border: A family, claiming to be from Colombia, is arrested by RCMP officers as they cross the border into Canada from the United States as asylum seekers on April 18, 2018 near Champlain, N.Y. Paul Chiasson / THE CANADIAN PRESS The increased costs are largely driven by longer wait times for migrants to have their asylum claims resolved, the PBO said, according to Toronto Star. The longer an asylum claim takes, the longer asylum claimants depend on federal and provincial assistance. An analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office PBO released Thursday projected the cost associated with irregular migration people crossing the Canada-U.S. border outside border checkpoints is projected to rise over the coming years. Our estimates suggest the Liberal government has not budgeted enough, which will result in an increased backlog at the Immigration and Refugee Board the funding falls short significantly, said newly-appointed Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux. Article Continued Below The PBO estimated the per migrant cost to the immigration and health-care systems while an asylum waits potentially for years for their claim to be processed at 14,321. Increasing the backlog means individuals have to stay in limbo for a number of years The longer they are in limbo, the longer they are benefitting from the interim federal health program, and that drives up the cost. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

budget officer: The actual amounts vary depending on how long asylum seekers wait for their refugee claims to be finalized, budget officer Yves Giroux wrote in his report, according to CTV. Claimants accepted at their first hearings cost the federal government less; those who exhaust all legal avenues and are eventually removed from Canada cost more. A report Thursday from the parliamentary budget officer calculates the average cost of each irregular migrant who arrived in Canada between April 2017 and March 2018 at 14,321. The PBO projects that costs per migrant will rise to 16,666 in the fiscal year ending March 2020 because of longer wait times for migrants waiting to complete the entire asylum-claim process, which will mean the federal government will be responsible for their health care for longer. Canada has experienced an influx of irregular migrants through the border with the United States since early 2017, shortly after the Trump administration took steps to end temporary protected status for tens of thousands of migrants living in the U.S. Since then, almost 35,000 asylum seekers have filed refugee claims at the Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada's arm's-length agency that deals with refugee claims and appeals. Giroux warned that 340 million or more could become an annual cost if Canada doesn't see any decrease in the number of irregular asylum-seekers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

drug lord: The drug lord himself was donating munificently to the local United Way, speaking at service clubs about the importance of keeping kids off drugs, and shushing off protesting do-gooders by claiming there was no use calling the police on him, because even if his operation were to be taken down, someone else would just take his place, according to Rabble. That sickening conundrum pretty much sums up the current status of the Canadian weapons industry and, specifically, London, Ontario's General Dynamics Land Systems plant, which is providing 15 billion in killer weapons to the Saudi regime to repress women at home and mercilessly slaughter civilians in neighbouring Yemen. Each dealer was paid good, taxable wages and benefits, and their faces were featured in ads expressing great pride in their work to make the local economy strong and stable. The company is seen as a good corporate citizen for donating to local charities and for helping hundreds keep food on the table. Public relations mess Meanwhile in Ottawa, Liberal spin masters are struggling to keep up with an ever-growing list of Saudi atrocities the genocide of Yemenis being committed, in part, with Canadian equipment, the daily work of enforcing Saudi gender apartheid, the beheading and dismembering of opposition journalists, and the detention and torture of women's rights activists. And besides, it's Ottawa that made the call to proceed with the weapons deal. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

idea forms: This time, it was not the kind of local power failure many reserves are accustomed to, according to Rabble. Across Ontario and the northeastern U.S., 55 million people were suddenly plunged into a world without electricity during the most widespread blackout ever to hit North America. On August 14, 2003, Rice was there visiting his brothers when the power went out. Thankfully, the blackout was temporary. That idea forms the kernel of Rice's second novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, recently published by ECW press, in which an unnamed disaster cuts off a northern Ontario reserve from the outside world, leaving the community to deal with both dwindling supplies and desperate refugees from the south. If, however, the power were to stay off, the 400 citizens of Wasauksing would be equipped with much of the knowledge, skills, and resources they would need to survive. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

