Policy

After being away from my office for two weeks, travelling the country for various meetings all having to do with women`s rights, feminism and the role of States and Governments, I came to my desk and sat down to check my messages. The first message to play was from a colleague from British Columbia, I`m yet to meet in person. Her message? She was calling to gauge my interest in discussing the re-establishment of a national immigrant and ‘visible minority’ (racialized) women’s voice/organization/coalition.

March 8, 2018/Toronto – Today, on International Women’s Day 2018, OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants celebrates the strength, vision and creativity of our sisters who work and lead in Ontario’s immigrant and refugee-serving sector and allied sectors.

We celebrate the gains we have made in raising awareness and educating about violence against refugee and immigrant women and women with precarious immigration status.

November 2017

Media Release

Geneva / August 15, 2017 / - Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change (COP-COC) and several of its co-founding members were successful in having Canada vigorously questioned on its record on addressing racial discrimination by a UN human rights Committee at its review of Canada today in Geneva.

The civil society groups were in attendance at Canada’s review by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

August 2017 / Toronto - This August long weekend in Canada was a time for much discussion of what this civic holiday means for different parts of the country. In Ontario, there’s a mishmash of understanding of why we take off the first Monday in the month. For many it’s just a day off. For others (especially Torontonians and those in the Greater Toronto area) its Simcoe day and still for others, especially Ontario’s Black communities, its Emancipation Day, a commemoration of the end of the enslavement of Black people here in Canada* and throughout the Americas (1834).

August 2017 / Toronto - This August long weekend in Canada was a time for much discussion of what this civic holiday means for different parts of the country. In Ontario, there’s a mishmash of understanding of why we take off the first Monday in the month. For many it’s just a day off. For others (especially Torontonians and those in the Greater Toronto area) its Simcoe day and still for others, especially Ontario’s Black communities, its Emancipation Day, a commemoration of the end of the enslavement of Black people here in Canada* and throughout the Americas (1834).

OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants submitted a Brief to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities for its review of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

OCASI made the following key observations and recommendations in the Brief:

Key Observations

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.

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.

OCASI has submitted comments on the federal government's proposed compliance framework for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and International Mobility Program (IMP). An overview of proposed regulatory changes was provided in an Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) discussion paper, “Regulatory proposals to enhance the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and International Mobility Program compliance framework” and interested parties were asked to submit comments.