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.
The Globe and Mail – Canadian Flirting with Racism, in European Airports
The Canada Border Services Agency should clarify the practices it recommends to airlines carrying passengers from central Europe to Canada. CBC reports outline that in the international airports of Budapest, Vienna and Warsaw, certain people in airport check-in lines are being approached and asked questions such as whether they are Roma. It’s disturbing to think that people might be selected for questioning in part because they have darker skins than other central Europeans. It appears that most of the passengers who are not allowed to board are indeed Roma. It seems, however, that the reason typically given for a refusal to let someone board has to do with travel documents. But the required documents are typically in order; a ticket, a return ticket, a credit card and above all a passport normally suffice – except, it seems, for people who are Roma, or look like them. In one instance, a passenger was allegedly asked how he and his family had been able to pay for their tickets.
Toronto Star – Speed Up Deportation of Migrants Who Fail to Get Asylum, Britain Tells EU
Britain urged the European Union on Thursday to speed the deportation of people who do not qualify for asylum as the EU struggles with its refugee crisis. More than 500,000 people have arrived this year seeking sanctuary or jobs, sparking the EU’s biggest refugee emergency in decades. But of people who fail to obtain asylum or residency in the 28-nation EU, fewer than 40 per cent actually go back. The failure of countries to fully apply the law is seen as a major flaw in the EU’s joint migration policy. “We need to see Europe upping its game,” Britain’s interior minister, Theresa May, told reporters ahead of talks with her EU counterparts in Luxembourg. She said the EU “should be sending economic migrants back to their countries of origin. It’s why we need to crack down on those who are abusing our asylum system.”
The Globe and Mail – European Union Agrees to Get Tough on Deportations of Illegal Migrants
European Union governments agreed on Thursday to step up deportations of illegal immigrants and discussed creating a border guard force among measures to cope with a surge in refugees from Syria’s civil war. “Increased return rates should act as a deterrent to irregular migration,” interior ministers concluded at a meeting in Luxembourg that included approving “detention” for those who may abscond before expulsion. The agreement also spoke of exerting more “leverage” on African and other poor states, including via aid budgets, to make them accept the return of citizens refused entry to Europe. They were joined later by EU foreign ministers and delegations from Balkan states, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon for talks on stemming migrant flows that have divided member countries over how to secure the EU’s external borders and share responsibility for housing refugees. The EU is offering neighbouring states funding to help them support Syrians and wants more co-operation to control migration.
CBC – Sponsoring Syrian Refugees Easier Said Than Done, Calgary Group Finds
Lori Petryk, like many in Canada and around the world, was moved to tears when she saw the photo of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi lying dead on a Turkish beach. She was also moved to do something about it. […]Petryk and her friends are working through a government program called the Blended Visa Office-Referred Program (BVOR), which requires them to find an organization that has a legal agreement with the government to sponsor refugees and then to become a co-sponsor. Ottawa will kick in $15,000 towards relocating a family of five and the sponsors have to pay the rest — anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000. Petryk’s group is also hoping to pay for the family’s airfare. A sponsored family can then be in Canada within four months. Despite the fact there are more than four million Syrian refugees, there aren’t enough of them approved by both the United Nations and the Canadian government, and the approval process is slow. Citizenship and Immigration Canada says its goal is to admit 700 to 1,000 refugees through the BVOR program in 2015; as of September, 153 Syrians and 136 Iraqi refugees have arrived.
The Guardian (Charlottetown) – P.E.I. Fish Plant Wants Review of Temporary Foreign Workers Program
Whoever wins the federal election on Oct. 19, Jeff Malloy hopes they will agree to take a second look at the temporary foreign workers program. Malloy, CEO of the Acadian Fishermen’s Co-op in Abram Village, said his company and other Island seafood processors continue to struggle to find enough workers to fill their plants. […] His co-op and other processors on the Island are pushing to have the next federal government re-examine some of the changes the Conservative government made to the program in 2014, which he said makes it more difficult to fill their shifts. Those changes made it far more expensive for businesses to even apply for temporary foreign workers, limited how many they can have and how long they can stay, though some industries, like agriculture, were exempt from some of those changes. The government also introduced significantly more oversight and reporting requirements from businesses involved in the program.
The Globe and Mail – Conservatives Pledge Asylum for North Koreans in Bid for Crucial Votes
The Conservatives are promising asylum for North Korean refugees if re-elected – a pledge delivered Wednesday by a part of the Tory campaign machine that operates largely outside the glare of big media attention. […] The Conservatives are betting the North Korean refugee pledge will play well with Korean-Canadians and could help tip the balance in tight or tough races in ridings where there are significant members of this community. […] The Korean-Canadian community has been lobbying for such a program for a long time. The Tories are also trying to combat a misperception among Korean-Canadians that they’re against North Koreans. This arose after Ottawa cracked down on, and deported, a number of fraudulent North Korean asylum claimants. This Kenney pledge is intended to counter that. North Koreans are not recognized as refugees under the United Nations Convention on Refugees because South Korea recognizes all North Koreans as citizens, so this pledge would require special immigration measures by the Canadian government.
