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  • 2017-01-06 (xsd:date)
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  • Canada Gives Polygamist Immigrants Thousands in 'Start-Up Money'? (en)
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  • In January 2017, an image macro circulated via Facebook taking aim at Muslim refugees in Canada by misstating the nature of several benefits available to them. The misleading nature of the macro begins with suggestion that a smiling gentleman depicted in the image actually entered Canada with two wives and six children, even though this photograph has actually been used by various funny pictures web sites for several years. The two wives claim appears to play off of reports of Muslim male immigrants secretly practicing polygamy, even though the practice of having more than one spouse at a time is illegal in Canada. The Supreme Court of British Columbia upheld that law in a November 2011 ruling involving a non-Muslim polygamous sect. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, a federal agency that helps both immigrants and refugees, that law is taken into account during the immigration process. The agency told us: The reference to privately sponsored refugees concerns a separate program, though Syrian and Iraqi refugees are currently exempt from having to show documentation recognizing them as such. Regarding the claim of a government-owned townhouse and a three bedroom government-owned apartment, the agency said: Immigration officials also provided examples of regional average payments for refugees and their families distributed through the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP), which can be seen below: The agency said: The program also provides referrals to agencies in the country's various provinces who can help them acclimate themselves after emigrating. According to the agency: The reference to immigrants' being given health cards is a possible allusion to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) which provides limited, temporary coverage of health-care benefits to refugees until they qualify for the country's public healthcare system, which is administered through provincial and territorial governments and not funded by the federal government. Immigration officials noted that as of 1 April 2016, IFHP beneficiaries are also eligible for urgent dental care (meaning conditions involving pain, infection or trauma), and limited vision care. As noted above, the benefits payments distributed to refugees do cover the cost of buying foods, but the macro's statement regarding access to a halal-only food bank misleadingly presents that as another government service. In reality, those services are often operated by private organizations such as the Canadian Muslim Women's Institute, or CMWI. We were unable to get in touch with CMWI for more information prior to publication, but the group's president, Yasmin Ali, explained the circumstances facing many of the people they help in a September 2016 interview: The macro closes by stating that voicing your opinion could open people up to hate speech charges. In reality, the country's anti-hate laws do not address just general opinions, but hate speech: IRCC also provided the following statement: The agency also noted that — according to preliminary findings — 53 percent of privately-sponsored adult refugees living outside of Quebec by 1 March 2016 had already found employment. IRCC said the employment rate for adult refugees taking part in government assistance programs outside of the same province was around 10 percent, which it attributed to substantially lower language skills. (en)
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