immigration system: Problems in sharing information with immigration officials also slowed things down, according to CTV. The border agency is responsible for carrying out removal orders to ensure public safety and the integrity of the immigration system. In a report tabled in Parliament Wednesday, the auditor said the Canada Border Services Agency's efforts were hampered by poor data quality and case-management flaws, resulting in avoidable delays in thousands of cases. The report noted the federal government had made significant investments over the last decade to improve the efficiency of the asylum system, including removals. The agency also lost track of 34,700 people and was not conducting the regular follow-ups to locate them by opening each file at least every three years, or once a year for people with criminal histories. However, the auditor general found, the border agency had not touched thousands of files for years, including some high-priority removals. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

laura tribe: In the absence of meaningful policy or regulation governing facial recognition, it cannot be considered safe for use in Canada, they tell the minister, according to National Observer. The letter, made public Wednesday, is signed by Tim McSorley, national co-ordinator of the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, and Laura Tribe, executive director of Open Media, who are spearheading the campaign. In an open letter to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, they call the technology highly problematic, given its lack of accuracy and invasive nature, and say it poses a threat to Canadians' fundamental rights. It is endorsed by 29 other prominent groups including Amnesty International Canada, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association and Privacy International, as well as 46 academics, researchers, lawyers and other civil-society members. The government responded Wednesday by saying it is reviewing legislation, policies and programs related to all emerging technologies, including facial recognition. What people are reading Doug Ford ready to cut environmental assessments again for 'economic recovery'First Black candidate ever to run for the Conservative party leadership in Canada witnessed chat box filling with racial slurs as she debated opponentsWE details thousands in fees for Trudeaus The letter also calls on the government to initiate a meaningful public consultation on all aspects of facial-recognition technology in Canada and to establish clear, transparent policies and laws regulating its use, including reforms to federal privacy law. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

mood disorder: A new study, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, finds adolescents who live in areas with high levels of outdoor artificial light at night get less sleep and are more likely to have a mood disorder than teens who live with low levels of outdoor light, according to CTV. Research has long studied the association between indoor artificial light and mental health, but few studies have looked at the impact of outdoor artificial light, especially in teens, making this the first study of its kind, the authors said, with potentially long-term implications for mental and physical health. Now, you may want to use light-blocking curtains at your bedroom windows as well -- especially for any children in your home. Although environmental light exposure is only one factor in a more complex network of influences on sleep and behavior, it is likely to be an important target for prevention and interventions in adolescent health, said co-author Kathleen Merikangas, a senior investigator and chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health, in a statement. Science has linked poor slumber with high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, weight gain, a lack of libido and a higher risk of diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, dementia and some cancers. POOR SLEEP IN TEENS When our internal 24-hour body clock, called our circadian rhythm, is disrupted by a change in sleep patterns or a sleep disorder, it impacts both our physical and mental health. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

trump: In the more prominent of the two cases, involving U.S. President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the justices greenlighted changes the Trump administration had sought, according to CTV. The administration announced in 2017 that it would allow more employers to opt out of providing the no-cost birth control coverage required under the law, but lower courts had blocked the changes. In both cases the court ruled 7-2, with two liberal justices joining conservatives in favour of the Trump administration and religious employers. The ruling is a significant election-year win for President Donald Trump, who counts on heavy support from evangelicals and other Christian groups for votes and policy backing. In one of those earlier cases, the court rejected Trump's effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants. It was also good news for the administration, which in recent weeks has seen headline-making Supreme Court decisions go against its positions. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

driftwood beer: It's an annual Latin-American plaza featuring music, food, and plenty of booths offering everything from trips down south to works of art, according to Georgia Asian. And it wouldn't be Carnaval del Sol without a soccer tournament, which has become a festival trademark. That's because Latincouver is hosting Carnaval del Sol for the second and final day in Vancouver. There are plazas devoted to food, travel, Driftwood beer, and music from Latin America, which is home to more than 600 million people. The food plaza is attracting plenty of diners. In Vancouver, there has been a significant increase in the number of Brazilians and Mexicans, in particular, who've made Metro Vancouver their home. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

