On LinkedIn, a Reference List You Didn’t Write – NYTimes.com

2014/11/17 Leave a comment

Interesting test case and a reminder of how social media is being used, and the potential impact, not to mention on the need to take care in one’s various social media profiles and activities:

In Sweet v. LinkedIn, a class-action suit filed last month in Northern California, the plaintiffs contended that LinkedIn, in providing the job reference material, enabled potential employers to “anonymously dig into the employment history of any LinkedIn member, and make hiring and firing decisions based upon the information they gather,” without ensuring that the information was accurate. This, they said, is a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

“You may never know you did not get the job based on one of these so-called references,” said James L. Davidson, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs.

Joseph Roualdes, a spokesman for LinkedIn, says the company takes member privacy very seriously and intends to vigorously fight the lawsuit, whose claims it sees as without merit.

“A reference search, which is only available to premium account holders, simply lets a searcher locate people in their network who have worked at the same company during the same time period as a member they would like to learn more about,” Mr. Roualdes said in an email. “A reference search does not reveal any of that member’s nonpublic information.”

Whatever the suit’s merits, the case illustrates how social media sites have become an essential tool for many employers and recruiters, a productive fish bowl in which to trawl for, identify, observe and vet job candidates. It also suggests that many job seekers may be unaware of the techniques a company can use to parse the information they have publicly posted online — with possible consequences for their career prospects.

On LinkedIn, a Reference List You Didn’t Write – NYTimes.com.

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A Norwegian Tragedy

2014/11/15 Leave a comment

Good summary and commentary.

Arun's avatarArun with a View

Adam Shatz has a first-rate review essay—as one would expect from him—in the latest issue of the London Review of Books, on two books on Anders Behring Breivik: A Norwegian Tragedy: Anders Behring Breivik and the Massacre on Utøya, by Aage Borchgrevink—a well-known Norwegian writer and literary critic; his book was first published in Norwegian in 2012—, and Anders Breivik and the Rise of Islamophobia, by Oslo-based social anthropologist Sindre Bangstad.

Borchgrevink’s book, which Adam says is “superb,” recounts the troubled parcours of Anders Breivik and the massacre he committed on July 22, 2011 (which I had a post on at the time, ironically speculating on the possible Tea Party GOP reaction to the bloodbath). Breivik, as it happens, had friends in Oslo’s Muslim immigrant community—the largest component of which is Pakistani—as an adolescent but gradually developed a virulent hatred of them, which Borchgrevink examines…

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Holocaust survivors: ‘Shameful’ that Pier 21 not displaying memorial to victims of ‘voyage of the damned’

2014/11/15 1 Comment

One of the good projects funded by the Community Historical Recognition Program that I was involved with.

Sad that it is not being displayed (like everything Libeskind does, there is considerable complexity in the Wheel of Conscience and the mechanical difficulties are not necessarily surprising but were not anticipated at the time):

The Canadian government provided the Canadian Jewish Congress $500,000 for the memorial. The organization selected a design from world famous architect Daniel Libeskind, the child of holocaust survivors.

[Sydney) Zoltak was part of the group that selected Libeskind,

The memorial features an electric mechanism that spins wheels marked Hatred, Racism, Xenophobia and Antisemitism, which has had maintenance problems. After it was sent to the manufacturer, Soheil Mosun, in Toronto for repairs, the museum told the company to hang onto it while they decide what to do with it.

That process is ongoing, said Cailin MacDonald, a spokeswoman for the museum on Thursday.

“We are continuing to work with representatives from the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs to determine next steps,” she said.

Zoltak, who praised former immigration minister Jason Kenney for his role in establishing the memorial, said the government should ask the federally funded museum to display the memorial.

Holocaust survivors: ‘Shameful’ that Pier 21 not displaying memorial to victims of ‘voyage of the damned’.

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Imagining the Settlement Agency of the Future

2014/11/15 Leave a comment

Interesting piece in New Canadian Media by Meyer Burnstein and Carl Nicholson on future models for settlement agencies:

Six potential business areas have been identified for the pilot studies. These include:

  1. Concierge service for employers, helping them to navigate the Express Entry system for processing skilled immigrants;

  2. Pre-arrival services for prospective immigrants helping them to facilitate their labour market insertion and settlement in Canada.

