Welcome to diversityvotes.ca's news blast on this hot subject of the day.

diversityvotes.ca is devoted to pairing diverse demographics and multicultural media. Focus now: Canada 2019 Federal Elections - Diversity Empowers Democracy

See New Canadian Media's latest contribution to the conversation: Multicultural Media Sound Alarm Over Fake News

Follow us on the 2019 campaign trail and join our conversation on diversity in the lead up to the elections.

Check out our latest Story of the Day to find out why Canadian-Filipinos are uninterested in Canadian politics: Beyond Political Rhetoric - Filipino

Our in-depth reviews highlight priority election topics covered in the ethnic media such as immigration: Scheer, the Conservative Party and the Immigration Elephant in the Room

Keep up with diverse community opinion with our:

• Weekly overviews
• In-depth analysis of key ridings
• Daily Stories of the Day
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So far diversityvotes.ca has been reviewed in The Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun, Canadian Press, New Canadian Media, Policy Options, Calgary Sun, The Source and more. Tell us what you think of the project and ask your audience to tell you.

Since June 1 we have processed over 2,300 stories covering 338 electoral districts (ridings) across Canada, including focused tracking of key ones - check us out to date, and stay tuned for more!

 
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​Toronto's daily radio source, CHIN 91.9 FM, reports:
 
Ontario's new sex-ed curriculum has been revealed. Radio host Silvia Mendez said it's important because everyone wants their children to grow up right. After a huge amount of criticism and a review which cost everyone a lot of money, it's basically the same curriculum as that of the Liberals. Mendez said It's 300 pages long, and "they touched it up a bit," but it's essentially the same. Radio host Fabian Merlo said that there is a delay in the responses of various political leaders and mentioned that Doug Ford is the indisputable provincial leader in Ontario. In a month, when the debates begin in the lead up to the federal election, Andrew Scheer will likely strike at Justin Trudeau over SNC-Lavalin, as well as other areas like the economy and negotiations with China. Trudeau will then point out in the debates that what Doug Ford is doing in Ontario is what they [the Conservatives] want to do at a federal level. Mendez said "poor Andrew Scheer," as she has had various opportunities to talk with Scheer, and she thinks he isn't a bad guy, but everything is weighing on his shoulders. Merlo said that if you are a good person, you should strive to act like a good person, and the actions that you take should reflect your intelligence, otherwise it's a contradiction. (22/08/2019)

Vancouver's daily web source, BCbay.com, reports:
 
Many Chinese people and new immigrants are easily fooled, because the information they consume still comes from WeChat, Weibo and other mainland Chinese social media, said the author of the piece, who realized how misinformed many Chinese people and new immigrants are after traveling abroad. The writer concluded that not caring about the English media makes it easy for them to fall into all kinds of traps. The writer pointed out that this year, as Canada's federal election looms, some parties have taken advantage of Chinese people's reading habits and are being two-faced in the Chinese and English media, making contradictory commitments to different groups and attempting to fish in troubled water. The writer said that for instance on Twitter, Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer has a tough stance and wants to confront China. However, on social media platforms that Chinese people often use, Scheer's attitude takes a 180 turn as he states that the Conservative party has always wanted to maintain good relations with China. (09/08/2019)

​Vancouver's daily TV source, Fairchild TV British Columbia, reports:
 
The Liberals are outspending other parties on Facebook election ads, according to new data released by the social media site. However, the Conservatives are close behind and are spending more per ad than any other party. The Facebook pages for the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have spent a total of $92,307 on ads on the social media platform since the beginning of June, according to estimates offered by Facebook's ad library, a searchable tool that tracks advertising spending by page. The Conservative Party's page and party leader Andrew Scheer's own page have spent a total of $87,441, while the NDP has spent only $392 via leader Jagmeet Singh's page. The Green Party has spent a total of $1,036, and the Bloc Québécois has shelled out $384. (26/07/2019)

​North York’s daily source, superlife.ca, reports:
 
Canada is committed to attracting the best talents from around the world to fill in skill gaps, promote local economic development and create and support middle-class employment in communities across the country in order to benefit all Canadians. Canada is currently launching a new three-year pilot program of economic immigration to fill the labour shortage in the agri-food industry, particularly in meat processing and mushroom cultivation, and to help achieve Canada’s ambitious export targets. The new pilot aims to attract and retain workers by providing them with the opportunity to become permanent residents. "Immigration helps to grow the local economy and create jobs for Canadians," Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, said. "This pilot is another example." (15/07/19)
 
