Canadian Parvasi 68

The International News Weekly Canada
November 09, 2018 | Toronto 04
Canada and United States not facing
asylum seeker crisis: UNHCR official
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA : Neither Canada
nor the United States
is experiencing a crisis in
asylum claims, says the
United Nations' assistant
high commissioner for
refugees.
Volker Turk, an Austrian
in charge of refugee
protection for the UN, was
in Ottawa this week to
meet with Canadian border
officials. He said in an
interview that Canada's
recent spike in irregular
migrants is nothing compared
to the millions of
refugees who pour every
year into much poorer
countries.
Likewise, the migrant
caravan making its way
through Mexico toward
the United States, numbering
in the low thousands of
people, is small compared
to the vast migrations
borne in recent years by
countries like Lebanon,
Jordan and Turkey, which
have taken in over five million
Syrian refugees.
"A lot of the media
debate that we often see
is that there are hordes of
people coming to the industrialized
world -- that's
absolutely not true," Turk
said.
North America has
largely been shielded from
the true global crisis of 68.5
million displaced persons
in the world fleeing war
and conflict, he said.
"I think it's important
to put everything in perspective
and to bear in
mind that when people
talk about a 'crisis' these
days, these crises are far
away from North America
or from Europe, they are
taking place often in the
poorest countries in the
world who need our support,
need our solidarity
and who need also our humanity."
Political rhetoric whipping
up public concern
over the asylum-seekers
has been rising in recent
weeks, led by politicians in
both Canada and the United
States.
In Canada, the federal
Conservatives regularly
refer to the influx of tens
of thousands of asylum
seekers crossing "irregularly"
into Canada via nonofficial
entry points from
the U.S. as a border crisis
and have used the issue to
galvanize their base and
criticize the Liberal government.
In the U.S., President
Donald Trump has spoken
more and more harshly on
the issue of "illegal aliens"
as he continues to push for
a wall across his country's
border with Mexico.
In the lead-up to the
American midterm elections
this week, he was especially
aggressive on the
migrant caravan: he said
its participants are part
of an invasion and has deployed
the military to the
border.
Nevertheless, Turk
said, the U.S. continues
to have a "robust" asylum
system with checks and
balances.
Turk said 90 per cent of
the world's refugees who
cross international borders
do so far away from
both Canada and the United
States.
"I think it is important
never to lose sight of what
we face globally today. The
real crises in this world
are in the Ugandas of this
world, are in Turkey, are
in Jordan, are in Lebanon,
are in Ethiopia, are in
Pakistan and Iran, where
countries host literally
millions of refugees year
in and year out," he said.
Canada has indeed
been cognizant of this and
has been closely monitoring
the rise in migration
patterns, particularly in
the Americas, according
to government documents
obtained under access-toinformation
law.
Officials within the International
Trade Department
have raised concerns
about this, notably over
how the Trump administration's
"hard-line rhetoric"
could lead to an influx
of irregular migrants from
Central America into Canada.
Trump has moved to
end temporary protected
status for hundreds of
thousands of foreign nationals
living in the U.S.
and has vowed to kill the
Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) program
for people who grew
up in the U.S. after their
parents brought them illegally
as minors.
Canadian officials
noted in a September 2017
briefing document that
two-thirds of America's
DACA beneficiaries are
Mexican nationals, and
warned that if a lot of them
decided to come to Canada,
it would place tremendous
pressure on Canada's asylum
system.
Canada has been working
with Turk's agency to
help Mexico build its capacity
to handle asylum
claims from Central Americans.
The work has included
training provided by Canadian
immigration officials
to their Mexican counterparts
on assessing refugee
claims and protecting
claimants.
Turk says the effort has
already seen success, with
asylum applications in
Mexico rising from 2,000 in
2016 to 10,000 in 2017.
"Mexico traditionally
has been a country of transit,
so many people did not
apply for asylum," he said.
"Even in the last couple
of days we have seen an
increase in asylum applications
(in Mexico), so
it's obvious that Mexico
needs support both when
it comes to the asylum
system as well as when it
comes to helping them integrate
refugees."
