Last Updated: Nov 6, 2014
Workshop Information
OVERVIEW
On June 5th, we held workshops on six topics related to policy briefs. Below you can find summary of the workshops, a PowerPoint presentation and information about the workshop facilitators.
On June 5th, we held workshops on six topics related to policy briefs. Below you can find summary of the workshops, a PowerPoint presentation and information about the workshop facilitators.
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
This workshop will focus on the challenges faced by refugee, non-status and other precarious migrant youth populations in accessing secondary and post-secondary education in Canada – specifically Ontario. The dialogue will draw from academic, policy and community perspectives, attempting to create a holistic understanding of the experiences of precarious migrant populations in navigating Canadian education systems. Developed and led by members of the FCJ Youth Network (an expansive group of immigrant, refugee and precarious migrant youth), the aim of this workshop is to provide a much needed opportunity to share and discuss the legal, ethical and social challenges of this issue, as well as to delineate possible solutions.
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FACILITATED BY
Dustin Bujang graduated with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and has also studied in the fields of Public Relations, Advertisement and writing. Born in Cameroon, Destin came to Canada in 2012, after having faced some issues of social injustice. During his time in Canada, Destin has been a committed volunteer and active in community work. Most notably, Destin has been employed at the FCJ Refugee Centre as the Events Coordinator and Project Coordinator for “The Arts Between Us”, a leader of the FCJ Youth Network, and a youth ambassador for the Canadian Council for Refugees. With a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto, and a degree in social service work from Seneca College, Philip Ackerman has been committed to settlement work for the past few years. Working as a resource developer and youth coordinator for the FCJ Refugee Centre, Philip champions the rights and protection of refugee and precarious migrant youth. More recently, Philip has been working in various campaigns and initiatives to promote more equitable and accessible education experiences for uprooted youth.
Website: http://www.fcjrefugeecentre.org/ |
ACCESS TO SOCIAL ASSISTANCE
This workshop will address legal and practical barriers to accessing income security programs such as Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), methods by which Canada Border Services Agency (CSBA), in collusion with OW and ODSP facilitates deportation “through the back door” and advocacy tips to win benefits for people illegally denied them and a brainstorm of strategies to open up access to OW/ODSP to all people regardless of immigration status.
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FACILITATED BY
Karin Baqi is a Staff Lawyer at the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) where she practices primarily in the areas of immigration and income security law. Outside of her practice she is involved in local grassroots campaigns for migrant justice and provides legal support for activists and social movements in Toronto. Website: www.salc.on.ca Salina Abji is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation focuses on efforts to address violence against women with precarious immigration statuses in Toronto, Canada. She is an organizing member of the Rights of Non-Status Women's Network.
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ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
This workshop will provide an overview on health services for immigrants in Canada. Access Alliance will discuss community and advocacy efforts to improve health outcomes for the most vulnerable immigrants, refugees, and their communities. Strategies will include addressing systemic inequities and anti-oppressive principles in health care practice.
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FACILITATED BY
Krittika Ghosh (OCASI) has been working in the Social Service Sector in the area of immigrant rights in both the US and in Canada for the past 15 years. Her extensive programmatic work includes addressing issues such as violence against women, domestic workers rights, post 9/11 hate crimes against South Asians and Muslims, as a program manager in the public health sector, and as an organizer of a successful campaign to ensure the 2013 City of Toronto Budget had funding for the community sector. She is currently a Senior Coordinator of the Violence Against Women’s Project at the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. She has graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Women’s Studies from Simmons, College, Boston, and with a Master’s Degree in Gender Studies from the London School of Economics, UK. Sideeka Narayan is a Registered Nurse at Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and Masters of Public Health. Her interests include health equity, refugee and immigrant health, access to primary and preventative care. Sideeka coordinates the west end non-insured walk in clinic – a partnership of 7 community health centres in Toronto’s west end working towards accessible health care for uninsured populations.
Website: http://accessalliance.ca/ Cliff Ledwos has worked as a senior leader in the community health and services sector for over 21 years. Currently, he is the Acting Executive Director and Director, Primary Health Care at Access Alliance CHC. He has also been an Acting Executive Director twice and was the Director, Community Services at Davenport-Perth CHC for 8 years. Cliff has also served on the Board of Directors of Access Alliance, South Riverdale CHC and Open Studio a Toronto based national arts organization. Cliff is very interested in health systems development, quality improvement and increasing access to health care for vulnerable populations. In his spare time Cliff enjoys reading, gardening and collecting Canadian studio ceramics and art.
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PATHWAY TO PERMANENT RESIDENCE
This workshop will provide an overview of recent changes to refugee law and implications for preparing in-land refugee and Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) applications. The workshop will focus on how these changes may impact women who are in or fleeing situations of violence. It will also give an overview of University of Ottawa’s Refugee Assistance Project ( UORAP) Hearing Preparation Kit, a resource that helps community workers assist refugee claimants prepare for the refugee hearing. Emily Bates will speak about how recent changes to Canada’s refugee system may affect women who are fleeing or living in situations of domestic violence; this will include an overview of changes to the refugee determination process, post-determination procedures, and other elements. Toni Schweitzer will speak to her work in the community, with an emphasis on H&C applications and access to services. Sayran Sulevani will discuss sponsorship policies that impact women who are experiencing violence, including sponsorship breakdown due to family violence, and conditional permanent residence for sponsored spouses, common law partners, and conjugal partners.