London's (Ontario) daily source, londonchinese.ca, adds:
 
Hussen said agriculture is a major contributor to Canada’s economic growth, which supports one-eighth of the jobs across Canada. So, as long as a person works in one of the specified jobs in the agriculture industry for at least a year, they can easily apply for permanent residence. Also, the IELTS requirement is only set at a score of four points, making the “agri-food immigration pilot” the fastest immigration pilot in Canada’s history. (15/07/19)

​Four months before the election, ethnic media are reporting on some of the same opinion polls and surveys circulating in the mainstream media, but often with an emphasis on newcomer preoccupations and ethnically specific concerns.

​Vancouver's daily radio source, Fairchild Radio, reports:
 
A poll found that 72% of Canadians are worried about their future. The survey stated that anxiety is caused by both personal and global factors. According to the poll, for new immigrants, the rising cost of living is what they're most concerned about. The matter of second-highest concern to them is that it's hard to find a job. Still, 77 per cent said they are "proud of how tolerant Canada is as a country", and 85 per cent mentioned they were LGBTQ-friendly. (02/07/19)

​Montreal’s weekly source, II Cittadino Canadese, reports:
 
Montreal’s Italian-Canadian community is still trying to figure out why did it lose the Liberal Party of Canada nomination in Saint-Léonard/Saint-Michel for the first time in 35 years. Tony Sciascia, President of the National Congress of Italian Canadians-Quebec Region, said Italians should be angry not with the Liberal Party but with former MP Nicola Di Iorio, who took sides among Italian candidates and split the community. Hassan Guillet, the candidate who eventually won, was good at organizing, resulting in many Italians voting for him. Regarding the apologies to the Italian community for the treatment of some of its members during World War II, Italians should remember that the Conservatives blocked past attempts to reach an honourable solution. At least with PM Justin Trudeau, there is a commitment to issue an apology after the election. (26/06/19)

​Immigration-related issues take up a significant portion of Canadian media landscape. One of the most recent stories that interested several ethnic media sources is about Russian women seeking asylum in Canada on the basis of the environmental issues in their home country. Torontovka.com, a Toronto-based Russian web source, shared a story of dozens of women from Kiselyovsk, a city of 90,000 in Siberia, who “begged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to let them come to Canada” in a video posted on YouTube. In the video, women take turns reading emotional statements, explaining how coal dust from nearby mines and factories made their lives unbearable. The statement says people there want Trudeau's help because Canada's refugee system recognizes "discrimination on social grounds," which they say applies to them.
 
Hindi radio source based in Toronto, CMR FM 101.3, has also included the same story on their program Voice Radio Hindi. When discussing the issue, the program host Tamreen Kadri said that the women in the video, who identify themselves as mothers and grandmothers, say they are hard-working and can make a big contribution to Canada's economy, if given the chance.
 
Canada's refugee rules, however, are largely silent on questions of environmental impacts. In general, only people fleeing conflict or political persecution are admitted as refugees. The Russian source Torontovka.com therefore concluded that the chances of any of the Kiselyovsk residents ending up in Canada appear remote. Immigration policy experts also said there is nothing in Canadian law that allows admittance of refugees because of pollution, especially if there are other places would-be refugees can live in their home countries. Still, Kadri praised Canada’s immigration system for refugees and said that the Canadian government may think about environmental refugees being admitted to Canada as the issue is being raised.
 
Canada recently took new efforts to support immigrant women, as a Chinese web source based in Toronto, 51.ca, reported. Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen announced that the federal government will provide funds for 22 immigrant institutions to help immigrant and refugee women, who are visible minorities, land and keep jobs in Canada. He noted that newcomer women face many barriers in trying to find work in Canada, including racial discrimination, low-paid employment and lack of affordable childcare and social supports. The organizations that will get a cut of the $7.5 million pilot funding will launch projects over two years that aim to develop and test innovative approaches to help visible minority newcomer women find employment. The source reported that one commenter suggested to “just be straightforward if illegal border-crossing refugees are short on money.”
 
