CERIS MANAGEMENT BOARD MEETING

 

NOVEMBER 15, 2002  –         

2:00 - 4:00 P.M.

At the main CERIS (Toronto) office, 246 Bloor St. W., 5th Floor, Room 548

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CERIS PARTNERSHIP ADVISORY COUNCIL (PAC) MEETING

 

At the main CERIS (Toronto) office, 246 Bloor St. W., 5th Floor, Rm. 548

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NEWS FROM CERIS STAFF

 

Farewell to Ted Richmond!

The most momentous news for CERIS this Fall was the resignation of Ted Richmond, our Administrative Coordinator since the establishment of CERIS.  His departure was a great loss for us, but his new position at the Community Social Planning Council (CSPC) gives him the time and scope to do his own research rather than “just” administer other people’s research, so we quite understand the temptation and wish him well!  Ted had come to us in 1996 from the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI), where he was Research Director, so he has in a sense returned to his roots, and the CSPC will be the richer for it.  Given that the CSPC is one of our founding partners and Management Board member, we’ll hope to continue to be working with Ted in the future.  Until we attempt the impossible, replacing the irreplaceable, Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride has come out of retirement to assist in the office two days a week as an Interim Coordinator.

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Welcome, Evelyn Ersanilli and Haruko Nishimura

Evelyn Ersanilli is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, where she majors in General Social Science with a specialization in migration and minorities.  She has received the ‘Canadian Studies Graduate Student Research Award’ given by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the International Council for Canadian Studies for her research project, titled ‘A Comparison of Dutch and Canadian Multicultural Policies’.  CERIS community domain leader Prof. Myer Siemiatycki at Ryerson University will provide supervision for her research during her stay in Toronto from September  2002 to March 2003.  Evelyn has written us a letter to introduce herself to the CERIS community of researchers; you will find it in the Section, “News from CERIS, CERIS Researchers and Partners”. 

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Haruko Nishimura is an undergraduate in Ryerson’s School of Early Childhood Education.  She is doing her fourth-year internship at CERIS under Dr. Kilbride’s supervision, and will be responsible for gathering data for productivity reports to the Board and ultimately to SSHRC. 

 

CERIS grant-holders, past and present, please note:

 

In the Fall Haruko will be contacting you to discover the dissemination activities you have engaged in that came out of your findings in your CERIS project:  papers presented, working papers published, scholarly articles, popular media presentations, publications, and interviews, and any other dissemination of your findings.  She will also ask you if you can submit a working paper on your findings to the CERIS Working Paper Series, if you have not already done so.

CERIS Research Associates, please note:

 

In the Winter, Haruko will contact you to discover what research activities you have engaged in, other than those CERIS funded, that also relate to immigration and settlement.  She will make a similar record of dissemination, as we are proud of our Research Associates and will gladly publicize their work.  In addition, if you have presented papers on such findings, she will ask you if you are willing to turn them in papers for the CERIS Working Paper Series, as these are any papers you consider of value to the field, not only those from research funded by CERIS.

 

 

CERIS Data Workshop

Date and Time: Friday, Nov. 8 2002: 1:30-4:30 pm.
Location: ROOM A346 (Jorgenson Hall), Ryerson University

The Data Committee of CERIS will run a workshop to demonstrate several CERIS maintained databases for interested researchers. These include Landing Records, Tax Data, the 1996 Census Core Tables, and the 1996 Census Tabulations created by Canadian Heritage. The purpose of the workshop is to explain data contents and structure. It is a hands-on workshop, where each participant will have access to a computer to browse the data contents and practice creating his/her own cross- tabulations, using such software as Beyond2020 and SPSS. If time permits, we will also demonstrate how the data can be used to

show immigrant distribution and settlement patterns.

Any one interested in immigration research (academics, community researchers, and graduate students) is invited. Interested researchers should contact the Data Committee Chair (by e-mail: swang@ryerson.ca) for registration. Registration is free, but the computer lab has a capacity of 30 machines, so only the first 30 registrants can be accommodated.
 
In your registration, please include the following information:

- Your name

- Affiliation and position at school or work place

- E-mail address

 

You will be notified in the first week of November through e-mail.

