lebanese-canadian neurologist: You can see the test here . The Lebanese-Canadian neurologist learned from a reporter Tuesday afternoon that the White House had selected the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to test the president's faculties after days of speculation about his state, according to CTV. This was the test Nasreddine developed as a young researcher two decades ago, in an effort to quickly assess, within 10 or 12 minutes, whether someone has suffered light cognitive impairment or the onset of Alzheimer's disease, by asking them to perform tasks such as drawing a clock, identifying animals and remembering words. That person was Ziad Nasreddine -- who designed the test. He says it has now been used in 200 countries, in 60 languages, and has been deployed in one developing country to demonstrate its leader was no longer fit to govern. It's really an honour for me, said Nasreddine, now affiliated with McGill and Sherbrooke universities in Quebec. On Tuesday, the White House announced Trump's score 30 for 30. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

office: You and others in the room suddenly cannot remember what the president said during Thursday's meeting in the Oval Office, Sen, according to Toronto Star. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in an impassioned speech during a Senate judiciary committee hearing. You are under oath. Your silence and your amnesia is complicity. Dick Durbin, who was at the meeting, and other people who were briefed on it afterward. The president referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries during the meeting as shithole countries and said he preferred to receive immigrants from countries like Norway, according to Sen. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rohingya: It said they agreed that the process would be completed preferably within two years from the commencement of repatriation, according to CBC. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an initial agreement in November to repatriate the Rohingya, and the 30-member working group was set up last month to oversee the process. The ministry said a joint working group from the two countries finalized an agreement on Monday on the physical arrangements for the repatriation of the ethnic Rohingya. Many have questions whether the Rohingya would return to Myanmar under the current circumstances, and whether Myanmar would accept them and allow them to live freely. Denied citizenship More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August, when Myanmar's military launched a brutal crackdown in Rakhine state after a militant group attacked police posts. Over 6,700 Rohingya killed in a single month, Doctors Without Borders estimates Destruction of Rohingya villages continues Human Rights Watch Under the November agreement, Rohingya will need to provide evidence of their residency in Myanmar in order to return something many say they do not have. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

syrian family: The community organization was founded to re-settle refugees in the territory, according to CBC. It's now assisting an Eritrean man who has come to Canada from Israel, de Queiroz said. She said Yukon Cares which sponsored the first Syrian refugee family to come to Yukon, two years ago is working on a number of refugee files. It is also waiting for the final clearances for a single Syrian man and a Syrian family of five, said de Queiroz. Raquel De Queiroz, far left, with three of the Aarafat sisters, in 2016 at Swan Haven on Marsh Lake. They are relatives of the Aarafats, the first family who came to Yukon. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

west bank: The letter also makes clear that additional U.S. donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel, according to Toronto Star. We would like to see some reforms be made, said State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded. In a letter, the State Department notified the UN Relief and Works Agency that the U.S. is withholding 65 million of a planned 125 million funding instalment to the body. This is not aimed at punishing anyone. The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Read more Israelis voice warnings, Palestinians talk of blackmail' after Trump threatens to cut funding Article Continued Below Israeli leaders criticize Palestinian president for fiery anti-Trump speech Trump threatens to cut off U.S. aid to Palestinian Authority in series of tweets The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the instalment 60 million to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down. react-empty 163 The U.S. is UNWRA's largest donor, supplying nearly 30 per cent of its budget. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

house leader.article: He has handled major portfolios, including attorney general, finance, health and forests, plus acted as house leader.article continues below Trending Stories City council approves Cambie Bridge bike lane From late-night buses to living wages how to tackle Vancouver's restaurant staff shortage Council moves toward making Vancouver a 'fair, safe and inclusive city' for women Mayor Robertson told to 'man up' on pledge for 90 million social housing project Last time he ran for the leadership, he came fourth out of four, dropping out after getting just nine per cent of the vote, according to Vancouver Courier. It raises the question of whether he's a natural-born lieutenant, as opposed to a leader. After the Liberals took power in 2001, he evolved into a competent cabinet minister with a huge range of experience. His key move to date was to pick up Rich Coleman's endorsement on the weekend. Michael Lee You can come out of a leadership race a winner, even if you don't win, by building profile, making connections and gaining clout. Coleman is a powerhouse within the party, with a long list of favours he can call in from people all over B.C. De Jong is doing better than he did seven years ago. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

