"I'm
not going to sugar-coat it, we believe there's 500,000 illegal
immigrants currently spread across Canada and these individuals are
benefiting from taxpayer-funded services."
"The federal government is choosing to disregard this number and that's a real problem."
"These
illegal migrants must be taken into account, as every province is
feeling the pressure of Ottawa's mismanagement of the immigration
system."
Alberta Immigration Minister Joseph Schow
Illegal migrants claiming refugee status True North
Illegal
immigration in Canada is not taken seriously by the federal government
and Alberta's Immigration Minister urges the imperative that Ottawa stop
ignoring the problem that has wide repercussions across the country in
drawing social support resources from the Canadian taxpaying public to
those present in Canada illegally in numbers large enough to have a
truly disturbing effect in finite services. From medical care to social
housing and the growing use of food banks, to growing unemployment
among young Canadians, the presence of too many new immigrants, refugees
and illegal migrants is producing a deleterious economic and human
resources impact.
Infrastructure
and public services, points out MPP Schow, are under great strain
across the country. Federal officials, he urges, must account for the
estimated number of undocumented migrants in Canada in view of the need
to set immigration targets for the coming year. Recently, federal
officials themselves acknowledged a need to mitigate problems associated
with too many people arriving in too short time-spans, drawing on the
country's social systems and creating shortages in housing while
over-burdening an already-strained medical/health system. Millions of
new arrivals were welcomed in the past several years.
Ottawa
projects a 19 percent reduction in temporary arrivals, and eight
percent drop in permanent resident admissions in the next three years,
through a bolstered immigration level plan. The government has moved to
cap non-permanent resident numbers in Canada below five percent of the
population. A skeptical Schow feels such efforts are likely to fall
short of a sufficient adjustment to make a difference. "If they're leaving out this huge chunk of data (the issue of illegal immigration) how can they set real targets?"
A screengrab from an RCMP video shows people crossing the Manitoba border into Canada.Photograph: Jason Franson/AP
Immigration,
Refugees and Citizenship Canada disclosed in a briefing note a year ago
that the number of undocumented migrants could be as high as 500,000,
while at the same time admitting that the exact number is unknown. About
114,373 irregular border crossers petitioned to remain in Canada,
according o the federal government, between February 2017 and June of
2025. Lack of reliably hard figures on illegal immigration all the more
reason for Ottawa to diminish its intake of migrants.
58
percent of Canadians, according to a recent poll, feel that mass
deportations have become a necessity to curb the number of people now
living illegally in Canada. The province of Alberta has led the country
in inter-provincial migration and overall population growth in recent
years, Immigration Minister Schow pointed out, with the province's
population having swelled by some 200,000 last year and continuing on
through 2025. A situation that has gone well beyond hampering
individuals in Alberta achieving upward mobility.
"The
fact that [the federal government is unaware of the precise number of
undocumented migrants] they don't have an exact, or close to exact,
number just shows again how badly they've lost control of the system."
"People
around the world rightly see us as a beacon of hope and opportunity ...
and for that exact reason, we have to be mindful that we're growing our
population in a way that's strategic."
Alberta Minister of Immigration and Jobs, Economy and Trade
"If
you think life in Canada would be glamorous from the very beginning,
you would be making tons of money and buying multiple properties within
three to five years as you see on YouTube, then that's not the reality
for [the] majority of the immigrants."
"From an economic standpoint it's very difficult for a newcomer who is trying to set foot in this new country."
"One should not be making this decision considering Canada as a fantasy land."
Nishant Kalia, Calgary YouTuber, recent immigrant to Canada
"We
blindly followed the consultants. They portray a different image. Like,
everybody is wearing branded clothes and driving the latest cars or
getting good jobs immediately."
"I
think it is important, if somebody is spending their life-savings to
come to Canada and they have high hopes, that they need to make an
informed decision."
"I don't say 'Don't come to Canada', I say, 'Know these things before you come to Canada'."
Rishabh Dutta, Life of Rishab channel
"It's like picking a university, there are objective factors, but there is also just what people are saying."
"If
Canada has a reputation as a place where you are not going to succeed,
then that's going to impact the number of people who are going to decide
to come."
Daniel Bernhard, chief executive, Institute for Canadian Citizenship
"From what I have seen, at least within certain express entry classes, many newcomers are doing quite well."
"But
at the same time, there are people who are coming in different fields
who are struggling. The cautionary tone just serves to help everyone to
be more mindful of what to expect."
"A lot of learning is taking place."
Stein Monteiro, senior research associate, Toronto Metropolitan University
New Canadians wave the national flag during a citizenship ceremony in Toronto.Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star/Getty Images
Nishant
Kalia, a recent immigrant to Canada, operates the In The North-Canada
channel where he posts videos discussing various issues, such as the
possibility of a recession, rising rent costs and employment layoffs. He
does this as a social public service to immigrants like himself, and to
those people overseas who might be considering immigrating to Canada.
As a way of expressing his impressions and the results of his own
personal experiences as a recent immigrant.
His
wife has her own cautions and recommendations to add; be prepared, she
says to prospective newcomers, to work two jobs since reliance on
different "income streams" may be necessary for survival in Canada (economically).
People, she says, should 'reconsider' their decision to emigrate should
they currently be earning a good living where they are and not spending
'too much' on rent in their places of residence.
There
are five popular social media channels in Canada which regularly post
videos linked primarily to immigration; their followers are voluminous,
in the hundred-thousands subscribers or followers. All claim to be
involved in showing the realities inherent in moving to Canada; none are
interested in warning people not to consider emigrating, however.
