ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Author: marcocampana

  • Putting immigrants to work: But, what about their children?

    hireimmigrants.ca is an initiative of TRIEC, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. hireimmigrants.ca provides information to employers on how to hire immigrants and why they should.
    TRIEC is about “working to remove the barriers immigrants face when entering the labour market, while at the same time helping organizations benefit from the talents and skills immigrants bring with them to Canada”. TRIEC is an initiative of The Maytree Foundation.
    In partnership with TRIEC and MediaCorp (who bring us Canada’s Top 100 Employers) comes a new initiative, The Best Employers for New Canadians. What’s the criteria for making it as one of the best employers for new Canadians? “Each employer is evaluated in terms of:

    (1) whether they offer programs specifically designed to assist employees who are recent immigrants to Canada;
    (2) whether they have taken steps to reduce employment barriers for recent immigrants, such as by recognizing foreign educational credientials and experience;
    (3) whether they assist new employees who have foreign professional or educational credentials in getting these qualifications formally recognized in Canada;
    (4) whether they offer any “onboarding” programs, such as internal coaching or mentoring, to help new employees who are recent immigrants understand the Canadian workplace; and
    (5) whether their managers and employees receive training in cross-cultural issues or inclusiveness to help create a welcoming and productive environment for employees who are recent immigrants”.

    Hmmm. I didn’t see any mentions of the availability and accessibility of high quality child care in any of these initiatives. Organizations that purport to help immigrants get and keep jobs would do well to address the issue of child care. Child care is not only an employment support, it also promotes healthy child growth and development and supports families in their child-rearing role. A parent content with their child’s early learning and care arrangement are bound to be happier and more focussed at work. The best employers are on board with child care. Please join in, TRIEC, in adovcating for more and better early learning and child care programs and supports for immigrant families.

  • bzzpeek

    Interesting and fun website that demonstrates how children from around the world interpret common animal (and other) sounds. Turn your audio on and visit bzzpeek.

  • Federal funding announcements galore!

    There have been a rash of funding announcements from the federal government lately, including:
    December 2007
    Dec 17/07 “Minister Finley announces new federal commitments to help newcomers settle in Canada”, which includes a link to a handy at-a-glance chart showing the provincial/territorial breakdown of dollars from 05-06 to 08-09.
    Dec 18/07 “Government of Canada supports Saskatchewan in attracting immigrants to the province”. Included in this announcement was the “Going to Canada” website that provides “links to information and services when planning a temporary stay or making Canada your new home”. The website is available in English and French. Not much info on children.
    January 2008
    Jan 7/08 “Government of Canada announces new funding for research on immigration and diversity”. The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and Dr. Chad Gaffield, President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) jointly announced research funding of $7.5 million over five years for Metropolis, the Canadian arm of the international consortium of research centres on immigration and settlement.
    Jan 18/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to help newcomers settle in the Peel region”. The funding will support the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group.
    February 2008
    Feb 1/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help immigrants settle in Lethbridge“.
    Feb 1/08 “Government of Canada joins partners in launching a Tool Box to help attract immigrants to smaller communities”. The Attracting and Retaining Immigrants: A Tool Box of Ideas for Smaller Centres was developed by the National Working Group on Small Centre Strategies.
    Feb 8/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help newcomers settle in the city of Toronto“. Included in this announcement, a mention of the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO), established in 2007 to help support internationally trained individuals in having their credentials assessed, recognzied and to find work in their chosen field.
    Feb 19/08 ” Government of Canada invests to help immigrants settle in St. John’s“. In this announcement, something about/for immigrant children! A 3-day event, entitled Sharing Our Cultures is an annual event held to promote cross-cultural awareness among children and teachers. This year it will be held to coincide with March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
    Feb 20/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to help newcomers settle in Brantford“.
    Feb 20/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to the Learning Enrichment Foundation to help newcomers in Toronto“.
    Feb 21/08 “Government of Canada announces funding to help attract francophone immigrants to New Brunswick“. Funding went to Société des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick (SAANB).
    Feb 22/08 “Government of Canada provides funding to help newcomers in North Bay“.

  • The Canadian Coalition for Immigrant Children and Youth: The Ottawa meeting & report

    Early Childhood Working Group members will recall that a meeting was held in Ottawa at the end of November to do some visioning and priority setting for the Canadian Coalition for Immigrant Children and Youth (CCICY). The meeting was facilitated by Joan Riggs, Catalyst Research and Communications.
    The report on that meeting, written by Riggs, is posted here: ccicyreportnov28.htm.

