World Education Services (WES) is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to helping international students, immigrants, and refugees achieve their educational and career goals in the United States and Canada. The weekly roundup includes research, stories, and events of interest to the Canadian immigration and settlement community. This content has been created by WES and is reproduced here with their permission, in partnership.
AFTER THE SHOCKS: Preventing long-term labour market scarring for youth (Century Initiative)
Periods of economic downturn may leave lasting impact on youth, primarily recent graduates looking to enter the workforce. Immediate impacts of economic shocks such as recessions may include job losses, reduced hours, and wages. Shorter term impacts may compound over time to leave lasting scarring on job opportunities, labour market attachment, earning potential, and career development. This widens existing socio-economic gaps and intensifies barriers faced in school to work transitions. Typically, policy responses have been developed to address immediate consequences of economic downturn, leaving many youth with limited support. Adequate policy responses must support young people through lasting impacts of career scarring economic shocks. All levels of government, employers, and community-based organizations must work in tandem to facilitate evidence-based policies and programs that can be leveraged to support young people long-term. Such initiatives may include:
Temporary immigration is 'minoritizing' French in Quebec, says PQ (CTV News Montreal)
The Parti Quebecois (PQ) has raised concerns that the spike in temporary immigration could undermine the French language's dominance in Quebec. Recent data indicated a 50 percent increase in temporary immigrants to Quebec, moving from 322,000 to 471,000 within a year. Different political parties offered varied reactions. The Coalition Avenir Quebec urged the federal government to reconsider the high number of immigrants, given Quebec's limits in accommodating such an influx. Immigration Minister Christine Frechette wants Ottawa to adjust its immigration targets based on this new data, although her federal counterpart, Minister Miller, seems resistant to the idea. Minister Frechette also suggests that there should be stricter checks on tourist visas to prevent abuse by those seeking asylum. PQ MNA Pascal Berube has argued that Quebec cannot support such a large influx of temporary immigrants in areas such as housing, schooling, and public services. While the province had plans to welcome 50,000 to 60,000 permanent immigrants annually, the federal government has allowed for a higher number of temporary immigrants. Quebec Liberal Party's interim leader and Quebec solidaire co-spokesperson have both expressed their concerns, with the latter suggesting that temporary immigrants be given permanent status at an additional rate of 10,000 per year.
Poll finds non-white Canadians reject Ottawa-approved 'BIPOC, racialized' label (National Post)
Through a poll used to assess public opinion of levels of social inclusion in Canada, findings suggest that many non-white Canadians do not prefer federally approved terms to address intersections of race and ethnicity. Most government communications refer to non-white Canadians as "racialized" or "BIPOC" (black, indigenous, people of colour). Despite their promotion in federal "anti-racist lexicon", terms such as "racialized minority” and "racialized groups" are not preferred by individuals referred to as "visible minorities" in official government communications. Only roughly 12 percent of non-white Canadians used either term (six percent for “racialized” or six percent for “BIPOC”). Out of a list of popular terms used in public communications, visible minority was the most used term (38 percent), with hyphenated descriptors (e.g., Chinese-Canadian) being used by 16 percent of respondents, while 35 percent of respondents prefer to use different terms entirely. The Angus Reid poll shows that while a clear majority of Canadians believe that the country has become less racist (73 percent), many non-white respondents report instances of discrimination and disparate treatment in relation to their race or ethnicity.