Richmond, B.C., considers banning Chinese-only signs amid uproar over city’s ‘un-Canadian’ advertisements

2014/10/21 1 Comment

More on the debate over Chinese-only signage in Richmond (over 50 percent Asian origin, mainly Chinese). And striking, but not atypical, that most of Richmond’s municipal council is white, in contrast to provincial and federal representation:

Henry Yao, a Chinese-Canadian independent candidate, said he is supportive of a “well-redeveloped regulation” for Richmond signage, in part because it would end the ”racism, discrimination, and anger” spurred by the sign debate.

Nobody will dispute that the number of Chinese-only signs in Richmond is increasing, but the vast majority still feature English text.

“There aren’t really that many signs that are Chinese-only in the city overall,” said Judy Chern, a lifelong Richmondite with a passing understanding of Chinese characters.S

he noted that the city’s Chinese signs are largely placed on businesses that are uniquely targeted to Chinese clients: Chinese apothecaries, Chinese-language DVD stores and purveyors of feng shui products.

“I don’t think they’re purposely trying to exclude anyone. I’m a second-generation Taiwanese-Canadian and I don’t use these services either,” she said.

Last year, city councillor Bill McNulty conducted an informal survey of the city’s signage. He found only about half a dozen that were exclusively Chinese.

The Richmond Chamber of Commerce, for its part, has maintained that the city’s sign issue is best left to free enterprise: If local businesses want to exclude the nearly two million Metro Vancouverites who cannot read Chinese, that’s their prerogative.

“We’ve always had the same position on this … we don’t feel a bylaw is the right answer,” said Gerard Edwards, chair of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

It is a view echoed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. “The market can correct itself pretty fast on this type of thing,” said Dan Kelly, the group’s CEO.

This has been the case at Richmond’s Aberdeen Centre, a prominent Richmond mall that is a hub of Asian stores and eateries. To keep the clientele base as large as possible, though, the mall strictly mandates that all signage be at least two thirds English.

“I trust the entrepreneur to know what is in the best interest of their business,” said Mr. Kelly. He warned that language laws — however well intentioned — “are regularly taken to their ludicrous extremes.”

Richmond, B.C., considers banning Chinese-only signs amid uproar over city’s ‘un-Canadian’ advertisements | National Post.

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Statistical black hole opens door to foreign workers

2014/10/21 Leave a comment

While more of a “footnote” in relation to some of the broader concerns regarding the Temporary Foreign Workers, an important one given the need to increase employment opportunities for aboriginal peoples. Paras below indicate the difference that including reserves make in the calculations:

In the Prince Albert and northern Saskatchewan economic region, for example, the unemployment rate for 2013 was 5.7 per cent. That’s just low enough to meet the government’s cutoff. As a result, employers in Prince Albert are still able to hire TFWs for low-skill jobs. A government list obtained by The Globe under access to information laws shows several businesses in Prince Albert, which has a large aboriginal population, employ a high proportion of TFWs. Two restaurant owners in the area who spoke to The Globe recently said they prefer to hire TFWs because they consider them more reliable than Canadian workers.

But if reserves were included in the calculations, it’s clear the unemployment rate for the region would be much higher than 6 per cent. The 2006 long-form census data, which offers some of the only reliable data on joblessness on reserves, shows nearly 2,600 people living on 35 area First Nations declared themselves unemployed. The average unemployment rate on those reserves was nearly 30 per cent. In a region where roughly 100,000 people are employed, adding on-reserve First Nations to the equation would increase the jobless rate by at least two percentage points, well into high unemployment territory.

Statistical black hole opens door to foreign workers – The Globe and Mail.

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Literacy Class Visited by Manitoba Minister of Multiculturalism and Literacy

2014/10/21 Leave a comment

Practical illustration of settlement services and general literacy training in Manitoba:

[Minister of Multiculturalism and Literacy, Flor] Marcelino continues to be inspired by all the success stories that come out of the English and Literacy classes.

“We have 85 or so robust, working, active learning and literacy centres that are truly, truly helping the communities where ever they are. They have transformed so many people’s lives and have opened many doors and offered people many opportunities. And for that were very thankful to all the teachers and administrators and also the students who believe in themselves and in pursuing goals for themselves and their families – and the results are encouraging, amazing and inspiring!”

