‘Comedy of errors’ lets woman become Canadian citizen despite abysmal results on citizenship tests

2014/11/21 Leave a comment

Well, mistakes can happen but this one shouldn’t have:

A “series of administrative errors” put Haheen Afzal — despite her abysmal results on the tests — before a citizenship judge in Hamilton, Ont., swearing an oath to the Queen and being issued a citizenship certificate.

When the mistake was discovered, Ms. Afzal did not want to surrender her citizenship and fought to keep it.

The errant ceremony took place on Sept. 26, 2013, but the legal dispute — leading to its cancellation — was only recently resolved in the Federal Court of Canada.

Ms. Afzal failed the citizenship test twice before being awarded a citizenship certificate: the first time she scored 2/6 on language and 8/20 on knowledge. When she appeared before a citizenship judge and tried again, she scored even worse.

The citizenship judge noted in writing that Ms. Afzal failed the tests and did not qualify but mistakenly checked the “Granted” box on the decision form, court heard.

The next day, an official at the Citizenship and Immigration Canada CIC office acknowledged that the judge’s decision had been “seen” and checked “Citizenship Granted” before sending the form along for processing.

Eventually, CIC’s decision to cancel her citizenship certificate was appropriately upheld by the Federal Court.

‘Comedy of errors’ lets woman become Canadian citizen despite abysmal results on citizenship tests

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Immigrants took the brunt of recession-year turn toward self-employment

2014/11/21 2 Comments

Self-EmploymentInteresting study by StatsCan on the effects of the 2008 recession and increase in self-employment:

During the recent recession in Canada, rates of self-employment increased by 3.9 per cent, while paid employment in both the private and public sectors shrank by 4.1 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.

“Economic downturns do not impact all groups of workers equally. It is newcomers, particularly those recently arrived, who are more likely to lose their paid employment compared to Canadian-born workers,” says the 48-page study.

“These workers are often left to compete for low-paying, part-time and temporary types of precarious jobs to survive . . . Some workers are pushed into self-employment as a means to replace lost income from paid employment and due to the failure of government social safety nets.”

Toronto immigrants also fared worse than their Canadian counterparts in self-employment, with median income at $7,270 a year — $560 less than non-immigrants. They were also more likely to work in trade and transportation industries, while the business and professional services sectors are the most common for self-employed Canadians.

The newcomer group had a median before-tax total income including paid jobs of $17,220, compared with $25,180 for non-newcomers, though immigrant men made almost $1,000 per annum more than newcomer women.

Immigrants took the brunt of recession-year turn toward self-employment | Toronto Star.

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Refugee advocates battle federal government over welfare

2014/11/21 Leave a comment

More on the Government’s decision to allow provinces to restrict access to refugee claimants to social assistance.

As usual, appears limited or no consultations with provinces, no evidence-base provided as justification, and buried in the omnibus budget bill to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny and debate:

Ontario says it won’t go along with a proposed federal bill that refugee groups fear could severely restrict their clients’ access to welfare during their first months in Canada.

“We have no intention to change our policy as it relates to refugee claimants at all,” Community and Social Services Minister Helena Jaczek said in an interview Tuesday.

She was referring to the ongoing fight is over provisions in Bill C-43 an omnibus budgetary bill. Refugee groups say the proposals will allow provinces to restrict access to social assistance for refugee claimants and others who have not yet been granted permanent residence.

“We were not consulted. There was no communication from the federal government alerting us. We were very surprised,” Jaczek said of the omnibus bill.

“It’s sort of a downloading to the province to make a decision.”

On Tuesday the Canadian Council for Refugees joined 160 groups across Canada to release an open letter to federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver to withdraw the proposals, and a small group demonstrated in front of his constituency office in Toronto and delivered the letter through the mail slot.

“To receive social assistance in any province, one must already qualify through testing and demonstrate great need. To then deny social assistance based on immigration status is to cruelly deny the most vulnerable in our society the crucial lifeline that allows them to survive,’’ the groups say in the letter.

Refugee advocates battle federal government over welfare | Toronto Star.

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EI rate cut: Ottawa skipped internal study in favour of interest group report

2014/11/21 Leave a comment

One sometimes wonder how Minister’s can say such things with a straight face, or whether they have any appreciation for more comprehensive analysis of policy options.

It is one thing to make a policy choice where political and other priorities play a role, but relying on the analysis of one interest group without a more independent assessment (that’s the public service role) is irresponsible.

No policy change should be done without such analysis. Abdication of Ministerial role.

And of course, the Government would not implement a policy suggestion from those on the left without conducting serious analysis:

Joe Oliver told the parliamentary finance committee that Ottawas decision to introduce the measure was based on the research of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“The department does not analyze every measure that we introduce,” Oliver told the hearing as he responded to a question.

“If we don’t do it, we look to those who have expertise and we did in this case to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimated the credit would generate 25,000 person-years of employment over the next several years.

A job that employs a worker for one year amounts to one “person-year.”

But Canada’s parliamentary budget office has argued the credit will create only 800 net new jobs in 2015-16, while a freeze in employment insurance premiums could cost the economy 10,000 jobs over the same period.

The budget watchdogs study said that overall, the credit would create about 1,000 “person-years” of employment with a price tag of $555,000 for each person-year.

EI rate cut: Ottawa skipped internal study in favour of interest group report – Politics – CBC News.