Kalia, who arrived in Canada in 2019 explains it is not his intention to inform potential newcomers that living in Canada is "unaffordable and dangerous".
Rather, he spends most of his energies producing videos on how
newcomers can find jobs and the different legal avenues that can be
pursued to enter the country. He has modified his content in the past
few years to reflect rising prices and rents, to provide his viewers
with a "realistic expectation" preparing them to face a "more intense" environment due to inflation, in comparison to when he himself arrived.
Traditionally,
Canada has relied on newcomers to fill job sector gaps in the need to
drive its economy forward. Record population growth took place in 2022,
with the addition of over a million permanent and temporary residents
and foreign students studying in Canada. That is an intake substantially
in excess of any other Western, advanced-economy-nation. Yet the
federal government plans to increase immigration targets to bring in
500,000 permanent residents annually by 2025.
A
process that is severely exacerbating an acute housing shortage in the
country, and placing a serious strain on Canada's already-overstretched
universal health care system. A system where millions of Canadians
cannot find health services through a general practitioner able to serve
as their family doctor. Hospitals in Canada have stretched their
resources as far as they can for the past several years, but their
mission to provide timely service in surgeries has faltered and
continues to.
The
motivation for increasing immigration levels is the improvement of a
shrinking worker-to-retiree ratio as the number of working people
required to pay income taxes in support of social services continues to
rise.Five million Canadians are expected to retire by 2030, according to
Statistics Canada. There are insufficient working-age job candidates
for all manner of employment in Canada, yet bringing in millions of new
people to further degrade housing and medical care is injurious in and
of itself, both to current residents, and to those arriving.
Within
two years, according to a report published by Toronto-Dominion Bank,
the housing shortage could deepen by an additional half-million
units,taking into account current immigration levels. Rishabh Dutta
feels an obligation to his 123,000 subscribers, that it's crucial he
"shares the reality" with his viewers, mostly from India which gives
Canada its highest number of newcomers. Close to one-in-five immigrants
are from India. Many are indebted to untrustworthy immigration
consultants.
Recently,
it was discovered that about 700 Indian students had entered the
country illegally with fake admission letters, thanks to such
consultants, and as a result they are now facing deportation. Mr. Dutta
through his videos covers topics ranging from affordability and real
estate to scams and rising rents, to ensure newcomers don't face a
"culture shock" similar to the one he was forced to cope with.
"I am not against coming here. I just tell them this is not the La-la-land they have seen",
explains Vashistha Sevak, whose Instagram page viratintoronto has close
to 140,000 followers. He plans to continue posting videos providing
potential newcomers with a closer idea of what to expect on arrival.
"Last year Canada welcomed over 405,000 newcomers - the most we’ve ever
welcomed in a single year. The Government is continuing that ambition by
setting targets in the new levels plan of 465,000 permanent residents
in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. The plan also brings an
increased focus on attracting newcomers to different regions of the
country, including small towns and rural communities."
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Government of Canada
"It's
hard to see how the increased demand for both health and housing that
would accompany large increases in immigration [assuming no other
policy changes] would not further strain both systems."
"We need immigration for other economic reasons."
Arvind Magesan, economist, University of Calgary
"Government talks about immigrants as if they're going to the immigrant store and picking up a few."
"Even
people born within a privilege situation in Canada are finding it hard
to move beyond renting and working. Immigrants are coming and they're
even less privileged." "That doesn't seem to be a concern that's registering with the government. It's a very predatory situation."
Stephen Punwasi, co-founder, data journalism website Better Dwelling
Canada is aiming to welcome 500,000 newcomers in 2025, and one of the goals is to help fill jobs with skilled workers. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)
"According to the federal government’s own website, a skilled
tradesperson applying to come to Canada today would have their
application processed within 47 months – one month shy of four years.
The express program for provincial nominees stands at 15 months."
"There is a strong need for skilled trades but someone facing a
four-year wait just to be processed is likely to look elsewhere. Demand
for immigrants is high in developed countries and Canada will need to
improve its system to compete."
"We also need to do more
to ensure the people we do welcome can flourish once here. The
immigration department’s own website states that 'Overall immigrant and
refugee earnings match the Canadian average about 12 years after
arrival'."
"How can Canada attract the best and brightest with processing times like this?
"A 12-year timeframe for immigrants to catch up to Canadian-born
citizens is too long. Part of the reason is there are too many barriers
still in place stopping people from being able to find meaningful and
lucrative work once they arrive."
"There are also problems
we haven’t touched on like the lack of housing and transportation
infrastructure to handle so many new people each year and, sadly, the
Trudeau government too often stands in the way."
Toronto Sun editorial
Pew
Research found through a global survey in 2019 that Canada stood out
among its peer countries with the belief that immigration "makes our
country stronger". Canada was ranked the world's most migrant-friendly
nation through a Gallup survey of 2020. A 2022 poll by the Environics
Institute found 58 percent of Canadians backed the belief that Canada
"needs more immigrants".
While
many countries are increasingly suspicious of migration, Canadians tend
to welcome immigrants into their neighbourhoods, generally unconcerned
whether immigrants are prepared to integrate into Canadian society, and
they view immigration critical to the future of the country. Recently
the Angus Reid Institute asked Canadians if they felt immigrants were
taking their jobs and 71 percent responded "no".
Among
Canada's political parties there is no anti-immigration sentiment.
