FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Mar 8

China Tried to Meddle in Our Elections, but What Should Come Next?

by bcurry

In recent months in both Canada and the U.S., main media sources have been raising questions about China’s attempts to influence our elections.  However, the involvement of the Chinese government abroad has taken a number of initiatives not only during elections but also all year round.  Not only are they interfering in our affairs, whether through disinformation campaigns, illegal campaign activities or threatening and intimidating nationals of their countries who now live in Canada and the U.S., but also through so-called Chinese police stations.  Both Canada and the U.S. have significant Chinese communities, particularly on the west coast and in cities such as Toronto and New York.  According to the New York Times, Chinese outposts are suspected by the F.B.I. of conducting police operations without jurisdiction or diplomatic approval — one of more than 100 such outfits around the world that are unnerving diplomats and intelligence agents.  Western officials see the outposts as part of Beijing’s larger drive to keep tabs on Chinese nationals abroad, including dissidents.

Declining to get into specifics, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Brenda Lucki, went on record to stipulate that the RCMP is investigating four such Chinese police stations and that investigation is ongoing.  Chinese personnel at these outposts have been known to carry out surveillance and to covertly harass both American and Canadian citizens of Chinese origin and Chinese nationals.  Beijing on the other hand has explained that these police stations are meant to track down known fugitives abroad and force them to return home.  In response, Canadian officials have called for China to shut down police operations in Canada.  The F.B.I. has carried out at least one raid which was the first known example of the authorities seizing materials from one of the outposts.

Since national opposition parties in Canada have continued to call for a public inquiry into China’s attempts to influence recent federal elections, they have forced Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to at least introduce a review process to be carried out by an independent person with required and acceptable qualifications.  This individual will determine whether or not a full public inquiry could be undertaken without disclosing on-going national security initiatives.  No one denies that China’s evident attempt to influence our elections is a real threat to undermining trust in our electoral processes.  The question then becomes, what can we realistically do about it?  Expelling Chinese officials could be one means to get our point across, but could also lead to a diplomatic war involving the retaliatory expulsion of Canadian/American diplomats and officials.  In the meantime, in order to ensure that our democratic ways are not undermined, one could begin by encouraging and supporting counter measures within both countries.

For example, when it comes to the spreading of misinformation, via the internet or other means, both Americans and Canadians need to be better informed as to where the information is coming from.  In Canada, parties select candidates in each riding through voting processes by registered members.  It has been suggested that the Chinese have sent non-citizens of Chinese descent to vote in constituency candidate meetings in order to support the selection of candidates who support China’s positions on Hong Kong and Taiwan.  The solution appears to be simple enough!  Party officials should only register Canadian citizens for voting purposes, candidate selection being a strong democratic process. 

The last thing that Canadians and Americans want to do is take it out on our Chinese population in response to the Chinese government’s incursion into our democratic processes.  Intimidation and threats of any community members is unacceptable to say the least, and needs to be investigated and stopped by our police and security forces.  Due to the current tense relations between China and the West, one can understand why governments don’t want to get into a full out diplomatic war.  There is little doubt that economic implications are enormous for both Canada and the U.S., particularly when it comes to China and trade.  Nevertheless, we owe it to both our citizens of Chinese descent and to all citizens to make it clear that illegitimate activities by the Chinese regime need to stop.  As citizens, we all have to do our part and become better informed about such activities.

Canada China China's Relations US

Leave a comment »
Mar 3

Employ of Children in High Risk Jobs Still Exists in North America

by bcurry

In my experience in the occupational health and safety (OHS) field at the federal level in Canada over two decades, I came across numerous examples of young people, often 13 to 17 years old, who were killed or injured on the job.  In both Canada and the U.S., labour standards legislation prescribes that young people of certain ages cannot work in employment where risks to health and safety are high — such as mining, construction, agriculture, oil and gas, roofing, meat processing, commercial baking, forestry, etc., etc.  Normally, to work in higher risk jobs, persons must be 18 or older and require more OHS training and supervision than older workers.  This is the law.  However, U.S. federal law still allows those 12 and older to work on farms for unlimited hours, as long as there is no conflict with school.  For general nonfarm work, federal law sets 14 as the minimum age and restricts work for children under 16 to eight hours a day.

