The integration of refugees affirms Canada as a caring society: Governor General Johnston

2015/12/02 Leave a comment

Governor General David Johnston, with the new government’s diversity and inclusion messaging:

Perhaps the bigger challenge we face is the long-term project of positioning our new Syrian-Canadian friends for success in their new country. And just as effective integration poses a significant challenge, so does it present a significant opportunity for Canada. Remember, great nations are built on great challenges.

The great opportunity we have in taking on the challenge of integrating new Canadians is simply this: It’s a chance to revisit and renew our commitment to being a smart, caring and inclusive society, not just for Syrian refugees, but for all Canadians, including the most vulnerable and marginalized among us.

The challenge of integrating refugees is the latest chapter in the continuing experiment we call Canada. At its heart, it’s an experiment in building an inclusive society of opportunity for diverse peoples. Consider our country’s roots. John Ralston Saul calls Canada a “Métis civilization.” Our national character is inclusive and mixed – and strong as a result. In their book Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that politically and economically inclusive societies thrive, while exclusive and extractive societies fail.

But perhaps the most compelling argument I’ve heard of late for rededicating ourselves to building a society of inclusive opportunity comes from a parent in Syria, whose son recently received a refugee scholarship to study at the University of Alberta. In thanks, the parent wrote: “You have pulled my son out of the hell, where he has been taking daily a high dose of risk, tension, worries and sorrow. The wheels of the war have crushed everything; the human and the stones, but not the heart and soul and never the will and hope.”

So to answer the question “How does Canada build a diverse and inclusive society?” I remember “why” we do it: Because it’s both the right and the smart thing to do. Now together, let’s reimagine how.

 

Source: The integration of refugees affirms Canada as a caring society – The Globe and Mail

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Immigration minister reviewing refugee loan program

2015/11/30 Leave a comment

Interesting – going beyond the mandate letters and platform:

The federal Liberal government will consider reforming a loan program that requires refugees to cover the hefty cost of their flights to Canada, Immigration Minister John McCallum said Friday.

Officials revealed earlier this week that the 25,000 Syrian refugees to enter Canada by February won’t have to pay the cost of their flights and pre-flight medical screening.

While that decision was praised by B.C. opposition MPs and some refugee aid groups, they said the policy should extend to all refugees. They argued that people fleeing persecution already face major challenges finding homes, work and language training, so the last thing they need is to have to service an interest-bearing loan of up to $10,000.

McCallum, in an interview with The Vancouver Sun, said his officials will brief him in coming days on the loans program and present him with options to change it.

“I don’t know what the options are, but I’m telling you this is a policy that we’re certainly considering changing,” he said.

The government’s Immigration Loans Program, created in 1951, provides up to $110 million a year in loans for travel and costs immediately after arrival, like rent deposits and buying work tools. It has a 91-per-cent payback rate.

Refugees can take up to six years to pay, depending on the loan amount, and the interest rate this year was 1.38 per cent. In some cases, loans are interest-free for one to three years, and federal officials will make alternative arrangements if borrowers are having trouble making payments, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Source: Immigration minister reviewing refugee loan program

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Rick Mercer’s Rant on Refugee Worries

2015/11/28 Leave a comment

Short and to the point:

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Canada’s acceptance rate for Syrian refugees around 90 per cent: Ottawa

2015/11/28 Leave a comment

Some useful background data on Syrian-refugee acceptance rates:

Canada has rejected just two UN-referred Syrian refugee cases because of security concerns over the past 22 months.

The two cases represent 13 people, according to Immigration Department figures. That means more than 99 per cent of the 1,128 cases referred to Canada between January, 2014, and Nov. 3, 2015, were not of sufficient concern to be blocked for security reasons. It’s not clear how many were turned down for other reasons. The cases do not include privately sponsored refugees.

Over all, Canada’s acceptance rate for Syrian refugees has been “around 90 per cent,” said Immigration spokeswoman Nancy Caron. The figure includes both United Nations-referred and privately sponsored refugee streams.

The low number of security-related rejections presents a contrast to estimates in the United States, where officials said they expect their admission rate for Syrian refugees will “edge up” above 50 per cent. But it is also an indication of why Canada’s border services agency and the RCMP have expressed confidence in their ability to assess 25,000 refugees over just a few months.

According to a source, plans for the coming wave of government-sponsored Syrian refugees destined for Canada assume an acceptance rate of about 90 per cent. A case can include more than one person, as families tend to apply together.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum said in an interview he did not know the current acceptance rate for Syrian refugees, nor could he predict what it might be in the future. When asked about the divergence with U.S. estimates, Mr. McCallum did not have an explanation.

