Tag Archives: Northern America

Nationality + Migration

U.S. News | Central American Migrants

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U.S. government begins detaining asylum-denied Central American families
  • At least six families in Texas and five in Georgia have been detained as the Obama administration begins implementing its 2016 plan to deport undocumented families denied asylum in the U.S.
  • Families were transported to detention centers in south Texas as advocates rushed to provide legal assistance.
  • An ongoing wave of families fleeing Central America has created a political firestorm as anti-immigration politicians have accused the migrants of flouting the immigration system and pro-immigrant advocates have accused the opposition of downplaying the increase in violence in what is already one of the world’s most violent regions.

Read more:
“Families are taken into custody as push to deport immigrants denied refuge begins” (The L.A. Times)
“U.S. Begins Immigration Crackdown on Central Americans” (The Wall Street Journal)
“Immigration Crack Down on Central Americans in US Begins With First Arrests” (teleSUR English)

(Image Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images, via the L.A. Times)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Canada News | Transgender

Ontario proposes changes to expand gender reassignment referral capacity
  • Ontario’s health minister announced proposals that will allow local healthcare providers to provide referral services for transgender individuals seeking gender reassignment surgery.
  • Currently, those seeking the surgery must be referred through the Gender Identity Clinic program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental health (CAMH) in Toronto, facing up to a two-year wait if referred.
  • Ontario still lacks in-province gender reassignment surgery capabilities, but the health minister indicated that the absence is currently under review.

Read more:
“Ontario expands referrals for gender reassignment surgery” (CBC News)
“Ontario to expand medical referrals for sex-reassignment surgery” (The Globe and Mail)
“Improving Access to Sex Reassignment Surgery” (Government of Ontario)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Canada News | Women & Minorities

PM Trudeau forms most diverse government in Canadian history
  • Fulfilling a campaign promise, Trudeau has created a gender-equal 30-member cabinet “because it’s 2015,” as he bluntly stated at a press conference unveiling his new government.
  • The cabinet also includes the country’s first Muslim minister, two indigenous ministers, three Sikhs, and two ministers with disabilities.
  • Trudeau’s cabinet is also relatively youthful, with most ministers under the age of 50, reflecting Trudeau’s commitment to generational change.

Read more:
“A Canadian Cabinet for 2015” (The Atlantic)
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveils diverse cabinet in touching ceremony” (The Star)
“Trudeau gives Canada first cabinet with equal number of men and women” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Chris Wattle/Reuters, via the Atlantic)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | Racial & Ethnic Minorities

Students lobby Portland school board for ethnic studies class
  • The Asian Pacific Islander Leaders for the Liberation of Youth (ALLY) have lobbied the Portland Public Schools Board of Education for the creation of at least one ethnic studies class in all 10 of the public high schools in Oregon’s largest city.
  • Asking that the class count towards the social studies graduation requirement, the group has called for a course that covers the contributions of Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Latino, Arab, and Native Americans and LBTQ Americans of color to American history and culture.
  • Students supported their curriculum-based arguments with data indicating increased academic performance, attendance, and graduation rates for students who have taken similar courses in other schools.

Read more:
“Students Call For Ethnic Studies in Portland High Schools” (NBC News)
“Textbooks don’t tell the history of minorities, students say. Teenagers want to change that” (The Oregonian)

(Image Credit: Casey Parks/The Oregonian)

Gender, Nationality + Migration

Central America & U.S. News | Central American Women

UN: Ongoing gender-based violence in Central America threatening to create another refugee crisis
  • The UN has warned in a recent report that as femicide and sexual and domestic violence showing no signs of abating in parts of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the region (and the U.S.) needs to prepare another refugee surge.
  • Gang violence has exploited women in the region as governments have failed to address the region’s drug cartel problem, while escaping women become vulnerable to trafficking.
  • Advocates for women refugees have argued that the Mexico’s crackdown on migrants–with U.S. backing–has heightened insecurity for women escaping violence.

Read more:
“UN agency warns of ‘looming’ refugee crisis as women flee Central America and Mexico” (UN News Service)
“Women Refugees Are ‘Running For Their Lives’ In Central America” (BuzzFeed News)
“Mexico’s migration crackdown escalates dangers for Central Americans” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Amy Stillman/IRIN, via the UN News Agency)

Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

Canada News | Women & Minorities

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Canadian elections bring significant victories for women,  First Nations, and other minorities
  • A wave of victories swept a record 10 new indigenous MPs (eight Liberal and two NDP) into the House of Commons as preliminary reports indicate higher than normal turnout rates among indigenous Canadian communities.
  • Women won 88 seats, increasing their representation to 26%, while new PM Justin Trudeau has promised to have equal gender representation in his Cabinet.
  • Six Muslims won seats during an election cycle that saw religious freedom issues contentiously debated, and visible minority representation increased to 13.6% from 9.7% in 2011.

