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SERVING THE NEWCOMER COMMUNITIES IN DURHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND AND PETERBOROUGH

NEIGHBOURSFAR APART

Peterborough plays good neighbour to the Philippinesin the country’s relief efforts following a massive

destruction brought by Supertyphoon Haiyan

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CONTENTS

12 COVER STORY The economy in central Philippines, which relies on agriculture and fishing, will take years to recover from devastation in the aftermath of Super-typhoon Haiyan.

COVER STORY12 RECOVERY EFFORTSMore than three months since Superty-phoon Haiyan made landfall in central Philippines, which bore the brunt of the storm, a massive relief effort is under way and expected to carry on for years. In San Isidro, donations from Peterborough helped to fund school repairs and food distribution.

NEWS DIGESTPETERBOROUGH8 NCC annual fund-raiserThe New Canadians Centre is set to have its annual fund-raiser on March 1, 2014 at The Venue. Tickets are at $100 each, and a tax receipt will be issued for a portion of the ticket price.

NORTHUMBERLAND9 Job-search workshopsThe New Canadians Centre in Cobourg, along with the Community Training and Development Centre, has hosted a series of job-search workshops designed to as-sist newcomers to find employment.

DURHAM10 New managersThe Durham Welcome Centre Immigrant Services has new managers at its Ajax and Pickering locations.

24 CLICK Showshoeing

26 CLICK Multicultural Centre

FOCUS11 EOI immigration systemStarting January 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will transition to an Expression of Interest immigration-intake system that supports Canada’s labour-market needs.

ADVERTORIAL 18 Super VisaCanada has pledged aggressive action to reunite more families. Between 2012 and 2013, it admitted more than 50,000 par-ents and grandparents. In 2014, it intends to welcome an additional 20,000.

COLUMN27 Tax cornerIf you are buying a real-estate property to invest and make money, there are a few things you need to be aware about your tax obligations.

FOOD 28 A matter of tasteIn many cultures, food is a favourite pastime. Relationships are actually forged around a kitchen table. But what if you are a minority on the dinner table? What if you are a vegan or a vegetarian?

Phot

o by

ALE

X BA

DAY

OS

When you moved to this area, you became part of a community that includes Malachi. As a field technician at Nexicom, Malachi’s job is to keep our wireless Internet system running smoothly. Even if it means getting up at 3:00 am in the middle of an ice storm to make sure you can check your email while enjoying your breakfast.

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FROM THE EDITORBEVERLY LOMOSAD

AN EASY RECALL

In the summer of 2012, we put out a magazine issue that looked at

the impact of Peterborough abroad through the work of some of its grassroots organizations. In the wake of Supertyphoon Haiyan, the world’s strongest typhoon to make landfall, we attempt to examine again how Pe-terborough is making a difference, if any, in the lives of the people of the Philippines as they try to deal with their losses: more than 6,000 people killed, almost 2,000 people missing, more than a million flattened homes and buildings, and an estimated $3.1 billion in reconstruction cost needed to rebuild storm-ravaged areas in the central part of the country.

Our cover story, Pages 12-17, in-cludes an infographics of dollar amounts, showing how residents who are part of the Peterborough Diocese have raised nearly $220,000 to contribute to a fund allocated to rebuild storm-shattered communi-ties in the Philippines. The donation ranks 12th in a list issued by Develop-ment and Peace, the international-de-velopment arm of the Catholic faith in Canada, and will be matched with funds from the Canadian govern-ment. Students at Thomas A. Stew-art Secondary School also pooled in their spare change and, at the end of a two-week fund campaign, raised $625. We realize that other schools have their fund-raisers as well and may even probably have raised more money than did TASS. The TASS funds, however, were not fed into the usual channel for donations; rather, they were directed at a specific pur-pose: to help in the reconstruction

of an elementary school in San Isidro town, which is in the same province as Tacloban City, the area hardest-hit by Haiyan and accounted for 5,300 of the 6,200 death tally.

On a personal note, the outpour-ing of support from Peterborough and nearby communities was inspir-ing. To me, as much as the communi-ty has reached out to far-away Philip-pines, so much has it looked inwardly and embraced the pain of the small diaspora of Filipinos in its midst – people it considers perhaps as one of its own. To some Peterborough do-nors, their only connection with the Philippines is the presence of Filipi-nos in the community.

QUICK RESPONSEWhen sisters and long-time Peter-borough residents Carmela Valles and Dindin Villarino put the word out about a trust account they set up, along with cousin Nieva Tumbiga and niece Georgina Arcilla, to receive donations for their hometown of San Isidro, the response was immedi-ate. Less than 24 hours of opening the Philippine Disaster Relief Fund account, deposits totalled $1,600 and cents. Donations came from within their circle of friends as well as from people whose names did not ring any familiarity to them at all.

Funds from the PDRF account had paid for one of the first trickles of relief supplies that reached the town of San Isidro – two weeks after Haiyan ripped through central Philip-pines and ahead of government aid. In Isidro, very few people will likely be able to locate Peterborough in the map. I’m sure, though, that from now on it will linger in their minds for a long, long time. n

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Hurdles to super visaLike many, I am interested in the new super visa for parents and grandparents. We thought it was the answer to our prayers, especially when we realized that an application to sponsor one’s parents could take many, many years. We had a friend who sponsored her parents to come, and after five years when the application was finally approved, she and her husband had learned that her mother was already stricken with Alzheimer’s. Had the su-per visa been implemented, it would probably have helped our friend to quickly sponsor her parents when they were still healthy and could cope on their own in Canada.

