March 2011
6 posts
7 tags
The Star » Roma refugee complained of chest pain, Toronto inquest told:
“A Roma refugee who died of heart failure in immigration detention was thought to be faking chest pains to avoid his imminent deportation, a Toronto inquest has heard. A visibly frail Jan Szamko was spotted in the immigration holding centre on Rexdale Blvd., soiled in his own feces and urine, on Dec. 6, 2009, just...
5 tags
Toronto Star » Skin colour matters in access to good jobs:
“Based on 2006 long-form Census data, researchers found visible minority Canadian workers earned 81.4 cents for every dollar paid to their Caucasian counterparts. That’s according to a report by two major think tanks, the Wellesley Institute and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. […] What is most troublesome, Block...
4 tags
The Star » Refugee board defends adjudicators:
“The findings have already cast doubt on IRB member David McBean’s ability to judge fairly; McBean rejected all his asylum cases since his 2007 appointment — 62 in 2010, 72 in 2009 and 35 in 2008.
On Friday, lawyer Max Berger asked McBean to recuse himself from the board at a hearing for one of Berger’s clients — a request McBean...
6 tags
Vancouver Sun » Canadian kids denied basic services:
Across the country, hundreds and possibly thousands, of Canadian-born children are being denied access to the most basic services -a home, food, health care and schooling. They are being denied these necessities because their fathers abused their immigrant mothers, their mothers fled the relationship, and the fathers then reneged on...
3 tags
Embassy » Jim Creskey » ‘Generous’ refugee system an embarrassment: “If more Canadians really understood how their country’s “generous” refugee family reunification program really works, they would be embarrassed by its inefficiency and callousness. They would also be surprised at the amount of money collected and kept from applicants that are...
16 tags
Colorlines » Fourteen States Weighing Bills Modeled After Arizona’s SB 1070
“The SB 1070 copycat laws now introduced across the country all look similar, though most have been tweaked to make them even more draconian. In four states—Indiana, Utah, Mississippi and Kentucky—at least one chamber of the legislature has passed an SB 1070-style bill. In 10 states considering...
February 2011
17 posts
9 tags
London Review of Books » Adam Shatz » After Egypt:
”In the United States, the revolts were jarring: non-sequiturs in a conversation that, ten years after 11 September, continues to dwell on the threat of radical Islam. […] All of a sudden it is Washington, not the Middle East, that appears stagnant. The revolts in Tunisia and Egypt – and the proliferating signs of unrest in...
4 tags
CTV » Judge slams ‘abuse of process’ in Tamil detentions:
‘A federal court judge has chewed out government lawyers for using tactics in court that would keep Tamil migrants in jail indefinitely. […] “It’s frustrating,” said Chand. “I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve gotten someone released three times and they’re still...
5 tags
The Star » Race, gender remain workplace barriers in Ontario, Census data reveal:
“A new report based on 2005 Census data being released Thursday, shows that visible minorities in Ontario are far more likely to live in poverty, have trouble finding a job and earn less in the workplace. […] The report points to the urgent need for Ontario to re-introduce employment equity...
8 tags
Globe and Mail » Gerald Caplan » Stephen Harper’s worst enemy
“Every time I hear Michael Ignatieff shrieking at the Prime Minister to fire Ms. Oda I want to scream back: THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEV ODA. Of course she baldly lied, just as Jason Kenney lied about Kairos policy on Israel and Tony Clement lied when he claimed Statscan approved his crusade against the long-form...
9 tags
International Harm Reduction Association » IHRA joins International Coalition Intervening to save Vancouver Safe-Injection Site:
“An international coalition of harm reduction experts — comprised of the International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA), the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and CACTUS Montréal — has today been granted intervener status to appear before the Supreme Court of...
7 tags
Globe and Mail » Armine Yalnizyan » Canada’s immigration policy: Who is on the guest list?:
“This week, the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship rightly noted that immigrants are Canada’s ticket to economic growth in the coming years. The untold story is this: Canada’s growing reliance on newcomers is increasingly turning to temporary foreign workers — “guest workers”...
