travel agency: Rating NNIn the mid-90s, Jan Lewan shortened from Lewandowski was a Grammy-nominated polka singer who hopped around in sparkly suits while rousing crowds of seniors with Polish folk tunes, according to NOW Magazine. A thick-accented immigrant to America, he also ran a souvenir shop selling trinkets and amber from Poland, ran a record label and a travel agency organizing European tours that promised meet-and-greets with the Pope. Now streaming on Netflix. The only thing that kept these businesses afloat was the millions pouring in from seniors convinced that Lewan's Polka Empire was a sound investment. His investors, who also seemed to dig polka music, wouldn't catch on that this was just one big and truly bizarre Ponzi scheme. He promised and often delivered 12 to 20 per cent interest. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

value village: Back when labour unions were fighting for a 10 minimum wage, there were townhall meetings held in low-income neighbourhoods across Toronto, according to NOW Magazine. On one of the panels, I sat beside a South Asian woman who had left an abusive relationship and was raising two children alone. Toronto, ON Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne speaks to the media after the televised Ontario Leadership Election Debate held at the CBC studios in Toronto. I will always remember her words. But I can't raise my two kids on that money, so on Saturdays and Sundays I work at Value Village. I work at Wendy's, and started at minimum wage then 8 but now I have a position of responsibility and earn 9.26 an hour. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

affairs employees: It's not clear why Lukasz Niec, 43, was taken into custody last Tuesday, according to Metro News. Niec is a legal U.S. resident who works at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. A Michigan doctor who came to the U.S. from Poland as a young child was in jail Monday, nearly a week after immigration agents arrested him at his home. He has two misdemeanour convictions from high school and an impaired driving conviction from 2008 that was later dismissed. An automatic response said the agency's public affairs employees aren't working because of the government shutdown. The Associated Press sent an email Monday seeking comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

cbc news: On Friday Demos got a one-paragraph email from an analyst with Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada telling her the news five days after CBC News published a story about her ordeal with the department, according to CBC. Government letter tells mom of 4 she's not Canadian'Lost Canadian' sues government for citizenship In a letter she received earlier this month, the registrar of citizenship told Demos the government had changed its records to reflect the fact she no longer held citizenship in addition to cancelling a citizenship certificate she held. I'm glad I get to stay, said Anneliese Demos, who hails from Paraguay and has lived in Canada since she was two-years-old. Demos is a so-called Lost Canadian due to a law that required second-generation Canadians who were born outside Canada to re-apply for citizenship before turning 28. Anneliese Demos came to Canada with her family at age two. Demos said she wasn't aware of the law. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

centre: Nashville, Tennessee-based Core Civic had proposed locating a 100 million, 1,200-bed centre about 10 miles 16 kilometres east of South Bend, according to Metro News. Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder says Core Civic officials informed the three county commissioners Monday morning that they would withdraw their petition to rezone farmland for the centre . Yoder said the company didn't give a reason why. A private prison management company on Monday scrapped plans to build a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centre in northern Indiana following fierce local opposition, county commissioners said. Commissioner Frank Lucchese confirmed the decision by the company previously known as Corrections Corp. of America. Core Civic had said its proposal was in response to an ICE request for information on possible facilities within 100 miles of Chicago.ICE detention centres have failed to win approval in at least four other communities in Indiana and Illinois over the past several years. I think Core Civic read the writing on the wall and saw it wasn't going to be a good fit for Elkhart County, Lucchese said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

government shutdowns: However, unlike previous government shutdowns in U.S. history that is, those that took place under the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Clinton, H.W. Bush and Obama President Trump's government shutdown had three characteristics that make it quite unique, according to Toronto Star. First, this was a self-induced government shutdown. On Saturday, the United States government was officially shut down. In effect, it was President Trump himself who suddenly decided to end DACA Deferral Action for Childhood Act upon its expiration in March, leaving the so-called Dreamers, their families, and the communities in which these young immigrants have been integrated in the limbo. Yet, negotiations ended when President Trump, using his self-promoted negotiation skills, managed to insult an entire continent, several countries, and various racial minorities in the U.S. Article Continued Below In truth, President Trump's unexpected changes-of-mind and continuous emotional outbursts are the root causes of today's government shutdown as the negotiating parties ended up losing trust in the President's word and the Democrats in the Senate using this government disruption as their last resource to force an immigration deal on DACA. It has become the norm; every crisis starts with Trump. This very action led Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress to propose a permanent legal protection for Dreamers in exchange for a more comprehensive immigration reform, which President Trump then conditioned upon his government receiving funding for his Wall. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

