share music: They sang songs, played a few tunes on their recorders and offered generous applause for every effort, according to Toronto Star. Both groups peppered Lexi Shereshewsky, who is fluent in English and Arabic, with questions about life in each other's countries. On Skype, a group of young Syrian refugees in Azraq, Jordan, had the same tools, ready to share music from the other side of the world. From Jordan, Shereshewsky translated for her students, giving them insight into what life in Canada is like. Members of the Dixon Hall Music School's March Break camp, including instructor Bob McKitrick, on a Skype call Wednesday with Syrian children living in Jordan. Article Continued Below This meetup was the first of its kind for Bob McKitrick, who runs a March Break music camp for kids who attend Dixon Hall Music School in Toronto, where he has been director for 18 years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

police: Police allege the man would tell Syrian refugees currently living in Qatar that he could help them immigrate to Canada through a church sponsorship program, according to CTV. Police allege he defrauded at least eight families so far of more than 200,000 and say they believe there are many more victims. Halton regional police say they learned of the allegations through a community volunteer group in Toronto, which was alerted of the suspected fraud from family members of some of the victims. They say the unnamed church he implicated in the alleged scheme was not involved in any way and has co-operated with the investigation. Police acknowledge the ongoing investigation is complicated by the circumstances of the alleged victims, but urge anyone with information to come forward. Police say Bashar Abdulahad from Burlington, Ont., is facing eight counts of fraud over 5,000 and one count of money laundering. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

runner-up norway: The country jumped from the fifth spot to take over first place from runner-up Norway, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland rounding out the top five, according to the new report, which tracks happiness from 2015 to 2017 and was co-edited by Canadian economist John F. Helliwell, according to CTV. Some observers have noted that colder-climate countries tend to be well-represented at the top of the list. And once again, Nordic countries have swapped positions -- this year, it's Finland's turn on top. Helliwell said that may not be a coincidence. Helliwell said, in Canada, that sense of community is more pronounced away from the country's large urban centres. An occasionally harsh climate is a good way of building the kind of co-operative spirit . . . and in fact makes people happy to co-operate with each other in protecting and making life work, he told CTV News Channel on Wednesday. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

victims police: Halton regional police say they learned of the allegations through a community volunteer group in Toronto, which was alerted of the suspected fraud from family members of some of the victims, according to Metro News. Police allege the man would tell Syrian refugees currently living in Qatar that he could help them immigrate to Canada through a church sponsorship program. A 49-year-old man from southern Ontario is facing multiple charges after allegedly defrauding Syrian refugees hoping to move to Canada of more than 200,000. Police allege he defrauded at least eight families so far of more than 200,000 and say they believe there are many more victims. Police say Bashar Abdulahad from Burlington, Ont., is facing eight counts of fraud over 5,000 and one count of money laundering. They say the unnamed church he implicated in the alleged scheme was not involved in any way and has co-operated with the investigation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

women entrepreneurs: FedNor has never focused on gender before, but that's about to change, Hajdu told CBC. Just because people can apply from both genders doesn't mean that women are going to have the equality of access, and so making sure that women entrepreneurs at the table knew that there would be a specific focus for them, I think that was something that was very specific to northern Ontario, she said, according to CBC. Cora-Lee McGuire-Cyrette is the executive director of the Ontario Native Women's Association. Women's equality is a key theme of the budget, and Hajdu touted a number of its provisions at the event at the Scand Restaurant, including an additional 2 billion in funding for Indigenous skills training over the next five years and an additional 28 million for Fed Nor, of which 6 million will be devoted to female entrepreneurship. She said increased funding for Indigenous skills development in the federal budget will help create change in communities. What that effectively meant was that Indigenous skills training had declined in value, and that as the population grew and as dollars remained stagnant in fact there was less to go around, she said. Heather Kitching/CBC As Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, Hajdu said, she fought hard for the extra funding for the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy ASETS adding she was distressed to find the program had not had an increase since its creation in 1999, despite the fact that provincial education transfers rise with inflation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ballroom scene: The subculture, started by working-class gay and transgender people of colour in New York and New Jersey, revolves around balls in which dancers from competing houses vie for trophies and cash prizes, according to NOW Magazine. The scene has occasionally crossed over into the mainstream and was immortalized in the cult 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning. See listing.A lot has been written about Canada's ballroom scene, but one topic that is often glossed over is the most integral the music. Eleven years after the House of Monroe established Canada's first official ball house, one of its most visible members is starting Toronto's first regular party dedicated to the sounds of ballroom, Ovah. Ballroom in Toronto is pretty good right now, but there are a lot of people who go to ballroom events and would come to a party, but they don't know where to find the music. We want to foster a ballroom culture from the club standpoint, says Mykel Hall, aka DJ Blackcat, who has been DJing and throwing parties in the city's gay scene for the past 25 years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

