Refugee board’s plea for assistance with growing backlog ignored: Assessment of Budget 2017 Immigration-related policies and programmes

2017/03/24 Leave a comment

As usual, the Star and Nicholas Keung provide the best coverage:

Despite a worsening backlog and surging number of land-border asylum claims via the U.S., the beleaguered Immigration and Refugee Board will not be getting any relief from the Liberal government.

Although the 2017 budget provides $62.9 million over five years — and $11.5 million per year thereafter — for legal aid services for asylum claimants, it ignored a recent plea from IRB chair Mario Dion for additional money to deal with its rising backlog of refugee claims, which is expected to hit 30,000 cases this year.

“It is discouraging,” said Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees. “We are expecting the number of claims to go up dramatically. This is going to hurt everybody.”

The number of refugees arriving in Canada went up by 48 per cent to 5,520 in the first two months of this year, including 2,145 who crossed the land border via the United States.

Instead of ensuring there is money to hire enough refugee judges to hear asylum claims, the government said it will spend $29 million in the next five years to make permanent an unpopular “reviews and interventions pilot project.”

Launched in 2012, the project assigns representatives from the Canada Border Services Agency and the Immigration Department to intervene in refugee hearings by raising concerns over the credibility of claims.

A 2015 internal evaluation of the program identified operational challenges because of causes confusion and redundancy around responsibilities between the two government departments.

“It is inefficient, wasteful intervention that causes delays. Their submissions are often poorly thought out,” Dench said.

On the immigration front, critics said little change was made to improve the temporary foreign worker program, other than a new permit exemption for short-duration work terms for intercompany exchanges, study exchanges or the entrance of temporary expertise.

The budget also proposes to eliminate the $1,000 labour market impact assessment for families seeking to hire foreign caregivers to care for people with high medical needs and for families with less than $150,000 in annual income looking for a nanny.

“The problem with the temporary foreign worker program is it’s been poorly managed. It’s not about writing stricter rules but actually investing into the system to vet and make sure the rules are followed. The government needs to step up on the expenditures for enforcement,” said Professor Jeffrey Reitz, director of ethnic, immigration and pluralism studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs.

Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers, a grassroots advocacy group, said the budget fails to address the vulnerabilities faced by foreign workers in Canada.

“The refusal to implement a policy of permanent residency on arrival for migrants send a strong message that Canada refuses to acknowledge the invaluable social and economic contributions that migrant workers provide toward our society,” he said.

Also missing are additional resources to address immigration backlogs for qualified live-in caregivers applying for permanent residency and family reunification for parents and grandparents, said MP Jenny Kwan, immigration critic for the opposition NDP.

“The processing time is taking so long that for many families, their medical, criminal and security checks have expired,” said Kwan. “Canada is contributing to breaking up families.”

Source: Refugee board’s plea for assistance with growing backlog ignored | Toronto Star

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Peel school board issues fact sheet to ‘quell misinformation’ on religious accommodation

2017/03/24 Leave a comment

While unlikely to change the minds of those spreading misinformation, it is nevertheless appropriate to counter misleading or inaccurate information:

The Peel District School Board issued a fact sheet Wednesday to quell “misinformation and errors” it says are circulating in the community and on social media regarding religious accommodation.

It’s the school board’s response to a campaign to end the accommodation of Muslim prayer in schools, launched by self-described “concerned parents” and Canada First, a group whose mission is to protest M-103, the federal Liberals’ “anti-Islamophobia” motion.

“The issue around religious accommodation and the legal requirement to provide prayer rooms has become confused, shall we say, by many people who are intentional in spreading misinformation,” board chair Janet McDougald told the Star.

“By putting it out in print . . . and communicating the actual facts, we’re hoping it will clarify the issue.

“But we are under no delusions that those that wish to spread prejudice and hate will continue to do so. I believe they have intentionally targeted this issue around religious accommodation to create unease.”

Parents behind the online petition declined to comment to the Star.

“Quite frankly, our board meeting agendas have been monopolized and disrupted by these very loud, albeit a minority, of people,” said McDougald. “There’s so much noise around this subject that people haven’t had the opportunity to sit down and say what this is really about.”

The school board doesn’t track how many Muslim students take part in Friday prayers.

“It varies by school,” said board spokesperson Brian Woodland. “Some have none, some have a few, some might have a hundred. Not all Muslim students request (to participate). It’s not a significant number compared to the student population.”

