Voies vers la prospérité: Canada

Family Day didn’t quite live up to its name for some Ontario families Monday. They couldn’t spend time with a father, a mother, a sibling or another relative — all immigrants awaiting deportation at a Lindsay, Ont., prison. A group of young people from Toronto and surrounding areas think that should change. About 80 of them came from as far as Peterborough and Guelph on Monday to rally in Christie Pits Park, hoping to raise awareness about what they say are nearly 200 immigrants being held at the Lindsay facility as their cases are decided. Canada, unlike other countries, doesn’t have a limit on how long people can be held pending deportation. It’s something the protestors want to see changed. They’re calling for a maximum holding time of 90 days and want to make sure people aren’t detained in maximum-security prisons like the one in Lindsay.

http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/1289382/youth-rally-on-family-day-in-support-of-families-of-detained-immigrants/

The dance hall looks nothing like a professional studio — there are no hardwood sprung floors or wall-to-wall mirrors. But nothing can dampen the enthusiasm and determination of these youthful dancers — many of whom have come to Canada on their own, without documents — to express their inner feelings and explore their passion for any dance form, from hip hop to salsa, dancehall, traditional African, jazz and break-dance. […] “You come here and check your worries and fears at the door,” said Francois Dushimiyimana, 20, who left his family behind in Rwanda when he sought asylum here in December 2013, via the United States. “We all go through our journey alone, and no one seems to understand. Here we meet other people in the same boat and share our stories. We have great support because we’ve been through the same, and we don’t judge one another.” Offered weekly at the Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre and St. Stephen’s Community House, the program was initiated by the FCJ Refugee Centre last fall to help some three dozen at-risk newcomer youth learn life skills through dance classes that would otherwise be out of their reach financially.

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/02/15/dance-imitates-life-in-class-aimed-at-helping-migrant-youth-cope-with-challenges.html

The Supreme Court of Canada this week is set to hear arguments in a number of cases calling into question the reach of the country’s human smuggling laws. Four of the five cases involve Sri Lankan migrants, and the fifth involves a Cuban man who fled to Canada, where he was denied refugee status after being convicted of human smuggling in the United States. The five, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, comprise both criminal cases and admissibility cases, which determine who can make refugee claims. The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is an intervener in a case involving dozens of undocumented Sri Lankan Tamils who arrived on the coast of British Columbia aboard the MV Ocean Lady in 2009. The BCCLA will argue that a section of the federal government’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) is too abstract and therefore unconstitutional.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bc-civil-liberties-association-to-argue-human-smuggling-cases-in-supreme-court/article23010829/

Vous souvenez-vous du 11 août 2014 ? Pour celles et ceux qui l’ignorent, c’est la date à laquelle le nombre maximal des demandes de Certificat de Sélection pouvant être déposé par les catégories Travailleurs Qualifiés (programme régulier), Entrepreneurs et Travailleurs autonomes a été atteint (soit environ six mois avant la date butoir pour postuler, qui avait été fixée au 31 Mars 2015). Pour de nombreux candidats, cette nouvelle fût difficile à « digérer » puisqu’elle s’est conclue par de multiples renvois de dossiers qui avaient pourtant été acheminés au bureau d’ Immigration, Diversité et Inclusion Québec avant le 11 août 2014 mais qui malheureusement n’ont pas été comptabilisés dans les quotas acceptables pour 2014. Les postulants toujours désireux d’immigrer dans la province du Québec doivent donc bien se préparer cette année. L’ouverture des quotas pour l’année 2015 est attendue pour le mois d’avril et déjà, beaucoup d’entre vous ont anticipé la préparation de tous les documents nécessaires à la composition d’un bon dossier, prêt à être soumis sans attente, dès le printemps prochain.

http://www.cameroonvoice.com/news/article-news-17698.html

More than a year after a Mexican woman hanged herself in a B.C. immigration detention centre, advocacy groups say the Canada Border Services Agency still lacks crucial oversight to prevent such deaths. Three human rights organizations say there is still no independent body overseeing CBSA actions, one of the key recommendations from a coroner’s inquest into the death of Lucia Vega Jimenez. […] Currently, detainees can complain about their treatment at their Immigration and Refugee Board detention hearings. But the board has no legal power over their treatment, only over whether they stay in detention. […]The agency has agreed to implement safeguards at the airport holding centre, like having border agency staff on site daily, and offering mental health and suicide training to both private guards and staff. But the CBSA has not yet created a new above-ground holding facility within a 30-minute drive of the airport, and it has not eliminated its use of private security guards, two other recommendations from the inquest into the woman’s death.

http://www.theprovince.com/life/Border+agency+still+lacks+oversight+year+after+Mexican+migrant+died+CBSA+holding+cell+advocates/10808750/story.html

A total of 779 candidates were selected in the inaugural round of Ottawa’s revamped skilled immigration program, but critics are already calling for the program to be fine-tuned. The successful applicants, selected at the end of January, accounted for 26 per cent of an estimated 3,000 people who entered the draw for the federal government’s highly-touted Express Entry program. The decisive factor was securing a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) by a prospective employer to prove a candidate possesses skills that are in high demand. Successful candidates were those who scored at least 886 points out of a maximum of 1,200. Securing a positive LMIA automatically earned applicants 600 points, while personal attributes such as education, language skills and work experience made up the other 600 possible points. However, in the aftermath of Ottawa’s temporary foreign worker program controversy, critics say it has become too difficult to acquire an LMIA as officials tighten the screening for assessing if a foreigner’s skills are in demand.

http://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2015/02/13/critics-call-for-fine-tuning-of-federal-skilled-immigration-program.html