meng wanzhou: The United States alleges Meng lied to American banks about a corporate manoeuvre supposedly designed to get around U.S. sanctions against Iran; law-enforcement officials asked Canada to arrest her when she transited through Vancouver on her way to Mexico, according to National Observer. She has since been released on 10 million bail. We are deeply concerned by the arbitrary detention by Chinese authorities of two Canadians earlier this month and call for their immediate release, Freeland said in a written statement. ; Kovrig and Spavor were taken into custody on security grounds just days after Canadian authorities in Vancouver arrested Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive with Chinese firm Huawei Technologies, so she can be extradited to the U.S. to face fraud charges. Western analysts say China's detention of the two Canadians is clearly retaliation for Meng's arrest. Canada is conducting a fair, unbiased and transparent legal proceeding with respect to Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer. Canada is a country governed by the rule of law, Freeland said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

aplastic anemia: The teen, who lives in Alberta after moving from Winnipeg with her family, has aplastic anemia and paroxysmal hemoglobinuria, also known as PNH, conditions that kept her in and out of hospital and requiring regular blood transfusion, according to CTV. People with similar ethnic backgrounds are more likely to match, and only a fraction of those in the database are of Filipino descent. In early November, just over 500 people came out to a registration drive in Winnipeg for Canada's stem cell database, and to be swabbed to see if they were a match for Roshlind Mance. On Friday, it was announced a match for Mance was found. It's really an emotional thing, Mance told CTV News. There are no words to describe it. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

chinese officials: When Christian aid workers Julia and Kevin Garratt were arrested by Chinese officials in 2014 and accused of spying, their plight sparked widespread international outcry, according to Toronto Star. Allison Lu, left, and John Chang, centre, have been detained in China since March 2016. Of the many dozens of cases, only a few get strong or lasting attention. They're pictured here with their daughter, Amy Chang. International treaties and protocols can make it extremely tricky for Ottawa to intervene effectively on behalf of many of these individuals, said Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016. Chang family But the friends and family of many other detained Canadians have struggled and failed to put their names in the spotlight. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

front page: They did so because no matter what the report into serious use of force incidents and lived experiences of Toronto's Black citizens found, the police response that would set the tone for the discussions that follow, according to Toronto Star. The Star's front page from March 31, 2005, revealing a secret 2003 meeting between police chief Julian Fantino and senior Black officers. But even as the commissioner was talking, many in the room were eyeing their phones waiting for the police response. Toronto Star The commission's review of Special Investigations Unit SIU director's reports includes the disturbing finding that between 2013 and 2017 seven of 10 people shot dead by police were Black. The SIU investigates all serious injuries, deaths and allegations of sexual assault involving police. And while Black people made up just 8.8 per cent of Toronto's population in 2016, they were involved in 25.4 per cent of SIU investigations and 36 per cent of police shootings over that same period. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

year: The past year has been a turbulent one on the Canadian political scene and the coming year is bound to get that much more tumultuous as politicians prepare for what both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer have predicted will be a nasty campaign, according to CTV. Think of the first six months of 2019 as the semi-finals, with party leaders jostling for position, test-driving their messages and refining their trash talk at opposing teams. It's going to be a bumpy ride to next fall's national election. The finals will begin when Parliament breaks at the end of June, even though the writ won't officially drop until Sept. 1, at the earliest, for the vote scheduled on Oct. 21. Watch Key moments from PM Trudeau's interview on CTV's Question Period But if the past year is any measure, there will doubtless be numerous twists and turns. Trudeau's Liberals and Scheer's Conservatives are the main competitors as they head into playoff season; the NDP, Greens and Maxime Bernier's breakaway People's Party are bit players but potentially positioned as spoilers who will determine which of the two leading contenders walks off with the prize. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

weekend session: At the White House, Trump heard mixed messages during a lunch with conservative lawmakers; some wanted him to fight for the wall, others preferred to get the government re-opened, according to CTV. The Senate, which had gaveled in with the House for a rare weekend session, adjourned until Christmas Eve, but won't return for a full session until Dec. 27. Vice-President Mike Pence arrived on Capitol Hill with a counter-offer to Democrats after the two sides traded offers in recent days. Even a temporary measure to keep government running for a few days while negotiations continued seemed out of reach. But the situation seemed less hopeful for a resolution. Listen, anything can happen, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters after he closed the session. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