Marcelino will finish visiting the centres in the Pembina Valley and the South Eastman, then the Winnipeg area in December or January. She promises to work hard in obtaining more support for literacy and learning centres during her term.

Executive Director of South Eastman English and Literacy Services, Jireh Saladaga-Medina, says this non-profit, charitable organization provides free classes for Canadian citizens and landed immigrant adults improve their English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, as well as free literacy classes for those who want to upgrade their reading, writing, math and basic computer skills. Free child care is provided. To contact Jireh at South Eastman English and Literacy Services, call 204-326-4225.

Eastman Immigrant Services helps newcomers to settle in Manitoba. Services include: reception and orientation, employment counselling and special events. For more information on settlement services phone 204-346-6609.

Literacy Class Visited by Minister of Multiculturalism and Literacy – Local News – Local News – SteinbachOnline.com.

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Australia’s Parliament House Lifts Face Veil Ban – NYTimes.com

2014/10/21 Leave a comment

Update on earlier story and follow-up to PM Abbott’s expression that ban was wrong:

The announcement was made a few hours before the end of the final sitting day of Parliaments last two-week session and had no practical effect.

Hours before Parliament was to resume on Monday, the Department of Parliamentary Services, or DPS, said in a statement that people wearing face coverings would again be allowed in all public areas of Parliament House.

It said face coverings would have to be removed temporarily at the security check point at the front door so that staff could “identify any person who may have been banned from entering Parliament House or who may be known, or discovered, to be a security risk.”

“Procedures are still in place to ensure that DPS security manage these procedures in a sensitive and appropriate manner,” the statement said without elaborating.

The ban on face veils in the public galleries had been widely condemned as a segregation of Muslim women and a potential breach of federal anti-discrimination law.

Australia’s Parliament House Lifts Face Veil Ban – NYTimes.com.

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Improving Processing Times, Welcoming More New Citizens – 200,000 Mark

2014/10/20 1 Comment

Significant increase and on track – the additional funding and streamlined process seems to be doing the trick:

Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander today announced that more than 200,000 people have joined the Canadian family since the start of 2014. The Minister also announced that the citizenship backlog has been reduced by 13 percent since June to its lowest level since spring 2012. These achievements are among the direct results of the government’s recent changes to citizenship processing.

Nearly 50,000 people have become Canadian citizens since a new decision-making process came into effect on August 1, 2014. That is a 172 percent increase from the same time period last year.

Recent reforms have also allowed decision-making officers to make progress on the backlog of so-called “non-routine” cases, including ones where residency questions persist. Almost half of all cases in which a residency questionnaire RQ was issued prior to November 2013 have been resolved with the applicants receiving their citizenship. Thousands more applicants who had been issued RQs are about to write their tests. These files will be evaluated by a record number of decision makers with the onus on applicants to prove they meet the requirements.

Trust with these good numbers, CIC will release the complete year figures early in 2015.

And of course, regular quarterly statistical reporting better than only reporting by press release!

Improving Processing Times, Welcoming More New Citizens – Canada News Centre.

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Most Chinese and South Asians in B.C. report discrimination

2014/10/20 Leave a comment

Regional survey on discrimination in British Columbia. Consistent with other polling and equivalent:

Insights West found 28 per cent of the Chinese and South Asian British Columbians who answered the online poll said they had “frequently” or “sometimes” lost a potential employment opportunity because of their ethnicity. Another 24 per cent claim to have been treated unfairly in the workplace.

Chinese and South Asians who were older than 55 were the most likely to say theyve experienced unfairness on the job.South Asians 28 per cent were also more likely to cite workplace discrimination than Chinese 23 per cent. There was a significant gender gap when respondents were asked if their ethnicity had ever excluded them from being considered a prospect for dating.

While 37 per cent of B.C.s Chinese men in the poll believed they had experienced dating discrimination, the proportion was much lower for Chinese women, at 19 per cent.

In addition, about 25 per cent of Chinese and South Asians in B.C. said they have been verbally harassed. But only 11 per cent reported being been physically harassed because of their ethnicity, and nine per cent said they had been denied goods or services.

