Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism @ Toronto Star

Half a cheer for Jason Kenney's revolution in immigration policy: A new book on Jason Kenney's revolution inside Canada's immigration department shows that anecdote is a lousy basis for policy-making.  By:Natalie Brender, Sep 19 2013, Toronto Star

Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism
Andrew Griffith

Extract:

Andrew Griffith, a retired senior official at Citizenship and Immigration Canada, has just published a book about the tense period beginning in 2007 that saw minister Jason Kenney bring a tidal wave of change to two federal departments. Among the many virtues of Griffith’s book, Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism, is a striking commitment to epistemological modesty and self-reflection.

Throughout his case studies of various policy issues, Griffith underlines how officials working on multiculturalism and citizenship issues under Kenney were forced to confront their own latent ideologies and grapple with challenges to their expertise under a regime that broke starkly from the approach of previous governments. Continue reading Toronto Star

Discrimination common in Toronto rental market: study

Watch the Video

Extract:

July 7, 2009 Comments64Recommend26
CBC News
"Volunteers posing as prospective tenants found discriminatory approaches by landlords in about a quarter of the cases, the study says. (CBC)
A new study into rental housing says race, gender and marital status are all factors when it comes to finding accommodation in Canada's largest city.
According to Toronto's Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, about a quarter of black, South Asian, single parents and households on social assistance face discrimination in the city's rental market.
John Fraser, director of CERA, said in an interview with CBC that "if you're a single mother with a Caribbean accent, or someone with a South Asian accent … or someone receiving social assistance, you basically have a one in four chance of facing discrimination when you first inquire about renting an apartment." continue reading

All's well in the kingdom of Canada

Haroon Siddiqui @ Toronto Star, Mar 08, 2009

"In the five years since it was established by some students at the University of Toronto, Israeli Apartheid Week has spread to 40 cities around the world, according to its organizers."

Bottomline: "I found the officials at all three universities to be reasonable, even-handed and calm in the face of provocation and pressure.

Contrary to all the claims and counter-claims, at times repeated by gullible media, all is reasonably well in the kingdom of Canada."

Dealing with Discrimination During Your Job Hunt

"In an ideal workplace, staff would be hired based on work ethic, education and experience. Unfortunately, some employers may still be behind the times." By Jennifer McFee, @ Toronto sun

For new immigrants to Canada, employment experts offer five key pieces of advice on how to handle the sensitive situation of prejudice during a job hunt.
1. Assess the situation.
2. Eliminate objections.
3. Address the issue.
4. Develop a support system.
5. Keep positive.
Continue reading

See also Amazon's related titles:

Speaking Canadian - Talking Canadian Eh to Zed

On the same shelf:

EH IS CANADIAN, EH?: USAGE, FUNCTIONS AND THE IDENTITY CRISIS OF EH, By Kailin Wright

How to Speak Canadian ~~ How to Speak American

How to Speak Canadian

Canada: The land of opportunity and hope

Welcome. Bonjour.

Canada as we all know is a great land of opportunity and hope. It is bestowed with economic prosperity, educational institutions that produce highly skilled professionals, a quality of life based on excellent health care, and a country that is endowed with a vast land, clean air and fresh water, all synchronized for a safe and secure environment. Canada has a democratic civil society, a society in which universal human rights and individual political representation are guaranteed. It is hoped that as a new comer, you will carve your own future and bring forth the heritage of your own to Canada, where you will be proud to refer to as home and soon say O' Canada!

This Blog is a humble attempt by one who wants to pay back for all that Canada gave to an immigrant. This blog, then, aims to help the new comers find suitable sources of information, sources that help make their ends meet--easily, effectively and efficiently.

Your suggestions are most welcome to improve the content, context and communication. Mail your comments to the blogmaster.

Q. Why do we need another blog, when there are so many sites doing this?

A. This blog will supplement and compliment information posted on our Website--described below. While the Website has a slant towards South Asians, in this blog, we will focus on all immigrants (irrespective of their country).

Our Website collects all relevant information to facilitate an easy way for the new landed immigrants to find what they need most: http://dear.to/toronto.

Title of our Website:
A Pathfinder for Immigrants to Canada (esp., Toronto).

Description:
Website for desi, by desi and with desi relevance. It is a guide for all immigrants in Toronto, esp. South Asians. In the first section are links to find jobs (survival jobs, professional job hunt services), employment and career resources and resource centres (HRDC, ERC, TPL, etc.), job workshop and co-op opportunities, credential evaluation, and much more.

In another section are the Websites that connect desi society and with links to community centres. The last section-A MUST READ BEFORE LANDING-includes alerts about what works, and what does not work for new immigrants--be aware of scams, frauds, etc. In addition are desi news resources, such as, Employment News, Immigrant Newsline and E-DesiNews.com.

URL:
http://akbanis.freeservers.com/guide.htm shortcut: http://dear.to/toronto

This Web site is indexed in:
: Canadian Desi Links - Canada Immigration

Toronto and Vancouver bound: the location choice of new Canadian

Amazon.com's Listmania: "Canadian (local) Experience a MUST"

Described in: Immigrant Newsline

Those who come to Canada as immigrants, bring new luck, most of the time. Thanks to the free and open door policy of Canada.