Directing MPs through new call centre for immigration cases disastrous, say critics

2016/08/18 Leave a comment

This has been raised at CIMM (the immigration committee):

Opposition MPs say they are incredibly frustrated with a new method for MPs to get information from the government about immigration case files, quietly introduced by the Liberals in April.

Both NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.), immigration critic for her party, and Conservative MP and immigration critic Michelle Rempel (Calgary Nose Hill, Alta.), say a new system of making immigration inquiries, which has their staff asking questions about immigration cases through a call centre, is creating a backlog of cases for their staff.

Prior to the change, which both MPs referred to as being “quietly” implemented by the government in April, MPs’ offices had two lines they could call: one was a direct Ottawa phone number that connected them to the Ministerial Enquiries Division within the immigration minister’s office, when they had complex or urgent cases and needed a ministerial intervention. The other was a line for simple inquiries, like updates.

With the new general line, information they are expecting to get back in the outlined two business days can easily turn into five days, the opposition MPs suggested. Ms. Rempel said in her office the two days has turned into 10, sometimes 15 days.

This article is the second in a series examining the challenges that Members of Parliament experience in their constituency office. In the first of the series, The Hill Times looked into the challenges associated with helping constituents with passport applications.

Remi Lariviere, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, responding to questions about the concerns of Ms. Rempel and Ms. Kwan, said the new system has been set up “in order to streamline and enhance services to parliamentarians.” To do so, “a single point of contact dedicated for MPs has been implemented…to ensure that Members of Parliament receive the most expedient and informative service possible to assist them in helping their constituents and managing their cases,” he wrote in an email.

According to Mr. Lariviere, the Ministerial Enquiries Division is still providing the information, just by way of what he called the “information centre,” which is based in Montreal.

Ms. Rempel and Ms. Kwan said calling the Ministerial Enquiries Division directly for complex cases was an efficient and effective way of getting information for their constituents. The new call centre, however, is anything but that, they said.

“In this system, we’re put on hold. Calls can take up to an hour and a half for us to get the information, whereas before we were never put on hold, they had the information, and we were going to get the information expeditiously…[in] a far quicker turnaround time with way less bureaucracy,” Ms. Kwan said. The new system is frustrating she said, not only for her, but for her staff, and “most importantly,” her constituents.

Responding to complaints about delays in getting information, Mr. Lariviere wrote that the “service standard for simple case inquiries is to respond within two days, whereas more complex inquiries are responded to within 10 days. Those have not changed since the implementation of the new line.”

Source: The Hill Times

Filed under Immigration Tagged with ,

Patrick Weil : « Qu’on laisse en paix les femmes voilées » | L’Opinion

2016/08/18 1 Comment

As always, sensible and nuanced commentary by Weil:

Patrick Weil, historien et politologue, est directeur de recherche au CNRS et au centre d’histoire sociale du XX e siècle à Paris I. Considéré comme l’un des meilleurs spécialistes des questions de laïcité et d’immigration en France, il a participé aux travaux de la commission Stasi qui rendit en 2003 un rapport sur l’application du principe de laïcité. Il est notamment l’auteur de Qu’est-ce qu’un Français ? Histoire de la nationalité française depuis la Révolution, Gallimard.

Est-il vrai que le port du voile islamique explose en France ?

Non. La religiosité se développe. Le voile se présente sur de nouveaux territoires car des femmes le portent et frappent aux portes des entreprises et de tous les métiers qualifiés, mais il ne se développe pas et il n’explose pas. Son port peut d’ailleurs avoir des sens différents. Il peut être porté sous la pression des pairs ou de certains membres de la famille. La personne qui le porte parfois le fait pour ne pas être harcelée dans son propre milieu tout en étant très libre dans sa tête et ses amitiés. En gros, je mets le voile et je ne me fais pas em… par la famille. Parfois elle le porte en toute bonne foi, par tradition familiale ou au contraire en réaction à un milieu non croyant ou non pratiquant.

