Cohen: American Jews are loudly protesting Israel’s anti-judiciary law. In Canada — not so much, Juneau: Canada must rethink its friendship with Israel

2023/07/29 Leave a comment

Significant contrast:

On the day Israel’s Knesset passed the Reasonableness Standard Law — a frontal assault on the independence of its judiciary — something strange and wondrous happened among America’s fractious Jews: they agreed, broadly speaking, that the law is a mistake and said so.

The chorus of disapproval came not just from progressive Jews but organizations representing mainstream Jews, and some conservative ones, too. The American Jewish Committee issued a statement expressing “profound disappointment” and lamenting that the new law was “pushed through unilaterally by the governing coalition,” causing “discord” in Israel and “straining the vital relationship” with the diaspora.

The committee argued that “dramatic changes” to the judicial system should come from “a deliberative and inclusive process” respecting checks and balances, minority rights and judicial independence. Other mainstream U.S. organizations echoed the criticism. The Anti–Defamation League said the law “could weaken Israeli democracy and harm Israel’s founding principles.” The Jewish Federations of North America was “extremely disappointed” the law had been passed “without a process of consensus,” despite “serious disagreement across Israeli society” amid strenuous efforts to forge “a compromise.”

Pointedly, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, among the most stalwart pro-Israeli organizations, did not comment. But Democratic Majority for Israel, a pro-Israel committee within the Democratic Party, said it was “a serious mistake” for Israel to ignore the protests of “the majority of its citizens …”

This displeasure of the Jewish establishment, though not as strong as in other quarters, shows an evolution among American Jews. Criticizing Israel was once heretical among these groups. No longer.

None of these organizations is as angry as many among this country’s 5.8 million Jews, who are increasingly skeptical of Israel. A growing number think it’s time that President Joe Biden lean heavily on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his old, unreconstructed adversary. “Bibi” has fallen in with the hard right on judicial reform, from settlers who want to annex the West Bank to orthodox Jews who want to enshrine exemption from military service.

Biden has issued appeals but no threats. He never raises, for example, the $3.8 billion U.S. in assistance Israel receives annually from the United States. Interestingly, Israel, a wealthy country more secure than ever, no longer needs the money. Still, it is seen as untouchable.

While Jews in Britain, Australia and other countries have joined those here in opposition, it’s entirely different in Canada, an unserious country, where only progressives see the danger.

“This is a dark day,” declared Joe Roberts, chair of JSpaceCanada. “I cannot begin to explain how gutted I am.” He and others worry about an emasculated court that can no longer protect the rights of Palestinians, migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ+ community in Israel against an oppressive government.

The New Israel Fund of Canada has issued an urgent appeal. “Today we need you more than ever,” said executive director Ben Murane. “We will never back down.”

Astoundingly, though, from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), the “advocacy agent” that “represents the diverse perspectives and concerns of more than 150,000 Jewish Canadians,” there was not a peep of protest. Maybe it missed the news.

Then again, the director of CIJA’s office in Jerusalem is David Weinberg, who supported the judicial reforms in a published commentary. These are his personal views, CIJA insists. But it’s likely they are equally those of CIJA’s unelected and unaccountable executive, especially CEO Shimon Fogel. He knows that these are not those of Canadian Jews but hasn’t the courage to say so.

It raises the question: Why doesn’t CIJA stop hiding and come out and support the reforms? At least that would be honourable. For its part, the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto issued yet another purée of platitudes. It is concerned that Israelis are divided and hopes for “compromise.” What we need is more dialogue, it urges, finding solace in earnestness and ambiguity.

Oh. Lord. As Israel’s Supreme Court prepares to hear petitions on the new law — which may well spark an unprecedented constitutional crisis there this autumn — behold, once again, the sad silence of Canada’s Jewish establishment.

Source: Cohen: American Jews are loudly protesting Israel’s anti-judiciary law. In Canada — not so much

Thomas Juneau asking a needed question:

This week, the Israeli parliament approved a controversial law that constrains the Supreme Court’s ability to provide judicial oversight of government actions. According to many critics, this is only the first step in a plan by the coalition government led by Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu to concentrate power in the executive branch. The Netanyahu government, which includes Jewish supremacists and is the most extreme in the country’s history, has also taken steps, and will likely take additional ones, toward Israel’s further annexation of the West Bank.

This raises difficult questions for Canada: should we stand by as the assault on democratic norms and Palestinian rights continues? The easy answer would be to muddle along, perhaps offering timid condemnation. The status quo, however, is increasingly unsustainable.

Like its allies, Canada’s position is to support the two-state solution, according to which Israel and an eventual Palestinian state would co-exist. Yet it is now difficult to see how this outcome can be achieved. On the Israeli side, intransigent governments have expanded settlements in the West Bank, largely closing the door on a viable Palestinian state. The road has been further blocked by the fragmentation of the Palestinian leadership, with the incompetent Palestinian Authority barely governing in the West Bank and the extremist Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip with an iron fist. In the meantime, the status quo is deeply unfair to Palestinians and destabilizing for the region.

The case can certainly be made that maintaining the fiction of the two-state solution is the least bad approach given the absence of viable alternatives. It is one thing to recognize that the two-state solution is dead; it is another to come up with a better, realistic alternative. Moreover, proponents of the status quo argue that Israel is and should remain a close friend. This is partly valid: There is no serious proposal to jettison the partnership, which indeed is beneficial for Canada. To their discredit, some supporters of the status quo far too easily launch accusations of antisemitism in response to criticism of Israeli policies. This is dishonest and stifles constructive and necessary debate. The question here is not to reject Israel’s right to exist, but to criticize some of its policies and ask whether Canada’s current approach is optimal.

The broader objectives of Canada’s foreign policy matter. It is inevitable that Canada’s focus on the Middle East will diminish. Ottawa simply has other priorities: The most important one, and one which could come under severe strain in the near future, remains the management of its relations with the United States. In addition, Canada needs to boost its presence in Asia, while the war in Ukraine shows the necessity of continuing its contributions to transatlantic security. The remaining bandwidth, for the Middle East and other areas, will shrink.

