Avrum Rosensweig: So writes a young girl to Lulu Pusuma, the 6-year-old daughter of Jozsef and Timea, a Roma family attacked in Hungary for their human rights advocacy. They now live in a 20- by 20-foot room in a Toronto church , unable to step outside for fear of deportation, according to The Star. As reported by Avrum Rosensweig, a member of the multi-faith coalition trying to get temporary residence status for Jozsef and his family, four black-clad, bat-wielding neo-Nazis with masks on their faces and venom in their hearts savagely pounced upon the Pusumas in broad daylight one July day in 2009 as they stepped outside their home and I will pray for your family and I hope you dont have to hide much longer and that the government will let your family stay . . . We love you. They have been in sanctuary for the last 29 months. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

De La Cruz: In recent years, Honey Bee Manufacturing has filled 35 jobs at its Frontier combine header plant from the Philippines just under 20 per cent of its workforce. , according to CBC. New arrivals from the Philippines are a regular feature in Frontier, and De La Cruz says he likes to personally welcome them with a party that includes food, drink and karaoke. A farm equipment manufacturer in the tiny town of Frontier, Sask., says hiring immigrants from the Philippines has been a key to its success. Among those immigrants is Esteban de La Cruz, who moved to the community in the southwest corner of the Prairie province with his family in 2008 and now works, along with wife Elvie, at Honey Bee. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ferdinand Marcos: As their Philippine Reporter reaches its quarter-century milestone this spring, the couple has seen it grow from a 12-page, 2,000-copy black-and-white publication to a 56-page, 12,000-copy full-colour biweekly, according to The Star. He and his wife fled Manila after they were released from military camps under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos for reporting on the rampant exploitation of peasants and corruption in rural Philippines and For the past 25 years, Hermie and Mila Garcia have followed the same routine every other week: up till the wee hours proof-reading and fact-checking on Thursday and then rising early Friday to check on the bundles coming off the press at a Yorkdale Mall area print shop, the ink still fresh on the pages of their family newspaper. When we came to Canada in 1984, it was supposed to be temporary, says Hermie, 67. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Immigration Services Society of B.C.: Federal funding cuts that came into effect this month have substantially reduced British Columbia's free refugee mental health assistance program. , according to CBC. Two of the four groups offering mental health counselling to refugees in the province have shut down their programs, and the number of full-time staff has been reduced from six to three. The Immigration Services Society of B.C. divided a combined $616,000 per year in provincial and federal funding between itself and three organizations offering free refugee mental health services -- Family Services of Greater Vancouver and the Bridge Clinic. That funding is now $260,000, after the federal government reduced its contribution to $80,000. The program's annual budget has been slashed from $616,000 to $260,000, a reduction of just under 60 per cent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Doug Blocks: 112 Weddings: Like many marriages, it seems great at the outset: wedding videographer Doug Blocks plan to revisit the 112 couples hes lensed over 20 years. The problem is, hes not a great interviewer. He talks to just 11 couples of his 112, and doesnt get much out of them. The usual marital stresses are mentioned dashed careers and hopes, money problems, child illnesses but most of the couples seem to be making the best of it. You compromise and you work it out, one husband says. The very first wedding that Block shot ended in divorce. He talks to both ex-spouses, but such candour is rare in the film. Peter Howell, according to The Star. Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case: Picks up where 2012s Never Sorry left off with the aftermath of Ai Weiweis release, after months of captivity on trumped-up charges of tax evasion and his subsequent legal challenge to the Chinese authorities who jailed him. Ruling Communists want to quiet the worlds most famous dissident, but the film lionizes him unbowed and once more into the fray, this time of legal quagmire. Its meandering eye the filmmaker is equally seduced by Ais cosy domestic life, his artmaking, his celebrity and his humanistic protests strays too far from the case to produce anything coherent. Still, Ai is compelling enough for even a middling film to be enthralling. Murray Whyte The Hot Docs film festival kicks off on Thursday April 24 and runs until May 4. How do you decide what to see from the record 205 films in 11 programs? Star writers have pre-screened some of the most buzzed-about offerings. Recommended films are marked with an asterisk. For screening times, ticket information and details, go