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.

circuit court: The state appealed to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to Metro News. Arguments on Garcia's injunction against parts of the law are scheduled for the week of Nov. 6. Under the law, Texas police chiefs could face removal from office and criminal charges for not complying with federal immigration officials' requests to detain people jailed on non-immigration offences .U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia blocked much of the law on Aug. 31, a day before it was to take effect. However, state officials, joined by the U.S. Justice Department, sought an emergency stay allowing enforcement to begin. Court officials said the panel would begin discussing the case immediately after the hearing ended, but a decision was not expected Friday. That request was before a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit on Friday morning. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

clinton: Article Continued Below Hillary Rodham Clinton's What Happened offers a compelling guide to the perplexed, according to Toronto Star. Like the start of her 2003 memoir that chronicles girlhood in Chicago's postwar suburbs, the initial pages of this book unfold behind the scenes at Donald Trump's inauguration. The people downstairs have since given us plenty to talk about but our wonderment has reached new heights since the 2016 presidential election. Even George W. Bush seems far from enamoured with the new chief executive. Yet Clinton remains confident about her own future as an active citizen and the resilience of her country, noting that she refuses to disappear following a campaign that didn't turn out as the more than 65 million Americans who supported her in 2016 wanted. What Happened recounts not just electoral loss but also what Clinton sees as profound threats to American democracy An FBI director who mixes innuendo and investigation, Russian oligarchs determined to stop her ascent and news organizations with a distorted sense of journalistic balance figure prominently. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

deportation: The 31-year-old faces deportation back to Tunisia if he leaves the confines of the building, according to CTV. It's not life to be between four walls, says Maazaoui. Maazaoui has been holed up in the Shediac Bay Community Church for nearly two-and-a-half years. I think now is the time for the government to go back and check my case and lift the deportation and give me my permanent residency. He came to Canada with his family, all of whom received their permanent resident status. Maazaoui fled his homeland in 2004 after facing persecution for converting from Islam to Christianity. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

father shot: He saw his father shot by Burma soldiers, he volunteers in a calm yet deeply unsettling tone, lifting two fingers of his right hand to illustrate the act, according to CBC. When his father didn't die right away, he saw the soldiers slash his throat. By age 12, the Rohingya boy has seen more than anyone should have to see in a lifetime. His mother fled their home in Myanmar with Hamid and four younger siblings. Violence against Rohingya 'looks a lot like ethnic cleansing,' Freeland says Canada provides 2.5M in urgent funding for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh Now he is the elder of his family, he says. They hid in forests for days and then walked for two days to reach the safety of Bangladesh. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

funds: I worked for a year without pay to get it off the ground 10- to 12-hour days were common, according to The Chronicle Herald. I'll probably continue to run it without pay for another year until it is stable enough, while paying my employees their salaries. I recently started a small business. I borrowed a lot of money. I have no pension or retirement funds to speak of, and likely won't be able to contribute to those funds for a few more years. I depleted all my savings. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration documents: The complainant, who is not a resident of Canada, told RCMP they had arrived in Canada on a Temporary Foreign Worker permit and were promised permanent residenct by their employers, according to CTV. The employers, a couple from Conrich, allegedly withheld the worker's passport and immigration documents and financially exploited them. According to RCMP officials, the Strathmore RCMP detachment received a complaint from someone who identified themself as a victim of human trafficking. RCMP have not disclosed the age, gender or nationality of the worker but confirm the alleged victim is an adult. As a result of a lengthy investigation into the allegations, members of the RCMP Federal Serious & Organized Crime unit executed a search warrant at an undisclosed residence in Conrich on September 20. The nature of the work promised to the visitor has not been confirmed. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

need contacts: He described the exchange of threats between Washington and Pyongyang as quite bad, unacceptable, according to CBC. Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before! real Donald Trump Lavrov also warned that if the Iran nuclear deal falls apart, North Korea will have little incentive to give up its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. We have to calm down the hotheads and understand that we need pauses, we need contacts, Lavrov told reporters during a news conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York. He said he was convinced a Russian-Chinese proposal could still pave the way for a diplomatic solution to the North Korea crisis. Iraqi Kurds are expected to vote on Monday to back an independence drive that neighbouring countries and Western powers fear could break up the country and stir broader regional ethnic and sectarian conflict. Kremlin against Kurdish vote Earlier in the day, Lavrov told his Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari that Moscow supported Iraq's territorial integrity and sovereignty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