house official: A White House official said Monday evening that Trump then signed the bill, which was a product chiefly of negotiations among Senate leaders, according to CBC. Trump appears unyielding on Mexican wall, despite chief of staff's comments The House approved the funding bill by a vote of 266-150 just hours after it passed the Senate by a vote of 81-18. The fourth temporary funding bill since October easily passed the Senate and the House of Representatives. Trump's attempts to negotiate an end to the shutdown with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer collapsed on Friday in recriminations and finger-pointing. I am pleased that Democrats in Congress have come to their senses, Trump said in a statement earlier on Friday. The Republican president took a new swipe at Democrats as he celebrated the Senate's pact. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

lexus: The prominent role in the Walt Disney Co. movie, the first major superhero film to feature a black actor in the lead role and a largely black cast, is no accident, says Cooper Ericksen, Lexus' vice-president of marketing, according to Toronto Star. To succeed in shifting toward a more sporty, high-performance image, Lexus needs to reach a new audience. The Toyota Motor Corp. brand is trying to use the excitement of that cameo to end a seven-year drought as U.S. luxury sales leader. Read More Nigerian comes to U.S., launches universe of African comic book superheroes Article Continued Below We are going after a younger customer, and just from a demographic standpoint, the younger you go, the more culturally diverse the population gets, Ericksen said in an interview after showing Black Panther-themed clips last week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. As the U.S. shifts further away from a majority white country and baby boomers age and retire, companies are scrambling to position themselves with younger buyers who are increasingly non-white. The task to hit our sales plan really comes from bringing a lot of new customers into the brand. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

people home: The refugees began pouring across the border into Bangladesh in August, fleeing waves of attacks by Burma security forces and Buddhist mobs, according to Toronto Star. While the two countries have signed an agreement to begin sending people home in safety, security and dignity, the process has been chaotic and opaque, leaving international aid workers and many Rohingya afraid they would be coerced into going back to villages that they fled only months ago. There was no immediate confirmation from Burma. Abul Kalam, Bangladesh's refugee and repatriation commissioner, said a number of issues remain unresolved. It was not immediately clear when the process would start. Read more Article Continued Below Bangladesh, Burma aim to finish return of Rohingya refugees within two years Burma's military admits security forces, villagers killed Rohingya Muslims found in mass grave Burma couple risks lives for love amid Rohingya crisis react-empty 163 The main thing is that the process has to be voluntary, said Kalam, adding that paperwork for returning refugees had not yet been finalized and transit camps had yet to be built in Bangladesh. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

person: It's a bit of a shame that we're being led by a person that doesn't share those same ideals, according to Metro News. So it's unfortunate to hear those comments again but it's a narrative that we've gotten used to over the past year and unfortunately it's one that's grown far too popular. It's just another example of a person that time and time again shows that he's unfit, whether it be mentally, emotionally, just unable to kind of identify with a country that has moved on in so many ways, that has so many new ideas, so many forward ways of thinking, Altidore said when asked about Trump's comments on the opening day of Toronto's training camp. Trump, in a private meeting with legislators in January, reportedly challenged immigration from shithole'' African countries, disparaged Haiti and said the U.S. should welcome more immigration from countries like Norway. They came with no English and without a dollar to their name. Altidore said his parents, at 24 or 25, fled Haiti separately to escape the dictatorship of Papa Doc Francois Duvalier. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

project area: According to the notice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will replace the existing barriers with bollard walls to deter and prevent illegal crossings, according to CTV. Bollard walls are made up of sturdy, vertical posts that are spaced to provide visibility to the other side but are difficult to walk through There is presently a need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States to deter illegal crossings in the project area, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in the notice. The notice published in the Federal Register said the area extends around 20 miles 32 kilometres west of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry. The targeted area is part of the U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso Sector that federal officials say remains an active route for human smuggling and drug trafficking. Santa Teresa, New Mexico -- a booming industrial border town -- is west of El Paso, Texas. In 2016, officials said the Border Patrol in the sector arrested more than 25,000 immigrant suspended of trying to enter the country illegally and seized around 67,000 pounds of marijuana. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