to hotdocs.ca/highlights . Advanced Style: These fabulous, fashionable women made famous by New York street photographer Ari Seth Cohens Advanced Style blog pump out a blinding level of glamour, chutzpah and enthusiasm even if the film itself occasionally lets them down with less-than polished looks and sound. These game Manhattan gals may complain about aches and pains, but they preach age is only a number. Their deep closets and flamboyant, colourful, manic passion for fashion make them irresistible and unstoppable. Linda Barnard (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canada West Foundation: Would-be immigrants to Canada continue to face a series of bureaucratic impediments that either delay their status or reduce the effectiveness of integration once they arrive here. Fixing these problems is long overdue. More Related to this Story, according to Globe and Mail. Artist photographs one Torontonian from every country in the world Robert Vineberg is a Senior Fellow at the Canada West Foundation. He was formerly Director General of Citizenship and Immigration Canadas Prairies and Northern Territories Region. He is also the author of the book Responding to Immigrants Settlement Needs: The Canadian Response. Globe editorial Canada needs more immigrant future citizens, fewer guest workers (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Narendra Modi: As election season is underway in India, the man everyone is talking about is Narendra Modi. Mr. Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, is the declared prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP , the countrys principal opposition party. More Related to this Story, according to Globe and Mail. Anita Singh and Alex Wilner Why a Modi win in India will become a headache for Canada Rupa Subramanya is co-author if Indianomix: Making Sense of Modern India and a consulting editor for Business Standard, an Indian business daily. Memo to Indias Modi: Get out of states way (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Murray Whyte Ai Weiwei: 112 Weddings: Like many marriages, it seems great at the outset: wedding videographer Doug Blocks plan to revisit the 112 couples hes lensed over 20 years. The problem is, hes not a great interviewer. He talks to just 11 couples of his 112, and doesnt get much out of them. The usual marital stresses are mentioned dashed careers and hopes, money problems, child illnesses but most of the couples seem to be making the best of it. You compromise and you work it out, one husband says. The very first wedding that Block shot ended in divorce. He talks to both ex-spouses, but such candour is rare in the film. Peter Howell, according to The Star. Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case: Picks up where 2012s Never Sorry left off with the aftermath of Ai Weiweis release, after months of captivity on trumped-up charges of tax evasion and his subsequent legal challenge to the Chinese authorities who jailed him. Ruling Communists want to quiet the worlds most famous dissident, but the film lionizes him unbowed and once more into the fray, this time of legal quagmire. Its meandering eye the filmmaker is equally seduced by Ais cosy domestic life, his artmaking, his celebrity and his humanistic protests strays too far from the case to produce anything coherent. Still, Ai is compelling enough for even a middling film to be enthralling. Murray Whyte Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case and The Hot Docs film festival kicks off on Thursday April 24 and runs until May 4. How do you decide what to see from the record 205 films in 11 programs? Star writers have pre-screened some of the most buzzed-about offerings. For screening times, ticket information and details, go to hotdocs.ca/schedule/ . Advanced Style: These fabulous, fashionable women made famous by New York street photographer Ari Seth Cohens Advanced Style blog pump out a blinding level of glamour, chutzpah and enthusiasm even if the film itself occasionally lets them down with less-than polished looks and sound. These game Manhattan gals may complain about aches and pains, but they preach age is only a number. Their deep closets and flamboyant, colourful, manic passion for fashion make them irresistible and unstoppable. Recommended Linda Barnard (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Amanda Todd: The suspect faces Canadian charges including child pornography, extortion, criminal harassment and Internet luring in the case of Amanda Todd. The 15-year-old killed herself in 2012 after posting a video online telling a story of being harassed relentlessly, according to CTV. However legal experts are divided on the chances of extradition and all agree it will be a complicated process and - Authorities in British Columbia are anxious to bring a Netherlands resident to a Canadian courtroom on cyberbullying charges in a teen suicide case, but legal experts say it's unclear when or even if they might get the chance. B.C.'s justice department said last week it will ask the federal government to request the extradition of the 35-year-old Dutch suspect, who also faces charges in the Netherlands in connection