Citizenship And Immigration Canada does some things very well. But I think it's safe to say that there are many areas where more work is needed. Today the immigration program is under stress. Newcomers wait too long to come here. Applications in many cases are not processed fast enough. Many newcomers have trouble finding work that allows them to fully use their skills and experience. Their unemployment and underemployment represent more than just a drag on Canada's productivity. It is a human tragedy and basic decency dictates that it not be allowed to continue.

Canadians pride themselves on their fairness, but how profoundly unfair that a highly educated professional from another part of the world should be driving a cab because his or her credentials aren't properly recognized.

The goal is to help immigrants succeed when they get here. It's also to work in partnership to ensure the ways we welcome newcomers reflect our core beliefs in democracy, freedom, equality of opportunity, and respect. It's to ensure the welcome we offer is responsive to our already large and growing skills shortage while still ensuring that we are able to help reunite families more quickly. It's to ensure that Canada continues to reach out and provide a safe harbour to refugees who flee war, persecution and torture, while also removing bogus refugee claimants faster. In short, the goal is to deliver the results Canadians need and expect.

Where do we begin?

The Government of Canada will act quickly in three areas. The first deals with credential recognition. We are working collaboratively with Human Resources and Social Development Canada to set up a new agency that will address the recognition of foreign credentials.

My second priority addresses the big expense that many newcomers face on arrival in Canada. We need to send the right message by cutting the Right of Permanent Residence fee in half. Our efforts should be focused on welcoming newcomers and helping them fit in, not taxing them to death. They'll get enough of that later.

My third priority deals with citizenship. Our government has committed to supporting Canadian parents who adopt foreign-born children by extending citizenship to these children provided the adoption is legal and in the best interests of the child.

Excerpted from a speech given by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg at the Public Policy Forum conference on immigration in Toronto, March 20.

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/march/22/immigration/.
 

 Pandemic influenza communications campaign:
Health Minister launches one-stop pandemic influenza web site and new information resources for Canadians

OTTAWA, March 27 /CNW Telbec/ - Health Minister Tony Clement today launched a new web-based resource on pandemic influenza that will give Canadians access to a one-stop source of information on pandemic influenza and Canada's preparedness. The Minister also unveiled public information materials to be distributed to doctors and pharmacists across the country to assist them in answering questions from the their patients and clients on pandemic influenza.

The web site www.pandemicinfluenza.gc.ca brings together information from across the Government of Canada's departments and agencies, providing a central web site for information on Canada's pandemic influenza plan and other public health measures to protect Canadians.

"The potential for an influenza pandemic is an important public health issue for all Canadians" said Minister Clement. "The effectiveness of our response will depend in part on our ability to communicate relevant information to Canadians, not just during a pandemic, but in advance of
an outbreak."

The information materials are designed to answer questions Canadians may have on the risk to themselves and their families and provide background information on seasonal influenza, avian influenza and pandemic influenza. The tools will be distributed to health professionals through the Canadian Medical    Association and Canadian Pharmacists Association, reaching approximately 63,000 health care professionals.

"The Canadian Medical Association is very pleased to be working together  with the Public Health Agency of Canada to bring this information to Canadians," said Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, President of the Canadian Medical Association. "The adoption of simple flu prevention measures coupled with a better understanding of influenza will go a long way in preparing Canada for an influenza pandemic."

"Often pharmacists are the first line of contact that many people have with the health care system," said Dr. Jeff Poston, Executive Director, Canadian Pharmacists Association. "Their inclusion in planning and training for a pandemic can only strengthen our response to meet the public's need."

The new web site is part of the government's commitment to keeping Canadians informed of preparations for pandemic influenza, including what individuals can do to protect themselves.

"In addition to the many ways we are preparing for pandemic influenza, providing Canadians with reliable, relevant and up-to-date information is an essential element," said Minister Clement. "Our strategy is to coordinate communication among governments, but also across the country with the various public health partners and the health professionals on the front lines."

As well as information on the Government of Canada's preparedness and response plans, the web site includes information to help people understand what pandemic influenza is and how it differs from avian flu, and the seasonal flu that commonly circulates through fall and winter months. It also provides tips for self protection and preventing the spread of the virus. The public
information materials cover similar information in a package designed to assist health care professionals in answering questions from their patients and clients on pandemic influenza.

