Diversity & Newcomer Issues

Refugee policies are complicated, require sensitivity, and stir up much emotion. As a result, it is crucial that the public be involved in the development of such policies to provide various viewpoints and options. But with the recent refugee bill public debate was only held during the amendment process, not in the drafting of the legislation. Eventually all parties and many refugee advocacy organizations accepted the amendments, recognizing that there were some improvements, but still cautious about the prospects for future refugee cases. Read more »

Rebekah Sears looks at the proposed changes to the refugee system, questioning whether they emphasize Fast at the Expense of Fair? Rebekah notes several conditions the proposed changes need to meet in order to ensure the system remains fair. Read more »

Gregory Baum describes The Debate Over Religious Pluralism in Quebec, offering several reasons why the debate has differed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. Read more »

The Prime Minister sent our MPs home to recalibrate the government agenda. The break was 20 workdays, he said.

If you could set the agenda for 2010 during this pause, what would your list of the 20 most important policy concerns include?

CPJ has come up with a list of 20 key policy questions, one for each day. We believe these issues should be debated by MPs, the voice of the people, to set directions for Canada. Read more »

In the fall of 2009, Canada’s Governor General hosted an opening ceremony for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Indian Residential Schools. Canadian churches, with or without a heritage of Residential schools, all people of faith, and all people in Canada are implicated the legacy of the Residential schools. As the Prime Minister’s apology (June 11, 2008) implies, the Residential Schools and the assimilation policies behind them, are a shameful part of the history of this nation. That apology is our apology. If the words of apology and new relationship are to mean something they demand action – and the TRC is a significant first step in that direction. Read more »

A sign of faithfulness to God was always understood by the people of Israel and later by Christians as compliance with the Biblical injunction to care for the widows, orphans and aliens. Today, this Biblical reference can refer to the approximately 250,000 immigrants who come to our shores each year, plus refugee claimants, and over 200,000 temporary and seasonal workers. Read more »

Canada has always welcomed people from many different backgrounds through immigration. Newcomers have been instrumental in shaping Canada into the country it is today. However, as the economic goals of immigration take precedence, there are concerns that certain groups, particularly refugees and temporary foreign workers, are not being welcomed. It is time for decision makers to re-evaluate our primary purposes of immigration and the impacts of imminent policy changes. Read more »

The recent trend in Canadian immigration policy has been a shift to a greater focus on economic immigrants. Proponents of such change claim this is necessary for economic growth. However, economic growth is not an adequate measurement of the well-being of individuals. When it becomes the determining factor in policy, the well-being of the actual people involved is overlooked. With imminent changes coming to immigration policy, it is important to re-evaluate our motives and incorporate the human face of immigration. Read more »

Two weeks ago, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney stated that he believed immigrants should be required to speak English or French before being accepted into Canada, arguing that this would encourage newcomers to integrate more into Canadian society. His statement has since sparked a heated debate about immigration policy in Canada. How do we integrate newcomers into Canada? Is a language requirement fair and necessary for integration? Read more »

On February 5, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court of Canada rejected an appeal application that sought to have the Safe Third Country Agreement deemed unconstitutional. The appeal came from the Canadian Council for Refugees, the Canadian Council of Churches and Amnesty International, who were appealing a Federal Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the STCA. Read more »