with an international investigation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Bernard Landry: It was a primary goal of what he called the season of ideas the need to unite the PQs aging founders and their baby-boomer children, raised amid the constitutional battles of the 1980s and 1990s, with a generation not born when the 1980 referendum was held and too young to remember the narrow sovereigntist loss in 1995, according to The Star. Pauline Marois took over from Boisclair, forming a short-lived government that thanks to the April 7 election recorded the PQs worst vote share since the partys inception in 1970 and More than a decade ago, then Parti Quebecois leader Bernard Landry set out on a mission to bring forth and multiply Quebec sovereigntists new and old under his partys banner. That season of ideas quickly turned from an optimistic spring to an inhospitable winter. Landry was pushed out of his post in 2005 and was replaced by Andre Boisclair, a young, gay, admitted former drug user who was himself forced out after scoring a disastrous third-place finish in the 2006 election. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Mauricio Osorto: He abandoned his life as a university teacher and lawyer who shared his mother's law practice to go to Canada where he had to start again, according to CTV. But many others after Osorto, 33, won't have the same opportunities in British Columbia after the federal government cut almost of all of its funding for agencies that had been offering mental health services to thousands of traumatized refugees and - Months after his mother was murdered by gang gunfire, Mauricio Osorto recognized he would be next if he didn't escape Honduras. A Vancouver refugee-assistance program helped him get through the grief and trauma of what he left behind and allowed him to build a new life in Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Lucas Grande: The 16-year-old from the Ancaster area was among 50 competitors winnowed down from a field of thousands across Canada. During the national final which took place live online on April 16, Grande emerged as the winner, taking the top prize of $3,000, according to The Star. Honestly, I was pretty calm actually. I kind of didnt believe it for a little while but it felt good, it felt good, Grande said and Lucas Grande is on top of the world after placing first in the annual Great Canadian Geography Challenge. The Grade 10 student at Hillfield Strathallan College took the win in stride. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Susan Fennell: But change big change was coming no matter who led the city, thanks to an ever-gathering swell of new Bramptonians, according to The Star. An influx of new Canadians was changing the face of the suburban city. By 2001, 39.9 per cent of the citys population was immigrants, predominantly Pakistani, Indian and Polish. Hearing Punjabi or Urdu in the grocery store or bank was becoming just as common as English; 18.8 per cent of the population said their mother tongue was Punjabi on the 2006 census and In the tradition of countless politicians before her, Susan Fennell, known then as an articulate, down-to-earth former businesswoman, said her city needed change when she shunted her name from the Councillor to the Mayor column on the October 2000 election ballot. That the city was experiencing a spurt was no secret when Fennell made her move to unseat longtime mayor Peter Robertson. In the nearly five years preceding her election, the city saw a 15.6 per cent increase in residents, drawn by factors such as Bramptons proximity to the airport and major highways, and the increasing presence of thriving immigrant communities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

George Carlson: For starters, the view north, west and south was nothing but rolling green fields, according to The Star. Everything was closed on Sunday, kids were in Sunday school, and all the dads cut the grass at the same time on Saturday, said George Carlson, a long-time city councillor and lifelong Mississauga resident, with a chuckle. It was a vanilla town. Light vanilla, even and As she peered out the windows of Mississauga City Hall, through classic 1970s horned-rimmed specs she sometimes donned, newly anointed mayor Hazel McCallion would have seen a city unrecognizable to the one she steers today. In 1978, when McCallion rode a wave of support for what dubbed her plain talk and unpretentious campaign, the 57-year-old politician inherited a predominantly white, car-dependant town of 280,000 not unlike Pleasantville. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

crisis: Timely, insightful, and provocative, the One Nova Scotia Report: Now or Never, An Urgent Call to Action, paints a provincial picture of crisis and opportunity, according to The Chronicle Herald. With undiversified local markets, the emergent geriatrics tsunami, a retiring farmer population, the brain drain westward, the regions inability to absorb unanticipated global market pressures or anticipated climate impacts, bankrupt small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs and towns dropping like flies, we are in trouble right now and The crisis: We reside in the Annapolis Valley. It is painfully clear that the magnitude of collective economic deprivation, and resulting unemployment, social service dependency and emotional distress, is terribly understated. I believe the Ivany report understates how profound this crisis really is and how imperative it is to take swift and transformative action. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

