This multiple-choice type of question generally focuses on vocabulary or grammar points, such as which form of a verb to use. Students read a sentence and then indicate which of four choices correctly completes the sentence.

Immigrants seeking low-skilled jobs to face mandatory language testing: Jason Kenney
Postmedia News
Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2012
By Tobi Cohen

Thousands of newcomers destined for low-skilled jobs Canadians don’t want in far-flung parts of the country will now be subject to mandatory language testing, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Wednesday during a stop in Saskatoon.

Starting July 1, Kenney said Provincial Nominee Program applicants in semi and low skilled professions will be tested and will be required to meet a minimum standard when it comes to listening, speaking, reading and writing in Canada’s official languages — English and French.

Additional changes will be made to the program to ensure economic streams are also prioritized.

493 Tamil migrants arrived in B.C. aboard the MV Sun Sea in August 2010. Department of National Defence

Man arrested in France for smuggling Tamil migrants
By Monisha Martins – Maple Ridge News
Published: April 11, 2012 8:00 AM

A man accused of trying to smuggle Tamil asylum seekers into Canada aboard the MV Sun Sea two years ago has been arrested in France.

Thayakaran Markandu faces a charge of organizing entry in Canada contrary to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for allegedly organizing the trip that brought 492 Tamil migrants from Thailand to Victoria in 2010 aboard a rusty 59-metre-long cargo ship.

Markandu was taken into custody last week by French authorities and Interpol agents who were acting on behalf of the Canadian government.

All 492 Tamil migrants found on board have all made refugee claims. Many of the women and men were held in two Maple Ridge provincial prisons while federal agencies processed them. Men who Canadian authorities allege were the ship’s crew remain in custody at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre

Markandu is the first person charged in connection with the MV Sun Sea. An international search was launched after the charges were laid last month in B.C. provincial court.

Extradition proceedings are underway to bring Markandu to Canada.

Fredericton man on hunger strike for Congo collapses, rushed to hospital

Read it on Global News: Fredericton man on hunger strike for Congo collapses, rushed to hospital

Mwenengabo

FREDERICTON – After going more than a month without food, a Fredericton man on a hunger strike has been rushed to hospital.

Freddy Mwnengabo collapsed early Thursday afternoon, 38 days after his hunger strike began, and was taken to the Dr. Everett Chalmers by ambulance.

Mwenengabo stopped eating Mar. 5 in protest of government plans to take part in the Francophonie Summit in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He has called on the government to boycott the summit because of ongoing human rights abuses in the country.

Anthony Njoku, a friend and spokesperson for Mwenengabo, says doctors are examining the man’s condition.

When he spoke to Global News last week, Mwnengabo said he was in pain and had lost a significant amount of weight in the weeks since his protest began.

Mwenengabo, a human rights activist and refugee, has been living in Canada since 2009.

He was recently reunited with his two adopted sons, who arrived in Fredericton from Congo Apr. 5.

More details to come.
Read it on Global News: Fredericton man on hunger strike for Congo collapses, rushed to hospital

No criminal record for illegal staffing

By: Mike McIntyre

A Winnipeg man has been spared a criminal record for employing illegal workers at a city sushi restaurant.

Jung Won Choi, 57, was given an 18-month conditional discharge Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. His sentence includes a unique provision that he make a $12,000 donation to two city organizations that work closely with new arrivals to Canada.

Provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie rejected the Crown’s bid for a $20,000 fine, which would have left Choi with a record. Choi was arrested in July 2010 after an extensive Canada Border Services Agency investigation that began more than a year earlier. The probe revealed six foreign workers from South Korea were employed at Kenko Niwa on Corydon Avenue, where Choi was paying them much less than others with work permits.

Several of the illegals told investigators they felt they would be sent back to their homeland if they complained about their working conditions. Harvie said Tuesday it’s clear Choi was manipulating and exploiting them. Choi immigrated to Canada from Korea in 2004.

The Crown called Choi’s conduct “predatory” and said courts must send a strong message of deterrence. Harvie said a formal conviction can still accomplish that.

Defence lawyer Ken Zaifman told court his client misunderstood his responsibilities based on bad advice from an immigration consulting firm.

End ‘suffering in isolation’ among abused immigrant youth: Toronto councillor

Natalie Alcoba

Michael Thompson

A Toronto councillor wants the city to look at establishing an “early-warning system” to detect and act on the abuse of immigrant children, floating the idea of a registry of youngsters who have just arrived in the city.

Councillor Michael Thompson says the case of Melonie Biddersingh, a Jamaican teenager whose remains were identified 18 years after being discovered in a burning suitcase north of Toronto, has convinced him that the municipality must do more to protect young newcomers in vulnerable situations.

Melonie’s father and step-mother were charged last month with her murder. Mr. Thompson said he believes many more young immigrants slip through the cracks, sometimes because they do not know where to get help. He will table a motion at city council on Wednesday that asks the city manager to “investigate the problem of abuse of immigrant children in Toronto” and report back on ways to improve co-ordination among local, federal and provincial agencies to better “monitor newly arrived children and ensure their well-being.”

“What we’re learning is that they’re all suffering in isolation. In many instances we’re not aware of them, in many instances they’re not enrolled in schools. So, we want to change the conditions in which they are currently living in,” Mr. Thompson told reporters.