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.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada – Minister Kenney Proposes to Assess Foreign Education Credentials Before Skilled Workers Arrive
“Our Government is building an immigration system that is focused on economic growth and ensuring that all Canadians, including immigrants, are able to contribute to their maximum capacity,” said Jason Kenney. “By having their foreign education credentials assessed before their arrival to Canada, foreign skilled workers will have a better sense of how their credentials fit into the Canadian labour market and will be able to contribute their full skill set to the economy more quickly. This proposal is part of a broader package of transformational changes that will make Canada’s immigration policies work better for the Canadian economy.”
Toronto Star – Immigration Sponsorship of Parents, Grandparents Under Review by Ottawa
To tackle the sponsorship backlog that now stands at 168,500, Ottawa has stopped accepting sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents since November. It plans to accept between 21,800 and 25,000 applications in 2012, up from 14,072 in 2011. It also launched the 10-year Super Visa in December, allowing parents and grandparents to make temporary visits to Canada.
The Guardian – Patient Care “Will Suffer” [in U.K.] Under Plans to Throw Out Migrant Nurses
Ministers have been accused of risking patient health in favour of a “crude” immigration policy after government documents revealed that almost half of the nurses from abroad now working in the NHS will be forced to leave Britain under new plans. Theresa May, the home secretary, has announced that migrants from outside the European Union earning less than £35,000 will not be allowed to settle in the UK. The pay threshold, which will see people beginning to be removed in 2016, is the first time that a British government has imposed an economic test on the right to settlement in the UK and is designed to break the link between working and settling in the country.
The Weekend Telegram – “Taking Root” Exhibition Outlines History of Chinese Immigration to Province [Newfoundland and Labrador]
The exhibit, funded through Citizenship Canada’s Community Historical Recognition Program, tells the story of the Chinese immigrants who came to the Dominion of Newfoundland between 1906 and 1949, leaving the poverty and political instability of southeast China to start a new life. The head tax was lifted when Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. Canada had had its own tax on Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1923, when the Exclusion Act, banning Chinese from entering the country for the next 24 years, was instituted. About 81,000 immigrants paid fees ranging from $50 to $500, the federal government amassing about $23 million.
Globe and Mail – Harper Takes Aim at Human Smuggling with Cash and Equipment for Thai Police
His government has set aside $12 million over two years to help detect and prevent human smuggling operations in Southeast Asia. Mr. Harper suggested the program, known as the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program, could be eventually expanded elsewhere. The Conservative government says that Thailand is both a source and a transit point for illegal migrants who want to make Canada their final destination […] Roughly $5 million will be spent on training police and immigration officers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Ottawa Citizen – Refugee Claims’ Success Luck of the Draw
Sean Rehaag, an assistant professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, reviewed more than 23,000 applications for judicial review of refugee determinations filed between 2005 and 2010. Almost all were filed by people whose claims for protection had been denied by the Immigration and Refugee Board. The study – by far the largest of its sort ever undertaken in Canada – says its most remarkable finding is the “enormous variation” in the rate at which individual Federal Court judges grant leave to refugee claimants seeking to have their cases reviewed by the court.
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