Fear of the Other - America Immigration Dilemma

Why do we fear each other for no apparent reason? do we fear because we are reacting to some cave man trigger that the stranger is coming to eat out their food? What if I tell you that is not true? What if I tell you that the stranger is coming to ensure you get more food, more than you can eat in a lifetime? Why do people immigrate? Why do they go through all the humiliation, the hardships and the risks? What if they are coming to work to put honest food on their families' table and what if by helping a woman to nurture a child you might be helping her with another Einstein, another Mozart, another scientist who will have the answer to our medical problem, who will find a definitive cure for cancer, what if you knew that? Would you still deny those people entrance into a country with so much to give? Please let us open our minds and hearts as human beings. What is oneness of mankind is truly the only reality, what it by starving one part of you your are starving and killing yourself. What if when we are all healthy then we all with experience the best health? http://www.alternet.org/books/hate-and-fear-underscore-immigration-debate-america?akid=11060.35630.JYK5hu&rd=1&src=newsletter912238&t=18

Internalize racism

https://www.diversityinc.com/news/big-brother-host-racism-made-me-have-surgery-for-asian-eyes/?utm_source=SailThru&utm_campaign=newsletterLuke&utm_medium=DI&utm_content=2013-09-17&utm_term=news

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs - Immigrant/Refugee Support

The mission of the Family Centre is to bring programs, partnerships and resources together to empower and strengthen families and communities. We are seeking a qualified NEWCOMER SUPPORT/CASE COORDINATOR The Coordinator will provide case management and service coordination for refugees facing multiple barriers in their resettlement. RESPONSIBILITIES: To provide comprehensive assessment, service plan development, facilitated referrals, advocacy, linkages to community resources, coordination of services, and follow up for high-needs refugee families and individuals. QUALIFICATIONS: • Exceptional cross cultural competence and experience working with refugees is required • Degree in a Human Services field • Minimum of 2 years experience in direct client services, preferably in a service coordination and case management role • Equivalent combination of the above • Additional relevant languages an asset • Clear criminal record and child abuse registry check Term position extended until March 31, 2014 Please submit resumes by September 3rd, 2013 to: Millie Braun, Program Director Family Dynamics Inc. 401-393 Portage Avenue (Portage Place Offices) Winnipeg, MB R3B 3H6 or email: mbraun@familydynamics.ca We are an equal opportunity employer. POSTED: August 17, 2013

Accreditation of Foreign Credentials Made Easier

October 12, 2012

NEW MICROLOANS PROGRAM WILL HELP INTERNATIONALLY EDUCATED NEWCOMERS WORK IN THEIR FIELDS SOONER: MELNICK

A new microloans program called Recognition Counts! Micro Loans for Skilled Immigrants will help skilled immigrants put their education to work more quickly by helping remove barriers to getting Canadian certification, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Christine Melnick announced today.

“Recognition Counts! gives our province’s newcomers the resources they need to get their qualifications recognized, enter our labour market sooner and build a life for their families,” said Melnick.  “These microloans are good for our economy and they’ll make a real difference in the lives of these families.”

Recognition Counts! offers loans of up to $10,000, to cover everything from the cost of new tools to paying for certification exams or for additional training.  The program also gives low-income,
high-skilled newcomers valuable career and financial counselling to help address challenges with entering the labour market.

The Manitoba government is contributing $250,000 to the program for administration costs over three years.  Highlights of Recognition Counts! include:

• loans can be up to $10, 000, with payments as little as $10 a month;
• loans can be used to cover costs associated with certifications including registration and exam fees, living allowance during study time or to cover household expenses like child care;
• recipients will have up to five years to repay loans and will only pay the interest during the
  re-certification period; and
• recipients will have 90 days after finding employment to begin paying back the principal, making it a uniquely flexible and affordable loan.

Recognition Counts! will be delivered by SEED Winnipeg and Assiniboine Credit Union, with support from the Manitoba government.  The program is jointly funded by the governments of Manitoba and Canada.