Read more:
“Record 10 indigenous MPs elected to the House of Commons” (CBC News)
“On-reserve voters endure lines and ballot issues for historic election” (The Globe and Mail)
“Women and visible minorities make election gains” (Yahoo! News)

(Image Credit: CBC)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Canada News | Indigenous

First Nations leaders take on Big Oil over massive proposed pipeline in Canada
  • First Nations leaders have joined environmental activists in opposing the proposed Northern Gateway, a 731-mile tar sands pipeline stretching from central Alberta to the British Columbian coast.
  • The pipeline has become a political battleground as PM Stephen Harper has vowed to make Canada an “energy superpower,” while Alberta’s premier has been enlisted by pipeline company Enbridge to negotiate with First Nations leaders.
  • Eight First Nations have taken the issue to court in what became the longest case heard before Canada’s federal court of appeals, claiming a faulty approval process, negligent environmental impact studies, and encroachment on First Nations’ rights.

Read more:
“Indigenous Canadians take leading role in battle against tar sands pipeline” (The Guardian)
“First Nations’ challenges of Northern Gateway pipeline to be heard in court” (The Globe and Mail)
“Northern Gateway pipeline battle could set tone for future government, aboriginal relations” (The Canadian Press via The Vancouver Sun)

(Image Credit: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press, via The Vancouver Sun)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | Native Americans

Indigenous Peoples Day begins catching on in U.S. cities as replacement for Columbus Day
  • Cities in a potpourri of states including Washington, California, Texas, Minnesota, and New Mexico eschewed celebrating Christopher Columbus to focus instead on the contributions and achievements of indigenous Americans.
  • The movement to change the national holiday saw its first significant victory in 1990, when South Dakota renamed the holiday to Native American Day.
  • Columbus’s status as a national hero has been increasingly dismantled as historians have brought to light his writings, persecution of indigenous Americans, and initiation of a series of events that led to the deaths of millions of native inhabitants of the American continents.

Read more:
“Indigenous Peoples Day Celebrated in Cities Across the U.S. Instead of Columbus Day” (BuzzFeed News)
“Indigenous Peoples Day celebrated in Lawrence” (The Kansas City Star)
“Denver City Council unanimously decides to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day” (KDVR FOX 31 News)

(Image Credit: Elaine Thompson/AP, via BuzzFeed News)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | Black Americans

Thousands gather in Washington D.C. for “Justice or Else” rally commemorating 20th anniversary of the Million Man March
  • Black leaders, celebrities, and community members joined in a march to the National Mall as a return to the public forum on Black community issues, with black women and children joining men in the movement for social justice.
  • As he did twenty years earlier, Louis Farrakhan fronted the event, touching on the issues of communal responsibility, reproductive rights, and economic boycotting in his speech.
  • Other speakers spoke about the current movement for criminal justice reform and inter-communal and international issues, including women’s rights, Native American solidarity, and Palestine.

Read more:
“‘Justice or Else’ Rally Marks 20th Anniversary of Million Man March” (Voice of America)
“History in the Making: Million Man March 20th Anniversary” (The Root)
“20 years after the Million Man March, a fresh call for justice on the Mall” (Washington Post)
“Million Man March Activists Chant Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’ on 20th Anniversary” (Billboard)

(Image Credit: AP, via Voice of America)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. Feature | Native Americans

Unmasking Addiction in Native Communities

The long-entrenched belief in Native Americans’ genetic susceptibility to alcoholism has for decades obscured the underlying social and psychological causes of high addiction rates in the community. The Verve takes a look at the science of addiction and the presence of its effects in Native communities, from poverty and disenfranchisement to familial precarity and unemployment.

