CRECEN EXPORTACIONES MEXICANAS A CANADÁ / FINANCIERO
El valor de las exportaciones mexicanas destinadas a Canadá aumentó 18 por ciento en octubre respecto al mismo mes de 2007, para totalizar mil 454 millones de dólares, informó hoy la agencia oficial Estadísticas Canadá. Indicó que el valor de las exportaciones de mercancías mexicanas a Canadá en octubre sumó mil 454 millones de dólares (18 por ciento). El superávit comercial de México con Canadá en octubre fue de mil 29 millones de dólares, según las cifras canadienses.
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JORNALEROS DE FLORIDA COMPARTEN UN SUEÑO MIENTRAS AVANZAN SOBRE TRASNACIONALES / DAVID BROOKS / LA JORNADA
Los jornaleros de Florida “comparten un sueño” para transformar esta sociedad junto con sus aliados, y extienden una invitación a que “todos seamos los autores de esta historia”, en la cual, desde un ignoto rincón de este estado, los trabajadores (en su mayoría mexicanos) más desprotegidos de este país se enfrentan con algunas de las empresas trasnacionales más poderosas del planeta… y van ganando. En una gira por ciudades del noreste, entre ellas ésta, el Comité de Trabajadores de Immokalee (CIW, por sus siglas en inglés) cuenta su historia de cómo mediante movilizaciones, boicoteos y la solidaridad de estudiantes, religiosos, sindicatos y hasta senadores federales y figuras políticas famosas, han logrado que las principales cadenas de comida rápida y algunos supermercados firmen acuerdos sin precedente para mejorar los salarios y condiciones de trabajo de los jornaleros que cultivan y cosechan el jitomate en los campos de Florida.
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DESCUBREN TÚNEL TRANSFRONTERIZO EN SAN DIEGO / FINANCIERO
Autoridades de migración de Estados Unidos encontraron hoy un túnel transfronterizo en San Diego, California, luego que el vehículo en el que transportaban a indocumentados mexicanos se atascara en el lugar. Agentes de migración localizaron el túnel cuando uno de los neumáticos del camión, en el que llevaban a los indocumentados para regresarlos a México a través de la frontera, se hundió en el lugar mientras de desplazaba lentamente cerca de la línea fronteriza. Al sacar la llanta de la hendidura, los oficiales vieron el conducto subtérraneo, que se localizaba a unos siete metros al oeste de la garita de San Ysidro, la más transitada de las 42 que unen a México y Estados Unidos, por lo que llamaron a los inspectores de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza (CBP).
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MANTIENEN HISPANOS COSTUMBRES PARA CELEBRAR LA NAVIDAD EN EU / FINANCIERO
Los hispanos en el norte de Texas (Estados Unidos) se preparan para celebrar la Navidad sin perder sus costumbres ni dejar de lado sus raíces. "La Navidad no son los grandes regalos de los mortales, sino el gran regalo que Dios nos da, el de mandarnos un Salvador cumpliendo su promesa", aseguró el reverendo Esteban Jasso en una entrevista. Para Jasso, la Navidad también es tiempo de que los hispanos de todas las creencias religiosas celebren esta fecha sin olvidar sus costumbres.
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DEVELAN UNA ESTRELLA EN LAS VEGAS A LA MEXICANA TATIANA / MILENIO
Para la cantante mexicana Tatiana fue toda una sorpresa que Las Vegas le haga honor en el Paseo de las Estrellas, pues por más que es conocida en su país no guarda grandes vínculos con el público estadounidense. Las autoridades municipales develan una estrella para la artista casi 25 años después que comenzara una carrera como cantante pop en la adolescencia y 13 años después de que se hiciera famosa como cantante infantil. La llamada ``Reina de los niños'', que cumple 40 años el viernes, dijo previo a una ceremonia en su honor en el hotel y casino The Mirage que aunque ha cantado pocas veces en Las Vegas y pese a que su programa televisivo es completamente en español, una multitud de gente ha acudido a verla.
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NUEVA YORK LANZA AMBICIOSO PLAN PARA AYUDAR A INMIGRANTES / CLAUDIA TORRENS / EL NUEVO HERALD
Más de 40 agencias municipales en Nueva York traducirán documentos a seis idiomas y entrenarán a sus empleados bilingües sobre temas sociales, como parte de un ambicioso plan para ayudar a la comunidad inmigrante de la ciudad. El esfuerzo - que será presentado formalmente en menos de tres semanas y tendrá un coste distinto para cada agencia - es parte de una campaña para mejorar la comunicación con inmigrantes que sólo dominan el español, chino, ruso, coreano, italiano y francés creole. "Para los 1,8 millones de neoyorquinos con conocimientos limitados del inglés, interactuar con el gobierno puede ser un desafío", declaró el alcalde Michael Bloomberg hace pocas semanas, cuando se impuso la orden 120, que obliga a la ciudad a mejorar sus servicios lingüísticos para los inmigrantes.
