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.
CIC News – Quebec Announces New Caps for Immigration Programs
The Government of Quebec has announced new intake caps for its skilled worker, investor, entrepreneur and self employed immigration programs. By enforcing strict limits on application acceptance, Quebec is ensuring that it will receive a manageable load of applications this year. It will also reward proactive individuals who prepare and submit applications as soon as possible, before caps close. […] Applicants to the QSW program will see the greatest change in application intake. The upcoming year’s cap of 6,500 is less than half than the 20,000 application limit that was instituted this past year. In the past ten months, over 10,000 applications were accepted for review by the QSW program. If interest in the program continues to grow, it means that in the coming months applicants will have to work fast to prepare their applications before the cap fills.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada News Release – Canada Welcomes More New Canadians
Approximately 33,700 people from 199 countries became Canadian citizens at citizenship ceremonies held across Canada in March 2014. This is almost twice as many compared to March 2013 when 17,089 people were granted citizenship across Canada. […] The government’s proposed changes in Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, will further reduce wait times by streamlining the decision-making process for citizenship. It is expected that these changes will bring the average processing time for citizenship applications down to under one year and that the current backlog will be reduced by more than 80 percent by 2015-2016.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced earlier that Canada would accept 1,300 of the million-plus refugees forced to flee Syria and languishing in camps in neighbouring countries. The government committed to accepting 200 government-assisted refugees and 1,100 privately sponsored refugees from Syria — with 50 allocated for Winnipeg. Meeting the requirement to fill Winnipeg’s allocation of 50 will be difficult, said volunteer Ezzat Ibrahim, a retired University of Manitoba scientist who came to Winnipeg from Egypt in 1965. The sponsorship agreement holder, the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council overseeing private sponsorships of Syrian refugees, says only family members who meet financial requirements can sponsor the Syrian refugees. The federal government says the refugees must be in Jordan and Lebanon. “So far we have only one family eligible for that,” the disheartened Ibrahim said.
Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada – Communiqué – Le Canada accueille plus de nouveaux Canadiens : Le nombre de nouveaux citoyens canadiens en mars 2014 est près du double de ce qu’il était l’an dernier
Environ 33 700 personnes originaires de 199 pays ont obtenu la citoyenneté canadienne lors de cérémonies de citoyenneté tenues partout au Canada au mois de mars 2014. Il s’agit d’une augmentation de près de 100 p. 100 comparativement au mois de mars 2013, au cours duquel 17 089 personnes avaient obtenu la citoyenneté au Canada. Les nouveaux citoyens du Canada ont été accueillis dans le cadre de 312 cérémonies de citoyenneté tenues partout au pays, qu’il s’agisse de cérémonies organisées sur des campus collégiaux et dans des bureaux de Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada ou de cérémonies spéciales organisées dans des gares ferroviaires et des sites patrimoniaux désignés.
La Presse – Le Canada paie le séjour au pays de quatre officiels congolais
Une délégation du gouvernement de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) est arrivée la semaine dernière à Montréal pour un séjour aux frais des contribuables canadiens, dans l’espoir de faire enfin ce que son ambassade refuse de faire depuis des lustres: fournir un document de voyage à une trentaine de Congolais que le Canada veut expulser. La procédure est exceptionnelle, même si elle a déjà été utilisée avec au moins un autre pays africain dans le passé, selon ce qu’a appris La Presse.
Victoria News – Camosun College Gets More One-Time ESL Funding
Camosun College is among nine public post-secondary institutions getting additional cash in the 2014-15 school year to support English as a Second Language programs. An additional $6.7 million complements the $10.5 million announced last month of one-time transitional funding to help institutions impacted by the federal government’s decision to change administration of ESL programs for immigrants effective April 1. Citizenship and Immigration Canada will continue to fund English language programming through agreements with service delivery organizations such as not-for-profit agencies and some post-secondary institutions.
