ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: Multiculturalism

  • Mothering and migration: (Trans)nationalism, globalization & displacement

    Call for papers for a conference from the Association for Research on Mothering (ARM), as posted on the mnchp-l listserv: Mothering and Migration: (Trans)nationalisms, Globalization, and Displacment. The conference will be held February 18-20, 2010 at the University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico.
    Submissions are welcome from scholars, students, activists, government agencies and workers, artists, mothers, and others who work or research in the area. Cross-cultural, historical and comparative work is encouraged. Topics can include (but not limited to):
    Representations/images of mothers and migration and (trans)national issues; globalization of motherhood; empowering migrant mothers; reproduction and movement of mother workers; migrant and (trans)national mothers and capitalism; migrant and (trans)national mothers and activism; public policy issues.
    For more information, contact the ARM at arm@yorku.ca or 416.736.2100 ext 60366. Or visit the ARM website. Abstract and bio deadline is Sept 1/09.

  • George Brown College summer institute 2009

    Many workshops at the annual George Brown College Summer Institute this year (held in Toronto) address issues of diversity, including:

    Listening to Families: Presenting findings from a research project that demonstrates effective strategies for service providers in meeting the values and priorities of diverse families. Presented by Dr. Mehru Ali, Ryerson University.

    See the web page at George Brown for the full details of the 2009 Summer Institute.

  • The early years study ~ 10 years later

    The landmark Early Years Study, subtitled The Real Brain Drain, was released on April 20, 1999.
    See also a “very brief history” of the Early Years Study posted on the Health Nexus Santé (formerly the Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse) blog in March 2005, including links to the follow-up report The Early Years Study: Three Years Later, recounting how the early years initiative was rolled out in Ontario via the Ontario Early Years Centres.
    Fraser Mustard and the Council on Early Child Development continue to work to raise awareness of and support for an early childhood learning and care program for all children and their families across Canada as the first tier to the formal school system.
    See the upcoming conference sponsored by the Council on Early Child Development May 13-15 in New Brunswick, Putting Science into Action: Equity from the Start Through Early Child Development.
    How responsive have the Ontario Early Years Centres been to immigrant and refugee families and young children?

  • Early childhood education and racial and ethnic divisions conference, Belgium

    The Joint Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity presents Early Childhood Education in Contexts of Racial and Ethnic Divisions Conference, April 29/09 at Ghent University, Belgium.

    “The conference will consist of three to four round table discussions with the experts on common strands about delivering programs of early childhood education in contexts of ethnic division. The experts will meet two days prior to the conference to discuss these strands and will continue their discussion with the audience. Consequently, there will be no programm with distinct individual key-note speeches. Rather, participants will be able to follow in-depth discussions and participate in them”.

    Some of the invited experts include representatives from Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, Hebrew University, UNICEF/OSI/REF, University of Melbourne and the Bernard van Leer Foundation.

  • Kenney: Language = successful integration of newcomers

    Last week, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney addressed delegates at the Calgary Metropolis conference and was quoted as saying that immigrants should “be required to have working knowledge of either English of French” in order to come to Canada. These remarks have been widely reported and debated in the media, including:

    The Toronto Sun, English or french or out
    The Calgary Herald, Kenney right person for immigration minefield
    Ottawa Citizen, Immigrants should be able to speak English or French

    Rudyard Griffiths (Dominion Institute and author of the recently released book “Who We Are: A Citizen’s Manifesto“) writes today in the National Post, defending and championing language as the key to successful integration. 

    Happily, children are addressed in his piece. An excerpt:

    “The federal government should also put special emphasis on second-language training for school-age children, particularly in the country’s major cities. In Toronto, the city that attracts the majority of newcomers to Canada, the percentage of elementary schools with English-as-a-second-language (ESL) instructors has declined from 41% to 29% in the last decade while the number of students requiring such instruction has doubled. The federal government should find ways to work with the provinces to get more funding for language instruction into urban classrooms to relieve overburdened ESL instructors”.