ghost refugees: Over-counting refugees to bring in more funding carries the risk of officials quietly pocketing the difference, according to Toronto Star. A South Sudanese refugee girl prepares to lick the last of her corn and soya porridge breakfast from her bowl, at the Imvepi reception center, where newly arrived refugees are processed before being allocated plots of land in nearby Bidi Bidi refugee settlement, in northern Uganda. The new report by the U.N.'s internal watchdog says about 11 million alone is now being spent on a recount of the South Sudanese who poured into Uganda, to weed out potentially hundreds of thousands of ghost refugees. The new report by the U.N.'s internal watchdog says about 11 million alone is now being spent on a recount of the South Sudanese who poured into Uganda, to weed out potentially hundreds of thousands of ghost refugees. Uganda has been praised internationally for welcoming refugees but has faced scrutiny over corruption in the process. Ben Curtis / Associated Press More than a million South Sudanese fled to neighbouring Uganda after fresh fighting broke out in July 2016, causing a scramble by the U.N. and other humanitarian actors to help them find food and shelter. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

harper government: Bill C 76 undoes many of the amendments passed by the Harper government through the Fair Elections Act which were widely criticized as undemocratic at the time and attempts to address foreign interference by prohibiting the use of funds from foreign entities for political advertising or election surveys and by amending the prohibition in the Canada Elections Act against making false statements about political candidates, according to Rabble. Despite these efforts, the amendments, particularly around making false statements, do not go far enough in addressing the problem of fake news and the use of social media to spread it. In response to the threat of foreign interference in the Canadian democratic process, the government has proposed a variety of amendments to the Canada Elections Act, through Bill C-76, the Elections Modernization Act. Bill C-76 in era of social media Bill C 76 was released in April of this year, just a month after it became public knowledge that Cambridge Analytica had collected personal data from millions of Facebook accounts, which was then used for targeted political advertising to those Facebook users with the goal of influencing elections in the U.S. and U.K. Bill C 76 came a year after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the U.S. released a report detailing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. More recently, the New York Times reported that Facebook executives knew about the extent of Russian activity on the social media platform -- in particular the use of false information spread through Facebook to influence users during the 2016 U.S. Elections -- and that these executives took steps to conceal the extent of this interference from the public. It also came after the Canadian Communications Security Establishment released a report on cyber threats to Canada's democratic process, which identified the manipulation of traditional and social media in order to influence political discussion and/or reduce trust in the democratic process as a major threat to Canadian democracy. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

report: The report is the result of work by three historians commissioned by the English Montreal School Board last June to review the controversial history program, which has been criticized by Quebec's Indigenous, anglophone and other cultural communities, according to CTV. The program, compulsory in all high schools across the province since September 2017, focuses narrowly on the experience of and events pertaining to the group of French Quebecois from contact until present day, the report says. Students in the Grade 9 and 10 Canadian and Quebec history classes are being taught a skewed, one-sided view of the past that distorts the historical record, according to the committee report, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press. It says Indigenous peoples are presented throughout the course as other and antagonists, rather than human beings whose place was colonized by outsiders. Black history is virtually ignored, the report says, and women are relegated to a few sidebars or disconnected paragraphs in both textbooks. The texts largely ignore the contributions of Irish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Haitian and other immigrants while offering no indication these groups helped to transform the city of Montreal, it continues. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

muslims accounting: Hate crimes targeting black people accounted for 16 per cent of all hate crimes in Canada in 2017, according to CTV. They stayed the most common type of race- or ethnicity-related hate crime. According to data from Stats Canada released Thursday, police-reported hate crime increased sharply in 2017 with incidents targeting blacks, Jews and Muslims accounting for most of the national increases. Incidents involving Muslims more than doubled between 2016 and 2017, one year after police reported a decrease in hate crimes targeting that population. Data for Windsor, Lakeshore, Tecumseh, LaSalle and Amherstburg shows 19 hate crime incidents investigated by police last year, compared to 10 in 2016 per 100,000 population. Hate crimes targeting Jews increased for the second consecutive year and accounted for 18 per cent of all hate crimes nationally. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