Religious accommodation, the fact sheet says, is required under the Ontario Human Rights Code. McDougald said the board has also had “several legal opinions about it and we’re on very firm ground here.”

The fact sheet points out that religious accommodation has been taking place in Peel schools for over 15 years.

“The Peel board does not tolerate any campaigns that discriminate against a faith,” the sheet says.

It has been “frustrating and disheartening” to see hatred and prejudice toward a single faith group disguised in a supposed campaign about religion in schools, the board said in a public statement.

“This is a campaign against Islam — counter to the laws of the country, the Ontario Human Rights Code and our board values.”

Source: Peel school board issues fact sheet to ‘quell misinformation’ on religious accommodation | Toronto Star

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Metropolis 2017: Workshops of Interest – Notes

2017/03/23 Leave a comment

These rough notes capture the sessions that I either organized or attended to give others a sense of the topics and perspectives covered.

Integration – The Search for a New Metaphor: This session, prompted by the Canadian Index for Measuring Integration (CIMI) discussions on the meaning and definition of integration (and my Integration and multiculturalism: Finding a new metaphor – Policy Options) drew a good crowd(60-70 persons).

I opened with my critique of the “two-way street” metaphor by emphasizing that it did not capture the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of immigration, the Hegelian dialectic between thesis (host society) and anti-thesis (newcomers), resulting in a synthesis, and presented my preferred metaphor, harmony/jazz, where harmony represented the underlying framework of laws and institutions, and jazz the improvisation involved in resolving accommodation demands.

Mort Weinfeld of McGill drew from the personal experience of his parents and talking to cab drivers, noting that integration of the second generation was key. His preferred metaphor was the roundabout, with multiple points of entry and exit, with traffic moving smoothly.

Richard Bourhis of UQAM provided a Quebec perspective, looking at how Quebec language policies were characteristic of an assimilationist approach.

Elke Winter of UofOttawa drew from her analysis of European policies and practices and noted a third dimensions, that of outside actors and transnational forces (e.g., other countries, home communities of immigrants), and that integration was more a three-way than two-way process

The presentations prompted considerable discussion (although no one jumped to the defence of the ‘two-way street.’ The particular points I found most interesting were Richard’s noting the advantage of institutional diversity in terms of integration and others noting the need for metaphors and definitions to include indigenous peoples.

Thinking about next year, this is a topic that merits further exploration, perhaps involving some literary descriptions or metaphors (see the notes for Minority Voice, Identity and Inclusion – Media and Literary Expressions).

Citizenship – Factors Underlying a Declining Naturalization Rate: In the only session on citizenship, Elke WInter opened the workshop with an overview of how Canadian citizenship has evolved over the last 150 years, setting out four phases: colonized citizenship (pre-1947), nationalizing citizenship (1947-76), de-ethnicising citizenship (1977-2008) and re-nationalizing citizenship (2009-15) with a possible fifth phase emerging under the Liberal government. She presented some preliminary findings from an interview-based study.

I followed with my usual presentation of citizenship statistics, showing the impact of previous policy and administrative changes along with an assessment of the 2014 Conservative changes and Liberal partial repeal of these changes (currently in the Senate).

Jessica Merolli of Sheridan presented the key MIPEX naturalization indicators and data from the European Social Survey comparing immigrant/non-immigrant attitudes on issues such as self-sufficiency, interests in politics, LGBT acceptance and others and how over time in the country of immigration differences declined. The most striking exception was with respect to interest in politics, where immigrants, no matter how short or long the time, were more interested than non-immigrants.

Questions of note included do we need a citizenship knowledge test given that it presents barriers for some groups, and the impact that the  physical presence requirement has on families when one parent has to work abroad given difficulties in obtaining well-paying work in Canada.

Other workshops that I found particularly of interest included:

Inclusion, engagement partagé, participation – comment en rendre compte: Elke Laur of Quebec’s Minister de l’Immigration, de Latin American Diversity et de l’Inclusion presented their integration strategy and related measurement approach. Quebec has invested considerable time and resources on both aspects.

Of note is their definition below, capturing the complexities and dynamism of integration:

“Une participation réussie résulte d’un partage d’engagement mutuel de la personne et de la société dans son ensemble. Ainsi, la participation des personnes de minorités ethnoculturelles est conceptualisée sous forme d’un espace participatif dans lequel ces deux modalités se croisent dans une matrice. Cette matrice rend compte de l’articulation de différents degrés (allant de faible à fort), d’engagements individuels et de dispositions sociétales.”