David Wilkins: As Jeb Bush weighs a run for the White House, his prospective candidacy is being praised by a well-known Republican who helped organize his brothers successful campaigns in 2000 and 2004, according to The Chronicle Herald. He brings a lot to the table. He would be a serious candidate from Day One, Wilkins said in an interview, touting Bushs track record as Florida governor and his thoughtful stand on immigration and education and David Wilkins, the former ambassador to Canada who co-chaired and then chaired George W. Bushs two campaigns in the key Republican primary state of South Carolina, says the younger sibling has the skills to go the distance. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

George Elliott Clarke: Torontos poet laureate, George Elliott Clarke he has just published his 13th collection of poetry, Traverse an autobiographical epic called Traverse Exile Editions has much to say about his art and passion, according to The Star. This is an edited version of a 90-minute conversation that spanned everything from the 1960s Black Power movement to Acadian history: April is the time to rhyme. Its National Poetry Month, a period of rediscovery for those of us still smarting from having to mindlessly memorize and recite blank verse back in school. reached him by phone at Harvard University, where he is the William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Associate Professor of Canadian Studies , on leave from the University of Toronto, where he is E.J. Pratt professor of Canadian literature. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

George W. Bush: David Wilkins, the former ambassador to Canada who co-chaired and then chaired George W. Bush's two campaigns in the key Republican primary state of South Carolina, says the younger sibling has the skills to go the distance, according to Times Colonist. "If he decides to run, I'm not saying he'd win, but I think he'd be a very viable candidate." As Jeb Bush weighs a run for the White House, his prospective candidacy is being praised by a well-known Republican who helped organize his brother's successful campaigns in 2000 and 2004. "He brings a lot to the table. He would be a serious candidate from Day One," Wilkins said in an interview, touting Bush's track record as Florida governor and his thoughtful stand on immigration and education. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Lakehill Soccer Association: The program is already overflowing, with 248 young players registered, and many more on a waiting list. , according to Times Colonist. This is hopefully just the inaugural program, with many more years to come. Kids are playing soccer on fields all over Greater Victoria, but not many are playing for free. In a groundbreaking move to open the sport to everyone wanting to kick a ball, the Lakehill Soccer Association is offering a no-cost spring league for youth ages under-8 to under-15. Every spot we had got snatched up right away, Lakehill president David del Castillo said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Amanda Todds: Aydin Coban was arrested in a house south of Amsterdam in January after Dutch authorities accused him of using his computer to extort money from girls, boys and even older men, according to CTV. We re looking at approximately 30 or 40 possible victims in the Netherlands, said Dutch prosecutor Michiel Swinkels. They have not all been identified and we re thinking there are dozens of victims abroad and The Dutch man arrested in connection with Amanda Todds suicide is unlikely to ever face trial in Canada, according to a veteran immigration lawyer. Officials allege that Coban enticed his victims to strip on webcam and then used screen captures of the footage as blackmail material. One of his alleged victims was 15-year-old Port Coquitlam resident Amanda Todd, who took her own life in 2012 after years of torment at the hands of what was then believed to be an online bully. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Lee Cohen: Cohen vowed then that he would do everything in his power to bring justice, fairness and equality to a flawed system and the individuals affected by it, according to The Chronicle Herald. At first, Cohen, who has no personal ties with the school, was surprised by the recognition and As a young man, Lee Cohen was bothered by the bigotry and racism he witnessed within the Canadian immigration system. Three decades later, Cohen, a Halifax lawyer who has dedicated his life and work to immigration and refugee issues, is receiving an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the Atlantic School of Theology at a convocation ceremony at St. Benedicts Roman Catholic Church on May 3. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Supreme Court of Canada: Two of the cases involve an individual and a couple who were aboard the MV Sun Sea, which carried 492 Sri Lankan nationals to Canada in 2010, according to Globe and Mail. In a Bangkok apartment, Tamils wait for a ship to Canada The Supreme Court of Canada will hear three appeals in cases where people were denied refugee status because they were allegedly involved in people smuggling. The arrival of two ships off the British Columbia coast led the federal government to enact its so-called human smuggling law to discourage a repeat of the dramatic incidents. More Related to this Story (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Mohammad Jaffar: Ms. Jayman, who is in her 80s, grew up speaking the creole language in the central Sri Lankan town of Kegalle, and she is one of roughly 40,000 Sri Lankan Malay speakers worldwide, and some 1,000 in the Greater Toronto Area. In a lively and loose interview with linguist Mohammad Jaffar, another native Sri Lankan Malay speaker, Ms. Jayman fielded questions on the languages uncertain future as a camera recorded the session, according to Globe and Mail. With no codified spelling system and a general community apathy toward preservation, the languages prospects for survival are grim and Since she arrived in Canada more than two decades ago, Zouriya Jayman has found few people to converse with in her native tongue, Sri Lankan Malay. But on a frigid day earlier this year, two linguists turned the living room of her high-rise apartment in north Toronto into a sort of television studio in order to document Ms. Jaymans endangered language. Zouriya felt that we were truly the last generation of full native speakers, Mr. Jaffar, 78, said, interpreting Ms. Jaymans answers into English. Later generations, she felt, showed a regrettable lack of interest and no enthusiasm for speaking in Sri Lankan Malay. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: The chief of the asylum division at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has told asylum officers that immigrants who make a "credible fear" claim, the first step in the asylum process, must have a "significant possibility" of winning an asylum case before a judge, according to Times Colonist. The memo, which updates an officer training course lesson plan, does not substantially change the standard for how the immigration agency handles such cases. The same language was used to describe the standard to win a full hearing before an immigration judge as far back as 2008, according to the website and The U.S. Homeland Security Department has reissued asylum rules to immigration officials amid concerns that they are misinterpreting how to decide which immigrants get to see a judge for asylum claims. In a Feb. 28 memo, the official, John Lafferty, said in order to meet that standard immigrants have to "demonstrate a substantial and realistic possibility of succeeding in court." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Dinaw Mengestu: "On the most cliched level, our idea of the immigrant narrative is ... the person who comes to the U.S. is happy to be there, gets a job, gets a car, gets a house. And then they go through the process of success," the author said during a recent interview, according to Times Colonist. Set in the early 1970s, "All Our Names" Doubleday is told through the dual perspectives of Helen a social worker from a small Midwestern town and "Isaac," the mysterious African student with whom she falls desperately in love. Isaac's narrative traces his previous life as a student in post-independence Uganda, and slowly reveals the truth about his identity and Ethiopian-American novelist Dinaw Mengestu says he wanted his new novel "All Our Names" to break from the traditional immigrant tale. "I've always been curious about the immigrants who don't want to necessarily be there ... plenty of people end up in other countries because they have to, because that's their way of surviving. ... People who come to their new country not because this is their dream but because their nightmare has become true." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Canadian citizenship: This may be the larger point that we re missing in all the debate over the Fair Elections Act and how it will affect some Canadians right to vote. How do you prove you re a Canadian citizen?, according to The Star. For people born in other countries, Canadian citizenship is a bigger deal. Theres even a ceremony an emotional one, for many people and a handbook and even a test. Theres also a certificate : a full-sized paper document, suitable for framing, which includes a certificate number, a unique client identifier, name, date of birth, gender and the date you became a Canadian citizen and We used to talk about Canada having an identity problem. Now, it seems, we have a proof-of-identity problem. If you were born in this country, citizenship is something you probably take for granted. Its a box you tick off on customs forms when visiting other countries, or a feeling you occasionally get when you watch doughnut or beer commercials. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.