www.theasianstar.com Vol 19 - Issue 32
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Immigrants, refugees make up almost half of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases: report A new report has found that immigrants, refugees and other newcomers made up 43.5 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in Ontario as of midJune, despite those groups representing just over 25 per cent of the province’s population. The report also found that testing rates were lower for immigrants and refugees when compared to Canadian-born and long-term residents, with the exception of Ontario immigrants who are classified as “economic caregivers.” “What we found particularly striking was that overall testing rates were lower in most immigrant, refugee and newcomer populations, but the
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BC has a $1.6 billion plan to fight a second wave of COVID-19 The province unveiled a $1.6 billion plan to weather the pandemic through the fall and flu season that will help clear capacity in B.C.’s health-care system without the broad and disruptive measures it took to do so in the spring. About $850 million has already been announced to fund strategies like the province’s surgical renewal and staffing changes at long-term care facilities. Wednesday’s plan further vows an
aggressive influenza vaccination campaign, introducing a virtual acute care program in Vancouver and a new training and recruitment initiative to fill 7,000 new care aide and other jobs in long-term care to protect the most vulnerable to serious illness due to COVID-19.Twenty-thousand COVID-19 and flu tests will also be administered daily as the influenza season ramps up. “
MLI Releases “Khalistan: A Project OF Pakistan” In 2018, an international lobby campaign advocating for an independent Khalistan successfully removed references to “Sikh (Khalistani) extremist ideologies and movements,” from the Ministry of Public Safety’s Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada. In response, the federal government took the unprecedented step of amending its national security statement, placating a vocal domestic constituency,
and replacing the original language with “Extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India.” In the ensuing domestic debate, a more important issue was obscured. This was also the first time that Canada’s national security community elevated violent extremists advocating for an independent Khalistan into a top-five threat to Canadian national security.
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Squatters trash Nanaimo home while family on vacation A Nanaimo family got an unwelcome surprise when they returned from a threeweek vacation on Sunday. Squatters had apparently moved into their home and made a huge mess. “It was awful – it smelled, our things had been ruined,” said Allison Greenway, who rents the home with her family. “They were in our kids’
beds.” Greenway, along with her husband and their four kids under the age of nine, returned home Sunday from visiting family in the Yukon. Greenway and her husband knew something was wrong as soon as they returned to their Nichol Street home. “When we pulled into the driveway, nothing was where we left it,” said Greenway.
Richmond politicians push Ottawa to address birth tourism and stop ‘passport mill’ One in four births taking place at Richmond Hospital involve an international mother, according to new statistics. Socalled “birth tourism” is a controversial phenomenon in which expectant mothers from other countries come to Canada for the purpose of accessing a Canadian
passport for their newborn babies and skipping the standard immigration processes. “It’s perceived as an abuse of birthright citizenship,” said Andrew Griffith, a former director of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada who is currently a fellow at the Environics Institute.
Most eligible for free shots as 2 million flu vaccines coming to BC As the provincial government gears up to battle the COVID-19 pandemic during flu season and avoid a “twindemic,” B.C. health officials have ordered a record number of influenza vaccines as they prepare for an unprecedented messaging
blitz to convince people to roll up their sleeves. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced two million doses of flu vaccine – 450,000 more than normal – are coming to B.C. as she encourages everyone to inoculate themselves against the seasonal flu.