The Media Roundup provides links to recent and archived articles, in both English and French, on immigration and diversity appearing in the national and local news. Some international content is also included. Articles are updated weekly.
CBC News – Border Agency Breaches Privacy of Refugee Claimant
Canada’s border agency breached a refugee claimant’s privacy when personal information that was encrypted on a USB key disappeared — with the password written on a Post-it note left wrapped around the device. The USB key and the note have never been found and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) failed to report the incident, as required, for more than 18 months. The incident highlights longstanding criticisms of the border service’s commitment to safeguarding personal information.
National Post – RCMP Has Spent more than $6.6M to Process Migrants at Canada’s Busiest Illegal Crossing
The RCMP has spent more than $6.6 million over the past two years to process asylum-seeking migrants at Canada’s busiest illegal border crossing in Lacolle, Que., documents show. The bulk of the money is for overtime and maintaining a satellite office, but funds have also been spent on buses to transport the migrants, as well as diapers, baby food and car seats. According to federal data, RCMP members apprehended 19,419 asylum seekers last year who had entered Canada between official ports of entry.
Global News – Flawed System: Canada’s Family Reunification Program Comes Under Fire
To apply this year, the government turned to an online application process, open at noon on January 28th. Nivin Zaim took the day off work to submit the application. But she never got a chance to actually do that. She tried logging in at noon, but the application form was nowhere to be found on the Immigration Canada website. Within minutes, a notice popped up, informing her the application process had closed. Immigration Canada told Global News more than 100,000 people tried accessing the application form on Monday.
CTV News – Formerly Illiterate Syrian Refugees Learning English to Become Canadian Citizens
Three years ago, a day shy of Valentine’s Day, 36-year old Fatum Ibrahim and seven family members landed in Surrey, B.C., as part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s signature Syrian Refugee Initiative. She didn’t know a word of English, nor could she read or write in her native Arabic. Despite taking language classes four days a week, she has a long way to go to meet the English-language requirement for Canadian citizenship.
Toronto Star – ‘We Felt We Were Reborn.’ Thousands of Eritrean Refugees Quietly Welcomed to Canada
There was no fanfare, no jostling of television cameras and no sign of the prime minister or elected officials at the airport to greet them. Unlike the media frenzy that marked the arrival of the first of 60,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, federal officials have quietly achieved another immigration feat that has largely gone unnoticed: They eliminated one of the country’s worst refugee resettlement backlogs and ushered in 12,000 Eritreans to begin new lives in Canada.
Global News – ‘An Invisible Class’: Former Filipino Temporary Foreign Worker Shares Story of Employment Fraud
Joven Ednalaguim is working hard to build a better life for himself and his family. He moved from the Philippines to Halifax in 2009 to work for a cousin’s husband, who owned a cleaning business, and to send money back for his parents’ medical bills. But when he received his first cheque in Canada, he realized he’d been cheated. The salary Ednalaguim was promised in his contract, $10.60 an hour, turned out to be much lower, roughly $3.13 an hour.
