All in Ethnic communities
On February 2, Prime Minister announced that another 1125 police staff, including 880 sworn police officers, will be funded over the next four years to reduce crime and prevent reoffending. Also, the PM, noting the need to give ethnic communities a strong voice in the Government, has appointed several List MPs of ethnic origins as parliamentary private secretaries to assist ministers with ethnic communities and police portfolios.
Two outstanding German singers will perform in this year’s Gala of German Opera, which is part of the annual Lansdown Narropera Festival held at 132 Old Tai Tapu Road between February 12 and March 26.
They include the soprano Dorothee Jansen, who is the wife of Christchurch’s Haydn Rawstron, who created the concept of narrating the story of an opera during the presentation of its most significant arias.
The Labour Inspectorate has successfully applied to have ‘company officers’ made personally liable for $138,836 in arrears over the last month, after the companies went into liquidation. One case was when wife of a Nando’s franchisee, Corrado Ramada, was found liable in November for the $70,053 in arrears that the company owed in unpaid wages and holiday pay, when the company was liquidated and the director was declared bankrupt. Another case was of the Indian retail clothing stores Khoobsurat Collections/ Naari Collections.
The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) has ordered three owner-operators of Auckland Indian clothing retailers Khoobsurat Collections/Naari Collections Ltd to pay $60,000 for intimidating two of their previous employees. Both ex-employees were serving as witnesses in a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Labour Inspectorate investigation.
Immigration New Zealand has published the offshore student visa approval rates for 2016 on their website indicating that India had an approval rate of 46 percent with 7562 visas accepted and 8818 rejections. This easily tops the rejection numbers as the next on list is China with only 649 rejections. The country had an approval rate of 93 percent with 8194 students coming to New Zealand to study from China last year. Third and fourth on the list are the Philippines and Bangladesh with 473 and 418 rejections respectively. While Philippines had an approval rate of 72 percent, Bangladesh had a much lower rate of only 23 percent.
New Zealand is benefitting from immigration a new report by The New Zealand Initiative says. It also found that the current immigration policy settings are broadly fit-for-purpose, but policymakers should be vigilant to ensure this remains the case.
Launched on January 30, The New New Zealanders: Why migrants make good Kiwis looks at the many people who are choosing to make New Zealand their home, and the effect they have on our society.
Reza Jarvandi is presenting a Farsi-language programme, Toranj, on community radio station Plains FM96.9 that is of interest not only to Iranians but also covers people from other countries where that language is spoken, such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and a part of India. The 30-minute, fortnightly programme started at 7pm on Wednesday, January 11. It is funded by the Ethnic Communities Development Fund.
The Human Rights Commission has called on New Zealanders to stand alongside Muslim New Zealanders in the wake of the United States ban on immigration from some Middle Eastern nations.
“So many of us are feeling helpless but the one thing we can do is let our own decision makers know that we will not allow hatred and intolerance to spread and become normalised here at home: Not in our New Zealand,” said Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy.
The Christchurch-based Indian Cultural Group(ICG) and Auckland-based community organisation based in Manukau, Sahaayta, came together last Saturday in Christchurch to launch a once-a-month meeting-over-coffee club. “Our goal is to focus on empowerment of South Asian women by providing a platform for women to come together and exchange life experiences.
Almost six years after suffering extensive damage in the 2011 Earthquake, ISKCON Christchurch will be holding a three-day grand opening ceremony of its newly constructed Hare Krishna Centre between 3 and 5 March this year.
Though still over a month to go, the Garden City has already started gearing up for the fourth celebration of Christchurch's Holi - the Festival of Colours. And the icing on the cake is, the event this time - being organised on March 4, Saturday, on the corner of Madras and Gloucester Streets (opposite Latimer Square) in Central City - will have free entry. Christchurch's new Crown company Otakaro Limited is one of the main sponsors of the event.
2017 is the 120th anniversary of the birth of Rewi Alley, whose 60 years of work for the Chinese community has made him one of the most revered foreigners in China. To commemorate the occassion, the book written by his niece Philipa Reynolds in 1997, will be updated and republished by the Christchurch China Sister Cities Committee. More info can be sought from New Zealand China Friendship Society (nzchinasociety.org.nz).
The Canterbury Migrants Centre in collaboration with Christchurch City Libraries and Christchurch City Council celebrated the Lunar New Year Family Fun Day on February 4 at the Halswell Centre. Apart from performances by the Qiao Yi Lion Dance Team and Kids Tibetan group dance, the day also witnessed a tea ceremony, Chinese Shuttecock (Jianzi), Chinese yo-yo, and Year of the Rooster arts and crafts.
The two-day event was held at the City's Isaac Theatre Royal on January 16 and 17, and saw performances by the Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe, and Wuhan Opera and Dancing Theatre. More than 800 people attended the celebrations on the 16th including 13 mayors from various South Island councils. Minister Nicky Wagner and MPs Jian Yang and Maureen Pugh were also present. Consul General Jin Zhijian noted that the show was the first performance from China at the historic venue after the 2011 Earthquake. The event also celebrated the completion of 10 years of sister city relationship between Christchurch and Wuhan.
Delia Richards, Liaison Manager for Filipino worker's Social Integration Programme at Canterbury Migrants Centre, and also the founder and President of the community organisation Philippine Culture and Sports, and Christchurch City Councillor Jimmy Chen (on right of Delia), kicking off preparations for Pistang Pilipino 2017 sa Christchurch (PPSC), on February 4.
The health benefits of delicious Korean food were explained late last month at a "Learn from What You Eat" gathering at Hagley Community College. Pearl Park, who did most of the cooking with the assistance of Tenny Jang, explained that Korean food was basically very healthy. For example, Korea’s national dish, the highly spiced pickled cabbage, kimchi, helped increase digestion.
Aimed at three outcomes of Whanaungatanga — sense of belonging, Tūrangawaewae — a place for all to stand, and Whai wahitanga — participation; and in works for years, the final draft of the Christchurch Multicultural Strategy – Our Future Together, is all set to be adopted by the Christchurch City Council on February 9.
The Zimbabwe High Achievers Awards Dinner was held at Papanui Workingmen's Club in Christchurch November 19, 2016. The event was the first of its kind and was well attended with over140 people present. This event was sponsored by the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)'s African Programme popularly known by its brand name Love Cover Protect (LCP).
Presented in the Vietnamese language, the Plains FM96.9 radio programme “Nhip Cau Thong Tin” (“Making Connections”) provides the opportunity to obtain information on settling and integrating into a new country for Vietnamese people living in Canterbury, as well as possible immigrants still living Vietnam who are being given access to podcasts of the show. Some of them download the podcasts and listen to them in their own time.
China-NZ relations have grown impressively since the FTA of 2008; It's a comprehensive and strategic partnership now; Challenges on One China policy and South China Sea remains; Consulate General's office in Christchurch represents the Chinese Government in the South Island; The Chinese community in New Zealand doesn't face widespread discrimination; It's not racism. It's not a widespread problem. Just few cases here and there; We are concerned about the recent physical attacks on the Chinese community and want to see those cases dealt with promptly by the New Zealand Government organizations; It's in everyone’s interests to see more Chinese visitors coming to New Zealand and the New Zealand government has made it very clear that they welcome all foreign visitors including Chinese visitors here
