OCASI latest articles

UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights slams Canada's position on growing racial inequality

Policy: 
Legislation & Public Policies
Type: 
Media Releases
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) released its Concluding Observations for Canada's 10 year review at the 57th Session of the CESCR, which took place on February 24th and 25th, 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland.

OCASI Welcomes Proposed Reform of Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Policy: 
Legislation & Public Policies
Type: 
Position Papers & Backgrounders

Toronto, March 1, 2016 – OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants welcomes the statement to media by Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, that the government plans to reform the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) following a review by the House of Commons Standing Committee.

Executive Director’s Message January 2016

Type: 
Executive Director's Message

On the day that I am writing this blog, the 10,000th Syrian refugee landed at Toronto Pearson airport. This fact made a small splash in the media as the conversation about whether the federal government will meet its various deadlines and arrival numbers of Government assisted and privately sponsored or the ‘best of both worlds' (as  a colleague recently said) the blended version (BVOR – Blended Visa Office Referral) continued.

Executive Director's Message - December 2015

Type: 
Executive Director's Message
The image of our new Prime Minister, in shirtsleeves greeting the first Syrian refugees airlifted from Beirut to Pearson International airport in Toronto was splashed across various media platforms from coast to coast to coast in Canada and across the globe. Accompanied by Ontario's Premier and Toronto's Mayor, the Prime Minister made a speech rich with the language of diversity and inclusion. The consensus is that his remarks captured the spirit of generosity that we've seen and heard expressed by so many residents here in Ontario and across the country.

This and That…

Type: 
Executive Director's Message

This and That…

We are in the midst of an election that has exposed the ugly underbelly of Canadian racism and Islamophobia clothed in pro-women rhetoric and the hesitation of many of our elected representatives, except for a few brave and principled souls like Calgary Mayor Nenshi who took to the airways to denounce in no uncertain terms the slippery slope of racist wedge politics.

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