largest-recorded case: Fleeing persecution, they bought a ranch of almost 65,000 acres and set out to build a city, according to NOW Magazine. What transpired was an avalanche of conflict and scandal, yet the story of this 20th-century cult is not as well known today as some others. In 1981 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, later known as Osho, and his secretary, Ma Anand Sheela, moved their base of followers from Pune, India, to Wasco County, Oregon. It encompasses the first bio-terror attack in U.S. history to subvert voter rights, the largest-recorded case of illegal wiretapping, attempted murder and immigration fraud. At its core is the conflict with local ranchers, who felt the town was being overpopulated and they rightfully resisted the political and cultural changes brought about by the demographic shift. It sparked a national debate about the separation between church and state when the Rajneeshees invoked democracy and the American constitution as rhetorical armour. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

american dream: But for 17.34 US an hour, plus benefits, the 32-year-old is willing to swing from scaffolding like a lemur, according to CBC. Two thousand workers are being hired to renovate L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which is why Estrada was among the hundreds lined up at a recent construction job fair in downtown Los Angeles. You're standing on this pole ... terrified, he said. Eddy Estrada gives his details at a construction job fair. Kim Brunhuber/CBC He said he's hoping to help build America, and in doing so, build a better life for his family. He says undocumented people come over for the American dream and end up being placed up against the wall. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

detention facilities: According to her lawsuit, Monterrosa-Flores attempted suicide in January, according to Metro News. While the AP doesn't usually identify alleged victims of sexual assault, Monterrosa-Flores has agreed to come forward publicly. Monterrosa-Flores is being detained at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center outside Austin. She told the AP in December that she believed ICE and the facility guards were trying to intimidate her. The agency has also said it has implemented strong protections for people who are sexually assaulted in detention facilities. Women are forced to do what they say or stay silent out of fear, she said.ICE said in February that it fully respects the rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

doug ford: If he and his party win the June provincial election, it will be for homegrown reasons, according to Toronto Star. Ontario is usually a Red Tory province. Doug Ford, Ontario's new Progressive Conservative leader, is very much a homegrown phenomenon. Voters tend to elect parties, whether they call themselves PC, Liberal or New Democrat, that promise the Red Tory formula of fiscal rectitude and moderately progressive social policy. Ford is banking on the hope that Ontario is ready for one of those purges and that his PCs will be chosen on June 7 to deliver the emetic. But every now and again, when they believe matters have swung too much to one side or the other, Ontarians elect a more radical government one that promises to purge the system and restore balance. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

education system: French Immersion has many more flaws than the three Studin glosses over, and our failure to recognize and address these issues weakens our public education system and diminishes the quality of education for all students, according to Toronto Star. Studin asserts that French Immersion is an important part of supporting official bilingualism, but that was never the original intention of the program. He's either mistaken or misguided. When the Mothers of Immersion, Murielle Parks, Olga Melikoff and Valerie Neal established French Immersion in 1965, their goal was to help Anglophone children living in a mostly French speaking province become better at French. That's just as well, because in most situations French Immersion isn't very effective at creating bilingual citizens. They weren't trying to produce students who were bilingual. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