So when the new super visa was introduced we quickly gathered all relevant documentation. We didn’t know the big disappointment that we had to bear in the process, especially given all the promise that the super visa was being touted for. One thing that we quickly realized was the financial guarantee in the way of our income that we had to demonstrate. My

husband has just started his own business and although he is doing very well, it’s hard to show his financial viability when the business is just entering its second year. We wanted to sponsor my mother and father because I was pregnant with our second child, and with the first child just entering senior kindergarten, we thought that it would be emotionally and physically (not to men-tion financially) difficult for us. We thought that by having our parents with us we would be able to get the support we needed at the same time that my parents would be able to experience our life in Canada. To our dismay, however, the required income was very high and with my husband’s still-fluctuating income, there was no way we could have met the requirement.

Another barrier was the private medical insurance that we had to secure for our parents. While we under-stood such a requirement was to be put in place, it didn’t quite make sense to us why the $100,000 coverage was required. Maybe if the coverage was lowered, the insurance premium wouldn’t be so prohibitive. So, in order to meet this requirement we

would have to purchase both my parents’ coverage at an amount of at least $5,000, an amount that we did not have up front. And no insurance company was willing to allow us to pay this premium on in-stallment basis. The purchase had to be outright and had to be done before visas were approved.

So what do I think of the super visa? I think the govern-ment is pricing it out of our reach. Less well-off families are unable to apply. Ironically, these are the same people who needed support the most.

Cathy RohanPickering

Letting some steam offI am tired of people, especial-ly the news media, portraying immigrants as troublemakers, a drain to resources and tak-ing jobs away from Canadian-born citizens. Although I real-ize that some of this bigotry is a product of ignorance, I also believe that the media should present us in a more authentic light. For instance,

it’s not true that we take jobs away from Canadian-born people. Research, in fact, has shown that unemploy-ment is low in cities where there are large concentra-tions of immigrants. Our skills complement the skills of Canadian-born citizens. Some of us even take jobs that very few Canadian-born would do. We are not a drain to resources. In fact, when we arrived in Canada we bring with us settlement funds – money that is required by the government so we do not need to rely on the welfare system. We use that money to rent or buy an apartment or house, car, and other things to start our life in Canada; that money revitalizes the Canadian economy. We are also a peace-loving people. And, finally, it’s not easy to come to Canada and become a citizen. The journey is long and difficult. We submit to different police and medi-cal checks, must show that we have funds to settle in Canada, and must learn how to speak English. I know there are Canadian-born citizens who cannot pass through such a rigorous exercise.

Ernie YuichiPickering

LETTERS

We welcome your comments. Write to us at [email protected]. All submissions must include name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for length, clarity and style.Submission constitutes permission to use.

SO WHAT DO I THINK OF THE SUPER VISA? I THINK THE GOVERNMENT IS PRIC-ING IT OUT OF OUR REACH. LESS WELL-OFF FAMILIES ARE UNABLE TO APPLY.


NEWS DIGEST

Jason Stabler, the inter-im executive director

of the New Canadians Centre, has announced his intention to run for a seat at the Peterbor-ough City Council in the October 2014 municipal elections. He will seek election in Town Ward.

Mr. Stabler was born and raised in Peterbor-ough. He attended Ar-mour Heights Public School and Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School. He obtained an undergradu-ate degree from the University of Guelph and a law de-gree from the University of Manitoba. In 2009, he started working at the NCC’s Peterborough Partnership Council on Immigrant Integration.

He is also a part-time professor in the School of Business and Justice Studies at Fleming College as well as serves as vice-chair of the board of directors of the Community Opportunity and Innovation Network.

“Growing up in Peterborough, I came to understand what an incredibly remarkable place this is both through my own experiences and those shared by my parents who also grew up here. As an adult the experience of living in several other communities in Canada emphasized for me that the assets of this community are truly unique,” Mr. Stabler said in a news release.

“In particular these experiences have affirmed my be-lief that our downtown is one of the most vibrant of any small city in Canada. I am committed to building upon the strengths of this community and, in particular, the down-town so that Peterborough continues to live up to its his-torical nickname, “The Electric City.” n

NCC’s Stabler throwshat into political ring

NCC fund-raiser on March 1The annual gala fund-raiser of the New Canadians

Centre, themed “One Night in Mexico,” takes place on March 1, 2014 at The Venue. Tickets are at $100 each, and a tax receipt will be issued for a portion of the ticket price.

La Hacienda will provide a five-course dinner. The night also features music and dance.

Funds raised support the work of the NCC and the Peterborough Partnership Council on Immigrant Integration. NCC provides services that would help immigrants and refugees to become full and equal members of Canadian society.

Last year’s fund-raiser, themed “One Night in Ven-ice,” drew a crowd of more than 100 and raised nearly $10,000. n

Jason Stabler


Citizenship and Im-migration Minister

Chris Alexander has announced Canada plans to admit 240,000-265,000 new permanent residents in 2014, with record admissions expected in the Canadian Experience Class and the Provincial

Nominee Program.Hopes run high that

the immigration plan will drive economic growth in 2014 and position Canada for success in the years ahead. “Securing economic growth is and will remain our govern-ment’s top priority,” Mr.

Alexander said. “Canada is in a global competition for the best and brightest immigrants, and this plan is crafted with attracting the people we need for Canada to succeed.”

He added that “while Canadians will continue to get the first crack at available jobs, getting the right people in the right places is key to addressing regional labour needs and fueling Canada’s long-term prosperity.”

“We need newcomers

willing to put their skills, ideas and energies to work,” he said.

Economic immigration is slated to increase to 63% in 2014. The remaining 37% will consist of family-class immigrants, refugees and others admitted under humanitarian programs.

Canada is moving from passive economic immigra-tion to active recruiting under a new Expression of Interest intake system, scheduled to launch on January 1, 2015. n

Canada has announced it will admit 17,500

permanent residents through the Live-in Care-giver Program in 2014 – almost double the year-ago level and represents the highest number of LCP admissions in a single year since the program began in 1993.

Citizenship and Im-migration Minister Chris Alexander has said the growing backlog and lengthy processing times in the LCP will be aggressive-ly dealt with. “Wait times in the Live-in Caregiver Pro-gram have grown to levels that are unacceptable to caregivers,” he said. “Our government has already slashed application back-logs for skilled workers and parents and grandparents. Now, we turn our attention to the LCP.”

