Earth Day in Canada and Kyoto Protocol

Canada Must Implement the Kyoto Protocol!
Humanize the Natural and Social Environment!

Web cast, The Democracy in Mexico, from Yale University, May 1st

WEB CAST desde la Universidad de Yale

"El estado de la democracia en México,

obstáculos para su consolidación"

http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/mexicosdemocracy/

Martes 1ero de Mayo (hora del Centro, Mx)

12:00 Mediodía:
"Certezas, dudas y lecciones de la eleccion"

John Ackerman, Sergio Aguayo, Jesús Orozco, Gustavo Vega. Moderadora
Susan Stokes.

2:00 PM
"Primer mes de Calderón y el futuro de la oposición"

Denisse Dresser, Hector Fix Fierro, Lorenzo Meyer, Irma Sandoval, Leo
Zuckermann. Moderadora Paulina Ochoa Espejo

4:00 PM
"El estado de la democracia en México"
Manuel Camacho Solís, John Coatsworth, Esteban Moctezuma, Demetrio
Sodi. Moderador Ian Shapiro.

More foreign workers hired for bridge project in BC!

Foreign workers hired for bridge project

Jennifer Moreau / read the Maple Ridge Times
Tuesday, April 10, 2007

MAPLE RIDGE - The company in charge of hiring for the Golden Ears bridge project has brought in 33 foreign workers despite criticism from the B.C. Federation of Labour that doing so is exploiting cheap labour.

TransLink owns the bridge but entered a public-private partnership with Bilfinger Berger BOT Inc., a subsidiary of a German-based construction firm.

"We have hired in total 33 foreign workers by the end of March," said Patti Schom-Moffatt, a representative for the project, adding there are 105 local employees not including those hired by subcontractors.

Schom-Moffatt said the foreign workers comprise 15 carpenters, 10 general highly skilled steelworkers and eight concrete finishers. She can't say where they are from, only that they are covered by a union contract and paid the same as local workers.

Schom-Moffatt said the move to bring in foreign labour was about skills, not money. The Golden Ears bridge is cable-stayed, requiring specially skilled workers, she said.

"It's an unusual structure. We have local people with general skills but not specific for cable bridges."

Building boom lures migrants
2,724 come from rest of Canada in last quarter of 2006

Frank Luba / Read The Province

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

B.C.'s construction boom is being credited for drawing an influx of migrants from other provinces for the first time in a decade.

According to B.C. Stats, an agency of the provincial government, the province received 2,724 more immigrants from other provinces than left the province in the last quarter of 2006.

Alberta attracted 11,813 from other provinces, while Sask-atchewan got 1,086.

Economic Development Minister Colin Hansen believes the reason for the inflow of people is the booming provincial econ- omy.

"It comes down to where the jobs are," Hansen said yesterday.

"It's the first time since the mid-1990s we've seen the inter-provincial migration significantly in B.C.'s favour," he said.

"In the last half of the 1990s we saw a significant out-migration, particularly of younger workers looking for jobs in other parts of Canada. Now it's the complete reverse." Hansen doesn't see the trend reversing any time soon.

More information for migrant nurses!

Government initiatives to increase number of nurses in B.C. should involve immigrant communities

Vancouver, B.C. – With last week’s announcement by the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Canada to invest $2.9 million from the federal government and British Columbia (B.C.) contributing $1.2 million to increase the number of nurses in the province, Filipino nurses in B.C. are critical of government-funded programs that have not benefited the community work they serve at a grassroots level.

“Systemically racist barriers and exclusionary policies within Canadian immigration and nursing regulatory bodies leave little option for Filipino nurses but to choose survival jobs that Canadians do not want to do,” stated Leah Diana of the Filipino Nurses Support Group.

The Filipino community is now the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada and third largest in B.C., and has for decades, faced obstacles in returning to practice their profession.

For nearly two decades, highly educated and skilled Philippine-trained nurses have been actively recruited through Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) to do the housekeeping, childrearing, and around-the-clock elderly care for families who can afford private live-in work.

“The LCP’s live-in requirement leaves nurses turned live-in caregivers vulnerable to poverty and terrible working conditions,” said Diana. Many earn as little as $2 per hour for 24 hours of work. The temporary immigrant status leaves them vulnerable to deportation because of oftentimes insurmountable, restrictions of the LCP.

Combined with immigration barriers, regulatory bodies’ policies add another element of further exclusion. A further requirement is Canadian nursing experience prior to obtaining nursing licensure, which makes nursing accreditation harder to reach for many Philippine-trained nurses.

“Regulatory bodies justify their restrictive policies as protection of ‘public safety’, but the worsening of the nursing shortage creates a primary threat to the health and safety of the public,” continued Diana.

Since 1995, the Filipino Nurses Support Group, a community-based organization of over 700 nurses from the Philippines in B.C. has effectively advocated for and helped bridge Philippine trained nurses, particularly those under the LCP, to B.C.’s nursing profession devoid of any concrete help from the provincial government.

Adquiere Cemex similar empresa en Australia!

CEMEX - La gigante cementera mexicana acordó la adquisición de su similar australiana Rinker en US$15.300 millones.

La gigante cementera adquirió el paquete accionario de su similar australiana Rinker en US$15.300 millones, convirtiéndose en la mayor compra hecha por una empresa mexicana.