peace activism: Scott Neigh talks with her about how the world and peace activism have changed in the last three and a half decades, and about the ways in which the Ploughshares Calgary Society is still patiently and persistently working towards a more just and peaceful world, according to Rabble. In some ways, when it comes to questions of war and peace, the world is a very different place than it was thirty-five years ago. She was one of the founders in 1982 of the peace group currently known as the Ploughshares Calgary Society, and today she is still involved. In that era, the world was dominated by two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. In 2018, the world is quite a different place. After a detente period that lasted much of the 1970s, Cold War tensions were once again high in the early 1980s and the risk of nuclear annihilation felt sufficiently imminent to mobilize hundreds of thousands into the streets in peace marches in Canada in that decade, and millions more in the rest of the world. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

james laxer: James Laxer passed away in France, February 23, 2018, according to Rabble. Matt Fodor In what area do you feel you made the biggest difference for the NDP James Laxer I would say that what the Waffle did and I was very much involved in that in the late '60s and early '70s was to do, I think, two or three things. Note at the time this was conducted Tom Mulcair was still NDP leader and Corbyn was not yet Labour leader. One was to bring the debate and discussion about the American empire and its control of Canada much more into the NDP than it had been before -- doesn't mean that it hadn't existed before but there's no question is what the Waffle did, and what I did as part of it, hugely increased that perception, the perception that Canada was a dependency of the United States as a capitalist power, and it was in terms of American economic domination of the country, and political domination and military domination of the country, that this was a very serious crisis that Canada faced. Related to that very much was the focus on the resource sector, the primary sector of the Canadian economy and the need to Canadianize through public ownership parts of the resource industry, especially the petroleum industry, and so we were the people in the NDP who really brought the debate about the petroleum sector into the party and I think we had a huge influence on the country and on the creation of Petro Canada in the years following that. I think that would be the first thing. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

jerry statements: He was responding to Pelosi's statement that the arrests were an abuse of power intended to terrorize innocent immigrant families, according to Metro News. Homan also took aim and U.S. Sen. Thomas Homan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's acting director, said Monday that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's comments on a recent spate of immigration arrests in Northern California were beyond the pale. Dianne Feinstein's comment that a federal lawsuit against the state is an attempt to score points with Trump's base. Jerry Brown's statements defending the state's level of co-operation with federal immigration authorities. 12 30 p.m. He lambasted Gov. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ontario: Members say Ford is the change that Ontario needs, according to CBC. I think Doug Ford is going to resonate with young voters when it comes to authenticity, when it comes to speaking his mind and making sure people understand, explained Oosterhoff, who at 20 years old is the youngest Ontario MPP to ever be elected. Election of Doug Ford as PC leader offers Ontario only 'Toronto-centric' options, says mayor Windsor NDP confident orange stronghold will remain, despite Ford leadership win Members of the student association met with Sam Oosterhoff, the PC MPP for Niagara West-Glanbrook, Monday night to discuss where the party is headed next. Oosterhoff spoke to about a dozen men at the University of Windsor campus. Meg Roberts/CBC News I think Ford is so energetic, he is charismatic, he is caring, he just has this energy about him that attracts different walks of life to him, said Sam Galea, a member of the student-run group. Niagara West Glanbrook PC MPP, Sam Oosterhoff met with the Conservative Association at the University of Windsor to talk about change students want to see. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

pharmacy assistant: As the owner of one of the province's busiest Shoppers Drug Mart stores, her store in Clayton Park not only employs 70 full- and part-time employees, but serves 30,000 people, including several Syrian refugee families, according to The Chronicle Herald. I have one of the most diverse stores in Halifax, said Gabr in a recent interview. Since arriving in Halifax from Egypt in 2000, Gabr has been building a successful career and giving back to her new community whenever she can. I represent Halifax in my store. Her pharmacy was the first, she said, to hire a refugee as an overnight pharmacy assistant. Some of her employees are from Russia, China, Pakistan, as well as Syria. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