employee safety: Warner says not all the services that are usually offered to the public will be available in-person and they'll continue to ask people to do things online where possible, according to CTV. All of the 318 of Service Canada Centres were closed on March 26 by Minister of Social Development Ahmed Hussen, citing safety issues for staff members and the need to follow public health advice due to COVID-19. Crystal Warner, national executive vice-president of the Canada Employment and Immigration Union, confirmed to CTV News the re-opening would start this week, with a goal of having five offices per province. Prior to the shutdown, Warner says the situation at Service Canada Centres was so bad that employee safety was at risk, leading to employees refusing to work. Incidents of employees being spat on, having items thrown at them, and having employees call the police to break up fist fights, had happened in March according to Warner. Warner noted that as unemployment levels rose at the start of the pandemic, people coming into the office for services were increasingly agitated and hostile towards Service Canada employees. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

government data: The period of analysis was short, consisting of just 19 days from June 10 to 29, according to Georgia Asian. But, speaking at a news conference in Victoria this morning July 7 B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong described the information that the province collected from property-transfer tax forms as the most reliable data that's been collected on the issue so far. That's according to new government data released today July 7 that adds to what little is known about who is purchasing Vancouver properties and driving prices to record highs. For the City of Vancouver, foreign nationals accounted for 4.1 percent of property sales. For Surrey, it was 3.3 percent. For Richmond, that number was 14.3 percent and for Burnaby it was 10.9 percent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

restrictions: But as most of the country emerges from pandemic restrictions, the virus has resumed spreading at an alarming rate in Victoria's capital, Melbourne, according to CTV. The city is buckling down with more extreme and divisive measures that have ignited anger and arguments over who is to blame. The southeastern state of Victoria had some of the nation's toughest pandemic measures and was among the most reluctant to lift its restrictions when the worst of its outbreak seemed to have passed. Newsletter sign-up Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said Tuesday that the entire city and some of its surrounds will be locked down again from Wednesday night under tougher restrictions than were imposed during the first shutdown that started in March. About 3,000 residents of nine public housing high-rise buildings were given just an hour's notice at the weekend before being prohibited from leaving their apartments for at least five days. We are in many respects in a more precarious, challenging and potentially tragic position now than we were some months ago, Andrews said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

stool samples: She refused to give stool samples to authorities and continued to spread the bacteria via her unsanitary ways until she was caught and quarantined twice for a total of 26 years, dying alone without friends, according to CTV. While no one wants to think of themselves as a super spreader of COVID-19, a new study has given support to the idea that silent transmission -- the spread of virus by someone with no obvious symptoms -- could be responsible for half of all novel coronavirus cases in the United States. As the first known healthy carrier of the bacterial disease, which is transmitted by a toxin in feces, Malone refused to believe she was an asymptomatic conduit for typhoid fever. Transmission via people with no symptoms, or during the few days before symptoms are apparent, is a primary driver of COVID-19 spread, the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found. According to Tuesday morning's Johns Hopkins University data, 31 states are reporting higher rates of new COVID-19 cases this week compared to last week. Newsletter sign-up Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox More than one-third of silent infections would need to be identified and isolated to suppress a future outbreak, the study estimated. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

border restrictions: And because their countries' border restrictions prevent either of them from travelling to the other's home, they're planning to meet up on another continent, in a nation where they don't speak the language or have any ties and the novel coronavirus is a much more pressing concern, according to CTV. It seems crazy in my mind, for him to be leaving an island in the Caribbean where there's no COVID. I'm leaving our other island in Eastern Canada where there's also no COVID, and here we go off, leaving our safe havens and off we go to Europe for I don't know how long, Carly Fleet told CTVNews.ca vin a phone call on Monday from Grand Manan, N.B. Newsletter sign-up Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox None of New Brunswick's 165 COVID-19 cases have been traced to Grand Manan, an island in the Bay of Fundy. He lives on an island where every case has been resolved. Grenada's 23 patients have all recovered. They were last together in late February, weeks before the pandemic disrupted global travel and Grenada shut its borders. But travel restrictions in both countries mean neither Fleet nor her common-law partner Sean Bodden can visit the other. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