Celebration of Ontario’s Hindu Heritage
Mississauga : A packed
house of close to 3000 people
gathered at the International
Centre to celebrate
Ontario’s Hindu Heritage,
at the Hindu Heritage Celebration
event attended by
leading political figures and
dignitaries and highlighted
by the presentation of the
first Global Hindu Award to
Dr. Subramanian Swamy,
Member of Parliament, India
and one of India’s leading
intellectuals and ardent
champion of Hindu causes.
Ontario’s Hindu heritage,
witnessed through
more than 500,000 people of
Hindu faith in the province,
was formally recognized
in the Ontario legislature,
when all parties unanimously
approved a private
member’s bill, tabled by
MPP Joe Dickson, to declare
November as Ontario’s
Hindu Heritage Month.
Following up on that recognition,
a group of dedicated
Hindus, with support from
several temples in Greater
Toronto, celebrated the
first Hindu Heritage event
in November 2017 at Vishnu
Mandir, long recognized
as one of the most visible
beacons of Hindu faith in
the region. The success of
the event motivated the organizers
to make the event
an annual affair on a bigger
scale and the International
Centre was chosen to host
this year’s Hindu Heritage
Celebration event.
Speaking to a vocal
and enthusiastic audience,
Dr. Swamy spoke about
India’s and Hinduism’s
great heritage and how
they were closely intertwined.
He referred to the
interaction between India
and China for more than
two millennia, giving the
example of Bodhidharma,
a Buddhist monk from
Kanchipuram in South
India, who took his knowledge
of Indian martial arts
to China, where it subsequently
evolved to what
we now know as Karate.
Other examples he cited of
Indian and Hindu culture’s
spread included far flung
places such s Indonesia and
Latvia. He spoke passionately
and with authority
on the importance of Ram
Mandir to Hindus and the
legitimacy of the cause. He
applauded the convergence
of Hindus from many parts
of the world, in Canada
and acknowledged the fact
the three main organizers
of the event had been born
in India, Uganda and Guyana.
He exhorted Hindus
in Canada to ensure that all
children learn Sanskrit between
the ages of 7 and 11,
and also to learn the Devanagari
script.
The highlight of the
morning was the presentation
of the Global Hindu
Award to Dr. Swamy. The
award was specially conceived
and created to recognize
one prominent Hindu
whose dedication to the
Hindu causes and ability
to fight for them against adversity
is a great motivator
to Hindus around the world.
Mr. Ray Gupta, President
and CEO of Sunray Group
became the first exclusive
sponsor of the Global Hindu
Award, which included a
cash component of $25,000.
The award is expected to
become an annual affair.
Prior to Dr. Swamy’s
Keynote address, a galaxy
of public figures spoke at
the event, Representatives
from federal, provincial
and municipal governments
who brought greetings
and spoke to the audience.
The Indian government
was represented by High
Commissioner Vikas Swarup,
who had flown in from
Ottawa specially to attend
and who remarked that
this was the largest gathering
of Hindus in Canada
he had seen. Other leaders
included federal minister
Kirsty Duncan, the longest
serving Hindu minister in
Ottawa, Deepak Obhrai,
Minister Michael Tibollo
from Ontario Government,
the newly elected Mayor of
Brampton, Patrick Brown
and many others. Participating
Hindu organizations
included Vishnu Mandir,
BAPS, SVBF and many
others. The event itself was
held under the banner of
the Canadian Museum of
Indian Civilization.
The key organizer of
the event was Laj Prasher,
who heads the Tortel group
of companies, supported by
Ramesh Chotai, President
of Bromed Pharmaceuticals
and Dr. Budhendranauth
Doobay, the Chairman
of Voice of Vedas, with
a number of individuals
and organizations providing
financial support for
the event. The organizers
expect to repeat the event
next year at an even bigger
venue, and hopefully every
year thereafter.
For more information,
please contact Laj Prasher
at (416) 822-5001