Dispatches provide timely bimonthly information on results, upcoming events, and updates on various experiments conducted by the international Metropolis partners. It is your communications device; please make use of it. To have information placed in Dispatches, please contact Erin Tolley at erin.tolley@cic.gc.ca.

Partner Update

Canadian Heritage

Http://www.Culture.ca, an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage, as part of the Canadian Culture Online Strategy, is a public space developed in collaboration with partners and the private and public sectors. "Culture.ca aims to engage Canadians in cultural life, to educate and entertain Web surfers with the stories of many peoples, and to provide access to the best of Canadian culture on-line." The Culture.ca gateway is a gathering place and knowledge platform where you can share and exchange high quality information on the diversity and vitality of cultural life in Canada. You can connect to the history, art, peoples, places, sports, and media that help define who we are as Canadians. This site is for anyone who wants to explore, find, and share in the best of Canada's cultural and creative life.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has recently published a series entitled, Recent Immigrants in Metropolitan Areas, based on the 2001 Census. This series includes Canada and thirteen Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs): Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, Québec and Halifax. The profiles explore the background of recent immigrants, including immigrant category, country of birth, age, gender, language, education, family and household structure. Different aspects of economic participation and income are also explored, such as labour market participation, jobs and the sources, level and distribution of income. The profiles are expected to be posted on the CIC website in Fall 2005 (www.cic.gc.ca). To obtain a PDF copy, please contact Bronwyn Johns at Bronwyn.Johns@cic.gc.ca.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has recently released Facts and Figures 2004: Immigration Overview - Permanent and Temporary Residents, which presents the annual intake of permanent and temporary residents to Canada from 1980 to 2004, as well as the temporary resident population in Canada on December 1st of this period. The publication depicts selected characteristics for the permanent resident population or the temporary resident population during the ten-year period from 1995 to 2004. A glossary of terms and concepts used in the publication has also been included. This year, some tables have been added describing permanent residents’ official language knowledge by province or region and permanent residents by leading mother tongues. You can access the document at http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/research/menu-fact.html.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

HRSDC has just published its 10 Year Outlook for the Canadian Labour Market. It can be found on-line at by clicking here.

Infrastructure Canada

Infrastructure Canada is pleased to announce the launch of the second component of its Research, Knowledge and Outreach (RKO) funding initiative: The Peer Reviewed Research Studies program. One of the key objectives of the PRRS program is to help build, connect and share multidisciplinary research on infrastructure and communities. This program will provide funding for research activities related to the department's research priorities, and, in addition: stimulate and support horizontal policy research on issues related to public infrastructure and communities; encourage the development and maintenance of a strong research community on infrastructure and communities issues; and foster the exchange of information and knowledge in these areas. Proposals are invited from eligible organizations and individuals on or before September 30, 2005. Submissions will be evaluated through a competitive peer review process and funding decisions made on the basis of merit. Complete information is available on Infrastructure Canada's Research Gateway website at http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/research-recherche/rko/prrs/index_e.shtml.

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

The IOM has recently published a special issue of International Migration, entitled "Data and Research on Human Trafficking: A Global Survey" (Volume 43, Issues 1 & 2). It is edited by Frank Laczko of IOM and Elzbieta Gozdziak of Georgetown University and is the first global survey of current research on trafficking. Nine articles in the volume focus on specific regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, South and East Asia, South-East Asia and Oceania, Europe, and the Middle East. The authors assess the type and quality of research that has been conducted in different regions, discuss the availability and quality of data on trafficking, and identify gaps in existing research and priorities for further study. The remaining papers explore questions related to research methodologies and data collection techniques. The volume ends with a comprehensive bibliography on human trafficking. We are pleased to offer two free articles from this special double issue of International Migration. "Describing the Unobserved: Methodological Challenges in Empirical Studies on Human Trafficking," by Guri Tyldum and Anette Brunovskis http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0020-7985.2005.00310.x "A Problem by a Different Name? A Review of Research on Trafficking in South-East Asia and Oceania," by Nicola Piperhttp://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.0020-7985.2005.00310.x To access the full text of all articles, visit http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/imig/43/1-2

United Nations

The 2003 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook is now available at http://www.unhcr.ch/statistics. The Yearbook contains an analytical overview of global refugee levels and trends, up-to-date time series, as well as 49 regional and 162 country data sheets.

Migration Policy Institute

Visit MPI’s home page for links to a selection of new data and resources on migration. www.migrationinformation.org

UNESCO

The APMRN Network published its Working Paper No. 15 entitled “Impact of Ratifying the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Family: Case Studies of the Philippines and Sri Lanka”. The report is available in PDF Format on the UNESCO website: http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=8516&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html