14 tags
The Lawyers Weekly » Funding orders must be exceptional, says the Supreme Court:
‘For the first time the Supreme Court has ruled that superior courts are empowered to order governments to fund public interest litigation before statutory courts and tribunals. […]
Brodsky suggested that “if governments don’t want the courts to attempt to deal with the problems that have been...
3 tags
Mia Mingus » Changing the Framework: Disability Justice. How our communities can move beyond access to wholeness:
“Disability is framed as lacking, sad and undesirable: a shortcoming at best, a tragedy at worst. Disabled people are used as the poster children of environmental injustice or the argument for abortion rights. For many people, even just the idea that we can understand...
3 tags
The Guardian » Chinese workers in Israel sign no-sex contract:
“Chinese workers at a company in Israel have been forced to agree not to have sex with or marry Israelis as a condition of getting a job. According to a contact they are required to sign, male workers may not have any contact with Israeli women - including prostitutes, a police spokesman, Rafi Yaffe, said. He said there was...
5 tags
Toronto Sun » Warren Kinsella » The problem with Kenney’s naked ambition:
“How much of what Jason Kenney has to say these days — about Sikh kirpans in the Quebec National Assembly, about veiled voting — is about governing?
And how much of it is about Jason Kenney, and his Conservative leadership ambitions?
Because, make no mistake, the Calgary MP is running to replace...
9 tags
Embassy » Getting the facts straight on Kenney’s story
“Immigration Minister Jason Kenney launched a rant against the judiciary last week in which he blamed the country’s judges for delaying the removal of failed asylum seekers. Anyone reading the newspaper articles that were written after the speech would have seen numerous legal and refugee experts criticize the...
3 tags
Ottawa Citizen » Canada sitting on application fees, ‘robbing immigrants blind’: critic:
“The government has banked tens of millions of dollars in immigrant application fees while taking little action to process the applications — a problem that will only be worsened when government reduces the overall number of visas issued in 2011 from 2010 levels, recently released...
5 tags
Globe and Mail » Bev Oda’s admission fuels howls of secrecy against Harper government:
“A Conservative cabinet minister risks being found in contempt of Parliament over accusations she lied to MPs and doctored a document to hide the fact that she was overruling her department.
International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda rose in the House of Commons Monday to admit that it was...
8 tags
The Hill Times » Mass detention of 300 Tamil migrants cost $18-million, says Canada Border Services Agency:
“The detention of more than 300 Tamil migrants who landed on Vancouver Island last summer aboard a rusty Thai cargo ship called the MV Sun Sea has so far cost $18-million, the Canada Border Services Agency says.
With 107 of the Tamils still in custody—and only five so far...
9 tags
Surrey Now » New Muslim immigration policy would fix past failures, says Surrey CHP candidate:
‘The federal Christian Heritage Party is calling for a national moratorium on immigration from Muslim countries to curb increasing radical Islamist power in Canada […] One term being knocked about lately is “Immigration Jihad,” the concept involving non-Muslims being...
3 tags
Human Rights Watch » US: Geneva Case Against Bush Shows Need to Prosecute Torture:
“Ahead of a trip to Geneva where Bush was scheduled to address a charity gala on February 12, 2011, two individuals planned to file complaints with the Geneva Canton prosecutor against President Bush for authorizing torture and other ill-treatment. However, on February 5 the trip was cancelled amid...
1 tag
Vida » The Count 2010:
“The truth is, these numbers don’t lie. But that is just the beginning of this story. What, then, are they really telling us? We know women write. We know women read. It’s time to begin asking why the 2010 numbers don’t reflect those facts with any equity. Many have already begun speculating; more articles and groups are pointing out what our findings suggest:...
January 2011
10 posts
8 tags
Sarthanapalos » A Guide: How Not To Say Stupid Stuff About Egypt:
‘“The Twitter Revolution”. No, this is the Revolution of the Egyptian people. Egyptians resisted for decades. They were tortured, jailed and repressed by the Mubarak and Sadat regimes. Twitter and Facebook are tools. They did not stand in front of the water canons, or go to jail for all these years to get the credit....
3 tags
New York Times » Gays Seeking Asylum in U.S. Encounter a New Hurdle:
‘Amid international outcry over news of the Czech Republic’s testing the veracity of claims of purportedly gay asylum seekers by attaching genital cuffs to monitor their arousal while they watched pornography, some gay refugees and their advocates in New York are complaining that they can be penalized for not...
