Time to rethink Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country deal in face of U.S. immigration sweeps: Amnesty International researcher
Canada and a leading human rights organization may be on the same page when it comes to helping out Rohingya refugees from Myanmar more than 12,000 kilometres away, but there are issues closer to home needing more Canadian attention, says Amnesty International’s top researcher, pointing to what she sees as a declining human rights situation […]
Politics This Morning: Sajjan to give update on defence policy; Ambrose in Calgary to talk energy politics; Hussen to speak at immigration summit
Good Wednesday morning, Here’s a look ahead at what’s unfolding today: It’s an early day for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan who will be at CANSEC, the defence community’s trade show, to deliver the breakfast keynote at 8:25 a.m. Speculation has been building in recent weeks that Mr. Sajjan will unveil details on the feds’ defence […]
Penny wise and pound foolish: a cautionary tale about hearing refugee claims
OTTAWA—Last week, the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) announced that it would resume hearing refugee claims in Ottawa. Why is this a cautionary tale? Surely, selecting a regional office to decide refugee claims is a minor administrative matter. In the refugee business, policy decisions based on administrative priorities can often have dire consequences. In 2014, […]
Liberals risk new-Canadian vote with border-crossing response, say pollsters
The Liberals have switched to more hardline messaging around asylum seekers, say pollsters and observers, as the government’s response has left it open to attack in the face of increasing irregular border crossings and charges from the Conservatives that the Grits are soft on border security. Politically, the challenge and vulnerability for the Liberals is […]
Canada should apologize for turning away the MS St. Louis
It takes strength of character for a country to acknowledge its past mistakes. When we make a sincere effort to address the times we failed to uphold our ideals, we are more likely to stand for what is right in the future. This is what is often misunderstood when it comes to historic apologies. Certainly, […]
UN refugee agency appeals to Canada for funding amid ‘record level of difficulty’
The UN refugee agency is appealing to Canada for funding help in a year it says has been especially tough because of the record number of displaced people worldwide and obstacles in receiving money from other donors. “It’s both challenging because the needs are enormous on the ground and the number of refugees [and] people […]
Les Linklater’s job is to fix Phoenix—including for himself
Les Linklater’s job leading the team fixing the Phoenix pay system can be frustrating, daunting, and pressure-filled, but he empathizes with public servants’ payroll frustrations because he’s dealt with them firsthand. His base salary hasn’t been affected, he said, but he has issues related to parking and benefits. “I know they will catch up, but […]
Fight terrorism, don’t exploit immigrants
TORONTO—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should refrain from using immigration to avoid answering questions about terrorism. These are two separate issues, and he should stop boasting about his stand on immigration because the need for more immigrants in Canada has been widely explained, promoted, and accepted long ago. Of course, we all should be aware of […]
Canada’s responsibility to refugees globally must not falter
Just a little over two years ago, three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s tragic death on a Turkish beach shocked the conscience of Canadians. Over the following year, more than 26,000 Syrian refugees were welcomed into communities across the country, with government and private sponsors acting in partnership. For a time, Canada’s generosity and innovation captured the world’s […]
Health Canada, Corrections, IRCC miss performance targets, require ‘attention’
About 16 per cent of government programs tracked at the departmental level missed their performance targets and “require attention,” according to annual results reports released in November. Health Canada had 19 missed targets, and the Correctional Service of Canada had 17, with the pair topping the list for the most goals that required “attention.” That […]