Recent months, however, have seen an opposite trend among Canadians with
respect to the government's new accelerated immigration numbers that
have risen over 40 percent in the past few years. A record-breaking
431,645 permanent residents entered Canada last year. On a per-capita
basis, Canada now brings in four times more immigrants than another
historically high-immigration country, our neighbour to the south.
Canadians
are now concerned with the nation's universal health care system, with
housing and with social welfare infrastructure. Health care in Canada,
already overstretched in capacity before the pandemic struck, has since
been barely limping along, failing dismally to look after the health
needs of the population, with surgeries cancelled and delayed and
hospital emergency wards closing down, unable to cope with the influx of
emergency cases.
Getty Images
A
November poll commissioned by the Association of Canadian Studies saw
half of respondents expressing the belief that Canada was welcoming "too
many" immigrants. 75 percent of all respondents expressed "concern"
relating to what the immigrant surge could result in for the country's
immediate future. Most of the skepticism stems from a fear that two of
the country's most defining crises -- housing affordability and
health-care shortages -- will be negatively impacted by greater
immigration numbers.
Canada
has the distinction of having the most acute housing shortage of any
country in the G7; home prices since 2000 have become too steep for
normal people to buy up available stock. Canada came last in the OECD's
ranking of housing prices in comparison to average incomes last year.
Wait times for health care --never very reassuring -- are so acute now
that Canadians are treated to news of patients dying in hospital
emergency rooms.
A
poll by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship last year found that
among recent university-educated immigrants now in Canada, up to a
quarter were re-thinking their future, making plans to leave the
country, disappointed in their experiences to date. "Many new Canadians are having a crisis of confidence in Canada -- and that should be ringing alarm bells all over Ottawa", remarked ICC CEO Daniel Bernhard.
About one in four Canadians came to the country as an immigrant Getty Images
"He [police commander] said that mother and daughter Grace Mugabe wanted this place. So you better move away" "They left us out in the open [after destroying their homes]. We felt betrayed." "Even if they come back [the white European/Zimbabwean farmers] , that's fine as long as they give us another place." "We won't deny them. What we need is only some land where we can survive -- and title to the land." Denboy Chaparadza, Mazowe village leader, Zimbabwe
"Repossessing our land cannot be challenged or reversed." "[But I am] committed to compensating those farmers from whom land was taken." Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa
Farmer Darryn Smart, centre, and his family are welcomed back to their
farm, Lesbury, by workers and community members Thursday in Tandi,
Zimbabwe.Smart’s return, facilitated by Mnangagwa’s government, could
mark a new turn in the politics of land ownership. (Farai Mutsaka / The Associated Press)
When he was Robert Mugabe's heavy enforcer, Emmerson Mnangagwa's violence in forcefully denying white farmers' titled ownership of large, productive farms that gave Zimbabwe its agricultural reputation with ample food to feed the population and more yet to send abroad whose sale brought great profit to the government, ensured the ruination of the nation's food supply. The confiscated land was then transferred to the ownership of Mugabe loyalists, recognized as those who fought for independence.
The Zimbabweans who had worked for generations for the white farmers, earning a living and proudly considering themselves well-remunerated and -respected farm workers were put out to pasture, while the new owners moved in, and while some made an effort to replace the work of the ousted farmers, others were content merely to be land owners, allowing the land to lie fallow, nothing but weeds thriving on the land abandoned to nature.
Mugabe's infamous land confiscation program led to a breakdown of the economy, high unemployment, soaring inflation and debt, a worthless currency, and hunger. The village leader and farm owner quoted above was describing the villagers of Hazowe's experience when hundreds of police exited their vehicles to issue an order that they vacate the village and their farms. Grace Mugabe wanted their land, for which they had no legal title. The Mugabes in fact, owned about 40 percent of all the confiscated farmland.
Refusing to leave, though their homes were destroyed, they experienced police harassment, threats and violence. The 146 families who were being violently coerced to leave Mazowe had themselves seized the land in 2000 from a white farmer under the land reform program. Still called Arnolds Farm, the 1,260 hectares of prime farmland and cattle ranching beside a lake had become home to those families. All of the country's richest most arable land was in the possession of a few thousand white settlers at a time when the country was called Rhodesia and white settlers ruled the country.
With Robert Mugabe finally persuaded to step down after 37 years as president, the latter decades completely ruinous to the fortunes of the country and its people, the government is attuned to the need to compensate the white farmers whose properties were seized, as a way of demonstrating to potential investors that theirs is a country of law and order where their investments will be safe for Western nations and international lenders to return.
Zimbabwe's economy is in dire need of Western assistance to revive itself. Almost all the Zimbabweans benefiting from the land policy by taking possession of farms the white farmers were violently removed from, were given no registered titles to the land they seized, although the government encouraged them to take the land. Government officials began mapping the 6,000 farms sized from the late 1990s under the fast-track program, to enable the country to qualify for international credit.
The raids in Mazowe no longer continue with the ouster of Robert Mugabe. Unlike the efficient and professional farming techniques that had rendered the land so productive, those families occupying the village practised a traditional type of subsistence farming. The tools and machines owned by the prosperous white farmers were not at their disposal; they were reduced to farming by hand. Which leaves the glaring question: since everything owned by the white farmers was taken from them in complete dispossession, what happened to that machinery?
It would have made sense for it to have been left on the farm for the use of the families that took possession of the farm to continue the agricultural purpose of the land. Corruption was so rife that while the farmers were given no compensation for the sacking of their property and its mechanical farming tools, even while the government invited black Zimbabweans to take the land, they likely took everything considered to be of any value to be given to those in power.
