Pakistanis and Canadian visas
From the Newspaper | 2 days ago
THIS is in response to the article ‘Pakistani-Canadians: falling below the poverty line’ (May 16, Dawn.com) by Murtaza Haider. I am a chartered accountant in Canada and am of Pakistani origin. I run my own practice in downtown Toronto. I appreciate how Murtaza has brought many facts to the surface and provided statistics on Pakistani-born immigrants.

However, articles on any subject are good only when there is a critical analysis. The article in question is one-sided. It only blames the Pakistanis and whatever is happening in Pakistan for all the immigration statistics presented. It does not show the other side of the picture where covert policies are being used by the Canadian government and even by some other governments in the world. A good example is that of France. I agree that many Pakistanis are making much more than they declare, which is bad practice as well.

Minister Kenney’s Office releases statement regarding article in La Presse
Ottawa, June 12, 2012 — The Office of the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, released the following statement today regarding an article that appeared on Monday in La Presse:

On June 11, 2012, La Presse journalist Anabelle Nicoud wrote an article about Joanna Martinez. Ms. Nicoud did not approach CIC before writing the article.

Stories presenting only one side of a story can lead to public distrust of the rule of law. Factually incorrect or incomplete reporting usually leaves the impression that Canada’s refugee determination system is unjust or heartless. In fact, Canada has the most generous and fair refugee determination system in the world. Less than one per cent of the decisions made by the highly-trained adjudicators on the Immigration and Refugee Board are overturned by the federal courts on appeal. That is a remarkable record, and one of which Canadians should be proud.

In order to ensure that the reputation of our refugee determination system is not tarnished unfairly, we are releasing the full chronology of Ms. Martinez and her interactions with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Although privacy laws generally forbid us from releasing such information, in this case Ms. Martinez has a long, public record in front of criminal and civil courts in Canada and the United States. We are releasing only the public information, which is still an incomplete picture of the case.

We are taking the unusual step of writing this public letter in order to remind journalists and the public alike that immigration stories are no different from any other news story: Journalists should present the complete story, and not simply rely on one person’s self-interested and uncorroborated account of events. Misleading stories on important subjects damage the public discourse in Canada.

Our request is simple: If you are a journalist writing about someone facing removal from Canada, please get a privacy waiver from the subject of your story so that we can provide the complete file to you. And if the subject of your story or their lawyer is refusing to provide you with a privacy waiver and the written decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board, you may want to ask them and yourself why they are refusing to do so.

Summary of facts:

Ms. Martinez is a fugitive, with a long criminal history in at least three states: New York, New Jersey and Florida.
She has used at least 15 (possibly as many as 20) different aliases in the past.
She has claimed at least nine different dates of birth ranging from August 8, 1970 to April 27, 1979.
She has also claimed various different places of birth.
She claimed refugee status in Canada, maintaining that her husband Fernando Suarez-Garcia was kidnapped by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Force (FARC) and that her life was in danger in Colombia. Ms. Martinez has claimed various dates for the kidnapping, ranging from June 23, 2004 to July 29, 2004.
The IRB found that Ms. Martinez was not “credible.” Ms. Martinez could not satisfy the IRB that she and her family were actually in Colombia at the time of the claimed kidnapping.
The IRB found that Ms. Martinez could not answer direct questions and was inconsistent in her answers.
When asked about her arrival in Toronto on August 2, 2004, Ms. Martinez claimed that she enjoyed Toronto and that she remembers there being snow on the ground.
Fernando Suarez-Garcia, the husband of Ms. Martinez, has been found to be a member of a criminal organization specializing in jewellery and money theft in the Montreal area.

Immigrants who work in ethnic “enclaves” in major cities earn less than other Canadians and have a tougher time adapting to this country’s economy, according to an internal federal government document. National Post files

Immigrants who don’t speak English or French end up working in ethnic ‘enclaves:’ report
Peter O’Neil, Postmedia News Jun 13, 2012 – 10:02 AM ET | Last Updated: Jun 13, 2012 10:08 AM ET
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OTTAWA — Immigrants who work in ethnic “enclaves” in major cities earn less than other Canadians and have a tougher time adapting to this country’s economy, according to an internal federal government document.

“Studies found that enclaves have a negative impact on the earnings growth for male and female immigrants,” says a report obtained under the Access to Information Act by immigration lawyer Richard Kurland.

The point was included in a federal report prepared in early 2011 to assess minimum language standards for immigrants brought to Canada under the “provincial nominee” (PN) program.

The report focused on concerns within Citizenship and Immigration Canada about the ability of program nominees in some provinces to speak one of Canada’s two official languages.

Coquitlam’s Brian Yoon was one of seven young Canadian artists to win a 2011 Silva Gelber Music Foundation award. Photograph by: File , PNG

Coquitlam musician wins award at Stepping Stone awards in Ottawa
By Kim Nursall, Vancouver Sun June 11, 2012

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Coquitlam’s Brian Yoon, 25, won $1,000 for the ‘best performance of a Canadian composition’ for his cello performance of Vincent Ho’s Stigmata.The win is one of many accolades that Yoon has collected during his classical music career.

Yoon won the 2011 Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award. He has also been featured in performances with the Vancouver Academy, the University of Ottawa, the Guelph Symphony and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestras.

Yoon’s performance of the First Shostakovich Concerto at the National Arts Centre was praised by the Ottawa Citizen as an “impressive account” with “exquisite phrasing.”

Born in Seoul, Korea, Yoon started music lessons at the age of six. After immigrating to Canada, he continued cello studies at the Vancouver Academy of Music, the international Morningside Music Bridge Program and the NAC’s Young Artists Program. He has also taken master classes at Banff, Domaine Forget and Orford.