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 – Ottawa Accused of Racial Profiling of Roma Travellers
The Canadian Romani Alliance said complaints of racial profiling by community members against Canadian border officials started trickling in around 2011, when asylum claims from Hungarian Roma peaked at 4,400 after visa restrictions were removed by Canada for visitors from Hungary. Claims from Hungary have since declined dramatically, after it was designated by Canada as one of the “safe countries” in late 2012 for expedited processing of claims. Last year, only 400 claims came from Hungary, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board. “Even though Roma do not need a visa to come to Canada, they are kept out of the country. This is a form of discrimination, an example of racial profiling by the Canadian government,” said Gina Csanyi-Robah, the alliance’s co-founder and executive director. Toronto immigration lawyer Peter Ivanyi said he has heard of Canada-bound Roma travellers being refused boarding in Warsaw and Budapest as well: “We really don’t know the extent of the problem because these people have no appeal rights and there isn’t any redress to it. But if someone gets pulled off a flight because he or she appears to be Roma, it’s just blatantly racist.
Radio-Canada – De plus en plus de travailleurs étrangers dans les fermes du Bas-Saint-Laurent
Le recours aux travailleurs agricoles étrangers est nettement à la hausse au Bas-Saint-Laurent. Cette tendance devrait se confirmer au cours des prochaines années. Selon la section régionale de l’Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) du Québec, on devrait compter jusqu’à 70 travailleurs étrangers dans des fermes de la région au plus fort de la saison. Ces travailleurs viennent du Mexique et du Guatemala. L’UPA note également que ces étrangers ne travaillent pas uniquement pour la cueillette des fruits et légumes. En effet, on en trouve de plus en plus dans les fermes laitières et bovines. Ne trouvant pas de main-d’oeuvre locale, le propriétaire des Fraisières du Nord Est à Sainte-Luce, Ronald Bouchard, embauche des travailleurs étrangers pour la première fois cette année.
Radio-Canada – Des nouveaux arrivants rencontrent des employeurs de Moncton
C’était le Salon de l’emploi pour les nouveaux arrivants, jeudi, à Moncton. Il s’agit du deuxième événement du genre en autant de semaines. Le but de l’événement est de mieux faire connaître les possibilités d’emplois aux immigrants de la région. Les employeurs ont aussi un meilleur accès aux candidats internationaux. « Ce qu’on voulait vraiment faire, c’est de donner les opportunités pour les nouveaux arrivants et les étudiants internationaux pour rencontrer ces employeurs. Des fois, c’est plus difficile pour ces gens de vraiment mettre leur pied dans la porte », explique l’agente de la stratégie d’immigration, Angélique Reddy-Kalala. En tout, 15 employeurs étaient sur place jeudi, la plupart du secteur des centres d’appel. « On a présentement 41 centres d’appel dans la région du Grand Moncton qui emploient plus de 10 500 personnes, donc c’est le secteur le plus important en terme de nombre d’emploi de l’économie du Grand Moncton », mentionne Ben Champoux, président-directeur général de 3+.
Vice News – Canada Puts New Law to Use, Moves to Revoke Citizenship of Convicted Terrorist
A controversial Canadian law that allows the government to strip citizenship from convicted terrorists will now have its first test case, providing a preview of what could happen in countries considering similar legislation, including Australia. Canada’s immigration minister has begun the process of revoking Hiva Alizadeh’s citizenship, VICE News has confirmed, using sweeping new powers under the “Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act,” previously known as Bill C-24. The act empowers the minister to strip Canadian citizenship from convicted terrorists, traitors, spies, and enemy combatants, as well as those found to have falsified their immigration applications, provided they hold (or could apply for) the citizenship of another country. Alizadeh, an Iranian-Canadian, was convicted last fall after pleading guilty to explosives possession with the intent to cause harm as part of a terrorist conspiracy. […] Alizadeh will have 60 days to demand a hearing, though that is entirely at the minister’s discretion. If the process is successful, Alizadeh could be deported to Iran, a country frequently criticized by the Canadian government for its poor human rights record. It is unclear whether Iranian authorities would agree to his return.
Winnipeg Free Press – Immigration Changes Herald Caste System: Critics
“It’s a luxury,” said Diwa Marcelino, program co-ordinator for Migrante Manitoba that advocates for migrants’ rights. Citizenship fees rose to $630 from $400 this year. Earlier, the federal government began requiring applicants to provide proof of a Canadian language benchmark level 4 or higher. Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has been quoted as saying the changes ensure new citizens are better prepared to participate in the economy and society. Critics say newcomers who pay taxes and contribute to society but can’t afford to become citizens will lose out. […] Wooing elites, for instance, hasn’t paid off, “Hongcouver” blogger Ian Young with the South China Morning Post wrote this year. He uncovered an internal 2012 Citizenship and Immigration Canada study of the now-defunct immigrant investor program. It showed refugees and live-in caregivers reported higher earned incomes to Revenue Canada than millionaire investor-class immigrants. Five years after immigrating, only about 39 per cent reported any employment earnings to Revenue Canada, compared with 67 per cent of all Canadians.
The Guardian – Countries with More Migrants Better at Integrating Them, OECD Study Finds
Countries with larger migrant populations are paradoxically better at absorbing them into the workforce, a groundbreaking new report on integration within the world’s richest countries has revealed. Migrants to countries within both the EU and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of western nations that includes the US and Canada, are more likely to find employment if their host country has a larger migrant population. By contrast, there is no correlation between a country’s migrant poverty rate and the number in the country. In the clearest examples of this phenomenon, migrants in countries such as Luxembourg, Israel, Australia and New Zealand all form well above 20% of the local population, and yet still have an employment rate of about 70%. On the other hand, Turkey, Bulgaria and Mexico all have migrant populations of less than 2%, and migrant employment rates of no more than 60% – suggesting that restrictions on immigration do not necessarily lead to better integration of the migrants that remain. These are the findings of an OECD report called Settling In, which bills itself as “the first broad international comparison across all EU and OECD countries of the outcomes for immigrants and their children”.