“All I can tell you is we are focused on the most vulnerable. We interview all those applicants with great care. The officials will readily put to one side anyone for whom they have a reasonable suspicion but I cannot tell you what percentage of the people they meet that would be,” Mr. McCallum said.

Source: Canada’s acceptance rate for Syrian refugees around 90 per cent: Ottawa – The Globe and Mail

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Congratulations – and some questions – for Canada’s ministers on our refugee policy: Ron Atkey

2015/11/28 Leave a comment

Ron Atkey [former immigration minister at time of Vietnamese refugees] on the government’s plan and his questions:

Yes, there are continuing uncertainties and omissions. Will the exclusion of single men continue beyond the initial wave and become a permanent part of Canadian refugee policy?

What happens to the Syrian refugee movement after the end of 2016? What happens if the Canadian appetite for PSRs exceeds government expectations (as happened in 1979-1980)?

These issues will be dealt with in the fullness of time as the program rolls out.

But what is important is that the tone has changed. The government has listened to public concerns – some legitimate, some not – and has come up with workable and realistic changes to the initial Liberal promise on Syrian refugees made in the heat of the campaign. This is to be commended.

What is also encouraging is the response of the new Opposition critics to the recent announcement. Immigration critic Michelle Rempel and Public Safety critic Erin O’Toole both distinguished themselves by generally supporting these changes and offering assistance to make the program work.

This refugee movement will need the support of all Canadians through their MPs if it is to succeed in making a significant contribution to alleviating the suffering among the millions fleeing war-torn Syria.

The government has now set the table. There is much still to be done by Canadians throughout the country.

Source: Congratulations – and some questions – for Canada’s ministers on our refugee policy – The Globe and Mail

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Les réfugiés scolarisés en anglais? | Le Devoir

2015/11/27 Leave a comment

One of the little details regarding refugee integration in Quebec and the sensitivities re language:

La ministre de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion, Kathleen Weil, a semé la confusion, mercredi, en affirmant que les commissions scolaires anglophones pourront assurer la formation professionnelle de réfugiés syriens adultes pour ensuite soutenir que tous les efforts de son ministère viseront à les diriger vers des cours en français.

En vertu de la loi 101, tous les enfants d’immigrants doivent fréquenter l’école française. Or, la Commission scolaire anglophone Lester-B.-Pearson (CSLBP) a demandé au gouvernement Couillard de permettre à des enfants de réfugiés syriens de fréquenter ses écoles en invoquant l’article 85.1 de la Charte de la langue française, qui permet des exceptions pour des raisons humanitaires.

Kathleen Weil, tout comme la ministre responsable de la Charte de la langue française, Hélène David, ont refusé, mercredi, d’accéder à cette demande. Toutefois, les immigrants, comme tous les Québécois, ont le choix de leur langue d’enseignement en ce qui a trait à la formation professionnelle, ainsi qu’au cégep et à l’université. Pour la Commission scolaire Lester-B.-Pearson, « il existe toutes sortes de possibilités en matière de formation professionnelle », a indiqué en anglais la ministre de l’Immigration lors d’une conférence de presse en matinée. « J’ai appelé la commission scolaire parce que je comprends ce désir d’aider. »

Priorité au français

Au terme de la réunion du Conseil des ministres en après-midi, Kathleen Weil tenait un discours différent. « La priorité, c’est la francisation, a-t-elle déclaré. Toutes nos actions avec les réfugiés, avec les immigrants, c’est de les orienter vers des cours de français. » Que ce soit à Montréal, à Laval ou à Longueuil, « ils sont là dans un bain linguistique français ».

On ne peut pas travailler en anglais seulement à Montréal. « Non, honnêtement, non, non. Essayez donc, si vous êtes unilingues anglophones, de trouver un emploi à Montréal », a dit la ministre. Du moins, un emploi qui exige un certain « niveau de scolarisation », a-t-elle dû préciser.

Source: Les réfugiés scolarisés en anglais? | Le Devoir

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Experts: Yes, Anti-Refugee Rhetoric Helps ISIS – The Daily Beast

2015/11/26 Leave a comment

Unfortunately, not understood by so many:

President Obama said Sunday that by rejecting and vilifying Syrian refugees, Republicans (and Democrats who are going along with them) are doing the terrorists’ work for them.

“Prejudice and discrimination helps ISIL and undermines our national security,” Obama said. This sounds like a political talking point, but if you speak with the independent academics who actually study the mentality and motivations behind terrorism, it turns out Obama is correct.  Broad anti-Muslim suspicion and rhetoric is not only anti-American, it helps the terrorists!