Application backlogs and processing times have grown steadily in recent

years. The number of caregivers completing their work obligations and be-coming eligible for perma-nent residency has rou-tinely outpaced the planned levels of admissions from the program.

Mr. Alexander added: “Live-in caregivers par-ticipating in the program came here with the promise of permanent residency after meeting work obliga-tions in looking after the children, elderly or disabled people in their care. We need to honour our com-mitment to them.”

The program facilitates the entry of qualified caregivers into Canada when employers have not been able to find Canadi-ans to fill these positions. Caregivers can apply for permanent residence in Canada after working for two years during their first four years after entry into Canada. n

NEWS DIGEST

63.0%Economic164,500

26.1%Family68,000

10.9%Humanitarian

28,400Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada

PNP, CEC streams gain more admissions in 2014

“Canada is in a global competition for the best and brightest immi-grants,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander says

Number of caregivers poisedto reach all-time high in 2014 The New Canadians

Centre in Cobourg, along with the Commu-nity Training and Devel-opment Centre, hosted a series of job-search workshops designed to assist newcomers to Nor-thumberland County in finding employment.

The workshops provide information on effective job-search strate-gies, the importance of networking, and how to use Snagpad, an online virtual job-coaching tool. Two newcomer job coaches facilitated the three workshops – held

on January 14, 21 and 28 – which introduce ways to guide newcomers in their job-search process.

The two job coaches, who speak another lan-guage besides Canada’s two official languages of English and French, were hired in a collab-orative initiative between CTDC and Northum-berland County. The Vir-tual Job Coach project is funded by the Municipal Immigration Informa-tion Online program of the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immi-gration. n

Job-search aid for newcomers

Luz Ofelia-Maya, NCC-Cobourg office administrator, tries out Snagpad


NEWS DIGEST

A call has gone out for proposals for The Im-

pact of Family Violence Conference scheduled on May 14-15, 2014 at the Durham College and Uni-versity of Ontario Institute of Technology. The 4th An-nual Impact of Family Violence Conference will focus on family violence in the South Asian community and aims to raise awareness and support of the movement to eliminate family violence.

Conference proposals must be submitted by February 15, 2014. The conference is accepting submissions for pa-per presentations, round-tables and workshops.

Chief Constable Mike Ewles, of the Durham Regional Police Service, said although domestic-violence calls are slowly decreasing, “we spend most of our time respond-ing to incidents, not preventing them.” The prevention piece needed to be addressed, he said, adding that “it will take all community partners to work together to make a difference.”

Mr. Ewles, who is retiring shortly after the conference, said he will continue to support the anti-domestic violence movement.

The conference had its beginnings in 1987, when Zul Kassamali, a leader in the multicultural outreach commu-nity, organized the first multicultural conference about do-mestic violence. n

Durham Welcome Centreappoints new managersThe Durham Welcome Centre

Immigrant Services has new managers at its Ajax and Pickering locations. Kathy Pittman-Feltham has been designated manager of the Pickering site while Hermia Corbette has taken the helm of the Ajax office.

Funded by Citizenship and Immi-gration Canada, the centre provides assistance to people who have recent-ly come to make Canada their home. The centre has a network of partner organizations that provides services in language instruction, employment guidance and settlement support.

Ms. Feltham comes to her new role at the Pickering location after having worked in the government and the non-profit sector in the areas of risk management, community development and engagement, project management and operations.

Ms. Corbette has had several years of researching, developing and launching programs in the areas of youth employment, community development, newcom-er services, conflict mediation, partnership building and community engagement. n

Conference seeks papers

Submit proposals to: [email protected]: February 15, 2014

WHAT’S NEXT

Hermia Corbette

Kathy Pittman-Feltham


FOCUS EOI IMMIGRATION MODEL

The new immigration-application management system results from a consultation CIC made with employers and the public in its quest for an innovative way that Canada can compete globally to attract the best and brightest new-comers and develop a balanced immigration plan.

“The EOI system will help switch from passive process-ing of applications in the order we get them to a prioritized system that gets in-demand people with the skills to suc-ceed in Canada faster than ever before,” the paper said.

EOI works in two steps. Prospective immigrants indi-cate their interest in coming to Canada by providing in-formation electronically about their skills, work experience and other attributes. Individuals who meet certain eligibility criteria will have their “expressions of interest” placed in a pool and ranked against others already in the pool. CIC would only invite the best candidates, including those with in-demand skills or with job offers, to apply for a visa. Ap-plicants will also be assessed on a variety of other factors: education, work experience and language ability – with a greater emphasis on the ever-changing needs of the Cana-dian labour market.

Expressions of interest that are not chosen after a pe-riod of time may be removed from the pool. As a result, application backlogs would not accumulate and processing times will be kept to a minimum.

Canada Gears Up for EOI Immigration SystemStarting January 2015, Citizenship and Immigra-

tion Canada will transition to an Expression of Interest immigration-intake system that supports Canada’s labour-market needs. “Having a job is the best path to economic integration,” according to a backgrounder paper issued by CIC, explaining the EOI system under which prospective immigrants will be evaluated based on the skills Canadian em-ployers need.

Allan O’Dette, president and CEO of Ontario Chamber of Commerce

Reacting to the new immigration system, Allan O’Dette, presi-dent and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said: “EOI won’t work unless em-ployers buy into the system. If it is to suc-ceed, the federal gov-ernment must heed the advice of employers.”

According to em-ployers, Canada must aim to have the fastest system in the world. The speed of the sys-tem is the single most important factor in de-termining whether em-ployers will participate in the EOI system.

FASTER SYSTEMUnder Australia’s EOI model, visas for per-manent residence are processed in 58 days. In Canada’s EOI system, processing time is pro-posed to be six months.