In this context, Canada should publicly state that it refuses to deal with the more extremist ministers in the Netanyahu government. It should vocally express its opposition to the proposed reforms and freeze or reduce co-operation with Israel on some issues. Ottawa should also boost its support for Palestinian civil society and increase pressure on the Palestinian Authority to reform itself and organize fresh elections. More concretely, Canada should evaluate whether its longstanding mission to train Palestinian security forces should continue since doing so entrenches the status quo by allowing Israel to delegate to the Palestinian Authority the day-to-day administration of the occupation in the West Bank. Ottawa should also suspend its policy of almost systematically voting with Israel at the United Nations General Assembly on resolutions dealing with the conflict.

Given its marginal influence when it acts alone, Canada should also engage in serious conversations with like-minded allies and partners, including through the Group of Seven, about options to change the status quo in relations with Israel and the Palestinians. Canada’s partnership with Israel has been premised on shared values, and with Israel’s government now dominated by extremist elements who are undermining the two-state solution, we can’t keep acting like it’s business as usual.

Source: Canada must rethink its friendship with Israel

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Globe editorial: Ottawa can’t wash its hands of Toronto’s refugee crisis

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Yet another critical Globe editorial:

Here’s a short list of things that Ottawa spends money on but has no constitutional responsibility for: health care, child care, new fridges for big grocery companies, and Gen Y tech consultants for small businesses.

…

Source: Ottawa can’t wash its hands of Toronto’s refugee crisis

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New housing minister says immigration can help address affordability, supply

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Minister Fraser will learn that increasing housing supply is much more complex than raising immigration levels, with considerable time lags. Highly unlikely that any meaningful progress on the ground will be realized during the government’s mandate.

A cruel irony given his role as immigration minister in exacerbating the problem through high levels of permanent and temporary residents.

It is not a matter of “closing the door on newcomers” but rather more thoughtful immigration policies and levels that don’t worsen further housing, healthcare and infrastructure for new and old Canadians alike, and that take these into account when setting levels:

Canada’s new housing and infrastructure minister says closing the door to newcomers is not the solution to the country’s housing woes, and has instead endorsed building more homes to accommodate higher immigration flows.

Sean Fraser, who previously served as immigration minister, was sworn in Wednesday morning as part of a Liberal government cabinet shuffle aimed at showcasing a fresh team ahead of the next federal election.

He comes into the role at a time when strong population growth through immigration is adding pressure to housing demand at a time when the country is struggling with an affordability crisis.

“The answer is, at least in part, to continue to build more stock,” Fraser told reporters after being sworn in.

“But I would urge caution to anyone who believes the answer to our housing challenges is to close the door on newcomers.”

Instead, the minister said immigration would be part of the solution to the housing challenge.

“When I talked to developers, in my capacity as a minister of immigration before today, one of the chief obstacles to completing the projects that they want to get done is having access to the labour force to build the houses that they need,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to hand over the federal housing file to the Nova Scotia MP has been praised by experts who say that the Liberals need a strong communicator in charge as Canadians deal with an affordability crunch.

As part of the shakeup, the housing file has been merged with infrastructure and communities. Fraser said the goal is to look at housing and infrastructure projects together, rather than in isolation.

“If we encourage cities and communities to build more housing where infrastructure already exists or where it’s planned to be, we’re going to be able to leverage more progress for every public dollar that’s invested,” he said.

Ahmed Hussen, who became housing minister in 2021, has faced criticism for his handling of the file as the housing crisis worsened across the country.

Hussen is staying in cabinet as minister of international development.

“The selection of Sean, I think, is a recognition that the job requires fundamentally an energy and urgency and a passion in order to be able to effectively compete with the message that (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre has put forward,” said Tyler Meredith, a former head of economic strategy and planning for Trudeau’s government.

Meredith said the choice to shift Fraser from immigration to housing also signals the federal government knows the two files are linked.

“If they lose the argument on housing, they will lose the argument on immigration, and they will then lose what is frankly, some of the some of the most effective pieces of their economic strategy,” Meredith said.

Canada’s population grew by more than one million people in 2022, a pace that experts say is adding pressure to housing demand. That, in turn, pushes up prices even further.

A recent analysis by BMO found that for every one per cent of population growth, housing prices typically increase by three per cent.

The Liberals have been taking a lot of heat from Poilievre for the state of the housing market. He’s blamed Trudeau’s government for the crisis, as well as municipal “gatekeepers” for standing in the way of new developments.

Poilievre has focused on the need to build more housing and has not weighed in on whether Canada needs to change the number of people it lets into the country.

The Conservative leader has also been particularly focused on speaking to young people struggling with affordability, commonly referring to the “35-year-olds still living in their parents’ basements” in the House of Commons.

Fraser, 39, acknowledged during the news conference that housing affordability is a major challenge facing younger Canadians in particular.

“It’s a real challenge for people my age and younger who are trying to get into the market, but it’s also a challenge for low-income families,” Fraser said.

“There’s no simple solutions, but if we continue to advance measures that help build more stock, that help make sure it’s easier for people to get into the market and make sure we’re offering protections for low-income families, particularly in vulnerable renting situations, we’re going to be able to make a meaningful difference.”

The housing crisis that once was associated with Vancouver and Toronto is now affecting all corners of the country, and experts say a shortage of homes is at its root.

The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation has warned the country needs to build 3.5 million additional homes — on top of the current pace of building — to restore affordability by 2030.

Carolyn Whitzman, a housing policy expert and adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa, said the decision to combine housing and infrastructure is a good move.

“Housing is infrastructure. It’s essential, as essential as water and sewers and hospitals and schools, for the functioning of a society,” she said.

Whitzman also called Fraser a “fairly effective communicator” and noted his experience as immigration minister may also help inform his role in the housing file.