pascal laberge: Here's my best guess at how the league will shape up this year 1, according to The Chronicle Herald. Victoriaville Tigres This is the only team I truly believe is at the very top of the building cycle. The 2017-18 QMJHL season opened on Thursday so there's really no putting it off anymore. Players like Pascal Laberge, Maxime Comtois and Ivan Kosorenko make them a championship-calibre team. 2. Most signs point to him making the jump to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada The big X factor here is Pierre-Luc Dubois. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

refugees: Under the 2016 EU-Turkey agreement to stem migratory flows, refugees or migrants reaching the Greek islands from Turkey will be returned there unless they can prove sufficient reason for seeking asylum in Greece rather than Turkey, according to Metro News. The decision made public Friday concerned two Syrian men, aged 21 and 29, who had their Greek asylum applications rejected and were fighting deportation to Turkey. In a case with implications for thousands of refugees in Greece and others planning to enter the country seeking asylum the court found that deported refugees face no threat of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, or punishment in Turkey. They reached Greece's eastern island of Lesbos in July 2016, four months after the agreement came into effect. In the year leading up to it, more than a million people reached the Greek islands on their way to Europe's prosperous heartland. The EU-Turkey deal, combined with a series of Balkan border closures, had a big impact on reducing the numbers of people fleeing war or hardship who entered Greece in smuggling boats from Turkey. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

kyi: Now, Suu Kyi is a tarnished icon with a reputation totally in tatters, according to Toronto Star. As de facto civilian leader of Burma also known as Myanmar she is associated with a campaign of ethnic cleansing and perhaps even genocide by Burma's military of the Rohingya Muslim minority in her country. Asia's Mandela, she was called. And as recently as Tuesday, in the face of overwhelming international uproar, she stubbornly defended the military's actions. Those were momentous times. How could this be so How did we both public and journalists alike get her so wrong Article Continued Below Looking back, it is striking that Suu Kyi was honoured with the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in the months following Nelson Mandela's dramatic emergence from his South African prison cell. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

humiliation: For Indigenous peoples in Canada, the experience was mostly one of humiliation, neglect and abuse, he said, according to National Observer. There are, today, children living on reserve in Canada who cannot safely drink, or bathe in, or even play in the water that comes out of their taps. These left a devastating legacy on reserves to this day, in a country whose very existence, he said, came without the consent and participation of the Indigenous populations who lived there for millenniums. There are Indigenous parents who say goodnight to their children, and have to cross their fingers in the hopes that their kids won't run away, or take their own lives in the night. ... And for far too many Indigenous women, life in Canada includes threats of violence so frequent and severe that Amnesty International has called it 'a human rights crisis.' That is the legacy of colonialism in Canada. He was asked later at a news conference why he dwelt so much on domestic issues and aired the country's dirty laundry on a stage designed for international crises such as North Korea, Syrian migration and atrocities against minorities in Myanmar. It was the dominant theme of his address. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

supporters view: He's also one of the three members of the left-leaning, pro-independence Qu bec Solidaire QS party elected to the legislature.QS seeks a break from traditional politics that have dominated the province for decades and an end to old economic policies that they say favour the wealthy and fail to adequately address poverty, according to National Observer. The social democratic party added thousands of new members after his arrival in politics and Nadeau-Dubois's supporters view him as the 'saviour' who can deliver on their platform. Today, he's riding a new wave of momentum that could shake Quebec's political landscape. ; Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, 27, is a rookie member of the National Assembly for the Montreal riding of Gouin. The Quebec media has also helped elevate the former student activist with glowing headlines. Quebec politician Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois graces the cover of the September 2017 edition of news magazine, l'Actualit . Screenshot of magazineQS is an unconventional party. Last month, he was on the cover of a prominent news magazine, l'Actualit that featured the words Saint Gabriel as its headline. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