Regardless, there continue to be cases where child labour is still seen in certain industries, particularly where the exposure to hazards and safety risks are clearly part of the work.  For example, in 2011 American public health experts and federal labor officials sought to bar teenagers under 16 from the tobacco fields, citing the grueling hours and the harmful exposure to nicotine and other chemicals.  However, their efforts have been continuously blocked.  Opponents of such use of child labour noted that Brazil, India and some other tobacco-producing nations already prohibit anyone under 18 from working on tobacco farms.  American agricultural organizations argued that the proposed federal rule would hurt family farms and make it harder for young people to learn farming skills. The Obama administration withdrew the the proposal in April 2012 after encountering intense opposition from farm groups and Republican lawmakers.  At the time, some big tobacco corporations however said they strongly opposed the illegal use of child labour.  Philip Morris International bans its growers from using workers under 18, a measure that goes well beyond American law. Some labour contractors, however, evidently have flouted this requirement without the growers’ knowledge.

This past week, the New York Times published an article which investigated the number of migrant children ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labour laws — including in plants that make products for well-known brands like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom and belong to companies supplying Hearthside Food Solutions, Walmart, Target, PepsiCo, Ben & Jerry’s, Whole Foods, Ford and General Motors.  Many of these children, 13 to 17, are falling through wide cracks in the regulatory system.  The Times noted that the growth of migrant child labour in the U.S. over the past several years is a result of a chain of wilful ignorance.  Companies ignore the young faces in their back rooms and on their factory floors.  Schools often decline to report apparent labour violations, believing it will hurt children more than help.  And the Department of Health and Human Services, responsible for ensuring sponsors will support these children and protect them from trafficking or exploitation, behaves as if the migrant children who melt unseen into the country are doing just fine.  Too many people are turning a blind eye!

Some of these children will actually die on the job.  For example, the Times reported that recent deaths included a 14-year-old food delivery worker who was hit by a car while on his bike at a Brooklyn intersection; a 16-year-old who was crushed under a 35-ton tractor-scraper outside Atlanta; and a 15-year-old who fell 50 feet from a roof in Alabama where he was laying down shingles.  Over the years, I found numerous examples of young people (13 to 17) in Canada being killed while in higher-risk employment.  Many more have been injured on the job, often seriously.

Of equal concern is that the evident use of migrant children by scurrilous businesses has led to increased child trafficking in the U.S.  Traffickers bring in migrant children illegally, give them fake I.D.s and find them businesses willing to turn a blind eye and employ them.  This is all being done despite the knowledge and oversight of several federal, state and local authorities.  Finally, after several media investigative sources raised this issue, the Biden administration just announced a wide crackdown on the labour exploitation of migrant children, including more aggressive investigations of companies benefiting from their work and the larger companies that have child labour in their supply chains.  In addition, Congress needs to increase penalties for child labour violations, which may now be occurring in the thousands.  Federal investigators have long complained that the maximum fine for violations — about $15,000 per occurrence — is hardly enough to deter child labour.  It’s about time that something concrete may be done!

Canada Labor Force Labour Force US

Leave a comment »
Feb 25

Is Changing Text in Classic Novels a New Form of Censorship?

by bcurry

This week is Freedom to Read Week (February 19 to 25).  In Canada, we have the Freedom to Read Foundation which organizes this week and is sponsored by the Book and Periodical Council (BPC), the umbrella organization for Canadian associations whose members are primarily involved with the writing, editing, translating, publishing, producing, distributing, lending, marketing, reading and selling of written words.  Through earlier blogs, I have been an advicate for any persons or organizations that oppose the banning of books or overt censorship in reading materials, whether in our schools, libraries or publishing firms.  Imagine that books such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Mariko Tamaki’s This One Summer are among those books that have been challenged in North America.  The list is much more extensive in states such as Florida and Texas, where there have been right-wing efforts to ban swaths of stories about Black Americans and LGBTQ people.

The latest example of overreach concern classic books by Roald Dahl, wherein the U.K. publisher, Puffin U.K., decided that there was a need to censor several of the author’s cherished children’s stories.  News broke last week that hundreds of changes were made in the latest editions of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda” and other Dahl classics.  The changes reportedly have been made to align his language with modern standards of inclusion, diversity and accessibility.  In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” for instance, Augustus Gloop is no longer “fat”; he’s “enormous.”  And the Oompa Loompas aren’t “small men”; they’re “small people.” While Matilda once went to India with Rudyard Kipling, now she travels to California with John Steinbeck.  In “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” even the chickens’ feelings have been spared; they’re no longer called “stupid.”  These changes remind me of the removal of the n-word in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.  However, these more recent publishers’ changes are even more ridiculous!

