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Message from the Executive Director - June 2014

Type: 
Executive Director's Message
Finding a topic of interest on which to comment proved particularly difficult this month. Not because of a lack of subject matter but of competing interests- between the angst that the new bill amending the Citizenship Act is causing many of us concerned with issues of immigration and citizenship; and the fiercely  fought Ontario provincial election that's just days away, there's much food for thought and commentary here. So I'll indulge myself and write of both.  The Citizenship Bill first.

Message from the Executive Director

Type: 
Executive Director's Message
Over the past year OCASI and some of its members have been intimately engaged with the debate on the Canada Jobs Grant program and the implications for Ontario's newly arrived immigrant populations and other groups with little or no labour market attachment (which makes them EI ineligible); supported  the campaign to increase the minimum wage to $14/hour; took every opportunity to speak about the need to increase social assistance rates including ODSP (Disability support program) and the need for a boost to the Ontario Child Benefits program. Needless to say there was great anticipation about the 2014 provincial budget. Imagine then the response to the not unexpected decision of the opposition parties to withhold support for the budget, setting the stage for a provincial campaign and an election in mid-June.

OCASI - CERIS Joint Panel on Bill 161

Policy: 
Legislation & Public Policies
Type: 
In the Field

Ontario’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration tabled the province’s first-ever immigration legislation on February 19, 2014, Bill 161, An Act with respect to immigration to Ontario and a related amendment to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. On April 15, OCASI and CERIS held a very successful joint panel event to discuss the implications of the Bill.

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