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 – Talk to Your Doctor in 170 Languages: GTA Launches 24/7 Medical Interpreter Service
Hospitals and clinics used to provide interpretation services in a piecemeal way. Some bought telephone interpretation services, paying rates ranging from $1.70 to $8 per minute. The LHIN is now coordinating bulk purchasing, giving 19 GTA hospitals and 14 community agencies access to 24-hour interpretation services in 170 languages, including aboriginal languages, at $1.44 or less a minute, depending on monthly usage. Studies have shown patients with difficulty communicating in English tend to stay in hospital longer, visit emergency rooms more often, have avoidable health complications, and are more likely to be readmitted after a hospital stay.
Toronto Star – Toronto a Divided City; Second-Generation Immigrants Feel Left Out
Tremendous change brought Toronto to the point where 43 per cent live in low- or very-low-income enclaves, numbering more than 1 million residents. Most of these are immigrants and racialized minorities. Within 30 years, it is these immigrants who will make up as much as two-thirds of our population. How will that work if they are not woven into the fabric of the city and benefitting? Will they feel part of the city, feel Torontonian? Already, signs show that children of immigrant parents feel less connected to Toronto than the Canadian-born.
The Australian – Record Month for Asylum Seekers [in Australia]
The threat of being sent to Nauru does not appear to be working as a deterrent, as 1107 people are thought to have arrived in Australian waters on 17 boats since the first planeload of transfers touched down on the tiny Pacific island on September 14. […] Provisions are being made to build more permanent facilities on Nauru to eventually house 1500 asylum-seekers and a facility is being built on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for 600 people.
Toronto Star – Volunteer Clinics Overwhelmed by Refugees with No Health Care
Both the Scarborough Community Volunteer Clinic and Muslim Welfare Centre Clinic — the city’s two mainstays for uninsured patients — have reported an influx of refugee patients as a result of the cuts. At the Scarborough clinic at Markham and Ellesmere Rds., which opens for only four hours two evenings a week and is staffed mostly by volunteer doctors and nurses, the patient load has more than doubled, from 10 to more than 25 per shift. [… ] In the past, someone was either covered or not, but now all medical conditions as simple as a sore throat are coded. A patient could be eligible for treatment for one thing but not another. Some clinics try to avoid the hassles of not getting paid by turning refugee patients away.
Ottawa Citizen – It’s Time to Re-Focus When it Comes to Integration Strategies, Immigration Official Says
Hindia Mohamoud […] is the driving force behind the partnership, known as OLIP and funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. It’s part of an effort to give local jurisdictions a bigger role in the settlement of newcomers by stimulating conversations and collaborations about immigration across the city. The approach is fuelled by the growing recognition that while Ottawa depends on immigrants for 79 per cent of its population growth (OLIP’s figure), the path to integration isn’t as smooth as it used to be and immigrants are not choosing Ottawa in the same numbers they used to.
Hamilton Spectator – Medical Workers to Rally Against Refugee Health Cuts
Health-care workers, medical students and community members will gather at Bayfront Park Saturday to protest federal cuts to health care for refugee claimants. Dr. Tim O’Shea, a Hamilton internist, says participants will call on doctors and health-care providers to ignore the cuts and provide care to all refugees. […] Refugees who come from countries deemed to be “safe” by the federal government have no health coverage whatsoever, except for issues that would affect public safety (such as tuberculosis). This doesn’t take into account any factors surrounding the refugee claim, such as domestic violence or homophobia.