Et après tout, cela ne nous regarde pas, comme ne nous regardent pas les opinions et les pratiques religieuses d’aucun de nos concitoyens. Violent-elles la loi en portant un voile ? non. Alors, qu’on les laisse en paix. Tant que nos compatriotes musulmans n’auront pas droit à l’indifférence qui passe d’abord par le silence des politiques, alors on ne fera que renforcer – par solidarité, fierté ou sentiment de discrimination – les comportements que l’on veut réduire.

Que le ministre de l’Intérieur s’attaque aux violations de notre laïcité qui sont les plus sérieuses sans être les plus visibles : les pressions sur les mineures par exemple. Ou encore le phénomène qui se développe, si l’on en croit certaines études, de mariages religieux soit avant le mariage civil soit sans mariage civil. La loi ne permet aujourd’hui de punir les officiants mais pas ceux qui se marient. Si demain la loi pénalisait ceux qui se marient religieusement avant de se marier civilement, cela ne serait pas choquant du tout. Le mariage civil à la mairie, célébré devant la communauté des citoyens, avant l’éventuel mariage religieux, c’est au fondement de la laïcité, depuis 1792.

Est-il pertinent d’ouvrir un débat sur le port du voile à l’université ?

Pour la commission Stasi, il n’était pas question d’interdire les signes religieux dans les Universités – comme cela vient d’être proposé – ou ailleurs dans le monde des adultes : les adultes ont des moyens pour se défendre que les enfants n’ont pas. Ils peuvent aller en justice et protéger leur liberté de conscience plus facilement.

Il faut le rappeler : la plus importante de nos lois, la loi de 1905, assure la liberté de conscience, sépare l’Etat et les Eglises, mais elle n’est pas une loi antireligieuse. Elle laisse sa place à la religion, à toutes les religions et à toutes les options spirituelles. C’est une loi négociée entre les socialistes de l’époque et l’Eglise catholique de France. Elle a ensuite été – temporairement – rejetée par le Vatican, avant que l’Eglise ne l’accepte et ne finisse par en faire tous les éloges. Sous ce régime de laïcité, la neutralité envers les croyances religieuses n’est imposée qu’à l’État et ses serviteurs, au sein de la sphère politique et depuis 2004, aux élèves des écoles publiques. Elle n’est pas imposée dans d’autres sphères publiques.

Source: Patrick Weil : « Qu’on laisse en paix les femmes voilées » | L’Opinion

And for background on the French government’s position:

The French government has defended municipal bans on body-covering Muslim ‘burkini’ swimwear but called on mayors to try and cool tensions between communities.

Three Mediterranean towns — Cannes, Villeneuve-Loubet and Sisco on the island of Corsica — have banned the burkini, and Le Touquet on the Atlantic coast is planning to do the same.

The mainly conservative mayors who have imposed the ban say the garment, which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, defies French laws on secularism.

The socialist government’s minister for women’s rights, Laurence Rossignol, supported the bans.

 “The burkini is not some new line of swimwear, it is the beach version of the burqa and it has the same logic: hide women’s bodies in order to better control them,” Rossignol told French daily Le Parisien in an interview.

France, which has the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million, in 2010 introduced a ban on full-face niqab and burqa veils in public.

Rossignol said the burkini had sparked tensions on French beaches because of its political dimension.

“It is not just the business of those women who wear it, because it is the symbol of a political project that is hostile to diversity and women’s emancipation,” she said.

‘It is not just the business of those women who wear it’: France defends growing number of ‘burkini’ bans

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

What motivates a Canadian jihadist?

2016/08/17 Leave a comment

Interesting study by credible researchers:

 A new study based on interviews conducted over social media with foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria raises doubts about the commonly held notion that young men in North America and Europe who are drawn to violent Islamic extremism must be marginalized loners looking for an alternative to their dead-end lives.

Three university researchers who contacted dozens of jihadists from abroad in Iraq and Syria, including some Canadians, say they seemed to be drawn mainly by the religious ideas—“no matter how ill-informed or unorthodox”—behind jihadism. Rather than being isolated individuals who self-radicalized in front of their computer screens, the report says they usually found mentors and, at least in the case of the Canadians, joined the fighting in “clusters.”