  3. Services aimed at public and private institutions implicated in refugee resettlement but lacking specialized knowledge, and assistance to private sponsorship groups to help with organization, fund raising and preparation;

  4. Support for immigrant entrepreneurs and agencies interested in economic development as well as succession planning for SME’s in smaller centres and remote areas;

  5. Services for international students and educational institutions to boost recruitment and student retention, especially in smaller centres;

  6. Services directed to businesses that recruit highly skilled temporary workers.

Imagining the Agency of the Future – New Canadian Media – NCM.

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Saudi Arabia Bulldozes Over Its Heritage

2014/11/15 Leave a comment

A reminder that our nominal allies in the struggle against ISIS have their own ISIS and Taliban-like tendency to obliterate history and anything that does not conform to their historical and cultural interpretation of Islam:

Over the last few years, mosques and key sites dating from the time of Muhammad have been knocked down or destroyed, as have Ottoman-era mansions, ancient wells and stone bridges. Over 98% of the Kingdom’s historical and religious sites have been destroyed since 1985, estimates the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in London. “It’s as if they wanted to wipe out history,” says Ali Al-Ahmed, of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Though the Saudi rulers have a long history of destroying historical sites, activists say the pace and range of destruction has recently increased. A few months ago, the house of Hamza, the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle, was flattened to make way for a Meccan hotel, according to Irfan Al Alawi, executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation. There have even been rumored threats to Muhammad’s tomb in Medina and his birthplace in Mecca.

Saudi Arabia Bulldozes Over Its Heritage | TIME.

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Taking the Plunge: Immersion Programs Help Children Learn Other Languages

2014/11/15 Leave a comment

Taking_the_Plunge__Immersion_Programs_Help_Children_Learn_Other_LanguagesNice infographic on US multiculturalism and immersion education (link below has full infographic).

Taking the Plunge: Immersion Programs Help Children Learn Other Languages.

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Canada Needs to Walk the Talk on Multiculturalism | David Langtry

2014/11/15 Leave a comment

The acting Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, David Langtry, on discrimination and bias:

Recognizing bias is a first step toward mitigation. It should spur us to put processes and policies in place that ensure fairness. This could be as easy as preventing resume screeners from seeing the names and nationalities of applicants. Employers could also ensure an “immigrant-friendly” selection process by including new Canadians on selection boards.

Eliminating the strict requirement for Canadian experience when it is not really essential is also a good idea. The Ontario Human Rights Commission says this practice is potentially discriminatory, and has called on businesses to remove that barrier. I am hopeful that organizations across Canada will take a closer look at how they recruit talent and ensure their processes for assessing the skills and qualifications of job applicants are as fair and objective as possible.

Taking such steps makes business sense. It’s common knowledge that employers with a diverse workforce outperform competitors. Indeed, it’s expected that Canada will rely on the social and economic contribution of immigrants more than ever in future. Retiring baby boomers and low birth rates are shrinking the domestic labour pool. The entire country’s standard of living will fall without a significant increase in immigrant-based productivity, says Tal.

Part of the challenge, unstated in the article, is for immigrants to learn the Canadian workplace culture, which generally can only be learned effectively, with workplace experience.

Canada Needs to Walk the Talk on Multiculturalism | David Langtry.

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Aruna Papp: A welcome new law to help prevent forced marriages

2014/11/14 Leave a comment

While I disagree with Papp on her characterization of Canadian multiculturalism and her support for the Bill (existing Canadian laws largely adequate), Papp is right on the need for better training and a more open discussion of the issues, primarily within affected communities, to help change the culture.

While there is a role for the Government and others in this discussion, the hectoring tone of the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act and other rhetoric is unlikely to foster such an open discussion within the communities concerned:

Many Canadian activists for female victims of abuse shy away from challenging immigrant communities about the influence that tradition and cultural values has on domestic violence. The ideology of multiculturalism and tolerance tends to preclude any discussion of the cultural practices that rob women of their basic human rights. It is much simpler and safer to blame the abuse of women in immigrant communities on settlement issues, the Canadian government, the indifference of service providers — rather than challenging the values and traditions that need to be changed within those communities.