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FACILITATED BY
Emily Bates is the Director of the University of Ottawa Refugee Assistance Project (UORAP), an access to justice project funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario and led by Professors Jennifer Bond, Adam Dodek, Peter Showler and David Wiseman. UORAP's mission is to produce written resources and training workshops to assist community workers in understanding the refugee process in order to help claimants. UORAP also has a mandate to undertake monitoring activities focusing on access to justice in the refugee system. Emily also works with the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and is a former Research Associate to the Refugee Forum at the University of Ottawa. Website: www.uorap.ca Toni Schwaitizer is currently a staff lawyer at Parkdale Community Legal Services. She is a supervising lawyer in the Immigration Division. She supervises the work of 5 law students who each carry a number of Immigration files. Prior to working at PCLS she worked for about 10 years at Kensington Bellwoods Community Legal Services, another community clinic in downtown Toronto. She represented clients on a variety of immigration applications including refugee claims, PRRA’s, humanitarian and compassionate applications and Federal Court applications. Prior to entering the clinic system she was in private practice, again for about 10 years. She was a sole practitioner practicing Immigration law in association with a number of other immigration lawyers.
Website: http://www.parkdalelegal.org/ Sayran Sulevani is a staff lawyer at the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, a non-profit organization that provides free legal representation, counselling, and language interpretation services to women who have experienced violence. Sayran articled at the Clinic, and became a staff lawyer in 2009. She practices primarily in the area of migration law. She advocates for clients regularly before the Federal Court of Canada, the Immigration and Refugee Board, and the Ministries of Citizenship and Immigration, and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Sayran has contributed to the Clinic’s interventions at the Federal Court and Supreme Court of Canada, and she regularly engages in public legal education and law reform initiatives.
Website: http://schliferclinic.com/ |
WORKERS' RIGHTS
This workshop will focus on the experience of precarious workers in Canada with an emphasis on the Live-In Caregivers Program in Ontario. Presenter Jean Vecina will speak to advocacy for minimum wage for the Live-in-Caregivers and ways to support women who are applying for permanent residence.. Terry Olayta will share her experiences with the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), a hybrid immigration program where temporary foreign workers (live-in caregivers) are given the chance to apply for permanent resident status after fulfilling certain conditions. However, some of these conditions, such as the live-in requirement, render the caregivers extremely vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
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FACILITATED BY
Ruth Marie Wilson is a Research Coordinator at Access Alliance and entering into her third year of the PhD program at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include the racialization of poverty, impacts of a precarious labour market on racialized communities, immigrant integration into the labour market, anti-poverty community organizing, and community-based research. Her social work experience includes over 8 years in community development, four of which were spent as a Community-based Researcher for the Income Security, Race and Health Project, led by Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services. Jean Marie Vecina is an immigration and refugee lawyer based in Toronto. She was first called to the Bar in the Philippines in 2007, and practiced family and criminal law there before immigrating to Canada. Jean now focuses her practice on immigration and refugee law. She is one of the founders of Caregivers Action Centre (CAC), a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting foreign temporary workers under Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program. Jean also serves as a board member of the Afghan Refugee Relief Organization, a non-profit organization that assists Afghan refugees and newcomers resettle in Canada.
Website: http://www.vecinalaw.com/ Born in the Philippines and a Graduate in Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Terry Olayta (First Ontario Alliance of Caregivers) organized a group of domestic workers in response to the Canada Foreign Domestic Movement in 1989. The Student Body Organization of Osilla Health Institute helped fundraise to create a scholarship to help assist students in financial needs. Terry has developed strategic partnerships and networks with professionals, universities, researchers, churches, Gateway Centre for new Immigrants, the Catholic Community Services (York Region) and other similar agencies.
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DETENTION, REMOVAL AND ENFORCEMENT
This workshop will provide an overview of detention and removal processes in Canada with a focus on advocacy efforts in Ontario. Mac will focus on his work with No One Is Illegal (NOII), the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, the law Union Movement Defense and Immigration Legal committees. Swathi will discuss her work with newcomer and immigrant youth, engaging young migrants with all aspects of the justice system through interactive sessions and critical discussion.
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FACILITATED BY
Mac Scott (No One is Illegal) is an anarchist who works in the law, go figure. He is a member of No One Is Illegal, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and the law Union Movement Defense and Immigration Legal committees. In his spare time, he loves his family, his collective house, bad suits, beer and science fiction, not necessarily in that order. Since 2006, Swathi Sekhar has been working with immigrants refugees, and newcomers in various capacities. During this time, she has worked in law offices and legal clinics in Cnaada and internationally including Montreal, Toronto, and South Africa. As a strong advocate for prisoner's rights in North America, Swathi is a project leader at Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN), working with newcomer and immigrant youth in the classroom and in community settings. Her work at OJEN is aimed at engaging young migrants with all aspects of the justice system through interactive sessions and critical discussion. Swathi's legal practice is focused on immigration and refugee law, and she is able to communicate with clients in English, French and Tamil.
Website: http://www.vecinalaw.com/ |