I spoke with a number of our nation’s top academics who study the pathology and psychology of terrorism in general and ISIS in particular. Every single one agreed that the anti-Syrian refugee policies and rhetoric help ISIS.

“There is no place for bigotry in effective counterterrorism,” Professor James Forest, the director of the graduate program in security studies and interim director of the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies at UMass Lowell, told me. “Terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State thrive when they can exploit the vulnerable seams within a society, when they can exacerbate prejudices.”

Arie W. Kruglanski, professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, has written about how ISIS recruitment strategy is based on psychology, not theology.  And within that context, Kruglanski told me: “The refugee debate could fuel the bitterness and sense of grievance of young Muslims anywhere and could be used by ISIS propaganda machine to enhance anti-US sentiment and boost recruitment.”

“Counterterrorism tries to do two things,” explained Professor Max Abrahms, a political scientist at Northeastern University who studies terrorism. “You try to neutralize existing terrorists and you try to not breed new ones. The surest way to breed new ones is if you’re indiscriminate—for instance, punishing non-violent, moderate Muslims.”

In fact, Abrahms noted he thinks an attack like the one in Paris, from so-called homegrown terrorists, is less likely “because the American Muslim population is much happier, better integrated and does better financially.”

A more moderate Muslim population yields a smaller share of extremists and better relations with law enforcement—which explains why Muslims helped law enforcement prevent one out of every two al-Qaeda related plots against the U.S. since 2009.

“We need to cherish the support and moderation of the American Muslim community,” says Abrahms.

Source: Experts: Yes, Anti-Refugee Rhetoric Helps ISIS – The Daily Beast

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B.C. Sikh community rallies in support of Syrian refugees

2015/11/25 Leave a comment

Good vignette:

The Sikh community in B.C.’s Lower Mainland is rallying to provide support for thousands of incoming Syrian refugees, with offers this week that include food, transportation and even private school for children.

Randeep Sarai, MP for Surrey Centre, convened a meeting over the weekend where roughly 30 community representatives immediately offered a variety goods and services. The federal government will announce details of its Syrian refugee plan on Tuesday, but – if past distribution models are used – B.C. is projected to receive between 2,500 and 3,500 refugees in the next couple of months.

Community organizer Balwant Sanghera, who attended the meeting, said Gurdwaras from Vancouver, Richmond, New Westminster, Abbotsford and Surrey have all agreed to collect food, clothing, blankets and other donations from their congregations. They also plan to launch a provincewide campaign to find free accommodations for the refugees.

“We are very proud to be Canadians and we are also proud of our heritage,” Mr. Sanghera said. “We feel really good if we can be of any help if we are needed.”

Source: B.C. Sikh community rallies in support of Syrian refugees – The Globe and Mail

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For one Liberal MP the refugee backlash cuts close to home: Tim Harper

2015/11/24 Leave a comment

Arif Virani, newly elected MP for Parkdale-High Park, on his life story and reactions to intolerance:

There was a backlash in 1972, as there is now, and it surfaced sporadically over the years. It happened again during the campaign, where a handful of voters told Virani they would never vote for a Muslim.

That stings as much today as it did 23 years ago when a guy in a North Bay bar called him a “Paki,’’ or 10 years earlier when the same label was affixed to his mother in a Toronto grocery store.

“You know, I’m a fairly level-headed guy, I like the sound of my own voice,’’ Virani said Thursday.

“I’m a litigator and I can talk and I can usually deal with issues and I’m well-versed in responding at the door.’’

He could handle himself when people objected to the Liberal position on trade, or CBC funding, or anti-terror legislation, but that ease melted away when he faced intolerance.

“Whether you are 3 or 43, when somebody volleys an intolerant, bigoted sentiment to you, it stupefies you for a moment. You want to say, ‘Who the hell do you think you are?’ But you can’t say that, because you always want to be respectful.

“I was tongue-tied. I would pause. I would say I’m sorry you felt that way, that’s not the type of Canada I believe in, have a nice day.

“It’s very demeaning and dehumanizing when you get attacked on something because of your skin colour or your religion or your place of origin.’’

So, he agonizes over the mosque-burning in Peterborough, the vandalism of a Kitchener temple, and the assault of a Muslim woman in his old Flemingdon Park stomping ground. The woman was picking up her son at Grenoble Public School, where Virani’s sister used to attend, when she was assaulted in what Toronto police called a hate crime.

