In the Field Newsletter Volume 61

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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Immigration Levels, $15 Mininum Wage

Debbie Douglas portrait photo

Over the past few weeks, my time has been taken up with government relations obligations: consultation with the Federal Minister responsible for immigration; discussions with the Provincial Ministry (of Citizenship and Immigration) and their new Refugee Resettlement Unit; participation on the Global Migration Compact Advisory Committee and my work on the Provincial Working Group charged with developing a roadmap for Income Security Reform.

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OCASI MEMBER FEATURE

Census Data Highlights

Social Planning Toronto logoBased on Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census data, Social PlanningToronto’s (SPT) new report on demographic change in Toronto looks at the shifting age and sex makeup of the city and what it means for the programs, services and priorities. SPT will be producing a series of such reports throughout 2017 on future Census data reports.

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OCASI HAPPENINGS

OCASI Graphic Novel

OCASI and MOFIF with the support of Interim Place launched the new multilingual editions of the celebrated “Telling Our Stories: Immigrant Women’s Resilience” in the Peel Region on June 29. The novel is now available in 9 languages as well as English and French. The launch event featured powerful performances, speakers, and a reading by one of the writers.

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Access to Justice Project

OCASI has launched an Access to Justice project to understand and address challenges faced by members of racialized communities as they navigate administrative tribunals. The project’s objective is to increase access to justice through meaningful engagement, capacity building, and the implementation of race-based data collection within the administrative tribunal system.

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Refugee Settlement Pilot Report

OCASI report on phase 1 of the Refugee Settlement Support Pilot Project is now available online. See details of the project's research, resource development and recommendations. For updates on ongoing project activities, including the Best Practices Webinar Series, visit the SettlementAtWork Wiki. For more information, please contact project coordinators Lorraine Hudson and Sara Shahsiah at refugeesettlement.org.


SECTOR HAPPENINGS

Let’s Talk: Racism and Health Equity

A free English and French resource from the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health describing concepts of race, racism and racialization, emphasizes settler colonialism and structural racism as the root causes of health and social inequities experienced by Indigenous and racialized peoples in Canada. Includes tips for conversation in your organization about how to develop strategies to eliminate racism.

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Safe Third Country Agreement must be suspended

On June 27, 2017, Amnesty International (AI) and the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) released a brief calling for Canada to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.

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Ajax Council officially declares Town of Ajax a Sanctuary City

Ajax Council has unanimously declared the Town of Ajax a sanctuary city. This designation gives undocumented and precarious status residents full access to local services, supporting their legal path to citizenship.

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$15 & Fairness

Join the campaign for the $15 minimum wage and better working conditions for Ontario workers by mobilizing support for Bill 148, The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017. Introduced by the government in June, the Bill can bring fairer wages, paid sick days, decent hours, and better protection for the right to unionize.

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