american worker: In fact, Trump apologists and the president himself might be surprised by what Canadian economic data says about immigrants from the s---hole countries, according to Toronto Star. John Fredericks, who was Trump's campaign chair in Virginia, told CNN that immigrants from those countries come into the United States and they do nothing to increase the prosperity of the American worker. The president may have used salty language, but it's really just his way of saying the United States should have a merit-based immigration system like Canada's and that immigrants from so-called s---hole countries are not typically highly skilled or economically self-reliant. They lower wages or go on welfare and extend our entitlement system . Australia and Canada have a merit-based system. Article Continued Below The conclusion we are expected to make, it seems, is that if the United States was to adopt a purely merit-based system, immigrants would come from countries like Norway, and immigrants from these Norway-like countries would not put pressure on blue-collar U.S. workers because they would be highly skilled and, more importantly, they wouldn't be a drain on the system because they would be economically self-reliant. You know why they do that Because they want to bring people into their country who are going to enhance the prosperity of their citizens. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

abdoul abdi: Abdoul Abdi's supporters protest his possible deportation at Trudeau town hall On Monday, an Immigration and Refugee Board member ordered that Abdi be released from immigration detention and transferred to a halfway house in Toronto, according to CBC. For Mr. Abdoul Abdi, who spent the last week and a half detained on immigration grounds in jails in the Maritimes and Ontario after serving a four-year prison sentence, could be released as early as tomorrow, according to his lawyer, Ben Perryman. Abdi it means that he can have his liberty back, said Perryman. Abdi of his liberty. Our position all along was that this detention has been both unlawful and unnecessary, and that it's deprived Mr. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

alabama gov: King says When a president insists that our nation needs more citizens from white states like Norway, I don't even think we need to spend any time even talking about what it says and what it is, according to Metro News. He says We got to find a way to work on this man's heart. Martin Luther King III spoke in Washington on Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Referring to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, King added George Wallace was a staunch racist and we worked on his heart and ultimately George Wallace transformed. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

clearance operation: Though Myanmar's army claimed it was a clearance operation against the terrorists, the United Nations, United States and others have said the operations were ethnic cleansing to remove the Rohingya from the country, according to The Chronicle Herald. Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement in November to repatriate Rohingya and set up a working group last month to oversee the repatriation of people who had fled violence in the northern part of Rakhine state in western Myanmar. More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military launched a brutal crackdown in August following attacks on police posts by a militant group. Win Myat Aye, the minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, said Myanmar was hosting a one-day meeting Monday with Bangladesh officials in the capital Naypyitaw to discuss the logistics of how many Rohingya will be allowed into Myanmar and how they will be scrutinized to be placed in the camps. We are planning ahead to be able accept the returnees from next week and we are sure that this will be done on time, Win Myat Aye said. Officials plan to start the repatriation process from Jan. 23. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

corey: Other victims included a 30-year-old man and his 6-year-old son and father-in-law; a doctor and his daughter who died in the arms of her brother, a young mother asleep with her 3-year-old daughter as her 10-year-old nephew slumbered nearby; and a woman and her 89-year-old husband of more than 50 years who celebrated his birthday the day before the disaster, according to Metro News. Here are their stories and those of others in the community where victims ranged from captains of industry to the people who manicure their lawns Sisters Sawyer Corey, 12, and Morgan Christine Corey, 25, were sleeping when the mud smashed into their home. An immigrant from Mexico and a pair of sisters were among the 20 people killed in devastating mudslides that brought tragedy and sorrow to the idyllic coastal community of Montecito, California. Sawyer was found dead earlier in the week. As with so many other families, we know that as their house came down around them our girls clung to each other as best they could while being washed away, their brother Taylor Owens wrote on a fundraising web page. Her sister's body was found Saturday in mud and debris. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