american riviera: No, I don't see the American Riviera with its legendary Ocean Dr., art-deco architecture and promise of celebrity-studded nightlife, according to Toronto Star. I can't even blame the offence on a layover in the cruise capital of the world. Yes, I evade the siren call of white sand beaches lapped by sparkling ocean waves. Nor on a Heat, Dolphins, Marlins, Panthers they count, yes or Hurricanes game. Most credit the transition to the Art Basel, the international art fair that has put the sensual fun-in the-sun playground on the cultural map. Instead, I spend two days in the city's reinvigorated neighbourhoods, desirable spaces that are attracting a sophisticated, multicultural group back to the city proper. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

appeal court: It likely will be several weeks before the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case, according to CTV. In June, the appeal court ruled in Alexander Vavilov's favour -- the latest turn in a long-running spy saga brimming with international intrigue. In asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case, the government says the absurd result of the Federal Court of Appeal's decision raises important issues about the integrity of Canadian citizenship and should not be allowed to stand. Vavilov, 23, was born in 1994 as Alexander Philip Anthony Foley to Donald Heathfield and Tracey Ann Foley. One day in June 2010, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation turned up at the family's Boston-area home. The following year the family -- including an older boy, Timothy -- left Canada for France, where they spent four years before moving to the United States. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian citizens: It's just a like a job fair where you walk in and chat with the person at the booth.'- Ying Xie, In-TAC They are chatting with a real person, according to CBC. It's just a like a job fair where you walk in and chat with the person at the booth, said Ying Xie, senior manager of In-TAC. As of Thursday morning's launch, more than 2,600 people from 85 countries had registered to vye for roughly 1,300 job openings. Launched by the non-profit International Talent Acquisition Centre In-TAC with support from the federal government, the two-day fair allows Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreigners with work permits to upload their resum s and chat online with representatives of 64 Canadian employers, large and small. The jobs range from professional positions to skilled trades to cleaning staff. Ying Xie, senior manager of In-TAC, said the virtual career fair is a good opportunity for smaller Canadian cities and towns to attract immigrants. In addition to helping them secure a job before they arrive in Canada, Xie said In-TAC can help answer applicants' questions about schools and communities. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

cocktail party: The changes outlined in Bill C-46, currently before Parliament alongside the marijuana legalization legislation, are raising a number of red flags for legal experts -- some who say the plan blatantly steps on constitutional rights, according to CTV. If you are completely sober, you drive your car to a wine tasting or cocktail party. Officers may also be within the law to lay charges within two hours of a driver exiting their vehicle. You plan to leave it there, and you have some drinks at the party. The Trudeau government introduced the overhaul in July as the federal government unveiled its roadmap to legalize recreational marijuana. If the police have reason to come and question you, and they smell some alcohol on your breath, you can actually be charged with drinking after driving, Ottawa-based criminal lawyer Michael Spratt told CTV's Power Play on Wednesday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

eradication hundreds: Myanmar's anti-Rohingya atrocities did not begin on Aug. 25 as a crackdown on Rohingya militants, as news media reported but are the perpetuation of decades of persecution, marginalization, segregation, expulsion, and eradication, according to Metro News. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were driven off land they had lived on for generations by bloody military campaigns in 1978 and 1991. The current desperate mass exodus of Rohingya may seem sudden, but this is only because Canadian media has largely neglected their plight for so long. They were stripped of citizenship in 1982, leaving them without civil rights one of the largest stateless populations in the world. They have been tortured, assaulted, and killed with impunity; legally restricted from marrying and having children, including through federal Race and Religion Protection Laws passed in 2015; and imprisoned in internally displaced person camps, where they are deprived of food, water, and medical care, and are not permitted to leave in 2014, Save the Children reported that some Rohingya were resorting to eating glue . If the international community can't help us, please drop a bomb on us and kill all of us, one woman living in a camp pled to a group of British researchers in 2014. Since 1994, the government has refused to issue birth certificates for Rohingya babies. function set Cookie related path / ; Related Trudeau urges Burma's Suu Kyi to condemn atrocities against Rohingya Muslims Under fire over Rohingya, Suu Kyi defends Myanmar actions Rohingya Muslims are being wiped off Myanmar's map The Rohingya were erased from the national census in 2014, and prohibited from voting or running for office in the elections in 2015. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