quebec solidaire: Leader Francois Legault is putting the emphasis on his team and presented a new slogan the team of change, according to CTV. Legault began the two-day meeting by telling MNAs and other that he hopes they are well-rested because there will not be any vacation until after October 1, the date of the vote. Adele this week to prepare for the spring session of the National Assembly -- but more importantly, to lay the groundwork for this year's provincial election. CAQ is doing well in polls and believes it could form next government; a new poll by Mainstreet Research shows the CAQ ahead with 32 per cent of the vote, the Liberal Party just behind that at 31 per cent, the PQ lagging behind at 18 per cent, and Quebec solidaire at 15 per cent. It's a challenge that another third party, the ADQ, faced a decade ago, when Quebecers decided that Mario Dumont did not have a strong enough team to become government. The party said it recognizes it needs to break the perception that Legault is a one-man show. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

red-state senators: Perhaps the most powerful Democrat in Washington, Schumer has so far succeeded in keeping his party unified in a bid to use the government funding fight to push for protections for some 700,000 young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to The Chronicle Herald. But he has little margin for error in this first major test of his muscle and manoeuvring as leader. For immigration advocates, he's their best hope. The pragmatist is balancing the demands of a liberal base eager for a fight with President Donald Trump and the political realities of red-state senators anxious about their re-election prospects this fall. The question is, how do we get out of here in a way that reflects what the majority of the body wants to do, said Sen. Some of those senators met with Schumer Sunday morning and urged a compromise to end the shutdown. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

sandra antoun: Antoun, along with his wife and three children fled to Damascus where they would live for a year before packing up their few belongings and relocating to Lebanon, according to CBC. War destroyed everything Now, with the assistance of the Bedeque and Area Newcomers Relocation Committee, the family is settling into their new home, restarting their life in Canada. The family was forced to flee in 2012 from war-torn Zabadani, a city of 26,000 hit hard hard by the Syrian civil war. Before and after images of the Antouns' home in Syria. We were living a very good life in Syria, and a very happy life before the war. Submitted by Sandra Antoun There's no limit for your dreams ' Syrian family finds home in P.E.I. We had a long journey, a hard journey, Antoun said through his daughter Rosaline, who was taught English in school in Syria. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

senate: The measure needed 60 votes, and Democrats provided 33 of the 81 it got, according to The Chronicle Herald. Eighteen senators, including members of both parties, were opposed. Senate Republican leader McConnell's commitment to quickly tackle the issue of immigrant Dreamers was contingent on Democrats providing enough votes now for a stopgap spending measure lasting a little less than three weeks. Before the government can reopen the Senate must vote on final passage, the House must approve in turn, and President Donald Trump must sign the measure. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer lent his backing to the agreement during a speech on the chamber's floor. Democrats climbed onboard after two days of negotiations that ended with new reassurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate would consider immigration proposals in the coming weeks. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

yazidi association: Hon, according to National Observer. Justin Trudeau, will you meet me Hadji Hesso, the association's president, said the organization hopes the federal government can bring more Yazidi refugees to Canada, noting there are children who have been freed after the defeat of ISIL in Iraq, but who have no one to help them. In a video posted to Facebook by the Yazidi Association of Manitoba, 13-year-old Emad Mishko Tamo holds up a sign thanking Canada for helping him, followed by another sign stating that he wants to share his story and be a voice for other Yazidi children still in captivity. ; There's a thousand other kids like me who are still held captive, one of Emad's signs states. A lot of these children are coming back but there's no parents, there's no family left. Emad was separated from his mother, Nofa Mihlo Zaghla, after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant displaced thousands of members of the Kurdish-minority Yazidis in 2014, but he was freed last summer in the city of Mosul. They've all been killed or massacred and nobody knows where the rest of their families are, Hesso said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