"Today, First Nations stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples
everywhere to revitalize and restore our collective rights as peoples
and to support one another in that goal." "This is a day for all governments to recommit to work with
us to fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. The Declaration affirms Indigenous peoples’ right to
self-determination and sets out minimum standards for their survival,
dignity and well-being." "Implementing the UN Declaration will promote
peace and help close the gap in the quality of life between First
Nations and Canadians. Canada has stated its unqualified support for the
UN Declaration and, as we approach the 10th anniversary of
its adoption by the UN General Assembly, it is time to work together to
give life to the Declaration in Canada and around the world." AFN [Assembly of First Nations] National Chief
Perry Bellegarde.
Last week, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde stated that a meeting is due between Indigenous, federal and provincial leaders to work on closing the economic gap among First Nations, to more closely resemble income levels of the wider Canadian population. This, when billions of dollars are earmarked and dispatched annually in support of First Nations aboriginal reserves. The AFN insists that First Nations tribes continue to live in reflection of their heritage, on often-remote areas of the country difficult to access.
Most people who chose to live away from urban centres on properties where services are absent are on their own; they must themselves provide potable water from wells for themselves, and access to medical care is fairly inconvenient, necessitating long drives to reach hospital and medical centres. Schooling for children can also be a problem, where children are bused to local schools in nearby towns taking hours of commuting time out of peoples' daily schedules. Those committed to living rurally and remote accept these conditions as those they've chosen.
The seasonal inaccessibility to many remotely-located reserves ensures that commodities and food ae expensive, and access to potable water often a problem, as is reaction to unstable or seasonal weather conditions leading to wildfires or to flooding conditions. On reserves, residents do not own their homes and as a result make no effort at upkeep. On reserves there is scant employment available other than what the band council doles out, usually to their own family members. This is not living traditionally, this is living in hazardous conditions where poverty is almost guaranteed.
Conditions are further exacerbated by the social conditions that prevail, with alcoholism and drug dependency common problems. As are poor parenting skills and interests in the welfare of children. Leading to a good degree of social dysfunction, made far worse by epidemics of suicide, particularly among children. Violence perpetrated by males against female members of tribal communities is common and frequent. And each time a reserve is faced with emergencies they seem incapable or unwilling or both to execute measures to meet those emergencies, instead calling upon government to solve those social ills.
Complaints are plentiful about unkempt homes requiring replacement because they've never been cared for, about a lack of psychological counselling and medical facilities close at hand, and the quality of the schools to which aboriginal youth are expected to attend until they reach higher grade levels and must go elsewhere to continue their educations. Health is impacted, both physical and mental, but persuading health and medical professionals to commit to living in hardship posts that remote communities represent is difficult.
Now Statistics Canada has released a report on income data retrieved from the 2016 census revealing that four of every five Aboriginal reserves report median incomes falling below the poverty line. A review of census figures for Indigenous communities reveal 81 percent of reserves had median incomes below the low-income measure, considered to be $22,133 for one person. Of the 367 reserves where data was available, 297 communities fell below the low-income measure, and 70 registered median incomes above the de facto poverty line.
Median total incomes below $10,000 were reported for 27 communities, registering at the lowest end. Oddly, women had marginally better incomes than their male counterparts with about 22 percent of female incomes on-reserve over the low-income measure, as opposed to about 19 percent for males. Indigenous peoples living on reserve reflect a significantly younger population than the general community in Canada reflecting a fertility rate exceeding non-Indigenous counterparts. The bad news is a shorter life expectancy and lower incomes.
A mere 26 of the 503 reserves on the Prairies had higher median household incomes where some reported household incomes of up to $70,336, reflecting employment, investments and government benefits, ranging from $13,168 in Manitoba to $114,381 in James Bay, Quebec.
Statistics Canada released another installment of census data Wednesday, this time with a focus on poverty and income. Still from Video
"The fundamental difference between Chinese and Americans is that the Chinese have a bias toward speed." "Americans like to process things, think it through from all angles." Eric Venetti, vice president for human resources, Fuyao Glass America, Moraine, Ohio
Cho Tak Wong, chairman of
the Fuyao Group, applauds during the grand opening of the Fuyao Glass
America plant, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Moraine, Ohio. The Chinese
company is ready to show off its completed automotive glass-making plant
in Ohio, which serves as its North American hub for recycled glass
manufacturing. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) The Associated Press
Chinese industry is investing everywhere around the world, from Africa to Latin America, Canada to the United States. Think about it: the global demand for inexpensive consumer products led to China emerging as a manufacturing giant, able to produce a wide range of products at much lower costs than anywhere else, due to their enormous work force willing to work long hours for low wages. And when manufacturers in Europe, North America and elsewhere found themselves unable to compete, factories were shuttered and Chinese goods kept being exported to a waiting global public.
And here's a situation in the State of Ohio where in a Dayton, Ohio suburb an abandoned General Motors plant was transformed by Chinese investment into a producing glass factory. After all, U.S.-based auto manufacturers go through millions of windshields annually. The Chinese company, Fuyao Glass Industry Group resourcefully reasoned why not move their manufacturing closer to where their clients were located?
And the population of Moraine, having lost a large employer, suddenly had a replacement where they could rely on employment for three thousand workers earning a salary once again. This is but one factory; from the year 2000 forward Chinese investment has soared to $120-billion in the U.S. alone. Half of that total emerged since early 2016, reflecting China's status as one of the U.S.'s largest sources of foreign direct investment.
fuyaousa.com
On the surface it appears like a relationship tailor-made for agreement that it works for all concerned. But not so fast. The United Automobile Workers union has launched a complaint campaign against Fuyao, which is also facing a lawsuit brought by a former manager, claiming he was dismissed simply because he wasn't Chinese.
