Position Papers & Backgrounders

OCASI made ten recommendations to the Ontario government in the Council's 2016 Pre-Budget Submission.

10 OCASI RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ONTARIO BUDGET 2016

OCASI responded to the Gender Wage Gap Strategy Consultation undertaken by the Government of Ontario by highlighting the exclusion experienced by racialized immigrant and refugee women, and making six recommendations for systemic change.

OCASI made the following recommendations:

November 17, 2015/Toronto – OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants strongly condemns the recent arson attack on the Kawartha Muslim Religious Association's Masjid Al-Salaam in Peterborough, and the vandalism at the Ram Dham Hindu Temple in Kitchener.

The Council is concerned by these attacks as well as other escalating expressions of Islamaphobia, racism and xenophobia, which in our present reality are primarily targeting Muslims, and Canadian residents of Arab and South Asian background.

OCASI canvassed the major political parties for their views on seven questions that are of interest to OCASI member agencies and Ontario's immigrant and refugee communities. Included are questions on settlement services for immigrants and refugees, refugee sponsorship, family reunification, citizenship and permanent residency for migrant workers.

The questions were sent on August 5, 2015 to the following: Conservative Party, Green Party, Liberal Party and New Democratic Party. Please see below for the responses received to-date (in the order of receipt):

OCASI appeared before the Special Advisors to the Changing Workplaces Review (CWR) on June 16, 2015 to share recommendations on how the Employment Standards Act should be changed to better protect workers. The submission focused on growing precarious and low-wage work, and vulnerability of migrant workers and workers without immigration status.

OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic and Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change submitted a joint community response to Canada's nineteenth and twentieth reports on the status of compliance by the Canadian government with respect to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discriminiation.

The Joint Report was submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in February 2012.

OCASI Comments on Federal Budget 2015

Federal Budget 2015 tabled on April 21 in the House of Commons contains two measures targeted specifically to immigrants – Foreign Credential Recognition Loan project changes and Access to remittance services. Many of the new investments contained in the budget are delayed for implementation in 2017-18 and later.

OCASI Executive Director Debbie Douglas appeared as a witness before the Standing Committee on Justice Policy on 16 April 2015 to make a submission on Bill 49 - Ontario Immigration Act, 2015.

The OCASI submission makes several recommendations to strengthen the Bill, including: prioritize permanent immigration over temporary migration; expanding Provincial Nominee Program selection to include low-skilled workers; and strengthen protection of employment and labour protection for migrant workers.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration has recommended that the Government of Canada evaluate conditional permanent resident status (of sponsored spouses), and monitor the number and outcome of abuse exception requests, percentage of tips that result in removal, and incidence of reported abuse within these sponsorships.

December 18, 2014/Toronto – OCASI is calling on the Government of Canada to mark International Migrants Day 2014 by adopting and ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on December 18, 1990 and in 2000 proclaimed 18 December as International Migrants Day.