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 Got Nearly 30,000 Fewer Immigrants in Past Year
The number of people in Canada rose by just 308,100 in the year ending July 1, Statistics Canada said Tuesday, marking the country’s smallest annual population increase since 1999. Data show Canada received fewer immigrants than the year previous, and seniors aged 65 and over now outnumber youth aged 14 and under for the first time. The country’s estimated population stands at 35,851,800, an increase of 0.9% over the last year. By comparison, Canada’s population grew by 1.1% in 2014. The drop is largely a result of less international migration, which pushed the population up by 0.5%. Approximately 239,800 immigrants entered the country over the 12-month period, down from 267,900 the previous year. Over the same period, the number of non-permanent residents decreased by 10,300, the largest fall since 1995. […] Chris Day, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, said the government was “on track to reach our planned immigration target of 280,000 admissions for 2015”, referring to the calendar year, as opposed to the timeframe of the Statistics Canada data.
Globe and Mail – Refugees in Canada Call for End to Crippling Government Loans
When Diego Cardona’s family arrived in Canada as government-assisted refugees 10 years ago, they were on the hook for travel loans totalling about $1,800.Today, the amount owed is almost exactly the same. Mr. Cardona, 19, is a member of a group of young refugees and immigrants who on Wednesday called for an end to such loans, saying they create unnecessary hardship for families. Canada is also the only country that charges interest on refugee loans. The group, part of the Vancouver Foundation’s Fresh Voices initiative, said the current refugee crisis also requires a faster family reunification process and the establishment of a national standing committee on refugee and migrant youth issues. […] Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.’s representative for children and youth, said last week she would like Ottawa to stop saddling refugees with travel loans. The Immigrant Services Society of B.C. has also criticized the practice.
iPolitics – Has Canada Really Taken in 15 Per Cent of Syrian Refugees? Not Exactly
While Trudeau may have walked away with the spotlight after Monday night’s foreign policy debate, it was Stephen Harper who had the Twitterverse all a-flutter over a claim he made about the size of Canada’s contribution to the Syrian refugee crisis response. […] “we already have resettled 15 per cent of all the refugees from the region in the international community,” Harper said during the debate. […]Iraq and Jordan are currently hosting about 900,000 Syrians as well, and the European Union has seen a total of 428,735 asylum applications from Syrians arriving on its shores since April 2011. Canada, in contrast, has resettled just 2,300 Syrian refugees so far. Here’s where it gets a bit hairy: “It is difficult to determine the exact numbers of how many people have been resettled to date,” said Kyle Matthews, senior deputy director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University and a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “Most of the stats are based on pledges, not the actual resettlement of refugees.” Those pledges suggest that, despite Harper’s suggestion that Canada has taken in 15 per cent of all the refugees from the region, it hasn’t actually done that — not yet, at any rate.
Chronicle Herald – New Immigration Streams Should Boost Growth
Nova Scotia, as the Ivany report ably showed, urgently needs both immigrants and more entrepreneurs. Two new business immigration streams announced by the Liberal government on Tuesday should be helpful on both counts. One stream will be for foreign entrepreneurs with money to invest in businesses in the province, the other for international graduates of Nova Scotia post-secondary institutions who have started and are running businesses here. It makes sense. Why wouldn’t Nova Scotia want more people with experience running businesses who want to immigrate and invest here? Why wouldn’t we want to keep foreign students who have studied in Nova Scotia and then launched their own companies here after graduating? Starting next year, both streams will be part of the provincial nominee program, a vehicle for provinces to nominate immigrants for expedited permanent residency. Each of the new streams will have up to 50 nominees. Ottawa almost doubled Nova Scotia’s nominee program cap this year, to 1,350 individuals. Last year, Nova Scotia overall received more immigrants — 2,670 — than in any year in the last decade.
TVA – Promesse du G7 et des pays du Golfe : 1.8 milliards de dollars pour les réfugiés
Le G7 et les pays du Golfe se sont engagés mardi à fournir 1,8 milliard de dollars pour le financement des organisations spécialisées de l’ONU confrontées à la pire crise de réfugiés depuis 70 ans. «Nous nous sommes mis d’accord pour fournir ensemble 1,8 milliard de dollars aux agences d’aide internationale des Nations unies, particulièrement l’agence de l’ONU pour les réfugiés et le Programme alimentaire mondial», a déclaré à la presse le ministre allemand des Affaires étrangères, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Radio-Canada – Le Manitoba débloque des fonds d’urgence pour les réfugiés
Le gouvernement du Manitoba débloquera des fonds d’urgence afin d’éviter la disparition d’un programme d’aide juridique aux réfugiés. Mardi après-midi, le premier ministre Greg Selinger a annoncé que la province accordera 200 000 dollars au Conseil multiconfessionnel d’aide à l’établissement des immigrants au Manitoba (CMAEIM) pour qu’il continue son programme d’assistance parajuridique qui aide les réfugiés à naviguer à travers le processus complexe de demande de statut de réfugié au Canada.