“This wait is far too long for businesses, many of whom have jobs that needed to be filled yesterday,” Mr. O’Dette said. The EOI system must also be client-focused. “A simple, customer-focused system will at-tract the participation of small and medium enterprises, the linch-pins of our economy,” he said. “These employers typically do not have the time or resources necessary to navigate a complex system. Reduce the time and effort required to navigate the system, and they will participate; make the sys-tem too complex and bureaucratic, and they won’t.”

Additionally, Canada must aggressively brand itself to potential immigrants as the world’s best place to live, work and do business.

“Other countries are upping their games when it comes to attracting top talent from abroad. Our long queues and slow processing times for skilled immigrants are hurting our competitiveness. The EOI represents a big opportu-nity to fix our dysfunctional immigration system, if it is designed properly,” according to Mr. O’Dette. n

2012 IMMIGRANT LANDINGS

38% Ontario

62%Rest of Canada

30%Immigrants in Ontario’s

Labour Force

ONTARIO IMMIGRATIONBY THE NUMBERS

IMMIGRANT LANDINGS

ECONOMIC IMMIGRANTS

2001

2001

148,639

64%

2012

2012

98,826

49%

0 100,000 200,000

0 50 100

Newcomer Bulletin Graphics


COVER STORY


NEIGHBOURS FAR APART

Photo by ALEX BADAYOS

The massive relief efforts in the Philippines have evolved into a long-term support for recovery


Selfless acts sometimes play out on an epic scale; oth-er times they don’t. Take Chris Hobin. When he heard

about how Supertyphoon Haiyan cut a path of destruction across the Philippines on November 8, 2013, one thing immediately came to his mind: Peterborough has Filipinos living in its midst. One of the 35 students in his ESL (English as a Second Language) class at Thom-as A. Stewart Secondary School, or TASS, for instance, comes from Cebu province in central Philip-pines. Mr. Hobin has also previ-ously met Carmela Valles, whom he knew as a Filipino, the aunt of two students at a congregated ESL pro-gram at PCVS (Peterborough Col-legiate Vocational School) about four years ago. That was a Friday.

On Monday morning, he got busy. He sent an e-mail to Mrs. Valles, basically asking her, “What can we do to help?” Mr. Hobin could not have found a better contact who knows the typhoon-ravaged region more intimately than Mrs. Valles. Their ensuing conversation marked the beginning of a fund-raiser that involved not only Mr. Ho-bin’s class of English-language learners but also the entire TASS student population. At the end of a two-week fund drive, students managed to pull in $625. They could have pushed the collect-ed amount through the usual channels for dona-tions – say, hand it over to either the Red Cross or YMCA. Instead, the TASS funds were earmarked for the reconstruction of an elementary school in San Isidro town of Leyte province, which en-compassed Tacloban City, where Supertyphoon Haiyan (known as Yolanda in the Philippines), the strongest-typhoon in recorded history, made its first landfall. Mrs. Valles has her reason. With the


NEIGHBOURS FAR APART


COVER STORY

CHRIS HOBIN: We help because we can

typhoon victims in the Philippines received from organizations such as Red Cross and YMCA and indi-

vidual donors from Peterborough, Northumberland County (and ulti-mately the Canadian government,

Philippine government’s relief efforts primarily centred on responding to such urgent needs as food, water and medical care for the survivors, the re-habilitation of damaged school infra-structure naturally ranked lower in the initial order of priorities.

San Isidro Central Elementary School, right in the middle of town, holds a special place in Mrs. Valles’ heart: it is a stone-throw away from her parents’s home, and she went to that school as an elementary student. The decision of TASS “to pick up on this very need is beyond wonderful,” she told Mr. Hobin in an e-mail.

Mr. Hobin described as “extremely heartwarming” the enthusiasm and in-terest shown by TASS students to the fund-raiser, meant, as it were, for peo-ple in a far-away land, people they did not even know. “They wanted to know not only how much, but what is it go-ing for, and what it is that’s needed,” he told Newcomer Bulletin.

The outpouring of support that


COVER STORY

which matched every dollar donated to registered charities) was both phe-nomenal and inspiring. A report is-sued by Development and Peace, the international development agency of the Catholic faith in Canada, showed that Catholics in the diocese of Pe-terborough have contributed nearly

$220,000 to a fund allocation for the storm-shattered communities in the Philippines. The amount, as at De-cember 23, 2013, the last day matching funds from the Canadian government can be applied for, was the 12th largest reported by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops – surpassed only

by donations from dioceses with far larger populations. In total, Catholics across Canada raised $10.34 million. (See graphics)

To get the Canadian government to match the $10.34 million, Devel-opment and Peace will have to make an application backed with specific


COVER STORY

proposals for humanitarian relief and development projects. Already, it has applied for between $3 million and $4 million in matching funds. The organization is working with its partners in the international Caritas network and in the Philippines in writing proposals.

The small diaspora of Filipinos in Peterborough and nearby communi-ties has apparently helped, in part, to give a human face of the Philippines and to keep it in people’s conscious-ness when news spread about the enormity of the typhoon devastation. “Our diocese was very eager to take up some sort of a benefit collection to help the people from the Philip-pines. Sure, we had some bad weather

and some tragic events, but on the scale of natural disasters, that’s a big natural disaster in the Philippines – it is of a magnitude that people needed support. Also, in our diocese we have a number of Filipino priests serv-ing in some of our parishes,” said Fr. Joseph Devereaux, speaking for the Peterborough Diocese, of which he is the chancellor. “We have a connec-tion with the people from the Philip-pines because we have Filipinos in our community, and our spiritual leaders in some of our parishes are Filipinos.”

In the context of the Christian faith, “we’re all brothers and sisters,” he said. “Helping is who we are as Christians. If you meet somebody who is hungry and say, ‘I wish you

well,’ but don’t give him something to eat, what have you done for him? To talk about your faith is one thing. To live it out is another. Faith will cost you something. When I see my broth-er and sister hungry, then I should help to feed my brother and sister.”