freedom caucus: Trump summoned the top House Republicans, along with the leaders of the far-right Freedom Caucus, to the White House midday Thursday and made clear he would sign no spending package that lacked at least 5 billion for border security, including his much-hyped border wall, according to Rabble. The President's pronouncement upended the agreed-to plan to keep the lights on through Feb. 8, when Democrats will have control of the House. There were very real doubts it could find sufficient support in either the House or the Senate.A shutdown, in other words, seemed certain. With less than 35 hours until a partial government shutdown, the President's demands set into motion a scramble on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress are eager to leave Washington for the holidays. McConnell told colleagues mid-Thursday afternoon that they should expect votes around noon on Friday if the House cobbles together votes for a spending bill. Officials in the Senate, which passed late Wednesday their part of a spending bill minus wall funding estimated a full half of the lawmakers had already left Washington. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

merrill gleddie-rogers: He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years following the reading of 24 victim impact statements by friends and family, according to CTV. In one particularly disturbing statement, Gleddie-Rogers' brother Graham Gleddie described how he had called his nephew on Nov. 20, 2016 the day of the murders. Visit CTV Ottawa for more details on this case On Thursday, Cameron Rogers pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of his adopted parents Dave Rogers and Merrill Gleddie-Rogers two years ago. I spoke to Cameron when he was in the middle of killing my sister, Gleddie later told CTV Ottawa outside the courthouse on Thursday. Gleddie said he later learned from police that his sister was being killed in that moment. Gleddie said when he called the house that afternoon Rogers answered the phone and told him everything was fine in a calm voice. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

methadone treatment: Teresa Michelle Gratton, pictured here in an undated family photo, was being held indefinitely as an immigration detainee at the maximum-security Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, according to Toronto Star. She died of acute methadone intoxication after receiving two doses of methadone from the jail's doctors. But the medical staff inside the maximum-security jail where Gratton was being held indefinitely as an immigration detainee started her at 30 milligrams. Provincial guidelines for methadone treatment say Gratton should have received a much lower dose than she did. Gratton died of acute methadone intoxication in the setting of ischemic heart disease, according to the coroner's report, which was given to the Star by Gratton's husband. Toronto Star photo illustration That's what caused her death. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

news conference: Manuel Balce Ceneta / The Associated Press Beginning about four years ago, Zhu and Zhang waged an intrusion campaign to gain access to computers and networks of managed service providers for businesses and governments around the world, the indictment says, according to Toronto Star. Such providers are private firms that manage clients' information by furnishing servers, storage, networking, consulting and information-technology support. In an indictment unsealed Thursday, prosecutors say Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong were acting on behalf of China's main intelligence agency to pilfer information from several countries.A poster displayed during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 20 shows two Chinese citizens suspected to be with the group AP 10 carrying out an extensive hacking campaign to steal data from U.S. companies. Breaking into one such computer system can provide a route into multiple customers' data; the hackers breached the computers of enterprises involved in activities ranging from banking and telecommunications to mining and health care, say the papers filed in U.S. District Court. They purportedly broke into computers belonging to or providing services to companies in at least 12 countries, including Canada. The indictment says Zhu and Zhang are members of a group operating in China known as Advanced Persistent Threat 10. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

fort st: The next morning, we found new colouring books and crayons in the fireplace, according to Vancouver Courier. We had no heat, no furniture and little food, but there it was Christmas in our fireplace.article continues below Trending Stories Girl found Are you sitting on a million B.C. regulator says fracking caused earthquakes near Fort St. He never visited us. John Judge expands Coastal Gas Link injunction against pipeline blockade Though my maternal grandfather came to Canada from India in the early 1900s, my parents arrived in the mid-1960s and started a family. They befriended neighbours through conversations in broken English, creating bonds that have lasted until today. They had 7 and little education when they landed in Vancouver, but they made a priority of becoming employable by learning to speak, read and write English. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

john: Video of John Grant - Queen of Denmark Strongroom Sessions John Grant sings Queen of Denmark, according to National Observer. Video from You Tube The purists will insist that a depression that is caused by something isn't a true depression. To borrow a line from the singer-songwriter, John Grant I wanted to change the world but I could not even change my underwear. The real stuff drops on you from nowhere like a toxic mudslide carrying off a village, or a biblical rainfall of frogs. But this separation between one's internal state and one's external influences strikes me as unnecessarily strict. Maybe they are right and certainly brain chemistry has a role to play. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

czech republic: But the escalating debate over people leaving their home countries for new ones has sparked increasing opposition and reservations among the U.N.'s 193 member states, according to CTV. The General Assembly resolution endorsing the compact was approved by a vote of 152-5, with Israel, the Czech Republic and Poland also voting no and 12 countries abstaining. The Global Compact for Migration, the first international document dealing with the issue, is not legally binding. The vote in favour of the resolution was lower than the 164 countries that approved the agreement by acclamation at a conference in Marrakech, Morocco, earlier this month. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the resolution's adoption, saying the compact provides a platform for international co-operation that points the way toward humane and sensible action to benefit countries of origin, transit and destination as well as migrants themselves. The compact represents a UN-led effort to give migrants seeking economic opportunity a chance to find it and to have authorities crack down on the often dangerous and illegal movements of people across borders that have turned human smuggling into a worldwide industry. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