Those interested in indicators should check out their report 2016 Mesure de Latin American participation des Québécoises et Québécois des minorités ethnoculturelles, an impressive report.

Enhancing the Potential to Analyze Immigration – Adding the Admission Category to Census Data: Laetitia Martin of Statistics Canada presented the detailed methodology of linking post-1980 IRCC administration data on immigrant admission categories, complemented by Lorna Jantzen of IRCC outlying the potential and challenges. Dan Hiebert of UBC provided an example for refugees of how this linkage could be used to analyze the economic outcomes of refugees, showing that in the long-term, economic outcomes are comparable to the Canadian average.

Minority Voice, Identity and Inclusion – Media and Literary Expressions: A mix of a case study (Punjabi media by Syeda Bukhari where she noted the ethnic media was getting more sophisticated in comparing what politicians said to English and ethnic media and thus holding them to account) and the overall contribution ethnic media does and can make to integration (Madeline Ziniak, current chair of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA)).

Myer Siemiatycki of Ryerson gave a fascinating presentation regarding the person and poetry of Julian Tuwin, a Polish Jew (or Jewish Pole) whose loyalty and identity were attacked by both sides.

An example, Tuwin’s Poem, We, Polish Jews (1944)

I am a Pole because I want to be. It’s nobody’s business but my own. I do not divide Poles into pure-stock Poles and alien-stock Poles. I leave such classification to pure and alien-stock advocates of racialism, to domestic and foreign Nazis.

To be a Pole is neither an honor nor a glory nor a privilege. It is like breathing. I have not yet met a man who is proud of breathing.

A Pole – because I have been told so in Polish in my paternal home, because since infancy I have been nurtured in the Polish tongue; because my mother taught me Polish songs and Polish rhymes; because when poetry first seized me, it was in Polish words that it burst forth; because what in my life became paramount — poetical creation — would be unthinkable in any other tongue no matter how fluent I might become in it.”

A Pole – also because the birch and the willow are closer to my heart than palms and citrus trees, and Mickiewicz and Chopin dearer than Shakespeare and Beethoven.

A Pole – because I have taken over from the Poles quite a few of their national faults.

A Pole — because my hatred of Polish Fascists is greater than my hatred of Fascists of other nationalities. And I consider that particular point as a strong mark of my nationality.

He also presented Yolanda Cohen’s deck on the Sephardic press and diaspora identities.

Negotiating “fit” – Connections Between Employer Mindsets/Practices and Labour Market Success of Newcomers: Kelly Thomson of York provided an overview of the issue of “fit” and presented a case study of foreign-trained accountants. Aamna Ashraf of the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group (near Toronto) presented the results of a study on soft barriers, with focused and practical recommendations. Madeline Ng of Autodata and Nancy Moulday of TD Bank presented how their respective organizations encourage and facilitate diversity in their workforces. Unfortunately, Thomson took far to long for her presentation, reducing the time available for discussion with the practitioners.

Fitting In: Identity and belonging among second generation Canadians: Elizabeth Burgess-Pinto of MacEwan University organized  this roundtable discussion focussing on the second generation. A number of second generation (and generation 1.5) participants shared their experiences, challenges and identities.

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‘The rose-coloured glasses are off’: Why experts, students suspect racism under-reported on campuses

2017/03/23 Leave a comment

But low numbers are, of course, better than high numbers, and overall university graduation numbers are higher for visible minorities than non-visible minorities (not to discount the issue):

CBC News investigation has found many Canadian universities received few or no complaints of racial discrimination on campus over the past five years, but experts and students — and even a couple of the universities — say the low numbers aren’t necessarily a sign of racial harmony.

Instead, they say the data might suggest students are reluctant to come forward with official complaints. Experts also say significant barriers exist for students who do pursue complaints.

Back in October, Julia-Simone Rutgers of King’s College in Halifax was concerned about a hip-hop-themed night planned for the campus pub because she was disturbed by what she witnessed at a previous event with a similar theme.

“It created a space where people felt kind of comfortable using racial slurs and kind of celebrating a music and a culture that was not critically discussed anywhere else on campus,” she said.

Despite her concerns, she said her first instinct wasn’t to make a complaint.