box-office chart: That makes Sony's reboot the studio's best non-Spider-Man movie domestically, not adjusting for inflation, according to CTV. The film's unexpectedly strong staying power has lent a boost to the January box office but kept new releases from reaching the top of the box-office chart. Jumanji, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, sold 20 million in tickets, according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its five-week domestic total to 317 million. Jumanji has also reigned overseas, where it has grossed 450.8 million and topped all films internationally for three straight weeks. The Warner Bros. release, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, is a fact-based tale, adapted from Doug Stanton's bestseller Horse Soldiers, about a group of Special Forces soldiers sent into northern Afghanistan just weeks after Sept. 11. 12 Strong appealed largely to an older crowd. The war drama 12 Strong, starring Chris Hemsworth, debuted in second with 16.5 million in ticket sales. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

city: I didn't take the chance to move somewhere else because I like it here and I'm used to it, my family is here, according to CTV. Elias was brought from Syria to Moncton by his brother-in-law eight years ago. I decided to stay, it's a nice city, friendly people, says Elian Elias. Since arriving in the Maritimes, he has opened three businesses including a restaurant in the city's downtown. I've seen too many sad stories every day, he says. For two hours every day, Elias offers hot food to the homeless at zero cost. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

house officials: This week, the department's top official made it clear that, when it comes to elections, her focus is on safeguarding state and local voting systems from cyberattacks and other manipulation, according to CTV. While the U.S. Department of Justice has broad authority to investigate voter fraud claims, White House officials said previously that Homeland Security was the best agency to take over the work of the now-disbanded Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. He transferred the work of the commission investigating his claim to the Department of Homeland Security. A Justice Department official declined comment this week on whether the agency was conducting any reviews related to voter fraud, but confirmed that no voter data collected by the commission, nor analysis of the data, was given to the agency before the commission was disbanded. They and numerous state election officials were alarmed when the commission issued a broad request to states last spring for detailed information on their voters, including partial Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and voting history. The end of the commission is welcome news to voting rights advocates concerned that its ultimate goal was to promote voter-suppression efforts. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

immigrants: Part of the study, to be presented at a national conference in March on immigration and settlement policies, examines the ethnic differences in after-tax incomes across first, second and third generations of immigrants by ethnicity in the prime working age between 35 and 44, according to Toronto Star. For immigrants white or non-white that upward socioeconomic mobility based on earnings fizzled by the third generation when all groups, except for the Korean and Japanese, made significantly less money than their second-generation parents. While visible-minority immigrants tend to earn less than their white immigrant counterparts, their kids more than make up the income gap between the two groups and also outperform their white peers in the second generation, according to a report by the Association of Canadian Studies based on 2016 census data. Article Continued Below According to Jack Jedwab, the report's author, visible-minority immigrants made an average of 38,065 a year, compared to 47,978 earned by white immigrants. The white group also includes those who self-identified as Aboriginal, who makes up 6.1 per cent of the group. react-empty 206 While all children of immigrants of colour did better than their parents, some communities fared better than others. Read more Do your neighbours make more than you Search our map of income in the GTAOverall, children of visible-minority immigrants made a 47 per cent leap in their average earnings above their parents, making 55,994 annually, surpassing their white second-generation peers, who made 54,174 annually or 13 per cent more than their own parents. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

noon monday: Under the proposal taking shape, Democratic would agree to a three-week spending measure until Feb. 8 in return for a commitment from the Republican leadership in the Senate to address immigration policy and other pressing legislative matters in the coming weeks, according to Metro News. But Democrats appeared to be holding out for a firmer commitment from McConnell. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said negotiations were still underway late into the night, with a vote to break a Democratic filibuster on a short-term funding bill scheduled for noon Monday. We have yet to reach an agreement on a path forward, Schumer said late Sunday. Democrats have sought to use the spending bill to win concessions, including protections for roughly 700,000 younger immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children. McConnell's comments followed hours of behind-the-scenes talks between the leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers over how to end the display of legislative dysfunction, which began Friday at midnight after Democrats blocked a temporary spending measure. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