election campaign: The province awaits a judicial review on whether bilingual paramedic services must be provided throughout New Brunswick, according to Toronto Star. Kevin Bissett / The Canadian Press I consider today's actions to be in the best interests of New Brunswickers because I am putting their lives and their safety first. The province's efforts to address a shortage of bilingual paramedics became a heated issue during the recent provincial election campaign, and critics have said any move to change the requirement could violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the province's Official Languages Act to provide equal services in both English and French. To me, there is no other path available, Health Minister Ted Flemming said Tuesday. The change is being made despite a judicial review of language requirements for ambulances, slated to begin next month. He said the changes would only be made in areas of the province that are primarily unilingual. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

mciver: She was detained and questioned over a visa issue, according to CTV. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the situation earlier on Wednesday, saying that McIver's case did not appear to be linked to a matter of national security for the Chinese. She has been identified as Sarah McIver, of Alberta, and had been teaching in China. The first indications are that this is a very separate case compared to the two others that occurred, Trudeau told journalists at his year-end news conference. Earlier in December, China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor in Beijing. The others that were arrested at the start of the week were accused of serious crimes, problems regarding national security, intelligence. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

merrill brother: But their son showed absolutely no emotion as he was sent away for life, according to CTV. In a chilling victim impact statement, Merrill Gleddie's brother, Graham Gleddie, described phoning his nephew at the moment of the murders on November 20, 2016 and a calm Cameron Rogers explaining everything was fine. It was an emotional day in court for the family of this couple who were painted as lovely people who adored their son. I spoke to Cameron when he was in the middle of killing my sister, Gleddie said outside court today. Graham said he called at 2 p.m., learning later through a police videotaped confession from Cameron that he had started murdering his parents at 11 a.m. that morning and that it had taken some time for his mother to die. The family had planned a dinner to celebrate the Gleddie family's mother turning 91 and Graham explains that Merrill had asked him to call between 2 and 4 p.m. that day. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

wind chill: I am thinking about it, according to Toronto Star. When you wake up from the bed you see your hands and you don't have your fingers, Iyal, 36, said in an interview last month. It comes into my dreams all the time. Razak Iyal, one of two asylum seekers who walked across the Canada/U.S. border in December and lost his fingers and toes because of severe frostbite, is photographed as he enters his refugee hearing in Winnipeg, Man., June 13, 2017. The overnight wind chill dipped to -30 C as the men trudged through snowy fields in the dark. JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS A powerful winter storm was pounding southern Manitoba as Iyal and Seidu Mohammed, whom he had met at a bus station in Minneapolis in 2016, made their way to the Canada-United States border near Emerson. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

albums: Listeners enjoyed a buffet of diverse melodies, savoring in the choice of curating the tunes they craved as opposed to consuming more than they can digest, according to Rabble. Rumored albums from veterans like Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V and The Carters' first joint project battled its way to the top of our personal charts alongside music's innovators like Noname, The Internet, Buddy, and Janelle Monae. What a year 2018 has been for music lovers. Within that aforementioned list of artists, a new generation of lyricists and vocalists found their footing with fans and critics alike. While we took into account the albums released from Dec. 1, 2017 to Nov. 20, 2018, that moved us emotionally, we also checked off a list of requirements like replay value, overall production, critical reception, and cultural impact. The rising crop of talent released projects that should motivate each of them to carve out space for forthcoming awards. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

appropriations committee: The president would consider other options and the administration was looking at ways to find the money elsewhere, Sanders said, according to CTV. It was a turnaround after days of impasse. The White House set the tone when press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders indicated that Trump doesn't want to shut down the government, though just last week he said he'd be proud to do so. Without a resolution, more than 800,000 government workers could be furloughed or sent to work without pay beginning at midnight Friday, disrupting government operations days before Christmas. The chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. One option that has been circulating on Capitol Hill would be to simply approve government funding at existing levels, without a boost for the border, as a stopgap measure to kick the issue into the new Congress next month. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

food industries: Behind locked gates, men and women are sewing sportswear that can end up on U.S. college campuses and sports teams, according to CTV. This is one of a growing number of internment camps in the Xinjiang region, where by some estimates 1 million Muslims are detained, forced to give up their language and their religion and subject to political indoctrination. Dozens of armed officers and a growling Doberman stand guard outside. Now, the Chinese government is also forcing some detainees to work in manufacturing and food industries. The Associated Press has tracked recent, ongoing shipments from one such factory inside an internment camp to Badger Sportswear, a leading supplier in Statesville, North Carolina. Some of them are within the internment camps; others are privately owned, state-subsidized factories where detainees are sent once they are released. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

