XL Canada Picnic - July 1 (With Family)

Date : July 1, 2009 (Wednesday)-Canada Day - RAIN/SHINE

Time : 12:00 pm onwards (normally lasts till 4:00 pm at least)

Location : Sunnybrook Park (Picnic Area No. 2), Toronto - see map attached

Directions : Most convenient to use the Entrance marked in Black on the Map off Leslie St.

Pot Luck Lunch - Each family brings a dish/snack to share in a pot luck format

Please bring our own soft drinks, styrofoam plates / cups/ napkins/spoons/ forks etc.
Please bring lawn chairs, Duree/sheets.
If you have a Stove, pls bring that along to to heat up the food if required.
(if your friends want to come along, welcome too)

We could also have games for the kids and play some cricket - and Fred has a cricket set so we can play some tennis ball cricket. Those who have Frisbees/Balls, or any other sport items, please bring them along too.Fred will be bringing a small stove and will make 'Chai' for all of us.

PS: if you are aware of any new Xlers that have moved to Toronto, please circulate to them.

Once again looking forward to see you all there,

Regards,
Siddharth

More Pictures of the Canada meet

Here are the photos of the picnic. It was really nice touching base with XLers, especially for me as I am hardly ever in Toronto. KNV - thanks for making it all the way from NJ.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lansnet/XLPicnic20080706?authkey=vA0KTahCS84


Enjoy,
Srini

7th Annual XL Canada Summer Picnic July 6th (with family)

Ok the Picnic is nearly upon us 1 week to go ....
Look forward to see most the XLers in Toronto and KNV(from New York) there. Please note this time it is on a Sunday...
Have had 4 dropouts so for for various reasons.

The location and format is the same but still putting it below :

Where : "Sunnybrook Park",North York,Toronto

Date : July 6, 2008 (SUNDAY)

Time : From 11.30 am onwards (RAIN OR SHINE EVENT)

Location : Sunnybrook Park is on Leslie South of Eglington Avenue.

Directions: Take 401 and exist Leslie South You will see the sign for Sunnybrook Park on your right just before Eglington Avenue.
Turn into Sunnybrook Park, and then turn left at the fork (Sign for Earnest Thompson Seton Park) PLEASE NOTE THE TURNOFF IS WITHIN 200 m of ENTERING THE PARK FROM LESLIE ST.
After you turn left, park on the right at the 2nd picnic area.
In case of any confusion please call (Siddharth)

If any one needs a ride please do let me know and we arrange for it

Format : Xlers and their families

Pot Luck Lunch - Each family brings a dish/snack to share in a pot luck format Please bring our own soft drinks, styrofoam plates / cups/ napkins/spoons/ forks etc. Please bring lawn chairs, Duree/sheets.
If you have a Stove, pls bring that along to to heat up the food if required.

Do check the weather forecast and dress accordingly. The picnic will be held rain or shine.

Those whose parents/in-laws/relatives are in Toronto, please bring them too and am sure they will have a good time. They are all invited as part of our families.
We could also have games for the kids and play some cricket - and Fred has a cricket set so we can play some tennis ball cricket. Those who have Frisbees/Balls, or any other sport items, please bring them along too.Fred will be bringing a small stove and will make 'Chai' for all of us.

PS: if you are aware of any new Xlers that have moved to Toronto, please circulate to them.

Once again looking forward to see you all there,

Regards,
Siddharth & Bala

Annual XL Canada Summer Picnic July 6th

The XL Canada Picnic is now set for Jul 6th, 2008 (Sunday).
Venue : Sunnybrook Park, Toronto
Format : Potluck

Have one drop out - Rajiv Burman - he is shifting that week end.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on 6th.

Regards,

Siddharth & Bala

Annual XL Canada Summer Picnic (July 13,2008) - With FAMILY

Hi all.
It is nearly time for the XL Canada Annual Picnic. With Spring already here it is time to look forward to our annual get together. Please block your calendars for July 13,2008.

The format for the picnic as always remains the same - POT LUCK
as does the location - SUNNYBROOK PARK, North York, Toronto

Just a couple of changes this year. First we decided to shift from Saturday to Sunday, got feedback that this will be less stressful and hopefully longer picnic time spent.....

Second, we plan to book the picnic area to avoid having to keep shifting around (we had to do quite a bit last time)... hoping we are not late for that already....
I will give other details closer to the time....

Just to confirm , we are now nearly 35 Xler's in the list in XLCanada (see attached). Apologise in advance to any I have missed.
Request you to please update changes on the list.
Looking forward to seeing you all for the picnic.
Regards,
Siddharth & Bala

Annual XL Canada Summer Picnic is Around the Corner !!! (July 7,2007)

Dear All,

The picnic is now nearly upon us. This year we have also put a rolling Ticker Ad in ATN for our meet on Saturday, many thanks to Manu Varma for the suggestion. Hoping to attract a few long lost Xlers to the Picnic.