Another employee complained that the company disciplined workers for workplace absence if they failed to request paid time off far enough in advance. While yet another former employee claimed the company had exposed him to harsh chemicals resulting in his arms being blistered and what's worse, ending up with a diminished lung capacity (despite his having been dismissed for excessive absences.)
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration had fined Fuyao last fall for over $225,000 relating to violations in workplace safety, though an agreement was later reached reducing the fine to $100,000 with the assurance of corrective measures being taken. Mr. Vanetti, speaking for the company, described an improved work atmosphere, and that many of the safety measures were already underway before the OSHA settlement was reached.
Still, workers complain that the company had increased the presence of Chinese supervisors, despite that it had left the deliberate impression it meant to bring in American managers. The company, according to one worker, demonstrated faint interest in training, sharing responsibility with or engaging with American employees. An example was brought forward by another employee who was fired in late May.
"The Chinese look at us and say, 'No need'," said Nicholas Tannenbaum when employees experience problems with equipment and ask to have the equipment temporarily shut down to deal with the problem. "They're jumping on moving conveyors to fix it as the line is running", he complained. According to Fuyao's chairman in Beijing, the plant productivity "is not as high as we have in China. Some of the workers are just idling around."
Mr. Cho, right, touring the factory CBS News
"He hasn't ever had probably this type of pressure from a work force", observed Mary Gallagher, director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, who explained that entrepreneurs like Fuyao's Cao Dewang often hire migrants for their factories who come from rural areas to the big cities in China, looking for employment and prepared to be submissive.
An interesting corollary to this situation is that when WalMart established itself in Canada, particularly when placing their big box stores in Quebec, workers there insisted on unionizing. Infamously, many of the American states proudly extol themselves as "right to work" states, which translated means no unions are present. In Canada, the presence of unions is more common. WalMart preferred to shut down their store rather than submit to the pressure of Canadian workers in Quebec.
January 2015 Paris demonstrations: Olivier Ortelpa
"Psychologically, it can create a real lack of confidence. If you don’t have a
permanent contract in France, it’s impossible to rent a flat, or get a
loan." Ange-Mireille Gnao, Franco-Ivorian
"Technically we could cut the unemployment rate in half. The difficulty is political." Nicolas
Bouzou, French economist
French President François Hollande's New Year message to the country was his resounding declaration acknowledging that a double state of emergency exists in France, and he vowed his determination to handle them both; he would continue to dedicate himself and all of France's considerable resources to fighting and defeating the terrorism that spread its hot, rancid breath of death over France, and unemployment would be tackled and similarly, but by other means, defeated.
His critics see an inextricable link between terrorism and unemployment, and certainly it seems a case can be made for homegrown terrorism and the high unemployment rate among Muslim immigrants and their youth. Is defeating terrorism then, an anger-management solution among the disaffected? Isn't that akin to the usual excuses for 'impressionable youth' looking for a meaningful anchor in their lives, and succumbing to the solicitations of Islamist jihadist agents on their recruiting drives, embracing the zeal and promise of jihad in defiance of a system that excludes them?
Manuel Valls, the Socialist prime minister, has himself however, described France's 3,800-page
labour code as "unreadable", but does that translate as an admission that it is as a consequence unworkable? Presumably and with good enough reason. He has promised that he will go about simplifying the code, seen as a hindrance to employment, ruling out altering the 35-hour work week, though. And Mr. Hollande for his part, is intent on training a half-million youth through apprenticeship programs.
Nothing is ever as simple as a heartfelt promise. But promises cannot be discounted for their importance in pre-election times. Still, Emmanuel Macron, France's economy minister, insists on the vital importance of deregulation for the purpose of persuading companies that they have an obligation to their futures and that of the country to create jobs. Which sounds really excellent if it can be done without upsetting unions and the hard left friends of the Socialists. France's labour code is close to sacred in their estimation.
Currently, France's unemployment is at 3.6-million people without work, representing 10.6 percent of the population. In contrast, Britain's unemployment rate stands at 5.1 percent, and Germany's a truly enviable 4.5 percent. This is, needless to say, without taking into account the prospect of the Syrian refugee presence altering that rate significantly. But Chancellor Merkel may finally have figured that one out, by declaring that once Syria has been stabilized Germany will expect Syrians to return to their country of origin.
In France, the joblessness rate of youth under 25 is a troubling 24.5 percent, as opposed to Germany's seven percent for youth. In the immigrant suburbs, the banlieues, that unemployment rate is likelier to be 30 to 35 percent, and therein lies the kind of provocation that breeds huge discontent that begins with the ritual of torching hundreds of vehicles in a rage of petulant disaffection, then ascends to the height of payback for unspeakable humiliations heaped upon resentful Muslims by transforming them into jihadists.
As bad as unemployment is now in France, the state of joblessness appears to be rising. So in lock-step with rising unemployment is the falling esteem in which President Hollande is held. Yet on the other hand, his declarations of a heightened battle against terrorism wins him plaudits.
Somehow, the terrorist-fighting demographic which approves of that tough talk manages to look past and beyond the love-in conducted by their president with Iranian President Rouhani with a resolute Hollande quick to count the ways France can benefit financially from cossetting the world's most obvious cultivator of terrorism and human rights abuses. And Rouhani, a master of deceit, recognizes an accomplished artist in chicanery.
