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.
National Post – Niqab Ban During Oath of Citizenship Escalating into a Full-Fledged Pre-Election Issue
The prime minister’s defence of the niqab ban — a ban that the federal court overturned earlier this month — is featured prominently on the Conservative party website. “In Canada, women are full and equal members of society. Including when they take the oath of citizenship,” reads text alongside an image of a woman’s raised hand. “That is why we are strongly opposed to anyone wearing a niqab … while taking the oath.” Stephen Harper’s citizenship and immigration minister, Chris Alexander, this week even suggested that wearing hijabs — headscarves that typically do not cover the face — could be problematic. “Niqab, hijab, burka, wedding veil — face coverings have no place in cit[izenship] oath-taking!” he tweeted. In an email to Conservative party supporters, Mr. Alexander wrote that new citizens “should recite the oath proudly, loudly and for everyone to see and hear.” He then seemed to use the terms niqab and hijab interchangeably, stating: “It’s why we filed a notice to appeal this week’s court decision allowing people to wear the hijab while taking the oath.” […] Mr. Alexander’s spokesman would not clarify on Friday if it was the minister’s position that hijabs that do not cover the face should also be banned from citizenship ceremonies.
Inside Toronto – Wong Association Honoured for Decades-Long Work of Helping Chinese Immigrants Adjust to Life in Canada
For more than 100 years, Chinese immigrants coming to Toronto have been able to rely on the Wong Association of Ontario to help them settle in their new country. Dating back to 1912, the Wong Kung Har Tong. One of Canada’s oldest Chinese family associations, it became a vital resource for Chinese newcomers, providing immigration, financial, employment and housing assistance. […] These days, it still provides social, physical and academic activities for Toronto’s Chinese community out of a building at 303 Spadina Ave. […] Heritage Toronto recognized the Wong Association of Ontario’s long-standing role in the lives of Chinese-Canadians with a plaque presentation at its current site on Chinese New Year Day. […] Henry Wong of the Wong Association said the plaque presentation noted the recognition from Heritage Toronto was not simply for the group itself. “Today’s recognition is not just for the Wong Association but for all Chinese immigrants here in Toronto,” he said. Wong added that Chinese New Year marked an ideal time to reflect on the Loh Wah Kiu, or ancestral Chinese immigrants who helped pave the way for all Chinese-Canadians.
In Manitoba, the number of immigrants and refugees arriving every year has more than quadrupled in the last decade, but there are still very few mental-health workers who specialize in helping them, said John Smyth, executive director of the Aurora Family Therapy Centre. […] At three schools in the city, newcomer youth take part in leadership and employability skills training where they receive guidance and learn from each other about settling into a new culture. Offering such “group work” is being proactive, said Winnipeg mental-health clinician Ala Albadri. Too often, attention isn’t paid to mental health until someone is having a crisis, he said. […] The Aurora Family Therapy Centre might be on the right track, he said. Its pilot projects involving men’s, women’s and student groups are a way of helping people to help each other, said Albadri, who does not work there. […] The Aurora centre set up the pilot projects as another way to help newcomers when it learned Citizenship and Immigration Canada would no longer provide settlement-services funding for its therapy program for immigrant and refugee families.
CBC – Metro Vancouver Transit Police End Controversial Agreement with CBSA
Metro Vancouver Transit Police will end its controversial agreement with Canada Border Services Agency after undocumented migrant Lucia Vega Jimenez hung herself in 2013. Previously, transit police would hold an undocumented migrant who the CBSA was interested in, if they found one evading fare. As of next week, transit police spokesperson Anne Drennan said it will continue to make arrests on outstanding warrants, but “police will who encounter undocumented migrants during the course of fare enforcement activities will leave any follow-up action to federal authorities.” The decision comes after the transit police met with a group called Transportation Not Deportation” that has been outspoken since Jimenez’s suicide. […] Drennan said the transit police decided to change its policy after Jimenez’s “tragic suicide brought things to a head.” ‘We were doing more and more research into this since that time, and even though there were no recommendations after the coroners inquest for transit police, we decided it was time to take this step,” she told CBC News.
CBC – Lack of Walk-In Service at Immigration Office Concerns Yukoners
Immigrants in Yukon are raising concerns about the lack of walk-in service at the Citizenship and Immigration Canada office in Whitehorse. Among other things, the one-person office helps with citizenship testing, permanent resident card pickups and immigration interviews. Aileen Maningas, vice-president of the Canadian Filipino Association of the Yukon, says people wanting in-person assistance are only given an appointment after calling a toll-free number and many don’t have the time to wait on hold. […] A Whitehorse immigration office that was shut down in October 2012 offered walk-in service. It was closed as a result of federal budget cuts. […] All Citizenship and Immigration offices in Canada now offer in-person service by appointment only. According to an e-mail from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, immigrants needing in-person help must now call the 1-800 number and a call centre agent will give them an appointment if the situation “justifies” one. The e-mail says the walk-in service was cut to modernize communications.
Edmonton Journal – Province Roasted Over List of Temporary Foreign Workers that Could Call Canada Home
The province is under fire for using a confidential, internal list of “priority occupations” to determine which temporary foreign workers could stay here permanently. The provincial nominee program — the last shot for temporary foreign workers to get permanent residency in Alberta — used an internal list of 34 occupations last fall to help select workers after abandoning its first-come, first-serve approach to applications. The list, obtained by the Journal, included a few low-skilled jobs, such as light duty cleaners and hotel clerks, along with civil engineers, steamfitters, computer programmers, heavy duty equipment mechanics and university professors. The province should be open about how it chooses its immigrants, said Clarizze Truscott of the Temporary Foreign Workers Support Coalition. Keeping the list of priority jobs confidential was not fair to employers or workers trying assess their chances of being accepted, Truscott said.