Con el acuerdo, Cemex será la mayor compañía cementera del mundo, dará empleo a cerca de 70.000 personas y conseguirá utilidades de US$23.000 millones anuales.

La empresa mexicana obtendrá el 90% de las acciones de Rinker, y recibió la autorización de compra por parte de las autoridades reguladoras de Estados Unidos y Australia.

El 85% de los ingresos de Rinker se concentran en EE.UU., y el resto de sus operaciones se sitúan en Australia y China.

Information for people who want to immigrate to Canada!

Indo-Canadians battle to win skilled jobs
Dr. Gian Singh Sangha has not been able to get a job in his field

Kim Bolan / Read this article at the Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

IMMIGRANT WORKERS CLAIM DISCRIMINATION: Dr. Gian Singh Sangha, an India-born scientist, was denied a job in the Northwest Territories after he was deemed to be overqualified. He won a human rights commission decision a year ago, but was not offered a job or compensation.

Scientists, doctors and other highly skilled immigrants are driving taxis and working security jobs because of discrimination against foreign-trained professionals, say Indo-Canadian community leaders.

And they want all levels of government to work to end discrimination against foreign credentials so that Canada can benefit from immigrants with advanced education.

Jarnail Singh Bhandal, of the Khalsa Diwan Society, joined more than a dozen leaders at Vancouver's Ross Street temple Tuesday to voice support for Dr. Gian Singh Sangha, an India-born scientist who was denied a job in the Northwest Territories after he was deemed to be over-qualified.

Sangha won a human rights commission decision a year ago saying he was discriminated against, but was not offered a job or compensation.

He is now taking his case to the Federal Court of Canada next week to seek a remedy in an action supported by Bhandal's society, as well as the Akali Singh and Guru Nanak Sikh temples.

"We realize that the talent of the people coming here are underutilized," Bhandal said. "Whoever comes here, their credentials should be recognized and there should not be any discrimination."

Sangha, who has not been able to get a job in his field, said many have been affected in a similar way in trying to gain employment in Canada.

"It does not make any sense that a PhD or an engineer or a medical doctor should drive a taxi or do a security job for $10 or $12," Sangha said.

His lawyer David Perry said Canada is operating under "false pretences," bringing in immigrants because of their qualifications and then making it hard for them to find work.

"We are desperately short of skilled labour. We are scouring the world looking for skilled labour. When they come we won't hire them."

Sangha, 58, is asking the federal court to award him back pay or employment in his field after he was turned down in 2001 for a job with the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board despite being top-rated for the position.

Indo-Canadians are not the only people affected by the problem, said Vancouver City Coun. George Chow, a professional engineer and an immigrant himself.

"I think our government has opened the doors to these qualified professionals to come to the country so to deny them the opportunity for employment, it is just not acceptable," Chow said.

"What about all the immigrant professionals who are driving trucks, taxis or being cooks or waiters in restaurants?"

There are several issues professional immigrants face -- some, like Sangha, say they are denied jobs because they are overqualified.

Others find their credentials are not accepted in Canada and therefore also lose work in their chosen careers.

Harkirat Singh, who holds several university degrees from Punjab said he has also lost good jobs because he was deemed overqualified.

"I am also a victim of this discrimination. Although we love Canada, still we have some problems in this country," Singh said.

"I have also applied for so many jobs and because I have too many university degrees from India, I have also suffered from this kind of racism."

What do you think about the TILMA?

Agreement good for British Columbians, insists minister

by Collen Dane

Mar 30, 2007

It’s an agreement that will make a real difference in the lives of ordinary British Columbians, Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen said this week.

In an interview with the Record, Hansen explained some examples of the benefits of Canada’s most comprehensive internal trade agreement — TILMA, which comes into effect Sunday.

“I think regular, ordinary people will find labour mobility easier,” said Hansen.

Where there are times that some are struggling to find employment in one place, the TILMA will ensure that their skills are recognized in the neighbouring province. There were 62 professions, said Hansen, that stood out as a challenge for people if they wanted to move between provinces.

For people not looking to move, Hansen suggested that their tax increases could be minimized as a result of TILMA — if governments have more choice in the provision of services, that will likely create a downward pressure on price, he said.

Those are a few examples, he said, of the benefits of an agreement that he insists is a good thing. The issue of inefficiencies in Canada’s internal trade agreement, he said, has been debated for a long time — the TILMA, said Hansen, is B.C. and Alberta deciding to address the problem themselves.

While the agreement was a sleeper in the public eye, Hansen said the two-year implementation period until April 1, 2009, when local governments will be included, will focus on ironing out details and continuing consultation.

They will address what he called wrong assumptions about the agreement. For example, local governments would not be punished for turning down a development proposal by an Alberta company — unless it was done simply because it was based in the other province.

They would not be fined for not allowing billboards by an Alberta firm, unless it was simply because it was Albertan, he said.

In a letter to the Union of B.C. Municipalities, he writes “TILMA is not intended to constrain local governments’ ability to establish or maintain bona fide, non-discriminatory measures such as zoning bylaws, height restrictions or rules applying to signage. Working with your full participation at the negotiators table, it is our intention to ensure the interests of local governments, their residents and the business communities.”

For more information on the TILMA, visit www.gov.bc.ca/ecdev.