In the working paper entitled Talking to Foreign Fighters: Socio-Economic Push versus Existential Pull Factors, the researchers caution against assuming that radical Islam appeals only young men on the edges of society, those without good job prospects or supportive family and friends.

They suggest previous academic studies have put too much weight on those “push” factors—the problems and frustrations in the lives of young men who turn to extremist Islam and, ultimately, terrorist violence. “Based on what we are hearing in interviews with foreign fighters—more interviews than anyone has yet to report on—we think more attention and significance should be given to the repeated affirmations of the positive benefits of being jihadists,” they say.

From mid-December 2015 to Feb. 29, 2016, the researchers put questions to 40 foreign fighters, 60 family members, friends and associates, and 30 online fans, recruiters, and potential fighters. (Among the Canadians the interviewed was Aaron Driver, the would-be terrorist killed last week in a confrontation with police in Strathroy, Ont.) Those fighting in Syria and Iraq were interviewed through “extended social media dialogues.” But their working paper, posted recently on the website of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society, is based on an initial analysis of just 20 interviews with foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq.

The researchers are Lorne Dawson of University of Waterloo’s sociology and legal studies department, Amarnath Amarasingam of George Washington University’s program on extremism, and Alexandra Bain of St. Thomas University’s religious studies department. Dawson told Maclean’s by email that they plan to eventually publish a more complete paper on their research in a peer-reviewed journal, and are also “being pressed to write a book in short order.”

In the working paper, they write that the foreign fighters they contacted “run the gamut from troubled youth with personal problems to accomplished young men and women from stable backgrounds.” In the 20 interviews they analyzed, not one of their subjects suggested “directly or indirectly” that being marginalized socially or economically pushed them onto such an extreme path. “Anger and frustration have their role to play in the process, but it is the positive investment in an alternate world-saving role that matters most, no matter how strange it may appear to outsiders,” they say.

As well, the paper points to the importance of influential radical voices who carry some form of religious authority. “In most cases, we would say the help and encouragement of some other outside mentors is required to complete the process of radicalization, to turn wannabe terrorists into deployable agents or independent martyrs for the cause. The process of self-radicalization needs to be legitimated to be complete.”

To probe the views of radicalized young men directly, the researchers had to assure them that they were not seeking “operational information” that would put them at risk. The questions focused on personal and family background, their sense of identity, and how they became fighters.

Along with information about the individuals, the researchers assembled a sort of group portrait of the Canadians fighting for various terrorist and radical factions in Iraq and Syria. “It is extremely difficult to verify any of this information, however, and for the most part we are merely reporting what one or more individuals have told us,” they admit. Still, the outline they sketch is intriguing.

They say Canadians tend to be radicalized in “clusters” and travel to the conflict zone in small groups. Of those who have made the journey, at least 19 Canadian men have died fighting in Syria and Iraq, five or them converts to Islam, the rest from Muslim backgrounds. Eight were from Ontario, eight from Alberta, and three from Quebec. The researchers say they “have good reason to believe” most of the radicalized Canadians in the war-torn region have joined ISIS, but others are fighting for less well-known groups, like Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar as-Sham, while at least 15 have fought with Kurdish or Christian militias.

The paper estimates that between 10 and 15 women have gone from Canada to Iraq and Syria to back ISIS, often marrying terrorists. “We know that three have given birth to babies as a result of their marriages to ISIS fighters, who are usually other foreign fighters,” they say.

Throughout the report, the authors repeatedly note that they are summarizing only preliminary findings. “Things may change as more of our existing interviews are analyzed and more interviews are undertaken,” they say. Still, they assert that their interviews with actual fighters have been more extensive than those relied on for previously published scholarly studies.

Source: What motivates a Canadian jihadist? – Macleans.ca

Filed under Multiculturalism, Radicalization Tagged with , ,

Canada’s immigration detention program to get $138M makeover

2016/08/17

Another shift compared to the previous government:

The Canadian government is committing millions to upgrade immigration detention centres across Canada.

