No One is Illegal - Halifax

Positive H&C Decision: Chaudhrys Allowed to Stay!

2011-09-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday September 13, 2011, the Chaudhry family received the wonderful news that a positive decision had been made on their Humanitarian and Compassionate application, making them eligible to apply for permanent residence status in Canada.

The Chaudhrys and their supporters are thrilled with this news, which marks the end of a nearly 8 year long struggle for the family to obtain status in Canada. This great news comes after the original decision on their H&C application was successfully appealed in the winter of 2010.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported the family throughout this difficult process: To everyone who has written letters in support of the family, who has donated money, who came to an event in support of the family, attended their Federal Court hearing last winter, or supported in any other way, big or small! This has truly been a community effort, and the family is very appreciative.

Stay tuned for news of a community celebration....

For more background about the family, please visit: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

Letter Writing in Support of Abousfian Abdelrazik

2011-05-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

Tuesday May 17, 7-9pm
Crow's Nest, Roberts Street Social Centre
5684 Roberts Street

Dinner (Veggie Chili and other snacks) will be served
for a donation of $5-$10 with proceeds going to support
the delegation in support of Abdelrazik

****

Join us for a letter-writing event in support of Abousfian Abdelrazik in his bid to remove his name from the UN 1267 No Fly List. Abdelrazik was detained, beaten and threatened while on a visit to Sudan on the advice of CSIS. Despite having his name cleared and being released of all suspicion by both Canadian and Sudanese officials, his name remains on the UN 1267 list, which imposes a travel ban and an asset freeze on individuals. This June, a delegation of community supporters will seek to meet with the Chair of the 1267 committee in New York to deliver messages in support of Abdelrazik.

We will be gathering for a fun, sociable evening to write support letters to send with the delegation to New York. More information will be available about Abdelrazik's case at the event. We will also be selling dinner to raise money in support of the delegation, and accept donations from anyone who wishes to break the sanctions against Abdelrazik.

Hosted by No One Is Illegal-Halifax

BACKGROUND:

http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/

Abousfian Abdelrazik - like Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed
Nureddin and Maher Arar, other victims of a Canadian programme of
outsourcing torture - was, according to documents released by the
Department of Foreign Affairs, jailed on the recommendation of the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) while on a visit to Sudan.

Never charged, he was beaten, threatened and tortured during two periods
of detention. In this context, Abdelrazik was interrogated by CSIS
officials, and separately by Sudanese and French intelligence agents and
the FBI. The Canadian embassy was instructed by the Canadian government
that: "Mission staff should not accompany Abdelrazik to his interview with
the FBI."

Eventually released and cleared of all suspicion by Sudan, and even by the
RCMP and CSIS in late 2007, his many attempts to return home to Montreal
were repeatedly blocked.

In 2006, Abdelrazik's name was placed on the UN 1267 list by the Bush
administration. The 1267 list imposes a travel ban, an arms embargo and a
total asset freeze on listed individuals. Abdelrazik was not told that he
was being placed on the list, was not told why he was on the list, and was
given no opportunity to defend himself. As Federal Court Judge Russel Zinn
was to write later in Abdelrazik's case, "There is nothing in the (1267)
listing or de-listing procedure that recognizes the principles of natural
justice or that provides for basic procedural fairness."

Under a complete asset freeze and a travel ban, Abdelrazik became
destitute and, more than ever, needed the assistance of the Canadian
government to come home. But they did not help. Conservative MP Deepak
Obhrai, then Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Harper, in Sudan on
an official visit in March 2008, asked to meet with Abdelrazik. But
instead of helping him, Obhrai and another Canadian official only
interrogated him about his political beliefs: his views of Israel, Hamas
and Bin Laden.

Finally, in an attempt to draw attention to his plight, Abdelrazik went
public with his story in April 2008 and was granted "temporary safe haven"
in the Canadian Embassy in Khartoum. He remained there for fourteen months
as Canadian officials continued to find ways of keeping him out of the
country.

In December 2008, Canadian officials wrote that Abdelrazik must present a
fully-paid-for plane ticket before Passport Canada would agree to issue an
emergency passport. At the same time, the government was aware that
Abdelrazik was destitute and took the position that anyone who paid for
his ticket could be charged under section 3 of the United Nations Al Qaida
and Taliban Regulations (which implement the 1267 list in Canada and state
that no Canadian shall "provide or collect by any means, directly or
indirectly, funds with the intention that the funds be used" by a person
on the UN list).

In March 2009, over one hundred people joined together to buy a plane
ticket home for Abdelrazik, despite the risk of being charged. (People
continued to contribute - from March to June 2009, about 250 people from
all parts of Canada and all walks of life contributed to the solidarity
fund in open defiance of the government's position.)

The ticket was set for 3 April. However, just hours before the flight took
off, Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, refused the emergency
passport Abdelrazik needed to board the flight. On 4 June, the Federal
Court's Justice Russel Zinn found that Lawrence Cannon's action was
abusive and in violation of Abdelrazik's rights, and ordered the
government to repatriate Abdelrazik without delay (see court order here).
Forced into a corner, the government had no choice but to comply. On 27
June 2009, Abdelrazik returned to Montreal and was reunited with his
family at last.

Abdelrazik now faces the second phase of his struggle: to seek
accountability (bringing those responsible to justice, making sure this
doesn't happen again to anyone else); and to get his name off the UN's
1267 list - that is, getting his life back to normal.

