by DOMINION STAFF
Women and immigrant support groups criticized the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) for raiding a Toronto women’s shelter to apprehend “Jane,” a single mother who says she left Ghana to escape violence. A representative of the Ontario Association for Interval and Transition Homes said that while CBSA agents had previously waited outside shelters to stop women, this was the first time they had been known to enter.
The Canadian government released its 2010-2011 “austerity” budget. Though the budget declares the government’s economic stimulus program a success, it was criticized for not including more stimulus funding, for opening up economic sectors to foreign ownership (seen as a path to de-regulation) and for ignoring the need for a more flexible employment insurance program.
In his response to the Speech from the Throne, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Canadian government “will take steps to endorse [the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] in a manner fully consistent with Canada’s Constitution and laws.” Canada was one of only three countries to vote “no” to the non-binding agreement when passed by the UN General Assembly in 2007.
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