Pathways to Prosperity: Canada

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has posted a new notice about an extension of measures in processing work permit applications from Haiti If you are a Haitian national who arrived in Canada before to January 13, 2011, and are applying for a work permit or extending a work permit, your exemption from the requirement to provide a labour market opinion (LMO) as part of your application is now being extended. The requirement for an LMO will remain in place for all those who arrived in Canada after that date.

http://settlement.org/sys/whatshappen_detail.asp?anno_id=2010350

From the description – not to mention the 30-second trailer – it would seem to be one of the more tasteless TV programmes yet devised. In fact, Weg van Nederland, to be broadcast on Dutch television tonight, has a deliberately liberal agenda, albeit delivered in a provocative way. Contestants on the one-off game show from the public broadcaster VPRO, part of an annual week of experimental programmes, comprise five asylum seekers who have exhausted legal avenues to stay in the Netherlands and await imminent deportation to their country of origin.

They compete in a quiz about Dutch culture, history and language, with the winner awarded €4,000 (£3,500) to help cushion them when they are expelled. Consolation prizes include a bulletproof vest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/01/dutch-gameshow-asylum-seekers-quiz?INTCMP=SRCH

How much fiscal benefit should Canadians with only a short history of residence in Canada receive? Earlier this week, the NDP withdrew a Private Members’ Motion originally submitted by Vancouver East MP Libby Davies on this controversial topic. The NDP motion echoed a previous proposal by former Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla in 2009 to make Old Age Security for recent immigrants more accessible. Ms. Dhalla’s proposal proved so controversial that even her Liberal colleagues disowned it during the 2011 federal election with adismissive “that’s not going to happen.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/should-recent-arrivals-qualify-for-old-age-security/article2149830/

Canada should reduce immigration during deep economic recession, say the authors of a detailed analysis of the earnings of immigrants over their first 10 years in the country that also touts the benefits of selecting newcomers based on earning potential. Canada should emphasize skill-assessed immigrants because their earning power “consistently and substantially” out-performed other classes of newcomers, the study says. Written by two Queen’s University professors and released by the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network Wednesday, the study calls on policy makers to look closely at how rapidly immigrants are integrating into the Canadian labour market as the wage gap between immigrants and Canadian-born workers widens.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/01/cut-immigration-during-recessions-national-study/

Alabama’s new immigration enforcement law aims to turn undocumented workers into non-persons. It violates their civil rights, and it criminalizes any small act of kindness toward them, including an offer of shelter, a ride to school or a meal in a church basement. While immigration reform remains a major challenge in the U.S., the federal government must ultimately resolve it. The Alabama bill opens the door to state-sanctioned racism, as all Hispanics, regardless of their legal status, will be targeted.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/the-attempt-to-segregate-illegal-immigrants/article2149180/

Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney will join Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel and other high-profile speakers at the United Nations in September to speak against a UN anti-racism conference that has been accused of being a forum to criticize Israel. The meeting of prominent speakers, that also includes former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, former New York City mayor Ed Koch and actor Jon Voight, is being dubbed a “counter” conference to the anti-racism conference, also known as Durban III.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/08/31/kenney-conference-un.html