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Ottawa Star The Voice of New Canadians www.OttawaStar.com • August 1, 2014 • Volume 2, Issue 2
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First two entrepreneur visas granted under Start-up Visa program By The Canadian Press
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ANCOUVER—Canada’s immigration minister heralded on July 16 the federal government’s 16-month-old visa program for entrepreneurs, which has accepted its first two applicants. Chris Alexander told a Vancouver news conference that the Start-up Visa program has generated enormous interest, though he couldn’t specify how many applications have been received. “We think we’ve done more than all other countries to make sure our programs are cutting edge,’’ he said, adding several applications are nearing completion. When the program was launched, then-immigration minister Jason Kenney said he expected to see a few hundred
Thamilavi Jeyanthan and Adshaya Pageerathan at the Ottawa Sivan Temple Festival. Story Page 3
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Roundtable highlights refugee health care struggles due to government cutbacks Canadian spy By Clare Clancy, The Canadian Press
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ORONTO—Every second Saturday, a small clinic in Toronto offers free medical care to anyone who needs it—no health card, insurance or paperwork is required. The clinic launched in response to the federal government’s cuts to refugee
health care two years ago, said Francisco Rico-Martinez, a co-director for the FCJ Refugee Centre. “Without doing any advertising, the clinic is packed every single second Saturday,’’ he said, adding that it operates thanks to volunteers. Rico-Martinez, who was attending a roundtable discussion hosted by the
Liberal party on July 11, added that universal health care in Canada is a myth. “It’s so painful to see the system making categories of people,’’ he said. The roundtable discussion followed a July 4 Federal Court ruling against the Harper government’s changes to healthcare coverage for refugee claimants. Continued on page 12
watchdog calls for safeguards on Five Eyes info sharing By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
The outreach offers stand in sharp contrast to other places around the U.S., where some protested having immigrants from Central America come to their towns while the nation’s leaders attempt to find solutions to the issue. In Dallas County, Judge Clay Jenkins has offered three county buildings that could hold as many as 2,000 migrants at one time.
OTTAWA—The watchdog that keeps an eye on Canada’s electronic spy agency says it cannot be sure the intelligence service’s Five Eyes partners abide by promises to properly protect information about Canadians. A newly declassified report shows the federally appointed watchdog has recommended that Defence Minister Rob Nicholson issue a directive to Communications Security Establishment Canada that sets out expectations for safeguarding Canadians’ privacy when CSEC shares information with its key allies. The watchdog, known as the CSEC commissioner, has also urged the spy agency to regularly report detailed statistical
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US communities diverge on response to unaccompanied child migrants By Emily Schmall, The Associated Press
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DALLAS—As thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children have poured into South Texas, community leaders from Dallas to Los Angeles to Syracuse, New York, have offered to set up temporary shelters to relieve the Army bases, holding cells and converted warehouses at the border.