Dua

York University professor Enakshi Dua says students are sometimes discouraged from pursuing the formal complaint process. (CBC News)

“I just didn’t feel like they would be able to understand that experience, and so I didn’t feel like it would be productive for me to go through that route.”

York University professor Enakshi Dua studies anti-racism policies at Canadian universities and says trust is important for racialized students looking for help.

“On the most basic levels, students want someone who can appreciate and understand, help them sort out the situation that they’re dealing with,” says Dua…..

Numbers not the whole story

CBC News asked 76 universities to provide their yearly totals for student complaints of race-based discrimination and/or harassment for calendar years 2011 to 2015. Forty-seven schools provided data, but the vast majority reported either no complaints or numbers in the single-digits over the five-year period (not all schools provided data by the calendar year).

“Over five years? To me, hard to believe that,” said Girish Parekh, a former investigator with the Canadian Human Rights Commission who worked as a complaint resolution adviser at Ryerson University in Toronto in 2014/15. “Even for one year I wouldn’t believe that.”

He says some cases aren’t counted because they’re resolved outside of the prescribed complaint process, without the involvement of a human rights or equity office.

But Parekh says many incidents don’t result in complaints because students don’t think they will be taken seriously.

“They say, ‘Well, there is no point wasting time unless it’s something extremely serious,'” he said.

Dua says that even when these complaints are brought to the attention of the appropriate office, students are often discouraged from pursuing the formal procedure for dealing with them because the process can be long, tense and emotional….

Students reluctant to file complaints

Western University in London, Ont., is one of almost two-dozen universities that reported zero complaints over the five-year period from 2011 to 2015. Jana Luker, the school’s associate vice-president of student experience, says the numbers don’t always reflect the reality on campus.

“I would say that this does not necessarily indicate that racism is not a part of our campus — our city, our country — at all,” she said.

Luker

Jana Luker, Western University’s associate vice-president of student experience, says increasing staff diversity is an important way to help make students comfortable coming forward with racial discrimination and harassment complaints. (CBC News)

Luker acknowledges that students aren’t always comfortable taking their experiences forward and points to staff diversity as an important part of making the process more welcoming.

Mount Royal University in Calgary, which reported 11 complaints over five years, raised the issue of under-reporting in a statement to CBC News: “We’re always looking for ways to cultivate a culture in which members of our community feel safe to share their experiences.”

Source: ‘The rose-coloured glasses are off’: Why experts, students suspect racism under-reported on campuses – Canada – CBC News

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Nearly half of Canadians support deporting people who are in Canada illegally, poll finds

2017/03/23 1 Comment

Not surprising, one of the factors that underlies overall Canadian support for immigration is that the public perceives this as managed and controlled. Irregular arrivals undermine that trust:

Undocumented immigrants in the United States are fleeing to Canada. But Canadians may not want them, a new survey finds.

Nearly half of Canadians support “increasing the deportation of people living in Canada illegally,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday.

The same share said they supported sending migrants that crossed from the United States right back over the border, while just 36 percent said Canada should accept them and let them apply for refugee status.

Read more:Trump, tighter air travel rules behind surge of refugees at Canada-U.S. border, experts say

The popular sentiment could pose a challenge to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who champions a pro-refugee and pro-immigration policy as a stark foil to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump’s anti-immigrant “build-a-wall” rhetoric helped launch him into the White House, but since getting there, he has faced significant political backlash and legal scrutiny over his policies.

The debate is spilling over into Canada, where Trudeau is taking a political hit for keeping his country’s door opento refugees and immigrants.

Forty-six percent of poll respondents disagreed with how Trudeau is handling immigration, while 37 per cent agreed.
The poll shows the national debate on immigration is heating up. Nearly a quarter of Canadians believe immigration-control is a leading national issue, compared to 19 per cent in a December poll.

Some 40 per cent thought accepting those fleeing from the United States could make Canada less safe.

Undocumented immigrants began fleeing to Canada in record numbers after Trump’s political rise.

In 2016, 1,222 fled the United States to Quebec alone, a five-fold increase.

Source: Nearly half of Canadians support deporting people who are in Canada illegally, poll finds | Toronto Star

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Liberal MP Iqra Khalid addresses critics of anti-Islamophobia motion

2017/03/23 Leave a comment

I don’t remember these kinds of objections with respect to the earlier motion on Islamophobia or Antisemitism:

The Liberal MP whose private member’s motion condemning Islamophobia has divided the House of Commons used her final submission on Tuesday to address what she called “outrageous” arguments being made about her proposal.