Source: New housing minister says immigration can help address affordability, supply

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Yakabuski: The renewal theme rings hollow even as Justin Trudeau names seven new faces to cabinet

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Pointed comments on Ministers Fraser and Miller, likely understate the challenges. And of course, turning up the dial on the number of permanent and temporary residents much easier than new housing:

Conveying renewal and stability at the same time is a neat trick, if you can manage it.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to do both with a cabinet shufflethat featured a slew of new faces on Wednesday, all while relying even more heavily on a quartet of tested ministers – and likely future leadership contenders – to carry the load of a government living on borrowed time.

…

Source: The renewal theme rings hollow even as Justin Trudeau names seven new faces to cabinet

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Citizenship in an independent Scotland – gov.scot

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Of note for the approach and messaging:

Scotland could take a fairer, and more welcoming approach to citizenship as an independent nation, according to a new paper published by First Minister Humza Yousaf.

‘Citizenship in an independent Scotland’, the fifth paper in the Building a New Scotland series’, sets out who could automatically become a citizen of an independent Scotland, and the pathway for others to qualify for Scottish citizenship, including those with a close and enduring connection to Scotland.

Other proposals in the paper include a fairer fee system for citizenship applications, based on cost recovery rather than revenue generation, and a commitment to establish an independent Migrants’ Commissioner – a key recommendation of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review.

The First Minister held a roundtable discussion at National Records of Scotland’s New Register House where he discussed the paper with representatives from migration policy organisations and individuals who may be eligible for citizenship under these proposals.

First Minister Humza Yousaf said:

“In this country, we are used to feeling a mix of identities. As a proud Scottish Pakistani, that’s something I understand and respect, and the policies in this paper would not require anybody to choose between being Scottish, British, or any other nationality.

“Instead, this paper proposes an open and inclusive approach to citizenship. One that welcomes people who want to settle in Scotland, rather than putting barriers and excessive fees in the way of individuals and their families.

“With our aging population, Scotland faces an urgent demographic challenge. That’s why we want to welcome more people, to join those who have already settled in communities across our country and are contributing to a better economy, higher living standards, and stronger public services like our NHS.

“Scottish citizens could also enjoy benefits such as the right to hold a Scottish passport, continued freedom of movement within the Common Travel Area, and eventually, following our commitment to re-join the EU as an independent nation, resumed rights as EU citizens.

“I hope this paper will help to answer questions people might have about citizenship in an independent Scotland, and I look forward to hearing people’s views on our proposals.”

Background

Building a New Scotland: Citizenship in an independent Scotland

Under these proposals, EU citizens resident in Scotland or the UK before 31 December 2020 would be entitled to receive settled status in Scotland, and a child born in Scotland after independence would automatically be a Scottish citizen if at least one of their parents was a Scottish, British or Irish citizen, or had ‘settled’ status in Scotland.

Those who want to become a Scottish citizen in future, including those with close and enduring connections to Scotland, could follow rules to apply for citizenship.

People resident in Scotland without Scottish citizenship would retain many of the same rights they currently hold, including rights to vote.

The previous four papers have set out evidence showing independent countries comparable to Scotland are wealthier and fairer than the UK; how Scottish democracy can be renewed with independence; the macroeconomic framework, including currency arrangements, for an independent Scotland; and how rights and equality could be at the heart of a written constitution developed by the people of Scotland.

Source: Citizenship in an independent Scotland – gov.scot

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To blunt Poilievre’s outreach in cultural communities, Trudeau gives high-profile cabinet roles to MPs with diverse backgrounds, say some senior Liberals 

2023/07/28 Leave a comment

Of note. Of course, implementation and results count more than new faces around the table. But 29 percent of ministers are visible minority, a new high, and slightly higher than their share of the population:

In a major shuffle that is expected to set the stage as the prime minister’s election cabinet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promoted seven MPs to the front bench on Wednesday morning. He also shuffled some senior cabinet members with visible minority backgrounds, who were holding internationally focused portfolios to new portfolios with a domestic focus.

“This will help us re-solidify support within the visible minority communities,” said one Liberal MP who spoke with The Hill Times on a not-for-attribution basis to offer their candid views.

One of the biggest winners of the shuffle is three-term Liberal MP Arif Virani (Parkdale-High Park, Ont.) who joins the cabinet as the minister of justice and attorney general.

Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree (Scarborough-Rouge Park, Ont.) also received a big promotion, moving into cabinet as the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. Rookie Liberal MP Rechie Valdez (Mississauga-Streetsville, Ont.) joins cabinet as minister of small business. Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Hochelaga, Que.) picks up the portfolios of tourism and the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the region of Quebec. Ya’ara Saks (York Centre, Ont.) is the new minister of mental health and addictions and associate minister of health.

Virani is an Ismaili Muslim Canadian, Anandasangaree is Tamil Canadian, Valdez is Filipino Canadian, Ferrada is Chilean-Canadian, and Saks is Jewish Canadian. 

As for senior ministers who have been shuffled within cabinet, Anita Anand (Oakville, Ont.) leaves defence to become the Treasury Board president. Former international trade minister Harjit Sajjan takes on emergency preparedness, as well as responsibilities for the King’s Privy Council for Canada and the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada. Kamal Khera, the former minister for seniors, is now minister of diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities.

Sajjan and Khera are Sikh-Canadians, and Anand is Hindu.  

Traditionally, visible minority Canadians have been a strong base of support for the Liberal Party.

When Pierre Poilievre became Conservative leader last year, he quickly appointed Tim Uppal (Edmonton Millwoods, Alta.), a Sikh-Canadian, and Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, Ont.), a Jewish Canadian, as his deputy leaders. He also appointed Jasraj Singh Hallan (Calgary Forest Lawn, Altal), a Skih Canadian, as his finance critic. Recently, Arpan Khanna (Oxford, Ont.) and Shuvaloy Majumdar (Calgary Heritage, Alta,), both Hindu-Canadians, were elected as MPs in byelections. Khanna had previously served as the party’s outreach chair.

“That’s the main thing,” said the Liberal MP who spoke on a not-for-attribution basis. “To confront Poilievre and to break into new territory. Tamils are very enthusiastic about us, but Gary [Anandasangaree] will help us in maintaining that enthusiasm. Filipinos like us, but there’s no anchoring, and Veldez will do that.”