  • My New Home, TVO documentary about immigrant children

    From the press release:

    TVO examines the immigrant experience through a child’s eyes in a special interactive event beginning with part one of the two part documentary, My New Home. The film is followed by a live, interactive webcast discussion on Your Voice at tvoparents.com on the immigrant experience in Ontario. This event airs during Belong or Bust: Where Do I Fit In?, a week of premier documentaries, dramas and current affairs programs that explore a variety of viewpoints on the themes of culture and identity and our place in society.

    My New Home premieres Sunday March 22 at 8pm and again on Sunday March 29 at 8pm on TVO. Directed by Daisy Asquith and produced by Ricochet Productions.

  • Annual report to Parliament on multiculturalism

    The Annual Report to Parliament on the Operation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act 2007-2008 is now available on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.

    The report acknowledges the “important development in Government policy, when the Prime Minister decided to link Multiculturalism policy and programs with those at Citizenship and Immigration Canada…
    This brings all the key policy and program elements together and allows for greater coordination between the Government’s settlement programs for newcomers and its programs to promote further inclusion, participation and shared citizenship for all Canadians”.

    Section 1 captures demographic information, Section 2 examines the Multicultural Program and Section 3 outlines how seven federal agencies have incorporated/addressed multiculturalism in its programs. 
    Related to children and families, these items: A booklet (What’s Next) for children as part of a domestic violence prevention initiative of the Department of Justice was translated into several languages.
    The Canada Revenue Agency included their “Tax Tips to Go” in several languages (including Children’s Fitness Tax Credit).

  • Federal developments

    The 2nd session of Canada’s 40th Parliament opened Monday, January 26, 2009 with a Speech from the Throne. 
    On Wednesday, January 27, 2009, the federal government released their budget. The budget includes $50 million to support the work of the Foreign Credential program.
    The federal Liberal party announced new critic portfolios in their shadow cabinet including Member of Parliament for Brampton-Springdale, Ontario, Ruby Dhalla as critic for “Multiculturalism and Youth”. Maurizio Bevilacqua (MP for Vaughn, Ontario) remains critic for Citizenship and Immigration.

  • The influence of culture on early childhood

    Zero to Three has release a comprehensive overview of the influence of culture on early childhood in the US. The Changing Face of the United States: The Influence of Culture on Early Child Development, by Beth Maschinot, PhD, with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Bernard van Leer Foundation posits a new definition for understanding culture in the context of early childhood as:

    Culture is a shared system of meaning, which includes values, beliefs, and assumptions expressed in daily interactions of individuals within a group through a definite pattern of language, behavior, customs, attitudes and practices.

    This reworked definition of “culture” provides a way of expanding the discussion and extending it to young children and families. The report challenges early childhood practitioners in reexamining how useful traditional research studies have been in helping better understand “culture”.
    The report summarizes the findings of a 2007 literature review, conducted by Zero To Three and offers information and resources for early childhood practitioners on how to address the needs of a growingly diverse population. The report suggests that “differences in parent-child interaction styles between ethnic groups may be a function of the group’s place in wider society rather than a cultural difference per se”.

  • Multiculturalism is bad for immigrant children

    National Post columnist George Jonas examines what he terms the Canadian “multiculturalism fallacy” and finds that the notion of promoting diversity (vs. tolerating it) creates “outsiders”. This is, in Jonas’ view, particularly harmful for immigrant children. Ethnic and religious minorities are tolerated in good societies, such as Canada and persecuted in bad ones, such as the Third Reich, says Jonas. 
    From the article: “Diversity is no organizing principle: it’s a fact of existence. It’s part of the human condition. It’s neither to be swept under the carpet nor to be run up the flagpole. It’s neither the solvent of nationhood nor its glue. For immigrant nations such as Canada it’s a reality to cope with, accept and turn to advantage if possible. It isn’t something to aim for, celebrate, cherish or try to etch in stone”.
     “We accept being outsides in someone else’s country more easily than in our own, and we regard the country in which we’re born as ours. That’s why if unassimilated “diverse” communities produce misfits, malcontents, traitors or outright terrorists, they’re more likely to produce them in the second or third generation. The jihadist is the native son rather than the immigrant father”.
    Jonas concludes: “Emphasizing diversity over integration bequeaths a legacy of civil conflict to one’s children”. Read the full article here.