This movement is once again a result of attempts by certain factions of today’s society and parents to protect their children from exposure to so-called sensitive materials, as well as the rise of so-called “safetyism.”  For some reason, there are those that believe children and adolescents are so fragile that they need to be protected from stressors.  What I don’t understand is that almost all books are reviewed by schools and libraries before they are made available to children and adults alike.  According to well defined criteria, they are then placed in the appropriate areas depending upon the recommended areas of interest and applicable reader ages.  In addition, parents do have to option of contesting the criteria and limiting what is read by their children at home.

Trying to limit ourselves and our children’s exposure to history and past societal attitudes appears to be another means by which we are shielding people from the realities of certain times reflected in past and modern literature.  This behavior in turn leads to more and more censorship based on one’s perceived needs to provide such protection, often to the detriment in the normal development of youth in our society.  While language evolves from one generation to another, it partly does so because of our understanding and appreciation of history itself.  Changing words to reflect current morality and societal values does not change our history.  Indeed, we are doing a disservice to up and coming generations if we continue to attempt to shield them from certain past and current realities.  How otherwise do we get the opportunity to seriously and frankly discuss certain critical issues, both past and current?  This process is what constitutes the very basis of knowledge, regardless of the disciplines involved.  How else can we learn to deal with certain realities, thereby creating a greater chance for future understanding, respect and tolerance?

We may not always like what we read, but in a democracy one has the right to be free to choose what we read.  This is what universal literacy is all about.  The more resources that we can freely access, without censorship, the better!

Canada Education Education

Leave a comment »
Feb 20

Telehealth Raises New Concerns About How Drugs Are Dispensed in North America

by bcurry

Back in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the Trump administration made it easier to treat patients by telehealth or telemedicine, including remotely prescribing certain controlled substances.  Today, all manner of medical care, from management of chronic diseases like diabetes to substance abuse treatment, have become more accessible and affordable.  While many patients have benefited, the rapid growth of remote prescribing and at-home use of various drugs has outpaced the evidence that doing so is safe and effective.  As the gap between medical treatment and online shopping has narrowed, already-thorny debates over the proper balance between availability and safety have become increasingly urgent.  The introduction of telehealth has created a whole new industry when it comes to providing health care, especially with the provision of drugs used to treat such mental health issues such as depression.

Back in 2017, I read about a new use for the drug ketamine, a long-used anesthetic that was primarily used to sedate patients during surgery but has also been used as a date-rape drug.   Ketamine was undergoing studies by several researchers both in Canada and the U.S. for its ability to rapidly stop suicidal thoughts in a high percentage of patients.  As far back as 2013, one Canadian researcher, Dr. Pierre Blier, director of the mood disorders research unit at the Royal Ottawa Hospital, called ketamine the biggest breakthrough since the introduction of anti-depressants.  For patients resistant to other drug treatments, it is considered an alternative to one of the only remaining treatments — electroconvulsive therapy, which has potential long-lasting side effects and is more invasive and often requires hospitalization.  For anyone suffering from clinical depression, ketamine has been shown to be effective and safe if prescribed and closely monitored by an attending physician.  Needless-to-say, there are known serious side-effects from the use of ketamine, and there is a potential for addiction and abuse.

The access to cheaper sources of ketamine for at-home treatment has been facilitated by the emergence of telehealth.  Marketing to doctors is often done through social media posts and mailers, wherein they extol the benefits of ketamine.  Companies that once served primarily local customers now ship their products across the country.  The ketamine boom has presented an alluring opportunity.  Because ketamine is regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Health Canada as a controlled substance, provision of the drug still requires a physician’s prescription.  Previously, while prescribing ketamine for depression was allowed, patients needed to first meet in person with a doctor, and treatment was mostly limited to infusions in clinics.  Now, telehealth providers will accommodate patients by providing online access to a physician.  Patients have the option to schedule live telemedicine visits with their providers at any time for no additional cost.  Needless-to-say, this isn’t an ideal situation when it comes to providing medical follow-up for monitoring purposes.  Some at-home providers simply view ketamine as just another medicine to be taken regularly.