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CALIFORNIA HELPING POOR AND IMMIGRANTS OPEN AND MAINTAIN BANK ACCOUNTS / JENNIFER STEINHAUER / THE NEW YORK TIMES
California is starting what banking experts call the nation’s largest, most ambitious effort by a state government to enable people, especially immigrants and the poor, to open and maintain bank accounts. The program, Bank on California, which is to be announced Friday in Sacramento, will seek to create 100,000 accounts over two years among residents here and in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Fresno. It is based on a two-year trial in San Francisco, where 31,000 accounts were opened by first-time users. “For a governor of a state the size of California to stand up and say access to financial services for everyone is a critical issue is very significant,” said Jennifer Tescher, director of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, a nonprofit research group affiliated with the Shore Bank in Chicago. Under the program, more than 30 banks and credit unions will receive grants from the William J. Clinton Foundation to enable them to offer residents low- or no-fee accounts, to train them how to use banks and in many cases to waive overdraft fees the first few times.
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HISPANICS IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION / RUBEN NAVARRETTE / THE DENVER POST
Having missed the chance to name a Hispanic to one of the top four Cabinet positions, President-elect Barack Obama is now under pressure by some groups to put the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. I was curious about how that might go over with someone who was the highest-ranking Hispanic Cabinet member in history and who had been rumored to be on the short list for the high court. So I called Alberto Gonzales. The former attorney general isn't ready to talk publicly about the U.S. attorney scandal that forced him from office. Although he was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Justice Department's inspector general, there may be more investigations.
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NEBRASKA DEBE LIDIAR CON INMIGRACIÓN / JEAN ORTIZ / EL NUEVO HERALD
Los legisladores de Nebraska deben lidiar con los problemas asociados con la creciente población de inmigrantes, o se arriesgan a alimentar la discriminación y condonar la existencia de una subclase de trabajadores, dice un informe que examina la política de inmigración. La apatía dejaría sin solución las presiones sobre los sistemas locales de educación, salud pública y la ley y crearían una armazón inconsistente de políticas entre las comunidades de Nebraska, a medida en que los líderes locales busquen sus propias soluciones.
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ES PURO MITO / GARDENIA MENDOZA / RUMBO
La idea de que mexicanos en EE.UU. se están regresando a su país es errónea, asegura un funcionario mexicano. La cancillería afirmó que ni las redadas en contra de indocumentados ni la crisis económica han logrado afectar las intenciones de los mexicanos para quedarse a vivir en Estados Unidos, aunque sí reprimen los planes de posibles emigrantes. "No hemos podido identificar estadísticamente un incremento importante de retornos", dijo Carlos Rico, subsecretario para América del Norte durante un encuentro con corresponsales extranjeros. "Los operativos antiinimigrantes tienen más bien un impacto mediático, pero en realidad es limitado el número de connacionales repatriados".
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EDITORIAL: CHERTOFF AND THE ILLEGALS / WASHINGTON TIMES
How did it happen that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had illegal aliens cleaning his home for nearly four years without the Secret Service knowing about it? Yesterday, The Washington Post reported that that Mr. Chertoff hired Consistent Cleaning Services (CCS), a Rockville firm, to clean his home. Every few weeks during this four-year period, CCS employees cleaning the home would have their IDs screened by the Secret Service, and the owner of the firm claims that the workers sailed through -- even though subsequent checks showed that they were in the country illegally. Upon learning that CCS had used illegals to clean his home, Mr. Chertoff fired the company.
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CUESTIONAN CONTRATACIÓN DE EMPLEADOS INDOCUMENTADOS POR CHERTOFF / DIARIO LA ESTRELLA
La Coalición pro Derechos de Inmigrantes y Refugiados expresó hoy su indignación ante lo que llamó "postura hipócrita" del secretario de Seguridad Interior, Michael Chertoff, respecto al tema migratorio. En un comunicado la Coalición dijo que mientras el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional persigue comunidades y empleadores de inmigrantes, Chertoff los contrata para limpiar su casa, como denunció este jueves The Washington Post. "Le decimos adiós a Chertoff y su reinado de terror anti-inmigrante, y saludamos a una nueva administración", expresó la organización.
