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.
CTV News – Harper Brushes Off Calls to Hold All-Leaders Meeting on Syrian Crisis
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper brushed off calls to put politics aside in order to hold an all-leaders meeting to reach a Canadian consensus on the Syrian refugee crisis. Speaking to reporters at a campaign event in Scarborough, Ont., Monday, Harper resisted proposals from the opposition party leaders to meet and discuss the crisis, which has dominated the campaign trail since last week. “We’re not going to get into partisan games on this. The government is seized with this issue.” Harper’s comments come one day after Trudeau called for the meeting on CTV’s Question Period. “We’re not doing enough. I think everyone can agree that we need to do more,” said Trudeau. “I think it goes to the kind of country we are. We are a country that has successfully welcomed in people in the past.” NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says he has also reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for discussions on the Syrian refugee crisis. […] “The person who can take these decisions is the prime minister,” Mulcair told a crowd at a Labour Day parade in Toronto. “My chief of staff has reached out to his to try and get a discussion rapidly.”
Globe and Mail – Immigration Minister Defends Canada’s Response to Refugee Crisis
Immigration Minister Chris Alexander is resisting calls for Canada to do more in response to the international migrant crisis, even as some of Canada’s closest allies boost their efforts to bring in more Syrian refugees. […]“Yes we can and will do more,” Mr. Alexander said on CTV’s Question Period, but neither he nor his staff would provide any details as to what more Canada is doing in response to the crisis. “We had one of the earliest commitments to resettle substantial numbers of Syrians,” he said. Mr. Alexander rejected suggestions that Canada could repeat what occurred in 1979 when military aircraft were sent to Vietnam so that Canadian officials could immediately screen, approve and transport refugees back to Canada. “1979 is not 2015,” he said. “We operate in different ways. We have different requirements. We have to go through screening processes that we’re obliged under our immigration laws to implement.” Canada has so far accepted 2,374 Syrian refugees and has pledged to bring in a total of 11,300 over three years. In addition, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper promised to accept an additional 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees over four years if re-elected.
CBC – Refugee Health-Care Flyers Draw Fire to Conservatives
As election campaigns shift toward addressing the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, people have been tweeting Conservative Party mailouts that are said to have “loaded” language against refugees. Several of these surveys, which ask about health-care cuts to refugees, were supposedly mailed to various ridings held by Conservative MPs over the past few years. The ones that have been posted online include questions like, “Should refugees get gold-plated dental, vision and drug benefits” and “What level of health-care benefits do you believe the government should provide to failed and fraudulent refugee claimants?” […]Mailouts that accuse refugees of unfairly gaining access to health services have appeared elsewhere. One surfaced in 2012 sent by Kelly Block, now a Saskatchewan Conservative candidate in Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek, to members of the constituency. It then asks the reader’s thoughts, with the options, “Newcomers don’t deserve more benefits than Canadians” and “Refugees claimants should get dental, vision and pharmacare even if I don’t,” similar to the language used in the Ontario mailouts. […]The 2012 messages were sent around the same time the Harper government cut supplemental health benefits to many refugee claimants, specifically in regards to the Interim Federal Health Program.
CBC – Refugee Crisis Prompts Rallies Across Canada
From Victoria to Fredericton to Inuvik, local groups have planned marches, protests and candlelight vigils to support the refugees and migrants fleeing war-torn Syria and other conflict-ridden countries. Under the banner of “Refugees Welcome,” many of the rallies are taking place during the Labour Day long weekend, with others scheduled later in September. “These are collective acts of protest against the atrocities that we are seeing overseas and the lack of care and compassion that Canada, the United States and Europe are showing to the refugees,” said Blake McCall, a member of Sanctuary Hamilton, a local migrant advocacy group that organized the Hamilton rally. […] The same photo that made international headlines has also suddenly shifted the focus of the federal election campaign. The cross-country rally aims to make sure the conversation continues, McCall said.
CBC – Greg Selinger, Manitoba Premier, Asks Feds to Double Refugee Sponsorship Cap
Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger added his voice to those of provincial and municipal leaders calling for immediate action from the federal government on the Syrian refugee crisis. “We think we can double the number of people we can take in the refugee category,” Selinger said in an interview on Sunday on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics. “We’ve been capped for several years at about 500 on the public side. If the federal government would lift the cap on public sponsorship, we’d be willing to do even more. It’s always been our objective to have more people come into Manitoba.” Immigration is a federal issue. Provinces have lobbied the government for more say over immigration and refugee issues, but currently only Quebec has control over its own immigration policies. Selinger called the federal position on immigration “a barrier” and said the country’s premiers, through the Council of Federation, have asked for the cap to be lifted all categories of immigrants, including refugees.
Al Jazeera English – Israel to Build Fence to Keep Refugees Out
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the start of construction of a fence along Israel’s border with Jordan after calls for Tel Aviv to take in Syrian refugees. Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not allow Israel to be “submerged by a wave of illegal migrants and terrorist activists”. “Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of Syrian and African refugees… but Israel is a small country, very small, without demographic or geographic depth. That is why we must control our borders”, he said at the weekly cabinet meeting according to his office. The announcement came a day after Isaac Herzog, Israeli opposition leader, said on Saturday that Israel should take in Syrian refugees, recalling the plight of Jews who sought refuge from past conflicts.