During the final debate in the Commons, Liberal MP Iqra Khalid said her motion, M-103, does not give one religion or community special privileges, or restrict free speech.

“This motion is not legally binding. In fact, M-103 serves as a catalyst for Canadians to speak out against discrimination and be heard where they may not have been heard before,” she said.

“Some other outrageous claims were made about M-103 and to that in simple and clear words, M-103 is not an attempt to create sharia law. I vow to be the first person to oppose any motion or law that negatively impacts our multicultural, secular society. I assure you, M-103 does not.”

Most Conservatives appear set to vote against Ms. Khalid’s motion, with only one leadership candidate, Michael Chong, saying he’ll support it. The NDP will also support it, but MP Jenny Kwan criticized both the Liberals and Tories for “politicking” on the issue.

Ms. Khalid’s motion calls on the government to “condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination,” to study the issue at the heritage committee, collect hate-crime data and report back to the House of Commons within eight months with recommendations.

The motion will be voted upon on Thursday. With the Liberal government’s support, it is expected to pass.

Ms. Khalid’s motion was originally supposed to be debated on April 5, but she traded her slot with another Liberal MP to move it up in the calendar. The second hour of debate fell on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Conservative MP David Sweet said Tuesday that M-103 could have been made better by including all faith communities rather than singling out one group, and it could have clarified the definition of Islamophobia and affirmed the right to freedom of speech.

“Instead of pursuing these changes, in an effort to have a meaningful, inclusive and non-partisan study on the matters of racism and religious discrimination, a debate that should unify us, the Liberals have decided there are more political points to win by ramming this motion through regardless of legitimate concerns I’ve articulated,” he told the Commons.

Last fall, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair’s motion condemning “all forms of Islamophobia” passed unanimously in the House, although it wasn’t a recorded vote and it’s unclear how many MPs were in the chamber.

“I can’t believe that people are still trying to find reasons to vote against motion M-103, which is simply an expression of what Parliament already said in the fall,” Mr. Mulcair said Tuesday.

Source: Liberal MP Iqra Khalid addresses critics of anti-Islamophobia motion – The Globe and Mail

David Akin covers the protests:

More than two dozen police officers had to separate duelling mobs on Parliament Hill Tuesday afternoon after the two groups spent their lunch hour hurling loud and often profane epithets at each other in support of or in opposition to an anti-Islamophobia motion debated in the House of Commons Tuesday evening.

A handful of men in each group nearly came to blows but for the clutch of RCMP officers standing between them.

One group of about 35 people perched itself on the steps in front of Parliament’s Centre Block to protest Motion 103 or M-103, introduced in the House of Commons by Iqra Khalid, a Pakistan-born Liberal MP from Mississauga, Ont.

A handful of the anti-M-103 protestors were wearing “Soldiers of Odin Canada” sweatshirts.

Soldiers of Odin, on its Facebook page, says it is a non-profit dedicated to defending the charter of rights and freedoms but its critics allege it is an anti-immigrant, anti-refugee group.

The counter-protest mob of about 25 called out the Soldiers of Odin protestors as “Nazis” and “fascists” and chanted “Soldiers of Odin, go back to Sweden.”

In response, the counter-protest group was called “Communists” and “anti-Canadian” by the group  protesting M-103.

The demonstration dissipated peacefully with the assistance of the police and, hours later, MPs debated M-103. It will be put to a vote on Thursday afternoon. Given that the Liberal majority in the House of Commons supports M-103, it is certain to pass.

Source: Ahead of M-103 debate, duelling mobs clash on Parliament Hill over Islamophobia

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USA: Bid to Strip Terrorist’s Citizenship May Mark New Trump Way – Bloomberg

2017/03/23 Leave a comment

While the motivation is revocation for terrorism convictions, the rationale is fraud or misrepresentation in Faris’ citizenship application:

The Department of Justice has taken the rare step of seeking to strip a convicted terrorist of his U.S. citizenship as he serves the last several years of a 20-year prison sentence for plotting to destroy New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.

Some national security experts suggested Tuesday the move might signal a new, tougher line under President Donald Trump.