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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS' CARE COSTS STATE $677 MILLION / JANET ELLIOTT / HOUSTON CHRONICLE
The state of Texas and local hospital districts spent an estimated $677 million to provide health care to illegal immigrants in a year, a new study says. The survey, issued by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said that most of the money — $597 million — was spent by local hospital districts for the immigrants' care during the state's fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31, 2007. Lawmakers from both parties said they were not surprised by the millions spent and expressed hope that the report, required by the 2007 Legislature, will help prompt Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
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LEAVE HATEFUL RHETORIC OUT OF IMMIGRATION DISCUSSION / MARVIN D. NATHAN, MARTIN B. COMINSKY / HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Blog comments reflect stereotyping and bigotry, The Houston Chronicle made some important discoveries with its recent series by Susan Carroll on the failure of law enforcement officials to deport or keep in jail illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Certainly the Chronicle's investigation pointed out shortcomings in our legal and immigration systems that need to be fixed. The release of any criminal who goes on to commit more crimes, whether he or she is in this country legally or not, can be called a miscarriage of justice. What concerns us at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is despite Carroll's attempts to reach readers with the results of research that "found that recent immigrants are far less likely than their U.S.-born counterparts to commit crimes and end up in prison," anti-immigrant bigots seized on parts of her series to insult, stereotype, and even advocate violence against immigrants and others they perceived to be immigrants, especially Hispanics.
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GOVERNMENT SEEKS ASSETS FROM AGRIPROCESSORS / AMY LORENTZEN / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Officials with the U.S. attorney's office in Cedar Rapids announced Thursday that a modified indictment seeking the forfeiture of assets has been returned against a kosher slaughterhouse and its former CEO and managers facing federal Immigration charges. According to a news release, the forfeiture allegation demands that Agriprocessors Inc., which operates a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, and others facing charges turn over all proceeds that resulted from the alleged offenses if they are convicted. The charges include harboring undocumented immigrants for profit and conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for profit.
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AN AMERICAN’S LAMENT: ‘I WAS DEPORTED, TOO’ / MARC LACEY / THE NEW YORK TIMES
The two men could barely communicate. One was a Mexican laborer, the other an American wanderer, neither with any pesos in his pockets. But they bonded, having just gone through similar ordeals. “The migra got me,” lamented the downcast Mexican, using slang for the United States Border Patrol. “I know what you mean,” said the American, sitting on a bench near Tijuana’s seedy Avenida Revolución, strumming his guitar in the hopes someone might toss him some change. “I was deported, too.” The United States government formally deported or otherwise returned more than a million foreigners — most of them Mexicans — according to immigration data. That figure has risen steadily over the years. But much to the surprise of many Americans, there is a trickle of deportees that flows north from Mexico to the United States as well.
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NO THIRD TRIAL FOR BP AGENT IN SLAYING / ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN / ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A U.S. Border Patrol agent won't be tried for a third time in the shooting death of an illegal immigrant in the Southern Arizona desert last year, a top Cochise County prosecutor said Thursday. (…)The 40-year-old Corbett was tried on second-degree-murder, manslaughter and negligent-homicide charges in the death of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, of Puebla, Mexico. Corbett shot Dominguez on Jan. 12, 2007, while trying to take him, two brothers and the girlfriend of one brother into custody just north of the Mexican border near Naco, hours after they had entered the country illegally. The three surviving witnesses testified that the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Corbett shot Dominguez without provocation as the much smaller man was in the process of kneeling to surrender.
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ALLEGED SMUGGLING RING'S LEADER IN FEDERAL CUSTODY / SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE
The alleged ringleader of a major immigrant smuggling ring known for aggressive tactics is in federal custody, authorities said yesterday. Victor Miguel Aguirre-Saenz, 31, was arrested Wednesday by Border Patrol agents, according to a statement issued by the agency. The arrest followed raids Dec. 5 on two safe houses in San Diego believed to belong to a migrant smuggling ring known as “El Migue,” the Border Patrol said. Five high-ranking members of the group and 11 illegal immigrants were arrested during the raids, the agency said. The“El Migue” group is known for tactics such as wrong-way driving, ramming Border Patrol vehicles and throwing rocks at agents in its effort to get smugglers and illegal immigrants across the border, the agency said.