“I’m not saying its a cause for alarm, but it could be a cause for concern,” Mossop said of the poll findings, adding that Insights West plans to do more surveys into how different ethnic groups in Canada feel about social issues ranging from teachers strikes to the proposed Enbridge pipeline through northern B.C. Mossop said that people of any ethnic group could be discriminated against in a workplace dominated by another ethic group.

[Farid Rohani, a board member of the Laurier Institution and former vice-president of the Asian Heritage Month Society] said people of Italian or Irish backgrounds may also at times feel discriminated against or stereotyped in Metro Vancouver, where 45 per cent of the population is non-white.

“I guarantee you, if you do the same polling on discrimination with people of non-Asian background, you’ll get similar numbers,” Rohani said. “It might be less or more, but it will still be there.”

For instance, Rohani said, if the Richmond residents of European and English-speaking backgrounds who are protesting the expansionof Chinese-only signs were asked if they felt discriminated against based on their ethnicity, Rohani said, they would cite “reverse racism.”

Noting that Canadians with Asian backgrounds come from countries where its common for parents to arrange marriages with people of the same cultural and religious group, Rohani also wasnt surprised some South Asians and Chinese feel excluded from dating people of certain ethnicities.

Most Chinese and South Asians in B.C. report discrimination.

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Don’t make the mistake of migrating to Canada, it’s a fool’s paradise – Newseastwest: Indian diaspora, Bollywood

2014/10/20 4 Comments

A bad experience, not unique. But balanced against better opportunities for one’s children is likely the calculation of many:

My advice to people who are itching to migrate to Canada to give a better future to their children is this: Think hard before you take any decision and don’t fool yourself by painting a rosy picture in your head. You may end up working in factories, call centers, security agencies, Tim Horton’s or packing factories. You will lose your savings. Your will lose your morale and self-esteem. Tensions will destroy your marital and family life. Finally, if you are lucky enough, you may get an entry-level job and then pay someone else’s mortgage while living in their basement as you dream of buying your own little nest.

And buying your little nest in a hurry with your saved money could be your worst mistake, for God forbid if you are laid off, as it happened to my dear friend, who will pay the mortgage? Your house dream will collapse and you will be buried under it.

And if you do get a job – which most probably you won’t enjoy doing, but you will do it anyways to survive and pay the mortgage – you will end up wasting the prime of your life paying back the mortgage. It is not worth it, believe me.

Our struggle for survival continues to this day. We don’t know when we will wind up this fruitless venture and head back to India. This is the story of many immigrants to Canada.

Don’t make the mistake of migrating to Canada, it’s a fool’s paradise – Newseastwest: Indian diaspora, Bollywood.

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The menace next door: a dumb America – Paul Wells

2014/10/20 1 Comment

Paul Wells takes down Garrett Graff’s supposedly serious piece on the risk of terrorism from Canada:

Well … yeah. Look, one day maybe some terrorists will tire of travelling from Miami to Boston to Dearborn to the suburbs of Minneapolis as easily as anyone else travels in a free country, and they’ll decide to live dangerously by adding an international border to their itinerary. Flying from the Middle East to O’Hare is so boring. I think I’ll fly into Toronto, rent a car with traceable ID, sit on my ass in traffic at the Bluewater Bridge for an hour, then hand my passport to armed guys while my escape routes forward and back are blocked. Allahu akbar! And until that day happens, Homeland Security assets will be far more rationally allocated along the Mexican border than against returning weekenders from Minnesota, because in the real world there are a thousand ways and reasons to die, even if that harshes Garrett M. Graff’s weekend thinkpiece buzz.

Somebody clean up this mess. If you’re interested, here’s Luiza interviewing somebody with something intelligent to say about border security.

Of course, one of the recurring nightmares for the Canadian government and security officials is just that, hence all the measures being taken to reduce the risk.

The menace next door: a dumb America.

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ISIS threat could mute objections to expanded anti-terror laws, critics fear – Politics – CBC News

2014/10/20 Leave a comment

Will be interesting to see if the Bill is narrowly focussed on the stated gaps or whether, as is often its want, the Government over-reaches to the point of provoking opposition.

