http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2013/04/18-immigration-portal-funds-sudbury.aspx

There is presumably much to smile about in Sudbury (image from immigrationsudbury.ca)

The City of Greater Sudbury’s immigration portal got a $115,000 boost from the province, money that will help maintain, manage and market the online tool, said MPP Rick Bartolucci announced today.

Funding of this project is provided through the Municipal Immigration Information Online program.

Alleged photo of Joel Saleem Bitar

The Toronto Police Service has charged an American man with 26 offences arising from the
G20 Summit in Toronto in June 2010.
Joel Saleem Bitar, 27, from New York City, returned to Canada from the United States
voluntarily and surrendered to police on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. He was taken to 23 Division
and processed on the outstanding Canada Wide Warrant for G20−related offences and held
in custody.
He is scheduled to appear in court at 2201 Finch Avenue West on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
at 10 a.m.
It is alleged that:
− the accused used a hammer to smash the windows of a TPS police car, while a police
officer was inside the vehicle, near the intersection of Queen Street West and Spadina
Avenue

http://www.spvm.qc.ca/en/documentation/3_1_4_persrecherchees.asp?noRech=165

Trois hommes arrêtés pour enlèvement et séquestration : le SPVM recherche un quatrième suspect 

Les enquêteurs de la région Ouest du Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) sollicitent l’aide du public afin de localiser le dernier suspect impliqué dans un enlèvement avec séquestration.

Le 29 novembre dernier en fin d’après-midi, la victime marchait sur la rue Sainte-Anne dans le secteur de Pierrefonds. Arrivé à l’angle du boulevard de Pierrefonds, une voiture Honda Civic grise s’est immobilisée à sa hauteur. Les quatre suspects qui y prenaient place lui ont ordonné d’entrer dans le véhicule sous la menace d’une arme à feu. Ils l’ont amenée quelques kilomètres plus loin, sur le chemin de la Rive Boisée. Les suspects l’ont alors frappée au visage avant de le détrousser. Ils l’ont ensuite reconduit à sa résidence en le menaçant pour qu’il garde le silence.

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/pdfs/26167.pdf

This is 51 Division’s latest version of “Project Captivate.” They are requesting the public’s
assistance locating a wanted man.
A warrant has been issued for Jugraj Singh, 28, of Toronto, for:
1) Assault with a weapon
2) Assault
3) Theft Under
He is described as white, 6’8”, 200 lbs., brown eyes, long black hair with a long beard.

http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/15/house-owners-fined-after-32-people-found-living-in-two-single-family-homes

These homes help us embrace the rich cultural heritage of diverse working conditions

The owners of an Asian grocery store housing employees on Beaverbrook Ave. have been fined after bylaw officers found at least 32 people living in the two single-family homes.

Food Island, a store on Wonderland Rd. and Oxford St., came into the spotlight in January after a stabbing near a home several blocks away.

The owners face fines of $3,500.

After the stabbing, several neighbours complained about the number of people living at 1703 and 1709 Beaverbrook Ave.

Both homes are zoned as residential, meaning they can’t have more than five bedrooms each.

However, a total of 17 bedrooms were constructed – eight at 1709 and nine at 1703, said Orest Katolyk, the city’s bylaw manager.

“This was one of the most intensified single detached dwellings we have seen,” Katolyk said.

“Based on a bed count, a minimum of 32 occupants resided at these homes in this developing area.”

Beaverbrook Ave., is within walking distance of Food Island. The two homes were build less than five years go, Katolyk said.

The additional bedrooms were constructed mostly in the basement, he said.

“The bedrooms were for multiple occupancy. There were basically mattresses everywhere,” Katolyk said.

Curtis Nguyen, a store manager who spoke on behalf of the owners, who don’t speak English, said Monday the additional bedrooms were taken down shortly after the police and bylaw officer presence in January.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Love+triangle+murderer+must+serve+years+jail/8245911/story.html

The defendant required an interpreter during the three-year trial

A man who fatally stabbed two people involved with him in a love triangle has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 15 years.

In February, Chang Xi Wang, 33, pleaded guilty to the August 2009 manslaughter of his estranged wife, Yan Lin, 37, and to the second-degree murder of her former husband, Zhe Hu, 38.

The slayings happened in front of horrified patrons and staff at a McDonald’s restaurant on No. 3 Road in Richmond.

In the months leading up to the murder, Wang got more and more angry at Lin and Hu, immigration consultants who were divorced from one another but still living together.

Frances Barrick, Record staff
Tue Apr 02 2013 16:19:00
Health clinic for refugees to open Thursday in Kitchener

KITCHENER – A health clinic dedicated to the ongoing care of refugees will open Thursday in Kitchener.

It is the first such clinic in Waterloo Region.