jermaine carby: Weeks after the incident, Ontario's Special Investigation Unit announced it will start a process to collect race-based data in effort to identify and monitor systemic racial disparities and ensure the fair treatment of everyone, according to a report from The Canadian Press, according to Rabble. This historic step forward also comes at the expense of many Black and Indigenous people who died at the hands of police such as Andrew Loku, D'Andre Campbell, Jason Collins, Eisha Hudson, Machuar Madut, Olando Brown, Jermaine Carby, and countless others. The Black community and allies are demanding answers for what happened to Korchiniski-Paquet, and the many other Black people who ended up dead after police were called. The collection of race-based disaggregated data is not a question of convenience, it is a question of human rights. you can't know the degree to which you are helping your citizens realize their full human rights, or that you're adequately protecting their human rights, if you're not collecting and openly reporting this data, said Anthony Morgan, a racial justice lawyer who leads a team at the City of Toronto to address anti-Black racism. In 2017, The United Nations' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent released a report on its findings of the state of Black communities across Canada and made recommendations. Critics have long advocated for the collection of race-based data by law enforcement agencies. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

mortgage payments: Prior to the pandemic, Arabs and West Asians had the highest poverty rates while West Asians and Filipinos had the highest rates of job loss, according to 2016 census data, according to CTV. Southeast Asian and Korean groups both reported that 40 per cent have experienced a work disruption during COVID-19, followed by Black participants 38 per cent South Asian 37 per cent Latin American 34 per cent Arab 33 per cent and Chinese 31 per cent . Newsletter sign-up Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox The survey also asked participants about the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to meet financial obligations such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities and groceries. The survey released Monday found that 42 per cent of Filipino-Canadians and 47 per cent of West Asian-Canadians have experienced temporary or permanent job loss or reduced work hours amid the pandemic, compared to 34 per cent of white participants. Most visible minority groups surveyed reported a strong or moderate negative financial impact from COVID-19. The data was collected from more than 36,000 Canadians through an online crowdsourcing questionnaire between May 26 and June 8. The highest negative financial impacts were reported among Arabs, West Asians and Filipinos. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

refugees: Only 10 percent of government-assisted refugees ended up living in Vancouver from 2010 to 2013, compared to 28 percent in Surrey, 22 percent in Coquitlam, and 16 percent in Burnaby 21.8 percent including New Westminster numbers . Vancouver is the number one destination for refugee claimants, but this data likely reflects the fact that many refugee claimants live in temporary accommodation in shelter or with relatives until they receive a decision on their claim, the report states, according to Georgia Asian. Iran supplies the most government-assisted refugees The top five source countries of government-assisted refugees to B.C. over that period were Iran 24 percent Iraq 18 percent Somalia 12 percent Afghanistan 10 percent and Bhutan eight percent . This is just one of many intriguing facts in a new 40-page report by the Immigrant Services Society of B.C. called Refugee Newcomers in Vancouver Changing Faces and Neighbourhoods 2000-2013. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

research group: Yet those who know him well say the common Kenney caricature a rumpled, social conservative, partisan spear carrying culture warrior with a permanent five o'clock shadow almost entirely misses the mark, according to National Observer. He's one of the warmest, funniest, most engaging people ... whereas on television he probably comes across as more associated with the Harper years and a certain style of politics, says Mark Cameron, a former policy director in Harper's Prime Minister's Office who now heads an environmental research group. Kenney, the 48 year old star lieutenant to former prime minister Stephen Harper, was one of the highest profile and most media accessible ministers during a decade of Conservative rule that wasn't characterized by either trait. Political reporters know Kenney as the guy who always had a point of view and was willing to share it and vigorously defend it a rare trait in any government and pure gold during the buttoned down Conservative reign. Kenney announced Wednesday he is taking that direct engagement back home to Alberta, where he plans to seek the leadership of the provincial Progressive Conservatives while openly gunning for a merger with their bitter right of centre rivals, the Wildrose Party. What people are reading The future of the Conservative Party and how Trump's America strong-armed Canada Global LNG terminal survey casts doubt on industry as safe bet'Trudeau takes a pass on meeting this week with Trump That's definitely his hallmark, that he's open, he's engaged and he likes to state his opinion and argue it openly, as opposed to always couching behind message lines, says Cameron. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

soccer games: There were soccer games for the kids to play on the field and the adults pitched in to prepare traditional cuisines to enjoy, according to CTV. Ethiopia's culture is over 3,000 years old. Hundreds of people celebrated at the annual Ethiopian Summer Festival at Swangard Stadium Saturday. The country is where coffee was discovered. Many colourful fashions were on hand as people gathered to celebrate and promote their culture. Traditional coffee ceremonies took place where the beans are roasted in a pan over flames and brewed to a rich dark drink enjoyed by many on this cloudy chilly day. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