Read more:
“No, Native Americans aren’t genetically more susceptible to alcoholism” (The Verge)

(Image Credit: Kimery Davis via The Verge)

Gender, Religion + Belief

Canada News | Muslim Women

Pregnant Muslim woman targeted by youth in Montreal
  • Oumessad Khoufache, 31 and four-months pregnant, was approached by two teenage boys on bikes, who tore at her hijab, causing her to lose her balance and fall.
  • Police are reluctant to investigate it as a hate crime because no hateful words were expressed, but Khoufache’s husband believes the teens’ specific attack on her hijab says otherwise.
  • The incident takes place in the midst of a national debate on the ability of Muslim women to wear niqabs during citizenship oath ceremonies, with public vandalism and other forms of anti-Muslim sentiment having appeared as the debate has worn on.

«Reste qu’il y a une montée médiatique ces temps-ci qui peut alimenter [la haine contre les musulmans]. J’espère que ce n’est pas un acte haineux, car cela voudrait dire que des enfants sont déjà alimentés sur des fausses idées sur le voile»

Translation: “The fact remains that lately there has been a rise in media that can feed [hate against Muslims]. I hope that this isn’t a hateful act since that would mean that some children are already fueled by mistaken ideas about the veil.”

Read more:
“Une femme voilée et enceinte agressée par deux ados” (Le Journal de Montréal, in French)
“Pregnant Muslim woman attacked by Montreal teens, police say” (CBC News)
“Montreal’s Muslim community feels ‘used’ by political parties” (CBC News)
“Has the NDP’s campaign become tangled up by a niqab?” (Montreal Gazette)

Nationality + Migration

U.S. Research | Immigrants

Becoming American: 50 Years of Inroads

Immigration has had a tremendous impact on U.S. demographics since the passage of the landmark Hart-Celler Act in 1965 amending the earlier Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The proportion of immigrants in the country has grown from 4.8% in 1965 to 13.9% today (just below the historic high of 15% around the turn of the 20th century), and is only expected to increase. A recent Pew Research study broke down how immigration has contributed to the diversification of the country and how the dynamics expected to drive population growth over the next 50 years. Here are highlights from the extensive report:

45 million (2015) vs. 9.6 million (1965)

Number of foreign-born U.S. residents

72 million (55%)

Contribution of immigrant population to overall U.S. growth over last 50 years

26% (Asian) / 47% (Hispanic) / 8% (Black) / 18% (White)

Racial makeup of immigrant population in 2015

11% (Asian) / 9% (European) / 22% (African) / 37% (Latin American) / 39% (Middle Eastern)

Percentage of Americans who view region’s immigrants as having mostly negative impact on American society

34% (make worse) vs. 18% (make better) vs. 45% (not much effect)

How Americans perceive the impact of immigrants on U.S. social and moral values

Read more:
Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065 (Pew Research Center)
Top Countries of Origin by State of Settlement, 1850-Present (Pew Research Center)

Age, Gender, Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | Haitian Immigrant Youth

In Search of Home

After the 2010 earthquake that devastated much of their country’s infrastructure, thousands of Haitians immigrated to the U.S. in search of a place to rebuild their lives. However, the traumatic psychological and material effects of the catastrophe made integration into their new homes difficult. PRI profiles efforts in Boston, home to one of the biggest Haitian-American communities in the U.S., to provide a space of transition for Haitian boys in search of familiarity.

Read more:
“A ‘home’ away from home is helping young Haitians in the US cope with trauma of 2010 earthquake” (Public Radio International)

(Image Credit: Rupa Shenoy/WGBH, via PRI)

Nationality + Migration, Religion + Belief

U.S. Feature | Syrian Christian Immigrants

Syrian and Christian in New York

Image Credit: Leticia Miranda/BuzzFeed News
Image Credit: Leticia Miranda/BuzzFeed News

Syrian Christians who immigrated to the U.S. before Syria descended into chaos have watched from the sidelines as their families, churches, and hometowns have been demolished in the fight between pro-government and Islamist militant forces, including the Islamic State. BuzzFeed News profiles three in New York who relate the tragedy of watching the world they previously knew as home fall apart.

Read the full feature at BuzzFeed News.

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. News | Native American

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U.S. government reaches major settlement with Native American tribes
  • Government and tribal officials have submitted a plan for $940 million to settle claims brought by more than 600 tribes and agencies.
  • The tribes have suffered from a quarter-century of underfunding by the federal government for basic programs like education, housing, law enforcement, and environmental management.
  • A round of finger-pointing between the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Congress, and the President resulted in a 2012 Supreme Court ruling holding the government liable for payment.

“Tribal self-determination and self-governance will continue to be our North Star as we navigate a new chapter in this important relationship and we are committed to fully funding contract support costs so that tribal contracting can be more successful.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Mary Hudetz/AP, via BuzzFeed)