immigrants

Amelia Sirianni is the new executive director of Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Services Society. (Contributed)

Vernon immigrant society names new executive director

Amelia Sirianni promoted from director of operations

  • Mar 23, 2023

 

A boat sits overturned on Blacks Beach, Sunday, March 12, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

8 dead after smuggling boat capsizes off San Diego coast

Officials say the water was fairly calm, but that the area can be very dangerous

 

A body and the wreckage from a capsized boat are seen at a beach near Cutro, southern Italy, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. Rescue officials say an undetermined number of migrants have died and dozens have been rescued after their boat broke apart off southern Italy. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Pipita)

Migrant boat breaks up off Italian coast, killing nearly 60

Dozens still missing after wooden boat struck rocky reefs

 

The Vernon Newcomers Club is finally resuming meetings on Dec. 6. (Gary Youde)

Newcomers back in action in Vernon

Club hosts ‘restart’ meeting at library for anyone interested

The Vernon Newcomers Club is finally resuming meetings on Dec. 6. (Gary Youde)
The Saint Teresa Council Knights of Columbus donated more than 40 winter coats to newcomer children in Vernon this year. (Submitted photo)

More than 40 kids winter coats donated to Vernon newcomers

Newcomers to the community include Ukrainian families fleeeing their war-torn homeland

The Saint Teresa Council Knights of Columbus donated more than 40 winter coats to newcomer children in Vernon this year. (Submitted photo)
A border marker is shown just outside of Emerson, Man., Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. Mounties have confirmed some of the movements of an Indian migrant family who froze to death near the Canadian-U.S. border earlier this year, but say they are still unsure how the family made it there. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

RCMP release new details about Indian migrant family who died at border

Mounties believe the family’s travels were part of a larger human smuggling network

A border marker is shown just outside of Emerson, Man., Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. Mounties have confirmed some of the movements of an Indian migrant family who froze to death near the Canadian-U.S. border earlier this year, but say they are still unsure how the family made it there. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
(Submitted photo)

Immigrant workers enjoying the North Okanagan and filling a need

The Rural Northern Immigration Pilot has filled 296 job openings with newcomers from 48 countries

(Submitted photo)
Migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, rest at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Turkey, Greece trade accusations over 92 naked migrants

Greece accuses Turkey of pushing migrants over the border, Turkey accuses Greece of ‘fake news’

Migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, rest at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
FILE - Venezuelan migrants walk across the Rio Bravo towards the United States border to surrender to the border patrol, from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Oct. 13, 2022. President Joe Biden last week invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42, which Biden’s own Justice Department is fighting in court, to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border. The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)

Biden turning to Trump-era rule to expel Venezuelan migrants

President denying Venezuelans the chance to request asylum ahead of midterm elections

FILE - Venezuelan migrants walk across the Rio Bravo towards the United States border to surrender to the border patrol, from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Oct. 13, 2022. President Joe Biden last week invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42, which Biden’s own Justice Department is fighting in court, to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border. The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File)
The Canada Flag flies on top of the East Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Rallies are planned in cities across Canada today to call on Ottawa to extend permanent status to undocumented migrants. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Migrants across Canada call on feds for action on regularization, permanent status

Regularization program during COVID granted international health-care workers asylum

The Canada Flag flies on top of the East Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Rallies are planned in cities across Canada today to call on Ottawa to extend permanent status to undocumented migrants. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Ashki Shkur, originally from Iraq, will be graduating from Britannia Secondary School in Vancouver this week after achieving a 97 per cent average her senior year. (Contributed photo)

After crossing into B.C. illegally in 2017, Vancouver teen heading to UBC

Ashki Shkur and her family came to Canada to escape war in Kurdistan and Trump’s America

Ashki Shkur, originally from Iraq, will be graduating from Britannia Secondary School in Vancouver this week after achieving a 97 per cent average her senior year. (Contributed photo)
Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Services Society (VDICSS) executive director Amelia Sirianni (centre) receives a donation from the Willis Family Foundation’s Noelle Crombie (left) and Brendan Willis. The money will be used for VDICSS’ post-secondary immigrant bursary program. (Contributed)

Donations boost Vernon immigrant bursary program

Vernon and District Immigrant Community Services Society to award up to two, $2,000 scholarships

Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Services Society (VDICSS) executive director Amelia Sirianni (centre) receives a donation from the Willis Family Foundation’s Noelle Crombie (left) and Brendan Willis. The money will be used for VDICSS’ post-secondary immigrant bursary program. (Contributed)
The Vernon Family Resource Centre recently received a $5,000 Multiculturalism Grant to help run an outreach program for refugees and immigrants. Program facilitator Ziyba Ibragimova hopes to expand the program to two meetings per week to accommodate incoming refugees from Ukraine. (Submitted photo)

Outreach program supporting dozens of Ukrainian refugees in Vernon

Vernon Family Resource Centre and VDICSS recently received a $5,000 grant to expand services

The Vernon Family Resource Centre recently received a $5,000 Multiculturalism Grant to help run an outreach program for refugees and immigrants. Program facilitator Ziyba Ibragimova hopes to expand the program to two meetings per week to accommodate incoming refugees from Ukraine. (Submitted photo)
RNIP

North Okanagan residents open homes to immigrants

Gain a happy face around the house, some extra cash and help newcomers

RNIP
FILE - A damaged inflatable small boat is pictured on the shore in Wimereux, northern France, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021 in Calais, northern France. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it has received a manslaughter lawsuit for failure to help in the tragic capsizing last month of a boat in the English Channel that cost the lives of at least 27 people trying to reach Britain. The manslaughter lawsuit, filed Friday, Dec. 17, 2021 by the French humanitarian organization Utopia 56, accuses the maritime prefect of the Channel and North Sea, the Regional Operational Centre for Surveillance and Rescue of Gris-Nez in the Pas-de-Calais and the British Coast Guard of not doing enough to prevent the deaths. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

English Channel rescuers accused of manslaughter in migrant deaths

Suit alleges people were abandoned ‘despite calls to the English and French rescue services,’ 27 died

FILE - A damaged inflatable small boat is pictured on the shore in Wimereux, northern France, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021 in Calais, northern France. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it has received a manslaughter lawsuit for failure to help in the tragic capsizing last month of a boat in the English Channel that cost the lives of at least 27 people trying to reach Britain. The manslaughter lawsuit, filed Friday, Dec. 17, 2021 by the French humanitarian organization Utopia 56, accuses the maritime prefect of the Channel and North Sea, the Regional Operational Centre for Surveillance and Rescue of Gris-Nez in the Pas-de-Calais and the British Coast Guard of not doing enough to prevent the deaths. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)
Syed Hussan, Executive Director of Migrant Workers Alliance, speaks to demonstrators during an action in support of migrant worker rights in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, in Toronto, on Sunday, Aug., 23, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Refusal rate for immigration on humanitarian and compassionate grounds rising: data

The 2021 figures, which only include up to Feb. 28, show the rate of applications refused climbed to 70%

Syed Hussan, Executive Director of Migrant Workers Alliance, speaks to demonstrators during an action in support of migrant worker rights in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, in Toronto, on Sunday, Aug., 23, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
A winter 2020 report highlights the role immigration can play in countering Vernon’s rapidly aging workforce. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

More immigration key to balancing Vernon’s aging workforce: report

The national Immigration Matters profile series highlights Vernon’s rapidly changing demographics

A winter 2020 report highlights the role immigration can play in countering Vernon’s rapidly aging workforce. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Tima Kurdi, touches a photo of her nephews Alan, left, and Ghalib Kurdi while speaking to the media outside her home in Coquitlam, B.C., on Thursday September 3, 2015. Alan, his older brother Ghalib and their mother Rehan died as they tried to reach Europe from Syria. The uncle of the three-year-old Syrian boy whose lifeless body has put a devastating human face on the Syrian refugee crisis has assailed Canada’s refugee process. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Canada is the most migrant friendly country in the world, according to Gallup

This is Gallup’s second administration of its Migrant Acceptance Index.

Tima Kurdi, touches a photo of her nephews Alan, left, and Ghalib Kurdi while speaking to the media outside her home in Coquitlam, B.C., on Thursday September 3, 2015. Alan, his older brother Ghalib and their mother Rehan died as they tried to reach Europe from Syria. The uncle of the three-year-old Syrian boy whose lifeless body has put a devastating human face on the Syrian refugee crisis has assailed Canada’s refugee process. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
(Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. immigrant group to launch legal clinics for newcomers

The society will use the money to hire lawyers and legal staff for no cost to its clients.

(Black Press Media file photo)
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