Friday, February 11, 2011

Toronto Ethiopian immigrants being cheated of services: Grit MP

(February 10, 2011, OTTAWA)--The Conservatives are starving Toronto’s new immigrants by refocusing settlement money to areas where the Tories can make electoral gains, the Liberals charged Thursday.

Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy said his analysis suggests the federal government is not refocusing cash to reflect new settlements patterns as Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said it was in December, but rather cheating high need areas in the Greater Toronto Area of services.

“This is partisanship,” he told reporters Thursday. “Where there is more representation (from Conservative MPs), there is more dollars and where they don’t (have MPs), there isn’t,” Kennedy said.

He added the Tories dolled out stimulus cash in a similar fashion, but this was more reprehensible because people’s lives were being toyed with. Kripa Sekhar, executive director of Toronto's South Asian Women’s Centre, said her group is set to lose 67% of its funding.

“That’s about $575,000 (and) there will really be no agency to pick up the pieces,” she said. Mesfin Yikuno, an Ethiopian-Canadian who benefited from services in several Toronto agencies, said the cuts have trigged a crisis, creating “psychological chaos” and many people remained shocked.

“It was obviously a politically motivated decision,” he said. The Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and Surrounding Regions had 86% of its budget slashed, said its president Haile Fenta. The association has provided settlement services to poor immigrants for the last three decades and serves close to 36 languages groups, its staff said.

“We were never given any notice. It was just decided. This is really shocking for a small organization like us,” Fenta said. “We urge the minister to reconsider his decision.” Kenney’s spokesman, Alykhan Velshi, denied any politicking saying immigration officials had recommending reshuffling the money to new areas.

“We are very confident that there is the capacity to provide those services to any immigrant in Ontario who wants them,” Velshi said. Opposition MPs passed a motion Thursday that will force MPs to vote next week on whether the $53-million cuts taking effect in March should be reversed.
Source: Toronto Sun

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