The oversight issue is critical as more powers are provided. We have seen the risks of lack of oversight in the US, with the CIA essentially spying on Congress among other things:

Independent MP Brent Rathgeber agrees that the current international crisis and threat of homegrown terror “will provide cover for the government to expand the roles of CSEC and CSIS, and what they share with the Five Eyes.”

The Five Eyes is the collective name for Canada and its intelligence-sharing allies — the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Rathgeber stressed some of those powers may very well be necessary, “given that the ISIS threat must be taken seriously.”

The issue, he said, is to balance those national security concerns with privacy rights.”

Security agencies unchecked will grow both in times of imminent threat and in times of comparative security,” he told CBC News. “Therefore it is incumbent on civilian oversight and Parliament to provide checks and balances.”

Even so, he said he’s not expecting to see any increased oversight powers in the new bill — and “given the legitimate climate of fear, or at least concern,” he said, “the public will be complacent.”

By a twist of procedural timing, MPs may find themselves with an opportunity to debate greater oversight when a private members bill, sponsored by Liberal defence critic Joyce Murray, comes before the House this fall.

The bill would create a special parliamentary committee to monitor legislative, regulatory, policy and administrative framework for intelligence and national security in Canada, and review activities of all federal agencies, including CSIS.

Murray told CBC News she “has no problem in principle” with giving CSIS more leeway to keep track of suspected terrorists abroad.But shes not ready to give up on transparency and accountability.

“The absence of parliamentary oversight and review mechanism for our security agencies means an absence of accountability to the Canadian public.”

She’ll need to the support of the government to pass her bill, however, which doesn’t seem to be forthcoming.

“There is robust oversight of national security agencies in Canada,” Public Safety spokesman Jason Tamming told CBC News.

“We are always focused on protecting the rights of Canadians,” he said, adding the government appointed a former Ontario NDP MPP to the civilian oversight body in 2009.

“We don’t need to strike any new committees to create duplicative oversight.”

As to the last point, given the overall Government approach (e.g., cyberbullying bill which included increased surveillance powers), impossible to take seriously.

ISIS threat could mute objections to expanded anti-terror laws, critics fear – Politics – CBC News.

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The Best Infographics of the Year: Nate Silver on the 3 Keys to Great Information Design and the Line Between Editing and Censorship

2014/10/18 Leave a comment

Fields of CommemorationSome neat examples and the principles are well articulated. Some of the use of graphics in the Globe, National Post, NY Times etc buttress his points:

Great works of information design are also great works of journalism.

[…]At the core of journalism is the mission of making sense of our complex world to a broad audience. Newsrooms … place emphasis on gathering information. But they’re also in the business of organizing that information into forms like stories. Visual approaches to organizing information also tell stories, but have a number of potential advantages against purely verbal ones:

Approachability. Human beings have strong visual acuity. Furthermore, our visual language is often more universal than our words. Data presented in the form of an infographic can transcend barriers of class and culture. This is just as important for experts as for laypersons: a 2012 study of academic economists found that they made much more accurate statistical inferences from a graphic presentation of data than when the same information was in tabular form.

Transparency. The community of information designers has an ethos toward sharing their data and their code — both with one another and with readers. Well-executed examples of information design show the viewer something rather than telling her something. They can peel away the onion, build trust, and let the reader see how the conclusions are drawn.

Efficiency. I will not attempt to tell you how many words a picture is worth. But surely visualization is the superior medium in some cases. In trying to figure out how to get from King’s Cross to Heathrow Airport on the London Tube, would you rather listen to a fifteen-minute soliloquy from the bloke at the pub — or take a fifteen-second glance at Beck’s map?

But alongside the tremendous power of information design in making sense of the world is also a dark side of potentially equal magnitude, which Silver captures elegantly:

That information design is part and parcel of journalism also means that it inherits journalism’s burdens. If it’s sometimes easier to reveal information by means of data visualization, that can make it easier to deceive… What one journalist thinks of as organizing information, the next one might call censorship.

But it’s long past time to give information designers their place at the journalistic table. The ones you’ll see in this book are pointing the way forward and helping the rest of us see the world a little more clearly.

The Best Infographics of the Year: Nate Silver on the 3 Keys to Great Information Design and the Line Between Editing and Censorship | Brain Pickings.

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