Attracting the immigrant workforce
Published On Tue, 15 May 2012

In Canada, a country built on the determination of foreign workers, we are all immigrants-or so the adage goes.
As the number of highly skilled foreign workers skyrockets – 250,000 immigrants enter the country annually – connecting the dots between ready and able employees and burgeoning small businesses is increasingly important.
Statistics Canada predicts that by 2031, 80% of Canada’s population growth will come from immigration.
In Toronto, 20 per cent of the workforce is made of immigrants.
Peter Paul, project leader of ALLIES (Assisting Local Leaders with Immigrant Employment Strategies), says skilled foreign workers present an opportunity for small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
“In general, the skilled immigrant cohorts in these cities tend to have a higher level of education than the population in general,” says Paul. “In large cities the number of skilled immigrants are often able to fill difficult, highly specialized positions.”

'Family sponsorship is a privilege, not a right.' — Immigration Minister Jason Kenney Photograph by: . , Chris Wattie/Reuters files

Health care cost for older immigrants pegged at nearly $3 billion
By Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News May 17, 2012

‘Family sponsorship is a privilege, not a right.’ — Immigration Minister Jason Kenney
Photograph by: . , Chris Wattie/Reuters files

OTTAWA — Elderly immigrants cost the government approximately $3 billion annually in health care, while those over 50 who have worked have never reported earning more than $15,000 a year, figures obtained by Postmedia News suggest.

The figures are contained in a memo produced just three months before the government froze the parent and grandparent stream and introduced a 10-year, multiple entry supervisa that requires visiting relatives to show proof of a year’s worth of health insurance as a stopgap measure while Ottawa deals with a huge backlog in applications.

Kenesh Austin, with daughter Nyoke Austin, talks with husband Richard, who is in a United States detention centre. Ron Albertson/The Hamilton Spectator

Nicole O’Reilly Fri, 18 May 2012
Family worries after Hamilton man detained by U.S. border agency

Kenesh Austin, with daughter Nyoke Austin, talks with husband Richard, who is in a United States detention centre.
Ron Albertson/The Hamilton Spectator

Richard Austin sits in a Buffalo detention facility, with no idea when he will get out or why he is being treated like a criminal.

Officially, the Hamilton resident is neither a citizen of Canada, nor of the United States and that is partly why he finds himself in the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility.

Austin willingly travelled to the border in Niagara Falls Monday after being ordered out of Canada. But once there he said he was strip-searched, forced into an orange jumpsuit and stuffed in a cell where he now sits, waiting.

“I had no idea what was going on,” he said on the phone from the detention facility, adding that he’s now “in jail.”

Austin, 32, was born in Guyana, but was raised by his grandparents after his father died when he was 6. He moved to the U.S. when he was 12 and became a permanent resident there.

Visible minorities increasing in Canada

Les Whittington

OTTAWA—By 2031, nearly 40 per cent of children under the age of one in Canada will belong to a visible minority group, Statistics Canada projects.

This is an increase from 22 per cent only six years ago — a trend that is similar to an increase in foreign-born and visible minorities in the United States.

The U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday spotlighted a landmark demographic shift, reporting that for the first time more than half of children being born in the United States belonged to ethnic or racial minorities.

Assessing similar trends in Canada, StatsCan projects that the visible minority population in this country will continue to be bolstered by sustained immigration and slightly higher fertility rates in the next 15 years or so.

By 2031, Canada could be home to 14.4 million people belonging to a visible minority group, more than double the 5.3 million reported in 2006. The rest of the population, in contrast, is projected to increase by less than 12 per cent during that period, the federal statistical agency projects.

The South Asian population, which would still be the largest visible minority group in 2031, could more than double from roughly 1.3 million in 2006 to 4.1 million by then. The Chinese population is projected to grow from 1.3 million to 3 million, StatsCan estimated.

Joleen Kelly Patterson, last seen in Toronto. Convicted of importing narcotics. (Canada Border Services Agency)

5 men and a woman added to ‘Wanted’ list
By QMI Agency

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) added six more people to its Wanted list on Wednesday, including a woman.

The agency launched a website last July with profiles of 30 individuals suspected or convicted of crimes and believed to be hiding out in Canada illegally, and enlisted the public’s help in finding the fugitives. The CBSA has continued to expand the list since.

To date, the CBSA has located 25 wanted people in Canada, of which it has removed 17 from the country. Five others on the list were found abroad.

Wanted are:

Omid Bayani, last known to be in Vancouver. Wanted for “serious criminality.”

Giorgio Cote, last known to be in Toronto. Wanted for “organized criminality.”

Hector Sebastian Gordon, last known to be in Winnipeg. Convicted of assault, robbery and drug charges.

Joleen Kelly Patterson, last seen in Toronto. Convicted of importing narcotics.

Juan Carlos Pinto Ku, last seen in Toronto. Faces a charge of assault with a weapon.

Giang Thanh Vo, last seen in Toronto. Convicted of armed robbery, assault and possession of a narcotic for the purpose of trafficking.