The case involves Iyman Faris, 47 and born in Pakistan, who was sentenced in 2003 for aiding and abetting the al-Qaida terrorist group with his plan to cut through cables that support the iconic bridge. At the time, it was among the highest profile terrorism cases in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

A 17-page filing Monday in U.S. District Court in southern Illinois where Faris is imprisoned launched a revocation process that is likely to take years. The court filing argues that Faris lied on immigration papers before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1999 and that his terrorist affiliations demonstrated a lack of commitment to the U.S. Constitution.

Faris, known as Mohammad Rauf before becoming a U.S. citizen and who once worked as a truck driver in Ohio, is scheduled for release from the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, on Dec. 23, 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Karen Greenberg, director of the Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security in New York, said the federal government has been aggressive in previous decades about revoking the citizenship of accused Nazis living in the United States. But she says it’s largely unheard of for revocation proceedings to be launched against naturalized U.S. citizens imprisoned for terrorism.

Most Americans would almost certainly back steps to strip citizenship from someone like Faris. Prosecutors have also accused him of meeting with Osama bin Laden in 2000 and alleged that the planned attack on the bridge could have been designed to be part of a second wave of attacks to follow those on 9/11.

But Greenberg said making the revocation of a terrorist’s U.S. citizenship established policy would only add to a trend since 9/11 of treating accused terrorists differently than other suspects. Stripping someone’s citizenship, she said, also appeared to be a way of adding on extra punishment not in the criminal statute itself.

“Why isn’t it enough that we put him in prison and give him the sentence he was given?” she said. She added that the effort against Faris could be seen as another example of how the Trump administration “tinkers with the established way we do things.”

Source: Bid to Strip Terrorist’s Citizenship May Mark New Trump Way – Bloomberg

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Policy-makers should pay attention to world happiness rankings: DiManno

2017/03/22 Leave a comment

I have had the pleasure of being on the Expert Advisory Committee for the Canadian Index for Measuring Integration with John Helliwell and others, and learned and appreciated the insights from his work:

The world needs more . . . Norway.

Or at least, we should all be more like Norwegians, who have apparently discovered the fountain of well-being, despite being most famously associated with Edvard Munch’s agonized The Scream.

Now, I’ve always known that Norway was in a league of its own for friendliness and contentment and hospitality, which is why I’ve long advocated for the Winter Olympics to be permanently sited in Lillehammer or Oslo. And of course they’re a winter sports dynamo, collecting 107 gold medals in Games competition. If they ever get really good at hockey, Canada will be in trouble. Fortunately for us, they prefer cross country skiing and biathlon. Those sports are national passions and quirks.

For all my life, Canadians have been compared, unfavourably, to Swedes — you know, the average 60-year-old Swede fitter than the average 30-year-old Canadian. But apparently we should cast our eyes further west in Scandinavia if we want to lead cheerful and gratifying lives.

The proof is in the World Happiness Report, released Monday, with Norway topping the tables, vaulting four spots to Numero Uno over last year, measured by economics, health, life expectancy, sense of community and various other polling data. In reaching the heights of fulfilment, Norway has pushed Denmark down to No. 2. Denmark actually has a Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen so they take the subject seriously. The only Dane I know is Maple Leaf goalie Frederik Andersen and he doesn’t come across as particularly jolly, especially after the team loses another shootout (1-for-8 going into Monday night’s game against Boston.)

In fact, scoring difference among the four happiest nations — Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland — is just about statistically insignificant, beyond bragging rights.

John Helliwell, lead author of the report which was produced by the United Nations and an economist at the University of British Columbia, compares the apex jostling to Premier League football. “You’re not going to expect the same team to win all the time. They’re going to have to take turns winning games.”

Canada was ranked seventh among 155 countries so we remain a pleased as punch bunch.

Norway is the happiest country on Earth, report says
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Helliwell told the Star about the quantifying of indexes, which involves questioning 1,000 people from each country. “The question the rankings are based on asks people to think of their life as a ladder, with the best possible life being a 10 and the worst a zero. That’s it.”

Those answers are averaged. “It’s not our decision. It’s very democratic.”

There’s apparently no deception to the thing, no padding. Although it’s odd that a country such as Finland, which has among the highest alcoholism and suicide rates in Europe, should come in fifth. Perhaps they’re happily inebriated during all those months of grim, grey wintry funk before jumping off a roof. In any event, seasonal affective disorder apparently doesn’t impact on life evaluation by citizens.

