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.
Digital Journal – Station Chaos Deepens Italy Migrant Crisis
Italy’s immigration crisis intensified Friday after a build-up of asylum-seekers at two major train stations resulted in clashes with police, an outcry from the right and fresh calls from Rome for EU help. Milan Central and Rome’s Tiburtina station were left looking like refugee camps at times this week as hundreds of migrants heading to northern Europe saw their progress delayed or halted by a temporary reintroduction of border controls due to Monday’s summit of G7 leaders in Germany. […] The Schengen open borders accord means migrants landing in Italy can usually easily travel through neighbouring France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia as they seek to make it to Britain, Germany and Scandinavia. But the G7 suspension of Schengen and a growing number of spot checks on buses and trains has made that harder, increasing the pressure on Italy, where reception facilities are at breaking point with 76,000 people being accommodated nationwide.
CBC – Conservative and Liberal MPs Trade Allegations of Intolerance in the House
The heated question period exchange began when McCallum asked Alexander to apologize to Muslim Canadians for his comments about women who wear niqabs. “It’s the most predictable thing in Canadian politics. Someone says ‘Muslim’ and a Conservative minister says, ‘terrorist,'” McCallum said, adding that Alexander “assumed all Muslim women who wear the veil are terrorist unless proven otherwise.” Alexander, in turn, accused McCallum of putting words in his mouth […] McCallum responded by accusing the Conservative Party and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of “toxic anti-Muslim rhetoric” as a contributing factor to rising hate crimes against that community. […] Alexander called McCallum’s statements “outrageous untruths” and went on to ask the Liberal Party to apologize for its own actions dating back to 1921, when William Lyon MacKenzie King was prime minister. He said MacKenzie King blocked the immigration of South Asians, East Asians and Caribbeans, and also accused former prime ministers Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jean Chrétien of the “injustice of backlogs.”
Global News – Why Sweden is Studying Canada’s Immigration System
Sweden’s Minister of Employment, Ylva Johansson, is visiting Canada this week to learn about our immigration system: meeting with Immigration Minister Chris Alexander and various officials and settlement organizations to figure out how we integrate newcomers. […] Immigration is currently a huge issue for Sweden. For a small country of fewer than 10 million people, it punches well above its weight when it comes to immigration. It accepted 31,220 asylum seekers last year alone, according to statistics from the Swedish Migration Agency. […] “What is impressing me most is how this is regular in Canada. For universities, for municipalities, for employers to be part of this integrating newcomers into the society and into the labour market. This is not the normal case in Sweden.” […] She does think that Canada could improve in a few ways though. Namely, she doesn’t understand why Canadian politicians think that the way to get newcomers into the job market is to simply select more desirable newcomers in the first place. […] And additionally, she thinks Canada could be doing more to help refugees.
Toronto Star – Clinic Launched “Where Care Matters More than a (Health) Card”
For weeks, volunteer Mark Gomes has been working around the clock to help transform an old two-storey church rectory into a one-of-a-kind medical centre. […] Volunteers and donors would drop off anything from baby food to patient examination beds and other used medical equipment, while drug companies such as Teva Pharmaceutics delivered free generic medications to stock the clinic’s drug cabinets. On Friday, they will all be celebrating the grand opening of the Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Health Care on Sheppard Ave. E., just west of Midland Ave., in Scarborough, with an open house that runs through the weekend. […] After 15 years of operation, and several moves, the former Volunteer Health Clinic for the Uninsured has finally found a permanent home in the 107-year-old manse of Knox Presbyterian Church Agincourt. The new 2,800-square-foot facility will house a medical clinic, a dental clinic, pediatric services, midwifery and diagnostic imaging programs, chiropractic and massage services, and a foot care clinic all under one roof. It will be run by medical professionals volunteering their time and will serve some of the GTA’s most vulnerable residents — the undocumented and uninsured.
L’Aquilon – Immigration francophone : Immigrer et étudier en français
L’Ontario et plusieurs provinces regardent les TNO. Par-delà la lettre de l’article 23, plusieurs provinces et territoires canadiens permettent aux commissions scolaires francophones d’admettre dans leurs établissements des immigrants francophones. Le directeur générale de la Fédération nationale des commissions scolaires francophones (FNCSF), Roger Paul, fait le point sur la situation à l’occasion de son passage à Yellowknife. À travers le pays, constate M. Paul, il y a une grande ouverture pour les immigrants francophones qui ne sont pas citoyens canadiens. « Ce sont les exceptions qui appliquent l’article 23 à la lettre. » En Ontario, où se trouve 100 000 des 150 000 élèves francophones canadiens hors Québec, le gouvernement a même exhorté les conseils scolaires à ne pas retarder indument le processus d’admission. Il y a environ sept ans, considère le directeur général de la FNCSF, on ne mesurait pas le rôle essentiel que l’immigration peut jouer dans la vitalité de la francophonie.
Radio-Canada – Immigrants illégaux au Canada : la situation est « gérable », dit Ottawa
Alors que le gouvernement fédéral a perdu la trace de 44 202 immigrants faisant l’objet d’un mandat de renvoi, le ministre fédéral de la Citoyenneté et de l’Immigration, Chris Alexander, affirme qu’il n’est pas question d’imiter Washington en régularisant d’un coup leur situation. En 2014, le président américain Barack Obama a régularisé le cas de 5 millions de personnes vivant sans papiers en sol américain. « On renvoie entre 10 000 et 15 000 personnes par année. Aux États-Unis, récemment, c’était 300 000 par année. Et même à ça, ils ont plus de 10 millions de personnes, et certaines estimations vont jusqu’à douze, quinze millions de gens illégaux, donc ils pensent à de nouvelles politiques », explique le ministre Alexander. « Notre défi à cet égard reste gérable si on le compare à la situation en Europe ou aux États-Unis, où la population d’immigrants illégaux est très très grande », a-t-il poursuivi. Le ministre Alexander ajoute que le Canada a déjà sa propre voie de régulariser les immigrants illégaux.