Looking forward to seeing all of you on Saturday (with families please) . Please make sure you read the directions for our Picnic Area below (in case this is your first time)

In case of any questions/last minute doubts , please give a call to:
Siddharth Thakur
Bala Loganathan

I have also added the Mapquest Location for Sunnybrook Park incase anybody needs it.


Annual XL Picnic Saturday July 7th

Planning to have the 6th Annual XL Picnic on Sat July ..., 2007. RAIN or SHINE (2005 was a Rain Event.... 2006 Sun , and both were great so we will be there!!)

Where : "Sunnybrook Park",North York,Toronto

Time : From 11.30 am onwards

Location : Sunnybrook Park is on Leslie South of Eglington Avenue.

Directions: Take 401 and exit Leslie South
You will see the sign for Sunnybrook Park on your right just before Eglington.
Turn into Sunnybrook Park, and then turn left at the fork (Sign for Earnest Thompson Seton Park)
After you turn left, park on the right at the 2nd picnic area.
If any one needs a ride please do let me know and we arrange for it

Format : Xlers and their families

Pot Luch Lunch - Each family brings a dish/snack to share in a pot luck format

Please bring our own soft drinks, styrofoam plates / cups/ napkins/spoons/forks etc. Please bring lawn chairs, Duree/sheets.
If you have a Stove, pls bring that along to to heat up the food if required. If someone has a digital camera, please bring that along so that we can e-mail the pictures to XLRI at Jamshedpur for their hosting in their web. (will being mine but having more choice of pictures is always better!!)

Do check the weather forecast and dress accordingly. The picnic will be held rain or shine.

Those whose parents/in-laws are in Toronto, please bring them too and am sure they will have a good time. They are all invited as part of our families.

We could also have games for the kids and play some cricket - and Fred has a cricket set so we can play some tennis ball cricket. Those who have Frisbees/Balls, or any other sport items, please bring them along too.

Fred will be bringing a small stove and will make 'Chai' for all of us.

See you ALL! Let’s make this a resounding success.

PS: if you are aware of any new Xlers that have moved to Toronto, please circulate to them and also let me have their contact details so I can update the Contact List.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=1132%20Leslie%20Street&city=Toronto&state=ON&zipcode=M3C&country=CA&title=%3cb%20class%3d%22fn%20org%22%3e1132%20Leslie%20Street%3c%2fb%3e%3cbr%20%2f%3e%20%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22locality%22%3eToronto%3c%2fspan%3e%2c%20%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22region%22%3eON%3c%2fspan%3e%20%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22postal%2dcode%22%3eM3C%3c%2fspan%3e%2c%20%20%3cspan%20style%3d%22display%3ainline%3bmargin%2dbottom%3a0px%3b%22%20class%3d%22country%2dname%22%3eCA%3c%2fspan%3e%3c%2fspan%3e&cid=lfmaplink2&name=&dtype=s

Regards,
Siddharth & Bala

An XL-ler in NY Times - O Canada !!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/washington/27points.html?ei=5070&em=&en=52aeb0e47f2700ac&ex=1183089600&pagewanted=all

Canada's Policy on Immigrants Brings Backlog

By CHRISTOPHER MASON and JULIA PRESTON
Published: June 27, 2007

TORONTO, June 26 — With an advanced degree in business management from a university in India and impeccable English, Salman Kureishy is precisely the type of foreigner that Canada's merit-based immigration system was designed to attract.

Senate Takes Up a Revised Immigration Bill, but Obstacles Remain (June 27, 2007) Yet eight years went by from the time Mr. Kureishy passed his first Canadian immigration test until he moved from India to Canada. Then he had to endure nine months of bureaucratic delays
before landing a job in his field in March.

Mr. Kureishy's experience — and that of Canada's immigration system — offers a cautionary tale for the United States. Mr. Kureishy came to this country under a system Canada pioneered in the 1960s that favors highly skilled foreigners, by assigning points for education and work experience and accepting those who earn high scores.

A similar point system for the United States is proposed in the immigration bill that bounced back to life on Tuesday, when the Senate reversed a previous stand and brought the bill back to the floor. The vote did not guarantee passage of the bill, which calls for the biggest changes in immigration law in more than 20 years.

The point system has helped Canada compete with the United States and other Western powers for highly educated workers, the most coveted immigrants in high-tech and other cutting-edge industries. But in recent years, immigration lawyers and labor market analysts say, the Canadian system has become an immovable beast, with a backlog of more than 800,000 applications and waits of four years or more.