Covid-19 exacerbated the nation’s mental health crisis and underscored the inadequacy of many existing treatments, accelerating a reconsideration of once-stigmatized psychedelics.  The sale of ketamine has reportedly grown ten times what it was in 2019.  People who are using telehealth to acquire the drug are desperate, but may also be prone to addiction and abuse.  Some suffer serious health side-effects but are hesitant to report them for fear of loosing their cheaper access to the drug.  One the one hand, the growth of telehealth is yet one more example of reacting to the lack of availability and affordable access to mental health services in many communities.  On the other hand, there are those that worry that this potentially lifesaving treatment could become inaccessible if more rigorous intervention by regulators is implemented.  In addition, more research on the long-term use of such drugs as ketamine is needed to determine if its continuous medical use might be harmful.  Since many online users are reluctant to provide information about its use, such needed research may be more difficult to undertake.  Like access to other controlled substances, regulators need to take a closer look at the growth of telemedicine in both countries.  After all, if there are profits to be made and drug costs are reduced, one can certainly foresee the continuing growth of this sector.

Canada Health Care Health Care Systen US

Leave a comment »
Feb 16

We Now Have a Generation of Survivors of School Mass Shootings

by bcurry

Since the Columbine High School attack of 1999, which left 12 students and one teacher dead and reshaped how Americans viewed mass shootings, we now have a generation of young people who have witnessed more than one school shooting.  Most recently, gunshots erupted on the vast Michigan State University campus, killing three students and injuring five others.  Unfortunately, many on campus felt a chilling sense of familiarity.  Today, several college students were just children when the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, killed 26 students, teachers and staff members in 2012.  Nine years later, the Oxford High School shooting in a nearby township outside of Detroit left four teenagers dead.  These were just but a representative few of the recent school mass shootings in the U.S.

Following the recent shooting at Michigan State University, the New York Times interviewed several students only to find that a number had also experienced a school shooting when they were in elementary and high schools.  One student interviewed on campus, who was at Sandy Hook Elementary on the day of the shooting, was reported to have said that “it was incomprehensible to have lived through two mass shootings in her 21 years.”  University faculty interviewed also noted that a number of their students had experienced a school shooting while in primary or secondary school.  Can one imagine how this latest school shooting must psychologically affect these young people?  I couldn’t imagine their current state of mind!

Those of us who attended college understand that the idea of security on campus is a difficult concept because of the size of a campus, with many buildings and facilities being frequently used by students, teachers and administrators.  Since mass school shootings occurred more frequently, colleges have introduced new security or safety measures in order to protect students and to prevent casualties from such incidents.  These include requiring key cards or photo identification to enter most campus buildings, sports facilities and residences.  Common across the country, campus wide systems were introduced whereby security alerts are sent to cellphones when there is a possible or actual threat on campus.  However, in most cases students must opt into the service, rather than opting out.  Campus police departments as part of their continuous training learn to prepare for and how to respond to threats. In the U.S., they often work closely with Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.) campus liaisons to track potential threats from outside the school.  Many colleges also have threat-assessment teams made up of public safety officers, counsellors and student affairs groups, who try to spot troubled students and staff members who might be considering violent acts.  In such cases, school and community support services are made available to students with any issues.  However, this does not help those situations, as in the case of Michigan State, where the perpetrator comes from off-campus and is not affiliated directly with the school.

The ideal is that campuses of colleges and universities are meant to be open in the spirit of higher learning and freedom.  Therefore, at the post-secondary level, the authorities have to undergo a balancing act between allowing freedom of movement and enforcing security on campuses.  In the U.S. in particular, this is not an easy thing to do.  Even in Canada, colleges and universities have introduced more security measures in light of what has happened south of the border.  Fortunately, Canadians have seen far fewer violent incidents on our campuses, especially incidents involving gun violence.  Remembering back to my days in college, it is a shame that young people today go off to campuses under such a cloud of insecurity.  One has to feel for the parents who can only assume that their children are learning and developing in a safe environment.

Students today are being forced to be ever vigilant, recognizing that even college campuses are but another reflection of our societal woes.  Gone it appears are the more carefree and anticipated opportunities for growth that come with college and university experiences.  Increasingly, students are being forced to deal with continuous security and safety issues.  However, perhaps these experiences are meant to prepare young people for what they will experience in later life.  Alas, reality has indeed embraced our campuses.

