Refugee Stories from Flight and Freedom – Sabreen
2014/12/04 Leave a comment
Another example of the impact of refugee reform from the book, Flight and Freedom:
Express entry immigration points system revealed before Jan. 1 launch
2014/12/03 Leave a comment
|
Factors |
Maximum Points |
|
Permanent Job Offer |
600 |
|
Core Human Capital |
500 |
|
– Includes Age |
110 |
|
– Includes education |
150 |
|
– Official Languages – First |
34 |
|
– Official Languages – Second |
24 |
|
– Canadian work experience |
80 |
|
Skill transferability factors |
100 |
|
– Combination of language and Canadian work experience |
50 |
|
– Combination of Canadian and foreign work experience |
50 |
The details on Express Entry and some of the commentary:
A detailed list explaining how candidates will be ranked and selected based on the factors listed above was published in the Canada Gazette on Monday.
“Research shows these criteria will help ensure newcomers participate more fully in Canada’s economy and integrate more quickly into Canadian society,” Alexander said.
Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer and policy analyst, has been supportive of some immigration changes made by the Conservatives, including the recent reform to the caregivers program.
However, when it comes to express entry, Kurland is concerned about the lack of openness.
“It is worth a try, but the design flaw is there is no transparency, oversight, or accountability for the operation of the new system. It is a recipe for political interference.”
“The result can be justified in any case, but you will never know why one identically qualified person was selected over another.”
Kurland said the government will in effect have full control in picking the winners and losers rather than processing applications on a first-come, first-served basis — as is the case now.
Morton Beiser, a professor of distinction at Ryerson University and founding director of the Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement CERIS based in Toronto, has been raising questions about the governments shift in policy for some months now.
After reviewing the governments new points system on Monday, Beiser said certain aspects are still unclear.
“Under the old regulations, it was clear that if someone scored above a certain threshold, they were considered eligible to be granted an immigration visa.… Under the current provisions, it’s less clear.”
While Beiser welcomed the say provinces will have about which immigrants come to Canada, hes skeptical of the role employers will play.
“It’s probably a good thing to give provinces more say in the process, but industry? This means that the immigration office becomes a recruitment office,” he said.
Like all policy and program changes, we shall only see in a number of years how well it works, both in an operational sense (6 months to entry) as well as outcomes (how well these immigrants do in the short and medium-term).
And why the Government doesn’t present the system in an easy to read table format as well as the more bureaucratic form in the Canada Gazette is beyond me (I created this simplified table to help me understand how it would work).
Express entry immigration points system revealed before Jan. 1 launch – Politics – CBC News.
CFIB wants temporary foreign workers program replaced by special visa
2014/12/03 3 Comments
Interesting change in tone, and linkage to permanent residency:
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling on Ottawa to replace its controversial temporary foreign worker program with a visa that would provide a path to permanent residence for entry-level employees from abroad.
The organization says in a report released today it’s proposing the Introduction to Canada Visa that would address labour shortages for small businesses.
CFIB president and CEO Dan Kelly says the temporary foreign worker program has been legitimately criticized for using TFWs to fill permanent labour market needs.
He adds that small businesses would much rather hire permanent workers, but the immigration system doesn’t allow them to hire people with entry-level skills. The Canadian economy needs workers at all skill levels, Kelly says.
But still hard to see why we need to encourage low-skilled immigration.
CFIB wants temporary foreign workers program replaced by special visa – Macleans.ca.
A star like Jason Kenney should avoid the gutter – Martin
2014/12/03 1 Comment
Every now and then, it happens.
But a sharp contrast when he was the only Cabinet Minister to state that Rob Ford should resign (Rob Ford should ‘step aside,’ Conservative Jason Kenney says):
What was particularly noteworthy this time was the involvement of Employment Minister Jason Kenney. He’s the party’s star. He’s touted as the inside favourite to succeed Mr. Harper. He gets a lot of votes, including mine, for most effective cabinet minister. He has more mental equipment one envious Tory calls him “Smarty Pants” than anyone on the Tory front benches.
On the question of ethics, you might think he would want to nurture an upright and honourable image in contrast to many in his party. Unlike other Tories, he’s got enough clout to tell the toadies in the Prime Minister’s Office what they can do with their talking points.
So what did he do last week? He jumped into the gutter with both feet. He showed himself to be all-in with the bottom-feeders.