5 tags
Andy Worthington » Prisoner Describes Peaceful Protest in Guantánamo on the Anniversary of Obama’s Failure to Close the Prison as Promised:
“Upon the anniversary of President Obama’s broken promise to close Guantánamo, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) reported that a man detained at the prison, who prefers to remain anonymous, told his attorney during an unclassified call of...
7 tags
Globe and Mail » David Beers » A metered Internet is a regulatory failure:
“Forget that caricature of the slobbering porn addict next door. Canadians accessed a treasure trove of National Film Board works by the millions of downloads last year. Universities and libraries across the country are working to move priceless archives onto the Internet, where, the idea was, they’d be...
2 tags
Beyond the Choir » How to pitch reporters | grassroots media & messaging tips pt. 1:
“To “pitch” a reporter or assignment editor on a news-worthy story is to call them up—typically after sending them a news release—and attempt to persuade them that they should come out (or send a reporter) and cover whatever you want them to cover (probably an upcoming event that you’re planning)....
1 tag
Sadri Khiari » The Force of Disobedience:
“The people who disobey. The people who resist in the obscurity of everyday life. The people who, when forgotten too long, remind the world of their existence and break into history without prior notice.
If there is something I have learned from the struggle of the Black American slaves, which I have studied a bit, is that there is no...
9 tags
Globe and Mail » Quebec pharmacists want money up front before supplying drugs to refugees:
“Norbert Gilmore, a professor emeritus of medicine at McGill University who specializes in the treatment of infectious diseases, pleaded with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to intervene personally.
“This is a disaster for the personal health of Canadian refugees and asylum-seekers and for...
8 tags
Human Rights Watch » World Report: Governments Soft-Talking Abusers:
‘“The ritualistic support of ‘dialogue’ and ‘cooperation’ with repressive governments is too often an excuse for doing nothing about human rights,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The EU’s ‘constructive dialogues’ are among the most egregious...
5 tags
Colorlines » How Undocumented Youth Nearly Made Their DREAMs Real in 2010:
“Activists like Saavedra and Lopez didn’t just have the year’s profound anti-immigrant fervor to confront. They also met real resistance from many Beltway immigration reform advocates who for years have been dedicated to a “comprehensive” reform strategy. The prevailing wisdom among key legislators—and now in...
4 tags
Haïkuleaks: Cable is poetry 65 haikus in 1830 cables:
“As is typical,
the Pope stayed above the fray
and did not comment.”
December 2010
20 posts
4 tags
Stop BC Arts Cuts » BC Liberals try to mask the disgrace of BC’s $6.50 per capita spending
“It has come to our attention that the BC Liberals are attempting to paper over the embarrassing fact of BC’s last-place position when compared with per capita arts funding in every other province. And they’re doing it with a dishonest abuse of statistics. Most of you know by now that the...
5 tags
AOL News » G. Willow Wilson » My Wish for 2011: A Better World for My Daughter:
“Now that I’m expecting my first child, my prayers for the state of the country have gotten more urgent. Yes, I think good thoughts for the America of tomorrow. The idea of bringing into the world a little girl who will be Muslim and Arab and American makes me anxious about the future. When I...
6 tags
Globe and Mail » Shrinking middle class makes Toronto a city of socioeconomic extremes:
“Toronto is becoming a city of stark economic extremes as its middle class is hollowed out and replaced by a bipolar city of the rich and poor – one whose lines are drawn neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
New numbers indicate a 35-year trend toward economic polarization is growing more pronounced:...
3 tags
Globe and Mail » David Noble, academic and activist, dies at 65:
“David Noble, one of North America’s most prominent critics of the corporatization of academia and a groundbreaking researcher on the influence of technology on society, died Monday evening at age 65. He passed away in hospital unexpectedly of natural causes with his family at his side, friends said.”
RIP.
3 tags
New York Magazine » Benjamin Wallace-Wells » Peretz in Exile:
“When I met Peretz ten weeks later, he still seemed on edge. The bigotry charge was what lingered. “I mean, it hurts,” he said. We were in the dining room of the Loews Regency Hotel in midtown Manhattan, where the waiters greet him as “Dr. Peretz.” At a basic level, he said, he can’t be a bigot; he mentioned two close,...