florida resort: At gatherings across the nation, activists, residents and teachers honoured the late civil rights leader on what would have been his 89th birthday and ahead of the 50th anniversary of his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, according to CTV. But in the many speeches delivered from pulpits and podiums across the country, Trump's name came up nearly as often as King's, with speakers indicating that his turbulent presidency was undermining efforts to ease racial tensions in the U.S. The president spent his first Martin Luther King Jr. Angry pro-Haiti protesters and Trump supporters yelled at each other from opposite sides of a street near the president's Florida resort. Day in office buffeted by claims that during a meeting with senators on immigration last week, he used a vulgarity to describe African countries and questioned the need to allow more Haitians into the U.S. He also is said to have asked why the country couldn't have more immigrants from nations like Norway. He added, We got to find a way to work on this man's heart. In Washington, King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, criticized Trump, saying, When a president insists that our nation needs more citizens from white states like Norway, I don't even think we need to spend any time even talking about what it says and what it is. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrant entrepreneur: When Danish-born Pernille Fischer Boulter arrived in Nova Scotia, she wrote letters introducing herself to 100 of the province's top CEOs, according to The Chronicle Herald. In her new book, Tales from an Immigrant Entrepreneur, the author describes how this enabled her to meet influential people, including John Risley, then-CEO of Clearwater Fine Foods. Entrepreneurs often need to work hard to win introductions. Pernille, the founder of Kisserup International Trade Roots, has worked on export development with small, micro and medium businesses in 90 countries. I'd worked in a high-paid, high-stress sales job in Europe for American computer manufacturer Commodore . I'd been responsible for hundreds of dealers, budgets of millions of dollars, profit and loss responsibility, and daily international contact, she said. But when she arrived in Chester in 1998 after marrying Canadian entrepreneur Keith Boulter she struggled to find what she wanted a sales job in an IT company. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

a.b: To protect the man's privacy, he was only randomly identified by court as A.B. The circumstances under which Mr, according to Toronto Star. A.B. contracted HIV are wholly irrelevant to the issue before the IAD, as are any issues related to the applicant's father's moral character, said Justice Shirzad Ahmed in a recent decision to send the case back to the tribunal for a new assessment. In chastising Michael Sterlin, the decision-maker at the immigration appeal division IAD tribunal, the court said that how the 62-year-old immigration applicant got HIV had nothing to do with the sponsorship case. The IAD appears to make judgments against Mr. In 2009, one of A.B.'s two daughters who are both Canadian citizens living in Ottawa applied to sponsor him and his wife to come to Canada under family reunification. A.B.'s moral character, and in doing so, the IAD acts as moral police. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

shithole countries: They suggested that a Democrat who publicly confirmed the remarks, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, could not be trusted, according to Toronto Star. This is a gross misrepresentation, it's not the first time Sen. Republican Senators Tom Cotton Arkansas and David Perdue Georgia who attended the meeting and previously said they could not recall whether Trump had referred to shithole countries, on Sunday denied outright that Trump had ever said it. Durbin has done it and it is not productive to solving the problem we're having, Perdue said on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulos. But why would Norwegians want to leave home The accusations prompted Democrats to blast the GOP senators for impugning a colleague's integrity, while also slamming Trump and his remarks as unabashedly racist. react-empty 163 The only administration official to speak publicly this weekend about the meeting was Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who attended the session. Read more Trump partly denies, but also defends controversial immigrant remarks Article Continued Below Q and A David Frum on America's Trumpocracy'Trump wants the U.S. to take in more people from Norway. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

