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.
The Vancouver Sun – Syrians in Vancouver Reach Out to Help Compatriots Move to Canada
The Syrian community in Vancouver is banding together to bring endangered friends and relatives from their war-torn homeland to new lives in Canada. […] Between October 2011 and June of this year, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board received 213 claims for refugee status from Syrian nationals inside Canada, and 320 since protests against Bashar Assad’s rule began in January 2011. […] Bassam Al-Kuwatli, a Vancouver-based immigration consultant and member of the Syrian National Council, met recently with Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. He said they discussed stopping deportations to Syria and easing the ability of Syrian-Canadians to bring family members here.
Toronto Star – OAS Benefits Denied: Immigrants Told to Produce Residency Proofs
As a flood of postwar immigrants to Canada enter their golden years, seniors born outside Canada are encountering additional scrutiny about their OAS eligibility, even though they have paid taxes and invested in the Canadian pension system throughout their working lives here. Some feel that the government, which has already moved to gradually increase the age of OAS eligibility from 65 to 67, is now seeking immediate savings by trying to deny current applicants their rightful benefits.
Ottawa Citizen – Government Comes Through with Citizenship for Dying Few
There are rare occasions when Citizenship and Immigration will waive language proficiency, knowledge of Canadian history and current events as well as other eligibility rules and conduct ceremonies in private by telephone, at people’s homes or by their bedside. According to records obtained by Postmedia News through Access to Information, there were about four such ceremonies last year.
Winnipeg Free Press – Protecting and Restricting Foreign Workers
In April 2009, a law came into effect protecting foreign workers in Manitoba. This law, known as the Worker Recruitment and Protection Act, has now been in effect for more than three years. Has this law protected foreign workers as promised, or is it turning employers away from recruiting foreign workers? The answers to both these questions might be “yes.” The act set up a system that requires recruiters of foreign workers to be licensed and employers of foreign workers to be registered. If recruiters or employers act in violation of the law, they can be punished.
Montreal Gazette – Last Unstaffed Border Crossing Closes Between Stanstead and Derby Line
Police say the unmanned Church St. crossing, which has been fenced-off with a row of flower pots, was closed because of an increase in criminal activity and illegal immigration along the span. […] Two similar crossings, on Ball St. and Lee St., were closed in 2009. In addition to sharing streets, fields, forests and other land-based access points, Derby Line and Stanstead also rest along the shores of Lake Memphremagog. The lake is heavily patrolled by both Canadian and United States border guards.
On Sunday night or early Monday, about three dozen people are planning to set out on a six-week bus voyage through the dark terrain of American immigration politics. Their journey is to begin, fittingly, in the desert in Arizona, national capital of anti-immigrant laws and oppressive policing. […] The riders plan to deliver a defiant message to a president who is hoping to return to office on a wave of Latino support that they believe he has not earned.