Analogous to that belief system is the we-are-each-other’s-neighbour teaching – whether people are near or far apart. “Who’s your neighbour? My neighbour may not just be the person next door to me,” Fr. Devereaux said. “My neighbour may be that person in the Philippines who lost a house or a family because of a typhoon or an earthquake.”

He acknowledged feeling a sense of pride – holy pride, he says – at the

FR. JOSEPH DEVEREAUX: Faith will cost you something


COVER STORY

generosity of the people in the Peter-borough Diocese. “We’ve done well. We’ve helped out and contributed to the humanitarian effort for a coun-try that really needed it. Priests have mentioned it to me too – they’re really proud of Peterborough,” he added.

For Happy Mirault, manager of funds development and international at YMCA Northumberland, “that we care about each other is part of our culture – it’s who we are.” She took the lead in YMCA’s fund-raiser, which she acknowledged was, in part, also driven by the thought that “we have Filipinos in our community.”

As a teacher, Mr. Hobin was aware of the learning opportunity that comes with helping one another. “It’s unfortunate that it often comes as a result of a disaster or a crisis of some kind,” he said, adding that the ben-efit goes both ways to the people that are in need and to those who extend help. One of the benefits that he sees could happen is that students might develop a greater appreciation for the things they have, a greater under-standing of the world in general, and a greater understanding that kids their age all over the world are the same and that they have the same basic needs, including education.

“Anytime they can develop an un-derstanding for the needs of others anywhere, I think that’s more impor-tant, in some ways, than all the cur-ricula that we provide. We all learn, as a result,” he said. “In this part of the world, we are very rarely in a posi-tion that those basic needs are totally unavailable to us through no fault of our own.”

Fr. Devereaux shared the view. “We, in Canada, are blessed. In the western world, we sometimes forget just how many blessings we have. By and large, we have food, we have roof over our head, and we have health care,” he said. “Not everybody in the world has the safety nets and the stan-dard of living that we have. Helping gives us a sense that the world is big-ger than our little community.”

For exactly the same reason, Mr. Hobin and his colleagues at TASS made a decision to reach out and try to be of help to a troubled remote part of the world.

“Why help? I guess because we can,” he said. n

Cash from Peterborough donors had paid for one of the first

trickles of food supplies that reached their way into the hands of some of the worst-stricken families in the typhoon-hit town of San Isidro two weeks after Supertyphoon Haiyan slammed central Philippines. The donations were collected through a trust account set up by long-time Peterborough residents and sisters Carmela Valles and Dindin Villari-no, along with a niece and a cousin, on November 14, 2013, six days af-ter Supertyphoon Haiyan unleashed its fury, killing more than 6,000 peo-ple and leaving a trail of destruction never before seen in the history of natural disasters in the Philippines, a country visited by an average of 20 typhoons a year.

Four days after the Philippine Disaster Relief Fund account was opened, a little over $2,000 in dona-tions came through. Converted to pesos, the amount could put a dent on the misery of a few hundreds of people in a town that desperately needed assistance. Their next move: find a person, who not only is thor-oughly familiar with San Isidro but also able to organize a brigade of volunteers. The task ahead is quite enormous. A cousin, who practices law in Cebu City, has agreed to re-ceive the funds and take the lead in the deployment of relief supplies. In the early stages of the aftermath of Haiyan, all of San Isidro and nearby communities were in a state of total chaos and disarray. Homes were flattened, communications and electricity lost, and businesses shut. The relief supplies had to be acquired, therefore, from Cebu City, situated in another island and not hit as badly as the towns and cities in Leyte province.

As soon as sacks of rice and box-es of grocery products were pro-cured, volunteers repacked them in smaller bags and loaded them to a boat in the first leg of the journey to San Isidro. The supplies were then transferred to a truck that must inch its way through kilometres of

roads, rendered nearly impassable by wreckage and fallen trees. In the face of an enormous need, the relief supplies will be handed out only to families that not only had lost their homes but also had not as yet re-ceived any assistance from govern-ment or relief agencies. About 500 families in the three San Isidro vil-lages of Capiñahan, Crossing and San Jose fit the description. In the conversation as part of the process of knowing who should receive the relief supplies, the people were un-equivocally told: the donations come from Peterborough, Canada.

Distribution took place on No-vember 22, 2013.

ACCOUNT BALANCEOne portion of the remaining bal-ance on the PDRF account is in-tended to be used to send a second batch of relief goods to San Isidro in February 2014, in time when more roads have been cleared of obstruc-tions. Another portion of $625, donated by students at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School, goes to-ward rebuilding the damaged roof on the kindergarten rooms of San Isidro Central Elementary School. “I think it’s a good idea to concen-trate on a single task and be able to say, ‘that is from the Peterborough initiative,’” said Mrs. Valles, after speaking on the phone with a cou-ple of teachers from the school on January 20, 2014.

Chris Hobin, a teacher at TASS, described the school-rehabilitation project as “something that our students could naturally relate to” – the fact that school had been dis-rupted for many kids in San Isidro. “Our students understand all of the things that could mean and the trickle-down effect that could have for their future,” he said, adding that he hopes to hear that the elementary school in San Isidro has resumed its normal pace by now.

For sure, the TASS donation will put the roof back on the elementary school a little quicker than it might have been.

San Isidro: A Work in Progress


ADVERTORIAL HEROD FINANCIAL SERVICES

“Our government is keeping our promise to overcome the massive backlogs we inherited and reunite families faster,” Mr. Alexander said. “These numbers represent the highest level of parent and grandparent admissions in nearly two decades and are a clear expression of our commitment to family reunification as a key part of our immigration plan.”