megan mcdowell: She says she is thrilled to be contributing to Chebucto Connections and its collaborative approach to community outreach, according to The Chronicle Herald. It is so unusual in this crazy time, when the water is rising up on everyone, to have a place like that, where you don't get an automated phone response or someone saying, Sorry, we don't have anything to offer you,' says Jones. Jones will be joined during the first half of the event by fellow artists Rhys Bevan-John, Megan McDowell and Veronique Mac Kenzie. Chebucto Connections serves an area stretching from the Armdale Rotary to Sambro and the staff hopes this fundraiser will draw wider attention to the range of work they do. ECHO community organizations share a rotating physical presence at Chebucto Connections' space on Herring Cove Road as well as a virtual hub online to provide information and access to services. Most of their programs also fall under the umbrella of ECHO Eastern Chebucto Hub Operations which, as Christina Carter, operations manager of Chebucto Connections explains, is a group of organizations looking at how to deal with the most vulnerable people. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

often-visceral consequences: Once the police had finished their work, mosque administrators opened the doors to journalists, if only to show firsthand the often-visceral consequences of unchecked hatred and ignorance, according to CBC. It was like the aftermath of war. Less than 48 hours before, a gunman had walked into the centre, killing six and injuring 19. Men and women parishioners wandered around, dazed and weeping. And blood was everywhere on the carpet and prayer rugs, on the Linoleum floor outside the main room, caking the stairs to the basement and circling a storage closet drain. Bullets, dozens of them, had splintered drywall and shattered glass. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ont .,: Previous reporting below As Toronto police investigate an attack on a 11-year-old Muslim girl this week as a possible hate crime, a human rights advocate says that official statistics provide only a tiny glimpse into the kinds of hateful acts minority communities face in Canada, according to CBC. Khawlah Noman, a student at Pauline Johnson Junior Public School in Scarborough, Ont., was walking to school on Friday morning when a man approached her from behind and tried twice to cut off her hijab with a pair of scissors, according to police. Full details here. For those of us who wear a head scarf, it's like we have a target on us, said Amira Elghawaby, a human rights advocate based in Ottawa. They are incidents that are meant to send a message that certain communities are not welcome. Elghawaby was formerly spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims NCCM . These are message crimes. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

toronto police: According to officers at the time, the 11-year-old girl was on her way to Pauline Johnson Public School in Scarborough, when she felt something and turned around to see a man trying to cut her hijab with a pair of scissors, according to CTV. She said she screamed and ran away, but the man returned less than 10 minutes later and tried to cut it once again. On Friday, Toronto police said they were investigating a report that a young girl was attacked by a man with scissors, as she was walking to school in the east end of the city. In speaking with CTV News on Monday, Toronto Police Service spokesperson Mark Pugash said investigators reached the conclusion after sifting through the evidence. We have spoken with the girl we have spoken to all the people the public would expect us to speak to in the course of a thorough investigation, and when we put all of that together -- we looked at it very closely -- and that was the conclusion that we came to. We had, as everyone knows, allegations of an extremely serious crime on Friday which we investigated -- we had a team of investigators who put together a significant amount of evidence and they came to the conclusion that the events that were alleged did not happen, Pugash said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canada: She will focus on the unique contribution of young people in Canada today. 7 30 pm, according to NOW Magazine. Free. The author of the bestselling Prisoner Of Tehran will present her perspective on the challenges faced today in Canada, in Iran and throughout the world. The lecture is sponsored by Romero House for Refugees as part of its contribution to the civic life of the city. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

citizenship rights: Those laws keep changing and although most of the changes are for the better, each time it happens, someone is surprised to find out they don't qualify for citizenship, according to National Observer. Don Chapman, author of The Lost Canadians A Struggle for Citizenship Rights, Equality, and Identity, has been an advocate for the Lost Canadians for years, after his struggles with losing citizenship and fighting to regain it. Consider what it would be like to grow up in Canada with Canadian parents, but then have a baby in another country and discover your child is not entitled to Canadian citizenship. ; It's happened to many people over the past few decades, as Canada has changed its citizenship laws. Loopholes in the law Chapman warns that citizenship in Canada is not written into constitutional law. Citizenship is a constitutional right in the United States, Chapman said in an interview with National Observer. He argues the problem that has plagued Canadian citizenship for more than 100 years is that citizenship laws which still have discriminatory loopholes keep changing, depending on which government takes power. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

