Employers get permission to pay foregin workers less

I think this is a step backwards.  This move will create more friction between Canadian workers and foreign born workers. Canadian born workers will see foreign temporary workers as a threat, not only to taking away jobs from Canadians but also of lowering the standard of living for workers who, if they want to compete for jobs will have to accept lower wage. If, on the other hand, the Canadian born workers receive higher wage than foreign workers for work of equal value then where is the justice? Could this be challenged under the Human Rights Code. What is the reason for this differential treatment?
 When foreign workers come here they work very hard and have to send money home to support large families. Many work under stressful conditions without family support and this added stress this decision might make would only exacerbate things for them.

What do you think?  Please share your ideas

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/04/27/mb-labour-foreign-workers-pay-120427.html

Man killed and ate wife's flesh

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/man-accused-killing-wife-eating-flesh-acted-self-defense-article-1.1058091#commentpostform

Fertility rates drop for immigrant women 

Immigrant women tend to have fewer children the longer they've lived in Canada, Statistics Canada reported  The agency's researchers speculate that fertility rates decrease because the women quickly integrate into mainstream Canadian life, even mimicking the rate at which women living in Canada become pregnant.
Young foreign-born women who had received part of their education in Canada were most likely to resemble Canadian-born women when it came to fertility rates.

Bollywood Actress beheaded

A stunning young Bollywood actress was killed in a gruesome murder that seems to be straight out of a horror movie.
Meenakshi Thapar, 26, was kidnapped, strangled and beheaded by two aspiring actors whom she met on the set of her latest film, “Heroine,” London’s Telegraph reported.
According to police, Amit Jaiswal and his girlfriend Preeti Surin allegedly lured Thapar on a trip with them to Gorakhpur, a small town known for its Buddhist temple.
During the trip, however, the duo reportedly held Thapar hostage and threatened her mother that they would force Thapar to do pornography if their demands were not met.
Her mother paid 60,000 rupees (about $1,150) but never saw her daughter again.
Instead, according to the report, the couple strangled and beheaded Thapar and dumped her torso in a water tank before throwing her head out of a bus window.
“They wanted to extort money from her family. They have confessed to the crime. She was strangulated in a hotel and her body was hacked into pieces and thrown in a water tank. They threw her head from a moving bus while traveling back to Mumbai,” a detective told the Telegraph.
They were busted when they were caught with Thapar’s cell phone SIM card and confessed to the killing. Authorities are hoping the accused killers can lead them to the actress’ body.
http://www.inquisitr.com/223022/bollywood-actress-meenakshi-thapar-kidnapped-by-costars-beheaded/

Pakistan's Women Get a Helping Hand From Maryam Bibi - Worldpress.org

This woman is putting her life on the line to protect the rights of women in her community.  Her story is hopeful and inspiring.  We all can learn something from her dedication, her will and sense of right and wrong.

Pakistan's Women Get a Helping Hand From Maryam Bibi - Worldpress.org

Religion and Work

: ILO Online 2012/11 - Decent work and social justice: a spiritual perspective

 Decent work and social justice: a spiritual perspective

 How do different religious traditions view the world of work and can
 they play a part in promoting ILO core values? A new publication
 entitled *Convergences: decent work and social justice in religious
 traditions*, explains the positions of various religious traditions
 regarding social justice and decent work issues. The ILO*s special
 adviser for socio-religious affairs, Pierre Martinot-Lagarde spoke to
 ILO Online.

 http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/insight/WCMS_178125/lang--en/index.htm
 

Immigration Backlogs eliminated

Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - March 2012

The latest immigration intervention by the government is stirring controversy over a big move to purge backlogged applications.

The decision was announced as part of the annual budget released this week to the public. In it, the Conservative government has included over $130-million in refunded fees for those whose applications were in queue before 2008. The applications will no longer be processed.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney hinted at the move earlier this month when speaking to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa.

“I do think that we can’t continue to tell people that they’re going to wait for eight years for a decision on whether they can come to Canada,” said Kenney in his speech. “It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to our economy.”

Kenney pointed to New Zealand as an example of a successful intervention by the government to eliminate an immigration backlog. In 2003, that country passed similar legislation which reduced waiting times drastically.

Approximately 284,000 applicants and their families will be affected. Those who still wish to apply for immigration will have to start the process from the beginning, which now takes only about one year to complete.