Canada Education Education Gun Control US

Leave a comment »
Feb 6

Both the U.S. and Canada Have Raised Security Concerns About Chinese Businesses

by bcurry

Relations between the U.S. and Canada regarding China haven’t been this low for years.  The recent shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon has simply made matters worst.  We know that the balloon flew over parts of western Canada before moving over American air space.  While Chinese authorities argued that this was simply a weather balloon that had gone off course, officials at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) claimed that it was a spy balloon.  In the end, President Biden ordered that the balloon be shot down over the ocean within American controlled waters, allowing the military to retrieve the balloon’s remnants for further study.  In protest, Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a planned high-stakes weekend diplomatic trip to China.  In addition, a number of American Congressional members once again turned their attention to Chinese businesses, such as TikTok and Huawei, which have been operating in the U.S. 

With respect to social media platform TikTok, U.S. lawmakers have expressed concerns about TikTok mining users’ private data and passing on the information to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).  China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng insisted that China would “resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”  There is little doubt that Chinese companies are operating under the auspices of the CCP.  Whether or not these companies represent a national security risk has yet to be fully determined, despite all kinds of allegations by some American and Canadian authorities.

China is making major inroads into a number of countries as a way to extend its influence around the world.  For example, the latest interest by Chinese companies is in Mexico due to the advantages for imports to the U.S. because of the North American trade deal involving the three North American countries.  Chinese firms are establishing factories in Mexico that allow them to label their goods “Made in Mexico,” then trucking their products into the U.S. and Canada duty-free.  They are currently setting up operations inside the North American trading bloc as a way to supply Americans and Canadians with goods, from electronics to clothing to furniture.  This also allows Chinese companies to greatly reduce skyrocketing shipping and transportation costs, while taking advantage of Mexico’s highly skilled workforce, given the presence of its universities that churn out engineering graduates.  The Mexican government is openly welcoming billions of dollars worth of Chinese investments as a means to further develop their industrial sites close to the U.S. border and the potential creation of thousands of new jobs.

As a matter of increasing its influence abroad, China has invested in numerous infrastructure investments around the world, notably in Africa, South America and Asia.  Such investments often target critical sectors such as those in transportation (high speed rail), energy (oil and gas extraction) and mining (nickel deposits).  Many countries and their political elites believe that China is now the relevant superpower and the U.S. is in relative decline, especially after the disastrous foreign policies administered by Donald Trump. 

There is little doubt that American and Canadian politicians, particularly those of the right-wing persuasion, will continue to raise security concerns wherever Chinese businesses are active.  What is ironic is that American and Canadian companies were quick to invest in manufacturing operations in China, hoping to take advantage of cheaper labour costs and weaker environmental and health and safety regulation.  China took full advantage of the resulting opportunities to expand their business and economic interests in North America.  At this time, based on speculating about possible security concerns, I question whether we can prevent these business ties?  This recent balloon episode may have raised such concerns, but it apparently is nothing new since it is reported that three similar balloons actually flew over the U.S. when President Trump was in office.  Strange that no one complained about those incursions at that time?

Canada China China's Relations US

Leave a comment »
Jan 29

Have Recent Cases of Police Brutality Changed the Way We View Police?

by bcurry

Whether one is pro-police or anti-police, the recent arrest of five former Memphis police officers in the case of the death of Tyre Nichols has once again brought the issue to light across the U.S. and Canada.  In another high profile case this month, two police officers, formerly of the Police Department in Hialeah just outside Miami Florida, face felony charges in connection with the beating of a homeless man whom they detained outside a shopping center and then drove several miles to a remote location.  After the killing of George Floyd in 2020 and the historic summer of protest that followed, police killings of American citizens haven’t decreased.  Instead they increased.  Recorded in 2022, the total number of deadly police shootings at 1,096 was the highest since the Washington Post’s database started.  The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, which touched off protests and unrest across the U.S., was often seen as a turning point. 

However, across the country, even as fatal police encounters have continued apace, many cities have been forced to revisit how they investigate and talk about such cases.  These now reflect the reality that cameras are everywhere and that episode after episode of police violence, often involving Black people, has led to distrust of official accounts.  As a result, city leaders are being forced to call out police misbehaviour when they see it.  Charging decisions that once took months or longer now sometimes happen within days or weeks.  