The Super Visa re-mains a popular option for parents or grandpar-ents wishing to visit their families in Canada for an extended period of time. The Super Visa is valid for up to 10 years and allows parents and grandparents to come to Canada for up to two years at a time. As at December 2013, 28,000 Su-per Visas have been issued since the program’s launch in December 2011 – an ap-proval rate of nearly 85%.

Super Visas are issued to parents or grandparents of a Canadian citizen or a Canadian permanent resi-dent. Approvals take eight

weeks, on average, of the application.

MEDICAL INSURANCEApplicants of a Super Visa must demonstrate proof of a private medical insurance from a Canadian insurance company. The insurance coverage must be valid for a minimum of one year; provides a minimum cover-age of $100,000; and covers health care, hospitalization and repatriation.

The modernized Parent and Grandparent program, according to Mr. Alexander, will “ensure that families have the financial means to support those they sponsor, while also protecting the interests of taxpayers.” n

SUPER VISA: FAST, POPULARCitizenship and Immigration Minister Chris

Alexander has pledged aggressive action to reunite more families in 2014. Between 2012 and 2013, the Canadian government admitted more than 50,000 parents and grandparents. In 2014, Canada intends to welcome an additional 20,000.

To purchase a Super Visa Medical Insurance, contact:

Herod Financial Services403-140 King StreetPeterborough, ON K9J 7Z8 Phone: (705) 741-5287 Fax: (705) 741-3438 [email protected]

WHAT’S NEXT:

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0

167,4668-year wait time


42,3872.7-year wait time

Action plan for fasterfamily reunification


2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Source: CIC

Backlog Backlog with no action taken Future backlog

Newcomer Bulletin Graphics

CARMELA VALLESIMMIGRATION CONSULTING

Get your friends and family to study, work, live and invest in Peterborough

and Northumberland.

AREAS OF SERVICE• Family Sponsorship• Canada Experience Class• Federal Skilled Trades Class• Federal Skilled Worker Class• Canadian Citizenship• Visi• Visitor, Student, Work Visas and Extensions

P: (705) 761-2244 175 George Street NorthF: (705) 743-2331 Chamber Business CentreE: [email protected] Peterborough, Ontariowww.carmelavalles.com K9J 3G6

Member: Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council


ADVERTORIAL CITY OF PETERBOROUGH

MOVING TO PETERBOROUGHThere are quite a few things that Karma Phuntshok likes about Peter-

borough. For starters, he said, “we have a good and modern hospital. And we also have a good university. That alone makes good reason to live in Peterborough.” But what has really kept him permanently in Pe-terborough is the welcoming spirit that he said he found in the people of the city. That Peterborough is also “really beautiful” is a bonus.

A former monk, Mr. Phuntshok came to Canada from New York, where he had originally migrated from Tibet. Finding New York, where he worked as a restaurant chef, far too large a city, he moved to Canada in 1999, landing in Fort Erie in Niaraga. At the suggestion of his friends, he moved to Peterbor-ough, also in 1999. “My friends did also mention Toronto to me, but I thought that Toronto would be just as busy as New York,” he said.

Across Canada, recent immi-grants tend to move from where they originally landed to a surrounding suburb within weeks, months or a few years of their arrival – a trend that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities described in a report as “secondary migration.” The report finds that more than one in 10 recent immigrants migrate to a secondary destination elsewhere in Canada over a five-year period.

The propensity to move varied

considerably. For Mr. Phuntshok, access to good health care and other essential services is a priority, with his wife being pregnant with their son at the time.

For Shafiqur Rahman, the pres-ence of two post-secondary schools in Peterborough as well as a relaxed lifestyle convinced him to relocate from Toronto. He had planned to set up a restaurant offering ethnic Indian food, and he thought that the size-able combined international student population at Trent University and Fleming College could form his initial core of customers at the outset of his restaurant business.

Mr. Rahman now owns two restau-rants in Peterborough – Curry Village and Shafiq’s Taste of India.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Phuntshok had also gone into the restaurant business. In 2004, he purchased what was known as India Food House on Hunter Street, arguably the first In-dian restaurant in the Kawarthas, and converted it into Karma’s Café. In 2006, Karma’s Café received a facelift as well as a much-needed media mile-age when it was featured on the Food Network’s Restaurant Make-Over television series.

Since that time, Karma’s Café has continued to be a local favourite. For a consecutive three years, Karma’s Café was named one of Peterborough’s top two restaurants in Hardy Oberon’s book “Where to Eat in Canada.”

If you ask Karma about Peterbor-ough today, he’ll say that he “loves it here.” Excitedly he claims that “Peterborough has the best services, restaurants, art and music” for a city of its size.

Peterborough is one example of a municipality that is benefiting from secondary migration. Newcomers to Peterborough benefit from a slower pace of life and a safe environment to raise children. It is also a welcoming community. “Much like our coun-try, we are a city of immigrants who have collectively forged a model of multiculturalism that truly defines and distinguishes the Canadian ex-perience,” said Peterborough Mayor Daryl Bennett. n

Karma Phuntshok appreciates Peterborough as a welcoming community


ADVERTORIAL FLEMING COLLEGE

NEW POST-GRAD PROGRAMS

For more information on FlemingCollege’s Graduate Certificate programs, please visit flemingcollege.ca/programs/post-graduate-programs

WHAT’S NEXT:

Fleming College’s post-graduate programs are a great fit for international students

Due to demand – and growing popularity – Fleming recently intro-duced several new post-graduate programs. Also known as Graduate

Certificates, these are distinctive and highly specialized two- or three-semester programs open to students who have a diploma or degree.

These short-duration programs are a great fit for international stu-dents. They can experience Canadian culture, become part of our com-munity, and receive post-graduate accreditation.

“I love Peterborough. It is a very beautiful, peaceful town, and people are friendly and helpful,” said Shahin Umatia (Mumbai, Maharashtra), who is in the International Business Man-agement program.