Immigration detention facilities in Vancouver and Laval, Que., are also set to be replaced.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale made the $138-million announcement Monday morning at the Laval Immigration Holding Centre. He said the objective is to make detention a last resort.

“In my first few months as minister responsible for Canada Border Services Agency, I have certainly heard the concerns about immigration detention, and I’ve studied those concerns with great care,” Goodale said.

“The government is anxious to address the weaknesses that exist and to do better.”

Samer Muscati, the director of the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program, said it was reassuring to hear Goodale address concerns about excessive use of detention in his remarks today.

“He’s saying the right things and it’s a positive development that he’s saying these things, but of course we’ll need to see what happens in terms of actions that follow,” he said. “The proof will be in the pudding.”

The government will soon begin consultations with stakeholders with the aim of finding alternatives and ways to minimize the number of minors in detention.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, there are, on average, 450 to 500 people who are detained at any given time under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

The End Immigration Detention Network says 15 people have died in detention while in CBSA custody since 2000. It says reforms are welcome, but the system is inherently unfair.

“Immigration detention including in immigration holding centres is imprisonment without charges or trial. It should end, not be expanded by throwing over a hundred million dollars at it,” said the Network’s spokesperson Tings Chak.

A Red Cross investigation in 2014 found numerous shortcomings at facilities for immigrant detainees, including overcrowding and inadequate mental health care.

Newcomers are often held in provincial jails or police facilities alongside suspected gang members and violent offenders.

The government’s reform objectives include:

  • Increasing the availability of alternatives to detention.
  • Reducing the use of provincial jails for immigration detention to prevent the interaction of immigration and criminal detainees.
  • Avoiding the detention of minors in the facilities as much as possible.
  • Improving physical and mental health care offered to those detained.
  • Maintaining ready access to facilities for agencies such as the Red Cross, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as legal and spiritual advisers.
  • Increasing transparency.

Source: Canada’s immigration detention program to get $138M makeover – Montreal – CBC News

A selection of more critical views, largely focusing on the need for oversight:

Migrants advocates welcome Ottawa’s reforms of the immigration detention system, but say the government is falling short on creating proper oversight of the agency responsible for the enforcement operations.

“It is encouraging the federal government is promising actions and reforms to the immigration detention system. Detention of immigrants needs to be absolutely the last resort and the government recognizes that,” said Josh Paterson of the British Colombia Civil Liberties Association.

“The thing is we need to put an end to housing migrants in criminal population. The money dedicated to the immigration infrastructure must not become the reason to detain more migrants and for longer period of time.”

….Anthony Navaneelan of the Canadian Association for Refugee Lawyers said what was missing in Goodale’s announcement was creating an independent oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency, which is responsible for enforcement of immigration laws including immigration detention.

“Building more detention beds is not enough. We need to keep people out of detention,” said Navaneelan.

 New Democrats immigration critic Jenny Kwan agreed.

“We need a complete and strong oversight to ensure these issues are addressed and the agency is accountable to the public. So many lives are in jeopardy,” said Kwan.

In July, more than 50 immigration detainees in Ontario held a hunger strike to protest prison conditions that include increasing lockdowns and the use of solitary confinement. They demanded to meet with Goodale — a request that was denied.

“We need an overhaul of the laws and policies governing detentions, including placing a limit of 90 days on detentions, not build new prisons,” said Tings Chak of the End Immigration Detention Network.

“Immigration detention is imprisonment without charges or trial. It should end, not be expanded by throwing over a hundred million dollars at it.”

Ontario Human Rights Commission chief commissioner Renu Mandhane said the federal government should be applauded for recognizing the need to provide adequate services to immigration detainees with mental health disabilities.

“We need to make detention more humane. Some detainees are caught in legal limbo for years,” Mandhane said. “They are faceless and hidden from the public, but their human rights should be respected.”

