Province to facilitate learning for Newcomers

by: Ron Ryder, The Guardian

The province is improving its welcoming of young immigrants with some emergency funding to help newcomers master the English language. Schools in the Eastern School District, particularly in central Charlottetown, faced a surprising demand for English as a second language (ESL) classes, when it saw 108 unanticipated immigrant children register for the 2006-07 school year, on top of around 50 who had been expected. The new students far exceeded the capacity of the two ESL specialists who had been hired by the Eastern district and raised questions about whether schools were being left to cope with the fallout of provincial immigration policies. Wednesday, the capital’s schools got some good news. Premier Pat Binns and Education Minister Mildred Dover drove to Queen Charlotte intermediate school to announce immediate funding of $216,500 for four more ESL teachers, plus thousands more for texts and resources. Binns said the money will allow the district to provide 60 hours of ESL to its new students. “We’re now looking at people from different backgrounds, all coming to P.E.I. It’s very challenging and quite exciting,” said the premier. The news was welcomed by Kevin Arsenault, executive director of the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada. He said it was notable that government was able to come up quickly with such an increase to ESL funding. Arsenault said the extra effort could make a major difference in the success of immigrant families adapting to Prince Edward Island. “Frankly, if they had waited for the next budget period, these immigrant families would no longer be living on Prince Edward Island,” Arsenault said.

Arsenault said they have had reports of some 281 people applying to immigrate to Prince Edward Island since the new year. The association tries to ease the transition of immigrant children through two full-time staff on an immigrant student liaison program. Sandy MacDonald, superintendent of the Eastern School District, said he was happy with the extra money and was already in contact with potential ESL teachers.He said he hopes to have the four positions filled almost immediately. “We’ve been lucky in finding people who have expertise in this field. Some of them are existing staff who had the training and were working in other areas, others are people who have had the training and haven’t been using it, including some people who have taught English overseas,” he said. MacDonald said ESL classes can require a great deal of flexibility since some immigrants arrive with high academic achievement, apart from their English, while others may be from areas where schooling has been limited. “I think we’ve been fortunate in that the people who have been coming here generally come from families that put a high value on education,” he said. “I think for the most part these are people who are going to do well once they get some mastery of English.”

INDIA challenges CHINA

Canada has lost its luster among immigrants from China, but newcomers from India are on the rise, according to officials, a demographic shift likely to dramatically impact Canada’s political and economic course. “For years, China has dominated. But this is about to change and the impact on Canadian culture, economy and politics will be huge,” immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, who analyzed the data told. Immigrants from India, the world’s largest democracy, are typically “highly politicized” while new immigrants from China have tended to keep to themselves, he said. A shift in immigration from China to India would mean greater participation in Canadian politics by Indian expatriates who maintain family links in their birth country and propose “closer economic and political ties with India,” he said. As well, Canada can expect “a cascade of savings in settlement and integration costs because Indian immigrants usually speak English and can hit the ground running,” he said.

In January 2006, Canadian embassy officials in Beijing processed 25,468 immigration applications, nearly half the number received the same month a year earlier, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The number of applicants from Hong Kong decreased from 47,838 to 38,516 in the same period. Requisitions received in New Delhi, meanwhile, nearly doubled from January 2004 to January 2006, to 132,693. A total 664,684 applications were processed in January 2006. The numbers include economic immigrants, refugees and folk sponsored by family members in Canada, said immigration department spokeswoman Marina Wilson. China remains the top source of immigration to Canada with 42,000 immigrants in 2005, followed by India (33,000) and the Philippines (17,000), but the number of applications logged signals an imminent reversal, she said, as applications filed now are processed over the next five years.