My earlier tweet brought a flurry of tweets of those suffering from the “Harper/Kenney derangement syndrome” rather than more measured criticism.
A star like Jason Kenney should avoid the gutter – The Globe and Mail.
And the earlier Globe editorial:
Conservatives’ dirty tricks have no place in Canadian politics
Reasons To Hope On Race – More residential mixing and marriage
2014/12/03 Leave a comment
Interesting data and situating Ferguson in a broader context:
William H. Frey marks the slow, steady decline of segregation:
The average white resident, for example, lives in a far less diverse neighborhood—one that is more than three-quarters white—than residents of any other group. Nonetheless, the average white person today lives in a neighborhood that includes more minorities than was the case in 1980, when such neighborhoods were nearly 90 percent white. Moreover, the average member of each of the nation’s major minority groups lives in a neighborhood that is at least one-third white, and in the case of Asians, nearly one-half white.
He expects the continuation of these trends:
Population shifts that are bringing Hispanics and Asians to previously whiter New Sun Belt and Heartland regions will most certainly continue to alter the neighborhood experiences of these groups by bringing them into more contact with whites. The nation’s blacks are moving onto a path that more closely follows that of other racial minorities and immigrant groups as more blacks move to more suburban and integrated communities. The broader migration patterns are moving in the direction of greater neighborhood racial integration, even if segregation is far from being eliminated.
Reasons To Hope On Race « The Dish.
The following chart on mixed marriages (the equivalent Canadian figures include common law relationships, with the total being 4.6 percent):
What open government hides | Geist
2014/12/03 Leave a comment
Michael Geist on the contradiction between the ‘Open Government’ initiative and the its inaction on ATIP compliance and reform and aversion to serious consultations:
There is much to like about Canada’s open government efforts, which have centred on three pillars: open data, open information, and open dialogue. Given the promise of “greater transparency and accountability, increased citizen engagement, and driving innovation and economic opportunity,” few would criticize the aspirational goals of Canada’s open government efforts. Yet scratch the below the surface of new open data sets and public consultations and it becomes apparent that there is much that open government hides.
The federal efforts around open data have shown significant progress in recent years. What started as a few pilot projects with relatively obscure data has grown dramatically with over 200,000 government data sets now openly available for use without the need for payment or permission. Moreover, the government has addressed concerns with its open government licence, removing some of the initial restrictions that unnecessarily hamstrung early efforts.
However, the enthusiasm for open data has not been matched with reforms to the access to information system. Despite government claims of openness and transparency, all government data is not equal. There is a significant difference between posting mapping data and making available internal information on policy decisions that should be released under access to information rules.
Indeed, while the government has invested in making open data sets available, it has failed to provide the necessary resources to the access to information system. The information commissioner of Canada has warned that inadequate financing has made it virtually impossible to meet demand and respond to complaints. Regular users of the access to information system invariably encounter long delays, aggressive use of exceptions to redact important information, significant costs, and inconsistent implementation of technology to provide more efficient and cost-effective service.
In short, the access to information system is broken. An open government plan that only addresses the information that government wants to make available, rather than all of the information to which the public is entitled, is not an open plan.
Chris Alexander’s rocky journey from Kabul to cabinet | Toronto Star
2014/12/02 Leave a comment
A largely sympathetic portrait of Minister Alexander, balanced with supporters and critics (Konrad Yakabuski’s earlier portrait was sharper in tone Chris Alexander balances his portfolio and power):
But even the brightest and most independent minds must work within the party system in Parliament. “The best ministers are always independent of spirit,” says [ Former PM Joe] Clark. “That doesn’t mean they take on their party or their leader regularly in public debate. I think it’s a characteristic of really any strong minister I’ve encountered and I think Chris brings that capacity to the table.”
Alexander’s response to the question about whether his independent spirit chafes under the parliamentary and party system is deliberate. “We go into caucus, into cabinet, and not everyone agrees. And no one who has been part of a team expects their vision or their priorities to prevail. But this is a strong team because we do work together; we do support each other and we have moved a huge number of issues forward, especially in the area of immigration.
“I have to say there is nothing more satisfying than to be part of Canada’s democracy . . . I think this is the best government we’ve had in Canadian history. And I’m proud to be part of it.
”So does Alexander think he’s reached political superstardom?
