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.
Journal de Montréal – Groupe Jean Coutu affirme que ses travailleurs n’avaient pas besoin de permis
Le Groupe Jean Coutu a réaffirmé hier que les travailleurs de la compagnie autrichienne Knapp, qui sont venus installer de nouveaux équipements à son entrepôt de Varennes, n’avaient absolument pas besoin de permis de travail. L’entreprise soutient qu’elle avait tout à fait le droit de les utiliser en vertu d’une disposition fédérale. «Ces travailleurs ne sont pas à l’emploi du Groupe Jean Coutu, mais plutôt à l’emploi de Knapp. Ils ont été admis au Canada à titre de visiteurs d’affaires par l’Agence des services frontaliers du Canada et n’ont donc pas à obtenir de permis de travail», a tenu à préciser hier Hélène Bisson, vice-président communications du Groupe Jean Coutu. «L’installation de l’ensemble des équipements de production pour tout le centre de distribution est effectuée par environ 80 personnes. De ce nombre, 11 travailleurs sont étrangers», a-t-elle ajouté
Globe and Mail – Ryerson University Joins Program to Bring Syrian Refugees to Toronto
It’s been 40 years since a 12-year-old Marianne Nguyen arrived in Canada without her parents and began adjusting to a completely different life. Now, she wants to help a refugee family from Syria do the same. Ms. Nguyen is heading up one of 11 teams from Ryerson University that are part of Lifeline Syria, a movement that aims to secure private sponsorship for 1,000 Syrian refugees to resettle in the GTA over the next two years. Ms. Nguyen, who trained as an architect and now works as a designer, was among the first wave of people who left South Vietnam as it came under communist control in 1975, followed by more than 50,000 Vietnamese refugees who came to Canada between 1979 and 1981. She travelled across the ocean to Montreal, living with nine of her siblings between the ages of 10 and 25, until her parents came and reunited the family – 15 children in total – in 1979. Helping a Syrian family through the challenges of settling in Canada, Ms. Nguyen said, is a way of reaching out after all the opportunities she was given.
El watan – Immigration au Canada : Le québec attire toujours les algériens
Dans l’avion d’Air Algérie qui les amène d’Alger à Montréal, on peut reconnaître quelques-uns à leurs nombreux bagages, un peu plus que les autres passagers, à leur excitation et à leur angoisse parfois qui trahissent la peur de l’inconnu après avoir quitté les leurs pour une nouvelle vie. […] La bureaucratie canadienne a le mérite d’être efficace. Ses lourdeurs ou ses problèmes avec la corruption sont ailleurs et le risque de la croiser à l’aéroport est faible. Au premier trimestre 2015, pas moins de 414 immigrants d’origine algérienne ont été admis au Québec sur un total de 9200. Ils sont classés cinquièmes après les Chinois, les Français, les Iraniens et les Marocains, selon les statistiques du ministère de l’Immigration. Ces chiffres peuvent paraître faibles, mais il ne faut pas oublier que ce sont ceux d’un seul trimestre. Pour l’année 2014, le Québec a reçu 50 275 immigrants dont 7% venaient d’Algérie, soit 3519. Ils étaient classés 3es après les Iraniens et les Français, suivis des Chinois et des Haitiens. «C’est une communauté d’installation récente au Québec et au Canada en général», explique le Dr Brahim Benyoucef, expert en urbanisme et fondateur de l’Observatoire Espace et Société au Québec.
CBC – New Temporary Foreign Worker Penalties Concern Some P.E.I. Businesses
Stiff new penalties for those who abuse the federal Temporary Foreign Workers Program are a concern for some in P.E.I. The changes were announced by the federal government last week. The strictest penalties include a lifetime ban from the program and fines of up to $100,000 for each violation and up to one million dollars a year. […] That will hurt small business, says Erin McGrath-Gaudet, P.E.I. director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. “For a small business owner to go to that length and to that cost is serious,” said McGrath-Gaudet. “So we would like to see government institute a more informal appeals process or an administrative appeals process internally before going to that level of needing to go to the court system.” P.E.I. businesses are still struggling to find workers after other recent changes to the program, including a stipulation that temporary foreign workers could only make up 30 per cent of total staff. Also, many temporary workers who had worked in Canada since April 1, 2011 saw their visas expire earlier this year.
Montreal Gazette – Immigration Board Eases Conditions for Deepan Budlakoti, Stateless Man with Weapons and Drug Convictions
Deepan Budlakoti, 25, still represents a flight risk and a danger to society, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada member Francois Milo said Friday. “The danger ground for detention has lessened through the passage of time and because of Mr. Budlakoti’s good conduct, compared to that of his troubled youth and early adulthood,” Milo said in Montreal. […] Canada has an active deportation order against him but cannot make him leave because he has nowhere to go. India has refused to allow him to enter the country because it does not recognize him as a citizen, according to court documents. […] The appeals court ruled that Budlakoti is not legally a “stateless person” as he claims, because he has not officially applied for citizenship in either Canada or India. Budlakoti says he has begun proceedings to have the Supreme Court hear his challenge of the appeals court ruling. Since being freed from detention in 2013, Budlakoti has received support from human rights organizations, public-sector unions and members of the public who say his legal limbo is unfair and violates his freedoms. […] Budlakoti says he made mistakes when he was younger but is rehabilitated.
CBC – Deepan Budlakoti Gets Conditions Eased by Immigration Board
A man who has no citizenship from any country and who was convicted on drug and weapons offences had his release conditions eased Friday due to good behaviour and the fact more than two years have passed since he was freed. Deepan Budlakoti, 25, still represents a flight risk and a danger to society, however, said Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada member Francois Milo. “The danger ground for detention has lessened through the passage of time and because of Mr. Budlakoti’s good conduct, compared to that of his troubled youth and early adulthood,” Milo said in Montreal. Budlakoti will now have to report to the Canada Border Services Agency only every six months instead of every three. And Milo said the condition that Budlakoti must keep the peace is too vague. It was changed so the Ottawa native must now report to border officials within 48 hours of any arrest, accusation or conviction. Budlakoti was born in Canada to Indian nationals working for Indian High Commission officials and was not given automatic citizenship. He became a permanent resident in 1992 but was stripped of that status after he was convicted of trafficking weapons and drugs.
