Recruiting Animal

Toronto Star Makes Welfare Look Bad

Toronto Star, ParentCentral.ca.

Kala Aranrajh, a single mother of two children in Scarborough, knows too well. "I don't want them to see me worry, that I can't sleep because I am so worried," she said in Tamil.

She survives on the monthly child tax benefit and welfare she receives, which barely cover her rent. Her language barrier and inability to afford child care limit her access to the resources in the community.

People see this and wonder, "Why no mention of the dad? Where are the grandparents? How long has she been here? Why isn't she learning to speak English?"

I've noticed a few times that The Toronto Star features people who seem to be in trouble because they are doing something that is obviously wrong. But, instead of pointing to the obvious, they imply that they are merely victims of circumstance.

This provokes protests in the comments and, perhaps, this is what The Star wants: to publicly expose folly to criticism without having to seem unsympathetic by doing it themselves.

Racism Causing Toronto's Problems Says Probe

Outside the Foot Locker, five or six of people stepped onto the roadway, so Tarnowski was forced to stop the car. That's when Verechtchaguine noticed a man a few metres to the south of the car near the doorway of the apparel store, he said.

"A guy raises his hands upwards and appears to fire a shot," he said. "At the beginning I thought it was fireworks."

Then Verechtchaguine's attention was drawn by two or three other shots. "I look to my right. I see a person with his hand extended and I see the gun in his hand. I hear two or three shots and I see the flashes and after that I get down in the car."

"After the first two bangs, people started to scream and people started to get down on the ground," he said.

-- Toronto Star

Roots of Violence in Toronto

Racism is worse than it was a generation ago, while there are fewer resources and structures to counter this great evil than existed in years past.

-- Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling, Toronto Star

"That's an outright lie" is the phrase that immediately comes to mind. But these are both decent men so I'll just assume that it's just an error albeit, in my mind, a ridiculous one.

I've lived in Toronto my entire life. I know lots of people and I rarely hear a racist remark. This just sounds like an excuse for an endless spree of violence by a bunch of young guys from a few social housing neighbourhoods in Toronto.

My cousins used to live in one of those neighbourhoods. I use to go there often when I was a boy and there was nothing to be afraid of. So, in this case, I would say the criminals rather than their environment are primarily responsible for their crimes.

McMurtry and Curling say the opposite. But they offer no proof at all.

Immigrants Don't Like Stress on Job Skills

TheStar.com warns that:

1. Immigrants with skills do not get a chance to use them in Canada.

2. So the government's increased preference for immigrants with job skills discriminates against the unskilled people the country actually needs.

When Chakraborti joined her husband, Sailen, in Canada, it took her just two months to parlay a master's degree in philosophy into a job as a bank teller.

"Many immigrant communities are already being discriminated left, right and centre..."

His parents have a university education and worked for Ontario Hydro as clerks...

Chinese Immigrants Most Successful

Source: Marina Jimenez, Globe and Mail, Oct 6 2008

Statistics Canada 2006 census data shows the average salaries for 1st generation immigrants to Canada, age 25-44 with university degrees:
White - $68,036 avg.
Japanese:$58,294.
Chinese $55,270
Blacks: $51,317

Canadian-born whites - $65,000.

Percentage of 2nd-generation Canadians with university degrees
60% of Chinese
52% of South Asians
36% of Filipinos
32% of blacks
23% of Latin Americans.

Below-average incomes due to
- language problems
- lack of Canadian experience
- unrecognized credentials

Grandchildren of Chinese immigrants earn an average of $79,022 a year.
Incomes for South Asians also increased substantially by the 3rd generation.

Higher education among Chinese and South Asians is encouraged by the parents' cultural values.

3rd-generation blacks earned less than black immigrants.
The incomes of Latin Americans also fell across generations.

Recent immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa are fairly well educated but earn less than other newcomer groups, presumably because of discrimination.

Blacks have a 40% high school drop-out rate in Toronto high schools.
The drop out rate for the Portuguese community is just as high.

Canadians Are Nice People

Triple Murder in Toronto after week of violence

3 men found dead in car.
number of murders this week: 6

Earlier This Week:
William Magill: stabbed
Michael Watson: shot
17-year-old "youth": shot

Also: 3 non-fatal shootings wounded 4 people.
Good News: Toronto homicides down: 35 vs 41 at the same time last year.

An Ace in the Hole

I had begun to stop worrying about spies and terrorists, but in the shadows of the courtyard the merchant drew me close and told me something else about his life: "We have Canadian passports. If it gets bad with Iraq, Iran, I can make a living anywhere."
-- Herbert Hadad

It doesn't take a village to raise a child

It takes one or two responsible adults -- Rosie DeManno

Here's a radical concept: Maybe parents should check their kids' knapsacks for guns, knives, baseball bats and brass knuckles before the little darlings leave for school in the morning.

Toronto Targets Post Gen Y Students

Urban Diversity Strategy

Canadians Are Nice People

1 dead, 8 hurt in weekend violence

A night of violence on Toronto’s streets has left one man dead, four others shot and four more stabbed in separate incidents.