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.
New Scientist – Migrants and Asylum Seekers are not a Zero-Sum Game
More people live outside their country of birth than at any other time in history – 232 million in 2013 – and this number is expected to carry on rising. The swell in migration is the result of many global trends, including growing inequalities between nations, demand for labour in countries with a falling birth rate and a rise in the number of refugees and asylum seekers. Opposition to immigration is widespread in many Western nations. Anti-immigration activists, the media and political elites have created a crisis mentality in which immigrants are portrayed as “enemies at the gate”. Immigrants – particularly non-whites – are blamed for all of society’s woes. Such depictions encourage support for more extreme political platforms. […] As a rule, members of socially dominant groups tend to believe that their group is superior and hence entitled to resources and privileges. To maintain their dominance, they must fend off “invading” groups who are seen as competing with them for finite resources including jobs, political power and cultural and religious influence. This can occur irrespective of whether there are indeed limited resources and actual competition over them.
Guelph Mercury – Halt Mass Exodus of Canada’s Migrant Workers
Migrant workers will be forced to leave Canada and go back to their countries of origin starting on April 1, because of the new “four in and four out rule” that the Canadian government has passed. […] This government policy kicks out migrant workers at the four-year mark, even though they have worked to sustain important industries in our communities and have developed ties and a life here as well. […] This federal policy will merely kick out people who have already worked to settle into our communities, just to bring in a new group of workers who themselves will be kicked out after four years. This policy does not get to the core of the issues surrounding temporary foreign worker programs — it merely treats these individuals as disposable. […] The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a coalition of more than 35 migrant and immigrant justice and service organizations, expects this federal policy to create a large pool of undocumented individuals, as those facing deportation lose their temporary work status in Canada while feeling the pressure to stay to continue working.
CBC – Refugees Pay More Income Tax Than Millionaire Investor Immigrants
Refugees who have come to Canada over the past 30 years have paid more income tax in this country than immigrant investors admitted under the now defunct immigrant investor program, critics say. Ian Young, a South China Morning Post journalist based in Vancouver, crunched the numbers with data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. […] “After five years, only 39 per cent of investor immigrants declared any income. Not only that, those who did, their average incomes were very low,” he said in an interview with CBC Radio’s The Current on Friday. They may have been millionaires, but they were earning very little money here in Canada. Immigrant investors declared about $18,000 to $25,000 of income annually, he said. […] By contrast, refugees to Canada start out earning about $17,500 a year, and by the end of their first 10 years, 66 per cent of them are declaring an earned income.
The Carillon – Newcomers Getting Help in Drive for Independence
Many newcomers are eager to get their licence and improve their job prospects, but have few opportunities to practise, said instructor Seid Ahmed with IRCOM’s newcomer driver-education program. The new program Manitoba Public Insurance supports has put out a call for volunteers with vehicles who are willing to help. Practice driving sessions are “crucial” to prepare for the challenge of the road test, says MPI. It provides the IRCOM program with a salvaged, safetied training vehicle for the four hours of hands-on training and practice behind the wheel. They’ve tweaked MPI’s high school driver’s-ed program for the 16 hours of classroom instruction for the newcomers. Helping immigrants and refugees get on their feet by helping them learn to drive was in the provincial government’s 2013 throne speech and falls within the Crown corporation’s mandate, said MPI spokesman Brian Smiley.
Al Jazeera English – Greece Outlines Radical Immigration Reforms
Until now, the Greek government’s response to all migrants without documentation has been dictated by deterrence and detention policies. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 45,500 migrants and asylum seekers were apprehended by Greek police in 2014. But the left-wing Syriza party’s resounding victory in Greece’s parliamentary elections last month could signal a major shift in policy. […] In addition to a plan that would grant citizenship to second-generation migrants born and raised in Greece, the new immigration ministry has also proposed shutting down immigrant detention centres. These are the boldest statements to date from Athens on the issue of migration. […] Syriza’s coalition partner, the Independent Greeks, calls in its party manifesto to cap the percentage of migrants at 2.5 percent of the country’s population. Currently, this figure stands at 9 percent, according to the IOM. As a result, Syriza’s immigration ministry may face an uphill battle in achieving its objectives of granting more asylum requests and assimilating more immigrants.
Financial Times – EU Migration Chief Calls for More Money to Help Migrants
The EU’s new migration chief has called on member states to accept more asylum seekers and share the financial burden of dealing with refugees as human rights groups brace for another surge of migrants attempting the deadly crossing of the Mediterranean. Dimitris Avramopoulos, the Greek commissioner tasked with bringing together EU member states with often opposing views on migration, said: “We should have a more fair distribution of migrants and asylum seekers.” […] Human rights organisations expect the death toll this year in the Mediterranean to surpass last year’s figure of more than 3,200. Asylum flows into the EU have jumped in recent years as wars in Libya and Syria have triggered an exodus of people, many of whom attempt to enter the EU. At the same time, tighter border restrictions in Spain and Greece have cut off traditional land-based routes into Europe, forcing people to risk the dangerous crossing into Europe via the Mediterranean which intensifies during the summer months.
