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.
Ottawa Citizen – The Struggle to Connect New Canadians to Parks and Nature
[For] those who run Canada’s parks and organizations such as the Canadian Wildlife Federation, whose mission it is to ensure that Canadians continue to value and protect this country’s natural areas […] success increasingly depends on their ability to attract the immigrants and visible minorities who now make up 20 per cent of the population and two-thirds of the country’s population growth. By 2030, one in three Canadian workers will have been born in another country. While definitive statistics are lacking, there’s plenty of evidence that many immigrants to Canada aren’t taking advantage of our provincial and national parks. An Ontario Parks campground survey in 2011, for example, found that people born in India made up fewer than half of one per cent of campers even though 2.6 per cent of Ontario residents were born there. People born in China and Hong Kong constitute more than three per cent of the province’s population but fewer than one per cent of park camp users. The story is similar in the national parks. According to Parks Canada, socio-demographic research shows that new Canadians from different cultural backgrounds are under-represented among visitors to national parks.
Chicago Tribune – Trump and the Myth of Immigrant Crime
Donald Trump sees himself as a martyr to the truth. All he did was point out that among the foreigners who have come to this country are some who do not scrupulously abide by all our criminal laws — only to be pilloried for his honesty. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said when he announced his presidential campaign. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” For this unvarnished assessment, he has paid a price: Univision and NBC severed their ties with him. Macy’s said it is dropping his line of clothing. Mattress-maker Serta won’t sell Trump Home products anymore. […]In the first place, these newcomers are generally less prone to break the law than native-born Americans are. Most Mexicans who undertake the risks and sacrifices required to come here want to work at honest jobs and provide for their families, not rape and kill. […] In the first place, these newcomers are generally less prone to break the law than native-born Americans are. Most Mexicans who undertake the risks and sacrifices required to come here want to work at honest jobs and provide for their families, not rape and kill.
The controversial Temporary Foreign Worker program has seen a massive cut in the number of Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) granted to workers from abroad to come to Canada, The Tyee has learned. Despite the figures, critics of the program say the numbers only reflect the government’s spreading out of TFWs to different streams to hide how many foreign workers are being granted work permits. Documents obtained through an access to information and privacy request and provided to The Tyee show in 2014 the government granted just 40,000 LMIA’s nation-wide, compared to more than 200,000 in 2012. Numbers for 2013 were not available on the Employment and Skills Development website. LMIA applications must be approved by the federal government for an employer to be able to hire a foreign worker. Figures also show 11,200 LMIA’s were denied in 2014, meaning applications in general were down significantly. Kael Campbell of Victoria’s Red Seal Recruiting Solutions said the applications are down because the government started charging non-refundable fees for LMIAs to employers, whereas it was free prior to mid-2013002E
Le Devoir – Un pays accueillant intègre mieux ses immigrants
Le fait d’accueillir plus d’immigrants n’augmente pas nécessairement la difficulté de les intégrer à la société. C’est même souvent le contraire qui se produit, comme au Canada, dit l’OCDE. La question de l’immigration et de son intégration dans les sociétés d’accueil compte parmi les enjeux prioritaires dans un grand nombre de pays pour des raisons économiques, mais aussi de simple cohésion et d’acceptabilité sociales, rappelle d’entrée de jeu l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) dans un rapport dévoilé jeudi et présenté comme « la première grande comparaison internationale » sur le sujet. Se penchant à la fois sur les immigrés et leurs enfants, l’étude prend à contre-pied quelques idées reçues, dont celle voulant que leur bonne ou mauvaise intégration soit principalement une affaire de nombre d’étrangers par rapport à la population totale.
Le Soleil – La Ville de Québec se réjouit de sa capacité à retenir les immigrants
Avec un taux de rétention qui atteint 81 %, la Ville de Québec a rejoint Montréal dans sa capacité à garder ses immigrants. Une bonne nouvelle, selon le maire Régis Labeaume, qui y voit un signe que Québec n’est plus une ville de «transit» pour les nouveaux arrivants. «Avant, les immigrants transitaient à Québec avant d’aller à Toronto ou Montréal. Là, visiblement, la ville est plus attrayante, et il y a de l’emploi. On en voit l’effet sur le taux de rétention», s’est réjoui M. Labeaume, qui participait jeudi à une cérémonie d’accueil des familles immigrantes à l’hôtel de ville de Québec. […] La Ville de Québec accueille en moyenne de 3500 à 4000 nouveaux arrivants par an, une donnée qui inclut autant les résidents permanents que les réfugiés et les travailleurs temporaires.
Reuters Canada – Hungary’s Asylum Bill Blow to Refugee Protection: Council of Europe, U.N.
The United Nations and the Council of Europe both criticized Hungary’s planned changes to its asylum rules on Friday, saying they would harm asylum-seekers’ right to seek safety there and put them at risk. The European human rights watchdog said the legislation would strike a blow to refugee protection in Hungary if adopted in its current form. The right-wing government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban wants to shorten the time frame for screening asylum claims and to reject claims from those migrants who on their journey from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq have already passed through safe countries without requesting asylum. Parliament is likely to vote on the amendment on Monday. Orban has said Hungary’s borders must be defended by all means from a tide of migrants coming through the Balkans. So far this year, almost 70,000 migrants have crossed into Hungary illegally, mostly over its border with Serbia.