François Hollande and Hassan Rouhani before a meeting at the Élysée palace in Paris.
Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP
As for unemployment itself, the unions of France; militant, entitled -- capable of launching crippling strikes despite their narrow enrolment numbers of seven percent of the workforce -- have much to say about the issue. And their political influence is to be discounted only by those who deliberately skim by reality. The threat of paralyzing strikes shutting down vital services does call for sober second thought.
Millions are affected by those strikes and they have an additional effect of chilling employment as well. France is by definition a socialist country, dedicated to all things socialist, none less obvious than work, when unions fulfill their obligation to society and the state through stiff bargaining that ensures people will work less and earn more, stifling the urge among employers to engage in increased hiring of staff.
Meanwhile, French students know how important a good education is, and they commit themselves to earning the required paperwork to prove they are fit to be employed. If those diplomas are issued from the Ecole Poltechnique or Ecole Nationale d'Administration, they're assured good jobs, government positions, they're set for life. Otherwise, aside from the socio-economic elite in an ostensibly egalitarian society, not so much.
The French Labour Code is 3,689 pages long, setting out excruciating details of the rights of workers, where laying people off is well nigh impossible, leading managers to hire fewer workers than they might be persuaded would be in the best interests of their efficient operations. And at the bottom of the ranking scale? Why of course, children of immigrants among whom are those who would so much rather take part in the glamour and excitement of jihad than hold down paid employment.
A young child stops as mourners gather
in front of the Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon restaurants in Paris,
France. There have been fears that France is now wide-open to the terror
threatPhoto: Getty Images
A Nov. 13, 2015 string of terrorist attacks across Paris
that killed 129 people has again raised concerns across French society
about jihadist violence and ISIS-inspired domestic terrorism. The
tragedy comes in the wake of several other attacks in France in 2015,
including an attack on an American-owned chemical factory near Lyon in
June 2015 and two in January 2015, when 12 people were murdered at the satirical news outlet Charlie Hebdo and then, days later, four hostages were killed at a kosher supermarket.
Like other European nations, France has a long and complicated
relationship with the Muslim world and its own immigrant population,
many of whom have been in the country for generations. French Muslims
are highly diverse, and some are secular while others are observant. One
of the policemen killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Ahmed Merabet,
was Muslim. Some are at the center of society — soccer player Zinedine
Zidane, born in Marseille to Algerian parents, led France to a World Cup victory in 1998 — but large segments of the population remain excluded.
Research from INSEE, France’s national statistical agency, indicates
that in 2013, the unemployment rate for all immigrants was approximately
17.3%,
nearly 80% higher than the non-immigrant rate of 9.7%, and descendents
of immigrants from Africa have a significantly more difficult time
finding work. The report found that the education and skill levels only
explained 61% of the difference in employment rates between descendents
of African immigrants and those whose parents were born in France.
-
See more at:
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/international/conflicts/france-muslims-terrorism-integration-research-roundup#sthash.NhMQtsFR.dpuf
A Nov. 13, 2015 string of terrorist attacks across Paris
that killed 129 people has again raised concerns across French society
about jihadist violence and ISIS-inspired domestic terrorism. The
tragedy comes in the wake of several other attacks in France in 2015,
including an attack on an American-owned chemical factory near Lyon in
June 2015 and two in January 2015, when 12 people were murdered at the satirical news outlet Charlie Hebdo and then, days later, four hostages were killed at a kosher supermarket.
Like other European nations, France has a long and complicated
relationship with the Muslim world and its own immigrant population,
many of whom have been in the country for generations. French Muslims
are highly diverse, and some are secular while others are observant. One
of the policemen killed in the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Ahmed Merabet,
was Muslim. Some are at the center of society — soccer player Zinedine
Zidane, born in Marseille to Algerian parents, led France to a World Cup victory in 1998 — but large segments of the population remain excluded.
Research from INSEE, France’s national statistical agency, indicates
that in 2013, the unemployment rate for all immigrants was approximately
17.3%,
nearly 80% higher than the non-immigrant rate of 9.7%, and descendents
of immigrants from Africa have a significantly more difficult time
finding work. The report found that the education and skill levels only
explained 61% of the difference in employment rates between descendents
of African immigrants and those whose parents were born in France.
-
See more at:
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/international/conflicts/france-muslims-terrorism-integration-research-roundup#sthash.NhMQtsFR.dpuf
"There isn't a sort of task force to check if domestic workers are being afforded their rights or not." Rothna Begum, researcher, women's rights in the Middle East, Human Rights Watch
"She feared that they might try to harm her or kill her, so she tried escaping through the window." "The recruitment agency told her that she would be able to make a lot of money and help her family out of poverty." Vijayakumari Shankar, India
Relatives of Kasthuri Munirathinam hold a photo and copies of her employment documents. Photo: ArunSankark/The Associated Press
Kasthuri Munirathinam is 55 years of age, a mother of four living in southern India. She had borrowed funding to enable her to marry off her daughters, and was unable to repay her debts. Rescue came in the form of recruitment through an agency which promised her the opportunity to earn a thousand Saudi riyals monthly as a live-in maid in Saudi Arabia. She was among countless others from India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines for whom such promises and the employment that would fulfill their financial needs led them to work as servants in the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
A mere few weeks after her employment began, however, using two of her saris as a rope, she attempted to climb from a third-floor window to the ground below. Soon afterward she landed in a hospital bed in Riyadh. She had complained to Saudi authorities that she was not being given enough to eat and she was being horribly overworked. Saudi authorities, needless to say, have no interest in such complaints, but her employers certainly did. They locked her in a room, and this resulted in her attempt to escape.
