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.
Winnipeg Free Press – Letter Writing Campaign Takes Aim at Safe Third Country Agreement
Gloria Enns and about 25 other volunteers and human rights activists gathered on World Refugee Day to compose letters to Ahmed Hussen, the Canadian minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, and their respective MPs in an effort to convince them to rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement — a federal policy enacted in 2004 that requires claimants to request refugee status in the first safe country they arrive in.
Metro News – Canada’s Newest Heritage Minute Tells Story of Vietnamese Refugees
The makers of Canada’s latest Heritage Minute say featuring the country’s acceptance of Vietnamese “boat people” in the short film was the ideal way to keep current events in perspective and usher in a landmark national birthday. The short clip, now among others highlighting key moments in Canadian History, was released by Historica Canada on Tuesday and shines a light on Canada’s admission of more than 100,000 refugees fleeing war-torn Vietnam in the 1970s.
CTV News – As Global Refugee Population Hits Record High, Canada Needs to Do More: UNHCR
On World Refugee Day, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative Jean-Nicolas Beuze said Canada has done its fair share of resettling refugees, especially with more recent efforts to welcome Syrian refugees. But, with more than 65 million people forcibly displaced worldwide – representing a new post-Second World War record – wealthy countries need to do more to help, Beuze told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview from Ottawa.
Toronto Star – Liberals Table Bill to Remodel National Security Services, Oversight
The sweeping new bill introduced Tuesday proposes a new super-watchdog agency to review all national security and intelligence players, and to put CSE and CSIS under tighter ministerial and judicial control.
CBC News – Deportation Set for Guatemalan Family in Edmonton Despite Plea for Compassion
Friends of the Guatemalan family in Edmonton called a press conference Tuesday in a desperate attempt to reverse the order, condemning the decision as unfair. Jilmar Picon Pineda thought he had applied to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, after being denied refugee status in 2011. But he said the woman who claimed to be helping his family with their application didn’t file the papers. Instead, she took thousands of dollars over the course of two years before disappearing in December 2016.
Globe and Mail – Opposition Calls on Liberals to Honour Promise by Overhauling Asylum System
Opposition MPs seized on the occasion of World Refugee Day on Tuesday as they applied political pressure on the Liberal government to honour a long-standing promise to refugees by overhauling Canada’s asylum system. Among other things, both the Conservatives and the NDP urged the government to examine the Canada-U.S. border, where upwards of 3,000 people have been arrested since January crossing between legal points of entry in order to claim asylum.