“I think it is a service that needs to exist….I think here is a huge need,” said Dr. Michael Stephenson, 34, who is the director and sole physician of this new clinic called Sanctuary Refugee Health Centre.

The clinic will operate on Thursdays at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church at 825 King St. W. until Stephenson said he finds a more permanent location.

A NOTE FROM CIR:

For decades, immigration has been sold to us as a moral obligation, a financial requirement and a natural inevitability by greedy corporations putting big profits before what’s best for Canadians.

Support for an aggressive immigration policy has been marketed to us like a product by interests who are unconcerned for Canada but devoted to their shareholders. Almost everyone bought in, and those who show reluctance  are derided. However, this latest move from RBC is such a clear example of why immigration is evil and how its justification to Canadians has been nothing but a scheme to perpetuate the worst aspects of capitalism.

 Writ large, immigration creates an unlimited source of consumers and a race to the bottom for wage-payers by importing an increasingly desperate population of job seekers.

 Marx had it almost right: immigration is the reserve army of labour, and an equally inexhaustible contingent of consumerism.

 It is important to be reminded that sentiments critical of immigration are not strictly right-wing. Big business right-wingers can never get enough immigration. Big business wants open borders.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/multicultural-soccer-game-ends-referee-knocked-unconscious-142749959.html

A multicultural soccer tournament held in Regina this week was a perfect example of cultures coming together in a respectful and peaceful way. Except for that huge brawl.

CIR: Perhaps one day, the symbolism of apartheid evident in the standard soccer ball colour scheme will be overcome.

And the referee who got punched in the face.

Regina Police are on the hunt for a 26-year-old man who allegedly knocked a 45-year-old referee unconscious during an indoor soccer match, Wednesday night.

The match was part of the annual World Class Players Cup Tournament, which pits local players of various backgrounds against one another. The focus is on providing competitive soccer and highlighting cultural communities.

The incident happened during a game between Team Poland and Team Sudan, following a brawl that “went beyond the normal scuffles that happen in all levels of competitive sporting events.”

The WCP Cup Organizing Committee broke the series of events down in a blog posted to their website. It said that about 15 minutes after that scuffle, which resulted in four players being ejected, another Team Sudan player committed a “hard tackle” and was thrown out of the game.

A York Region reader responds to the following article: http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/2518447-parents-urged-to-speak-up-on-school-dress-code/

How dare board consider dress code?

I am truly surprised to see that a school board in this enlightened era would propose something as oppressive and repressive as a dress code.

The primary purpose of our modern education system is to immerse children in the “ities”: diversity, sensitivity … and all of the other touchy-feely arts.

Viewed through the political prism guiding so much of the curriculum’s agenda, the idea of a dress code is shockingly unthinkable.

For female students, the notion of a dress code is sexist and paternalistic. How dare the men of a school board dictate what young women can and cannot wear?

For students of different ethnic backgrounds, the notion of a dress code is racist and imperialistic.

http://www.durhamregion.com/opinion/editorial/article/1603807–durham-students-work-to-address-shadeism

Durham students, having vanquished racism, turn their efforts to eliminating “shadeism” among coloured peoples

Students across Durham have talked about, explored, acted against and challenged racism from the time they entered elementary schools in the region’s communities.

They did work units on multiculturalism, projects on race relations, joined or started cultural clubs, and openly discussed the damaging effects of racism. In short, it is a topic well travelled by elementary and high school students in public and Catholic schools.

Thus, it’s not surprising, though extremely encouraging, to learn that a group of students at G.L. Roberts Collegiate in Oshawa is challenging a more subtle form of racism experienced among a subset of students, referred to as ‘shadeism’.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/canadian-press-newsalert-royal-bank-makes-public-apology-for-outsourcing-202551151.html

RBC is eager to access foreign markets not only to pay its workers less but also to find customers. In 2005 the bank recommended increased immigration levels to 400,000 per year.

Royal Bank’s top executive moved to salvage the bank’s reputation Thursday, issuing a public apology over a week-long outsourcing controversy that has also rebounded on the federal Conservative government.

Speaking to reporters in Calgary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government will bring in a series of reforms “in very short order” to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to ensure there are no more abuses.

While not commenting on the specific RBC issue, Harper said he has been concerned about media stories of abuses of the program, as well as the ballooning numbers of foreign workers that have been brought into the country.

“I think it is important for Canadians and all businesses to understand that the purpose of this program is to provide temporary, temporary help in cases where there are absolute and acute labour shortage. It does not have broader purposes than that,” he said.

The mea culpa by RBC chief executive Gord Nixon and move by the government follows a backlash after Canadian information technology workers at the bank complained they were being replaced by foreign workers, some of whom were being brought to Canada for training.