Her makeshift rope failed its purpose, however, and in the resulting fall she was so badly injured that the amputation of her arm was required. Her employer contended that she was mentally unstable. The precarious plight of migrant workers across the Gulf is tied in with the sponsorship system that binds migrants' livelihood and residency visas to the employer. Domestic workers numbering roughly two and a half million are women who live with their sponsor, and labour laws in Gulf Arab nations don't typically extend to domestic workers.
Those domestic workers' lives are at the mercy of their employers. The situation is dire, and the Government of India is well aware of the fact that their nationals are being exploited in such circumstances. In this particular case India's foreign Ministry has urged that an independent inquiry be undertaken, stressing the employer should be charged with attempted murder, while the family would be content with monetary compensation since the woman will no longer be capable of working. The fall also caused a back injury for which she had undergone surgery.
Domestic workers from the Philippines India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Ethiopia work as nannies and live-in maids, labouring six and seven days a work. In Saudi Arabia alone over 2.8 million Indians work in low paying jobs. Rothna Begum, the Human Rights Watch researcher, points out that though India and Saudi Arabia had signed a labour cooperation agreement securing the rights of domestic workers and their employers, actual application of the law lags.
Domestic workers attempting to leave an abusive situation under Saudi law can be found guilty of breaching immigration laws since visas for residency are inextricably linked to the employer who must consent to a worker transferring employment elsewhere. A bylaw was issued in 2013 allowing one day off a week and a paid vacation every two weeks for domestic workers. Under Saudi labour law other workers are limited to eight hours of daily work whereas domestic workers can be required to work up to 15 hours.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest employers of domestic workers in the world. The International Labour Organization states that about a third of the 784,500 foreign domestic workers in the kingdom are men who work as drivers or gardeners. The female majority work on average 64 hours a week. The second-highest number of domestic migrant workers from Asia are located in Kuwait with about 660,000 in total.
In Kuwait, its parliament approved a law allowing rights to domestic workers such as a weekly day off, and 30 days of annual paid leave, along with a 12-hour working day with rest. Bahrain, in contrast, includes domestic workers under its labour law, while excluding them for many of the provisions such as limits on working hours. In Oman, the UAE and Qatar, according to Ms. Begum, labour laws do not apply to domestic workers.
It was revealed last year by Amnesty International, that under Qatari law no limits apply on working hours for the country's 84,000 female domestic workers, nor are there any requirements to permit them a day off. Workers' own embassies impress upon them the advised option to walk away from pressing charges against employers since the national system might be inimical to their favour or the legal process too complex.
In Muslim countries, standards to prove that sexual assault has occurred are stiff, where capital punishment is common for rapists and women who report having been raped could conceivably face the charge of being involved in "illicit relations" as a default, until or unless the rape charge is proven. "There simply isn't the kind of follow-through and careful investigation that you can expect. It can give the impression that the legal system is protecting sponsors from scrutiny".
"They also say you can't wear yellow red clothing." "Can you believe it? They've already attacked a woman on a bus for wearing yellow." "You don't wait for clarifications. These people are crazy and they will kill you." Claudia Vastellanos, beautician, San Salvador, El Salvador
In this June 12, 2015 photo, hairdressers
take a break from their work at a hair salon in downtown San Salvador,
El Salvador. Violence in El Salvador is reaching a level that rivals the
worst days of guerrilla warfare decades ago, few are willing to risk
becoming a target. Word on the street is that only the girlfriends of
gang members are allowed to be redheads or blondes. So in this violent
place, women are scurrying to salons to give up their blond hair and
highlights, to dye it all black, not out of fashion sense, but out of
fear. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
"You take away the mature leadership, and you get a structure that is made up of younger, fanatical people who want to make a name for themselves. They want war." Raul Mijango, former guerrilla, truce facilitator
"Things have to get worse before they get better." "When I see one (gang member) on the street, I'm going to shoot him before he shoots me." Police official
"These jerks lurk around the schools and offer everything to join the gang. If you refuse, they kill you." "I will do everything to protect my children." Carlos Treminio, street vendor, father of teens
El Salvador has seen bloody violence at levels similar to those of the civil war two decades ago. When night falls stores owners succumb to their fears by closing early. Streets suddenly empty of people. Roadblocks meant to thwart grenade attacks on police stations go up. Police sleep in those stations in preference to taking a bus home and being vulnerable to attack. Taxis take precautions to make themselves less visible.
A truce had been established in 2013 between government and the gangs that troll for trouble. Gang leaders incarcerated for their crimes were moved under the agreement from the maximum-security prisons that securely held them incommunicado, to more relaxed facilities where they were enabled to once again head up their criminal gangs, albeit remotely. All that changed in January with a change in government.
In this May 28, 2015 photo, suspected members of
the 18th Street gang stand handcuffed in pairs at a police station in
Panchimalco, near San Salvador, El Salvador. A new government announced
officially an end to the 2013 gang truce in January, returning leaders
to maximum security and starting aggressive attacks and arrests, leaving
the streets to younger and more reckless criminals. (AP Photo/Manu
Brabo)
President Salvador Sanchez Ceren in January rejected the truce and initiated an aggressive crackdown on criminals, while placing the gang leaders back into their maximum security cells. Their leadership diminished, no longer in charge, the streets have come under control of younger criminals, well armed and reckless. The police say they are prepared to meet the challenge. Their crackdown on gangs has seen some members flee to rural areas and with them goes the violence they represent.