8 tags
The Star » Lawyers close legal clinic for Wellesley fire victims in protest:
“Legal aid lawyers have shut down a free clinic for Wellesley fire victims to protest what they’re calling an unfair compensation offer from Toronto Community Housing.
The agency has been “very inconsiderate in not giving people more time to consider the offer,” said Jack de Klerk of Neighbourhood Legal...
5 tags
Queers for Economic Justice » A Military Job Is Not Economic Justice: QEJ Statement on DADT:
“In just a few moments President Obama is scheduled to sign the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which in theory, will allow for gay and lesbian members of the military to serve without being in the closet.
Queers for Economic Justice staff and constituents have all met...
5 tags
Toronto Star » Liberals decry ‘draconian’ cuts to immigrant settlement groups
‘It’s not too late to reverse “draconian” funding cuts to immigrant settlement organizations that may force some to close their doors, Liberals urged the federal government Thursday.
The Conservatives are cutting national settlement funding allocations by $53 million a year, most of which is affecting...
4 tags
Al Jazeerah » Cindy Sheehan » Don’t go, don’t kill!:
“Joining the US military should never be an option for the socially conscious while our troops are being used as corporate tools for profit, or hired assassins for imperial expansion. Soldiers are called: “Bullet sponges,” by their superiors and “dumb animals” by Henry Kissinger, the former...
4 tags
The Guardian » WikiLeaks cables: Bangladeshi ‘death squad’ trained by UK government:
“The British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organisations as a “government death squad”, leaked US embassy cables have revealed. Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been held responsible for hundreds of...
6 tags
Vancouver Sun » Tamil boat refugees: One woman’s story:
“The Harper government calls the shadowy individuals who helped smuggle 492 Tamil migrants to Canada aboard a cargo ship this summer “criminals” and “ruthless profiteers.” But one of the migrants who took that perilous three-month voyage with her two children considers them “saviours.”
...
8 tags
The Star » Heather Mallick » Remembering a ‘very good’ Iraqi girl:
“Green is your standard murderous pedophile except for one thing. He is absolutely clear that it is not his fault. It’s the army’s. “If I hadn’t ever been in Iraq, I wouldn’t be in the kind of trouble I’m in now,” he told a reporter as he campaigns for release.
No, he’d be in the same kind of trouble, but back in...
5 tags
IPS News » Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani » Israel Now Builds Separation Wall With Africa:
“After the separation barrier against Palestinian territories, Israel has begun to build a new wall, this one to keep migrants from Africa out. The new wall is coming up on the Egyptian border, and with Egyptian support.
The Israeli government approved plans late last month to...
5 tags
Rabble » Matthew Behrens » Mohamed Harkat condemned by a secret system of ‘justice’:
“Due to a system based on secret allegations that neither accused nor lawyers can contest, Harkat has, for eight years, been subject to a “security certificate,” a measure by which individuals can be detained, held indefinitely without charge, and ultimately be deported,...
6 tags
Al Jazeerah » Israel to build migrant centre:
Cabinet votes to build detention facility for thousands of Africans who cross illegally into the country every year.:
“Israel’s cabinet has voted to build a facility to hold the thousands of illegal immigrants who arrive every year mainly from Africa.
The move is designed to provide a centre in the country’s southern Negev...
9 tags
Surrey Leader » Refugee loans will continue: Minister:
“Before they can leave, Canadian-bound GARs [Government Assisted Refugees] must sign a loan for up to $15,000 to pay for travel and a medical exam before they arrive. Studies show repaying the transportation loans puts a significant burden on refugee families when they arrive in Canada. A recent study also showed many or most in...
7 tags
Democracy Now » WikiLeaks Cables Reveal U.S. Tried to Thwart Spanish Probes of Gitmo Torture and CIA Rendition:
“Spanish prosecutors are coming under criticism for revelations that they shared information on cases they were involved in with U.S. officials. According the leaked cables, U.S. officials were worried in particular about investigations pursued by the world-renowned Spanish...