Body camera footage is also more routinely made public, whether it exonerates the officers or raises questions.  There are those who support the police use of body cameras and those who oppose the quick release of footage to the public, as was done in the case of Tyre Nichols.  Police services in numerous countries, including Canada, now routinely employ body cameras for their officers.  Without the availability of such cameras, incidents of obvious savage beatings or killings would most likely not have come to light given past experiences of cover-ups by police services and local politicians.  As well, in certain cases the availability of body camera footage can prove that the use of force by officers was warranted.  Nevertheless, there are those who believe that official messaging must balance demands for transparency with preserving the integrity of any investigation.  That includes ensuring a video release will not compromise the case or the personal security of anyone in the footage.

As Americans and Canadians shift to other priorities like politics and the economy, some experts believe that the broader public has unfortunately become somewhat desensitized to police killings or brutality.  They callously have started to see the police killings as regrettable but ultimately acceptable by-products of much-needed increased policing at a time of rising crime.  This despite the fact that statistics show violent crime has been on the decline in both the U.S. and Canada.  According to a 2021 report by the Statista Research Department, the number of violent crimes in the U.S. dramatically fell over the last two decades, although the number of reported violent crimes rose slightly in the past few years.  What really influences public opinion is the fact that mass shootings have become so prevalent in the U.S., with 39 mass shootings already in the last three weeks of 2023.  These shootings, especially school shootings, are very high profile, although the actual numbers of their victims represent a very small percentage of the total number of yearly homicide victims.

Unfortunately, cases such as that of Tyre Nichols and the one in Florida have once again tainted the image of the police and created increasing distrust of the public they serve.  The horrendous video images have even had an impact on Canadians’ views of police in general.  Police chiefs across both countries now are being forced to deal with the fallout.  As a result of confirmation bias, such incidents can only lend more support to those seeking the so-called defunding of police services in their communities.  Furthermore, one can only hope and pray that the police themselves don’t increasingly become targets of hateful and violent responses.  Recently, Canada unfortunately has seen a significant number of police officers being killed while in uniform.  Between 2010 and 2021, five relatively young officers were killed in the province of Ontario alone.  As Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, declared about this unprecedented number: “To have all of these deaths in such a short period of time is really quite alarming.” 

What this all adds up to is that we are in a critical period where police agencies will have to clean shop, get rid of the bad apples so to speak, and become more transparent and accountable if they intend to enhance citizens’ trust in the police.  By improving the image of the police and quickly and openly responding to claims of police brutality and intimidation, especially among marginal groups within society, one can only hope that this trust can once again be gained and strengthened.

Canada Police Services Police Services

Leave a comment »
Jan 26

Post-Secondary Education Institutes Depend Increasingly On Foreign Students in Canada

by bcurry

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada was already seeing a significant increase in the number of foreign students being admitted to post-secondary institutions.  In 2016, Statistics Canada reported that the international student population at Canadian universities almost doubled in the decade from 2004/2005 to 2013/2014, rising from 66,000 students to 124,000. In 2013/2014, international students represented 11% of all students on Canadian campuses, up from 7% in 2004/2005.  According to Project Atlas, Canada now gets five percent of all international students worldwide, making Canada the seventh most popular destination after the US, UK, China, France, Germany and Australia.  International students are fairly concentrated in two fields of study, with almost half of them studying business, management and public administration (27%) and architecture, engineering and related technologies (19%).  Foreign students pay substantially higher post-secondary tuition fees, as often as three times higher than domestic students. 

Back in 2007, Statistics Canada predicted that after 2012/2013, a major decline in the size of the youth cohorts would begin to affect enrollments, especially with current declines in domestic birth rates.  Full-time post-secondary enrolment is expected to reach a trough in 2025/2026, with a student population 9% below the peak 13 years earlier.  For this reason, one needs the influx of foreign students to financially support our higher institutions of learning, many of whom may also become permanent immigrants upon completion of their studies.  The federal government reportedly estimated that in 2018, international students spent $21.6 billion on tuition, accommodation and other expenses—an economic infusion supporting 170,000 domestic jobs and exceeding the impact of major exports like lumber, auto parts and aircraft.  Foreign students also contributed nearly 40 percent of tuition revenues at Canadian universities.  As noted, those numbers may well be higher now.  As of 2022, international student enrollments in Canada surpassed 600,000, far exceeding the government’s 2012 targets.

