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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.
A well-known Syrian refugee who became a chocolatier in Nova Scotia is celebrating after voting for the first time in a federal election. Tareq Hadhad posted a video to Twitter on Monday where he said this was his first time voting in a Canadian federal election. “This is a big moment and I’d been waiting for it and I will cherish this memory forever,” he said in the video.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is promising to speed up processing of family reunification and skilled workers’ immigration applications without saying whether he would maintain the Liberal government’s target of accepting about 400,000 new immigrants every year. Speaking to reporters in Russell, Ont., O’Toole said an economic recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic requires “rising immigration,” but he didn’t say how many immigrants a Conservative government would welcome to Canada.
Two hundred Afghan interpreters who worked with the Canadian Forces are expected to gather at Parliament Hill for a hunger strike on Wednesday to press Ottawa into getting their families out of Afghanistan. Protest organizer Hayat Khan said that roughly 5,000 extended family members of interpreters remain stuck in the country as the new Taliban government takes control of a country mired in economic crisis and pending food shortages. Many family members, he said, have been in hiding since the Taliban seized power last month.
Un promoteur immobilier de Toronto qui a travaillé sans relâche pour aider des centaines de personnes fuyant les talibans à s’installer au Canada – dépensant 50 000 $ pour leur acheter des produits de base – a été salué comme un « excellent exemple de compassion canadienne » par le ministre de l’Immigration, des Réfugiés et de la Citoyenneté, Marco Mendicino. Wais Habibzai, qui a fui l’Afghanistan au Canada en 1992 après que sa maison a été détruite par une roquette, a lancé une campagne pour aider à fournir des vêtements et d’autres produits essentiels aux réfugiés qui ont fui Kaboul.
La modernisation de la Loi sur les langues officielles et le dossier de l’immigration sont les enjeux prioritaires sur le radar des principaux organismes francophones de l’Atlantique en vue des élections du 20 septembre. Entre espoir et désillusion, aucun d’entre eux ne renonce à revendiquer des actions concrètes des partis en lice. L’immigration touche à des problèmes très concrets : maintenir ou même augmenter la proportion actuelle des francophones hors Québec pour assurer la vitalité des communautés en situation minoritaire, ainsi que contribuer à résoudre la pénurie de main-d’œuvre.
Former student Mehdi Belhadj will be released from P.E.I.’s provincial corrections centre after being detained for a month, facing the prospect of deportation after accessing mental health care for which he couldn’t pay. During a detention review board hearing Monday afternoon, the board heard from Belhadj’s legal counsel, Halifax immigration lawyer Lee Cohen, as well as his personal representative, Julie Chamagne of the Halifax Refugee Clinic. Both had fought for the 27-year-old man’s release and presented alternatives to detainment in Monday’s hearing.