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EN SERIOS APRIETOS / DENISE LAVOIE / RUMBO
Una funcionaria responsable de la seguridad fronteriza fue acusada de contratar repetidamente indocumentados para limpiar su casa, y advirtió a una empleada doméstica que no abandonara el país "porque una vez que se vaya, nunca regresará". Lorraine Henderson, directora regional de Seguridad Interior, Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza, fue detenida el viernes en su casa. Esa tarde compareció ante un magistrado federal acusada de contratar a inmigrantes ilegales.
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ENTRE EL ASILO POLÍTICO Y LA DEPORTACIÓN / PAULA DIAZ / DIARIO HOY
Adrián Cáceres tiene 14 años viviendo en este país y goza de un permiso de trabajo vigente y un empleo estable, gracias a la solicitud de Asilo Político que sometió en 1995 después de emigrar de El Salvador a causa de la guerra civil. Sin embargo, Cáceres, de 39 años, tiene pocas esperanzas de obtener la residencia permanente, para terminar de una vez por todas con la incertidumbre migratoria. "Nunca me ha llegado una cita de Inmigración", dijo Cáceres y explicó que recibe anualmente la renovación de su permiso de trabajo. El actual se le vence en febrero del 2009.
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CONSULTAS / JORGE M. ROBERT / RUMBO
Soy colombiana residente y tengo un hermano deportado por tráfico de droga hace seis años, fue su primera vez. Mi pregunta es la siguiente: mi hermano tiene dos hijos aquí de 14 y 12 años. ¿Qué posibilidades hay de que él reciba el perdón? La madre de los niños se está muriendo del virus del Sida. ¿Puede ella hacer algo por mi hermano siendo ella puertorriqueña, o podrán mis sobrinos poder pedir a su padre cuando sean mayores de edad, o puede mi hermana ciudadana hacer algo por él? ¿O puede ayudarle en algo su buen comportamiento en Colombia? El pidió perdón al juez pues está muy arrepentido. Fue residente en este país por 15 años. Por favor, oriénteme.
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'JAMIEL'S LAW' PETITION DOESN'T GET ENOUGH SIGNATURES TO QUALIFY FOR L.A.'S BALLOT / PHIL WILLON / LOS ANGELES TIMES
Proponents of a Los Angeles voter initiative to allow city police to arrest illegal-immigrant gang members just for being in the country illegally failed to gather enough voter signatures to qualify for the May ballot, elections officials said Thursday.Supporters estimated they had turned in more than 76,000 petition signatures before Friday's deadline, but elections officials said they tallied only 18,559 -- far short of the 73,963 signatures required."Jamiel's Law" is named after 17-year-old Los Angeles High School football player Jamiel Shaw II, who was gunned down in March, allegedly by a reputed gang member who was in the country illegally.
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MÁS ESPAÑOL EN HOSPITAL DE DALLAS / THALIA I. LONGORIA / AL DÍA
El español pronto se escuchará con más frecuencia en los pasillos y salas del Children's Medical Center de Dallas, gracias a un donativo de AT&T. La Fundación AT&T entregó ayer 250,000 dólares al programa de Servicios de Acceso al Lenguaje del hospital, dinero que será utilizado para contratar más traductores y pagar por equipo de alta tecnología conocido como MARTTI (Mi Intérprete de Tiempo Real), que provee traductores a distancia por medio de una conexión videográfica de computadora.
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NATUROPATÓLOGA ES POPULAR ENTRE HISPANOS EN CONNECTICUT / MAGDALENE PEREZ / RUMBO
Cuando Juan Shutte comenzó a sentir calor y dolores en el rostro y la espalda, fue a una clínica, pero los médicos allí le dijeron que no podían determinar cuál era el problema. Fue entonces que Shutte, un inmigrante peruano que tiene un negocio de limpieza, leyó sobre la doctora Melissa Robinson en un diario en español. El consultorio de Robinson, Natural Solutions for Health, usa consejos nutricionales, planificación de dieta y ejercicios, masajes térmicos y suplementos dietéticos para curar el cuerpo sin recetar medicinas de venta controlada ni cirugía.
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RINDEN TRIBUTO A LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE EN DALLAS / THALIA I. LONGORIA / AL DÍA
Desde 1960, David Romo ha hecho numerosos peregrinajes a la Basílica de Guadalupe en la Ciudad de México en un 12 de diciembre. "Me siento como si estuviera cerca de Dios. Me siento como si mi lugar estuviera ahí", dijo Romo, de 77 años y residente de Dallas, acerca de tales viajes para honrar a la Virgen de Guadalupe. No sólo es lo impresionante que resulta estar rodeado de un millón de otros creyentes, sino también saber que la Santa Patrona de México le va a contestar sus peticiones. Afirma que en dos ocasiones, la Virgen contestó sus plegarias salvando a sus hijos luego de que los médicos los diagnosticaran con cáncer.
