MPI: West African Countries Offer Citizenship to Descendants of Enslaved Africans

2026/09/02 Leave a comment

Of note. C-3 offers citizenship to similarly multi-generational descendants albeit in a different context:

An increasing number of West African countries are offering citizenship to the descendants of enslaved Africans. Government initiatives since 2016 have made obtaining citizenship and living on the African continent more appealing to members of the historic diaspora, many of whom are in the United States. Yet some initiatives have also been criticized for requirements that applicants submit a DNA test to prove their ancestry, and a tension has emerged between visions of these processes as drivers of development versus as restorative justice for the horrors of the slave trade.

As of this writing, at least 1,213 people had received citizenship through these policies in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Benin, and Guinea-Bissau, with the vast majority receiving Ghanaian citizenship, according to publicly available data from news outlets and civil-society organizations. There are no centralized data for citizenships granted to diaspora members, so the actual number may be higher.

The diaspora members receiving citizenship have predominately been African Americans from the United States, although people from Canada, the United Kingdom, and countries in the Caribbean have also received citizenship.1 Among these new citizens are some famous names: Music legend Stevie Wonder received citizenship in Ghana, and singer Ciara and movie director Spike Lee received citizenship in Benin, with Lee also named an ambassador to help market Benin’s citizenship initiative.2 Additional African countries without formal diaspora citizenship programs have nonetheless offered citizenship to African American celebrities, including Gabon’s offer to Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson and Guinea’s naturalization of actors Meagan Good and Jonathan Majors.3

Although diaspora return policies target both emigrants and their descendants who have ancestral ties to the country, these new citizenship initiatives overwhelmingly focus on the latter. Several factors are driving this rise in historic diaspora citizenship, including individuals’ interest in reconnecting with their ancestral homeland, concerns about growing racism and far-right rhetoric in Western countries, and increasing attention to reparatory justice.4 In this context, African citizenship is framed as one method of addressing the injustices created by the transatlantic slave trade….

Source: West African Countries Offer Citizenship to Descendants of Enslaved Africans

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Canadian Immigration Tracker – Second Quarter 2026 Update

2026/09/02 Leave a comment

Latest update. Compared to the levels plan, government appears to be exceeding all major targets save for Permanent Residents:

Covid-19 Immigration Effects – Key Slides – 2026 Second QuarterDownload

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Jack Jedwab: The seeds of today’s efforts to excuse antisemitism were planted 25 years ago in Durban

2026/09/01 Leave a comment

Useful historical reminder:

…That legacy is now visible everywhere. Jews are often required to prove that what they experience as antisemitism is indeed antisemitism. Expressions that would be condemned instantly if directed at other minorities are parsed endlessly when Jews are the target. The same people who insist that minorities must be trusted to define their own experience of racism suddenly demand footnotes, qualifications and geopolitical context when Jews describe hatred directed toward them.

That is one of the enduring legacies of Durban. It showed how easily anti-racism can be inverted when ideology overtakes principle. A movement that begins by defending the vulnerable can end up deciding which vulnerable people are inconvenient. A discourse built to expose hatred can become a vehicle for excusing it. A gathering convened to fight racism can, in the name of fighting racism, make room for one of its oldest forms.

Twenty-five years later, the deeper lesson arising from Durban is that universality is fragile. Anti-racism cannot survive if it becomes selective. Human rights cannot retain their force if some forms of hatred are condemned while others are rationalized because they fit a preferred political narrative….

Source: Jack Jedwab: The seeds of today’s efforts to excuse antisemitism were planted 25 years ago in Durban

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‘Unprecedented’ increase in immigration cases creates unmanageable workloads for Federal Court, says chief justice

2026/08/31 Leave a comment

Immigration cases, and thus IRCC, have for a long time been the largest number of federal court cases. IRCC has long felt that the extensive possibilities to appeal decisions was, if not unmanageable, something that needed reform. The increases flagged here are staggering, reflecting both immigrant and migrant concerns as well as a “legal industry” that has grown commensurately:

A massive increase in immigration cases in the last six years has created unmanageable workloads at the Federal Court, says Chief Justice Alan Diner.

The Federal Court has jurisdiction over a number of immigration matters, such as visa applications, refugee claims, admissibility cases and removals.

Diner, who was sworn in as the top judge for the Federal Court on July 6, said when he joined the court in 2014, it typically saw between 5,000 and 6,000 immigration cases a year.