Vancouver-based Korean source, The Korea Daily, also published an article regarding the new funding project. The source pointed out that while settling in Canada is difficult, IRCC noticed that ethnic minorities, especially women, have an even harder time. According to the 2016 census, the unemployment rate of newly landed immigrant women (with ethnic minority backgrounds) is 9.7%. Even their median annual income is significantly lower. The source stated that the new plan shows IRCC's willingness to support the full and equal participation of all women in the economy.
 
Another ethnic media source that talked about the funds to boost employment for immigrant women is a Calgary-based Punjabi radio program on Red FM 106.7. Hussen talked on the phone with Rishi Nagar, a Good Morning Calgary host, and said that visible minority newcomer women face more challenges than any other group to enter the workforce.

​So, even though some women strive to immigrate to Canada, and the government makes some efforts to accommodate everyone, there are various gender equality issues that women of different race and nationality currently face in Canada. Here are some relevant topics that have been recently published across ethnic media platforms:
 
Caribbean radio source, G 98.7 FM, talked about the gender equality issues regarding dress codes in schools on their program Mark & Jem in the Morning. It reported that the Toronto District School Board is acknowledging that school dress codes have been written and enforced in a way that disproportionately and negatively impacts several groups, including female identified students. One of the hosts said that the males are rarely checked for what they are wearing at school, but the women are. The codes also negatively impact racialized students, gender diverse, trans-gender and non-binary students, students with disabilities, socio-economically marginalized students and indigenous students.
 
Ming Pao Toronto, a Chinese web source, addressed the abortion issue, highlighting that while abortion remains legal in Canada, some abortion rights advocates say women continue to face hurdles in accessing the procedure. Some provinces have placed limits on funding for the procedure, but in The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada’s interpretation of the Canada Health Act, abortion services across the country must be fully funded.
 
Meanwhile, a Spanish radio source, CHIN 91.9 FM, talked about how women are not cited in the news as often as men are in Canada. The source said that Radio Canada International published an important article, which notes that women are not in the news in Canada, while on the other hand, men are. Three-quarters of all people (71%) cited in the news are men, while only 29% are women. Radio host Silvia Méndez said that this is a call to action for media outlets to cite more female sources.
 
These are just some of the most relevant recent topics that have been lately covered in ethnic media sources, but they vividly illustrate that gender equality is indeed an issue in Canada that needs to be constantly addressed and improved. 

In this respect, a Tamil radio source, CMR FM 101.3 Tamil Morning, reported that Canada’s federal government is committing $300 million in funding to launch a new global Equality Fund for women’s rights, as it reshapes the way it supports gender equality issues in Canada and abroad. Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister of Women and Gender Equality, made the announcement about this new initiative, saying that it is aimed at creating a sustainable model to fund women's rights organizations in developing countries and at home.
 
A Chinese source, Sing Tao Vancouver, added that Monsef said the Equality Fund brings together 11 organizations from the philanthropic, non-profit and financial sectors, including the Canada-based Match International Women's Fund, the African Women's Development Fund and Oxfam Canada.

Vancouver’s daily source, BCbay.com, reports on the results of a new poll:
 
Sixty-three per cent of respondents to a recent Leger poll said the government should prioritize limiting immigration levels. This poll also found that 44% of respondents think immigration makes Canada better, while 15% of respondents believe immigration is negatively impacting the country. However, Ahmed Hussen, Immigration Minister, thinks that the answer is not to cut the number of immigrants coming to Canada. Instead, Hussen believes it is best to continue with an ambitious program to invest in infrastructure, in housing and in transit, so that everyone can benefit from those improvements. Such community services then could be used to integrate newcomers, and that approach would also benefit Canadians. Hussen added: "What worries me is seeing the leader of the official opposition taking a stance that is rooted in misinformation and conspiracy theories..." (17/06/2019)

​Toronto’s daily source, The Korea Times Daily, reports:
 
Diversity is at its peak for the Canadian federal election as a record-high number of candidates from the Korean community are running for office this fall. There are currently four Korean-Canadian candidates alone, including Mae J. Nam, who was appointed by the Beaches-East York NDP riding association. Meanwhile, the Toronto-Danforth NDP riding association selected Min Sook Lee as its candidate. All four Korean-Canadian candidates are children of immigrants and three of them are women and NDP candidates, which illustrates a shift in generations of the community. (07/06/2019)

​Vancouver's daily source, Sing Tao Vancouver, reports:
 
In preparation for the world’s largest gathering on the rights, health and well-being of women and girls, the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, the Government of Canada is mobilizing all sectors to take action on gender equality by investing in innovative cross-sector partnerships. Maryam Monsef, minister for Women and Gender Equality, announced two new initiatives: one with BMO Financial Group and the other with the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health to stimulate partnerships between diverse communities, civil society and public and private sectors in order to advance gender equality. (22/05/2019)
 
Women Deliver 2019 Global Conference will be held in Vancouver from June 3 to June 6.