“Our government’s top priorities are job creation and economic growth and we need to address the growing skills and labour shortages faced by many regions of the country,” said federal Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley.  “By partnering with the Government of Manitoba and organizations like SEED Winnipeg to help internationally trained professionals put their skills to work sooner, we are working together for Canada’s long-term prosperity.” 

Manitoba Immigration and Multiculturalism has an ongoing role in providing information and assistance to internationally educated individuals and is working collaboratively with Manitoba Advanced Education and Literacy, Manitoba Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade and Manitoba Health to develop a coherent and integrated system for providing qualifications recognition programming for skilled immigrants in Manitoba’s colleges and universities. 

Are recent immigrants demanding too much rights in their new countries that are making the locals tire of their demands.
   When we are welcome in another country as immigrant or refugees, we bring our cultures with us and practice it if we will but do we have the right to ask the Americans, British or Canadians to change the way they do things to accommodate our culture. What culture are we talking about anyway- is it the right to practice our religion? to speak our language in the workplace?  The right to eat the foods we are accustomed to or the right to live in peace? These rights are reasonable but at the same time we have to realize that there is a culture that is practiced in these countries by the majority that we must respect. 
   The Mayor of Maine sounds like a man who is frustrated and has lost his cool and says openly what many Americans, Canadians, British and Australians citizens might want to tell those immigrants who fight for rights which locals feel may be unreasonable.
    The local citizens of the western countries must be aware that the rights immigrants fight for are the rights that are promised in their policies and constitution.  They are human rights. If the constitution gives one certain rights it would be foolish not to expect those rights.
    Human rights however is not  apart of the culture in many of the nations recent immigrants come from and that is why they left in the first place.
    It is true that an immigrant to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Iran for example cannot go to those countries and operate against the norms of the religious beliefs of those countries. Expatriate must respect the culture in public and practice their own culture at home or in private clubs. Is this what some people expect immigrants to do?
Unlike in Western countries, those countries mentioned above, do not promise exclusive rights to newcomers, in fact you cannot even get citizenship in some of these countries but that does not mean we have to punish newcomers from such and other contries.
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/maine-mayor-loses-it-tells-immigrants-you-have-accept-our-culture?

Upcoming Fundraiser for a good Cause

Fundraising Concert

for

Hospitality House

Sunday, Sept 30 - 2:30 p.m.

at

St. Mary’s Road United Church

613 St. Mary’s Road

Cost $15 - $10 for students

The concert/coffeehouse  will take place at St. Mary's Road United Church at 613 St. Mary's Road. In support of Hospitality House, the St. Mary’s Road United Church band has also created a wonderful instrumental CD which will also be for sale for $10.

Rayannah Chartier-Kroeker is a talented young jazz vocalist, whose experimentation with the tape loop station is downright magical - by the end of a song she is singing in 6 part harmony with herself, and the effect is astonishing. 

Refreshments -coffee, tea, juice and goodies are included in tthe price of your ticket. 

Hospitality House is currently supporting 13 refugee newcomers, 8 of whom arrived in the past month. One is a very active and adorable 18-month old toddler girl. Housing, feeding and clothing this many newcomers at one time is an expensive endeavour, so please come to the concert to enjoy some wonderful entertainment as well as supporting and learning more about the inspirational work of Hospitality House. 

The mystery of Asians' success in Spelling Revealed

Came in my email today:

Interesting.

Why Do Asian Americans Win So Many Spelling Bees?

Why the archetype of the "model minority" is a load of BS.

June 12, 2012 |

When Snigdha Nandipati became the fifth consecutive Indian American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee last month, the 14-year-old did it by successfully spelling out “guetapens,’’ a French-derived word that means trap or snare.

In fact, Nandipati is the 10^th Indian American to nab the title in the last 14 years. What a model minority, right?

Ah, don’t fall into the guetapens.