exchange district: Mannan Hamrasho, who came to Winnipeg with his wife and two children in February, says there are six families living at the property, according to Metro News. He says some of them speak Arabic, and his family speaks Kurdish. Officers tell CTV News the major crimes unit and other units are investigating the messages, as well as possible threats against people living in the adjacent homes. He says he found the graffiti earlier this week and has been working to scrape it off the fence. In the Exchange District, Warehouse Artworks owner Rod Sasaki put a sign in his storefront of a woman wearing a hijab with the words, Every is welcome here. function set Cookie related path / ; Related Calgary police investigate hate crime graffiti, arson incident Teen to serve three more months for Nazi graffiti'There is still a lot of ignorance in this country' Indigenous artist heartbroken after mural vandalized Sasaki says he's noticed an increase in ignorant views and wanted to do something about it. In an effort to combat negative views about immigrants and refugees, some Winnipeggers are putting up signs on their lawns and in their windows to welcome newcomers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

hamrasho: A house next door to the Hamrasho home caught fire about a month ago, according to CBC. The fire was so severe a window in the Hamrasho home blew out. Speaking through a translator, Mannan Hamrasho told CBC News that in recent months his two kids had been threatened by other children who said we'll burn your life and we'll put fire in your house. Syrian refugees targeted by hateful graffiti Point Douglas man spews 'white power' rhetoric through neighbourhood The family doesn't know if the fire is connected to the threats. He also said he had to be hospitalized two months ago with broken bones after he was beaten by a man who punched him in the face and took his phone. Six Syrian families live on the Dufferin Avenue block where the graffiti appeared, so Hamrasho said he's not sure if it was his family that was specifically targeted or all six. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

humiliation: These left a devastating legacy on reserves to this day, in a country whose very existence, he said, came without the consent and participation of the Indigenous populations who lived there for millenniums, according to CTV. For Indigenous peoples in Canada, the experience was mostly one of humiliation, neglect and abuse, he said. He spoke of forced migration, broken treaty promises and family separations via residential schools. There are, today, children living on reserve in Canada who cannot safely drink, or bathe in, or even play in the water that comes out of their taps. It was the dominant theme of his address. There are Indigenous parents who say goodnight to their children, and have to cross their fingers in the hopes that their kids won't run away, or take their own lives in the night. ... And for far too many Indigenous women, life in Canada includes threats of violence so frequent and severe that Amnesty International has called it 'a human rights crisis.' That is the legacy of colonialism in Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

maximum-entry mark: Now he faces a decision on how many to admit in the next budget year, according to The Chronicle Herald. As is often the case with the Trump administration, Cabinet officials are divided as they weigh the costs and potential security risks associated with the program. Trump has already slashed refugee admissions once since taking office. The Department of Homeland Security has been pushing for a reduction beyond the 50,000 maximum-entry mark set by Trump earlier this year as part of his travel ban executive orders a number that is already the lowest in modern American history. The State Department, which oversees the program, has formally recommended that the number be kept at 50,000, according to Trump administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations. In a proposal submitted late last week, the department called for a reduction to 40,000 refugees in the next budget year starting Oct. 1, citing concerns about its workload and ability to adequately vet those seeking entry. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