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OF ALL THE IMAGES OF MARY, GUADALUPE IS STRONGEST IN THE AMERICAS / JAY HAMBURG / ORLANDO SENTINEL
Since having two daughters of her own, Maria Jimenez can see why her Mexican-born mother is so devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of Mexico and empress of the Americas. “I understand how important a mother is to any family," said Jimenez, a special-education teacher who grew up in Polk County. "Often the mother is the pillar of the family. My mother was." Although the mother of Jesus is venerated around the world, she is especially revered in the countries of Latin America. In Central Florida, the Virgin Mary has drawn thousands of devoted followers as the number of Hispanics has swelled to nearly 440,000, according to latest census figures
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SEGUIN CHURCH COMBINES FEAST DAY WITH 100TH BIRTHDAY / CRAIG KAPITAN / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
When the parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Seguin first started planning the church's 100th birthday celebration last fall, they ran into a roadblock of sorts. They knew the church was founded sometime in 1908, but the exact date had been lost to time. So they came up with a solution: celebrate the birthday all year long, starting with last year's Our Lady of Guadalupe feast day celebration. Today, the group will be one of many Catholic parishes in the San Antonio area commemorating the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego near Mexico City in 1531. But for the Seguin congregation, the day will double as one final birthday blowout — including a party big enough that they decided to move it to an area banquet hall to accommodate the crowd.
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LAS VEGAS HONORING MEXICAN SINGER TATIANA / OSKAR GARCIA / THE DENVER POST
Las Vegas paid tribute Thursday to a Mexican children's entertainer with few links to the American adult playground, except her many fans who live here. Officials unveiled a star for singer Tatiana on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars, which will be placed Friday on the Las Vegas Strip nearly 25 years after she began as a teenage pop singer and 13 years after she gained fame singing songs for kids. Tatiana, who turns 40 years old on Friday, is known to Latinos throughout the world as "La Reina de los Ninos," translated to English as"Queen of the Children."
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HOLIDAY FILM A LIGHT SLICE OF LATINO LIFE / PABLO JAIME SÁINZ / SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE
They say there's nothing like the holidays. To feel the warmth of your home. To spend time with your family. To unwrap presents. To give thanks for what you have. But for the Rodriguez clan, the family at the center of “Nothing Like the Holidays,” which opens today, the holiday season turns into a time of changes, confrontations and truths. At first, the Rodriguezes may seem like an average Puerto Rican family living in Humboldt Park, a Latino neighborhood in Chicago. The father, Eduardo (Alfred Molina), owns a little bodega where he spends his time flirting with the neighborhood women; the mother, Anna (Elizabeth Peña), is a housewife who's tired of being home alone while her husband works.
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PIDEN EX BRACEROS UNA MESA RECEPTORA AQUÍ / JUAN OLIVAS / EL DIARIO DE JUÁREZ (CHIHUAHUA)
Líderes del Proyecto Bracero que aglutina a la mayoría de los ex trabajadores migratorios de Juárez, solicitaron al Gobierno Federal instale mesas receptoras de registro en esta ciudad para que estos no tengan que acudir a la ciudad de Chihuahua, a Parral o a Camargo a censarse como lo establece la nueva convocatoria de la Secretaría de Gobernación. “Muchos no podrán viajar por causas de enfermedad, invalidez o simplemente porque no tienen dinero para ir.
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PIDEN REFORZAR MEDIDAS CONTRA CRISIS ECONÓMICA / MARTHA FIGUEROA / EL DIARIO DE JUAREZ (CHIHUAHUA)
La Cámara de Diputados exhortó por unanimidad al gobierno federal a reforzar las medidas económicas para paliar los efectos de la crisis económica mundial en las clases populares del país, sobre todo, en zonas fronterizas, en donde se concentran migrantes y repatriados. El punto de acuerdo aprobado por la asamblea pide al presidente Felipe Calderón que revise la política económica,“tomando en cuenta el drástico cambio en el entorno internacional e incremente el Programa Económico de Emergencia, con el fin de vigorizar al aparato productivo y de mitigar el impacto de la crisis global en las clases populares en México, condiciones necesarias para retomar el camino del crecimiento y del empleo”.