The system's bias toward the educated has left some industries crying out for skilled blue-collar workers, especially in western Canada where Alberta's busy oil fields have generated an economic boom. Studies by the Alberta government show the province could be short by as many as 100,000 workers over the next decade.

In response, some Canadian employers are sidestepping the point system and relying instead on a program initiated in 1998 that allows provincial governments to hand-pick some immigrant workers, and on temporary foreign-worker permits.

"The points system is so inflexible," said Herman Van Reekum, an immigration consultant in Calgary who helps Alberta employers find workers. "We need low-skill workers and trades workers here, and those people have no hope under the points system."

Canada accepts about 250,000 immigrants each year, more than doubling the per-capita rate of immigration in the United States, census figures from both countries show. Nearly two-thirds of
Canada's population growth comes from immigrants, according to the 2006 census, compared with the United States, where about 43 percent of the population growth comes from immigration. Approximately half of Canada's immigrants come through the point system.

Under Canada's system, 67 points on a 100-point test is a passing score. In addition to education and work experience, aspiring immigrants earn high points for their command of languages and for being between 21 and 49 years old. In the United States, the Senate bill would grant higher points for advanced education, English proficiency and skills in technology and other fields that are in demand. Lower points would be given for the family ties that have been the basic stepping stones of the American immigration system for four decades.

Part of the backlog in Canada can be traced to a provision in the Canadian system that allows highly skilled foreigners to apply to immigrate even if they do not have a job offer. Similarly, the
Senate bill would not require merit system applicants to have job offers in the United States, although it would grant additional points to those who do.

Without an employment requirement, Canada has been deluged with applications. In testimony in May before an immigration subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives, Howard Greenberg, an immigration lawyer in Toronto, compared the Canadian system to a
bathtub with an open faucet and a clogged drain. "It is not surprising that Canada's bathtub is overflowing," Mr. Greenberg said.

Since applications are not screened first by employers, the government bears the burden and cost of assessing them. The system is often slow to evaluate the foreign education credentials and work experience of new immigrants and to direct them toward employers who need their skills, said Jeffrey Reitz, professor of immigration studies at the University of Toronto.

The problem has been acute in regulated professions like medicine, where a professional organization, the Medical Council of Canada, reviews foreign credentials of new immigrants. The group has had difficulty assessing how a degree earned in China or India stacks up against a similar degree from a university in Canada or the United States. Frustrated by delays, some doctors and other highly trained immigrants take jobs outside their fields just to make ends meet.

The sheer size of the Canadian point system, the complexity of its rules and its backlogs make it slow to adjust to shifts in the labor market, like the oil boom in Alberta.

"I am a university professor, and I can barely figure out the points system," said Don J. DeVoretz, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who studies immigration systems. "Lawyers have books that are three feet thick explaining the system."

The rush to develop the oil fields in northern Alberta has attracted oil companies from around the world, unleashing a surge of construction. Contractors say that often the only thing holding them back is a shortage of qualified workers.

Scott Burns, president of Burnco Rock Products in Calgary, a construction materials company with about 1,000 employees, said he had been able to meet his labor needs only by using temporary work permits. Mr. Burns hired 39 Filipinos for jobs in his concrete plants and plans to hire more. He said that many of the temporary workers had critically needed skills, but that they had no hope of immigrating permanently under the federal point system.

"The system is very much broken," Mr. Burns said.

Mr. Kureishy, the immigrant from India, said he was drawn to Canada late in his career by its open society and what appeared to be strong interest in his professional abilities. But even though he waited eight years to immigrate, the equivalent of a doctoral degree in human resources development that he earned from Xavier Labor Relations Institute in India was not evaluated in Canada until he arrived here. During his first six months, Canadian employers had no formal comparison of his credentials to guide them.

Eventually, Mr. Kureishy, 55, found full-time work in his field, as a program manager assisting foreign professionals at Ryerson University in Toronto. "It was a long process, but I look at myself as fairly resilient," Mr. Kureishy said.

He criticized Canada as providing little support to immigrants after they arrived.

"If you advertised for professors and one comes over and is driving a taxi," he said, "that's a problem."

Christopher Mason reported from Toronto, and Julia Preston from New York.

---------------
Regards,
KNV

Annual XL Canada Summer Picnic is Around the Corner !!! - 15 days to go

Hi,
Our most consistent event at XL Canada the Annual Summer Picnic is now just 2 weeks away.
Just sending a reminder for the location (though this is mainly for newcomers to the XlCanada fold) which is the same as the past few years.
Munnawar has already kindly confirmed that he will be there by 11:00.
Looking forward to seeing you all there, just confirm if you are bringing any games, Fred if will be kind enough to bring your cricket set.....