Visible minority communities play a key role in the outcome of swing ridings in major urban centres like the GTA, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal. Conservatives believe that the next election is theirs to lose and are going all-in to secure support from visible minorities—an important part of the Liberal voter coalition.

“We need to go back to domestic local messaging. Bringing Sajjan, Anand back [to portfolios with domestic focus] is a good step,” said a senior Liberal. “They can be assets in the South Asian community. Arif [Virani] will be very helpful in the Muslim community.” 

Source: To blunt Poilievre’s outreach in cultural communities, Trudeau gives high-profile cabinet roles to MPs with diverse backgrounds, say some senior Liberals 

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Exil de mer et de vent 

2023/07/27 Leave a comment

Portrait of Ukrainian exiles in rural Quebec, their welcome into a small community of 100 people, and the challenges they face and how they adopt or not:

Mai dernier. Les trois fillettes sautillent sur le terrain dans le printemps tout neuf. Derrière la maison, il y a la baie immense, les îles, la somptuosité de la Basse-Côte-Nord. Artur exulte : l’épicerie de Tête-à-la-Baleine a enfin reçu des betteraves. Sa soupe borchtch est au feu. Snizhana, vêtue de jaune et de bleu, tient la petite dernière, la quatrième, dans ses bras. « C’est un hasard. Vous me voyez vêtue aux couleurs de l’Ukraine. »

Cet hiver, elle s’est longuement promenée sur la baie gelée, main dans la main avec les enfants et avec sa nostalgie. Ensemble, elle, les filles et la nostalgie, elles ont vu des corbeaux, des phoques, des belettes. Et des renards roux à la queue longue et touffue. En Ukraine aussi, il y avait des renards roux. Les enfants criaient leur joie. Snizhana étouffait son désarroi.

Les Levytskyi, Artur, Snizhana et leurs quatre enfants, sont ici depuis février. Si on les additionne aux membres de l’autre famille ukrainienne arrivée six mois auparavant, les deux maisonnées font gonfler la population de Tête-à-la-Baleine de 11 personnes. Sur une population de 100. C’est beaucoup !

Deux familles qui ont quitté l’Ukraine parce qu’elles étaient en train de devenir un peu folles. Fallait partir. Par tous les moyens. « Mon cerveau avait cessé de fonctionner, se souvient Snizhana, j’avançais comme un animal. » Un animal terrorisé. « Nous dormions tout habillés au cas où il faudrait vite décamper. Je ne suis pas brave, je l’avoue. Peut-être parce que je suis une mère. » Snizhana parle sans s’arrêter, en un flux précipité. « J’ai consulté une psy pour savoir comment cacher aux enfants mes propres angoisses. »

Des histoires qui ressemblent à tant d’autres, de fuites éperdues, d’attentes interminables, de frontières à franchir, de bagages à traîner. Marcher, marcher, exténués, avec le goût de flancher, de s’effondrer. Tenir bon, garder un semblant de moral pour les plus jeunes.

Un village entier mobilisé

Deux familles qui sont parvenues à Tête-à-la-Baleine par la même voie, celle d’un village qui s’est mobilisé pour les accueillir. On a trouvé à chacune une maison, un véhicule, une motoneige, des vêtements, des vivres. Des résidents ont envoyé des chèques pour leurs hôtes venus de loin. « C’était aussi, et peut-être principalement, un échange, une sorte de contrat », explique Michaël Lambert, qui a pris l’initiative de faire venir des familles ukrainiennes jusque dans cette contrée lointaine, désert de poissons et d’oiseaux que nulle route ne relie au reste du Québec et du continent. « On cherchait des familles pour renforcer la vitalité du village, fouetter son économie et empêcher l’école de fermer. » Du donnant-donnant, en quelque sorte.

Trouver des familles qui, en contrepartie d’une vie paisible, loin de la guerre, accepteraient d’y passer ne serait-ce que quelques années, consentiraient à apprendre le français, découvriraient qu’elles apprécient cette vie rudimentaire, loin des centres et de la consommation, dans la poussière grise des quatre-roues l’été, et celle, toute blanche, des motoneiges l’hiver. Avec une épicerie au contenu famélique, des transports impossibles, des bateaux aux horaires incertains ou des avions à prix exorbitants. Des familles qui acquiesceraient au système D, au bricolage, au rafistolage. « On a bien voulu essayer cette vie-là, essayer le Canada », poursuit Snizhana.

Imaginez la scène. Février dernier. Il fait moins 40. Michaël est parti chercher le ménage des Levytskyi entreposé à Kegaska, tandis que la famille, elle, est déjà arrivée en avion à Tête-à-la-Baleine. Une chevauchée en motoneige de 250 kilomètres sur la Route blanche, sentier balisé pour faciliter les déplacements l’hiver sur la Basse-Côte-Nord. Aveuglé par la lumière et frigorifié, Michaël fonce dans la blancheur, traînant le chargement derrière son engin. Et puis, oh ! malheur !, la motoneige s’étouffe, en panne. L’homme manque d’y laisser la peau. À moitié congelé, il sera sauvé par des gens de la côte partis à sa recherche.

L’une chante, l’autre pas

Deux familles, donc, venues d’une même Ukraine, échouées dans un même exil de mer et de vent, mais deux familles bien différentes. Avec chacune leur façon de voir la vie, avec des exigences distinctes, peut-être, face à l’existence et une quête du bonheur qui ne se ressemble pas. Si bien qu’aujourd’hui, l’une arrive à s’adapter, l’autre pas. L’une envisage de rester, l’autre pas. L’une chante, l’autre pas.*(1)

« Je me sens perdue dans un pays perdu, confie Snizhana. J’ai envie que les enfants aient des activités parascolaires, qu’ils connaissent autre chose pour leur développement intellectuel et spirituel. » À cela s’ajoute son tourment de décevoir ceux et celles qui, à Tête-à-la-Baleine, se sont démenés pour les accueillir. « Même si je comprends leur décision de partir, je suis déçu, dit Michaël, c’est un peu comme un contrat brisé. » « Je comprends leur déception, rétorque doucement Snizhana, mais c’est de notre vie et de notre avenir qu’il s’agit. »

