ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: Events

  • TVOs Big Ideas on immigration

    TVOntario‘s Big Ideas show this weekend features Salman Ahktar, author of Immigration and Identity: Turmoil, Treatment and Transformation. Ahktar’s book, I’m told, includes much discussion on immigrant children and children of immigrants. After airing, the show uploads podcasts on its site.

  • Oct 13-19 is Citizenship Week










    Citizenship Week is held the 3rd week of October every year. Several activities and resources on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website here. Some interesting facts:

    ·      Canada became the first Commonwealth country to gain its own citizenship act in 1947

    ·      Before 1947, Canadians were considered British Subjects

    ·      Prime Minister at the time, William Lyon Mackenzie King became the first Canadian citizen

    ·      Each year approximately 160,000 people become Canadian citizens

    ·      The 2001 census says about 84% of eligible immigrants are Canadian citizens.

     Let’s take the ocassion to review the Oath of Citizenship: 

    I swear/affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.

    immigrantchildren.ca invites you to revisit the FInal Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, Children: The Silenced Citizens. Effective Implementation of Canada’s International Obligations with respect to the Rights of Children.


  • Oct 6-12 is National Family Week

    The Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs (FRP) sponsors National Family Week. This year’s theme is Strengthening Ties Through Family Traditions. Visit the FRP website for information and resources.

  • CMAS / LINC conference

    The Childminding, Monitoring and Advisory Support (CMAS) is holding their annual conference from Nov 13-14/08 in downtown Toronto. The theme this year is Tools for Growth: Supporting the Newcomer Family. The conference will address the resources, practices, activities and connections that build programs and the profession, while facilitating the healthy development of the children cared for in LINC programs.
    The conference is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and jointly sponsored by the Learning Enrichment Foundation and the Toronto District School Board.

    Information: Contact Rosalie Caranci or Adele Peden: APeden@lefca.org / 416-760-2570.

  • Canadian Council for Refugees fall consultation & 30th anniversary gala

    Canadian Council for Refugees Fall Consultation and 30th Anniversary Gala

    30 Years of Building a Home of Justice for Refugees and Immigrants

    27-29 November 2008

    Why attend? Here’s what some people liked best about past Consultations:

    “For refugee participants, I got a sense of a positive empowerment. It feels good to know that our concerns are heard and that our daily challenges are considered in national forums and at political levels”.

    “Listening to various views and people’s positions on issues that pertain to refugees and immigrants. It is great to hear voices in Canadian civil society shaping policy”.

    “As a relative newcomer to CCR,  I found this to be a friendly environment where I felt encouraged to participate”.

    The Consultation is an excellent opportunity for all interested to exchange ideas on barriers refugees and newcomers to Canada face before, and after their arrival in Canada. Consultation participants include refugees, immigrants, representatives of NGOs, youth advocates, government, UNHCR, academics and international guests.
    Consultation discussions will address issues that challenge refugees, immigrants, advocates and community workers. In addition to larger plenary sessions, workshops and working sessions will produce strategies for further collaboration and specific actions.
    Information about the Consultation, including online registration are now available on the CCR website. Register before 7 November for reduced fees.
    Coinciding with the Consultation, we will be hosting an evening gala on 27 November to celebrate the achievements of the CCR and strengthen the organization for the future, by increasing our profile and recruiting new donors.  Join the celebration! Buy a ticket, table, sell tickets to people who should be introduced to the CCR, or put us in touch with potential sponsors.
    For more information, please contact Jehad Aliweiwi  416.275.9363 / jaliweiwi@thorncliffe.org or Loly Rico 416.469.9754 / lolyrico@aibn.com.

  • International Literacy Day

    Sept 8th will mark International Literacy Day, established in 1965 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 2003-2013 has been declared International Literacy Decade.
    Related links:
    UNESCO International Year of Languages
    National Adult Literacy Database (NALD)
    International Literacy Day Canada-wide events
    Coming up Jan 27th: Family Literacy Day
    Coming up Feb 21st: International Mother Language Day

  • Brave new schools: Identity and power in Canadian education

    From the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development
    The 2008 R.W.B. Jackson Lecture ~ Brave New Schools: Identity and Power in Canadian Education

    We are pleased to present Professor James (Jim) Cummins, a renowned second language education scholar in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, and Canada Research Chair, Language Learning and Literacy Development in Multilingual Contexts.