However, as many critics are pointing out, there is one major catch in that the immigration regulations changed in 2008. Previously all sorts of occupations qualified under the Skilled Worker Immigration category. Since 2008, only 19 occupations qualify.

Furthermore, the language requirements increased at that time. Many hopeful immigrants who had applied before these changes, therefore, would no longer be able to apply.

Those who have applied since 2008 will be unaffected. Approximately 160,000 applications are currently in that processing queue.

Source: Globe and Mail

Question - Please respond

What do you think of the government's recent announcement of the changes to immigration settlement services?

This was in my mail today - BEWARE of SCAMMERS

AN EXAMPLE OF A SCAM LETTER

From: Bon Blka [mailto:belkca@ymail.com]
Sent: April-16-12 4:35 AM
To: (my name was here) and this came to my work

 Subject: It's Urgent, Please Respond

Hope you get this on time,I made a trip this past weekend to Aberdeen,Scotland and had my bag stolen from me with my passport and credit cards in it.The embassy is willing to help by letting me fly without my passport,I just have to pay for a ticket and settle Hotel bills. Unfortunately for me, I can't have access to funds without my credit card,I've made contact with my bank but they need more time to come up with a new one.I was thinking of asking you to lend me some quick funds that I can give back as soon as I get in. I really need to be on the next available flight.

I can forward you details on how you can get the funds to me. You can reach me via email or May Field Hotel's desk phone, the numbers are, +449524070344

Best regards,

Bon Blka

DO NOT RESPOND OR SEND MONEY TO PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW. THIS IS A FRAUDULENT LETTER.

Immigrants cloak family violence

Immigrant women are more likely to suffer physical and psychological abuse by their partners and are less likely to report it, a new study suggests.
The Canadian Council on Social Development released the report Monday, marking International Women's Day.
A recent immigrant to Canada left says she left her husband because he was violent. "Meena" (not her real name) came to Canada from India in 2002. She says her husband is looking for her and she doesn't want to be found.

http://www.fcpp.org/files/1/Culturally-Driven%20Violence%20Against%20Women.pdf


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2004/03/08/immigrant_violence040308.html

Resources - Immigrant Women

Working with Immigrant Women: Issues and Strategies for Mental Health Professionals

Edited by Sepali Guruge and Enid Collins

Working with Immigrant Women: Issues and Strategies for Mental Health Professionals addresses the gap between the needs of newcomer women and established structures and practices in Canada’s mental health care system.

With an interest in changing paradigms in mental health practice, the multidisciplinary group of authors—including researchers, mental health practitioners, health promoters, community development workers, university professors, diversity trainers, program coordinators and community mental health advocates—analyzes issues affecting women’s mental health and illnesses within an immigration and settlement context, critically examines literature and current research and suggests practice strategies for mental health professionals working with this population.

Working with Immigrant Women highlights the intersecting oppressions experienced by women while emphasizing their strengths and resiliencies. It also demonstrates how women are active participants in shaping their mental health and responding to mental health problems.

Topics include:

• theoretical perspectives
• recognizing social determinants of depression, the role of spirituality, issues around interpretation and barriers to accessing services and their implications for practice
• working with specific groups: Sudanese, Caribbean, lesbian, refugee and older women and girls
• critical concerns for women: trauma, intimate partner violence and postpartum depression.

The authors provide innovative approaches that mental health professionals can use to enhance current practice and ensure equitable, relevant and comprehensive care.

This book is a valuable resource for health care professionals, administrators, educators, researchers and policy-makers, and is an ideal course text.

• ISBN 978-0-88868-535-3 • 336 pages • paperback
• $39.95 • published 2008 • product code PG124

Read online excerpts from Working with Immigrant Women.

http://www.camh.net/Publications/CAMH_Publications/ordering_information.html

Sexism in the Media

The media helps to perpetuate sexist views of women and trivializes their efforts at changing the world because of their biases.  This article is instructive:

http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/154869

Women of Faith and men's insecurity

Cairo: The Faith Freedom.Org reported that bananas, cucumbers, carrots and zucchini are among the fruits and vegetables that cannot be touched by women according to a ban issued by an unnamed Islamic Cleric based in Europe.
The Cleric said that by not touching these forbidden foods that resembles the male sexual organ women can avoid “sexual thoughts”.
The cleric dictated that women should not even get close to bananas or cucumbers. "If women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve," the cleric said.
The news about this latest ban against women went viral on the web with liberal muslims feeling enraged and embarrassed.