Since foreign students contribute billions to the Canadian economy and post-secondary coffers, it critical that international students are treated well and fairly in order to maintain our reputation in the field of higher education.  However, this reputation has recently been seriously damaged by the emergence of dozens of private, fly-by-night colleges catering specifically to foreign students.  For example, in Quebec alone there were 48 non-subsidized private colleges in 2022, up from 28 in 2015.  Overseas, there are countless local education agents whose job it is to advise prospective students on international schools, steer them to the appropriate programs and help them with the application process.  Unfortunately, for substantial commissions, many students have been directed to fly-by-night colleges in Canada.  Yet this industry remains essentially unregulated, as do recruiters’ relationships with the fast-growing private college sector.  According to Montreal immigration lawyer Ho Sung Kim, this is why so many business people are interested in the industry: “Money drives these schools, not education.”

Post-secondary education is under provincial jurisdiction, with each province responsible to oversee accredited bodies.  Since such private colleges are basically unregulated, the authorities primarily rely on the receipt of complaints before investigating allegations by foreign students.  Governments have received dozens of complaints from students about misleading promotions that guaranteed jobs after graduation, plus promises of high-quality facilities the school didn’t have and tuition refunds the college allegedly refused.  In addition, many teachers are technically not qualified to teach in their fields, and turnover is extremely high. 

Recruiting firms continue to travel to China, the Philippines, India and Mexico and have signed deals with private and public colleges in Quebec, Ontario, B.C. and New Brunswick.  Manitoba is currently the only province to regulate such recruiters.  In 2016, the province introduced legislation requiring schools to properly train recruiters and review the information they provide to students.  Much more needs to be done by the federal government who is responsible for issuing student visas, perhaps by performing background checks on such private colleges.  Such measures would go a long way to maintaining Canada’s otherwise excellent image that we’re doing a decent job welcoming and protecting international students compared to other countries.

Canada Education

Leave a comment »
Jan 18

How Immigration Must Play More Significant Role When It Comes To Future Labour Force

by bcurry

Recently, reports are coming out of China that since the Communist Party took power, China’s population has started to level off.  Soon, India will surpass China in terms of population and population growth.  Much of the Chinese population decline was of course due to deliberate policies by governments, including the previous one-child policy, aimed at lowering its overall population growth.  However, such policies, while effective, have led to major concerns over future labour shortages due to low birth rates and an aging population.  It is reported that by 2035, 400 million people in China are expected to be over 60, accounting for nearly a third of its population.  Whether or not the government can provide widespread access to elder care, medical services and a stable stream of income later in life will also affect a long-held assumption that the Communist Party can provide a better life for its people.  In the case of China, few believe that its restrictive immigration policies will help out in the short-term.

What do these predictions have to do with the North American scene?  The fact of the matter is that both Canada and the U.S. are also facing issues surrounding aging populations, lower fertility rates and their subsequent impact on the labour market and social safety nets.  Simply put, in order to maintain a population via the annual birth rate, one needs to have at least two children born to each couple.  This is referred to as the replacement rate.  In 2020, Canada’s total fertility rate hit a record low.  In addition, in Canada more than nine million baby boomers are set to retire over the next decade, creating a potential labour shortage that, if unchecked, could raise health-care costs, upend pension payments and halt the country’s economic growth.  The current population of Canada is estimated at less than 40 million.  As the population ages, the median age had climbed steadily from 26.2 in 1971 to 41.1 in 2021, a trend observed in many advanced economies including the U.S.

This is why both Canada and the U.S. will continue to rely on immigrants to augment future labour forces.  Restricting immigration for political reasons, such as occurred under President Trump’s administration, will backfire when it comes to the rate of population growth.  Until recently, natural change — births minus deaths — had always been the primary driver of growth in Canada and the U.S.  However, even before the pandemic hit, these aging nations were already experiencing a decline in fertility and increase in deaths.  This is partly why Canada welcomed over 405,000 newcomers in 2021 – the most ever welcomed in a single year. The Federal Government is continuing its ambitious immigration policy by setting targets in the new levels plan of 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025. 