Currently, there are more than 300 international students who are study-ing at Fleming. Wireless Information Networking, International Business Management and Project Manage-ment are popular Graduate Certifi-cate programs among international students.

Other post-graduate options at Fleming’s Peterborough campus include:

n Therapeutic Recreationn Emergency Managementn Hotel & Restaurant Management

Often Fleming’s Graduate Cer-tificates are developed in response to new and emerging career fields that require trained professionals and leaders.

One such program is Environmen-tal Visual Communication (EVC), introduced in 2012. Students develop multimedia and visual communica-tion skills to inspire environmental awareness and advocacy.

In a unique partnership, EVC is offered on-site at the Royal Ontario Museum – an extraordinary learning experience for students. Graduates have completed placements across Canada and all over the world from Central America to Africa.

“The EVC program is a chal-lenge, because they have very high standards,” said graduate Amanda Hunter. “The program makes you grow, it’s transformational.”

Fleming’s Arts and Heritage Graduate Certificate programs are unique in Canada and include: Cultural Heritage Conservation Management; Museum Manage-ment and Curatorship; and Expres-sive Arts. And the latest offering, Studio Process Advancement, is an intensive program that allows new and established artists to build their portfolios.

“This is the only Graduate Cer-tificate in the college system that provides students with the opportu-nity to work independently under the

mentorship of professional artists to develop an individual body of work. An advanced program of this nature will really prepare graduates for professional practice,” said San-dra Dupret, Dean and Principal of Fleming’s Haliburton Campus.

Building on its reputation in the field of Environmental and Natu-ral Resource Sciences, Fleming is offering new Graduate Certificate programs at its Lindsay campus: Aquaculture; Applied and Commu-nity-Based Research; and Advanced Water Systems Operator (Co-op).

This is in addition to its renowned post-graduate programs in GIS (Applications and Cartography); Conservation and Environmental Law Enforcement; and Sustainable Agriculture (Co-op).

THE APPEALGraduate Certificates at Fleming College are targeted to the specific skills and knowledge the employment sector needs.

The programs are structured to include a significant amount of direct work experience. Students opt to take these programs for the simple reason they can gain practical skills and graduate quickly into the workplace.

Another benefit occurs via the connections students make with key industry contacts. Faculty members are experts in the field, and programs are built on advice from industry professionals.

Post-graduate programs can par-ticularly appeal to university graduates as study at the university level is often theoretical and degree programs don’t generally emphasize applied learning.

The innovative programs, paired with the college’s core promise – Learn, Belong, Become – ensure students become valued members of the Fleming community while they receive an exceptional education. n


James Horner Vicky Allendes Jess Devlin Victoria Guevara Jaime Castillo

Oliver HornerDindin VillarinoDindin Villarino, Monica Ma-chuca, Marta Reyes

Stroll into the forest

Participants of the snowshoeing event Participants receive snowshoeing tips A guide gives instructions

A guide shows how to put on snow shoes

Vicky and Alonso Allendes and Victoria Guevara

Victoria Guevara, Jess Devlin, Mel Horner, Luz Ofelia Maya

Mel Horner

Luz Ofelia Maya and Monica Machuca

Vicky and Alonso Allendes

Alonso Allendes

Skills for Change, through its Leader-in-Res-idence initiative, facilitated a snowshoeing

event for newcomers and long-term immigrants in Northumberland County. The event, also supported by Northumberland Immigration Portal and the New Canadians Centre Women’s Group, gave participants the opportunity to enjoy snowshoeing for the first time.

SNOWSHOEING AT GANARASKA FOREST

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Net proceeds from the sale of magazine subscriptions are earmarked for donation to organizations that provide services to newcomers.

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NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION

Immigrants from Peterborough, Clarington, Northumberland and Lindsay converged at

the Columbus Community Centre to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The event, also a fundraiser, was organized by the Northumberland Multicultural Centre, a newly founded non-profit organiza-tion, which showcases Northumberland County’s ethnic culture and organizes cultural events to promote the county as a more welcoming com-munity to newcomers.

Carmela Valles, Bernice Hache, Alma Lagman, Dindin Villarino and Ester Itong

Patricio Allendes and Victoria Guevara and their kids, Alonso and Vicky

Rachel and Jungeon Kim

Thelma and Terry Dillon

Mercedes Timog and Bernie HacheEster and Gerry Itong and Jep Orozco

Ramon and Carmela Valles

Ramon Valles

Thelma and Terry Dillon

Ariel Gicale Carmela VallesShirley Lagman

Iljii Berbisada

Beverly Lomosad

Oliver TongcosBJ Igloria

Gerry and Ester Itong

Alma Lagman and Bernie Hache

Aaron, Shirley and Alma Lagman

Rufina Ureta, and Rosa and Peter Tyrrell

CLICK


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Car and home combo.Combine your homeowners and car policies and save big-time.Get to a better StateTM. Get State Farm®.CALL ME TODAY.

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Now let us talk about the tax issues regarding buying a real-estate property to invest and make money. There are at least three tax issues to deal with: the annual income tax, the final capital gain or loss, and the regular GST/HST returns if the property is for commercial use.

If you run a rental business, that is, renting out a property to make money, the income derived from the rent is classi-fied as investment income, which should be reported in your income tax return each year. Unless the business is carried out through a corporation, the rent income and expenses must be reported on your personal tax return using Form T776, or Statement of Real Estate Rental.

Income is the total amount of rents collected for a calen-dar year, while expenses are amounts spent to run the proper-ty, including property tax, insurance, heat, hydro, water/sewer, telephone and Internet, maintenance and repairs, accounting and legal fees, mortgage interest and bank charges, and so on. It is important to correctly claim the mortgage interest and the CCA (Capital Cost Allowance) on your income tax return.