A pandemic can occur when a new influenza virus emerges against which people have little or no immunity. There is no influenza pandemic at this time anywhere in the world, but scientists agree a global outbreak is inevitable.
 

Canadian Doctors of Indian Heritage come together via New Association
By Lisa Darwen _ Medical Post
http://www.medicalpost.com/mpcontent/article.jsp?content=20060320_185417_4452

TORONTO | For the first time in its history the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) will hold their semi-annual meeting outside of the United States. It will be held in Toronto and that event also marks the inaugural conference of its new cousin, the Canadian Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage (CAPIH). AAPI president Dr. Vijay Koli and Dr. Joseph Kurian (PhD), president and CEO of Alpha Laboratories of Toronto, thought Indian-Canadian physicians would benefit from an association like AAPI. A teleconference in October 2004 with Canadian colleagues, including past Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Sunil Patel, confirmed the idea had merit. On Nov. 2, 2005, CAPIH was constituted and incorporated.

"As I was travelling in 2003/044 across the nation in my capacity as CMA president, I had an opportunity to meet a number of CMA members," said Dr. Patel. "There was a common thread among physicians of ethnic origin that they perceived a need to bring physicians together to celebrate the more than 75, perhaps even 100, years of service that physicians of overseas origin have provided to Canadians." The term "heritage" is used in the association's name because membership is open to any physician who can trace their lineage to any Indian sub-continent, say organizers. CAPIH estimates more than 10,000 physicians in Canada are of Indian heritage and organizers hope to recruit up to 3,000 members in the first year. Annual membership is $100 for physicians (lower for residents and students).

One of CAPIH's top objectives is for members to give back to their nations of origin as well as their adopted country.

One segment of the Canadian population CAPIH specifically wants to give back to is First Nations people by offering them help in conjunction with ongoing efforts by government and other agencies.

"The group as a whole felt the First Nations in Canada are not being looked after to the extent they should," said Dr. Kurian. "We all came to this country and benefited from what it had to give and therefore it's about time to give something back by trying to help the marginalized, especially the First Nations people."

There will also be a strong focus on:
* helping second-generation physicians of Indian heritage with their
career choices and funding;
* guiding new physicians into the Canadian health-care system;
* providing cultural-specific continuing medical education programs;
and
* assisting victims of natural and man-made disasters.

CAPIH expects to have a co-operative relationship with AAPI in the future. AAPI is almost 20 years old, has more than 41,000 physician members and 10,000-plus medical student and resident members.

The CIPAH's inaugural conference will be held in Toronto April 27 to 30.
Visit www.capih.ca.
 

Commonwealth Games A Success

MELBOURNE, Australia (CP) - Canada took aim at winning 100 medals and finishing among the top three countries at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. It hit half the target. After 11 days of competition in 16 sports, Canada ended up with 86 medals (26 gold, 29 silver, 31 bronze), good enough for third in the overall tally behind the powerhouse Australians and England.
 
Canadian chef de mission Ross Outerbridge admitted officials may have been overly optimistic with their three-digit medal expectations, especially when many Canadian athletes were just beginning their competitive seasons.

But he says the team's performance at the Games bodes well for the future.

"I think the encouraging things are to see some of the performances of the young Canadians that have been at their first Games," Outerbridge said Sunday. "Some of the Canadian records, the Commonwealth records that have fallen, the personal bests, that have come out of this, I think those are very important indicators of what is to come."

Still on Games…
 

Australia rout Pakistan 3-0 to bag Commonwealth hockey gold medal

MELBOURNE: Olympic champions Australia won their third successive Commonwealth Games men’s field hockey title with a 3-0 victory over Pakistan here on Sunday. Liam De Young put the Kookaburras ahead in the 18th minute before Luke Doerner and Jamie Dwyer scored in the second half to seal their team’s emphatic win.

Malaysia, meanwhile, capped their rapid improvement through the Games by taking the bronze medal with a 2-0 win over England.

Pakistan’s Tariq Aziz was ordered off the field with a red card for the second time in the competition after a deliberate foul on Robert Hammond who came off with a bleeding lip. Shakeel Abbasi of Pakistan and Australia’s Dean Butler earned green cards in a heated encounter which had been expected since Mohammad Saqlain’s bloody assault on Craig Victory during a tournament in Germany last August boiled over. “My lip will hurt but the gold medal is there forever,” said Hammond. Added team-mate Matthew Wells: “We did what we set out to achieve and that was to come away with really good wins.”