Annual XL Picnic Saturday July 7th

Planning to have the 6th Annual XL Picnic on Sat July ..., 2007. RAIN or SHINE (2005 was a Rain Event.... 2006 Sun , and both were great so we will be there!!)

Where : "Sunnybrook Park",North York,Toronto

Time : From 11.30 am onwards

Location : Sunnybrook Park is on Leslie South of Eglington Avenue.

Directions: Take 401 and exist Leslie South
You will see the sign for Sunnybrook Park on your right just before Eglington.
Turn into Sunnybrook Park, and then turn left at the fork (Sign for Earnest Thompson Seton Park)
After you turn left, park on the right at the 2nd picnic area.
If any one needs a ride please do let me know and we arrange for it

Format : Xlers and their families

Pot Luch Lunch - Each family brings a dish/snack to share in a pot luck format

Please bring our own soft drinks, styrofoam plates / cups/ napkins/spoons/forks etc. Please bring lawn chairs, Duree/sheets.
If you have a Stove, pls bring that along to to heat up the food if required. If someone has a digital camera, please bring that along so that we can e-mail the pictures to XLRI at Jamshedpur for their hosting in their web. (will being mine but having more choice of pictures is always better!!)

Do check the weather forecast and dress accordingly. The picnic will be held rain or shine.

Those whose parents/in-laws are in Toronto, please bring them too and am sure they will have a good time. They are all invited as part of our families.

We could also have games for the kids and play some cricket - and Fred has a cricket set so we can play some tennis ball cricket. Those who have Frisbees/Balls, or any other sport items, please bring them along too.

Fred will be bringing a small stove and will make 'Chai' for all of us.

See you ALL! Let’s make this a resounding success.

PS: if you are aware of any new Xlers that have moved to Toronto, please circulate to them and also let me have their contact details so I can update the Contact List.

Regards,
Siddharth & Bala

March 24,2007 - XL Canada Meet at Sarvanna Bhavan (Woodside Square) - 9 days to go

Hi,
This is just a friendly reminder to all that our meet is next Saturday Mar 24,
Thank all the confirmations so far and looking forward to meet the XlCanada Group.
Request those who have not confirmed to send an e-mail / leave voicemail at 416-623-7050 about their plans . Requesting a confirmation so that if you have transport issues we can co-ordinate with other Xlers.

Once again looking forward to seeing you there.

Regards,
Siddharth & Bala

XL Canada Moderator wrote:
Hi,
Hope the new year finds all of you in good spirits. We hope to try to start fresh this year from where we unfortunately broke off last year.
Given the suggestions and advice on postponing the meet, we decided to target March as the next possible meeting date, as it is not too close to our annual Summer Picinic and gave all of us time to enjoy the holiday season, the New year blues and to finally come back to our normal self!!!!

This time is is simple:
Venue : Sarvanna Bhavan, Woodside Square, Scarborough
Date : March 24,2007
Time : After 10:00 am
Status : Confirmed

We wanted it earlier in March but then given the March Break Holidays coudn't manage it earlier and hopefully the weather will also be more pleasant than what it is now!!!
Request you all to confirm your availability. In case there are issues about transport to and from Sarvanna Bhavan , please indicate and we will try to manage around that.
Awaiting your response,
Regards,
Siddharth & Bala

For those who do not know the address, it is :
Saravanaa Bhavan
At Woodside Square
Finch and McCowan Intersection.
1571 Sandhurst Circle, Unit 153
Scarborough, ON. M1V 1V2

T: 416 293 7755 F: 416 293 7715

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday.
Regards,
Sid Thakur

March 24,2007 - XL Canada Meet at Sarvanna Bhavan (Woodside Square)

Hi,
Hope the new year finds all of you in good spirits. We hope to try to start fresh this year from where we unfortunately broke off last year.
Given the suggestions and advice on postponing the meet, we decided to target March as the next possible meeting date, as it is not too close to our annual Summer Picinic and gave all of us time to enjoy the holiday season, the New year blues and to finally come back to our normal self!!!!

This time is is simple:
Venue : Sarvanna Bhavan, Woodside Square, Scarborough
Date : March 24,2007
Time : After 10:00 am
Status : Confirmed

We wanted it earlier in March but then given the March Break Holidays coudn't manage it earlier and hopefully the weather will also be more pleasant than what it is now!!!

Request you all to confirm your availability. In case there are issues about transport to and from Sarvanna Bhavan , please indicate and we will try to manage around that.
Awaiting your response,
Regards,
Siddharth & Bala