Did the great Canadian dream kill this man? Tue, May 30 2006 in Asian Pacific Post

Feng Bo was an excellent teacher at the Shanghai Xiangming Middle School for many years. For his efforts, the 31-year-old was given the “Pace-setter of the New Long March” – an honour awarded to those who made great achievements in their work in China. Three years ago he left for Toronto’s Chinatown to start his own computer store. On April 9, the Shanghainese immigrant was found dead in his basement suite.

Now newspapers in Shanghai are reporting that Feng Bo died of overwork – the third such case in Canada during the past year, according to the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post. According to China’s consulate-general in Toronto, Feng’s parents arrived in Toronto to deal with his affairs.

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Toronto Star Recent immigrants suffer most under EI system. Many newcomers can find only part-time and temporary jobs, By Ken Georgetti

It would seem like a reasonable expectation that if you pay insurance premiums you should be able to collect benefits when hard times hit. But our current Employment Insurance system falls far short, particularly for new Canadians. Only 23 per cent of recent immigrants who experience unemployment receive EI benefits, compared to 31 per cent of non-immigrant unemployed workers.Women fare much worse. Among unemployed immigrant women, merely 19 per cent qualify for EI when 30 per cent of other unemployed women do.

The Canadian Labour Congress has long been fighting for an EI program that is fair and adapted to the reality and needs of workers.

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CanWest News Service, 30 December 2003
Eric Beauchesne

Three provinces and two major cities are dependent on immigrants to keep their workforces from shrinking, a business and labour think-tank says in an analysis to be released today. And other jurisdictions will soon find themselves in the same boat, according to the Canadian Labour and Business Centre.

The study found that were it not for immigration, Nova Scotia, and to a lesser extent, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, plus the country’s two most populous cities, Toronto and Montreal, would actually have suffered a drop in workforce population.

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