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.
CBC News – Nova Scotia Able to Welcome Hundreds More Immigrants This Year
The Nova Scotia government has announced a huge jump in the number of allocations to the provincial nominee and Atlantic immigration programs. The province said in a news release Thursday it can approve a total of 5,430 applicants this year — 40 per cent more than the 3,857 it approved to settle in Nova Scotia in 2021. The increase includes 400 new spaces, or 17 per cent more than last year, through the provincial nominee program.
Global News – Volunteers Worry About Housing as Ukrainians Refugees in Calgary Find Housing in Homeless Shelter
With more Ukrainians expected to arrive in Alberta over the next two months, settlement agencies and volunteers in the Ukrainian community are worried there may not be enough places for them to stay. “If we cannot step up and help Ukrainian evacuees coming to Calgary, we are going to have a humanitarian crisis,” said Yulia Gorbach, a volunteer with St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor, which is helping find host families. She said the greatest need for newcomers is temporary housing.
UNHCR: Global Displacement Hits Another Record, Capping Decade-Long Rising Trend
The number of people forced to flee their homes has increased every year over the past decade and stands at the highest level since records began, a trend that can be only reversed by a new, concerted push towards peacemaking, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said today. By the end of 2021, those displaced by war, violence, persecution, and human rights abuses stood at 89.3 million, up 8 per cent on a year earlier and well over double the figure of 10 years ago, according to UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report.
Toronto Star – Canada Was Urged to Plan Afghan Evacuation Months Before Fall of Kabul, Documents Show
More than three months before Kabul fell to the Taliban, Global Affairs Canada was urging the federal government to make special immigration plans for its domestic staff in Afghanistan, according to official documents. At a meeting on May 3, 2021, GAC’s assistant deputy minister Paul Thoppil raised the issue with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, based on the “specific threats” the domestic staff faced amid “a deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.”
CBC News – Second Planeload of Ukrainian Refugees Arrives in N.L.
A second plane carrying Ukrainian refugees fleeing war has arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador. The flight, chartered by the provincial government and carrying 177 people and their pets, landed Tuesday night at the St. John’s International Airport after leaving from Poland earlier in the day. “We are really thankful to everybody because everybody helped us. We are so happy that Canada is open for us, for Ukrainians,” Iryna Krasilnikova, travelling with her dog Prince, told reporters minutes after stepping off of the plane.
CBC News – British Government’s 1st Asylum Seeker Deportation Flight To Rwanda Called Off
The British government has grounded its first scheduled flight to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, under a controversial agreement, according to multiple British media reports. The cancellation of the flight, which was set to carry just seven people to the African nation, followed a last-minute European Court of Human Rights injunction, that followed failed attempts to halt the flight in U.K. courts. The Boeing 767 was due to depart at 10:30 p.m. local time.