The next step is to provide unified training for frontline professionals such as police, social workers and health care professionals

The government’s Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act is the first step in recognizing that such pathologies exist in Canada; and that, as a nation, we need to have an open and frank discussion on this issue.

The next step is to provide unified training for frontline professionals such as police, social workers and health care professionals. At present, there are no shelters in Canada that are capable of properly dealing with victims of honour-based violence. A flawed intake can result in an incomplete or incorrect risk assessment, which can lead to an inadequate safety plan and even exposure to fatal violence.

This lack of training among frontline workers must be remedied in order to ensure that the impetus urged by this new bill can be applied directly to those who are victims of barbaric cultural practices that cannot be tolerated in our country.

Aruna Papp: A welcome new law to help prevent forced marriages

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Canadians love their libraries but report urges new chapter

2014/11/14 Leave a comment

More on the ongoing decline of Library and Archives Canada and the cumulative effect of budget cutbacks in the Royal Society of Canada report on libraries:

The society panel spoke with dozens of librarians, archivists, students, seniors, new Canadians, and library users young and older, said Demers during a conference call Wednesday.

But the decline of LAC, which has suffered widespread budget cuts and staff reductions, was a major concern for Canadians across the board, she said.

“LAC is our national institution mandated by act of 2004 to acquire and preserve our documentary heritage and make it known to and available to Canadians,” she said. “There has been a decade-long decline in all the services at LAC.”

The panel heard from “disappointed professional” LAC users, including Governor General’s Literary Award winning author Jane Urquhart who gave it a collection of papers but has since been told she can’t have access to them.

… (Between 2009-12, the federal government cut 445 of its library jobs, mostly at LAC and the National Research Council’s science library).

Canadians love their libraries but report urges new chapter | Ottawa Citizen.

Ironic, that a Government that promoted Canadian history in its citizenship guide, Discover Canada, appears to be enabling Canadians to forget it.

For a thoughtful discussion on the importance of reading and books, CBC’s The Current did an excellent interview with Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran (great book from both a literary criticism point of view as well as the context of post-Revolution Iran):

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/podcasts/current_20141112_30305.mp3

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Harper policies undermine deradicalization

2014/11/14 Leave a comment

Reminder by Faisal Kutty of the complexities of combatting radicalization and how much of it depends on debate and discussion within the Muslim community, and how Government actions can undermine such efforts:

Radicalization must be confronted without undermining social cohesion, violating human rights and deviating from core democratic ideals.

The heavy lifting in this Herculean project must be borne by Muslims, who to their credit have repeatedly condemned violent extremism in the strongest of terms even before 9/11. In fact the National Council of Canadian Muslims NCCM recently even came out with a handbook titled “United Against Terrorism.”

However, more must be done to challenge some of the existing narratives fueling cognitive radicalization. Imams must be more proactive in undermining some of the classical texts glorifying violence and martyrdom, by emphasizing the ethical/peaceful vision of the Quran. This can only be done by deconstructing and better contextualizing the violent rhetoric in some of the Prophetic teachings and juristic interpretations adopted uncritically by too many. Parroting that Islam means peace is not enough. Teachings that may serve as the springboard to violent radicalism must be confronted head on. Such efforts must be internally driven. Any government meddling will only backfire.

Some souls may be forever lost, but this will help redirect the younger ones.

…It [the Harper Government] has ignored the death and devastation unleashed on Muslims around the world, be it through direct attacks or the unconditional support of our allies. At the domestic level Harper has targeted the community by going after its charities and organizations (defaming NCCM for instance), and even religious symbols. These play into the hands of Islamophobes and extremists alike. Ottawa is now busy tightening the already draconian anti-terror laws (preventive detention), introducing new hate laws restricting speech, amending the CSIS Act, etc. These will initially affect Muslims (as noted by leading former jurists last week) disproportionately but will eventually impact all Canadians.

Harper policies undermine deradicalization | Toronto Star.

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