 

Shuguang Wang (Ph.D)
CERIS Data Commmittee Chair
Associate Professor
School of Applied Geography
Ryerson University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5B 2K3
Tel. (416)-979-5000 (ext. 6172)
Fax: (416)-979-5362
E-mail: swang@ryerson.ca

 

The CERIS Monthly Seminars will resume in the Winter.

 

http://ceris.metropolis.net

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A conference on "The Moral Legacy of Slavery: Repairing  Injustice" is being held at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA, on October 18-19,  2002, sponsored by its departments of philosophy, ethnic  studies, history and sociology. Papers will examine the moral questions arising from the practice of slavery in the United States. Both present and future responses to these questions will be discussed.  http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/phil/repconf.html

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News from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation:

 

1. AWARD OF EXCELLENCE 2002 

- Call for Nominations -
Nominations are invited for the CRRF's Award of Excellence Program 2002. Winners will receive cash prizes up to a total of $20,000 and the Top 25 finalists will be invited to participate at an Awards Gala event in Toronto, March 2003.
Deadline: November 1, 2002
Website:  Link: http://www.crr.ca/EN/Programs/eProgHome.htm#Award  

2. An Evening Forum "Strengthening the Agenda Against Racism in Canada" hosted by the CRRF is scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2002 in the City Room, Edmonton City Hall, 1 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta.  The CRRF will be bringing over 100 Canadian anti-racism experts and officials from the federal government to a 3-day summit from October 25-27, to discuss Canada's domestic agenda against racism. To launch the event, the CRRF invites the people of Edmonton to join the delegates on October 24, at a public forum to dialogue, discuss and develop strategies and priorities for action. The forum will begin at 7:30 pm.

For more information on both initiatives contact the CRRF office in Toronto, Ontario Telephone: 1-888-240-4936 (toll free)     Email: info@crr.ca    Website: www.crr.ca

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The Institute of Intergovernmental Relations and the Canadian Network of Federalism Studies are organizing a conference on "Reconfiguring  Aboriginal-State Relations in Canada."  The conference will take place on November 1-2, 2002 at the School of Policy Studies, Queen's University.   For more information, or to register, contact Michael Murphy, 

Institute of  Intergovernmental Relations, Queen's University, Kingston,

Ontario, K7L 3N6; tel: (613) 533-2080; fax: (613) 533-6868;

email:  murphym@qsilver.queensu.ca. Or visit the conference website:

http://qsilver.queensu.ca/iigr/conferences/state/index.html

 

The Institute of Ideas and the French Institute are co-sponsoring a conference on "Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition" on 15-16 November 2002, in London England at the Institut Francais. For more information, contact Tiffany Jenkins, Institute of Ideas at:  tiffanyjenkins@instituteofideas.com or visit the Institute’s website at:  http://www.instituteofideas.com

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The Eighteenth Annual Political Studies Student Conference  will be held at  the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg from January 30 -  February 3, 2003.

This year's theme is "Geopolitical Perspectives on World  Politics". The  conference will bring together academics and practitioners seeking to  explore issues of relevance in international affairs. Papers presented at the conference will be published and circulated internationally as part of the University of Manitoba Centre for Defence and Security Studies Occasional Paper series.

For more details, contact Peter Lyon, Chair, Political Science Student Conference, Department of Political Studies, University of Manitoba, 252 Fletcher Ave, Winnipeg, Manitoba,  R3T 5V5;

Tel: (204) 275-0179; fax: (204) 474-7585; email: umlyonpd@cc.Umanitoba.CA

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TWO UPCOMING CONFERENCES will examine issues relating to the International Criminal Court.

 

The first is organized by the Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict Research Group (NECRG) at the University of Western Ontario on March 20-22, 2003, entitled "Bringing Power to Justice."  The conference will bring together political scientists and philosophers to look at the issue of attributing criminal responsibility to political leaders.

For more information contact Prof. Richard Vernon at:  ravernon@uwo.ca, or visit

the NECRG website: http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/polysci/necrg/.