In 2021, immigration filings quickly began to climb, with 9,700 cases brought before the court that year. Now Diner said the Federal Court is on track to see upwards of 33,000 immigration filings this year alone.

“The judges have the pedal to the metal and are trying to do their utmost,” Diner said.

“They’re working around the clock, working weekends, working vacations, court staff, the same thing, available evenings, available weekends to try and deal with this volume.”

The rapid increase in immigration-related cases coincides with an increase in the number of permanent and temporary immigrants, in addition to asylum seekers, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 14,000 immigration cases were filed between Jan. 1 and June 30, with 28,000 pending. Almost 1,000 cases have been granted hearings for a judicial review….

Source: ‘Unprecedented’ increase in immigration cases creates unmanageable workloads for Federal Court, says chief justice

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CBC reverses restriction on labelling 9/11 as ‘terrorism’

2026/08/31 2 Comments

Really wonder what CBC is thinking. Miller’s comment nails it:

…The move was welcomed by Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller, who stated on social media that the earlier policy was “a piece of pedantic and foolish guidance that caused legitimate anger.”

Boshra’s post came within an hour after Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree reiterated the federal government’s view that 9/11 was the “deadliest terrorist attack in history.”

Anger about the CBC policy had exploded online ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks, and as relations plummet between Canada and the U.S. after trade talks fell apart last week.

In a written statement Friday afternoon, Anandasangaree did not mention the CBC policy, but stressed that the Canadian government has “always recognized 9/11 as the deadliest terrorist attack in history” and passed a law in 2001 to create a legal definition of “terrorist activity.”

He noted that Canadians “stood with our American neighbours” after the attack, including by hosting thousands of stranded air passengers in Gander, N.L., and joining the war in Afghanistan, where 158 Canadian soldiers died. …

Source: CBC reverses restriction on labelling 9/11 as ‘terrorism’

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Canada’s online citizenship test – A troubling rise in pass rates: Andrew Griffith for Inside Policy

2026/08/31 Leave a comment

My latest analysis of citizenship test pass rates and government changes to make it easier for applicants to pass:

The citizenship test is not simply another administrative hurdle. It’s meant to establish that applicants understand the country they are joining, and is an important part of the journey to becoming Canadian.

Becoming a Canadian citizen is more than completing a series of forms, tests, and administrative requirements. It is a moment of shared accomplishment and belonging — one that is diminished when the journey to citizenship increasingly happens alone, behind a screen.

In its quest to reduce costs, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has increasingly shifted to online citizenship delivery, whether through online applications, citizenship ceremonies, online knowledge testing, and the proposed (but not yet implemented) online self-affirmation of the citizenship oath. In doing so, Canada risks losing something less tangible but no less important: the shared civic experience that turns legal status into a sense of belonging.

But online testing has brought another, more immediately troubling change: pass rates have risen sharply across most countries, raising questions about the integrity of the testing process…..

Source: Canada’s online citizenship test – A troubling rise in pass rates: Andrew Griffith for Inside Policy

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Robert Brym: Yes, anti-Zionism is antisemitic

2026/08/28 Leave a comment

Agree:

…All these findings are in line with results from a 2024 survey of 414 Canadian Jews and a 2018 survey of 2,335 Canadian who identify as Jewish by religion or ethnicity.

Members of the JFN are therefore wrong to claim that being Jewish is only a matter of religion and not a matter of statehood. Moreover, just as it is antisemitic to discriminate against Jews based on their religion, I believe it is antisemitic to erase support for the existence of a Jewish state as a core part of Jewish identify.

Some Jews are anti-Zionists. They deny the need for the existence of a Jewish state. In Canada, a 2025 survey of 332 Jewish Canadians found that one per cent of Canadian Jews at the time regarded themselves as anti-Zionists, while the most recent 2026 survey of 625 Canadian Jews cited earlier puts the number at five per cent. The proportion of Jews who deny the need for Jewish statehood is thus tiny….

It should not surprise us that the JFN has written an op-ed arguing that anti-Zionism isn’t antisemitism. In the principles section of their website, they state that they oppose the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism which was accepted by Canada in 2019. It includes non-legally binding illustrative examples of what might constitute antisemitism, including, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination.”

Notably, the JFN’s “principles” page on their website lacks any mention of the horrific attacks on October 7, and their press release page includes only two entries, one opposing the IHRA definition and one about “anti-Palestinian racism.”

