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.
Global News – Refugees in Hungary Board Buses for Austria, Germany After Marching West
After misery, delivery. Hundreds of migrants, exhausted after breaking away from police and marching for hours toward Western Europe, boarded buses provided by Hungary’s government as Austria in the early-morning hours said it and Germany would let them in. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann announced the decision early Saturday after speaking with Angela Merkel, his German counterpart – not long after Hungary’s surprise nighttime move to provide buses for the weary travellers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. With people streaming in long lines along highways from a Budapest train station and near a migrant reception centre in this northern town, the buses would be used because “transportation safety can’t be put at risk,” said Janos Lazar, chief of staff to the prime minister. […] Hungarian authorities had refused to let them board trains to the west, and the migrants balked at going to processing centres, fearing they would be forced to live in Hungary. Under European law, refugees are supposed to seek asylum in the first European Union country they enter. But many see limited economic opportunities and a less welcoming atmosphere in Hungary than in Germany, Sweden and other Western nations.
Ottawa Citizen – EU Would Welcome Support from Countries like Canada on Refugee Crisis: Official
Speaking amid the chaos of arriving migrants and refugees on the Greek island of Kos, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said that while the crisis is “a global challenge that requires European solutions,” he would welcome support from non-EU countries like Canada. Timmermans said the EU is still looking for a balance between protecting those needing shelter and keeping out those who only seek economic fortune. He said the “organized solidarity” of the European welfare state “would be completely undermined if we simply say everybody can come in.” Timmermans added, though, that “Europe cannot survive either if we take leave of our values and our legal obligations” for those seeking protection from persecution and war. The refugee and migrant crisis is nothing less than “a moment of truth in European history,” he said. At the same time, he conceded that help from other countries would be useful. “Syrians deserve refuge all over the world.” Timmermans said that when it came to refugees fleeing the war in Syria, the EU and international partners had done much less that they could have during the four years of conflict.
CBC – International Students have a Lot to Get Used to, and So Do Their Profs
Enrique Chacon says that when he first came to Canada to study, he found the behaviour of other students jarring. […] Nowadays, Chacon is the international student adviser at the University of Windsor and he leads a workshop for incoming teaching and graduate assistants. The course is called Intercultural Relations: In Class and Across Campus. Chacon has been involved with it for a decade. Chacon said it can be instructive for teachers to learn about the deeply rooted expectations they have for the classroom and how those may be different from the people they’ll be working with. These discrepancies between what they are expecting and what they end up experiencing can appear in everything from how a teacher interacts with students to how students work together in groups, Chacon said. And that may inform how instructors explain to students what they want to see them deliver and how that should happen. “I think that the instructor should be aware that these things are going to happen,” Chacon said.
CBC – P.E.I. International Student Population Increasing
Two P.E.I. post-secondary institutions have been successful in attracting international students. The University of Prince Edward Island and Holland College are welcoming students to their campuses this week. UPEI hosted an international student orientation day to help newcomers learn more about the school and city they live in. […] Last year, 700 of the 4,400 students attending UPEI were non-Canadians. That number was up by 100 from the year before. Holland College’s international student population has increased 23 per cent from last year. […] Foreign students pay about double what Canadian students pay to attend school in Canada. They also spend money on rent and groceries which benefits the local economy. UPEI is now focusing its external recruitment efforts in Mexico while it continues to draw students from the northeastern United States and Caribbean countries.
CBC – Canadian Cities, Provinces Make their Pitch to Help Syrian Refugees
The plight of Syrian refugees and calls for the federal government to bring more of them to Canada have prompted other levels of governments across the country to make pitches to help. A number of provincial and municipal leaders have in recent days pledged to do what they can to get more refugees into the country. These pitches come amid criticism that Canada’s acceptance, so far, of 2,500 Syrian refugees is much too low. […]Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall posted a statement on Facebook, saying the federal government has been told that the province “can and will support more refugees.” Nova Scotia Justice Minister Diana Whalen said she asked the federal government to “open the door to Canada” and send Syrian refugees to the province. Of the 300 refugees that have settled in the province since January 2014, Whalen said only 20 were from Syria and that they “can certainly do much more.” […] Meanwhile, the Manitoba government said it will increase its contribution to local settlement services organizations by an additional $40,000 to help newcomers and their families.
Radio-Canada – Réfugiés : le Canada a changé d’approche, selon les experts
Le Canada a changé d’approche au cours des dernières années dans sa gestion de l’accueil des réfugiés, selon des experts qui soulignent le contraste entre la situation actuelle des Syriens et celle des Vietnamiens dans les années 1970. Les gouvernements libéraux et conservateurs des années 1970 et 1980 avaient accueilli à bras ouverts 60 000 réfugiés indochinois qui fuyaient les régimes communistes après la chute de Saïgon, au Vietnam, en 1975, rappelle Catherine Dauvergne, doyenne de la Faculté de droit de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique et experte en droit de l’immigration au Canada et en Australie. Son constat est sans appel : la réponse du Canada à la guerre civile en Syrie n’est pas conforme aux exemples du passé.