 

The second conference is sponsored by the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University on April 11-12 2003.  It will look at the issues surrounding "National Sovereignty and International Institutions”.  For more information, contact the Associate Director, James Madison Program; tel: 609-258-6333, or visit the website:

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/evtNatSov.htm

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Upcoming international seminar and call for papers: "Democracy and Human Rights in Multiethnic Societies" / 7 - 11 July 2003 / Konjic, Bosnia / Registration deadline: 1 February 2003 / Submission deadline: 1 April 2003 / For further information, please contact Dzemal Sokolovic at izjd-ko@bih.net.ba or see : http://www.bosnet.org/democracy_institute/
This Sixth International Seminar "Democracy and Human Rights in Multiethnic Societies" is organized in co-operation with Department of Comparative Politics and the Rokkan Centre, University of Bergen, Norway, and supported by the Project  "The Politics of Democratic and Welfare Development in South Eastern Europe:  a Network for Research and Education", backed by the Center for International University Cooperation and the Norwegian Research Council, Oslo.  Those interested are requested to submit as soon as possible proposals to organize panels, papers, take part in discussions, or simply attend the seminar. Working titles of panels and presentations are welcomed at this stage. Any other initiatives will be highly appreciated.  Students, women, members of minority groups, as well as disabled persons are encouraged to participate.  A number of grants for travel and accommodation for participants from Bosnia, the Balkans and South Eastern Europe, are available owing to the support already provided by the University of Bergen. Organizers hope to ensure additional grants for participants from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.  For further information, please contact: Dzemal Sokolovic, Director of the Institute for Strengthening Democracy in Bosnia izjd-ko@bih.net.ba http://www.bosnet.org/democracy_institute/

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The International Law and Ethics Conference Series (ILECS) is organizing its 2003 meetings around the topic "Collective Identity and Minority Rights".  This year's meetings will take place at Belgrade University, June 27-29, 2003, with a follow-up conference set to take place at Portland State University in the Fall of 2003. For further information contact Aleksander Jokic, Department of Philosophy and Conflict Resolution, Portland State University, PO Box 751, Portland OR, 97207-0751;  tel: (503) 735 3503; fax: (503) 725 3524; email: ajokic@sbceo.org

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A round table session at the World Conference of Philosophy in Istanbul, Turkey, August 10-17, 2003, will consider four topics surrounding indigenous peoples' philosophy. The topics are sovereignty, membership and identity, representation and gender. The organizations hope to attract specialists in indigenous philosophy from all regions of the world.  To find out more about this round table contact Daniel Weinstock, University of Montreal, either by email: weinstod@philo.umontreal.ca. Information about the WCP can be found at: http://www.wcp2003.org

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The University of Waikato, in Hamilton, New Zealand, is organizing a major international conference on "Language, Education and Diversity", to be held on November 26-29, 2003.

Keynote speakers include Nancy Hornberger, Mary Kalantzis, Rob Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. Full details are posted at: www.led2003.ac.nz

 

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The Metropolis Project Team and the Association for Canadian Studies, in cooperation with the Multiculturalism Program at Canadian Heritage and more than one dozen other departments and programs, is pleased to announce the Intersections of Diversity seminar, which will take place
on April 25-26th, 2003 in Niagara Falls.  This seminar will examine the ways that different identity markers intersect and the implications for research and policy.  In preparation for this seminar nine literature reviews have been commissioned examining the intersections of race,
religion, ethnicity and heritage languages (non-English, non-French) with each of the following identity markers: Aboriginal status, age, disability, gender, immigration, official languages, region, sexual orientation and socio- economic status.  Copies of these papers can be found at:
http://www.canada.metropolis.net/events/Diversity/diversity_index_e.htm.

For further information on the seminar, including details on registration and financial assistance, please contact the Association for Canadian Studies at general@acs-aec.ca or (514) 987-7784.

 

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***** CALL FOR PAPERS AND PROPOSALS **********

SIXTH NATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE, Edmonton, March 21-24, 2002 Call for Proposals

Stakeholders of the Metropolis Project (policy-makers and policy analysts, NGOs and community groups, graduate students, Domain Leaders, and other university-based researchers) are invited to submit a proposal for presenting a research paper or for workshops, panels, plenary sessions and/or group or committee meetings. Your proposals may address any of the above noted subthemes, or new subthemes. Research papers will be grouped according to theme in a 1.5 hour time slot.  Workshop proposals should include a workshop title; name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and contact information of organizer(s); workshop description (150 words); proposed duration of workshop (1.5 or 3 hours); and names of participants (ideally representing a mix of stakeholders).