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Holocaust memorial should be returned to its rightful home

2014/11/20 Leave a comment

Op-Ed by Bernie Farber and myself on the Daniel Libeskind memorial of Jewish refugees on the MS St. Louis not admitted to Canada prior to the outbreak of World War II:

The Wheel of Conscience serves as a reminder, in today’s troubled times, of the need for a more understanding and welcoming approach to refugees, whether we’re talking about the millions displaced in the Mideast or the refugee claimants fighting for health-care access here in Canada. And it serves as a reminder, too, of the terrible cost of the opposite approach.

Treating the Wheel as so much junk packed away in a dark warehouse for no one to see is a disgrace. Canadian Holocaust survivors have stated their desire to have the memorial at Pier 21 where it properly deserves to be.

It is time for the federal government under whose auspices Pier 21 operates to take action.

The Wheel of Conscience belongs at the gateway to Canada, where it can stand as a canary in the mine, a cry against inhumanity and intolerance. Let it no longer be a refugee, let it be granted its proper home.

http://t.thestar.com/#/article/opinion/commentary/2014/11/18/holocaust_memorial_should_be_returned_to_its_rightful_home.html

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Leonard Cohen and the Art of Stillness: Pico Iyer on How to Fall in Love with the World | Brain Pickings

2014/11/20 Leave a comment

For a change.

Some good observations about stepping back from the world in order to understand it:

Not many years ago, it was access to information and movement that seemed our greatest luxury; nowadays it’s often freedom from information, the chance to sit still, that feels like the ultimate prize. Stillness is not just an indulgence for those with enough resources — it’s a necessity for anyone who wishes to gather less visible resources. Going nowhere, as Cohen had shown me, is not about austerity so much as about coming closer to one’s senses.

…Going nowhere … isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply.

Leonard Cohen and the Art of Stillness: Pico Iyer on How to Fall in Love with the World | Brain Pickings.

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Refugee Reform Impact: Example from Flight and Freedom

2014/11/20 Leave a comment

One of the interesting stories and assessment of a Tamil refugee, analyzing the impact of the various changes of refugee policy.

Tarun – Flight and Freedom.

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Americans Getting Dual Citizenship To Use Canada’s Production Tax Incentives | Deadline

2014/11/20 Leave a comment

Interesting side effect of measures to strengthen the Canadian film and television industry:

Dual residency has become a popular way for American filmmakers to find work with producers who get tax breaks when they hire Canadians. The veteran director [unnamed] says he has no qualms about his decision. “If it were Iran, I’d have a pang,” he said, laughing, “but I see Canada as a more refined version of the United States. It’s a cool country. I don’t see a big difference.

“People have been doing it for 20 years,” he continued. “Primarily it has to do with production companies getting a tax credit to film in a particular Canadian province. If you hire a certain number of Canadian workers, they give you a tax credit.” The credit can be as much as 60% of production costs, depending on the number of “points” a production accumulates.

Americans Getting Dual Citizenship To Use Canada’s Production Tax Incentives | Deadline.

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Europe and Islam: Degrees of separation | The Economist

2014/11/19 Leave a comment

Interesting overview of some of the debates in Europe over the role, or not, of the state, in training of Imams:

In addition to all these ideological issues, there is a hard reality to consider. Being an imam in Europe is a rather thankless task. Of the 1,800 imams in France, about 1,000 offer their services for virtually no pay. Only 330 receive a decent, full-time salary—in most cases from religious authorities in their home countries, such as Algeria, Morocco or Turkey. Only 25-30% of the imams working in France have French citizenship. The idea of “home-grown” French imams, well-trained and correspondingly well paid, is an attractive one in principle—but poor Muslim communities seem unwilling or unable to finance such arrangements. And for the secular French state, putting imams on its payroll would be inconceivable.

Europe and Islam: Degrees of separation | The Economist.

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Black Pete centre of Dutch controversy at Saint Nick celebrations

2014/11/19 Leave a comment

The annual controversy over Black Pete.

Predictable. Just because something is a tradition doesn’t mean it should continue – just get rid of the blackface and imagery:

Black Pete has evolved over the years. A quarter century ago, Black Pete was a scary character, carrying a big bag to hold naughty children and a whip to punish the disobedient. Promoting him in recent years as a happy-go-lucky sidekick full of quirky madness has helped him to compete in popularity with Saint Nicholas himself.

“The last few years, Pete is at least as popular. Kids cling to him, ask him questions, hold his hand,” said Raf Rumes, the secretary of the Flanders Saint Nicholas Guild.

In another new touch, almost half of the Petes greeting children in this towns Saint Nicholas “mansion” — a yearly holiday attraction — are played by women. At the fun house, which reopened this week for a month-long run, children squealed as female Petes showed them Saint Nicholas’ dining room and sleeping quarters for all of the Petes.

But efforts at softening Petes image have failed to subdue bad blood between the pro- and anti-Black Pete camps in the Netherlands, where resentments over immigration have simmered for years. Liberals want to abolish the tradition, while the right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders and his anti-immigration Freedom Party have proposed legislation that would keep Pete black — by law.

“There is a war underway against Black Pete,” said Martin Bosma, the party’s culture spokesman.

Last year, more than two million people endorsed a Facebook petition to keep Black Petes image unchanged. That’s nearly one-eighth of the entire Dutch population, indicating the depth of emotion over the issue.

But Van Bellingen insists democracy is not about numbers alone.”It is about the will of the majority and the rights of the minority,” he said. “As a majority you have to be sensitive and show empathy for things that are hurtful to a minority.”

He says its time to get rid of Black Pete.

Black Pete centre of Dutch controversy at Saint Nick celebrations – World – CBC News.

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