La famille Lizunova, de son côté, envisage de s’acheter une maison à Tête-à-la-Baleine et de quitter le presbytère où elle est provisoirement logée. Les deux adultes, des cousines, Antonina Lizunova et Olga Kulyk, apprennent activement le français, l’une dans le but de travailler à l’aéroport, l’autre pour devenir cuisinière à l’auberge de l’Archipel, au coeur du village. D’ailleurs, Olga a fait cuire sa première morue hier, sous la supervision de Marco Marcoux, propriétaire du lieu, qui lui donnait ses instructions en usant de Google Translate. « Une morue apprêtée à la mode de chez nous ! lance Marco, avec une purée de pommes de terre et un quartier de citron. »

S’encourageant l’une et l’autre et transmettant leur force morale aux trois ados dont elles ont la charge, les cousines sont animées d’un optimisme à tous crins. Mais quand on leur demande si elles souffrent du mal du pays, leurs yeux s’embrument. Ah ! combien elles voudraient pouvoir m’ouvrir leur coeur et se faire comprendre au moins un peu, en français ou en anglais. Bon, à défaut, ne parlant ni l’une ni l’autre langue, elles m’offrent une petite crêpe « à la viande », une expression qu’elles ont apprise depuis leur arrivée à Tête-à-la-Baleine.

Partir dès que possible

Le village s’est mis en quête d’une autre famille ukrainienne. Aux dernières nouvelles, une mère, un père et leurs cinq enfants s’annonçaient pour bientôt.« On a déjà tenu deux activités de financement », se réjouit Michaël.

Snizhana, elle, veut quitter Tête-à-la-Baleine aussi vite que possible. C’est fou, elle le sait, elle veut partir avant que les mouches noires ne fassent leur apparition. Oui, elle en est consciente, c’est fou, elle qui a survécu aux bombes, aux explosions, aux tirs de mortier, est prise d’une peur obsessive des mouches noires. Comme si le ciel allait à nouveau l’attaquer et fondre sur elle. « L’exil ne prive pas uniquement l’individu de sa terre natale, écrit Marie Daniès, dans la revue Mémoires. L’exilé se perd car ce qui le définissait, son rapport à lui-même, aux autres, a disparu. Le sens de sa vie lui échappe. »

En songe, je vois Snizhana au bout du quai de Tête-à-la-Baleine, immobile, offerte aux vagues et aux oiseaux. Rêvant d’on ne sait quoi. Elle ne sait plus. Snizhana, d’autre part et de nulle part. Snizhana, en exil de tout ce qui est elle-même. Snizhana, l’errante des splendeurs et des malheurs de la terre.

Ailleurs le monde est doux

L’air est meilleur et de partout

Coulent des fleuves d’or et de musique

Ailleurs dormir mon coeur tragique*(2)

Source: Exil de mer et de vent

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Education Dept. Opens Civil Rights Inquiry Into Harvard’s Legacy Admissions

2023/07/27 Leave a comment

Logical result of the affirmative action decision, applying it to class and privilege of legacy admissions:

The Education Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Harvard University’s legacy admissions policy, inserting the federal government directly into a fierce national debate about wealth, privilege and race after the Supreme Court gutted the use of affirmative action in higher education.

The inquiry into one of the nation’s richest and most prestigious universities will examine allegations by three liberal groups that Harvard’s practice of showing preference for the relatives of alumni and donors discriminates against Black, Hispanic and Asian applicants in favor of white and wealthy students who are less qualified.

The Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has powerful enforcement authority that could eventually lead to a settlement with Harvard or trigger a lengthy legal battle like the one that led to the Supreme Court’s decision to severely limit race-conscious admissions last month, reversing a decades-long approach that had increased chances for Black students and those from other minority groups.

The move by the Biden administration comes at a moment of heightened scrutiny of college admissions practices following the ruling, which has resurfaced long-simmering anger about the advantages that colleges often give to the wealthy and connected.

Harvard gives preference to applicants who are recruited athletes, legacies, relatives of donors and children of faculty and staff. As a group, they make up less than 5 percent of applicants, but around 30 percent of those admitted each year. About 67.8 percent of these applicants are white, according to court papers.

After the court’s decision, President Biden said legacy admission policies expand “privilege instead of opportunity.” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, tweeted that the practice is “affirmative action for the privileged.” Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina and a presidential candidate, called for Harvard to eliminate “preferential treatment for legacy kids.”

At Wesleyan University, a liberal arts college in Connecticut, President Michael S. Roth announced earlier this month the end of legacy admissions at his school, saying the practice was a distraction and “a sign of unfairness to the outside world.” The federal inquiry comes after a formal complaint filed by three groups earlier this month.

Lawyers for the groups — the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England, and the Greater Boston Latino Network — said Harvard’s practice gives an undeserved leg up to the children of wealthy donors and alumni.

“It is imperative that the federal government act now to eliminate this unfair barrier that systematically disadvantages students of color,” Michael Kippins, a litigation fellow at Lawyers for Civil Rights, said when the complaint was filed.

The Education Department said in a statement that “the Office for Civil Rights can confirm that there is an open investigation of Harvard University under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Title VI is a part of federal law that prohibits discrimination, exclusion from participation or denial of benefits “on the ground of race, color or national origin.”

Nicole Rura, a spokeswoman for Harvard, said in a statement that the university was already reviewing the way it admits students to ensure it is in compliance with the law after the court’s decision.

“Our review includes examination of a range of data and information,” she said, adding that the university will continue to “strengthen our ability to attract and support a diverse intellectual community.”

Ms. Rura added: “As this work continues, and moving forward, Harvard remains dedicated to opening doors to opportunity and to redoubling our efforts to encourage students from many different backgrounds to apply for admission.”

Harvard’s legacy preferences have been investigated before.

In the 1980s, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights investigated allegations that Asian American applicants were being discriminated against in favor of white students, according to court papers. The investigation blamed the difference in admission rates on legacy preferences, and found that the university had legitimate reasons for favoring legacies.

