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.
Toronto Star – Canada Experiencing a Trump Bump? U.S. Refugee Claims Were Up Last Month
The number of Americans seeking refugee status in Canada has experienced a significant bump this year, increasing more than five times in November 2016 from the same period a year earlier. The overall numbers, however, remain tiny. Few people seek to flee the world’s largest economy, and one of its oldest democracies, on humanitarian grounds: A mere 170 Americans claimed asylum at Canada’s land borders through the first 11 months of this year. Yet that was more than twice the total from 2015 — and it was led by a noticeable five-fold increase in the month of November, with 28 people claiming refugee status last month compared with merely five in November 2015.
Toronto Star – Recipe Project Helps New Immigrants Connect With Their Roots
“My mom made this dish every Friday. The whole family, some 45 people, would get around the dining table to enjoy it. But we may never be altogether to eat it again. The dish is the only thing I have to remember my mom and everyone back there.” To keep those memories alive and pass on the traditions to their offspring, Kassem and other newcomers taking English classes at the Catholic Crosscultural Services in Mississauga are sharing their beloved recipes — and stories — in an innovative project that enriches their language and cultural learning experience. Over four weeks, language instructors worked with students to write up the ingredients and instructions for their favourite recipes, as well as the stories behind them. In their own handwriting, the students put their recipes and stories onto a template before a fabric printer made them into placemats.
TVA Nouvelles – Le Canada veut « exporter son modèle » de parrainage privé
De plus en plus de pays s’intéressent au «modèle» canadien de parrainage privé des réfugiés, par lequel des citoyens peuvent accueillir des déplacés, facilitant ainsi leur intégration à la société, a dit mercredi le ministre canadien de l’Immigration, John McCallum. Développé à la fin des années 1970, au plus fort de la crise des «boat-people» en Asie du Sud-est[…].
Radio-Canada – De plus en plus de migrants choisissent la voie illégale pour entrer au Canada
Ottawa a récemment souligné l’arrivée de milliers de réfugiés syriens au Canada. Il y a un an, les premiers réfugiés, minutieusement choisis par le gouvernement fédéral, débarquaient au pays avec tous les honneurs. Pendant ce temps, des migrants du Moyen-Orient choisissaient d’entrer clandestinement au Canada.
Le Devoir – Réunification familiale : fin du principe de « premier arrivé, premier servi »
Ottawa change les règles d’immigration en matière de réunification familiale afin de privilégier le hasard plutôt que la ruse ou l’argent. Jusqu’à présent, certains Canadiens pouvaient payer de centaines de dollars pour s’assurer que le dossier des proches qu’ils souhaitaient parrainer se retrouve au sommet de la pile évaluée par les fonctionnaires fédéraux.
National Post – Rare Views of Japanese-Canadian Internment: 19 Images Remembering One of Canada’s Darkest Hours
Last week was the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Amid commemorations of the Americans killed in the attack, as well as the brutal war that followed, also came a solemn remembrance of how the United States interned coastal Japanese-American populations that it wrongly believed were a dangerous fifth column.
A similar tragedy, of course, played out in wartime Canada. In a country with an established tradition of respecting civil liberties, wartime hysteria led to 21,000 people of Japanese descent being forcibly removed from a 100-mile “defence zone” along the British Columbia coast. But that’s only part of the story. The National Post has combed through archives across the country to unearth these rare photos of one of the darkest hours in modern Canadian history.
