would be proud that their story continues to draw national interest. The Portland Press Herald reports that Netflix has optioned the book One Goal, which tells the story of the 2015 Lewiston High School soccer team. Read Related Topics var related Url var related Link Class relatedlink-processed ; if related Url && ! -1 var related UrlFrags related Url.split '/' ; related Url './' -1 ; related Link Class ul var related Url var related Link Class relatedlink-processed ; if related Url && ! -1 var related UrlFrags related Url.split '/' ; related Url './' -1 ; related Link Class ul var related Url var related Link Class relatedlink-processed ; if related Url && ! -1 var related UrlFrags related Url.split '/' ; related Url './' -1 ; related Link Class ul var related Url var related Link Class relatedlink-processed ; if related Url && ! -1 var related UrlFrags related Url.split '/' ; related Url './' -1 ; related Link Class ul 2018 Vancouver Courier (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

world outrage: In announcing his executive order yesterday, Trump defended his government's policy blaming refugees who are allegedly using their children as a ticket to get into the country, according to NOW Magazine. But as Amnesty International and others have pointed out, families and their children escaping persecution in Central America and seeking protection in the US will still be detained despite Trump's executive order. Donald Trump has, for the first time in his presidency, given in to world outrage and signed an executive order directing border agents not to separate children and their families seeking asylum in the US. Trump's zero-tolerance policy on immigration has been systematically detaining and separating an estimated 2,500 kids from their parents. Meanwhile, there are no immediate plans to reunite children imprisoned and already separated from their families, some of whom continue to be mistreated while in custody. My late father, who survived the Holocaust, used to tell us the story of a wise old Rabbi whose son was so deeply immersed in study one night that the son didn't hear his baby crying in the next room. According to one lawsuit filed in federal court, immigrant children in one Houston holding centre are being forcibly subdued using psychiatric drugs. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

bangladesh teenagers: The Rohingya Muslims forced out of Myanmar to Bangladesh; teenagers from Mexico and Central America seeking safety in the United States; Syria's war refugees; men from South Sudan and Nigeria crossing the Mediterranean Sea to feed their families they are among the human wave roiling every continent, according to The Chronicle Herald. The international community must work with shared and long-term political choices to manage a phenomenon that involves the entire world, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, whose country is on the receiving end of Europe's immigration front line, said in a World Refugee Day message. The journeys that brought them to Rome and the sleepless nights wondering if they would be allowed to stay was being repeated in cities and countries around the world on World Refugee Day as millions of people sought to flee persecution, violence, war and poverty. While migration to the world's 35 richest countries dropped slightly last year for the first time since 2011, asylum claims rose by 26 per cent in the United States, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which represents the wealthy nations. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria insisted that since migration is here to stay, countries need to work to integrate newcomers and to prepare their native-born populations to welcome foreigners instead of resent them. Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency reported this week that nearly 69 million people were forcibly displaced in 2017, a record for the fifth straight year. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

girl: These cases are heartbreaking, said Clarke, according to CTV. I recently had a two-year-old girl in my own office, screaming for her mother and the United States deported her mother back to Ghana. Alastair Clarke said one of the children recently held in detention in the U.S. is now in Winnipeg with her father, but Clarke said the girl's mother has been separated from them and is now in hiding in their home country. She's been separated, she doesn't understand what's going on, said Clarke referring to the two-year-old girl. They're not legally married which was part of the problem. So now her father, he is basically acting as a single father with her in Canada, is trying to number one make his case for refugee status, number two take care of this young child and number three he is separated from the mother of the child. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

executive order: He'd remained largely silent on the issue, saying only that he did not want to play politics on immigration policy, according to CTV. On Wednesday, however, his position shifted, just hours before Trump appeared to capitulate to political pressure by reversing course with an executive order. Trudeau had been under pressure to condemn the so-called zero-tolerance policy, under which asylum seekers who cross illegally into the U.S. are charged with federal crimes and separated from their children, who are detained in guarded, fenced enclosures. What the Americans are doing is unacceptable -- and it's not just me who has said it; all kinds of Americans, including Republicans, have said this is unacceptable, Trudeau told a news conference marking the end of the spring legislative sitting. We hope they'll improve the system, but as far as we're concerned this situation cannot last. We take actions based on facts, not on fears or worries.... It seems they want to change their approach. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration enforcement: The laws instead appeared to be a message from the state that it didn't want to participate in federal immigration policies, U.S. Judge John Mendez said, according to The Chronicle Herald. We're not going along anymore, we're not participating, he said about how he read the state's motives. A U.S. judge said Wednesday that he was not convinced California enacted protections for immigrants in the country illegally in an effort to interfere with federal immigration enforcement potentially undercutting a key argument by the Trump administration in its lawsuit seeking to block three state laws. Outside the courthouse in California's capital city, scores of people protested U.S. immigration policies. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday ending the separations but not the policy that prosecutes all adults caught crossing illegally. Some carried signs that said Keep Families Together and Family Separation is UnAmerican, referring to the administration's zero tolerance policy on illegal border crossings that has separated children from their families. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

jewish-only roads: The recent violence takes place alongside ongoing land theft, destruction of olive groves, construction of Jewish-only roads, imprisonment without due process, and a blockade of Gaza, according to Rabble. During its 70-year history, Israel has been as unjust towards Palestinians as the white-ruled apartheid state was to Black South Africans. At least 110 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured by sniper fire and noxious gas used by the Israeli military. We are concerned that members of Parliament would seek to strengthen relations with a country systematically violating Palestinian rights. NDP MPs Peter Julian and Gord Johns are also members of that organization. In particular, we are dismayed that NDP justice critic Murray Rankin and NDP defence critic Randall Garrison serve as executive members of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

thursday voting: Public outcry is mounting over the family separations, but so far, there's no clear roadmap for Thursday voting on the emotional issue dividing Republicans, according to The Chronicle Herald. With the immigration bills teetering in the House, the White House launched an eleventh-hour push to try to bring Republicans onboard. Trump has said he's 1,000 per cent behind both GOP bills, but restive House Republicans have all but begged GOP leaders for more clarity about what the president would actually sign. Ryan took a group of wavering lawmakers to the White House to meet with Trump in hopes he could persuade them. The results were mixed, with some lawmakers newly announcing their support for a compromise bill, but others digging in against it. Back on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also met with House Republicans. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.