Thoughts on Dual-citizenship

Source: The Asia Pacific Post, Mon, October 23 2006

Last summer when Lebanon and Israel were tossing bombs at each other, Ottawa spent close to C$85 million to rescue 15,000 Canadian passport-holders and dual citizens to safety. About 7,000 of the evacuees have now returned to Lebanon, all with their Canadian passports safely tucked in their suitcases. This has angered many taxpayers; new Canadians included and prompted a review of the right to hold dual-citizenship. The Harper Conservatives, in a knee jerk reaction to something that has been happening in Canada for the last 30 years, claims that the issue of dual-nationality needs to be revisited because the benefits for those living abroad with Canadian citizenship, including pension and federal government welfare assistance are “ripe for exploitation.” We agree. So stop the exploitation.

This is not about dual-citizenship. This is about making Canadians pay their taxes to Canada no matter where they live. If we did this, like the Americans do, this debate and its underlying racist tone will quickly go away. Canada changed its immigration laws in 1977, allowing Canadians to hold passports from more than one country and have not received a major revision since then. About 90 countries allow it. Statistics Canada estimates there are more than four million immigrants who hold dual citizenship with Canada and at least one other country. It is ironic that Canada which has about one million natives and over 30 million immigrants should be having this debate about dual-citizenship. The question that needs to be asked is if this debate has its roots in the changing immigration pattern that see Asians making up the bulk of the 240,000 new immigrants to Canada yearly. This look into dual-citizenship is causing unnecessary angst in immigrant communities. We need new immigrants to ease growing labour shortages, particularly in B.C.’s booming economy and help reverse the declining population trend in Canada. Forcing potential immigrants and Canadians with several passports to choose a nationality also does not make sense politically. If the Harper government moves in this direction, it risks further alienating the new-Canadian vote which is concentrated in larger cities, where the Tories did not do well in the last election. Immigration has built Canada, gives this country a distinct advantage and makes us relevant to the world. A Canadian citizen is a Canadian citizen no matter where he or she lives or where they were born. They have their obligations and their rights. This review of dual-citizenship should focus on ensuring that the obligations are met and not whether we have the right to carry more than one passport. Removing the right to dual-citizenship is a passport for disaster.

Celebration of Canada's Citizenship Week

The Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today announced that when Canada's Citizenship Week wrapped up on Sunday, 4,635 newcomers had become Canadian citizens. Across the country, 53 special citizenship ceremonies had been held in communities, and 160 municipal proclamations of Canada's Citizenship Week had also been featured. "Canada's Citizenship Week reminds all Canadians to take the time to appreciate our shared rights and responsibilities," said Minister Solberg. "It also reminds us that newcomers choose to come to Canada for a thousand different reasons, but all come because they see in Canada a better life for themselves and for their families." Minister Solberg launched Canada's Citizenship Week on October 16 by attending a citizenship ceremony at the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre, headquarters of Historica Encounters. He was joined in welcoming 35 new Canadians by students from across the country, as well as Ed Komarnicki, Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Immigration, and fellow members of Parliament Jim Abbott and Art Hanger. "It was a great privilege for all of us to share the happiness and excitement of the new Canadians," said the Minister. "We proudly welcome newcomers with all their energy, talents and dreams." As part of Canada's Citizenship Week activities, Minister Solberg also spoke at a special ceremony held by the Dominion Institute to celebrate the success of the institute's Passages to Canada project. The Passages to Canada Speakers' Bureau is a national storytelling initiative that highlights the contributions immigrants and refugees make to Canada. Minister Solberg also released a special edition of the CIC Insider newsletter celebrating citizenship. To read the CIC Insider or to get more information on Canada's Citizenship Week and ongoing citizenship ceremonies throughout the year, please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada Web site at www.cic.gc.ca.

Let Immigrants Vote: Miller

200,000 deserve 'real say' on issues... Ontario says it will study 'pros and cons'...