“I will leave it to others . . . Voters get the chance to do that every four years.”
Listening to his more inclusive language at the recent Canadian Race Relations Foundation symposium was an interesting contrast to some of his more churlish language when defending government positions (e.g., refugee claimant healthcare coverage, Syrian refugees).
Chris Alexander’s rocky journey from Kabul to cabinet | Toronto Star.
Pope says it is wrong to equate Islam with violence
2014/12/02 Leave a comment
Much more productive approach than his predecessor:
The Argentine pope, who has been trying to foster cooperation with moderate Islam in order to work for peace and protect Christians in the Middle East, said it was wrong for anyone to react to terrorism by being “enraged” against Islam.
“You just can’t say that, just as you can’t say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them fundamentalists. All religions have these little groups,” he said.
“They Muslims say: ‘No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace.”
Francis said he had made the suggestion of a global condemnation of terrorism by Islamic leaders in talks on Friday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
“I told the president that it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people,” he said.
Francis several times condemned Islamic States insurgents during his three-day trip. On the plane, he said some Christians had been forced to abandon everything: “They are driving us out of the Middle East.”
Pope says it is wrong to equate Islam with violence | Reuters.
Cleese and Maher on Political Correctness
2014/12/02 Leave a comment
John Cleese and Bill Maher on political correctness (at the 2 min mark):
Money quote from Cleese:
Any kind of fundamentalism is terribly funny.
Of course it is. I particularly liked Cleese’s comment about the condescension involved in ruling certain groups as impermissible targets of humor. There’s this deeply patronizing idea that minorities are fragile, terribly vulnerable, unable to laugh at themselves, and incapable of the to-and-fro of democratic debate and conversation. One reason I find the latest upsurge in identity politics on the left so dispiriting (and boring) is the assumption that minorities of a few kinds are so vulnerable, so oppressed, so burdened by majoritarian prejudice that they have to go through life demanding safe zones from “micro-aggressions” and other terrible assaults on their delicate sensibilities. Members of a minority are reduced to quivering recipients of “hate”, rather than actual living, breathing, thinking people who can surely give as good as they get in public discourse. But it appears an entire generation has now been educated into this mindless, maudlin mush.
How an ethnic-sounding name may affect the job hunt
2014/12/01 2 Comments
More waves from the 2011 study by Oreopoulos (blind cv test showing how ethnic-sounding names screened out candidates):
It’s a dilemma with no easy solutions for job applicants, Dr. Oreopoulos said. “You could change your name, but your name is a significant part of your identity. I definitely wouldn’t recommend changing your name to get a higher chance of getting a job,” he said.
He suggested one tactic might be for a job seeker to put his or her name in a smaller type size or in a less visible location on the résumé, while playing up language skills and other necessary experience.
Another approach would be to take advantage of the trend toward video résumés, which can make it clear that you have the language and presentation skills to do the job, he added.
As for employers, he suggested that one way to reduce potential bias among hiring managers would be to specifically ask for résumés that mask the applicant’s name, similar to what is done for orchestra rehearsals in which the musicians play for the vetting committee behind a screen.
For example, in a job application the name and contact information could be on a separate sheet at the back of the résumé rather than on the cover page, he suggested.
Ultimately, “I think the onus is much more on employers to be aware of their potential bias and look beyond names, so they take advantage of the quality and experience of the best candidates,” Dr. Oreopoulos said.
“If our theory is correct, it’s in the employers interest. If it is subconscious, then employers are missing out on good candidates.”
And the comments from HR managers confirm the bias – only the last comment acknowledges the problem:
“Foreign sounding names may be overlooked due to a perception that their English language skills may be insufficient on the job.”
“When you’re calling someone with an English-sounding name, you know what you’re getting into. You know you can call Bob Smith and can talk to him as quickly as you want to …”
“I personally am guilty of gravitating toward Anglo names on résumés, and I believe that it’s a very human condition – [a result of]resistance to change.”
“… It’s difficult to imagine hiring someone with a long first name, as it might be impractical in terms of answering the phone and saying it. People with easy-to-use shorter names are easier to hire and work with.”
“I’m down to about seven seconds to vet a résumé … I do realize how unfair the whole process is.”
How an ethnic-sounding name may affect the job hunt – The Globe and Mail.
Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote
Click image for book purchase
Multicultural Meanderings 