resolution: As I detailed previously, the Palestine Resolution was confusingly renamed, deprioritized, and then blocked from being debated on the convention floor, according to Rabble. The suppression of a resolution unanimously endorsed by the NDP youth convention, many outside groups and over 25 riding associations was the latest in a long line of leadership anti-Palestinian actions. At last month's convention the party machine blocked any debate of the Palestine Resolution, which mostly restated official Canadian policy, except that it called for banning settlement products from Canadian markets, and using other forms of diplomatic and economic pressure to end the occupation. However, the first leader of Canada's original social democratic party actually took a sensible humanist position, criticizing the colonialist/nationalist movement's impact on the indigenous population. Why 'pick on the Arabs' other than for 'strategic' and 'imperialistic' consideration. In 1938 CCF the NDP's predecessor leader J. S. Woodsworth said, it was easy for Canadians, Americans, and the British to agree to a Jewish colony, as long as it was somewhere else. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rights violations: The report of the Fact-Finding Mission, chaired by former Indonesian Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman, was based on hundreds of accounts by victims and witnesses of reported human rights violations, as well as satellite imagery, photographs and video footage, according to Metro News. The mission's members were barred by Myanmar's government from entering the country, so its researchers interviewed refugees and others in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. Government spokesman Zaw Htay said the reports presented Monday by the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar and U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee lacked credibility. Zaw Htay said Buddhist-majority Myanmar had barred the Fact-Finding Mission because it rejected its legitimacy. We are not denying rights violations but we are asking for strong, fact-based, and trustworthy evidence on the allegations they are making, Zaw Htay told The Associated Press by telephone. He questioned the reliability of its research and cast doubts on the credibility of the refugees' stories. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trump: He said the first thing he noticed on the drive to the border was the patched-up holes in part of the existing fence, according to Toronto Star. We have a lousy wall over here now, but at least it stops 90, 95 per cent, Trump said. Trump, making his first trip to California as president, said he preferred a fully concrete wall because it was the hardest to climb, but he noted that it needed to be see-through. When we put up the real wall, we're going to stop 99 per cent. Read more California prepares for Donald Trump's first visit since taking office Article Continued Below California governor says Jeff Sessions acting like Fox News' over immigration policy react-text 145 Members of a migrants rights group carry a pinata with the face of Trump on it during an anti-border wall rally on Tuesday in Tijuana, Mexico. /react-text Gregory Bull / The Associated Press Trump administration sues California to block its sanctuary laws Trump's visit was greeted with peaceful protests by demonstrators both for and against his planned wall. Maybe more than that. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trump: He said he preferred a fully concrete wall because it was the hardest to climb, but he noted that it needed to be see-through, according to CTV. Trump said the first thing he noticed on the drive to view the prototypes was the patched-up holes in part of the existing fence at the border. The president, making his first trip to California as president, appeared engaged as he was briefed on eight border wall designs. We have a lousy wall over here now, but at least it stops 90, 95 per cent, Trump said. Maybe more than that. When we put up the real wall, we're going to stop 99 per cent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