The myth of the “model minority,” typically applied to Asian Americans (including Indian Americans), is a fiction that reinforces a single stereotype of an extraordinarily diverse community. This myth falsely suggests that Asian Americans have overcome the same challenges other communities of color have failed to surmount and ignores the history of selective immigration and the significant number of Asian Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.

In “The Karma of Brown Folk,” Professor Vijay Prashad credited the disproportionate success of certain Asian American communities to the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, passed by Congress to actively recruit more scientists to the United States. For instance, between 1966 and 1977, 83% of the Indian immigrants to the U.S. were professionals such as engineers and medical doctors.

More recently, the information technology boom has created a new wave of Indian American professional immigrants, including the parents of the past five Spelling Bee champs (all IT professionals or professors). Further explaining Indian American success in the Bee, an entity called “North South Foundation” acts as a sort of minor-league circuit for aspiring Indian American spelling champions, training thousands of children every year, including the past five winners.

These hand-selected, highly educated immigrants ensured that their children would get the best educational opportunities and the resources to take advantage of them.

If the Slave Trade had centered on Thailand instead of West Africa, if China happened to border the United States to the South, or if Columbus had actually colonized (Asian) Indians, Asian Americans would likely have a very different reputation today.

Prashad theorized that the American (white) establishment created the “model minority” concept to blame traditionally disenfranchised communities of color for their economic plight: “These non-white people are successful, why aren’t you?” This tactic diverts attention and culpability from actual factors that perpetuate poverty in these communities: past government injustices, such as land theft and slavery, and more recent discriminatory actions, such as redlining and predatory lending.

Despite the relative success of some Asian Americans, others are struggling to get by. 2010 American Community Survey data estimate that 16.4% of Asian Americans live in relative poverty and 18% of Asian Americans live without healthcare. According to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, Asian Americans suffer from the highest rates of long-term unemployment when compared to whites, African Americans, and Latinos. The widespread and false notion that all Asian Americans are successful, however, allows policymakers to ignore this segment of the community when crafting policies to help Americans get by.

Furthermore, Asian Americans, having origins in markedly dissimilar regions and countries and immigrating to America under widely different circumstances, are too diverse to lump into one demographic category. For instance, Cambodian American and Bangladeshi American families often have more difficult challenges than Japanese American and Indian American families. Disaggregated data for each community, such as those provided by the American Community Survey (currently under attack by Congressional Republicans), would yield a truer picture of Asian American success.

Lifting the veil of the “model minority” myth should not detract from Asian American successes, typically achieved through discipline, hard work and in spite of obstacles such as language barriers, coerced assimilation, and racial bias. And Nandipati’s laudable achievement, which fittingly came on the last day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, should be unconditionally celebrated. But all Americans, including Asian Americans who have bought into this fiction, should act as “mythbusters” and start talking about the real reasons why some communities of color are not doing as well as others.

Anand Subramanian is the Program Manager of the Closing the Racial Wealth Gap Initiative at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. He is an attorney and a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, due in no small part to advantages and sacrifices his Indian American professional parents provided.

Marriages of convenience

The government has listened to the cries of many Canadians who are duped into marriages that are only for convenience, some intentional and others cruelly duped.

The new legislation would put a crinkle in this arrangement and it will affect everyone who intends to marry and sponsor their partners.

I have seen a Canadian woman who married a Nigerian man, marched  on the streets with her wedding gown as a protest demanding government deport the man she worked hard to bring to Canada as her new husband. He came alright but not long after moved out of the wedding home and left her high and dry.  But that's not where the story ends. In this story if this man does not have a job he becomes the responsibility of his sponsor and if she does not pay up and he goes on the welfare system, that is a debt that the person who sponsored him would have to pay.  It seems unfair but the law is the law. It is our responsibility to ensure that the people we take responsibility for are worth it.
 There are also many Indian women and men who are caught in this trap and hearts are broken over this fraudulent behaviour of some people who would do anything to get a landed visa to a western country.