health care: The PBO projects that costs per migrant will rise to 16,666 in the fiscal year ending March 2020 because of longer wait times for migrants waiting to complete the entire asylum-claim process, which will mean the federal government will be responsible for their health care for longer, according to Vancouver Courier. Giroux warned that 340 million or more could become an annual cost if Canada doesn't see any decrease in the number of irregular asylum-seekers. Claimants accepted at their first hearings cost the federal government less; those who exhaust all legal avenues and are eventually removed from Canada cost more. Canada has experienced an influx of irregular migrants through the border with the United States since early 2017, shortly after the Trump administration took steps to end temporary protected status for tens of thousands of migrants living in the U.S. Since then, almost 35,000 asylum seekers have filed refugee claims at the Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada's arm's-length agency that deals with refugee claims and appeals.A quirk in Canada's laws means that if someone makes an asylum claim on Canadian soil, Canada has to evaluate it. Many claimants have avoided official border checkpoints where they would have been turned back to the U.S. under an agreement that defines the United States as a country where refugees can safely stay. The same claim made at an official crossing from the United States would be rejected on the spot. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

alexandre bissonnette: There has been a disturbing spike of hate crimes in Canada, with attacks against Canadian Muslims more than doubling, new figures show. ottawacarl reports cdnpoli Attacks against Muslims jumped 207 per cent last year in Ontario, and almost tripled in Quebec, where reports of hate crimes peaked in the month after Alexandre Bissonnette murdered six Muslim men at the Islamic Cultural Centre in Quebec City on Jan. 29, 2017, according to National Observer. Last year, there were 664 more hate crimes nationwide than in 2016, a rise of 47 per cent. The record high of 2,073 police-reported hate crimes in 2017 was largely the result of a surge in property hate crimes like graffiti and vandalism, Statistics Canada said Thursday, and comes as Muslims are being targeted with increased ferocity. That is a much larger year-over-year increase than the growth of hate crimes in Canada between 2015 and 2016, and represents the fourth year in a row that these type of crimes have increased. ; Muslims in Quebec have expressed concerns that the issue has been flaring up due to a series of other incidents and developments, including a false report last December by a major television newscast, TVA Nouvelles, that incorrectly suggested two mosques had asked to have female construction workers removed from a site. This move is largely considered to be singling out Muslim women who wear a veil. More recently, Quebec Premier Fran ois Legault has pledged to move very quickly on a plan to ban religious symbols in the workplaces of public servants who interact directly with the population, such as teachers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

legault i: We must, at the same time, take on another challenge the survival of our planet is at stake, said Legault, according to National Observer. I cannot ignore this urgent climate challenge and continue to look my two sons in the eyes. Legault, whose right-leaning Coalition Avenir Qu bec party was elected to form a majority government on Oct. 1, 2018, made the comments as he delivered his inaugural address to the National Assembly in Quebec City. ; He said Quebec must do a better job of fighting climate change just as it tackles a major economic challenge to match the economic wealth of its neighbouring states and provinces. Being bold, in this area, consists of seeing the reality that we are facing and to roll up our sleeves, despite the colossal magnitude of the challenge in front of us. Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford decided to abandon this market after forming a majority government in his province in June. Legault says Quebec will remain in an international cap and trade carbon market that it currently shares with California and allows the private sector to set a price on carbon pollution. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

outsiders: The program, compulsory in all high schools across the province since September 2017, focuses narrowly on the experience of and events pertaining to the group of French Quebecois from contact until present day, the report says, according to Vancouver Courier. It says Indigenous peoples are presented throughout the course as other and antagonists, rather than human beings whose place was colonized by outsiders. Students in the Grade 9 and 10 Canadian and Quebec history classes are being taught a skewed, one-sided view of the past that distorts the historical record, according to the committee report, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.article continues below Trending Stories Snake yoga It's a thing and it's coming to Vancouver VIDEO Vancouver Santa Claus Parade All the road closures you need to know Vision Vancouver will not run a mayoral candidate for first time in party's history Five unregulated, Uber-like companies already operating in Richmond The report is the result of work by three historians commissioned by the English Montreal School Board last June to review the controversial history program, which has been criticized by Quebec's Indigenous, anglophone and other cultural communities. The texts largely ignore the contributions of Irish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Haitian and other immigrants while offering no indication these groups helped to transform the city of Montreal, it continues. The report concludes the textbooks are fundamentally flawed and must be withdrawn from all high schools. Black history is virtually ignored, the report says, and women are relegated to a few sidebars or disconnected paragraphs in both textbooks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