process claims: As of Aug. 31, the pending inventory of refugee claims is about 34,000 cases, including 29,000 claims filed after December 2012, when the then-Conservative government revamped the process by imposing statutory timelines to process claims and expedite removals of failed claimants, according to Toronto Star. The rest are so-called legacy claims that have been waiting for five years or longer for a hearing date. According to the Immigration and Refugee Board IRB the backlog has been growing at a rate of approximately 1,400 cases a month since January, with the largest increase so far in August with a sudden surge of 3,000 claims. Read more Almost 7,000 migrants have walked into Quebec since Canada Day Article Continued Below Montreal's Olympic Stadium becomes shelter as Haitian refugees from the U.S. seek home in Canada While the law requires claimants be scheduled for a hearing date in 60 days, it has provisions that allow the refugee board to get around the deadline if there are delays in border officials issuing security clearances, if there are operational limitations, or if interpreters or counsel are unavailable. As a result, many cases must wait before they can be heard by an independent decision-maker. react-empty 167 With existing resources, Pape said the IRB can process only approximately 2,000 claims a month. The current intake of claims for refugee protection is exceeding the IRB's operational capacity, which is causing a growing inventory of pending cases, said the board's spokesperson, Anna Pape. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rohingya families: Aid groups face different challenges on either side of the border An influx of more than 420,000 refugees in less than a month in Bangladesh, and in Burma, government resistance and angry allegations from majority Buddhists that international organizations are favouring the long-persecuted Rohingya minority.A Bangladeshi medical administrator, Aung Swi Prue, said six people died instantly in the truck crash near the border in southeastern Bandarban district, according to Toronto Star. Three people died after reaching a hospital, and 10 others were injured and are receiving treatment.ICRC spokeswoman Misada Saif said all of those killed were Bangladeshi workers hired to distribute food packages to 500 Rohingya families. Both shipments were from the International Committee of the Red Cross. Saif said the truck belongs to the ICRC and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and was operated by a supplier who has been working for the two agencies for last couple of weeks. Article Continued Below Our thoughts are with the families of the dead. She said agency officials are very shocked and sad. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

saudi arabia: The lack of a stronger response by Muslim-majority countries partly comes down to their lucrative business interests in Southeast Asia, experts say, according to The Chronicle Herald. Much of the Middle East is also buckling under its own refugee crisis sparked by years of upheaval in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Afghanistan. This time around, Muslim leaders from the Persian Gulf to Pakistan have offered little more than condemnation and urgently needed humanitarian aid. More than 500,000 people roughly half the Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh over the past year, mostly in the last month. Saudi Arabia is already home to around a quarter-million Burmese people who took refuge in the kingdom under the late King Faisal in the 1960s. The United Nations human rights chief has described Myanmar's military crackdown and allied Buddhist mob attacks as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

wednesday afternoon: Mannan Hamrasho scrapes hateful graffiti off his fence, according to CBC. CBC The newcomer from Syria, who can't speak English, spent Wednesday afternoon scraping the graffiti off of the fence around his Dufferin Avenue home and later received a visit from James Favel, executive director of Bear Clan Patrol Inc., who lives just around the corner. Mannan Hamrasho told CBC News he and his family found the graffiti including the phrases Go back to your country and Leave Canada written in red ink on their fence Tuesday morning. Lawn signs with welcoming message pop up around Winnipeg Favel says he wanted to make sure the family knows the hateful words don't reflect how the community feels about newcomers. The small-minded person who did that ugly writing on their fence is not representative of the community at large and I wanted them to know that they're supported. I wanted to let them know that they were supported here and that nobody wants them gone, said Favel. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

world: With hundreds of thousands of lives at stake, this quickly evolving crisis requires condemnation and involvement from the highest levels of the Canadian government, according to Rabble. Although Trudeau has expressed deep concerns to Myanmar's State Consular, Aung San Suu Kyi, about the ongoing violence, he can and must go several steps further. Canada must amplify its voice as much as possible to rally the world in ending this crisis, widely viewed as an organized ethnic cleansing. Trudeau needs to explicitly condemn the Myanmese military for organizing this ethnic cleansing. Instead of a written statement merely expressing concern, Trudeau should condemn Myanmar's military on camera, in both French and English, ensuring his message goes around the world. Since Myanmar's 2012 constitution makes the military, not San Suu Kyi, responsible for national security and gives them a veto over constitutional amendments, solely targeting San Suu Kyi lets Myanmar's military, who are the real perpetrators of this violence, off the hook. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.