Many Jewish Zionists, including me, are highly critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and its conduct in the Israel-Hamas war. However, for reasons I’ve indicated, I regard the small coterie of Jewish anti-Zionists as misguided.”

Robert Brym is an emeritus professor of sociology and Jewish studies at University of Toronto.

Source: Robert Brym: Yes, anti-Zionism is antisemitic

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Trump administration moves to increase H-1B visa fee to more than $100,000

2026/08/28 4 Comments

Of note, more shooting themselves in the foot given their importance to the tech sector:

President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday released a proposed regulation to codify an unprecedented more than US$100,000 fee on new H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers that Trump first imposed last year but has been blocked by the courts. 

The fee first imposed by Trump in a temporary proclamation last year vastly raises the cost of the visas that are heavily relied on in the tech, education and research sectors. 

A federal judge in June ruled that the fee was illegal and blocked the Trump administration from collecting it. A Boston-based appeals court is reviewing that decision while a different court considers whether a judge in Washington, D.C., properly rejected a challenge to the fee by a major business group.

Trump’s 2025 proclamation imposing the fee expires in September, one year after it was issued, but directed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to adopt regulations making it permanent. 

The proposed US$103,265 fee by DHS, posted online in the Federal Register on Monday to be formally published on Tuesday, kicks off a 30-day public comment period. …

Source: Trump administration moves to increase H-1B visa fee to more than $100,000

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ICYMI – Barutciski: The UNHCR is goading the U.S. into pulling its funding – and putting itself in existential risk

2026/08/28 Leave a comment

Of note:

Will be interesting to hear comments from refugee advocates on this suggestion:

…To avert a crippling U.S. funding freeze or a complete American withdrawalfrom the UNHCR executive committee, the agency must prove it can be reformed, and member states must broker a compromise. Canada can play a constructive role in finding a face-saving solution that maintains U.S. engagement. With the committee holding its annual general session in October, Canada – an influential member of UNHCR’s executive committee, as the sixth-largest donor in 2025 – has an opportunity to bring its middle-power strategy to life with a bold initiative to save one of the UN’s largest operational programs. 

The best way to prove UNHCR is reformable would be to split the deputy position into two distinct roles: one to oversee humanitarian operations and field execution, which Mr. Salih’s current choice could retain, and the other dedicated strictly to resource management and budgeting, which would go to Mr. Trump’s nominee. This would satisfy Washington’s oversight and audit concerns, and mirror structures already used in other UN bodies like UNICEF and the UN Population Fund. 

Rather than thumbing their noses at the White House, other major members of the executive committee should also admit they share American concerns about a misguided asylum system that is fuelling uncontrolled mass migration. This reality was highlighted in the recent Chisinau declaration, where all 46 members of the Council of Europe – including staunchly progressive Western European nations – agreed that the current asylum system must be reined in to be saved. This non-binding political text explores the self-inflicted dilemmas resulting from overly generous judicial decisions, implicitly acknowledging the Trump administration’s migration-related criticisms of Europe and indicating that Washington’s stance is far from isolated. U.S. pressure has already pushed Ottawa to tighten border controls and amend its asylum procedures. …

Source: The UNHCR is goading the U.S. into pulling its funding – and putting itself in existential risk

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ICYMI: Muslim Association promises ‘Jew-free’ incident will not recur at future youth events

2026/08/28 Leave a comment

Demonstrates the need for moderation…:

In June 30 submission to National Post, Sharaf Sharafeldin, president of strategy at the Muslim Association of Canada, stated that during the three-day conference that attracted thousands of Muslim-Canadians, speakers and attendees examined “faith-rooted life” in Canada. The incident involving the “jew-free” phrase occurred during a youth session and was “a public, anonymous audience-participation exercise” that produced a word cloud image, when asked what kind of community they wanted. It has since been widely circulated.

There were 50 entries visible in the word cloud, wrote Sharafeldin. But the facilitator did not notice the “jew-free” entry.

The August 12 update follows an “internal investigation” into the incident.

“MAC regrets that this phrase appeared at our Convention, even briefly and even though it originated from an anonymous, bad-faith submission with no connection to the youth or the discussion taking place in the session.” The organization did not explain what it meant by bad faith….

Source: Muslim Association promises ‘Jew-free’ incident will not recur at future youth events

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