canadian citizenship: After that process was completed, the family then visited the nearest Canadian immigration office in Accra, Ghana to file the final paperwork for Ayo to receive Canadian citizenship, according to CTV. After several weeks, Clark returned to their home in Abbotsford, B.C. for work commitments while Kimberlee and Ayo waited another three months in Accra. Kimberlee and Clark Moran travelled to Ibadan, Nigeria in early August to adopt their two-year-old son Ayo. When contacted by CTV News earlier this month, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said the intercountry adoption process can between six and eight months under ideal circumstances and as long as two years depending on the child's country of origin and other factors. Last week, however, Kimberlee was hospitalized for symptoms of her multiple sclerosis. The Morans' adoption paperwork for Ayo was first received in February 2017, which means their case is just three months shy of the two year maximum estimate. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

cannabis consumption: The wearing of religious symbols will be banned from state employees in positions of authority, including primary and secondary school teachers, he said, according to CTV. It's a reasonable position. Addressing the legislature for the first time since his Coalition Avenir Quebec was elected Oct. 1, Legault said Quebecers have had enough of the debate over secularism. We will therefore be very firm, and we will move quickly. Legault's inaugural speech did not shy away from his more controversial promises, which include reducing immigration and raising the legal age of cannabis consumption from to 21 from 18. The plan to restrict religious symbols such as hijabs and kippas has been denounced by some rights advocates, although a CROP poll published earlier this week found a majority of Quebecers were in favour. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

john smith: I think that means we better grab hold of that message and run with it, or else we are in for as much trouble as Europe was in the 1930s, said Smith, vowing to take on the mantle of his father's fight for justice, according to CTV. He wanted the generations that followed him to actually build societies that actually care about all of their citizens... That's what I think he wanted his legacy to be. John Smith said he feared that with his father's death on Wednesday, the living history he embodied is on the verge of extinction, putting us at risk of perpetuating the cycle of calamity that has plagued societies past and present. The 95-year-old Smith died early Wednesday morning in hospital in Belleville, Ont., said his son, who had been issuing regular medical updates to his father's 250,000 Twitter followers. I think he has at least planted the seed in many people's hearts that we have to change the way we're going, John Smith said in a phone interview Wednesday from Belleville. The younger Smith said his father was admitted to hospital there last week for pneumonia after contracting an infection and suffering a fall. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

interview mr: I often think that if I was still living in London, would I have done this book It's because I live here and I'm alert to certain issues, Edmonds told rabble.ca in an interview, according to Rabble. Mr. Real and virtual divisions spurred the British writer to create a children's book focused on the concept of welcoming outsiders. Flamingo is a vibrantly illustrated book that chronicles the story of a flamingo forced to leave his homeland and trying to find friends after landing in Berlin. One of my favourite books as a child was about a little bird who falls out of the nest and is looking for his mum. There's a four-year-old trapped inside of me, said Edmonds. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

leslie smith: Author and activist Harry Leslie Smith, seen here at his Belleville, Ont., apartment in August, spent the final years of his life travelling the globe to bring attention to the worldwide refugee crisis, according to Toronto Star. Paul Hunter / Toronto Star Smith, who split his time between England and Canada, was well into his 80s when he first rose in the public eye through his progressive writing, speaking engagements, social media posts and podcast, in which he railed against the likes of Donald Trump and championed social welfare and compassion.A crusader against poverty and for public health care, he notably earning fame in a speech at the 2014 British Labour Party conference that drew on his poor childhood and left audience members in tears. The 95-year-old had been receiving treatment in an intensive care unit in Belleville, Ont., after his family said he suffered a fall. In his youth, he said, doctors, hospitals and medicine were for the privileged few ... common disease controlled our neighbourhood and snuffed out life like a cold breath on a warm candle's flame. Wednesday, later adding Never forget that my dad, Harry Leslie Smith died in the warm and caring arms of public health care. Article Continued Below Using his Twitter account, which had more than 250,000 follows, Smith's son John tweeted the news of his father's death at 3 39 a.m. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