    As the 2008 Jackson Lecturer, Cummins will draw on data from a 5-year research program entitled From Literacy to Multiliteracies to stimulate re-examination of the foundational principles of Canadian education in an era of increasing diversity and urgent global challenges. Influenced by international agencies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), educational policy-makers in many countries have adopted an increasingly technocratic approach to the promotion of literacy and numeracy.  The focus has been on the identification and implementation of evidence-based “best practices.” However, the frame of reference within which these “best practices” have been generated typically consigns issues related to societal power relations and teacher-student identity negotiation to the margins of consideration.

    This lecture will call for a radically different approach to educational policy-making. The constructs of teacher-student identity negotiation and societal power relations will be proposed as empirically validated influences on academic achievement and as fundamental to the development of effective educational policy and practice. Recent OECD research and policy recommendations on the education of immigrant students will be analyzed to show that the marginalization of issues related to power and identity in educational policy-making is an ideological process that is far from “evidence-based.” A very different set of policy options and pedagogical opportunities for Canadian education emerges when the empirical and theoretical frame of reference is broadened to acknowledge the centrality of the multiple forms of diversity that increasingly characterize schools both in Canada and internationally.

    The lecture will be held Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at the George Ignatieff Theatre, Toronto. Reception at 6pm, opening remarks and lecture at 7pm. 

    To RSVP and/or for more information, call 416.978.1125.

  • Election watch ~ Fall '08?

    Rumours are rife in the media about a fall election, most recently, the notion that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is prepared to abandon his fixed election date law (Globe and Mail, August 20th). Immigration policy will likely be a key point of debate/discussion in the upcoming election (as is often is). See, for example, the August 4/08 piece by Lawrence Martin in the Globe and Mail entitled “Playing the immigration card will come with some risk for the Liberals” where Martin captures what will likely be a key theme for the Conservatives: i.e., calling out the Liberals for their voting ‘yes’ on the recent budget bill, Bill C-50 (June 9/08). The bill included immigration policy reforms that the Liberals said (April 3/08) that they were/are not in support of:

    “The Liberal Opposition feels strongly that the drastic immigration reforms introduced by the Conservative government should be removed from the budget bill debated in Parliament”.

    Related links:
    Members of Parliament.
    Conservative Party of Canada.
    Conservative Convention, scheduled for November 13-15, 2008 in Winnipeg. NB: Of eight “key policy issues” identified for the convention, immigration does not appear.
    Liberal Party of Canada.
    Forum Liberalis, where the Liberal Party of Canada is inviting Canadians to participate in policy dialogue. Lots of input/interest in immigration issues.
    New Democratic Party of Canada.
    Green Party of Canada.
    Bloc Quebecois.

  • Homelessness and housing: Immigrant, non-status & Canadian mothers

    The Centre for Urban and Community Studies, University of Toronto will launch a report July 24th detailing a year’s study on homelessness and housing issues for immigrant, non-status and Canadian-born mothers with young children. From the announcement: “the results reveal the complex causes and effects of homelessness for families with children, and the ways in which these differ between women who are Canadian-born, immigrant women with status and migrant women without status“.  
    The launch begins with a 10am press conference at the YWCA, 80 Woodlawn Ave in Toronto. From 11-1pm a lunch and learn session will include:

    RSVP by July 18th to s.batacharya@utoronto.ca.

  • Canadian Multiculturalism Day

    The federal government is bundling a series of days (June 21 – National Aboriginal Day; June 24 – Saint Jean Baptiste Day; June 27 – Canadian Multiculturalism Day; and July 1 – Canada Day) as the Celebrate Canada! initiative.
    Let’s revisit the Proclamation that, in 2002, established Canadian Multiculturalism Day:

    “Whereas multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage; Whereas Canadians of all backgrounds have made and continue to make valuable contributions to Canadian society; Whereas it is considered appropriate that there be, in each year, a day to mark and celebrate those contributions and to recognize Canadian diversity;  And whereas, by Order in Council P.C. 2002-1869 of October 31, 2002, the Governor in Council has directed that a proclamation do issue declaring June 27 of each year as Canadian Multiculturalism Day, a celebration of the contributions of Canada’s diverse people to Canadian society; Now know you that We, by and with the advice of Our Privy Council for Canada, do by this Our Proclamation declare June 27 of each year as Canadian Multiculturalism Day, a celebration of the contributions of Canada’s diverse people to Canadian society”.

    How relevant is official multiculturalism in Canada today? What’s the impact for immigrant children and families?