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CON ALGARABÍA, RECIBEN EN ROMITA A SUS “HIJOS AUSENTES” / CAYETANO RAMÍREZ / EL CORREO DE GUANAJUATO
El alcalde Felipe Durán Muñoz encabezó el festejo anual del "hijo ausente" y sus familias a quienes se les ofreció una misa en la parroquia de la localidad. Pidió a autoridades municipales y familiares elevar oraciones por los todos y cada uno de los migrantes que tienen que arriesgar sus vidas cuando de una u otra manera cruzan del territorio mexicano a los Estados Unidos en busca de conquistar el"sueño americano".
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FOREIGN WORKERS DECRY 'HARSH' DISMISSALS FROM FARMS / AMANDA TRUSCOTT / GLOBE AND MAIL
Migrant farm workers are being pushed into cramped housing and fired without cause because of flaws in the government's temporary foreign worker program, labour activists say. Some of the 70 workers dismissed last week by a Canadian-owned mushroom-farming company spoke out yesterday about what it was like to be fired without notice, two weeks before Christmas. "It's pretty harsh. We have families in our countries," said Carlos, a worker from Guadalajara hired by Rol-Land Farms as a Spanish translator. Carlos - the workers asked that their last names not be used - said his bosses called on his day off to say his employment had been terminated, and that in two days a bus would take him to the airport so he could return to Mexico. It felt like a deportation, said Gorge, also from Guadalajara. "They didn't give us time to think, to choose. They just said, you have to leave the apartment, because they provide the apartment."He and three other men each paid the company $320 a month to stay in the small two-bedroom suite, he said. (….)In the past, the company has been accused of firing workers who tried to unionize. At the news conference held yesterday by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, Carlos and Gorge said none of the Mexicans, Jamaicans or Guatemalans fired last week had been trying to join the union. It is illegal for agricultural workers in Ontario to unionize, but a decision last month by the Ontario Court of Appeal gave the province 12 months to rewrite the Agricultural Employees Protection Act to allow collective bargaining. What happened to the Rol-Land farm workers exemplifies everything that's wrong with Ottawa's temporary foreign worker program, according to Dr. Jenna Hennebry, who heads the International Migration Research Centre at Wilfrid Laurier University. Both men said they plan to stay in Canada and look for other jobs, but union officials said many of their co-workers had returned to their home countries before anyone could tell them their two-year work visas allowed them to stay. (…..)
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REFORM PUSH FOR FOREIGN WORKERS / NICHOLAS KEUNG / TORONTO STAR
Groups say layoffs at mushroom farm show need to protect `vulnerable' employees. The layoffs of 70 foreign labourers at an Ontario mushroom farm have renewed calls to reform Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program. "With no consequences for bad employers, no mechanisms to help change employers, no access to information and health services, foreign workers are a precarious and vulnerable hidden workforce," Jenna Hennebry, associate director of Wilfrid Laurier University's International Migration Research Centre, said yesterday. The Mexican and Jamaican workers at Rol-Land Farms, near Guelph, were let go last week with little notice, said the United Food and Commercial Workers union and other advocacy groups. "They just treated us like `no people,'" said Jorge, 28, who was let go after one month on the job. "I can tell you it's a very bad situation. We just want to work honestly to provide needs for our families." Rol-Land Farms issued a press release stating that the company is undergoing restructuring. Stan Raper of the union said the workers' story reflects a systemic problem with the federal program. They want Ottawa to better protect foreign workers.
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SCHOOLS BRACE FOR ENROLMENT SPIKE / KEITH GEREIN / EDMONTON JOURNAL
Diana Niven dropped out of school following Grade 10, convinced Alberta's strong economy would provide all she needed to get ahead. Well-paying jobs were growing on trees, it seemed, offered to anyone by employers desperate for staff. Now 25 and mother to a young son, Niven is back in school trying to pick up where she left off a decade ago. Where once the financial good times seemingly made education an unnecessary inconvenience, Niven is now worried a struggling economy will push people like her to the bottom of a widening unemployment list. "I'm really glad I went back when I did," says Niven, who is taking math, English and computer upgrading courses at NorQuest College. "I'm sure enrolment is going to go really high in the next year or two." With the global economy in a tailspin, Edmonton's post-secondary schools are bracing for an influx of new students wanting to protect their place in the job market with improved classroom credentials. People lacking high school diplomas, students who cut short degrees, laid-off labourers, and new immigrants behind on their English skills are among the groups most likely to create a surge in applications, says NorQuest president Wayne Shillington.
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