Conservative public security critic Erin O’Toole said there was no money in the federal budget earmarked for the immigration detention reforms and he felt the Liberal government was rushed to make the announcement without a plan.

“The devil is always in the details. This is a considerable amount of money,” said O’Toole. “A community supervision program has not been developed. Are we going to detain only the high-risk detainees? Are we going to stop using the provincial jails? These are the details I want before we decide if we need to build the new facilities.”

Immigration detention reforms fall short on oversight, critics say

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , , ,

Will investors shell out cash for Egyptian citizenship?

2016/08/17 Leave a comment

The mark of desperation when a country decides to sell its citizenship:

The Egyptian government has recently proposed a draft law to amend the country’s nationality law. It would give investors the right to apply for citizenship after living and investing in Egypt for five years. The bill has caused controversy and dispute both within parliament and among the public. While some Egyptians argue it will encourage investment and help the country’s financial recovery, others maintain that nationality is not something that should be sold.

The draft law was submitted to the Cabinet by Egyptian economist Sameh Sidqi earlier this month. It would amend Presidential Decree No. 89 of 1960 on Entry, Residence and Exit of Foreigners and Law No. 26 of 1975 Concerning Egyptian Nationality. The government announced Aug. 2 that it was being discussed in the Egyptian State Council.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Sidqi said, “The bill grants Egyptian nationality to foreigners who deposit $500,000 [in foreign currency] in an Egyptian bank. If nationality is granted, the sum may not be refunded. The foreigner shall obtain nationality within five years, but if the application is rejected, the sum may be retrieved.”

He said that approving this bill “requires amending the clause related to nationality in the Egyptian Constitution, as well as another clause of the Investment Law, so that any investor who deposits the required sum may be granted Egyptian nationality if he or she meets the conditions set by the Cabinet.”

Sidqi argued that more than 5 million expatriates now reside in Egypt, and they include Iraqis, Syrians and Libyans, in addition to 4 million Sudanese living in Egypt since the era of Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiri. Like Egyptians, these expatriates benefit from subsidies on oil, electricity, bread and other food supplies.

“Such legislation is applied in many countries that encourage foreign investment, including the United States and Canada,” Sidqi added, indicating that he had previously presented this proposal to the Dubai government when working as an economic adviser during the international financial crisis a few years ago. Although the proposal was initially approved, he said, the number of expatriates that would be granted Emirati nationality exceeded the Emirate’s native population, leading the Dubai government to reject the proposal.

Sidqi pointed out that at least 100,000 of the foreigners living in Egypt with no criminal records wish to obtain Egyptian citizenship. This means that the state could potentially benefit from billions of dollars without recourse to loans subject to terms from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Egypt is currently negotiating a $5 billion loan with the IMF in order to cover growing budget deficits as a result of the decline in tourism and tourism revenues.

Sidqi further said that his proposal has already been approved by the Cabinet and has now been submitted to the State Council and parliament for ratification.

According to Sidqi, the opposition claims that the bill would grant citizenship to anybody in return for money. However, this not the case, he argued, as competent authorities shall conduct background checks on all applicants, including their relatives up to a fourth-degree kinship.

Sidqi added that to obtain Egyptian nationality, applicants must submit a certified list of all the countries they traveled to in the past 10 years, noting that the Egyptian government reserves the right to withdraw citizenship, without prior notice, from any applicant convicted of a crime against honor, spying for a foreign country against Egypt or if the applicant obtained another citizenship.

Source: Will investors shell out cash for Egyptian citizenship?

Filed under Citizenship Tagged with ,

Canada’s counter-radicalization efforts have ‘little national coherence,’ Public safety minister says

2016/08/16 Leave a comment

Apart from the Kanishka Project which funded some needed research, the previous government relatively under-invested in counter-radicalization given their reluctance to “commit sociology” and focus on hard security measures:

Canada’s counter-radicalization efforts have “little national coherence,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Sunday in a statement reflecting on the killing last week of an ISIL supporter allegedly about to conduct an attack.