However, there is one exception in Canada when it comes to increasing immigration.  According to recent data, the province of Quebec is taking a dwindling share of immigrants to Canada.  Under an agreement between the federal government and Quebec, Quebec controls the number of economic immigrants it takes each year.  In 2022, Quebec brought in roughly 15.7 percent of permanent immigrants to Canada, despite the province representing nearly 23 percent of Canada’s population.  Quebec’s current immigration policy is primarily based on its desire to have immigrants who are capable of living and working in French, Quebec’s official language.  The province’s Immigration Minister, Christine Fréchette, has stated that Quebec has to limit immigration to French speakers to protect the French language.  The minister further made it clear that the province won’t be boosting levels anytime soon.  However, strong opposition to this policy has surfaced within certain key sectors within Quebec, notably within business sectors which already are dealing with labour shortages.  For example, the Quebec Manufacturers and Exporters association said the province desperately needs these newcomers because there are labour shortages everywhere.  The association estimates that some $7 billion (Canadian) in manufacturing output that could have taken place last year was sidelined due to current labour shortages.

As in the case of China, the Quebec provincial government has implemented several schemes to encourage Quebecers to have more children, however with little notable success.  In both cases, government handouts like cash for babies and tax cuts, have failed to change the underlying fact that many young people simply do not want children.  Fertility rates continue to fall as incomes rise and education levels increase, and more women are participating in the labour force.  Other factors have contributed to the reluctance to have more children; including the burden that many younger adults face in taking care of aging parents and grandparents, the high costs of raising and educating children, and the increase in the number of working couples in order to make ends meet.  For these reasons, countries have fewer options other than increasing immigration to offset their aging populations and maintain their standards of living.

Canada Immigration Immigration Policies Labor Force Labour Force US

Leave a comment »
Jan 14

Is Banning Books in American Schools Discrimination Under Civil Rights Legislation?

by bcurry

Back in March of last year I posted a blog on https://froliticks.ca entitled: book-banning-in-american-schools-continues-to-grow-what-next-burning-books/.  In that blog, I outlined the continuing issue of American schools nationwide quietly removing books from their libraries, particularly books dealing with discussions of race, gender, sex, the Holocaust and LGBTQ identities.  Now, the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into a Texas school district over its alleged removal of books featuring LGBTQ characters — marking the first test of a new legal argument that failing to represent students in school books can constitute discrimination.  The federal government agency is investigating the Granbury Independent School District as the result of a complaint of discrimination lodged last summer by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas.  Experts suggest that if the federal government finds in the ACLU’s favour, the determination could have implications for schools nationwide, forcing libraries to stock more books about LGBTQ individuals and requiring administrators, amid a rising tide of book challenges and bans, to develop procedures ensuring student access to books that some Americans, especially right-leaning parents, deem unacceptable.

President Biden’s administration recently interpreted Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination in public schools on the basis of sex, as forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity – a finding that is key to the ACLU chapter’s argument.  It is predicted that the proposed federal probe is likely to proceed slowly, taking one to two years, and, if successful, could generate penalties for the school district ranging from nothing to a reduction in federal funding to government-mandated training on inclusivity.  In addition, it has been reported that library and free speech advocates are taking notice.  John Chrastka, who heads the national political action committee EveryLibrary, said he was thrilled when he realized the scope and implications of the Texas ACLU’s argument that book banning could violate federal anti-discrimination laws.  This year, Mr. Chrastka said, EveryLibrary plans to repeat that contention in amicus briefs it will file in lawsuits against school book banning.

Unfortunately, proceeding with various forms of litigation takes time and also can result in other consequences when judgements are rendered.  Decisions rendered can open up other cans of worms, including greater availability of and accessibility to teaching of school materials on religion.  However, one must weigh the benefits of having freedom of thought in an open and democratic society, suggesting that any kind of indiscriminate book bans can lead to thought control and authoritarian measures.  Any decision will likely be contested by Texas as a possible infringement of its jurisdiction over education within school districts in the state.  The matter may even eventually end up going to the Supreme Court, which again would further delay any move to eliminate discriminatory and arbitrary book banning in their libraries by School Boards.

In the above noted blog, I claimed that “throughout formal education today, children will be faced with information and discussion about a number of difficult topics — where better than in schools.  People need to place more trust in educators, who after all have extensively studied and researched many of these topics in compiling their curriculum.  Misinformed and indiscriminate censorship doesn’t have any place in these processes, especially where educators and librarians unfortunately can end up facing daily harassment by fringe groups.  Freedom of thought and practice should be the foundation of a public school education, while respecting the rights of all parents and not just a few.”

Civil Rights Education in U.S. US

Leave a comment »
«Older Entries
Newer Entries »
Blog at WordPress.com.