law: An overwhelming influx of refugees, sweeping legislative changes, unreasonable long-term detentions and deportations These are the topics that come to people's minds when they hear the phrase immigration law, according to NOW Magazine. When stories about immigration law make it to the news, they are filled with drama. Most applicants are rejected without reason. These stories are striking, and rightly so changes in and misapplication of immigration law can have dire consequences for those involved. It is these unremarkable injustices that truly expose the culture of complacency and arbitrariness in immigration law enforcement, and give the best perspective on the rot within the system. However, with the public eye turned toward the sensational, mundane everyday injustices go under the radar. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

wage hikes: In both processes, the planned increases have generated significant public debate, including the predictable circulation of exaggerated claims about the supposed harmful effects of minimum wage increases and stereotypes of who will benefit, according to National Observer. I'd like to use recent economic research on minimum wage hikes to debunk five of the most common claims, using examples from several Canadian provinces. Ontario will reach the same wage rate on January 1, 2019. Claim 1. Not only is the province raising the minimum wage to a level that is proportionally higher than anything known before, but it is doing it within an incredibly short timeline. Large minimum wage increases are without precedents ; Earlier this week, Tristin Hopper wrote in the National Post that Ontario's minimum wage will rise 29 per cent from 11.60 to 15 within the span of a year. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

basilica: Peter's Basilica on Sunday, a day the Catholic Church dedicated to the issues and contributions of those who leave homelands in hope of a better life, according to Metro News. New arrivals must know and respect the laws, the culture and the traditions of the countries that take them in, he said. At his invitation, several thousand migrants, refugees and immigrants from 49 countries joined Francis at Mass in St. Local communities must open themselves without prejudices to their rich diversity, to understand the hopes and potential of the newly arrived as well as their fears and vulnerabilities. As a result, we often refuse to encounter the other and raise barriers to defend ourselves. It is not easy to enter into another culture, to put oneself in the shoes of people so different from us, to understand their thoughts and their experiences, Francis said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

holmes: The inference is spot on The Sunshine Eaters, taken literally, is a nod to the plant nourishment, sustained as they are by those nurturing rays, according to Toronto Star. But there are heavy politics to be found in the ground from which they grow, and you don't have to dig deep to uncover them. Nearby and behind glass, delicate watercolours of native plants, painted around the turn of the last century by longtime OCAD University faculty member Robert Holmes, sit quietly arrayed on easels, suggesting, maybe, something not quite finished. Land, simply put, is power, and he because it's always been he who has it, holds it. If you worried what would happen to the fiery tenor of the art world's Canada 150 rebuke once the calendar turned, then this will come as welcome assurance. Between Obasawim and Holmes lies a chasm of difference From the blithe privilege of a delicate visual taxonomy to an urgent plea to return what was taken, The Sunshine Eaters sets up as a have and have-not polemic that defies its poetic title. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

child refugee: Abdi came to Canada as a child refugee from Somalia in 2000 with his sister and aunts, according to Toronto Star. His mother died in a refugee camp while awaiting the three-year process that eventually landed his family here. Abdi's is a tragic story that highlights the gaps in Canadian institutions and systems that disproportionately and negatively impact Black Canadians. Under uncertain circumstances, of which his family continues to seek clarification due to language barriers at the time, the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services removed a 7-year-old Abdi and his sister from the care of their aunt. Article Continued Below Abdi's aunt never stopped fighting for guardianship, and while she obtained her own citizenship she was denied the opportunity to apply for citizenship on behalf of her niece and nephew. Over the next decade the siblings were separated and Abdi was shuffled between 31 homes. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.