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.
Reuters Canada – Brussels Urges More Migration within EU as Britain Resists
The EU urged Europeans on Thursday to cross borders to find work as the labor commissioner voiced “frustration” that British Prime Minister David Cameron’s push to curb EU migration has held up plans to make this easier. “Mobility in itself is an asset for Europe,” Marianne Thyssen told reporters as she presented an annual report on the labor market, showing migration within the bloc could hasten slow declines in the EU’s 9.1-percent unemployment rate.
CBC – Government-Assisted Refugee Arrivals Paused in More Canadian Cities
Resettlement agencies in two more Canadian cities have asked the federal government to slow down the arrival of government-assisted refugees as the groups struggle to find permanent housing to lodge Syrian families, says the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. The latest hiccup in the government’s plan to resettle 25,000 refugees — a mix of privately sponsored and government-assisted refugees — by March 1 comes as 11,613 Syrian refugees have already arrived in Canada since Nov. 4 when the Liberals were sworn into power. Federal officials say groups in Toronto and Halifax have joined agencies in Ottawa and Vancouver in their request to decelerate the pace at which government-assisted refugees are arriving in their communities.
CBC – Syrian Refugee Influx Putting Saint John YMCA to the Test
Saint John may be on the brink of a refugee overload with the local YMCA expecting more than 170 Syrians to arrive in the city by the end of this week. The next few days will be the busiest yet when it comes to new arrivals, putting volunteers and resettlement agencies to the test. Rhonda Kelley says the city’s biggest wave of Syrian refugees has YMCA Newcomer Connections staff working the phones, asking for help.
The Guardian – Canada “is Making History” with Airlift of Syrian Refugees, says Minister
As several countries across Europe look to cut the number of Syrian refugees flowing across their borders, Canada is ramping up its response to the crisis, pushing ahead with plans to airlift more than 13,000 refugees into the country in the next six weeks. It is an unprecedented operation for Canada, said John McCallum, the country’s immigration, refugees and citizenship minister. “Canada has many times in the past decades accepted significant waves of refugees,” he told the Guardian in an interview at his constituency office. “But I think this is making history in Canada in the sense that we’ve never done it so fast.”
CBC – Refugee Housing Challenges “Not Insurmountable,” say those Working to House Syrians
As the number of government-sponsored refugees from Syria being housed in hotels across the country grows, the federal government is moving to link them with private sponsors who are ready to accommodate them immediately. A pilot project with Lifeline Syria, a sponsoring agency in Toronto, could reduce the number of government-sponsored refugees being housed in hotels as settlement agencies struggle to find homes for them in tight housing markets such as Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.
Toronto Star – More Kids than Expected Add to Challenge of Housing Refugees
More children than expected are among many of the challenges facing the 36 cities currently accepting government-assisted Syrian refugees as efforts continue to settle 25,000 people in total by the end of February. “We have a lot of families who are eight, seven (people) and our housing stock as a community is not strong on those sizes,” said Carl Nicholson, executive director, Catholic Centre for Immigrants, which handles the settlement of government-assisted refugees in the national capital. In Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto, temporary accommodation is at or near capacity, prompting those cities to ask that the flow of cases be stopped or slowed until they can open up beds for more arrivals, immigration officials said Thursday.