base: The social conservative base is enormously powerful, Livesey told Solomon Wood and the audience of 100 participants on the Zoom webinar, part of Conversations, sponsored by Canada's National Observer, according to National Observer. The reason leadership rivals Peter Mac Kay and Erin O'Toole have taken the positions they're doing which are ludicrous in terms of ever trying to get elected is because the base has this enormous social conservative element. Answering questions from Canada's National Observer editor-in-chief Linda Solomon Wood, columnists Bruce Livesey and Sandy Garossino spent an hour tackling wide-ranging questions about why today's Canadian conservative movement has moved so far to the right, its hopes for retaking power in the face of an increasingly progressive populace, and how evangelical Christians and Big Oil got a stranglehold on the right. In order to win the leadership, you've got to pander to them. Livesey an award-winning investigative journalist with experience on CBC's flagship shows The Fifth Estate and The National, Global News' 16 9, and PBS's Frontline most recently did an analysis on the state of the Conservatives for the National Observer entitled, How Stephen Harper is destroying the Conservative party. Video of Sandy Garossino and Bruce Livesey on Canada's Conservative Party Linda Solomon Wood interviews Bruce Livesey and Sandy Garossino about the future of the Conservative Party What people are reading Global LNG terminal survey casts doubt on industry as safe bet'Trudeau takes a pass on meeting this week with Trump Alberta to redefine minerals,' excluding 500 sand projects from environmental scrutiny But that's precisely what has lost them repeated elections, and will only worsen their chances over time, he said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

muslim community: This festival showcases the best of London, the best of Canada in its diversity, he said, according to CTV. Immediately after speaking at Sunfest, Trudau was whisked away to give a speech at a fundraiser put on by London's Muslim Community. The mood was celebratory for the prime minister, who also came to open the festivities of the 25th annual Sunfest. This was very much a campaign-style stop as Trudeau touted his government's record over the past four years, celebrating the economy, jobs, reconciliation and the environment. His speech attempted to establish him as moderate, claiming the middle ground, which is imperative during an election. We moved forward on putting a price on pollution, which is way too much for some, including the provincial premiers who got themselves elected from the Rockies to the Bay of Fundy almost. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

conspiracy: QAnon began as a single conspiracy theory, according to CTV. But its followers now act more like a virtual cult, largely adoring and believing whatever disinformation the conspiracy community spins up. Now the group's followers, who call themselves believers, have found a niche on social media and within the Republican Party. Its main conspiracy theories claim dozens of politicians and A-list celebrities work in tandem with governments around the globe to engage in child sex abuse. But followers of the group have expanded from those beliefs and now allege baseless theories surrounding mass shootings and elections. Followers also believe there is a deep state effort to annihilate U.S. President Donald Trump. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

amreen durrani: Within hours it was top of Twitter's trending list in Pakistan thanks to users such as one named Amreen Durrani, who tweeted These Afghans will continue to be unthankful and will conspire against Pakistan, according to Rabble. I would strongly recommend to Kick OutAll Afghans. With the fighting at Torkham in June 2016 barely over and two soldiers dead, a new hashtag appeared Kick OutAll Afghans. The border clashes were among several events over the past three years that have punctuated a sustained campaign of hatred that has poisoned attitudes to Afghan refugees among the general public in Pakistan. The 1.3 million Afghan refugees who remain in Pakistan already face police harassment and government deadlines to depart. The digital mob, which has been raised in support of a slew of xenophobic hashtags, has coincided with what rights groups have called the forced return of some 600,000 Afghan refugees during 2016. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

downtown halifax: I just told him very politely, sir, next time when you take a cab, please put a mask on', and he started saying, go back to where you came from', says Dhunna, according to CTV. Dhunna says the passenger responded by lashing out, using offensive language and racial slurs and telling Dhunna to go back where he came from'. So I told him, you can go, you can get away from my car now', and he said that immigrants are taking our jobs away'. I said, I am a Canadian citizen, and we still need immigrants, Canada still needs immigrants', recalls Dhunna. Kuldip Dhunna says he was driving a passenger to a hotel in downtown Halifax on Thursday, when the passenger began coughing. The encounter was caught on Dhunna's dashcam. Another daughter, Simran, posted it to Twitter, where it has nearly 200,000 views in less than 48 hours. His daughter Shivani shared it on her Instagram page, where it has been viewed over 50,000 times. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