The Harvard trial that led to the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision revealed just how important legacy admissions are to Harvard. The plaintiffs described the final round of admissions, called the lop. Applicants on the cusp of admission or rejection were placed on a list that contained only four pieces of information: legacy status, recruited athlete status, financial aid eligibility and race. Based on this information, the admissions committee would decide which finalists to cut, or lop.

Harvard and other universities have defended legacy admissions.

They argue that giving preference to the children of alumni helps build a valuable sense of loyalty and belonging, and spurs alumni to volunteer their time and give money to the university, which can be used for scholarships. Harvard argued at trial that overall, legacy applicants were highly qualified.

But critics of legacy admissions said the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision underscores the need to end those preferences as well.

“Let’s be clear — legacy and donor admissions have long served to perpetuate an inherently racist college admissions process,” said Derrick Johnson, the president of the N.A.A.C.P. “Every talented and qualified student deserves an opportunity to attend the college of their choice. Affirmative action existed to support that notion. Legacy admissions exist to undermine it.”

A newly released study by a group of economists based at Harvard found that legacies at elite colleges were more qualified overall than the average applicant. But even when comparing applicants who were similar in every other way, legacy applicants still had an advantage. The study, by Opportunity Insights, which studies inequality, also raised the question of whether, by scuttling practices like legacy admissions, colleges could potentially diversify the leadership ranks of American society.

On Wednesday, Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, and Representative Jamaal Bowman, Democrat of New York, plan to reintroduce legislation that would bar universities from giving preferential treatment to the children of alumni and donors.

A poll released last year by the Pew Research Center found that 75 percent of the people surveyed believed that legacy preferences should not be a factor in college admissions.

In his concurring opinion in the Harvard case, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch took a swipe at Harvard for its legacy admissions.

“Its preferences for the children of donors, alumni, and faculty are no help to applicants who cannot boast of their parents’ good fortune or trips to the alumni tent all their lives,” Justice Gorsuch wrote. “While race-neutral on their face, too, these preferences undoubtedly benefit white and wealthy applicants the most.”

Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in the Harvard case, submitted a statistical analysis in court finding that Harvard could come close to achieving the racial diversity it wanted if it eliminated preferences for children of alumni, donors and faculty, and increased preferences for low-income applicants.

Harvard resisted, saying it would not get the academic caliber it wanted.

About 70 percent of legacy applicants admitted to Harvard are white, according to a 2019 study by Peter Arcidiacono, an expert witness for Students for Fair Admissions.

Edward Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions, sounded a cautionary note on Tuesday. He suggested that however appealing, ending the tradition of legacy admissions might not be as simple as it seemed, given an absence over the years of related litigation brought by organizations representing minority groups.

“Like a significant majority of all Americans, S.F.F.A.’s members hope that colleges and universities end legacy preferences,” Mr. Blum said in a statement.

Officials at the Education Department declined to discuss the possible outcomes of the investigation, citing rules about not commenting on open investigations.

The vast majority of similar cases are resolved by reaching a resolution with the university to address the concerns of the department, according to Art Coleman, managing partner of EducationCounsel, which advises colleges and universities.

If a resolution cannot be reached, the matter can be referred to the Justice Department, which can initiate litigation and follow normal litigation rules. A case may also go to an administrative hearing, with the ultimate potential sanction being withholding all federal funds.

“That almost never happens,” Mr. Coleman said, because it would deprive tens of thousands of students of educational opportunities.

The Office of Civil Rights has an obligation to investigate plausible claims, Mr. Coleman said. “That’s not, as it might be couched, some judgment that’s being made for political reasons,” he said. “O.C.R.’s got an obligation under its regulations to investigate any complaint that states a viable legal claim with sufficient facts behind it.”

Source: Education Dept. Opens Civil Rights Inquiry Into Harvard’s Legacy Admissions

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with , , ,

Stephen Lecce reviewing TDSB anti-racism training in wake of former principal’s suicide

2023/07/27 Leave a comment

Of note:

Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce says he has asked his staff to review the circumstances surrounding a series of anti-racism training sessions held by the Toronto District School Board in the spring of 2021 following the recent suicide of a former principal who said he was bullied and harassed during the sessions.

“These are serious and disturbing allegations,” Lecce said in a written statement. “No staff member should ever be subject to harassment while in their place of work.”

Richard Bilkszto, a 60-year-old retired principal, sued the TDSB earlier this year, alleging that his reputation was “systemically demolished” during two anti-Black racism training sessions in the spring of 2021 when, after he had challenged some of the speaker’s comments, he was singled out and accused of supporting white supremacy.

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board allowed Bilkszto’s claim for a “mental stress injury” in 2021 and awarded him compensation for two months of lost earnings. The adjudicator of his case found that the facilitator of the training sessions was “abusive, egregious and vexatious” in their conduct and that it rose “to the level of workplace harassment and bullying.”

Bilkszto, who alleged in his lawsuit that he suffered “severe emotional distress” as a result of what happened in the sessions, died by suicide earlier this month, according to a statement his lawyer posted to Twitter last week.

A member of Bilkszto’s family confirmed his death to the Star, but declined further comment.

In his statement, Lecce offered condolences to Bilkszto’s family and friends, adding that the tragedy “underscores the need for greater accountability of school boards and the necessity to ensure professional training is free from harassment and intimidation.”

He said he has asked his staff “to review what happened in this instance in the TDSB and bring me options to reform professional training and strengthen accountability on school boards so this never happens again.”

The school board released its own statement, jointly signed by Director of Education Colleen Russell-Rawlins and associate directors Audley Salmon and Louise Sirisko, saying they “share the Ministry of Education’s desire to learn what happened” and they will work with the ministry as part of any review.

“We recognize that many are grieving the loss of Richard, who was a colleague, mentor and friend,” the statement reads. “TDSB is in the process of gathering information to better understand the events that occurred.”

KOJO Institute, the company that facilitated the training sessions, said Tuesday that it also “welcomes” a ministry review into the matter and “will co-operate fully” with ministry officials.

The association representing TDSB principals and vice-principals is also calling for an independent review of the training sessions.