“That’s a good point,” says Helliwell, who in the past has studied suicide in Finland. “Finland is a bit of an outlier on suicide. The weights were a little different so that divorce and belief in God were much more important in avoiding suicide, while good government was much more important in supporting well-being. Trust and connections with others are both high in Finland. They fit the well-being equation very well.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, happiness in the United States is declining, America slipped to 14th from 13th. Sad. Except the data was collected before Donald Trump was elected president, so can’t be blamed on him, although the researchers expect unhappiness south of the border to continue on a downward path.

“There’s clearly more polarization of political thought in the United States. Often polarization tends to increase fractiousness and decrease mutual trust. Those are bad for happiness. But we’ll just have to see how this works out. It’s always a mistake to forecast if you don’t have to.”

Jeffrey Sachs, the esteemed Columbia University economist and author of the report’s chapter on the U.S., writes: “The United States offers a vivid portrait of a country that is looking for happiness in all the wrong places. “The country is mired in a rolling social crisis that is getting worse.’’

He points the finger of blame at soaring income inequality, slashing of federal agency budgets for justice, health and education, the rise of big money in American politics and an “open-ended global war on terror” that has helped to stoke a climate of fear.

The happiness report, published annually since 2012, has practical application, says Helliwell. “What kind of public policies will help to produce happiness? That’s the whole purpose of the happiness report. To raise the awareness that there are these scientifically replicable measures of the quality of life that don’t give you the same answers as GDP and don’t invite the same policies that maximizing GDP would mean.

Politicians and policy-makers should pay attention. “They ought to be thinking about how happy people are and how happy should they be with the services they’re provided. If these numbers are taken seriously, it’s to raise the level of policy awareness and discussion.”

Source: Policy-makers should pay attention to world happiness rankings: DiManno | Toronto Star

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Too soon to put Canadian price tag on Trump’s immigration overhaul: officials

2017/03/22 Leave a comment

Useful questioning of the Minister and officials, and reasonable responses to an evolving situation:

The Liberal government is examining whether the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration will require more cash to be spent north of the border.

But both immigration officials and the federal minister told a House of Commons committee that right now, there’s no new money.

Departmental officials say Trump’s executive orders are too new for them to be able to estimate how much they could cost Canada and in what ways.

The Immigration and Refugee Board, however, has been saying for months that a rise in the number of asylum claims is already straining its resources and it has put in a pitch for more cash.

Board officials had been hoping to get an answer in Wednesday’s federal budget but Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen wouldn’t commit Monday to new funds.

He says the fact that claims have been rising at the IRB since 2015 is proof the problem goes beyond the so-called Trump effect.

The board did receive about $4.5-million to deal with an expected increase in claims from Mexican nationals following a government decision to lift visas for Mexicans last December.

Those numbers are already up over last year – 241 Mexicans lodged asylum claims in all of 2016 and 156 have already done so in 2017.

Many anticipate the U.S. president’s executive orders curtailing immigration from certain countries, scaling back refugee admissions and speeding up deportations could push the numbers of people seeking asylum in Canada higher.

Hussen and his officials were pressed Monday by the NDP’s immigration critic Jenny Kwan on whether any more money has been earmarked yet to deal with the potential fallout.

The executive orders are too new and the money currently being requested from Parliament deals with already identified needs, said Daniel Mills, an assistant deputy minister in the Immigration Department.

“We haven’t yet estimated the amount that we will need,” he said in French.

What might be needed next is under review at least in one area.

“The IRB is already facing a number of pressures and recent events will only give rise to further pressures,” Richard Wex, an associate deputy minister in the department, told the committee.

“This matter is under active consideration by the government.”

Hussen tried to bolster the case at committee that the so-called Trump effect isn’t to blame for the rise in claims.

Of the 143 people who’ve who crossed illegally into Manitoba to make an asylum claim in 2017, he said only about 50 had U.S. visas, 97 per cent had been the U.S. less than two months and had not filed an asylum claim there.

“It puts into context the claim made by many that this is as a result of the U.S. administration,” he said.

“In fact, the rise in asylum claims through the border . . . there’s been a small and steady increase since 2015, most of 2016. This is definitely not specific to the incoming U.S. administration.”