Proposals are due on or before Wednesday, October 30, 2002 (extended from September 27, 2002) and decisions will be made shortly thereafter. Please address your proposals to the Conference Secretariat, attention Ms. Terri Frebrowski, by fax at (780) 492-2594 or by e-mail at pcerii@ualberta.ca.  The program for the Sixth National Metropolis Conference will be developed on the basis of responses to the Call for Proposals as well as consultation with stakeholders. The program will be structured in such a way so as to ensure active participation of graduate students, NGOs, policy-makers and researchers. It is expected that gender based analysis will cut across the conference subthemes.   Judging from partners’ reactions thus far the following subthemes, listed in no particular order, appear to be of interest.
- The New Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
     The Regulations
     The Selection System
- Immigration and the National Economy

-  Labour Market Integration of Immigrants
- Immigration and Official Language Minority Communities
- Immigration and Demographic Transitions of Canada
- Regional Immigration Policy
- Settlement Patterns of Immigrants and Refugees
- Strategies for Enhancing Settlement in Smaller and Medium-Sized Cities

 

- Immigration and Rural Economic Development Strategies for Countering Regional Population Decline
- Optimization of Health and Other Services to Immigrants
- Citizenship in a Diverse Society
- Immigration and Public Education
- The Integration of Immigrant Children and Youth
- Metropolis Institute Educational Media Partnership on Immigration and
- Refugee Issues for Computer Assisted Learning (EMPIRICAL), co-sponsored by CIC, CERIS, the Metropolis Project, and the Centre for Refugee Studies

- Language Education and the Challenge of Diversity
- The Role of Ethnic Communities and NGO’s in Settlement Services
- Countering Negative Attitudes and Discrimination Against Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities
- Just Treatment and Safe Communities. Please visit the PCERII web site at: www.pcerii.metropolis.net 

for more up-to-date information about the conference as it becomes available.

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The forthcoming winter edition of the electronic Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE) will have a Special Focus section examining the suitability of exporting western political models of multiculturalism and minority rights to countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Taking the theories of Professor Will Kymlicka as a starting point, the Focus aims to generate broader discussion on this issue. The Focus will open with a specially commissioned article by Professor Kymlicka, in which he sets out the main arguments of his theory. The Editors encourage articles and commentary on these issues, especially from younger academics and practitioners residing in Central and Eastern Europe. Professor Kymlicka's paper will be posted towards the middle of November 2002, along with commentaries from recognized scholars. A provisional deadline for receipt of manuscripts is scheduled for 29 November 2002 and publication of contributions will continue into the beginning of 2003.  Contributions of between 6000 and 10000 words may be submitted via email to Graham Holliday (Editor-in-Chief) at holliday@ecmi.de. For more information, visit the JEMIE website at:

http://www.ecmi.de/jemie/

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A publication called "Ethnocentrism, Minority Rights and Civil Society in the Balkans" has issued a call for contributors.  For more information, contact Lynne Christine Alice cyberalice9@yahoo.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/balkans/message/2230

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Macquarie University Law Journal is accepting papers for its upcoming special issue on "Self-determination, Secession and the Creation of States". Guest editors are Aleksander Pavkovic and Peter Radan.  For information on how to submit an essay, contact Alex Reilly, Macquarie

University Law Journal, Division of Law, Macquarie University, NSW2109,

Australia, alex.reilly@mq.edu.au tel: 61-2-98507066; fax: 61-2-98507686.

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Call for Participation: Gender, Migration and Health: Asian-Canadian Perspectives
November 22, 2002, York University Sponsored by The Center for Feminist Research of York University and Hong Fook Mental Health Association

Women’s health is grounded in differential experiences of race,  ethnicity, class, gender, age, sexual orientation and disability  (along with many other axis of differentiation).Women who come from the many countries in Asia have not received significant attention  from health researchers, service providers and policy makers. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to bring together university and community researchers and activists with an interest in understanding how immigration and the relations of race, class, and gender impact Asian women’s health status, help-seeking behavior, and use of health services (including alternative and traditional therapies). We invite papers that deal with all aspects of Asian immigrants’ physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health e.g., barriers to health care, health services for women living in poverty or those with limited English proficiency, sexual and reproductive health of young women, and the social determinants of health.  We welcome papers on holistic models and innovative programs and service strategies that integrate different health paradigms.   University and community researchers and activists interested in issues around migration, gender and health are encouraged to participate.
 
