Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from December 1994

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from December 1994

We're in the lifeboat; they're in the water.(moral aspects of immigration)(Column)
December 1, 1994... The French writer Andre Gide is said to have been the first to describe the world as a lifeboat; a metaphor that becomes harsher by the day. There is room in the lifeboat for a limited number of people; the rest must take their chances...

One the move: the rest of the world is finding it difficult to deal with the increasing numbers of migrants.(how countries and international agencies are handling migration throughout the world)(Cover Story)
December 1, 1994... The numbers are staggering. The equivalent of five Canadas on the move. Around the world, there are more than 100 million people living in countries that are not their own against their wills. Another 25 million people are said to be displaced...

All necessary means.(humanitarian aid to poor countries)
December 1, 1994... The world community took a major step in 1992. Faced with a human catastrophe of huge proportions in Somalia, the United Nations security council passed are solution for action. It called for the use of "all necessary means" to deliver...

Environmental migrants.(how environmental devastation causes migration)
December 1, 1994... Thomas Homer-Dixon is head of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at the University of Toronto. A deep thinker on international security issues, Mr. Homer-Dixon predicts that future wars will often arise from scarcities of resources such as...

Not welcome.(sentiment against immigrants in Japan)
December 1, 1994... A recent survey found that 58% of the people in Tokyo would prefer never to set eyes on a foreigner of any type in Japan. These people would no doubt nod their heads in agreement at a headline which appeared in the Japanese press in 1992 which...

Port of no entry.(illegal immigration to Russia)
December 1, 1994... Third World immigrants are flooding into Russia. This is not because they want to live in that chaotic society but because they see it as a back-door route into Western Europe. Border controls, along with much else in Russia, have collapsed...

Shared water.(how countries share their water resources)
December 1, 1994... According to World Watch magazine, nearly 40% of the planet's people depend on river systems that are shared by two or more nations. It's not unusual for upstream countries to use up river water to such an extent that it causes scarcity in...

Debt and migration: the link.(how richer countries contribute to migration from poorer countries)
December 1, 1994... Many developing countries owe huge amounts of money to foreign lenders, mostly rich nations, Pressured to repay their debts, poor countries often use their best land to grow cash crops for export. This pushes many people off the land and into...

People pollution: the world is becoming more crowded and that's forcing more people to move.(migration around the world)
December 1, 1994... There are about 5.5 billion of us on Earth now. That number is expected to reach six billion by 1997 and 8.5 billion by 2025. An optimistic United Nations estimate is that the numbers could stabilize at 10.5 billion around the middle of the...

Child migrants.(children who were separated from their parents after World War II and forced to live in other countries)
December 1, 1994... As World War II ended the heavy hand of the British government descended on a group of children. Many families had given their children into temporary care during the war. When the war was over they were told their children had been adopted or...

Cairo conference.(United Nations International Conference on Population and Development focuses on role of women in reducing the population)
December 1, 1994... World leaders continue to meet every decade to tussle with the problem of population. The occasion is the United Nation's International Conference on Population and Development. In September 1994, they met in Cairo. In 1974, they gathered in...

The next explosion.(comparative population in different regions)
December 1, 1994... Population growth does not occur at the same rate in all countries of the world. In general, the countries with the lowest growth rates are those of the industrialized North, such as, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy. The countries with the...

World roundup: a sampling of the reasons why some people move from their homelands to new countries.(immigration)
December 1, 1994... Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. This invitation is chiselled into the base of the Statue of Liberty, and for more than a century migrants have answered its call. The United States is a country...

Borders without meaning.(how civil wars spill over into other countries)
December 1, 1994... What is a nation state? For most of us the definition is found in an atlas. We can see a country's borders neatly drawn on paper and usually coloured brightly to make the definition sharper. But, on the ground the definition may not be so dear....

Rwandan exodus: extreme violence was the catalyst for millions of Rwandans to flee their country.(refugees)
December 1, 1994... There's something very blood-curdling about the machete. Death by bullet or starvation, something we've become accustomed to seeing in news reports from Africa, is hideous enough. But, the idea of being chopped to pieces by someone wielding a...

Future wars.(causes of war)
December 1, 1994... Is the Rwandan catastrophe an example of wars to come? Many experts believe so, saying future wars will resemble the conflicts of the Middle Ages. These wars were not started by statesmen or fought by armies ended by treaties. They were caused...

Whither Nigeria?(possible border expansion in Nigeria)
December 1, 1994... Ali A. Mazrui is director of the institute of Global Cultural Studies at the State University of New York. He predicts the whole continent of Africa is on the verge of a large-scale border upheaval. "In the 21st century, France will be...

