Canada To Accept Up To 265,000 New Immigrants In 2008

Ottawa, October 31, 2007 — The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, announced today that Canada expects to welcome between 240,000 and 265,000 newcomers in 2008.

The target is set out in the 2007 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration tabled today in the House of Commons. The report provides information on immigration activities in 2006 and outlines the immigration plan for 2008.

“Our government believes that immigration plays an important role in building our communities and growing our economy,” said Minister Finley. “The immigration targets tabled today will help ensure that Canada continues to grow and benefit from all that newcomers and their families bring to our country.”

The Canadian Experience Class, first announced in the 2007 budget and a key element of the government’s long-term immigration plan, will be implemented in 2008 for certain skilled temporary workers and international students with Canadian degrees and Canadian work experience. Once the class is established and for the first time, individuals meeting specific criteria will be able to apply for permanent resident status from within Canada.

Federal Minister Finley’s India Visit Highlighted Canada’s Immigration Programs
Ottawa, November 12, 2007
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2007/2007-11-12.asp

The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, returned to Canada after a successful visit to India to review operations and promote Canada’s immigration program abroad. She visited Mumbai, Chandigarh and New Delhi.

“India is a major source of immigrants to Canada, with highly qualified individuals,” said Minister Finley. “Canada wants skilled and talented professionals from India and around the world and is committed to helping them integrate quickly into the Canadian labour market. To this end, we have established the Foreign Credentials Referral Office and just announced the expansion of orientation sessions abroad to help potential immigrants get their credentials assessed and recognized in Canada as quickly as possible.”

While in India, the Minister announced the expansion of overseas orientation services to help immigrants from India and China get their credentials assessed and recognized in Canada. The expansion adds service on a rotational basis in the states of Gujarat and Punjab in India, as well as rotational services in Beijing and Shanghai in China. Until now, orientation sessions were available in three cities in India, China and the Philippines. A new, centrally-located office was also opened in New Delhi to respond to increased demand in the region. The sessions are funded by Human Resources and Social Development Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program and delivered by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges’ Canadian Immigration Integration Project.

The Minister also addressed representatives of educational institutions at a roundtable in Mumbai. Her speech touched on various initiatives undertaken to attract new immigrants, including the plans to introduce a new Canadian Experience Class in 2008. While details are still being finalized, this new avenue to immigration will help foreign students and skilled workers already living and working in Canada, to apply for permanent resident status from within Canada.

During the visit, Minister Finley took the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, the Minister of Home Affairs and other officials of the Indian government.

World On The Verge Of Climate 'Catastrophe': UN Chief
17 Nov 2007, 1223 hrs IST,AFP

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PARIS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday for urgent action on global warming, warning the world is on the verge of a catastrophe, as top scientists were due to issue a new report on climate change for policymakers.

"We all agree. Climate change is real, and we humans are its chief cause. Yet even now, few people fully understand the gravity of the threat, or its immediacy," the UN chief wrote in a commentary in the International Herald Tribune.

"I have always considered global warming to be a matter of utmost urgency. Now I believe we are on the verge of a catastrophe if we do not act."

Ban noted recent acceleration in the melting of glaciers and polar ice, and pointed out that the collapse of an at-risk Antarctic ice shelf could raise sea levels by up to six metres (18 feet), inundating costal cities New York, Mumbai and Shanghai.

"I am not scare-mongering. But I believe we are nearing a tipping point," wrote the UN chief.

Ban will preside over the presentation on Saturday in Valencia, Spain of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) landmark report intended to help policymakers facing tough decisions on cutting pollution from fossil fuels, shifting to cleaner energy and bolstering defences against drought, flood, storms and other problems set to intensify through climate change.

He characterised the report's conclusions as "encouraging." "The over-arching message: we can beat this. There are real and affordable ways to deal with climate change," wrote Ban.

Canada's Environment Minister Welcomes The Report Of The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC)
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2007/17/c9590.html

OTTAWA, Nov. 17 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada's Environment Minister John Baird today congratulated the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the release of its fourth and final report, covering key aspects of global climate change.

"The science is clear and Canada, like the rest of the world needs to take immediate action on climate change," said Minister Baird. "That is why we announced our Turning the Corner plan, which sets tough and achievable mandatory targets for all major industrial sectors which will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 60-70% by 2050."  

The Government of Canada is preparing for the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Bali, Indonesia, from December 3 to 14, 2007. The meeting will be a stepping stone towards a new climate change agreement for post-2012. "The timing of this report couldn't be better," added Minister Baird. "The Prime Minister and I understand that climate change is a global problem, requiring global solutions. Canada has been a leader in bringing the world together at the G8, at APEC and at the United Nations, and we will continue that work in Bali."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fourth Assessment Report in several volumes over the course of 2007. The first volume, released in February, covered the physical science basis for climate change. The second volume, released in March, covered climate change impacts, adaptation and those aspects of our infrastructure, lifestyle and ecosystems that will suffer as our climate changes. The third volume, released in April, covered mitigation - those actions the world can take to reduce the severity of our changing climate. The report released today was a synthesis of the three previous volumes.

Pope Urges Portuguese Bishops To Change Mentality
Says Members Need To Be In Tune With Vatican II

Excerpt from: http://www.zenit.org/article-20998 ?  2007-11-13

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 13, 2007 (Zenit.org).- With an ever-growing number of non-practicing Catholics in Portugal, Benedict XVI has asked the Church in that country for a change of mentality that is more in tune with the Second Vatican Council.

The Pope's appeal was made last Saturday when he received in audience the Portuguese bishops, in Rome for their five-yearly visit.

The Church, the Holy Father said, "should not, above all, speak of itself, but of God. With this, I don't mean to say that we don't have to discuss the best organization of the Church and the distribution of responsibilities: There are always imbalances that need corrections."

But these issues, he clarified "should not distract us from the authentic mission of the Church."

The Pontiff continued, alluding to his encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est": "One doesn't begin to be a Christian because of an ethical decision or a great idea, but rather because of an encounter with an event, with a Person, who gives new horizons to life, and with that, a decisive orientation.

"The evangelization of the person and of human communities depends totally on this encounter with Jesus Christ."

The Bishop of Rome added, "Given the growing wave of Christians that are not practicing in your dioceses, perhaps it is worthwhile to verify the efficiency of the current processes of initiation, to better help Christians to mature with the educative activities of our communities, and to take on in their lives an authentically Eucharistic stamp that makes them capable of giving reason for their hope in an adequate way for our times."

According to Benedict XVI, in these years, "the most frequent confession on the lips of Christians has been the lack of participation in community life."

"It is necessary," he said, "to change the organizational style of the Portuguese Church community and the mentality of its members, to have a Church in tune with Vatican II, in which the function of clergy and laypeople is well-defined, taking into account the fact that we are all one, since we were baptized and integrated into the family of the children of God, and all of us have a common responsibility for the growth of the Church."

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