Another element that could complicate the IRB’s caseload is the upcoming plan to lift the visa requirement people coming from Romania and Bulgaria. Romania in particular was a large source of asylum claims in Canada prior to a visa requirement being imposed and the decision to phase-out the visa later this year is likely to lead to a renewed increase in asylum claims.

No money has been earmarked yet for the IRB to deal with that.

Source: Too soon to put Canadian price tag on Trump’s immigration overhaul: officials – The Globe and Mail

Filed under Refugees Tagged with ,

Why so many Canadian universities know so little about their own racial diversity

2017/03/22 Leave a comment

Census data allows one to analyse university graduation rates by visible minority and ethnic origin, and first and second generation immigrants are more educated than non-immigrants, although there are variations among groups as shown in the above chart.

However, this is not at the individual university level, where it may help identify issues and gaps:

Many Canadian universities proudly promote the diversity and inclusiveness of their communities, but a CBC News investigation has found that most can’t provide data about how their students identify racially.

As part of an investigation of race and racial discrimination at Canadian universities, CBC News discovered that most of the country’s largest institutions have an incomplete picture of the racial diversity within their student populations, with more than 60 schools saying they don’t collect the data.

Experts, human rights advocates and recently the government of Ontario have endorsed the collection of race-based data as a means of uncovering inequality and better understanding the needs of racialized groups. Racialized is a term used to describe people who identify as being part of a visible minority.

Vettivelu

Ryerson University student Renee Vettivelu says she would have no problem indicating on a school survey how she identifies racially. (CBC News)

“Personally I wouldn’t mind sharing my background and my identity, I’m quite comfortable with it, proud of it,” said Renee Vettivelu, a second-year aerospace engineering student at Ryerson University in Toronto.

She’s Tamil-Canadian and says her parents helped to foster her appreciation for her culture through community events and Saturdays spent at Tamil school.

Ryerson is one of many schools that couldn’t provide details about how members of its student community identify, but it recently confirmed it intends to start gathering this data from students.

“I think that there’s a lot that Ryerson would be able to do if they had that knowledge,” said Vettivelu. She says counselling services for racialized students and financial support for cultural groups and events are examples of where more data would make a difference.

Dua

York University professor Enakshi Dua says universities have been reluctant to collect race-based data from students. (CBC News)

Enakshi Dua, a professor in York University’s gender, feminist and women’s studies department, agrees.

“We need to collect data to have an understanding of how accessible our universities are and where there are barriers and hurdles,” Dua said.

Dua has worked on equity issues in the university environment for more than 15 years and says universities haven’t been receptive to calls to collect information about race.

No clear picture of student diversity

Over the past five months, CBC News asked 76 universities from across the country to provide a breakdown of their student populations by race. While some gave more detail than others, most schools couldn’t provide much information about the diversity of their students.

Some universities pointed to data from third-party surveys that target specific groups like first- or senior-year undergraduates. Other schools provided information in broader categories like “visible minority,” or only offered information about specific groups such as black or Indigenous students.

In all, 63 universities said they couldn’t answer the question on racial demographics because they don’t ask students to provide information about their racial identity. In many cases, data about Indigenous students is already available to universities.

Benefits of collecting data

“If you want to really serve the population, I think you first need to know who’s in your student body,” said Renu Mandhane, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. “And not just at an eyeballing it sort of way, actually understanding in a much more discrete way.”

She says it isn’t just students who benefit from data collection, but the institutions themselves because they can track the effectiveness of their programs.

“Many of these universities have anti-racism departments or diversity offices. Well, are they able to actually track how students feel about their experience based on, you know, data?”

Mandhane

Renu Mandhane, chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, says race-based data can help universities address racial discrimination. (CBC News)

Mandhane says the need for more race-based data goes beyond higher education into sectors like policing and child welfare, even though it’s rare for institutions to collect it.

She suspects some universities are still concerned about addressing the uncomfortable topic of race. “If I collect the data and it reveals that you know this many per cent of my students are black, what does that mean? What does that require me to do?” she said.

Concerns about collecting race data

The 63 schools that said they don’t collect race data include larger institutions like York University and the University of British Columbia, along with smaller schools like Huron University College in London, Ont., Cape Breton University and the University of Prince Edward Island.

Concordia University in Montreal was up front about why it doesn’t ask students for race information: “In Quebec, this is not an option and it is considered illegal to ask.”

Source: Why so many Canadian universities know so little about their own racial diversity – Canada – CBC News

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

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