unexploded ordinance: Of Syria's estimated 10 million children, 8.6 million are now in dire need of assistance, up from about half a million after the first year of war, according to CTV. Nearly 6 million children are displaced or living as refugees, and about 2.5 million are out of school. The numbers speak for themselves. Over 3 million children are exposed to the hazards of unexploded ordinance and land mines, even in areas where the conflict has died down. While the UN has verified about 2,500 children killed between 2014 and 2017, it says the actual numbers are far higher. Some 40 per cent of those killed by land mines are children. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ford: Sound familiar While the anti-abortion group's number one candidate was Tanya Granic Allen, who primarily ran on a campaign to repeal and rewrite the sex education curriculum in schools, Ford was clearly their Option B, writes Toulas Take onpoli cdnpoli pcpo Clearly it does, as the very next day, former Toronto Star columnist and activist Desmond Cole tweeted I don't want to wake up on June 8th and read that 53 per cent of Ontario's white women voted for Doug Ford, according to National Observer. Y'all better come correct. In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Doug Ford just beat three well-qualified and for the most part, experienced women to win the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership in a largely contested and down-to-the-wire chaotic race that had Christine Elliott winning the popular vote, but still losing the leadership campaign. Cole was clearly alluding to Donald Trump's election as U.S. president, and exit polls pointing to the undeniable fact that he owed his victory to a majority percentage of white women voting for him, despite running a campaign that was heavy on sexism and derogatory comments against minorities. ; Today, Ford appears to be carrying a similar formula into a new campaign as Ontarians prepare for their own general election on June 7.I don't want to wake up on june 8th and read that 53% of ontario's white women voted for doug ford, y'all better come correct here for dafonte Desmond Cole March 11, 2018Religious right takes credit for Doug Ford victory Cole wasn't the only person voicing an opinion on Ford's win. While the anti-abortion group's number one candidate was Tanya Granic Allen, who primarily ran on a campaign to repeal and rewrite the sex education curriculum in schools, Ford was clearly their Option B. CLC recruited more than 9,000 PC memberships in support of Tanya Granic Allen, and we asked supporters to rank Ford 2. The next day, Campaign Life Coalition, Canada's biggest anti-abortion organization, had issued a press release congratulating him for his win and even taking some credit. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

countries: The status is granted to countries ravaged by natural disasters or war, according to Metro News. It lets citizens of those countries remain in the U.S. until the situation improves back home. Nine immigrants and five children filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco to reinstate temporary protected status for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan. The lawsuit at least the third challenging the administration's decision to end temporary protected status cites President Donald Trump's vulgar language during a meeting in January to describe African countries. Arevalo spoke at a rally to announce the lawsuit outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco that was attended by some of the plaintiffs and dozens of demonstrators, some carrying signs that read, Let Our People Stay. They did it because of xenophobia, and we need to make sure that we say it loudly so that everyone knows, said Martha Arevalo, executive director of the immigrant advocacy group, Central American Resource Center. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

st: John's for himself and eight other Syrians, according to CBC. Our visit is a kind of saying thank you to this country, which is now our country, he told the St. John's say it's their way of saying, 'Thank you.' On Friday, Mohamed Al Maksour, who works as a translator at the Association for New Canadians, organized a trip to Canadian Blood Services in St. John's Morning Show. It was a sentiment repeated in a handwritten letter to the generous country which helped us and saved our souls. It's a kind of contribution, that we belong to this country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

crime alicbusan: Why are they doing this to us, what did we do wrong she asked, according to Toronto Star. Is having a child with a disability a crime Alicbusan was among a small group of protesters who spent Monday morning holding signs and chanting outside immigration minister Ahmed Hussen's constituency office in North York. When she applied for permanent residency two years later, she said she was rejected because of her son's condition. They were protesting a 40-year-old section of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that says foreign nationals are inadmissible if their medical condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services. She visits the Philippines every two years to see him. Article Continued Below Alicbusan said the government considers her son a burden on Canada's health system. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigration: The group called upon the minister to repeal section 38 1 c of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which it says denies permanent residency to an entire family if one member is sick or has a disability that would pose excessive demand on Canada's health care system, according to CBC. One thousand people and their families were rejected on this basis in 2014 alone. More than 30 people rallied outside the Toronto office of Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen in opposition to a policy that they say is discriminatory. Ottawa to present plan to amend policy that rejects immigrants on medical grounds by April, Hussen says Liberals to scrap policy that rejects sick, disabled immigrants A handful of caregivers, many from the Philippines, said the policy separates and divides families because it denies status to their children with disabilities. Some cried as they described the pain of being apart from their loved ones for years while caring for children not their own. They said the policy means they cannot be reunited with their own families. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.