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.
Financial Post – Canada Risks Missing Annual Refugee Resettlement Target After Slow Start
Canada’s refugee resettlement is off to a slow start this year, with just over 1,000 refugees settled through early March, government data show, raising doubts about the country’s ability to achieve its ambitious 2021 target. In the midst of a global pandemic, Canada resettled more than 9,000 refugees last year. While that was less than half of any national total since at least 2015, it still amounted to about 40% of the global number of resettled refugees last year.
Toronto Star – Are Linens, Kitchenware and Furniture Essential During a Pandemic? Yes, When You’re a Newcomer Moving into a Home
Since Ontario declared its latest stay-at-home order, Bayan Khatib and her volunteers have been scrambling to purchase basic home essentials for the refugees they assist. Their favourite thrift stores run by the Salvation Army and Goodwill are closed, and the aisles at the dollar stores where kitchenware and linens are stocked are now blocked. While online shopping and curbside pickups are available, Khatib said the newcomers they serve do not have credit cards and can’t do any of the online purchase even if they have access to the internet.
CBC News – This New Film Shows the Uniquely Complicated Journey of One LGBTQ Refugee Seeking Asylum in Canada
Canada is currently the only country in the world that has a program specifically to help LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees. But as the exceptional new documentary Someone Like Me shows, the journey for both refugees and the Canadians who help settle them can be a turbulent and complicated process long after the refugee’s arrival. Directed by Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor and produced by the National Film Board of Canada, Someone Like Me follows Drake, a vibrant 22-year-old gay man from Uganda who leaves everything behind to seek asylum in Vancouver.
CBC News – Frustrations Mount as Locked-Out Workers Picket Refugee Settlement Office in Downtown Winnipeg
Fatuma Omar showed up for an appointment at Welcome Place in downtown Winnipeg on Wednesday morning only to find its employees locked out. “They didn’t tell me,” said the 27-year-old Somali woman, who scheduled a day off work to access refugee settlement services at the Bannatyne Avenue building. More than 20 casual and full-time employees at Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, also known as Welcome Place, took shifts picketing outside the non-profit’s building on Wednesday, protesting a lockout that started the day before.
Global News – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Accused of Discrimination in Sponsorship Applications
A Montreal woman is accusing Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) of discrimination as she tries to get permission to bring her Cuban husband to Canada. Global News first reported on Lauren Degilio’s story in November 2020. She says no progress has been made, adding the spousal sponsorship process is agonizingly slow and painful. Last week, she protested her situation in front of federal MP David Lametti’s office in Verdun.
CBC News – COVID-19 Deaths of 3 Ontario Farm Workers Prompt Coroner’s Call for Changes
A deputy chief coroner’s review of the COVID-19 deaths of three migrant farm workers in Ontario is calling for better safeguards and improved working conditions for foreign seasonal agricultural workers, a population that faces barriers to accessing health care and added dangers due to communal living quarters. The report includes 35 recommendations, calling on everything from improved access to health care to better communication between governments and agencies involved in bringing foreign workers to Canada each growing season.