The environmental war.(how land scarcity created civil war in Rwanda)
December 1, 1994... The calamity in Rwanda is powerfully driven by land scarcity. Rwanda has eight million people crammed into an area the size of Vermont. Its population doubles every 20 years. Extreme nutrient depletion affects the soil in half the country, and...

Scattered people, shattered lives.(how new waves of immigrants try to qualify for refugee status)
December 1, 1994... In the 1930s, many Jews could see what was coming and tried to flee Germany. Persecuted as they were, they had no automatic right to seek refuge in another country. After the war, it was recognized that this failure to offer a safe haven led to...

Women applaud new policy.(Ottawa policy that lets immigrant women claim refugee status on grounds of mistreatment in their countries)
December 1, 1994... In 1993, Ottawa set new guidelines stating that women will be eligible to stay in Canada as refugees if they are fleeing a country where domestic violence is tolerated by the government and police. The new policy made Canada an international...

Jobs for refugees.(Canada allows refugees to look for jobs)
December 1, 1994... In January 1994, the federal government decided to allow thousands of refugee claimants in Canada to seek employment. Previously, refugees could not get a work permit and so were dependent on government support. This strained welfare budgets....

Convention refugees.(United Nations treaty, Convention on the Status of Refugees, that helps persecuted refugees)
December 1, 1994... The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides legal and political aid to refugees. Its main responsibilities are helping to return refugees to their homelands or resettling them abroad. The UNHCR also protects the legal...

In search of the good life.(economic immigration from the south to the north)
December 1, 1994... Since time began, migrants have responded to two stimulants; in the migration business these are called push and pull effects. A push effect might be a disaster such as a famine or war that forces people out of their homes. A pull effect would...

Prosperity charter.(United Nations tries to eliminate poverty through World Social Charter)
December 1, 1994... Eliminating world poverty is a major goal of the United Nations. The world body recognizes that every journey begins with the first step; and, the first step in this case is the writing of a mission statement. In 1994, the UN published its...

Tighter rules: responding to public concerns about immigrant numbers, Canada has changed the focus of who will be allowed into the country.
December 1, 1994... Responding to public concerns about immigrant numbers, Canada has changed the focus of who will be allowed into the country Immigration must first and foremost serve an economic function. That was the message Immigration Minister Sergio...

Immigration policy in a nutshell.(provisions of new Canadian immigration policy)
December 1, 1994... The immigration policy announced in November 1994 will: * Have a target of 190,000 to 215,000 immigrants in 1995, down from a projected 230,000 in 1994; * Put greater emphasis on attracting "economic" immigrants, who bring skills and...

Where do they go?(where immigrants generally settle in Canada)
December 1, 1994... Almost all immigrants settle in one of four provinces - Ontario (55%), British Columbia (17%), Quebec (14%), or Alberta (9%) - with most living in large urban centres. Two-thirds of immigrants who came to Canada during the decade 1984 to 1994...

Multiculturalism in Canada.(immigration in Canada)
December 1, 1994... Canada is often described as a multicultural nation. But what does that mean? Simply stated, it means that Canadians are not of any one Cultural background, race or heritage. Instead, Canadians today reflect a vast diversity of cultural...

Immigration: the early years.(immigration history in Canada)
December 1, 1994... Immigration has played and continues to play a key role in shaping the character of Canadian society. Although only a minority of Canadians have first-hand experience of immigration, all Canadians have a parent, grandparent, or more distant...

Attitudes toward immigrants.(Canada's immigration policy history)
December 1, 1994... Well before World War II Canada was already home to people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. But not everyone was equally welcome in Canada. Canada and North America in general were populated mainly by people of western European...

Immigration in the modern era.(immigration in Canada)
December 1, 1994... With the end of World War II, the Canadian economy began a period of expansion. Indeed, the economy grew so rapidly that soon there were too few workers in Canada to meet the demand. Fearing that the economy might stall, Canada lifted its...

Ethnic and racial diversity.(Canadian population)
December 1, 1994... The diverse population is now one of the distinctive features of Canadian society. Of course, not all parts of Canada have the same population mix. In the 1991 census more than 30% of Canadians reported an origin other than British or French....

Multicultural policy.(Canadian assimilation policy)
December 1, 1994... How should Canadians deal with this pluralism of origin? In 1971 the federal government announced its policy of multiculturalism. The policy not only recognized the reality of pluralism in Canada, but seemed to reverse the earlier attempt to...

Prospects for the future.(Canadian multiculturalism)
December 1, 1994... The future of multiculturalism is unclear. History has shown that the rise and fall of economic prosperity and the need for a larger labour force affect our society's openness toward new immigrants to our shores. Some fear that multicultural...