police officers: Among other changes, the bill spells out that police officers are able to demand a breath sample from any driver they stop, according to CTV. Previously, police needed to have a reasonable suspicion of impaired driving before they could conduct a test. Those changes are the result of Bill C-46, which was passed in June and came into effect Tuesday. Mothers Against Drunk Driving has welcomed the change, saying similar rules in other countries have improved road safety, while the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has expressed concern that racial minorities will be disproportionately affected. The bill also increases maximum prison terms for many impaired driving offences from five years to 10, and gives the Crown the ability to seek dangerous offender designations for dangerous drivers, impaired drivers, hit-and-run drivers and people convicted of fleeing from police. Police officers are also now able to test drivers for impairment by using any device approved by the attorney general. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

security guards: PUNA, Hawaii Island When members of the Fern Forest Community Association held their annual meeting this month, someone was clearly expecting trouble Uniformed security guards and off-duty police were watching as over 50 residents of the subdivision in rural Upper Puna arrived at the meeting, according to Rabble. Displayed on the sign-in table was a pre-printed stack of trespassing notices. By Alan D. McNarie / December 18, 2018Reading time 8 minutes. A sign on the wall of the Quonset-style meeting hall announced that no video or audio recording was allowed. Melissa Fletcher immediately rose from the audience. In his opening remarks, the outgoing president of the association's board of directors, Ken Gryde, announced that questions would not be taken from the floor and noted that if an association member disrupted the meeting, a sequence of three warning signs would be held up If the third sign was raised, that member would face trespassing charges. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trudeau government: That was the third consecutive month of decreases in irregular migrant arrivals and the lowest monthly number since June 2017, according to Toronto Star. Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen speaks to reporters outside the House of Commons on Parliament Hill on May 31. Newly published federal data shows 1,019 irregular migrants were apprehended by the RCMP crossing into Canada between official border crossings last month. Hussen's press secretary Mathieu Genest says the board will be able to hire 248 new staff over the next two years, including 64 new decision-makers, thanks to this year's cash infusion from the Trudeau government. Of the 34,854 irregular migrant claims that have been referred to the IRB, less than one quarter of them have been finalized. PATRICK DOYLE / THE CANADIAN PRESS But while the number arriving irregularly via nonofficial entry points may be on a downward trend, the Immigration and Refugee Board IRB the arms-length agency that adjudicates refugee claims has struggled to keep pace with the number of new cases being added to its backlog of files. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

penguin droppings: But some researchers have found a new way to use satellites to figure out what penguins eat by capturing images of the animal's poop deposits across Antarctica. ; A group of scientists studying Ad lie penguins and climate change have found that the color of penguin droppings indicates whether the animals ate shrimp-like krill reddish orange or silverfish blue . The distinction is interesting because the penguin's diet serves as an indicator of the response of the marine ecosystem to climate change, according to National Observer. Separate research is starting to show, for example, that penguin chicks that are forced to rely on krill as their main source of food don't grow as much as those who have fish in their diet. Satellites watch many things as they orbit the Earth hurricanes brewing in the Caribbean, tropical forests burning in the Amazon, even North Korean soldiers building missile launchers. The penguins' guano deposits build up over time on the rocky outcroppings where the birds congregate, making them colorful landmarks. There's a clear regional difference, krill on the west, fish on the east, says Casey Youngflesh, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Connecticut who presented his findings last week at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington. The researchers took samples from the penguin colonies, found their spectral wavelength, then matched this color to images taken from the orbiting Landsat-7 satellite. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

alberta separation: Many people like myself, who are Albertans and proud to be Canadians, we're tired of being pushed out of this country, said Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt, according to CTV. I believe it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees, but right now we are living on our knees. From Albertans expressing their anger over pipeline woes, to concerns over immigration rules, many people are frustrated. Online, Alberta separation is a hotly contested topic but whether or not the self-imposed exile is feasible is another conversation. I actually think this could get a lot worse before it gets better. It would be very time consuming and very messy, said political scientist Duane Bratt. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

police: It gives police officers the right to ask for a breath sample from any driver they lawfully stop, lowering the bar from the previous legislation, which required that an officer have reasonable suspicion that a person had been drinking, according to CTV. Such a system is already in place in more than 40 countries. The legislation, which passed in June at the same time as new rules for drug-impaired driving, is intended to curb injuries and death by helping police catch drivers with more than the legal limit of alcohol in their bloodstreams. Toronto-based lawyer Michael Engel, who often defends those charged with impaired driving, said the new rules are a big change that raise concerns about baseless searches. The new rules could lead to a backlog in the legal system as lower courts wait for higher courts to make a decision on likely challenges to the law's constitutionality, he said. This is a radical departure from previous law, which insulated people against warrantless searches without probable cause, he said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.