us-mexico border: Migrant children part of the Central American migrants - mostly from Honduras - moving towards the United States, play with Mexico's Federal police at El Chaparral port of entry on the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, according to Toronto Star. HHS and DHS are using information on U.S.-based relatives and other potential sponsors obtained from detained children to arrest and deport those families. In a Wednesday letter to the heads of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, 112 civil-liberties and immigrant-rights groups, child-welfare advocates and privacy activists are crying foul, demanding an immediate halt to what they call an illegal practice. GUILLERMO ARIAS / AFP/GETTY IMAGES HHS and DHS are using information on U.S.-based relatives and other potential sponsors obtained from detained children to arrest and deport those families, the authors complain. The new role for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, an HHS unit that works to reunite unaccompanied migrant children with relatives until their legal status can be resolved, began under an information-sharing agreement it quietly signed in April with immigration enforcement agencies in DHS. Fingerprints and personal data from would-be sponsors and members of their households were then fed into a DHS database originally intended to track criminal histories but revamped in May to aid immigration verification, government documents show. Already, they write, families have become too scared to step forward to sponsor children. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

vacancy rate: The CMHC's annual rental market survey found that Ontario, B.C. and Manitoba all saw an increase in vacancy rates, while Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces all saw declines, according to Toronto Star. Stephen Vanhorn / File photo Dreamstime CMHC said demand for rental housing grew at a faster pace than supply. In its annual rental market survey, the housing agency said Wednesday in 2018, the vacancy rate across the country was 2.4 per cent, down from three per cent in 2017. It found that the number of occupied units climbed by 2.5 per cent in October 2018, compared with an increase of 1.9 per cent in the same month a year earlier. The decrease in the vacancy rate was attributable in part to the strong increase in international migration, said Aled ab Iorwerth, CMHC's deputy chief economist. Ontario, B.C. and Manitoba all saw small increases in its vacancy rates, while Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces all saw declines amid steady demand for rental units, the agency said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

hhs unit: Already, they write, families have become too scared to step forward to sponsor children, according to Vancouver Courier. The new role for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, an HHS unit that works to reunite unaccompanied migrant children with relatives until their legal status can be resolved, began under an information-sharing agreement it quietly signed in April with immigration enforcement agencies in DHS. Fingerprints and personal data from would-be sponsors and members of their households were then fed into a DHS database originally intended to track criminal histories but revamped in May to aid immigration verification, government documents show. In a Wednesday letter to the heads of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security, 112 civil-liberties and immigrant-rights groups, child-welfare advocates and privacy activists are crying foul, demanding an immediate halt to what they call an illegal practice.article continues below Trending Stories Minimum wage increases go into effect June 1 across B.C. Vancouver Santa Claus Parade All the road closures you need to know Taiwanese large fried chicken spot 'Hot Star' is opening in Metro Vancouver Vision Vancouver will not run a mayoral candidate for first time in party's historyHHS and DHS are using information on U.S.-based relatives and other potential sponsors obtained from detained children to arrest and deport those families, the authors complain. Wednesday's letter complains that federal, state and local authorities and some foreign governments have virtually untrammeled access to that database, which could subject law-abiding potential sponsors to unwarranted scrutiny. But since it began, the average time children spend in federal custody has roughly doubled to more than two months. Federal officials say the information-sharing aims to protect the migrant kids from traffickers and other abuse. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

school teachers: It's a reasonable position, according to Vancouver Courier. We will therefore be very firm, and we will move quickly. Addressing the legislature for the first time since his Coalition Avenir Quebec was elected Oct. 1, Legault said Quebecers have had enough of the debate over secularism.article continues below Trending Stories Minimum wage increases go into effect June 1 across B.C. Vancouver Santa Claus Parade All the road closures you need to know Redevelopment of Arbutus Village about to begin Otter slips away as Vancouver Chinese garden re-opens The wearing of religious symbols will be banned from state employees in positions of authority, including primary and secondary school teachers, he said. The plan to restrict religious symbols such as hijabs and kippas has been denounced by some rights advocates, although a CROP poll published earlier this week found a majority of Quebecers were in favour. At the same time, he promised a new kind of nationalist leadership focused on health care, education and economic growth instead of the constitutional question. Legault's inaugural speech did not shy away from his more controversial promises, which include reducing immigration and raising the legal age of cannabis consumption from to 21 from 18. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