Toronto's estimated 200,000 landed immigrants should be given the right to vote in municipal elections because they deserve input into issues that directly affect their neighbourhoods, Mayor David Miller says. "We allow people who don't live in Toronto to vote, simply because they own property here," Miller told the Toronto Star's editorial board yesterday. "And if we ask ourselves, `How have we let neighbourhoods where there are often high proportions of landed immigrants deteriorate?' one of the reasons is they haven't had a vote. "They haven't had a real say in the decisions that are affecting them," he said. "And if somebody who lives in Calgary but owns a piece of property here has a right to vote in municipal elections, I think somebody who lives here, committed to the city, has a right to vote." Although it's anyone's guess how many would actually use the ballot, giving landed immigrants a vote could have large implications for the course of politics in the city, especially in wards with high numbers of newcomers and some unique needs and hopes. Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen says he'd be prepared to look at the idea after the November ballot, when the Municipal Elections Act will undergo a regular review. "We'll take a look at all the pros and cons of it. We'll do so after the election and undoubtedly get input from the city and from any other city that has a great number of landed immigrants," he said, adding that any change would have to be province-wide. There is precedent for it. More than two dozen cities in Europe extend the municipal ballot to immigrants, said Prof. Myer Siemiatycki of Ryerson University. Until the 1988 municipal election, British subjects from Commonwealth countries were allowed to vote, but the rules were changed to ensure uniformity. In the Nov. 13 election, only Canadian citizens 18 and older who live in or own property in the city may vote. Miller also touted a new agreement on immigration settlement signed this month involving the city, province and federal government. While it doesn't mean extra funds to Toronto, which receives the largest share of Canada's new immigrants, Miller said it gives the city more say on immigration issues. Toronto will have a seat on working groups on language and training and on job access. Miller said he thinks it will eventually help the city get proper funding for settlement services.

Ontario Immigration Minister Mike Colle called the arrangement a major breakthrough. "(The city), along with us, will have a much greater role to play in shaping these (federal immigration) programs and ensuring they match the needs," Colle said. Miller defended his record during an hour-long question-and-answer session. "I've been the kind of mayor I said I would be," he said. "I was elected to turn around the government, to make it run properly, to make it accountable, to make it respected, to improve city services. I've done all of that, or at least it's well underway." Asked to address the sense of frustration or disappointment that Miller hasn't done enough, he deflected such criticism. "I go everywhere in this city all the time," he said. "(People) say they are quite happy with the direction of the city." He conceded waterfront redevelopment is slower than he had hoped, but insisted "shovels are in the ground" in the West Donlands, where hoarding is up and soil remediation is under way. Miller blamed the long environmental assessment process for some of the delays. "It's fair to say it hasn't gone as fast as I had hoped," he said. "I accept that the average Torontonian's view doesn't see much going on there." He has promised to complete all park projects — the people places — by 2010, if re-elected to a four-year term. When it was pointed out that those parks are already in the pipeline, Miller said his promise was to ensure it would happen. "Things don't just happen. You have to push like mad and you have to work incredibly hard to make them happen," he said, arguing he pushed to get the central waterfront design competition completed this year. When asked why the broom-waving mayor hasn't delivered on a campaign promise to bring in a lobbyist registry, Miller acknowledged he was disappointed to have lost when city council voted on it last month. "My commitment is to bring it back in January 2007 at the first council meeting and get it through council," Miller said, adding the pretext for delaying putting a registry in place was that unions and non-profit organizations were not included. "There was a motion right there (to include unions and non-profits). They could have voted for it. They chose to vote against it," he said. When questioned on the increasing heights of condo projects in the city, Miller said he supports the official plan, which allows for height at major transit hubs. "Where there are tall buildings and density, I support tall buildings and density," he said, adding that in other neighbourhoods change should only be incremental. Asked whether he supported a 75-storey condo tower proposed at Yonge and Gerrard Sts., he said it didn't sound reasonable — but qualified that response, saying that it depends how pedestrians feel at street level — whether there are shadows or extra wind — as well as design. He pointed to 1 King St. W. as an example — a tall building whose height is hardly noticeable from the street.