The Toronto School Administrators Association said Bilkszto had contacted the association in the aftermath of the sessions saying he had been “bullied, intimidated and harassed” by the facilitators. The association says it asked the school board at that point to investigate Bilkszto’s concerns. “To our knowledge, an investigation was never undertaken.”

According to Bilkszto’s lawsuit, the conflict arose when, during the second of four virtual training sessions, the facilitator, Kike Ojo-Thompson, suggested Canada was more racist than the U.S., in part because it had not reckoned with its racist history in the same way the U.S. had.

When Bilkszto disagreed it led to a brief, but tense exchange. Later in the session and in the following week’s session, Ojo-Thompson is alleged to have implicitly referred to the exchange as an example of “resistance” in support of white supremacy.

The allegations in Bilkszto’s lawsuit have not been proven. The TDSB has not filed a statement of defence.

In a statement provided to the Star prior to Bilkszto’s death, the KOJO institute said it disputes many of the allegations in Bilkszto’s lawsuit against the TDSB, “including the descriptions of interactions with KOJO Institute staff which paint an inaccurate and incomplete picture” of what happened in the sessions.

The company, which has provided anti-racism training to dozens of organizations in the public, private and charitable sectors (including the Toronto Star), is not a party to Bilkszto’s lawsuit. They said it would be “inappropriate” to comment further since the matter was before the courts.

Following Bilkszto’s death, the company provided an additional statement offering condolences to Bilkszto’s loved ones. They added that any interaction with individual TDSB employees during the sessions was “brief” and that they had “no involvement” in any investigation by the school board or the WSIB following the sessions.

In recent months, Bilkszto had become outspoken in his opposition to various school board initiatives aimed at reducing inequity in education. The statement announcing his death, released by his lawyer, says that after his “troubling experience with the (TDSB)’s equity agenda, Richard began advocating to bring people together through a more equality-focused, pro-human approach.”

In May, Bilkszto appeared on The Agenda with Steve Paikin and criticized the school board’s new lottery system for specialized schools, arguing that it was anti-meritocratic. He was also the Toronto chapter president for the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, a U.S.-based, free-speech advocacy group.

Source: Stephen Lecce reviewing TDSB anti-racism training in wake of former principal’s suicide

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Analysis: Canada’s immigration creates ‘mirage’ of economic prosperity, TD report predicts higher interest rates and an affordability crisis 

2023/07/27 Leave a comment

A number of good articles questioning current immigration policies, given their impact on housing, healthcare and infrastructure. While the change in immigration minister from one with an Atlantic perspective in favour of more immigration to a Quebec minister, more attuned to some of Quebec concerns on levels, may or may not indicate a shift from the “more is merrier” approach to a more intelligent approach that factors immigration impacts on housing, healthcare and infrastructure. We shall see.

Certainly ironic to see Minister Fraser shuffled to housing where he will have to address some of the problems he exacerbated:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has fueled economic growth and plugged gaps in the labor market by ramping up immigration, but now new arrivals are straining public services and contributing to an overheating economy, economists say.

Since taking power in 2015, Trudeau has brought in an estimated 2.5 million new permanent residents, driving the population above 40 million.

Canada’s population grew at its fastest pace since 1957 last year, placing it among top 20 fastest growing countries in the world, Statistics Canada said, in part offsetting the effects of aging residents who are retiring and adding to healthcare costs.

In large part thanks to immigration, Canada has matched the United States with an average GDP growth of just over 2% over the past decade, well above the 1.4% G7 average, according to Marc Ercolao, an economist at TD Securities.

But problems caused by rapid immigration are beginning to show. First of all, the Bank of Canada struggled to pin down the impact of the newcomers as it tried to cool economic growth.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem has said immigration adds to both supply and demand, but the overall effect has increased the need for higher interest rates. While immigrants helped ease a labor shortage, they added to consumer spending and housing demand.

“If you start an economy with excess demand (and) you add both demand and supply, you are still in excess demand,” he said about immigration earlier this month after hiking rates to a 22-year high of 5.0%.

The more concrete problems are the growing strains on transit, housing and healthcare, issues that have begun to dog the federal government as municipal and provincial leaders increase calls for more funding to address them.

“If we want to do more immigration, fine, but let’s have a suite of policies” that increase infrastructure investment for “transit, housing, healthcare… schools,” said Chris Ragan, director of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University in Montreal and an adviser to the Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in 2009-10.

“Our communities and our economy are made stronger every day by people who chose to move to Canada,” said a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry.

Most “will contribute to Canada’s economic prosperity and… help address the labor shortages”, the spokesperson said.

‘MIRAGE’

Earlier this month, under pressure from Toronto’s new mayor, Trudeau’s government pledged nearly C$100 million ($76 million) to the city to help house refugees who had been sleeping on the street.

One-fifth of Canadians in the publicly funded healthcare system do not have a family doctor, the Angus Reid Institute research firm said last year. In Toronto, Canada’s largest city, an average driver lost 118 hours in traffic in 2022, up 60% on the year and the third-highest in North America, data analytics firm Inrix says.

While immigration adds to annual GDP, per capita GDP has grown only 2.4% since the first quarter of 2016 compared to 11.7% for the United States. That means Canadians’ wealth, or their standard of living, is rising more slowly than in the U.S.

“The Canadian economy on a per-capita basis is flat on its back,” said David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Rosenberg Research. Through population growth “you can create this mirage of economic prosperity, but in the end that’s what it is, a mirage,” he said.

Source: Analysis: Canada’s immigration creates ‘mirage’ of economic …

TD report predicts higher interest rates and an affordability crisis 

If Canada’s population boom continues at its current frantic pace, interest rates will face upward pressure and the massive influx of people will significantly worsen affordability for homebuyers and renters, a new report from TD Bank warns.

And the bank’s economists are calling on the federal government to restore “balance” to its immigration policies.

Over the past 12 months Canada’s population surged by 1.2 million, driven by higher annual targets for permanent immigration but also a swell of non-permanent residents such as temporary foreign workers and international students.

