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.
ICI Radio-Canada – Longs délais d’immigration : Ottawa aidera les travailleurs étrangers du Québec
Le gouvernement de Justin Trudeau compte répondre positivement aux demandes de Québec en autorisant les milliers de travailleurs étrangers en attente de leur résidence permanente à changer plus facilement d’employeur. Le stress et l’angoisse de dizaines de milliers de travailleurs étrangers, déjà au Québec et désespérés par la longue attente dans le processus d’immigration, devraient quelque peu s’estomper prochainement.
CBC News – Families of Victims of Ethiopian and Iranian Air Disasters Will Be Able to Get Permanent Residency
The new policy applies to the relatives of those who were Canadian citizens or permanent residents when they died aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 or Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. The policy also applies to the families of the victims who were foreign nationals at the time of the disasters and already had been deemed eligible on their Canadian permanent residence applications. It will allow those family members already in Canada to apply for permanent residency until May 11, 2022.
CBC News – International Students Face Uncertainty as Ontario Requests Entry Ban
With flights to and from India and Pakistan on hold due to major COVID-19 outbreaks and Ontario trying to stop international students from entering the province altogether, study permit holders are facing an uncertain future. “It’s the most hurtful news for me,” said 22-year-old Ruben Abraham Varughese, who’s hoping to study this fall at Algonquin College in Ottawa. “I’ve already spent a lot of money on trying to get a good education in Canada. We have already invested so much [in Canada] and after that they tell us international students may be banned? It’s very painful.”
CTV News – COVID-19 Slows Immigration Process to a Crawl for Ontario Couple
Rhonda Floriant has only seen her husband once since March 2020. “When you look at nine months without seeing each other, and now we’re at another six months without seeing each other, it makes it impossible, it’s just incredibly hard,” says Floriant, who lives in Goderich, Ont. Floriant’s husband is in the Dominican Republic right now, awaiting word on when he might be able to join his wife in Huron County. The two were married in November of 2018, and applied for family sponsorship in October of 2019.
Toronto Star – ‘People Are Dying’: Internationally Trained Doctors Forced to Sit on the Sidelines as Ontario Battles Pandemic’s Third Wave
After a second team of East Coast health workers touched down recently to help Ontario dig itself out from under a shortage of medical staff, a Ryerson professor is struggling to understand why hospitals here refuse to call on the thousands of internationally trained doctors already in our midst. “What a waste of resources,” says Shafi Bhuiyan, chair of a network that helps foreign-trained doctors find jobs in Canada. “It is unacceptable. They are not using the tools they have in hand and as a result, people are dying.”
Toronto Star – Don’t Deport Me Until I Get My Second Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine, Health Worker Asks Canada
Carlo Escario says he’s ready for his removal and return to his native Philippines — he just wants Canada to let him to stay here for 40 more days. The 36-year-old from Quezon City worked at Toronto General Hospital since 2014 as a hemodialysis assistant. Until two weeks ago, he was working directly with COVID-19 patients in the intensive-care unit. As a front-line essential health care worker, he received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in February, but says the appointment for the second shot isn’t until June 11.