  • The future of ECE in Ontario: Focus on the changing landscape

    The Association of Early Childhood Educators, Ontario (AECEO) is hosting their 58th annual conference May 9-10/08 at Niagara College in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Of interest to the Early Childhood Working Group, these workshops, panels and presentations:

    Equity and Access in ECE: Making the shift toward a critical perspective in early childhood studies and challenging the discourse of anti-bias education, with Zeenat Janmohamed, Atkinson Centre for Society & Child Development
    The Young English Language Learner, with Roma Chumak-Horbatsch, Ryerson University School of Early Childhood Education & mylanguage.ca

    Visit the AECEO website to download the preliminary conference brochure and for more details.

  • Immigrant children in Canadian history

    As a grad student on placement at the Toronto-based Centre of Excellence for Research in Immigration Studies (CERIS) in 2005, I compiled a bibliography of holdings in the CERIS library about immigrant and refugee children and youth.
    I’d like to start compiling an annotated bibliography of books and other resources about the history of immigration and immigration policy in Canada that either focus on or include sections on/about children.
    Kelly, N. & Trebilcock, M. (1998). The making of the mosaic: A history of Canadian immigration policy is one.
    Kenneth Bagnell’s The Little immigrants: the orphans who came to Canada (1980 & 2001) is a classic. It tells the story of the home children.
    Another account of the home children is Marj Kohli‘s 2003 The Golden bridge: Young immigrants to Canada (1833-1939).
    I am currently reading Valerie Knowles’ updated 1992 Strangers at our gates: Canadian immigration and immigration policy, 1540-2006, which has a short section on the home children and guest children.
    Please share any books with/out annotations – or other resources – that address or include children in the history of immigration and immigration policy in Canada. I’ll maintain a page for this for us in our “pages” section, see right-hand side of the blog.

  • Call for nominations: BC multicultural award

    The Nesika Award is a new initiative of the British Columbia government. “Nesika” is Chinook, meaning “we, us, our”. BC AG and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism Wally Oppal says the term reflects BCs “reputation as a world leader in inclusion” (Source: vancouver24hrs.ca, Feb 11/08 ).
    The Nesika Awards recognize an individual, organization and a community “for their work in helping two or more cultures to live, learn or work together. Award recipients will be honoured for developing respect and understanding between different cultures. Their initiative sets an example for others, demonstrating the many benefits received when we live and work with each other“.
    See the Ministry’s website for details, including the news release, nomination forms, fact/info sheets on the advisory council and etc.
    Someone nominate an individual/group who works on behalf of immigrant children/families! Award winners receive a $500 donation to a charity/group of their choice.
    Nominations close September 15/08.

  • NAME Conference: Beyond celebrating diversity

    US-based National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) will hold its 18th annual conference Nov 12-16/08 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference theme is Beyond Celebrating Diversity: reActivating the Equity and Social Justice Roots of Multicultural Education.
    Conference strands:

    • Critical discourses in multicultural education, social justice and equity
    • The roots of multicultural education
    • Empowering students of color, English language learners, and low-income students
    • Community-based initiatives for educational equity and social justice
    • Multicultural education in a digital age.

    See the NAME site for details, including the call for proposals, rubric proposal and information on last year’s conference.
    Proposals due March 31, 2008.

  • Immigration wait times – some dependent children kept waiting

    A Feb 10/08 Canadian Press story reports on liberal MP Jim Karygiannis‘ accusation that wait times to enter Canada for some immigrants are longer than for other immigrants, quoting the story, “depending on where they’re from and what immigration category they fall under”.

    “A dependent child whose file is dealt with by Canadian officials in Beijing, Seoul or Ankara, for instance, has an 80 per cent chance of being processed within four months. But a child’s average wait time is 13 months in Singapore, 19 months in Guatemala and 34 months in Cairo”.

    See the MPs site for more information.

  • Federal pre-Budget online consultation

    The Federal government has launched an online consultation, seeking feedback for their upcoming budget. Questions are asked in five categories: 1. How Canada should address an increasingly aging population. 2. Economic policy. 3. Resources and re-directing resources. 4. How to keep Canada competitive internationally, and 5. “What tax and other measures should the Government take to ensure that Canada keeps its best and brightest, attracts highly skilled immigrants, encourages as many people as possible to enter the workforce, and rewards Canadians for their hard work, while respecting the Government’s fiscal goals?”.
    Here’s our chance to respond and raise issues! Please visit and participate in the online pre-budget consultation.
    Deadline is February 11, 2008.