Submitting a Proposal
Please provide a brief description (between 250 and 500 words) of your proposal. Presentations may be up to 20 minutes long and may feature music, art, theatre, health practices/exercises, or web-based material.  Submissions must be received by Oct 21, 2002  Please send your proposal to: Gender, Migration, and Health Conference Committee, Center for Feminist Research, York University, 228 York Lanes, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3. 

416 - 736-5915 (Tel) 416 - 736-5416 (Fax) Email: cfr@yorku.ca

 

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Call for Papers: "Women and Development: Rethinking Policy and Reconceptualizing Practice" / Women's Studies Quarterly / Submission deadline: 29 November 2002 / For further information, please contact Fran Vavrus fv84@columbia.edu or Lisa Ann Richey lri@cdr.dk. 

Women's Studies Quarterly is now seeking submissions for a special Spring/Summer 2004 issue on Women and Development. The issue will focus on the gendered effects of development policies and practices as well as the growing significance of post-development theory and action. Invited are submissions drawing upon different feminist approaches to the study of women and development -including liberalism, Marxism, and postmodernism- from those engaged with post-development scholarship and activism along with those who create and implement policies and programs for development organizations. The inclusion of diverse perspectives on women and development will enable readers to appreciate the breadth of meanings associated with the term "development" and the depth of the debate over how development processes restructure gender, power, and geopolitical relations in communities subject to interventions. Encouraged contributions that reflect on the concept of development from historical and contemporary perspectives, and that report on the experience of development through analyses of specific policies and practices affecting women's lives.  The issue will feature articles, essays, creative writing, teaching material, and book reviews that address one or more of the following questions:
1-What is development? Whose interests does it serve? Have we moved into a post-development era?
2-What are the gender-based challenges faced by women in specific contexts in the ‘North’ and ‘South’ today that have changed since the inception of women in development (WID) in the 1970s? In particular, how have the contexts of the Cold War, decolonization, and neo-liberalism affected development programs in the areas of education, employment, health, and politics?
3-How can liberal, Marxist, and postmodern feminist scholarship contribute to our understanding of development for women? What are the specific features of feminist post-development theory, and how does it differ from other forms of scholarship on gender and development (GAD)?
4-How do the dynamics of race, class, gender, education, and urbanism limit women's participation in the development process? Do these dynamics look different at various levels of development implementation? How might a focus on gender inform debates on the dynamics of other forms of inequality?
5-What might feminist development theory and practice look like in the coming decades as a result of the cultural, economic, and political changes brought about by the forces of globalization? What challenges do the anti-globalization and subsistence movements pose for development programs, policy, and practices?
6-How can teachers incorporate women and development issues into the curriculum to foster learning and debate about gender and power relations at the local, national, and international levels?
Contributions accepted for the special issue will be reviewed by at least two reviewers with the understanding that the materials have not been submitted to another journal. All submissions should be double-spaced, printed on one side of paper with 1-inch margins, and conform to the APA (in-text) citation style. Articles should not exceed 20 pages (5,000 words) in length, excluding references. Essays, short stories, and strategies for teaching (with syllabi) should not exceed 15 pages (3,750 words). Book reviews should not exceed 3 pages (750 words), and they should include a complete citation for the book under review.  Please send a disk and three hard copies of submissions along with a full mailing address, daytime telephone number, and an e-mail address to Professor Frances Vavrus, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 W. 120th Street, Box 55, New York, NY 10027, USA. Poetry submissions should be sent to Edvige Giunta, Poetry Editor, Women's Studies Quarterly, Department of English, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ 07305.

