Latest news with #multicultural
SBS Australia
2 days ago
- General
- SBS Australia
Australian Visa 2025: Why more Indian nationals are seeking protection visas
Disclaimer: This information is intended as a general guide. For advice tailored to your situation, please consult a qualified professional. LISTEN TO SBS Hindi 15/07/2025 06:05 Hindi LISTEN TO SBS Hindi 15/07/2025 07:53 Hindi
CBC
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Surrey Fusion Festival celebrates diversity in arts, culture and community
One of B.C.'s largest free multicultural festivals is taking place at Surrey's Holland Park this weekend. As Sohrab Sandhu reports, the two-day event is a celebration of unity and diversity with more than 50 cultural pavilions
Japan Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First' policy and calls for inclusive society
The leader of Japan's largest opposition party has criticized the concept of 'Japanese First' policy — advocated by small, right-wing party Sanseito — saying foreign residents are critical to maintaining Japan's economy and calling for a multicultural society that respects minorities. Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda made the remarks while campaigning in Sendai and in Ibaraki Prefecture earlier this week ahead of Sunday's Upper House election. Noda warned that division and conflict were growing around the world, sowing the seeds of war. 'Unfortunately, in Japan as well, political forces have emerged that are stoking division and conflict through their rhetoric. If there are political forces seeking to gain political points by excluding foreigners, I will firmly oppose them,' Noda said during his Sunday appearance in Sendai. The issue of foreign residents in Japan, rarely a topic in election campaigning, has now become a hot topic of debate as Japan's foreign population continues to grow. Sanseito has adopted 'Japanese First' as its main slogan and the party's Upper House election platform. The platform includes a promise to implement immigration restrictions limiting the number of foreign residents to 5% of the population in each municipality. As of the end of 2024, the number of foreign residents in Japan stood at a record 3.77 million — up 10.5% from the year before, but still only about 3% of the total population. It was obvious, Noda added, that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation. 'For example, in the field of nursing care, it's estimated that 2.7 million workers will be needed by 2040. That's 15 years from now. Currently, there are about 2.1 million workers. But due to harsh working conditions, new people are not entering the field, and some are leaving. Closing this gap of 600,000 workers will be extremely difficult,' Noda said. While Noda did not specifically name Sanseito in his speeches, he criticized the concept of placing restrictions on foreign residents just to prioritize Japanese people, especially at a time when such residents are already contributing to Japanese society. 'Japanese first. Japan first. If that's the case, isn't (accepting foreign residents) for the greater good of our country?' he said during a separate rally in the city of Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Wednesday. 'When you go to a convenience store, isn't the person selling you rice balls a foreign employee? Aren't there a lot of foreign workers in manufacturing plants? Aren't there a lot of foreign workers in construction sites and public transportation right now? Aren't we relying on foreign workers because of the shortage of caregivers?' Noda said. The CDP leader suggested that the idea foreign residents receive preferential treatment is a misconception that may be rooted in the fact that many Japanese are feeling hardship in their daily lives, rather than an indication of such residents actually being treated favorably. If the reason for their discontent is because wages aren't increasing as much as price hikes, resolving those issues is what needs to be done, he said. 'That's why we, the opposition parties, including the CDP, need to unite and overthrow the LDP-led administration.'
BBC News
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Southampton Mela Festival aims to bring communities together
One of the organisers of a two-day event celebrating traditional and modern South Asian culture says it is "not just about a particular community".This weekend's Southampton Mela Festival will showcase work from communities across the Hampshire city, including Chinese dragons and African drummers, says Dahlia Jamil, chief executive of Art Asia."Life is quite challenging for everyone but particularly people of certain faiths and ethnicities - and by that I mean white people as well as non-white people," she tells the BBC. About 20,000 festival-goers are expected to attend the music and arts event at Hoglands Park. Art Asia works across Southampton and the wider region running classes in South Asian music and dance, putting on other performances and demonstrations as well as the Mela Jamil has been organising the now two-day event for more than 20 it free is "so important" and "brings all communities together", she says."You may have a certain heritage but this is where you are going to be living, working, engaging," she says, adding that "if you do not mix or if everybody does not talk to, or speak to everyone... the world will become more isolated"."For me, working in the arts, it is so important that I use it as a tool not only to engage but to enhance and build up tolerance of people." Art Asia's Dr Pooja Angra says the "multicultural element is one thing that I enjoy the most at Southampton Mela".Dr Angra, who trained in Indian classical music at the University of Delhi, will be performing at the event, playing a selection of Bollywood and Sufi music."What I really like about Southampton Mela is that although the focus is on South Asian music, it has created a special stage for musicians around the globe," she says. "We have always been working with diverse communities - African, Chinese - this year we are working with the Mexican community, flamenco artists, so it's a wide array of musicians and art forms." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
National Post
10-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Jamie Sarkonak: The CRTC is trying to tell local newsrooms what to report. It needs to stop
Article content The fund recipients that will now have to ask these questions include 15 Global News stations, three Jim Pattison Broadcast Group stations (in Medicine Hat, Kamloops and Prince George), Newfoundland's NTV, Hamilton's Channel Zero, Victoria's CHEK-TV, Lethbridge's Miracle Channel, Thunder Bay's CKPR-TV, along with several Quebec channels owned by RNC Media and Télé Inter-Rives. Article content The CRTC framed this as a simple measure of compliance with the law. The Broadcasting Act, prior to 2022, stated that the Canadian broadcasting system should reflect the 'multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society.' After 2022, this language was intensified with the passing of the controversial Online Streaming Act; now, the system should 'support community broadcasting that reflects both the diversity of the communities being served, including with respect to the languages in use within those communities and to their ethnocultural and Indigenous composition.' Article content There was a time when this merely meant that Canadian broadcasting should allow for multicultural programming; yes, Canada had language rules in broadcasting, as well as Canadian content requirements, but the CRTC wasn't concerned about ethnic scorekeeping. In 2013, the idea of even mandating regional content quotas was considered by the regulator to be an infringement of journalistic independence. Article content That all began to change under the Liberal government, however. The Liberals don't control the CRTC directly, of course, but they do decide who the commissioners are and what the broadcasting laws say. They can also step in if the CRTC takes its mission widely off course, as it's been doing for the past few years now. Article content In 2022, the CRTC imposed diversity quotas on parts of the CBC's programming budget to 'reflect contemporary Canada' — i.e., to achieve the regulator's preferred demographic balance. Article content Among other requirements, the CBC was required to spend 30 per cent of its budget line for English commissioned TV programs on diverse producers (the quota will rise to 35 per cent next year). A smaller quota was applied to the French side (which will reach 15 per cent next year). This was a direct, propagandistic intrusion by the regulator — and really, the Canadian government — into the editorial realm. Article content Article content In 2024, the CRTC began collecting a five per cent government cut from the revenues of international digital streamers operating in Canada — Spotify, Netflix, YouTube, etc. — which functionally became a diversity tax. The CRTC used the funds to advance its evergreen goal of equity, with payouts going to the intensely diversity-oriented Canada Media Fund, to media creators who checked diversity boxes, and to the Independent Local News Fund, which has now been absorbed into the CRTC's DEI machine. Article content The CRTC has seen a whole lot of mission bloat in this last decade, and we continue to pay for it. Literally. The staff headcount at the regulator's office rose from 450 in 2016 to 733 in 2025 — an increase of 63 per cent. And as it piles more regulatory requirements onto the companies it supervises, they have to hire more people in turn. We can assume any related bills are passed on to subscribers. Article content