people subject: While 3,639 of them voluntarily complied with their removal order, the others were forced to leave with escorts or had transportation costs paid by the government, according to CBC. The data, provided to CBC News from the Canada Border Services Agency CBSA shows a similar pattern over the past six years. 15,000 on Canada's deportation list America's loss could be Canada's gain Sharry Aiken, an immigration law expert at Queen's University, said people subject to removal orders who don't leave voluntarily don't necessarily go underground or intentionally evade immigration authorities. In 2017, there were 8,200 removals of failed refugee claimants, people who had outstayed their travel, work or student visa or were considered a risk to public safety. Many of them just don't have the money to leave. I think a program that supports individuals to leave and resettle with dignity in their home countries is appropriate, particularly when it comes to failed refugee claims, she told CBC News. She said Canada could follow the lead of other countries, including several in Europe, that offer generous repatriation allowances. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

policy adviser: We're a nation of laws, according to Toronto Star. Cecilia Mu oz, a longtime immigrant-rights advocate who served as President Barack Obama's domestic policy adviser, calls those words pejorative and prefers alternatives such as undocumented immigrants. I think it's a way to define a problem, Larson said. Aliens, in the public mind, are not a good thing, Mu oz said. Article Continued Below But people on both sides say the yawning gap in language has come to symbolize and directly contribute to the inability of Congress, and the general public, to forge consensus. Their disagreement over how to describe an estimated population of 11 million people might seem like minor semantics in the tempestuous, decades-long debate over how to overhaul the nation's immigration system. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

emad: There's a thousand other kids like me who are still held captive, one of Emad's signs states, according to Toronto Star. Hon. In a video posted to Facebook by the Yazidi Association of Manitoba, 13-year-old Emad Mishko Tamo holds up a sign thanking Canada for helping him, followed by another sign stating that he wants to share his story and be a voice for other Yazidi children still in captivity. Justin Trudeau, will you meet me Article Continued Below Read more Tearful mother-and-child reunion after 12-year-old former Daesh captive arrives in Winnipeg Yazidi refugee's son, 12, found recovering from gunshot wounds at refugee camp Hadji Hesso, the association's president, said the organization hopes the federal government can bring more Yazidi refugees to Canada, noting there are children who have been freed after the defeat of Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Iraq, but who have no one to help them. react-empty 163 A lot of these children are coming back but there's no parents, there's no family left. Emad was separated from his mother, Nofa Mihlo Zaghla, after Daesh displaced thousands of members of the Kurdish-minority Yazidis in 2014, but he was freed last summer in the city of Mosul. They've all been killed or massacred and nobody knows where the rest of their families are, Hesso said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

british columbia: The province is no longer very British, if it ever was.article continues below Trending Stories Gang activity on the rise in Vancouver Robson Square pot market out of control,' Vancouver police say Song remains the same over rumours Led Zeppelin played at Eric Hamber high school Strong winds knock out power; Mt, according to Vancouver Courier. Washington snowed in; ferry sailings resumerelated Trutch Street, named for 'racist' politician, up for debate One-year-old Crosstown elementary could be getting a new name So why, Pires asks again, is it still called British Columbia To which, again, I reply Because Saskatchewan had first choice No, Victoria's Pires is serious about this, just as he was a decade ago when he pitched the idea to then-premier Gordon Campbell and B.C.'s MLAs. The demographics have shifted further, he says, with people drawn here from around the world. Or, at least, the former president of Victoria's Inter-Cultural Association is serious about getting people to think of what it takes to be an inclusive society. Whole countries do it. And no, he says, it doesn't help when the name of place can be read as a declaration of who really belongs.B.C. wouldn't be the first place to change its name. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

community centre: Gone are the porno theatres, street prostitution and vacant storefronts, according to Vancouver Courier. In their place; breweries, restaurants and organic bakeries. The past decade has seen one of Vancouver's oldest working-class neighbourhoods undergo a remarkable transformation. Kingsway, Broadway and Main are sprouting with shiny new condos reaching for the sky as new businesses and residents move in every day. Washington snowed in; ferry sailings resume Earlier this year, global commercial real estate juggernaut Cushman& Wakefield named Main Street one of the top 15 coolest streets in North America. There's even a new community centre and library.article continues below Trending Stories Gang activity on the rise in Vancouver Robson Square pot market out of control,' Vancouver police say Song remains the same over rumours Led Zeppelin played at Eric Hamber high school Strong winds knock out power; Mt. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.