DIWALI is truly a Canadian Festival now - Canadian MOP

Source: http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/oct/22diwali.htm

Diwali this year seems to have acquired the status of a mainstream festival in Canada. More and more Canadians are increasingly becoming aware of what Diwali is and its significance. This is attributed to increasing successes of Indo-Canadian business people and professionals and immigrants coming to Canada. Conservative Member of Parliament, Deepak Obhrai, who has been in the forefront, celebrating Diwali at the House of Commons since 1999, rightly stated that Diwali ‘has today become a widely celebrated event in Canada’ and how Diwali ‘has (now) emerged as a truly Canadian festival, with all Indo-Canadians and well-wishers partaking in its festivities.’ Interestingly, this year Canadian mainstream politicians are vying with one another ‘wishing the Indo-Canadian community ‘Happy Diwali’. In a statement from his office in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended his and his government’s ‘warmest greetings and best wishes to members of the Indo-Canadian community’ as they celebrated Diwali on October 21. Addressing his message to the larger Canadian population also, Harper suggested they should know “Diwali symbolises the renewal of life and the triumph of good over evil. Every year, this joyous occasion is celebrated by some one billion people of the Hindu, Sikh and Jain faiths around the world. And that includes some one million of our fellow citizens right here in Canada.

“Friends, as you gather with your loved ones amid a sea of flickering flames, please know that the thoughts of our government are with you.” In his message, Harper also referred to ”...a tremendous contribution’ that ‘the Indo-Canadian community has made (to Canada)” and how their “commitment to family and community serve as an inspiration to all.” Acting Liberal Leader Bill Graham conveyed his best wishes ‘for a very memorable Diwali celebration’ to all ‘Canadians of Sikh, Hindu and Jain faiths’ as they celebrated ‘the renewal of life’ and marked new beginnings and renewed their ‘commitments to family and faith.’ Liberal leadership candidate, Michael Ignatief extended his own ‘warmest wishes’ to the Indo-Canadian community as they ‘gather in celebration of Diwali.’ Diwali celebrations, he said, ”...serve as an example of the many great contributions that the Indian community has made to Canada, enriching the fabric of our diverse country. Through the promise of opportunity and the commitment to equality, Canada is the most successful and enduring multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multicultural democracy in the world. The Indian and South Asian Diaspora in Canada has played an integral role in shaping this identity.” Ignatieff said, as Member of Parliament, he has worked with a number of Indo-Canadians ‘in helping to build a progressive and strong Canada’ and he was ‘looking forward to working with you (Indo-Canadians) to strengthen our great country’.

As under his leadership, Canadian politicians and the Indo-Canadian community celebrated the 7th annual Diwali celebration on Parliament Hill, Conservative MP Obhrai noted this event ‘has taken on the proportions of a national Diwali celebration.’ This was the first year that Queen’s Park, seat of the Ontario Government in Toronto, celebrated Diwali, at the initiative of the Indian Consulate and Panorama India, where 200 invited guests who packed the main dining included Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his wife Terry, and they were greeted with folded hands as they made their way inside. Both of them were happy to support ‘tilak’ and ‘bindi’ on their foreheads as they were warmly received inside the dining hall. The Diwali celebrations will now become an annual event at the Queen’s Park. Gerrard India Bazaar in the heart of Toronto, a stretch of four blocks, organised the 3-day Mela (street party) to celebrate Diwali with dozens and dozens of all kinds of their stores catering to the needs of the community and their friends and creating awareness amongst mainstream Canadians as to what the Diwali signifies, same way as the Christmas and New Year celebrations. Indo-Canadian students at the University of Toronto are no more to be left behind. Last night they arranged a big gala at the Heart House at the university campus to be with their University mates and friends to kick their feet at the beat of all kinds of Bollywood and Rap music. No wonder increasing number of such kind of highly visible festivities and interests of politicians do create awareness and add to the psyche of ordinary Canadians as to what the festival of lights is all about where even storeowners have started greeting Indo-Canadians with a grin and ‘Happy Diwali.’