Saying the police response had “prevented a much more terrible outcome,” Goodale called for an improved response to the threat of extremism. While some work is underway in cities such as Montreal and Calgary, Canada has no national strategy.

“Our goal is to begin fixing that this year,” he said. “We need to get really good at this — ;to preserve our diversity and pluralism as unique national strengths. …We need to access the best global research.  We need to develop more of our own.

“We need to generate and co-ordinate talent and expertise. We need to mobilize and support community-based outreach agencies. We need to know how to identify those who could be vulnerable to insidious influences that draw certain people — especially young people — toward extremism leading to violence.

“We need to understand what positive messages can counteract that poison. We need to know how to intervene with the right tools at the right time in the right way — all to head off tragedies before they happen, as much as humanly possible.”

A fast-paced RCMP investigation into a martyrdom video recorded by a masked man who vowed to attack Canada led police Wednesday to the Strathroy, Ont., home of Aaron Driver, a radicalized Muslim convert and ardent supporter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

….Goodale said the his top concerns were “lone wolves who get sucked into perverse and extreme ideologies that promote violence.” The Liberals were “committed to meaningful national security consultations” that would intensify in the fall, he said.

Source: Canada’s counter-radicalization efforts have ‘little national coherence,’ Public safety minister says | National Post

Filed under Multiculturalism, Radicalization Tagged with , , ,

Ontario considering further changes to how gender is displayed on government documents

2016/08/16 Leave a comment

These consultations should not only be with Ontario stakeholders but the federal government also needs to be involved given the implications across a series of programs (see earlier New gender-neutral Ontario health cards make it harder to get a passport illustrating the need):

Ontario is considering more changes to the collection and display of gender information on government documents, not long after announcing gender-neutral driver’s licences and health cards.

Public consultations launched earlier this month look at how gender information is treated on government forms and identification documents, including birth and marriage certificates.

A preamble to an online survey says “people with transgender and non-binary gender identity may face barriers and other negative outcomes when trying to access services” so the government wants to ensure its policies are inclusive.

Ontario has already announced that starting in early 2017, drivers will be able to select an X instead of an M for male or F for female on their licences.

People can also now obtain health cards without sex information displayed on the front of the card.

“There’s more work to be done on this, so we’re reaching out to Ontarians to make sure we develop good policy that the government can use to make appropriate decisions about when and how to collect, retain, use and display information about persons sex and gender,” Christine Burke, a spokeswoman for the government and consumer services minister, said in a statement.

Trans advocate Susan Gapka would like to see sex and gender not displayed on birth certificates. The type of changes the government is contemplating are relatively easy and low-cost to achieve, but mean so much to the community, she said.

“I was born again, so to speak, 20 years ago,” Gapka said. “Now I have to renew my health card and having the correct or the accurate way that I feel best describes me, as female, is really, really important to me. In fact, I had to change laws. We had to change laws and change society’s opinions so I could have that.”

The consultation survey says the government is proposing to collect gender information as the default and sex information only if needed. For example, sex is necessary for the Ontario Health Insurance Program, it says.

Greater use of X as a gender identifier is also possible on other identification, such as photo ID cards for people who do not have driver’s licences. And, the consultation document says, the government wants to see a consistent process for people who identify as trans or non-binary — defined as people who don’t identify exclusively as male or female.

Source: Ontario considering further changes to how gender is displayed on government documents | National Post

Filed under gender Tagged with , , ,

Anti-Islam group storms Anglican church in Australia – BBC News

2016/08/16 Leave a comment

More ugliness in Australia:

Right-wing protestors dressed in mock Muslim outfits and chanting anti-Islamic slogans have stormed a church service on Australia’s east coast.

The protestors interrupted a service held at Gosford Anglican Church on the Central Coast of New South Wales state.

A group of about 10 people entered the church and pretended to pray while playing Muslim prayers over a loudspeaker.

Local police are investigating what the church described as a “racist stunt”.

The Party for Freedom posted photos and video of the incident on social media, claiming it was a demonstration against the church’s support for Islamic leaders and multiculturalism.