That rapid growth has helped employers fill job openings and propelled Canada to become the fastest growing economy in the G7, but it is also causing “dislocations in other segments of the economy,” including the housing market, health care, social services and infrastructure, that threaten to undo the benefits, the report’s authors warn.

The population jump caught economists off guard, raising the question of whether it will be repeated. Based on the pace of TFW program usage and study permits in 2023 so far, TD said Canada’s population is likely to increase by another one million people this year.

If that happens, the gap between housing supply and demand would grow to 500,000 units through 2025, the report said, adding that even with aggressive policies in place to boost home construction, supply would not keep up.

The result would be an erosion in affordability for buyers and renters, a situation that would be made worse by the upward pressure a persistent high-growth immigration strategy would put on interest rates, the report said.

According to TD, if Canada’s population boom continues, the neutral interest rate – which is sometimes described as the Goldilocks level of interest that neither stimulates economic demand nor holds it back – will need to rise by 50 basis points, or half a percentage point, compared with under earlier assumptions about how Canada’s population growth would unfold.

“The implication is not only do you have a higher run rate on interest rates, but when you get into the position of cutting interest rates it would put a higher floor for how low you would go,” Beata Caranci, chief economist at TD and one of the report’s authors, said in an interview.

“The Bank of Canada is trying to push a boulder up the hill when it comes to inflation, because as it increases interest rates, the sheer size of the population keeps generating demand that outstrips supply.”

For its part, the Bank of Canada has said little about whether therapid population growth is affecting monetary policy, though earlier this month, after the bank raised its key overnight rate by another 25 basis points to 5 per cent, Governor Tiff Macklem said on balance the effect is “probably roughly neutral.”

On the one hand, immigration has reduced pressure on the labour market and eased costs for employers, he said, while on the other, “these new entrants in the economy, they’re also new consumers, they’re renters, they’re new homebuyers, so it’s also adding to demand.”

Ms. Caranci said a jump in population like Canada has witnessed wouldn’t be such a problem if there was a similar surge in productivity; however, the country’s track record on that front is not promising. And what she called the “government guarantee” that it will bring in new workers to fill labour gaps only reduces the incentives companies have to invest in technology that would make them more efficient.

Rather than view immigration as the “be-all and end-all solution” to Canada’s aging work force, the TD report urged policy makers to focus on reforms that would remove barriers to the work force for people already here, giving the example of how flexible work arrangements and the expansion of daycare has lead to a big jump in the number of mothers with young children taking jobs.

Measures aimed at making medical and engineering credentials more transferable would also allow recent immigrants who are underemployed to fill critical gaps in the labour force, it added.

“If the purpose was to put a stop-gap in what was an extreme shortage of labour revealed by the pandemic, at some point you have to take your foot off the gas and let the supply side catch up,” Ms. Caranci said.

“If you don’t, the benefits of that population increase will erode over time. Someone has to do the math here that we have a system that can accommodate everybody.”

Source: TD report predicts higher interest rates and an affordability crisis

Lastly, Diane Francis in the Financial Post:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s push to increase immigration to unprecedented levels is damaging Canada’s health-care system.

The numbers reveal the problem. Last year, Canada welcomed 492,984 new immigrants, all of whom will eventually be issued health cards, entitling them to medical benefits for life. This year, another 465,000 immigrants are set to arrive, plus another 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Trudeau government admitted a record of over 1.3 million permanent immigrants into the country, all of whom will require medical services. This has put a significant strain on large urban areas such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, which have borne the burden of the influx because they are where the lion’s share of immigrants settle. Toronto and Vancouver, in particular, already suffer from health-care shortages and unaffordable housing prices.

The feds set immigration targets with little regard for skills, the burden placed on social welfare systems or the impact on housing costs. The result is that many hospitals are reaching their limits. Doctors and nurses are in short supply, Canadians face long wait times for specialists and elective surgeries and millions lack a family physician.

Since I began pointing out the connection between deteriorating health care and high immigration levels last year, little has changed. Recently, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser responded with an embarrassingly inadequate policy fix, announcing that Ottawa would fast-track immigration approvals for 2,000 health-care professionals.

This is not nearly enough. Financial Accountability Office of Ontario projects that Ontario alone will be short 33,000 nurses and personal support workers by 2028, despite provincial initiatives to boost graduates.

Canada’s immigration levels are disproportionate to other developed nations, taking in about four times as many immigrants as the United States on a per capita basis. To make matters worse, Ottawa’s screening is inept. Despite the staggering immigration numbers, the federal government has failed to address the shortage of skilled labour across the country by recruiting qualified tradespeople.

This push to significantly increase the population was concocted at a weekend gathering in 2011 in Muskoka, Ont., led by Dominic Barton, who served as global managing director of McKinsey and Co. before becoming Canada’s ambassador to China for a time, and former BlackRock Inc. honcho Mark Wiseman. They created a Toronto-based lobbying group called the Century Initiative, which believes Canada’s population should reach 100 million by 2100.

The group estimates that, given sagging birth rates, reaching their arbitrary goal of 100 million would require Canada to accept at least 500,000 immigrants a year, if not more. This has now become our official immigration policy, with the Trudeau Liberals targeting around half a million new immigrants per year.

The Century Initiative hopes to create “mega-regions,” increasing the population of the Greater Toronto Area from 8.8 million in 2016 to 33.5 million by the end of the century, the population of Metro Vancouver from 3.3 million to 11.9 million and the National Capital Region from 1.4 million to 4.8 million.

Seven years of this foolish Liberal immigration policy has placed a significant strain on the health-care system and housing market. And Canada is going to make matters worse by admitting upwards of 753,000 international students this year, which will further increase the cost of rentals.

A CIBC report last year said that the admission of huge numbers of newcomers in 2022, including an estimated 955,000 “non-permanent residents,” represents “an unprecedented swing in housing demand in a single year that is currently not fully reflected in official figures.”

This unbridled immigration is placing a burden on Canada’s struggling health-care system and housing market. It is irresponsible.

Source: Diane Francis: Immigration pushing housing, health care to the breaking point

Filed under Immigration Tagged with , , , ,

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