Visible minorities still face job discrimination

It shouldn't come as a huge surprise that visible minorities in Canada continue to earn less than their white counterparts. While Canada is a country of many cultures and colors, the business leadership and political structures are still predominantly controlled by white males.

According to a report today in The Star:

"Researchers compared earnings of first-generation immigrants of visible minority and Caucasian backgrounds and found that earnings by male newcomers from visible minorities were just 68.7 per cent of those who were white males.

The colour code persisted for second-generation Canadians with similar education and age, though the gap narrowed slightly — with visible minority women making 56.5 cents, up from 48.7 cents in 2000, for every dollar white men earned, while minority men in the same cohort improved by almost 7 cents, to 75.6 cents."

In business, profit has a lot to do with controlling expense. If a business owner can get a visible minority to work for less, they are going to do it. It's not rocket science.

But then there's this...

"What is most troublesome, Block said, is that visible minorities were so under-represented in public administration, where 92 per cent of workers were white. In 2006, 16.2 per cent of Canadians were part of a visible minority group, and that rate is expected to double by 2031.

“We are not talking about workers in hospital or school, but people making government policy,” said Block. “This is a great concern because an important voice wasn’t at the table.”

Read the full article here.

The Star Special Section: Immigration and Employment

I know, I know - not a lot of commentary lately...just sharing the news. Here's a great bundle of features from our friends at the Toronto Star (my favourite online Toronto news source) featuring:

"Stories of immigrants who have embarked on new careers in Canada, and firms that benefit from their unique skills and experience."

Read all about it here

The Star - Engineering firm thrives on new ideas and designs

Read this rare article on how immigrants in Canada are making an immediate positive difference to the economy.

Immigrants still face wage discrepancy: StatsCan

An article in The Star points out that while immigrants in general are keeping pace with the earnings of native Canadians, immigrants of visible minority groups are fairing far worse - in some cases earning up to 20% less than their peers:

“If you put all groups together on average they’re all doing well,” explained Hou (ed: Feng Hou of Stats Canada). But there are some striking disparities, particularly when it comes to income.

“If their parents came from Europe they’re doing particularly well in the labour market,” said Hou.

But the male children of black immigrant parents face a wage gap with lower earnings — about 20 per cent — when compared to children of Canadian born parents, Hou said.

If you directly compare the difference between second-generation Blacks and the children of Canadian born parents in terms of education, where they live and their jobs the wage gap changes to 14 per cent, Hou said.

Read all about it here

Immigrant services across Toronto take a hit

Funding for immigrant settlement services are taking a hit this year. Read The Star article on the subject here

Board of health wants end to OHIP wait for immigrants

Megan Ogilvie reports in today's Toronto Star:

"Toronto’s Board of Health is urging the provincial government to eliminate the three-month wait newcomers face for access to OHIP.

A report, presented and passed at Tuesday’s board meeting, presses the government to change the Health Insurance Act to make newly landed immigrants eligible for OHIP from day one.

Scrapping the three-month moratorium would protect public health by helping to ensure newcomers get timely diagnoses and treatments for communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis and measles, said Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown.

This is the second time the board has asked the province to eliminate the wait time."

Read the article here

The whole Randy Quaid thing

OK - I have to admit - the whole Randy Quaid situation in Vancouver has me a bit befuddled and miffed. Here's a guy who enters Canada illegally - he was running from prosecution in the U.S. - and because he's a star and makes a bogus refugee claim (he's under death threats from "star whackers"? Are you kidding me?), the CIC lets him stick around until finally there's a resolution to the case in the U.S. (charges weren't filed), and now he's going to apply for Permanent Residence.

His wife is a Candian citizen, so this last bit makes sense - but everything before it: if this were some Somali actor coming into the country to avoid prosecution, do you think the CIC would be so understanding?

You can really see the issues that Conservatives have with the use of Refugee Status claims when a case like this happens. Because he is now going for a Family Class sponsorship, his crazy refugee claim won't be addressed. I guess the star whackers don't care about him if he's no longer a star in Hollywood. I guess all the protection he needs from Canada goes away if he becomes a Permanent Resident.

Am I the only one who feels like someone at the CIC took crazy pills?

Read the latest on the craziness here.

Obama's border tax plan

What is he thinking? Today President Obama of the U.S. floated a plan to impose a $5.50 fee for Canadians entering the U.S. by commercial carrier.

Come on, Mr. President: thanks to the wonders of Homeland Security, tourism is just starting to rebound - and you can thank the weak U.S. dollar for that too. But now you want to tax most of the 18-million visitors from the north because they want to come here and spend their money?

Taxing visitors from foreign countries for the privilege of entering your country is a lousy way to raise revenue. And besides, why not do what most clever politicians would do and simply increase the fee to foreign carriers landing at U.S. destinations? Or increase federal port taxes? Then you'd get your money but it would be transparent to the consumer - they'd just pay a higher airfare, or bus ticket.

Remember, every border tax dollar is one less dollar spent in the U.S. on good and services that drive the economy. The tax you impose on two Canadians, if spent at a local shop, equal an hour's wage for an employee. We could use JOBS in the U.S., right?

Obama should think about PAYING Canadians to come shop in the U.S. instead of taxing them.

The tough issues of family reunification

Ottawa has a balancing act. While immigration policy has to address a range of classes in need - refugee, family class, so-called "economic" immigrants: it certainly can't be all things to all people at all times.

The immigration ministry has reported that 2010 saw the immigration of 10% more individuals than was projected (280,000 in total), which is the highest total in 57 years. But in the year to come, there is a plan to reduce by 6% the number of family reunification immigrants (parents and grandparents of immigrants) entering Canada. That will mean current wait times, which can commonly reach five years, will certainly increase even more.

According to a report in The Star:

"Liberal MP Joe Volpe, a former immigration minister, questioned the Conservatives’ much trumpeted family-values platform.

“The Conservatives tell families to be responsible for their own child care when parents go to work, but the fact is new Canadians entering the workforce often rely on parents and grandparents for child care and help around the home. They are taking away a necessary support system,” Volpe said in a statement."


Read the entire article here

Making plans, making lists

With the change in our status, and the light at the end of the tunnel making itself finally seen, comes a change in activities. I have to start thinking about physically immigrating to Canada. The first steps in this process actually started over a year ago. I made an inventory of all my possessions. This took about four days. Mind you, I didn't note every single thing (like the title of every book, CD or DVD), but I did summarize all the things I have, since all of them might follow me to Canada.

There are two Customs documents that you need to have ready when you land. One is called a Form B4 (Personal Effects Accounting Document), and the other is a Form B4a (commonly known as the "Goods to Follow" document). These forms are used to tell Customs Canada what you are and will be bringing into the country as you settle. The B4 is for what you bring with you when you land as an immigrant, while the B4a is for items that come later (for instance, if you have them shipped).

Not everything on my list is coming with me. In fact, I actually think very little of my US life will follow me to Canada. We won't have a lot of room, and my Love has the core household things pretty well covered. Clothes, some art, books, music, movies, personal archives, tools of my trades...those are the things I will settle with. The rest of what I have will either be given away or sold. It's odd to think of having an estate sale for a life that isn't half over yet - but that's in essence what will probably happen.

For now though, the material of this life is summarized on a list.