Mortgage payments to the bank consist of two portions: principal and interest. You shall only claim the interest portion as an interest expense, not the whole payment. Total inter-est payments for a year can be found on the annual mort-gage statement from your bank. The banks normally send the

mortgage statements to you automatically every year.CCA is designed by the government to systematically al-

locate the capital cost to the business life of the property; it can be claimed each year to reduce the net rental income for the year. The amount of the CCA is determined by the purchase price of the property and the total CCA claimed for the property in previous years.

If expenses outpace income, then you have a rental loss, which can be used to reduce your other incomes. You would then get more refund or pay less income tax.

ASSET SALEIf selling a property, you need to deal with capital gain or loss. If the sale price (less selling costs) exceeds the purchase price of the property, then you realize a capital gain, and half of which is taxable. You need to add the taxable amount of the capital gain to your other incomes. In case of a loss, you may use it to offset the current year’s capital gain, or carry it back for three years or carry it forward indefinitely for future use to save your income tax.

If the property is for commercial use, you may need to register a GST/HST number, charge HST on the rent, and file GST/HST return regularly. In the GST/HST return, the HST payable is calculated based on HST collected and the HST paid. You may receive an HST refund if the HST collected is less than the HST paid for the reporting period.

Keep all records of income and expenses, in case the gov-ernment may wish to see them. And keep purchase and sale documents up to six years after the sale transaction. n

By FOREST LI

FOREST LI is a certified income-tax consultant.

A RENTAL-PROPERTY OWNER? KNOW YOUR TAXIn my previous column, I talked about the tax

benefits of purchasing a home as a principal residence. The benefits include first-time home buyer tax credit, property tax credit, GST/HST rebate for new homes, and tax savings from business-use-of-home expenses.

COLUMN TAX CLINIC


FOOD

ratio means that some of the newcomers to Canada arrive with a lifetime habit of vegetarian eating. A “vegetarian” does not con-sume any meat or fish while a “vegan” is one who does not eat any food of animal origin, including dairy products and eggs, and may not use animal products such as leather, silk or wool.

In Toronto, 10%-12% of residents eat meat-free meals. In Durham, vegetar-ians consist of 4%-5% of

SOMETHING TO DIET FORBy SALLY GRANDE

In many cultures, food is somewhat a favou-rite pastime. Food sharing facilitates budding

friendships, and relationships are actually forged around a kitchen table. But what if you are a mi-nority on the dinner table? What if you are a vegan or a vegetarian? Throughout Canada, vegetarians comprise an estimated 4% of the population.

BY THE NUMBERS

4% Vegetarians in Canada

10%-12% Vegetarians in Toronto

4%-5%Vegetarians in Durham

the population. In January 2014, Durham’s first raw-vegan restaurant, Rawli-cious, opened on Whitby’s main street.

People are vegetarians for many reasons. Many embrace the vegetarian lifestyle over ethical rea-sons. When asked why she is a vegetarian, Yvonne Dodgson, an Oshawa resi-dent replied: “We live in a cruel world, and I want to be a more compassionate person. I value life high-ly.” A twenty-something woman, also said: “Veg-anism is the right choice for me because it gives me peace. My actions are now consistent with my morals, and I know I am doing the right thing for animals, the environment, and my health.”

Others have been born into a religion requiring a meat-free diet. For exam-ple, 20%-30% of Hindus are vegetarian. Jains, fol-lowers of another ancient and important religion in India and worldwide, are all vegetarians. Nearly 5% of the world’s Jewish population is vegetarian, while roughly 35% of the Seventh Day Adventists, whose Canadian headquar-ters is based in Oshawa, are vegetarian. Beyond beliefs, whether ethical or religious, people follow a green diet over health reasons. For many of the younger vegetarians, concern about Sally Grande (in green and white) with volunteers at the annual Toronto Vegetarian Festival

In India, however, the proportion is higher: more than 40% of India’s popu-lation is vegetarian. With

India being Canada’s third source country for recent immigrants, after China and the Philippines, the


FOOD

the environment ranks supreme.

Studies show that veg-etarians and vegans often feel the pressure to adopt the dominant meat-eating lifestyle even if it violates their traditional beliefs due to fear of being ostracized and isolated. Professor Gordon Hodson at Brock University is currently analyzing a 2013 survey, which attempts to look into the extent of marginaliza-tion among vegetarians and vegans in Canada.

In 1996, Durham’s first regional vegetarian group was founded. The group, DurhamVeg, was originally called Durham Lakeside Vegetarians and constituted the eastern-most group within the Toronto Veg-etarian Association. Today, DurhamVeg coordinates monthly dinner meetings in restaurants all over Dur-ham. In 2014, DurhamVeg

plans film nights, hikes, market tours, farm visits and other activities to serve local residents. In 2009, Durham’s first vegetarian festival exceeded expecta-tions, attracting more than 5,000 visitors on a single rainy day. Every February since 2013, DurhamVeg hosts a week-long Oshawa event called HotRoots Soups in which local res-taurants celebrated Black History by using Afro-Ca-ribbean recipes for soups made with root vegetables.

DurhamVeg also con-tributes content to the food section of the Durham Immigration Portal, one of the most-visited sections of the website. For nearly 20 years, DurhamVeg has advocated for newcomer vegetarians in many ways. In 2016, DurhamVeg marks its 20th anniversary, and it hopes to celebrate in many ways. n

Phyllis at Yola's Caribbean Restaurant, 9 Bond St. W., Oshawa

LIVE YOUR EDUCATION

*Conditions apply. Visit trentu.ca/tip for details

Telephone: (705) 748-1314 | E-mail: [email protected]

trentu.ca/tipBe part of a culturally sensitive and diverse Trent International Program. We value the knowledge and perspective you bring. Upgrade your language skills to match the demand of your new work environment and the rigors of university study. Exciting new programs at Trent include: ■ Archaeology ■ Bachelor of Arts & Science ■ Journalism ■ Media Studies ■ Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems ■ New Bachelor of Business Administration at our Oshawa Campus and more than 60 existing degrees and specializations.

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