Two Muslim women were accosted and verbally assaulted on a subway at Sherbourne Station on Wednesday. A Muslim woman in Ottawa found a threatening note in her mailbox.

Virani believes the Rob Ford regime at Toronto City Hall, then the injection of the niqab in the Stephen Harper campaign, emboldened those who had kept such thoughts to themselves, ripping the filter off those who silently harboured racist views.

“It gave people an issue to latch on to and something to go on the attack about,’’ he said.

But he takes heart in the response to the backlash. The Peterborough mosque raised more money than its goal after it was torched. There was a similar outpouring of revulsion over the Flemingdon Park assault.

That shows progress, he thinks, but adds: “To be blunt, there will always be an element in Canada that is resistant to change and . . . are somewhat intolerant. They fear the unknown.’’

Source: For one Liberal MP the refugee backlash cuts close to home: Tim Harper | Toronto Star

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How the crazies and the pundits give IS exactly what it wants: Tabatha Southey

2015/11/23 Leave a comment

Great piece by Southey, and take down of those who should know better (David Frum) and those who don’t (Ezra Levant), although she is being unfair to Premier Wall:

Also working overtime for IS’s PR machine this week was former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and current senior editor at The Atlantic, David Frum. Despite the fact it appears that none of the people involved in the Paris massacre were Syrian refugees (statistically, refugees are among the groups least likely to commit acts of terror), Mr. Frum tweeted: “We must accept these peace-loving refugees from ISIS or else they will get very angry and try to kill us.”

What was the thought process there, Mr. Frum? “Good morning, I helped to provide justification for the Iraq war but I still don’t have quite enough blood on my hands, so I’d like to take a moment to characterize an entire nation of people as terrorists, thereby helping to ensure that the most vulnerable among them will suffer”?

Were you simply constrained by Twitter’s character limit there, Mr. Frum? Basic human decency and professionalism were clearly not issues for you.

Mr. Frum’s tweet may literally be the worst joke ever made, and it would be even if it didn’t spread just the kind of disinformation that actual IS murderers labour to disseminate.

What he should know, or admit to knowing, is that IS is not overly keen on Syrians escaping Syria. The optics are bad.

If you’re trying to position yourself globally as a utopian caliphate, Muslims running away from you as fast as they possibly can at grave risk to their lives is seriously bad press.

Muslims fleeing, not embracing you as an even marginally better alternative to the government that won’t stop bombing them, does not look good, and IS is acutely aware of this; no one wants would-be Syrian refugees kept in Syria more than does IS.

David Frum, among others, appears happy to help them out. David Frum: Unpaid Intern of The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

There’s method to IS’s macabre dramaturgy. They want to be depicted as the authentic Muslims, as some evil mystical empire with whom the West is at war, and volunteers queue up to help them.

In reality, IS’s progeny is recruited more at the malls than at the mosques and, in both their youthful demographic and their disaffection distorted into a kind of grotesque idealism, the recruits can seem more like murderous groupies than anything else.

In mentality and, to a certain extent, military capability, IS is more massive Manson family than major martial force.

Their lifeblood is the gratuitous message amplification so many proffer.

Big IS shout-out to Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, as well, for helping to stigmatize Syrian refugees and for suggesting that the appropriate response to terrorist intimidation tactics is to drop everything and be intimidated.

That’s exactly what his calls for additional security screening of Syrian refugees on top of the measures already in place do – measures that Michel Coulombe, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, this week called “robust … and appropriate.”

The grassroots efforts on IS’s behalf should not be overlooked this week, either; every vile, racist tweet sent is like a bake sale held on IS’s behalf; and, speaking of sales, Sun TV detritus YouTube channel, Rebel TV, is offering black-and-white, very much IS-on-brand “Fuck ISIS” hats, T-shirts and coffee mugs.

This Christmas, Rebel TV wants you to say it with massacre merch.

Former Sun TV personality Ezra Levant high-tailed it to Paris this week to whine that its citizens continue, in the aftermath of last week’s horror, to be philosophical and resolutely secular, and to drink wine in the cafés. Why must they be so French?

Mr. Levant, disappointed rage-tourist and unofficial ambassador for the IS agenda, did not seem to like the fact that the attacks did not bring Paris to its knees. He is perturbed by your joie de vivre, France, by your determination to not let terrorists change you into a vicious, angry, funhouse mirror of your attackers.

President François Hollande announced the country will accept 30,000 refugees as planned.

Vive la France, and, terrorism dilettantes, go find meaningful employment.

Source: How the crazies and the pundits give IS exactly what it wants – The Globe and Mail

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