However with the changes now afoot, the government would require greater proof and visas will not be doled out as easily. In some cases a couple will be forced to live together for two or more years before their marriage would be recognised as such under the law.  Maybe it is a good thing because during that period the two people if not in love may actually fall in love and decided to stay together.
If there is family violence involved i.e. if a man brings a woman here and abuses her that would would be able to leave and maintain her status even if she has just arrived. This will also be the same for a man who is being abused in any way.

What do you think are some of the benefits and disadvantages of this new rule, would it help or hurt immigrant women?  Your views will be greately appreciated.

Canada's first advanced degree in settlement and immigration

http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/programs/immigration/

Immigrant Women's Services in Jeopardy

Popular sexual-health program geared to immigrant women in jeopardy

JOE FRIESEN

Last updated Wednesday, Jan. 04, 2012 2:55AM EST

Cam Tran, right, a counsellor at the Immigrant Women's Health Centre in Toronto translates for client Guangqun Xia, left, during an exam with Dr. Sheila Wijayasinghe, physician and medical director at the clinic Jan. 3, 2011. (Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail)

Winnebago is a sexual health service that operates out of a mobile home. It provides services such as translation, medical and other support services for women who are poor, lack health coverage and having trouble accessing proper medical care. This service has been around for 20 plus years.  This service is supported by City of Toronto which recently proposed a $200,000 cut to Winnebago's budget.. The proposed cut amounts to roughly 25 per cent of the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre’s city funding which amounts to almost 25% of Winnebago's budget. This comes in the face of growing demands for the service. The organisation will be left with some tough choices if this goes through.
Politicians such as city councillor Mike Layton are rallying support in an effort to spare the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre from the axe.
The agency currently provides outreach, counselling and translation in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Portuguese, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Italian and Vietnamese. “We see a lot of women who have faced abuse, who come from countries where rape is not uncommon. To be able to provide culturally sensitive care in that situation, it’s a vital service for that reason.”
   I hope the City of Toronto realises that this is a small price to pay for what they could pay if these women are not treated. They could end up in the hospitals, psychiatric wards and in other institutions where it would be much more costly to maintain them.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/popular-sexual-health-program-geared-to-immigrant-women-in-jeopardy/article2290712/?service=mobile

Canadian doctors develop guidebook for treating immigrant/refugee

Immigrants are coming from 150 countries," notes Dr. Kevin Pottie of the University of Ottawa, who co-authored the guidelines. "Some of them come as refugees, some under family class. So, there's a large diversity of needs and potential preventable and treatable illnesses [that] the average family doctor just isn't thinking about."
Pottie hopes to develop an international set of guidelines in terms of treating migrants.
"We need to see health as a human right, and small interventions are all that's needed for all immigrants," Pottie said in an interview with CBC News.
The guide, titled Evidence-based Clinical Guidelines for Immigrants and Refugees, instructs physicians on how to deal with the kind of health risks faced by the 357,000 annual migrants to Canada, including refugees, international students and migrant workers.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/07/25/immigrant-health-guidelines.html

It's not what you know it's who you know

"Whatever you focus your attention on is what grows and manifests into your life."
Dr. Wayne Dyer

We've always heard the adage, it's not what you know but who you know.  This is not only true in Canada but it's true in many parts of the world including the countries we migrated from. The name for networking in the old countries is nepotism.
If you want to find a job, and find a job rather quickly, you have get out of your comfort zone  and make acquaintance with those who are in positions to help you or at least know someone who can help.
   Your qualifications and lofty credentials are not enough. You need to network, connect and infiltrate groups.
    You can do that by taking out memberships in certain organizations, volunteer in key organizations which align with your interests, find someone who can mentor you informally and stick with the plan.  I've seen it work with others. It can work for you. Start spending time with people outside of your cultural group and expand your circle of friends.  When people get to know you as a friend or as a colleagues, you become less fearful to them and in time they will embrace you and go battle for you in board rooms and places where critical decisions are made.