In May 2019, MIREMS VP Silke Reichrath attended the Canadian Immigration Summit 2019 organized by the Conference Board of Canada. The declared aim of the meet was to “explore how Canada can respond proactively to emerging immigration issues in a rapidly changing world”.

During two intensive days of presentations, workshops and informal discussion, participants engaged around immigration levels, ways to select the best immigrants, settlement and integration, credential recognition, special barriers faced by female immigrants, and finally causes of and responses to populism and racism.

As far as we could see, while many of the issues involved the need to understand and communicate, ethnic and multicultural media was MIA in most of these discussions.
Unfortunately, the role of the Canadian multilingual media, domestic ethnic as well as homeland, was barely addressed. It is not only a valuable early warning system for issues in the community, but also an indispensable outreach tool to newcomers and potential immigrants alike. It is even instrumental in dispelling false information and rumors about immigrating to Canada.

Missing this information were the roughly 300 federal, provincial and municipal staff working on immigration and settlement policy, settlement agencies and other community organizations, immigration consultants, academics and Conference Board of Canada members in attendance. Many were from the growing for-profit and not-for-profit industry supporting immigrants: immigration consultants, investment and start-up business consultants, employment services, settlement services, boards of trade and chambers of commerce, professional associations responsible for accreditation, language learning and testing services and multicultural associations.

Municipal staff were mostly from smaller municipalities grappling with redirecting immigration to their cities: Guelph, Hamilton, London (Ontario), Sudbury, Ottawa, Moncton, Morden and Calgary and Atlantic provinces showed notable provincial interest.
The general consensus was that more immigrants are needed to replace retiring baby-boomers and grow the workforce. The goal is to optimize the selection criteria and the integration process, with coordinated and accessible immigrant services ideally starting before arrival, taking into consideration that 56% of immigrants are women, who have a lower labour force participation rate and higher unemployment rate than Canadian women, and encouraging more immigration to Canada’s far North.

Presenters said that to respond to current sentiments, Canada needs to remain a country of law as well as a country of immigration and needs to ensure generosity is not taken advantage of. Messaging should highlight immigrants as talented assets and risk-takers who benefit society, not as a problem to be ‘fixed’ and integrated.

Informal one on one discussions showed an interest in ethnic media mostly from the outreach perspective and conveying information about available services and programs to newcomer audiences. However, if you want to sell, speak the language of the buyer, and that means not only the words but the context – knowing the media in which you place your stories is essential to their success.

While large metropolitan areas like Toronto and Vancouver have very extensive ethnic media landscapes, smaller cities and provinces are just starting to build this media infrastructure, and it is important to reach out to them and get to know them.
​
Many have a handful of papers run by local entrepreneurs catering to their own language communities and weekly radio programs in minority languages run on community or campus stations. These local programs tend to grow and eventually lead to the establishment of a multicultural station with slots for a variety of groups. Most of these papers and programs are more than happy to convey information and allow space for discussion with service providers and local officials.

Vaughan’s weekly print newspaper, Share, reports on the controversy:
 
Several activists have recently discussed how the legalization of marijuana in Canada has affected Caribbean communities both in Canada and in the region and what lies ahead for the community. The discussion took place at Ryerson University in connection with the mixed reactions evoked by the easing of laws governing the use of cannabis in Canada. The recreational use of marijuana was legalized in the country last October, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising that his government will consider pardoning people convicted in the past of marijuana possession. However, activist Donisha Prendergast is among those who think that a simple pardon is not enough. She and her fellow panelists addressed many people who have suffered in the past when using or possessing cannabis was against the law. They emphasized how mothers and fathers were arrested, imprisoned and separated from their children, negatively impacting families and their mental health. Prendergast said that marijuana, previously criminalized and presented to society as an illegal drug, has been rebranded for people like former police officers, involved in what is now known as the cannabis industry. (21/03/2019)