The organisation has ties to Senator Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration One Nation party, which has won four seats in Australia’s Senate.

“We want to share Islam with you, this is the future,” one of the protesters said in the footage.

“This is cultural diversity, mate. The rich tapestry of Islam that we’d like to share with Father Rod, and the congregation, and the social justice agenda we hear all the time.”

More than 24 hours after the altercation, One Nation released a statement saying that it did not have any official affiliation with the Party For Freedom.

‘Traumatised’

Father Rod Bower said the incident at his church terrorised the congregation.

“They were shocked,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“I worked out who it was fairly quickly. Some of the congregation was quite traumatised.”

The church is known for spreading pro-immigration messages on its billboard and in services.

The far-right nationalist group warned the congregation not to promote Islam.

“[The protest] was simply because we support the Muslim community, we try and build bridges,” Fr Bower said.

Source: Anti-Islam group storms Anglican church in Australia – BBC News

Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with ,

Helping College-Bound Native Americans Beat The Odds : NPR

2016/08/16 Leave a comment

Not as familiar with similar initiatives in Canada as I should be, but university graduation rates for Indigenous peoples in Canada are 13 percent, half of the average rate for all Canadians:

Native American students make up only 1.1 percent of the nation’s high school population. And in college, the number is even smaller. More than any other ethnic or racial group, they’re the least likely to have access to college prep or advanced placement courses. Many get any little or no college counseling at all. In 1998, College Horizons, a small nonprofit based in New Mexico, set out to change that through five-day summer workshops on admissions, financial aid and the unique challenges they’ll face on campus. Its director, Carmen Lopez, sat down with NPR to talk about the obstacles that bright, talented Native students face.
You say there’s an implicit bias among college admissions officials who seldom, if ever, deal with Native American students. Is that why you’ve partnered with 50 top-tier institutions, to “educate them” by inviting them to the student retreats?

Something happens when you’re sitting face to face with a teenage native student and you’re hearing their story.

We give counselors an appreciation for what Native students experience, the inequities they face. Admissions counselors realize, “My gosh, you have only two AP classes you’ve been offered! Your school has never offered any test preparation or you’re not getting any advising!”
After spending time at one of your retreats, I noticed that you repeatedly told students: “You are desirable. Colleges want you. You’re not a number.” But don’t admissions officers rely heavily on GPA, class ranking and standardized test scores?

I want you to want my students because they’re going to contribute to your institution.

A test score, the GPA, the ranking, are things that an admissions officer doesn’t remember. l’m not just looking for a diamond in the rough or the hard-knock life. They’re not always in crisis. They’re doing beautiful, amazing things. And I want colleges to recognize that.

Source: Helping College-Bound Native Americans Beat The Odds : NPR Ed : NPR

Filed under Aboriginal Tagged with , ,

ICYMI: Indigenous people overrepresented in justice system a ‘sad reality’: Jody Wilson-Raybould

2016/08/16 Leave a comment

The numbers are indeed shocking – our equivalent of US incarceration rates for Blacks:

The overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s justice system, both as offenders and victims, is a “sad reality,” Attorney General and Justice Minister Wilson-Raybould said in a speech at a Canadian Bar Association conference in Ottawa on Friday.

While Indigenous people in Canada make-up 4.3 per cent of the population, they represent more than 25 per cent of inmates, Wilson-Raybould said of the most recent findings by Canada’s prison watchdog.

“This is totally unacceptable,” she said.

The justice minister also pointed to the following findings:

  • Between 2005 and 2015, the Indigenous inmate population grew by 50 per cent compared to the overall growth rate of 10 per cent.
  • Indigenous women comprise 37 per cent of all women serving a sentence of more than two years.
  • Incarceration rates for Indigenous people in some parts of Canada are up to 33 times higher than for non-Indigenous peoples.

She called the statistics “shocking.”

Source: Indigenous people overrepresented in justice system a ‘sad reality’: Jody Wilson-Raybould – Politics – CBC News

Filed under Aboriginal Tagged with , ,

← Older posts

Newer posts →