A national alliance dedicated to providing an evidence base for newcomer settlement & integration and the promotion of welcoming communities in Canada
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.
More than 2,000 migrants trying to reach Europe were plucked from the Mediterranean on Friday in a series of dramatic rescues and one person was found dead, officials and witnesses said. An Italian coast guard spokesman said 19 rescue operations by the coast guard or ships operated by non-governmental organizations had saved a total of 2,074 migrants on 16 rubber dinghies and three small wooden boats.
Plus de 2000 migrants ont été secourus en mer Méditerranée vendredi au large de la Libye, ont indiqué à l’AFP les garde-côtes italiens. Les sauveteurs ont précisé qu’un adolescent a été retrouvé mort dans l’un des seize canots pneumatiques à la dérive, qui étaient pleins à craquer. L’association Médecins sans frontières (MSF) a notamment pu secourir 1145 personnes à bord de deux […].
Two Conservative leadership hopefuls with the toughest stances on immigration have used Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai’s visit to Canada as fodder to fundraise for their platforms. Steven Blaney, the former Conservative public safety minister who wants to reduce the number of immigrants in order to better integrate them, and Kellie Leitch, who is proposing to screen immigrants, refugees and visitors for “Canadian values,” both sent out e-mails referencing Ms. Yousafzai’s visit to Ottawa on Wednesday, where she received honorary Canadian citizenship and addressed Parliament.
The federal government needs to allocate more resources to reduce wait times for privately sponsored refugees, especially those coming from places other than Syria, a new survey says. The report was commissioned by Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), an Ottawa-based Christian charity that tries to influence public policy debates on a number of issues, including refugee rights. […] The survey includes responses from 32 sponsorship agreement holders (SAH) across the country, most of which are faith-based organizations. The length of wait times was the biggest complaint, especially for non-Syrian refugees.
He compared it to the boat people who fled the civil war in Vietnam in the 1970s and early 1980s. “If anything, there could have been a lot of (communists) sneaking in amongst them — subversive elements,” Dallaire said. “This was during the Cold War. But at no time during that period did I ever hear or read — and I was serving at the time — anybody raise the fact that these people might be subversive communists. Nobody ever raised that. “But because (the current refugees) come from an Islamic region, automatically (there’s an assumption) that they’re being infiltrated by extremists. I think that’s a horrific fabrication.”
Nearly half of the asylum seekers crossing the Manitoba border illegally in the last few weeks are being detained because of serious criminal records, suggesting the profile of would-be refugee claimants is changing, according to the union representing border patrol officers. […] The union also wants an expanded mandate so CBSA officers can do surveillance in between Canada’s 117 ports-of-entry. Right now, that is RCMP jurisdiction.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/illegal-border-crossers-criminal-records-cbsa-union-1.4069820