In the town of Olocuitia, located 30 kilometres south of San Salvador, the corpses of two teens were discovered in a gully post-shootout with police. It was the site of an old cattle stable, turned into a shooting range by gang members. A 16-year-old with a grenade in his hand was one of the dead; he was the leader of the cell.
In this May 27, 2015 photo, relatives of a
Mara Salvatrucha gang member retrieve his body from a steep gully after
he was shot dead in a confrontation with police, in Olocuilta, El
Salvador. Two bodies were found at the bottom of the gully following a
shootout that began near an old cattle stable, which gang members had
turned into a shooting range. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
The assistant national police chief, a former guerrilla commander, Howard Cotto explained his belief that the gangs, absent an ideology will fail to find rural support such as that given in the 1980s to rebels. Still, it is his belief that the situation is not amenable to change for the better until the problems of poverty and lack of employment for young people are adequately addressed.
Although the government has arrested 12,000 gang members in the last year alone, it is meaningless. "We can go in and arrest 50 gang members and 50 more will take their places. With just arrests, we won't accomplish anything". The month of May saw 635 reported homicides, in a country of slightly over six million people. It is anticipated that June statistics will see even greater numbers of murders.
Little wonder then, that people are terrified and take whatever precautions they can to preserve themselves from the harm that lurks around every street corner when dusk falls.
Some
of the hundreds of Palestinians who work at SodaStream’s West Bank
factory that will be shut down. They could be put out of work with the
facility’s relocation to southern Israel. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — SodaStream, the Israeli at-home seltzer machine
company, announced last week that it would be closing its West Bank
factory and moving the facility’s operations to southern Israel next
year. Here’s what you need to know about SodaStream, the
controversy that has bubbled up in its midst and what the actress
Scarlett Johansson has to do with it.
What is SodaStream? SodaStream
is an Israeli company that makes and sells seltzer machines for home
use. Since it was founded in 1991, the company has sold more than 10
million machines in 39 countries. The foot-and-a-half-tall machines turn
still water into seltzer in 30 seconds. The company also markets dozens
of mix-in flavors, such as cola, ginger ale, lemon-lime and fruit
punch.
Why is SodaStream controversial?
Until this week, SodaStream’s main factory was located in Mishor
Adumim, an industrial park in the Israeli West Bank settlement of Maale
Adumim, east of Jerusalem. Because the settlement is likely to be
included in Israel in any future peace deal with the Palestinians, many
Israelis don’t view it as all that controversial.
But groups that oppose Israel’s occupation of the West Bank have
called for boycotts of SodaStream due to the factory’s location. The
debate over SodaStream gained attention earlier this year when the
actress Scarlett Johansson became the face of the company, appearing in a
SodaStream ad
during the Super Bowl. Johansson ended up resigning as a spokeswoman
for Oxfam International, an anti-poverty group that opposes the West
Bank factory, after it criticized the actress’ involvement with the
company.
What is SodaStream’s position on its West Bank factory?
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum has touted the Mishor Adumim factory,
which has been in its current location since 1997, as a successful
example of Arab-Jewish coexistence in the West Bank. Some 500
Palestinians work at the factory
alongside Israeli Jews, and Birnbaum says he pays them well and treats
them as equals with their Jewish co-workers, though pro-Palestinian
groups allege that the Palestinian employees are treated poorly. The
factory includes a mosque for Muslim employees. Closing the factory,
Birnbaum says, could mean putting hundreds of Palestinians out of work.
Birnbaum is a proponent of a two-state solution
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has noted that Mishor Adumim is
defined as an area under Israeli control by the 1993
Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Accords, and argues that Israeli industry there
is thus not a violation of international law.
The company drew more criticism
this summer after it fired 60 of its Muslim employees, claiming they
refused to work. The employees countered that SodaStream did not provide
them with sufficient meals following the Ramadan fast and therefore
were unable to safely operate machinery.
So what caused the move?
SodaStream’s third-quarter revenue dropped 13 percent, and sales in the Americas dropped 41 percent — numbers the company says are unrelated to the boycotts.
Moving to Lehavim, a town in southern Israel, near Beersheba, will
yield savings of 2 percent, according to a brief SodaStream statement
about the move. The Israeli government gave SodaStream a $20 million
grant for the new facility, part of a larger government effort to
incentivize business growth in the country’s South.
The company claims the motive for the move is “purely commercial,”
though Birnbaum told the Forward this year that the Mishor Adumim
factory is a “pain in the ass.”
Birnbaum said in the statement that he’s working with the Israeli
government to obtain work permits that would enable his Palestinian
employees to work at the relocated plant. However, the new facility is
60 miles away from the Mishor Adumim workplace.
“While we are enthusiastic about our new Lehavim facility and the
exciting promise it brings to our company, we are committed to doing
everything in our power to enable continuity of employment to our family
of employees,” Birnbaum said in the statement.
What are protest groups saying about the move?
They have praised the decision … but they’re still boycotting
SodaStream. Activists say that the Mishor Adumim factory’s closure is
evidence that the BDS movement, which aims to boycott, divest from and
sanction Israel, is working.
“Today’s news is just the latest sign that these global BDS campaigns
are having an impact on changing the behavior of companies that profit
from Israeli occupation and apartheid,” said Ramah Kudaimi, membership
and outreach coordinator for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation, which represents 400 organizations.
But Kudaimi’s group, as well as the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, say they will continue to boycott
SodaStream because they claim its new factory abets dispossession of
Bedouin land in Israel, even though the factory will be in an existing
industrial park.
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