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FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

 

1)  Announcing "Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship: Gender and Globalization in Asia and the Pacific" / Office for Women's Research, University of Hawaii at Manoa / Application Deadlines: For Fall 2003, December 1, 2002; for Spring 2004, April 1, 2003 / For further information, please see  http://www2.soc.hawaii.edu/ws   or contact Dr. Kathy Ferguson by telephone: (808) 956-8835; by fax (808) 956-9616: or by e-mail: kferguso@hawaii.edu
What is meant by globalization, and how are women active in, and acted upon by, the processes involved in globalization? This program, under the auspices of the Office for Women's Research and the Women's Studies Program at the University of Hawaii, is focused on addressing these and related questions.
Research themes include:
- women and economic transformation
- women's health globally
- migration/refugees/Diaspora movements and communities
- militarism and global violence
- domestic violence and victimization
- gender, race and representation
- global connections of indigenous peoples
- reparation movements and interracial justice
The University seeks scholars from Asia-Pacific and other nations who wish to extend or initiate work on gender and globalization within an Asia-Pacific context. Work that spans and links diverse disciplines and addresses one or more of the themes will be particularly favored, as will work that speaks to audiences both inside and outside of the university.
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2)  The Boston Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights (a consortium of Boston-area universities and research centres) has announced the details of their 2002-3 Fellowship Program. These include fellowships with the Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at Tufts University, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, and the Peace and Justice Program at Wellesley. For further  information about the 2002-3 Fellowships, consult the following website: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/wappp/research/fellowshipcarr.html

 

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CANADIAN IDENTITIES DATABASE (CID):  An Interdisciplinary Reference Database of Canadian Research on Identity

 

Joanna Anneke Rummens

Culture, Community and Health Studies

Dept. of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health - Toronto

anneke.rummens@utoronto.ca

 

The Canadian Identities Database (CID) is an interdisciplinary electronic reference database of English-language Canadian research on identity and designated University of Toronto Invention.  It focuses on the major socio-cultural identities deemed relevant in the Canadian context, and includes aboriginal, ethnic, national, linguistic, regional, racial and religious identifications.  The database contains complete references and abstracts for journal articles, books, reports, theses, videos, governmental documents, web-site materials, unpublished manuscripts, recent graduate work and research project reports from a wide array of disciplines and fields of study including anthropology, education, geography, history, literature, psychology, sociology, political science, as well as ethnic, native and women studies.  It currently contains 860 abstracted, analysed and coded reference items. The CID was developed to facilitate access to a highly specialized research literature to guide policy decisions and support future research initiatives.  Detailed analytic coding within each of five fields - Types of Identity, Specific Identities, Identity Processes, Group Dynamics, Role of the State - provides maximum search flexibility and rapid retrieval of research references and findings dealing with even the most specialized identity topics. The database is updated three times a year in January, May and September.  Since April 2001 the CID has been made available in electronic format to the Department of Canadian Heritage, where it is used by policy makers and analysts.  As funder of this initiative Canadian Heritage will be making the CID directly accessible to researchers, students, media and the general public by posting the entire database on the  www.metropolis.net website with a link from  www.pch.gc.ca.  Relevant publications to-date include: 

Rummens, Joanna Anneke.  Canadian Identities:  An Interdisciplinary Overview of Canadian Research on Identity.  Ottawa:  Department of Canadian Heritage (Multiculturalism), September 2000, 64 pages. www.metropolis.net; www.ceris.metropolis.net

Rummens, Joanna Anneke.  Canadian Identities:  An Analytic Research Guide.  Ottawa:  Department of Canadian Heritage (Multiculturalism), October 2001, 170 pages. www.ceris.metropolis.net; hard copy available at CERIS Resource Centre.

For further information please contact anneke.rummens@utoronto.ca.

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A one-week intensive course on “Non-Discrimination and Minority Rights” will take place on 25-29 November 2002, in Turku/Abo, Finland. Offered by the Institute for Human Rights at Abo Akademi University, the course is intended as a comprehensive survey of  non-discrimination/ minority rights norms in the United Nations, Council of Europe, EU and OSCE contexts.

Twenty-five participants will be selected to participate, and funding will be available for participants travelling from ECE, African or Latin American countries. For information on the course, contact   Johanna Bondas, Institute for Human Rights, Gezeliusgatan 2, FIN-20500

Turku/Abo, Finland; email: mailto:johanna.bondas@abo.fi; web: http://www.abo.fi/instut/imr/courses.htm 

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METROPOLIS LIST-SERVE ON REGIONAL IMMIGRATION

 

At present about 75% of all immigrants - and some 80% of those admitted in the skilled worker class settle in the greater Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver areas. These centres also receive immigrants who migrate from other parts of Canada. Metropolis’ new regionalization list-serve is a forum for discussing immigrant attraction, settlement and retention in small and medium-sized cities, and rural areas.  It seeks to provide a space for policy makers, researchers, NGOs, and immigration practitioners to share experiences and research findings. This was identified as an important gap by participants at workshops on regional immigration policy at the 2001 National Metropolis Conference.  Issues relevant to the list-serve include:

* Skill shortages and immigration

* Provincial immigration planning,

* Municipal immigration strategies

* Regional impacts of federal and provincial immigration policies

* Provincial and Territorial Nominee Programs.

