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.
Vancouver Sun – Canada Hasn’t Left Undesirable Days Behind [Book Review: Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru, by Ali Kazemi]
Recent gun violence in Toronto was quickly blamed on “foreign criminals” by Minister Jason Kenney and the vocal Martin Collacott of the Centre for Immigration Policy Reform. Despite evidence that the individuals involved were mainly Canadian-born citizens, Collacott mused that Canada’s immigration and refugee policies were to blame and said “we may well have allowed them to come here when the odds were stacked against the likelihood of their children adapting successfully to Canadian society.” […] Nearly a century after the Komagata Maru was turned away, and despite decades of civic contributions from South Asian and Chinese arrivals, it is astonishing how quickly non-white immigration is invoked to explain domestic problems.
Is the Manitoba PNP really as successful as everyone seems to believe? The Manitoba program is one of the earliest PNPs and can be considered something of a prototype for the others that followed. The program was launched, by federal-provincial agreement, in 1999. It is one of the largest programs, accounting for 39 per cent of the 33,722 principal applicant immigrants admitted through the program from 2005 to 2009. […] It is significant that recent immigrants to Manitoba continued to do worse than total recent immigrants to Canada, earning only 88.9 per cent of average income of all recent immigrants to Canada. The bottom line is that the Manitoba Government might be successful at attracting more immigrants, but the immigrants themselves are continuing to perform poorly in the labour market, actually doing worse than recent immigrants in the rest of the country.
The Guardian – Latinos’ Renewed Hope for Immigration Reform After the 2012 Election
Thursday evening, President Obama told voters during a televised candidates’ forum on Univision, the largest Spanish-language TV network, that he regretted not having enacted comprehensive immigration reform during his first term. He described the lack of reform as his “biggest failure” during his first term in office. […] While jobs, education, and healthcare rank among the top issues for Latino voters, immigration is a threshold issue. If you are opposed to immigration or support strictly punitive immigration measures, you cannot even start a conversation about other issues with most Latino voters.
Sydney Morning Herald – Uncertainty Over Fate of Nauru Children
Nauru is expecting Australia to take special care of asylum-seeker children and teenagers who are without parents but sent to the island for processing under its revived Pacific Solution. […] Child advocates and refugee lawyers have expressed deep concern over uncertainty surrounding the treatment of unaccompanied minors sent for offshore processing. […] ”We don’t think children should be sent there,” said Tim O’Connor of UNICEF Australia. Mr O’Connor said that he recently met immigration officials but could not get a clear answer.
Toronto Star – War Resister Who Sought Refuge in Toronto Deported to U.S.
An American soldier who sought refuge in Canada after she became disillusioned with the Iraq war has turned herself over to the United States. […] The parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has confirmed the deportation and says the Harper government doesn’t believe Rivera will be persecuted in the U.S. Rivera came to Canada in 2007 to avoid further U.S. military service. Ken Marciniec of the War Resisters Support Campaign says two other Iraq war resisters who were deported in the past faced year-long jail sentences for desertion upon their return.
Winnipeg Free Press – First Nations Consulted on 2013 Immigration Targets as Tories Break New Ground
The Conservative government has wrapped up its consultations on next year’s immigration targets by breaking new ground — a precedent-setting sit-down with First Nations. And by meeting with a traditionally disadvantaged group — one that has vocally questioned Canada’s generous immigration policy — the government may be signalling what’s to come in 2013. Rick Dykstra, the parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, met Thursday with representatives of the Assembly of First Nations and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