wage increases: If someone complains, the police, they could come in and take everything from us, according to Vancouver Courier. Make us throw all our stuff away and we lose all our money for that day. There, in the ornate City Council Chambers, he and more than 200 other sidewalk vendors micro-entrepreneurs as Councilman Curren Price Jr. calls them rose up to cheer, embrace one another and shout in Spanish, we won, we won, as the council voted 13-0 to legalize street vending in the nation's second-largest city.article continues below Trending Stories Minimum wage increases go into effect June 1 across B.C. Vancouver Santa Claus Parade All the road closures you need to know Otter slips away as Vancouver Chinese garden re-opens Taiwanese large fried chicken spot 'Hot Star' is opening in Metro Vancouver For us, it's very important, Garcia said of the LA street vendors whose numbers have been estimated as high as 50,000. In recent years, police have often looked the other way, he said, but he has been hassled more than once in the past when somebody complained that he stakes out space to sell chips, candy, drinks and other items in a park near a dam built in 1940 to prevent flooding in the San Fernando Valley. The city must still implement a system for issuing permits to vendors and to figure out how much to charge for them. Passage of the ordinance takes away that risk but marks just the beginning of a new day for street vendors. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

health: Instead, Tornillo is using checks conducted by a private contractor that has access to less comprehensive data, thereby heightening the risk that an individual with a criminal history could have direct access to children, the memo says, according to CTV. In addition, the federal government is allowing the non-profit running the facility -- BCFS Health and Human Services -- to sidestep mental health care requirements. None of the 2,100 staffers at a tent city holding more than 2,300 teens in the remote Texas desert are going through rigorous FBI fingerprint background checks, according to a Health and Human Services inspector general memo published Tuesday. Under federal policy, migrant youth shelters generally must have one mental health clinician for every 12 kids, but the federal agency's contract with BCFS allows it to staff Tornillo with just one clinician for every 100 children. BCFS acknowledged to the AP that it currently has one mental health clinician for every 50 children at Tornillo. That's not enough to provide adequate mental health care, the inspector general office said in the memo. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rcmp story: I blame this incident and his mistreatment on his suicide, according to CTV. There is no question that his being used as a scapegoat and being betrayed so fundamentally by the people who were supposed to be his tribe, his family, Montague told the inquest. Atoya Montague said Lemaitre was given incorrect information by investigators in 2007, but never allowed to correct it, leaving his face associated in international news when a citizen's video proved the RCMP story was based on lies. These are the people who are supposed to have your back, and they did the exact opposite. He couldn't escape it, she said. They threw him out of the unit, sent him to traffic services, and it followed him for years. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

rawaa kasedah: As refugees, they knew no one, had no job prospects and didn't speak a word of English, according to Toronto Star. From left, Rawaa Kasedah, daughter Batool Rawoas and husband Mohammed Aref Rawas, at their kiosk on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. With 30 days' notice, the Rawas family were plucked from their temporary home in Jordan, where they'd fled the Syrian civil war, and resettled in Oakland, Calif. Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group Appetizers prepared for an event by the Rawas family, who started Old Damascus Fare catering company in California, just three years after arriving in the U.S. as refugees. They've hired their first employee. Molly DeCoudreaux Three years later, Mohammed Aref Rawas, Rawaa Kasedah and their four children are running a budding catering business that serves authentic Syrian food such as smoked basmati rice, falafel and fattoush salad. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

reporters monday: The legislature will elect a speaker Tuesday, followed Wednesday by Legault's inaugural speech outlining government priorities, according to CTV. Finance Minister Eric Girard will deliver an economic update Dec. 3, in which Quebecers will learn the size of the projected surplus for this fiscal year, which ends March 31. Among Legault's commitments were pledges to cut taxes, launch large-scale infrastructure projects, reduce immigration levels and make kindergarten available to four-year-olds across the province. Liberal finance critic Carlos Leitao told reporters Monday the economic update will be an important test of the new government. Last March, the Liberals said the province would finish the fiscal year roughly 3 billion in surplus, but Girard and Legault have both challenged that number since they took office. Legault and his ministers have tough choices to make, Leitao said, because despite what he called a considerable surplus left over by the Liberal government, Quebec's finances aren't a bottomless well. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.