* The geography of refugee sponsorship

* Conversion from temporary to permanent resident status in smaller centres

To join the list-serve, or for more information, please contact Dr. Liisa Cormode at lcormode@sk.sympatico.ca

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INTERSECTIONS OF DIVERSITY

The Multiculturalism Program at the Department of Canadian Heritage continues to work with the Metropolis Project Team and other partners to develop a seminar on the intersections of diversity.  In preparation for this seminar nine literature reviews have been commissioned examining the intersections of race, religion, ethnicity and heritage languages (non-English, non-French) with each of the following identity markers: Aboriginal status, age, disability, gender, immigration, official languages, region, sexual orientation and socio-economic status.  If you would like to receive copies of these papers or further information on the seminar, please contact Becky Mosher at becky_mosher@pch.gc.ca

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STATUS PROJECT
 
OCASI is one of the founding members of STATUS, a broad coalition of community-
based agencies, labour organizations, faith-based groups and individuals
demanding the regularization of status for all non-status immigrants.  In the
past, the overhauled of immigration legislation went sometimes hand-in-hand
with an amnesty granted to a selected group of non-status immigrants, such as
the Chinese or the Portuguese workers. Since the government embarked on the
latest change of our immigration law in the form of Bill C-11, STATUS has been
demanding that all non-status immigrants are allowed to apply for Permanent
Resident Status under current criteria. Estimates of non-status immigrants
living and working in Canada vary from 20,000 to 200,000. Although they pay
taxes and contribute to the growth of Canada's economy they have no rights and
in many cases their children have no access to education or proper medical
care.
To find out more about STATUS go to:  www.ocasi.org/status

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A letter from EVELYN ERSANILLI – An international student at CERIS

 

My name is Evelyn Ersanilli. I'm a 22 year old General Social Science Student with a specialization on migration and minorities from Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
I've been awarded with the 'Canadian Studies Graduate Student Research Award' by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the International Council for Canadian Studies for my research project entitled 'A Comparison of Dutch and Canadian Multicultural Policies'. From September 9th till March 1st I'm staying with CERIS to do research for my master’s thesis. I am very grateful that CERIS is giving me the opportunity to use its resources for my research and that Myer Siemiatycki is supervising my work.

The Netherlands are a country of net immigration since the 1960's, but still not perceive themselves as a country of immigration. Immigration is mostly seen as a problem that needs to be solved. May this year a new right wing party won big at the general elections (26 out of 150 seats). One of the major campaign issues of this party was the closure of our boarders to all immigrants (including refugees). We now have of secretary of Immigration and Safety (because immigrants are seen as a threat to safety). Canada on the other hand has always welcomed immigrants and sees them more as a solution than as a problem. In contrast to, e.g., the US, Canadian policy values the diversity of its population and respects its differences. One part of my research consists of a comparison of policy documents.

I am curious as to what extent the immigrants in both countries experience these policy differences (both objectively and subjectively). That is why I'm also doing a survey on the economic integration of Iranian men in both countries. Iranians are a large community in both The Netherlands and Ontario. In the survey I look at their labour market status (objective effects of policy), but also at how they experience life in Canada; do they feel at home; do they feel respected, do they face discrimination, etc. (the more subjective effects of the policy).

In The Netherlands I surveyed almost 100 men. I haven't done an extensive analysis yet, but what I did found is that many Iranians - even though they master Dutch - speak a lot of English at home with their friends and at work. It looks like English serves as a sort of linqua franca, but it is really too soon to tell.

At the moment I'm looking for ways to distribute the survey. On Wednesdays and Fridays I'm at the CERIS Resource Centre, reading documents.  If you have any suggestions on my research or the distribution of the survey or if you want to know more about my research or about the policy in the Netherlands, don't hesitate to send my an email (e.f.ersanilli@students.uu.nl) or give me a call (416 746 1305).

 

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