foot ascent: Police, standing on a ladder and a ledge nearby, tried to talk the climber into descending, according to NOW Magazine. The climber made about a 25-foot ascent from the monument's observation point, National Park Service spokesman Jerry Willis said. About 100 feet aboveground, the climber alternately sat and lay by the bottom edge of the statue's robes for more than two hours on Wednesday, news helicopter video showed. Visitors were forced to leave Liberty Island hours before its normal 6 15 p.m. closing time, he said. The message referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier and farther below, at least six people were taken into custody after unfurling a banner that read Abolish I.C.E., Willis said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

fraser river: All Fraser River populations of salmon Chinook, sockeye, coho, pink, and chum must transit the estuary twice in their lifetimes once as they migrate to the ocean as juveniles and again as adults when they return to their natal streams to spawn, according to Georgia Asian. Species like Chinook and chum also spend extended time rearing in the estuary as they prepare for their ocean migrations. Equally significant is the Fraser River's estuary, which serves as a vital habitat for fish, bird, and mammal species that are linked across thousands of kilometers of the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Twice, as an expert intervener in successive National Energy Board hearings, Raincoast Conservation Foundation examined information put forth by Trans Mountain in their assessment of the effects to salmon from an oil spill in the Fraser River and found serious deficiencies with several aspects of their assessment. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

hong: He added that the government will not permit the export of sensitive military items to the region, according to CTV. We are also suspending the Canada-Hong Kong extradition treaty, and updating our travel advisory for Hong Kong, Trudeau said. After studying the legislation and its impact, Canada will treat exports of sensitive goods to Hong Kong in the same way as those destined for mainland China, Trudeau said, speaking from an Outaouais food bank. The announcement came after the controversial national security law was promulgated in Hong Kong late Tuesday, bypassing the local legislature. The system set out Hong Kong's economic and administrative independence from China after it was no longer a British colony. Protesters have marched in the streets of Hong Kong to oppose the legislation, which many believe will stop pro-democracy political activity and mute criticism in civil society effectively crushing the one country, two systems agreement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

infrastructure projects: This week, I decided to highlight three significant stories worth reading from outside of Canada, according to Georgia Asian. Even though they didn't appear in the Canadian media, they all have ties to three major infrastructure projects being built in British Columbia the Site C dam along the Peace River, the LNG Canada project near Kitimat, and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project. That's because every day, there are new reports published around the world. Video of Climate teach-in 2 Solutions This video by 350.org details the falling cost of solar panels. 1. The board will also pay 1.3 cents for power from batteries. Solar energy far cheaper than other electricityPV magazine recently reported that the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners is expected to approve a 25-year contract to buy electricity from solar energy for 1.997 cents per kilowatt hour. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

soka gakkai: Nichiren Daishonin, a 13th century Buddhist reformer, revealed this phrase is the law that surrounds the universe and life, according to NOW Magazine. Translated as Mystic Law of cause and effect through the Buddha's teaching, it's how SGI services are started. If you are a member of a religious community that would like to be featured, please reach out to Alyson Hansen at what Nichren Buddhism and Soka Gakkai International SGI is centered around. Attendees hold their prayer beads and chant the phrase over and over. The beads represent your body or your life. said Shea-Ra Nichi, distinctive religious group leader DRGL . It really just means your holding your life in your hand. The beads are wound around hands in an infinity symbol. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

landrace strains: ByCannabis Now Published on July 4, 2016 Share Tweet8 Comments The history of the humble marijuana seed begins with landrace strains, according to NOW Magazine. Adapted to survive in the specific environmental conditions of their native lands, these pure varieties birthed a horticultural quest to explore and develop all of the multifaceted dimensions of our favorite flower. How to Grow Weed 12 Best Marijuana Seed Companies Never doubt the power of bomb cannabis genetics you get when purchasing from the best marijuana seed companies. This quest initially driven by seed breeders in Holland has now resulted in a plethora of strains, each boasting individual combinations of the more than 80 known cannabinoids. When forced indoors at the start of America's War on Drugs in the 1960s, these highly-skilled growers adopted new ways to grow the plant inside using artificial light sources. Like cannabis itself, cannabis breeders have shown incredible adaptability and resilience. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.