The last aspect is the most immediately urgent. Regulations implementing
this list in Canada (the United Nations Al Qaida and Taliban Regulations)
prohibit anyone from providing Abdelrazik with any material aid -
including salary, loans of any amount, food or clothing--even health
insurance.

On the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders

2011-04-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

A Joint Statement of No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver, No One Is Illegal Halifax, No One Is Illegal Montreal and No One Is Illegal Ottawa – April 28, 2011

No One Is Illegal groups continue to struggle on the streets for migrant justice across North America against increasingly repressive and racist immigration controls. We join together once again this year with workers around the world during May Day demonstrations to assert our dignity and affirm international solidarity with those who dare to challenge borders and capitalism. We also take our struggle to the courts where a member of No One Is Illegal, Jaggi Singh, is pleading guilty to counseling to commit mischief and is facing six months in prison (INFO: www.clac-montreal.net/jaggi), for rightfully asserting that the G20 security fence was illegitimate and courageously calling for it to be torn down!

Close to one year ago, No One is Illegal joined with thousands on the streets of Toronto and dared to dream of a world without borders and fences. We marched with Indigenous people, migrants, poor people, people of colour, queer and trans people, feminists, disabled people, anarchists, anti-poverty activists, rank and file labour activists, anti-capitalists, environmental justice activists, and community organizers to confront the G20 leaders in Toronto.

We dared to challenge the illegitimate fence that separated the rich and powerful elite conspiring to an agreement of global austerity at the G20 from the people on the streets who inevitably are meant to bear the brunt of these policies. We reclaimed power, we shook the fence, and we broke through the police lines. We then went back to our communities and continued building our movements for social, economic, and environmental justice and autonomy.

Today, we unite again in solidarity with our friends and allies who challenged the validity of the G20 security fence and are facing state repression. Those facing charges, including members of No One Is Illegal Toronto and Montreal, have been targeted and persecuted because of their work struggling for self-determination in our communities. The state's attempt to criminalize these individuals is a targeted attempt to silence our movements. But we have not allowed the courts, the police, or the media to divide our solidarity. We demand the immediate release and dropping of charges of all those still facing criminal charges.

The Crown and the courts are alleging it is a crime to challenge and call for the dismantling of the fence. We collectively stand by the public statements made by various members of No One Is Illegal and our allies at the People's Summit, the press conference at the fence, and our joint release. We asserted then, and we assert now, that the militarized fence - another physical and ideological symbol of global apartheid, corporate greed, and a way to keep the elite separate from the people – should have come down.

We recall that the same things were said of the acts of those who built the Underground Railroad, of those who dared to challenge slavery. We recall that the same things were said of those who tore down the walls of the Woomera detention camp, who dared to challenge racist and xenophobic borders. We recall that the same things were said of those who tore down the fences of Bantustans, who dared to resist Apartheid in South Africa. We reassert that the G20 fence among all other barriers that prevent ordinary people from making meaningful decisions about their lives must be torn down!

And we will tear the fences down. While the security state may have weapons of destruction, we too have weapons: weapons of hope, weapons of unity, weapons of solidarity – and they will overcome these fences!

The type of repression that has followed the G20 is symptomatic of the broader policies of exploitation that are the daily reality for Indigenous, poor and racialized communities. The G8 and G20 leaders and their corporate masters erect borders, manufacture weaponry, pillage the earth with industrial projects, and profit from war. The repression of migrants in Canada has steadily increased – we have seen unprecedented powers transferred to the Immigration Minister and enforcement officers to determine who can come into Canada and who is left out; we have seen major cuts to family reunification programs, to work visas, to avenues for permanent residency. New regulations mean that temporary migrant workers are permanently temporary, exploited and indentured, while thousands of refugees and asylum seekers remain behind bars in detention centres.

Daily, we stand in solidarity with those who are deemed “illegal” by the colonial state and are forced to live under the threat of detention and deportation. And daily, we organize against the racism and xenophobia that defines the history of colonization and displacement in Canada. We are growing and building as movements, and on May 1st thousands will take to the streets to assert that our dreams don’t fit in ballot boxes. That tangible political changes will only happen through the grassroots mobilization of our communities. We call on everyone residing on these occupied Indigenous lands to join us on the streets, in community centres, in schools, in work places, in parks and all other places where we are building resistance everyday. No One is Illegal unites with all of those around the world who are resisting austerity measures – from Greece to Egypt, from Chiapas to Six Nations, from Haiti to Palestine.

We understand that revolution at its root is driven by people’s dreams and desires. No Fences, No Borders! No One Is Illegal, Canada Is Illegal!

www.nooneisillegal.org

* June 19 Videos, courtesy NOII-Toronto, of No One Is Illegal and allies
at the People's Summit "“Colonialism, Capitalism, and Migration":
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2870

* June 22 Statement “No One Is Illegal at the G8/G20 Mobilizations in
Toronto”:
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/3703

* June 24th Video of No One Is Illegal and Indigenous Defenders of the
Land at “No Fences, No Borders” press conference at the G20 fence in
Toronto: http://bchannelnews.tv/?p=5690

* July 3rd Statement "No One Is Illegal Solidarity with the anti-G20
Resistance":
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2108

**NOTE: No one criminally charged with being involved in anti-G20 related actions was involved in drafting or writing this statement.

Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence , facing six months prison

2011-04-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/738

Crown asks for six months in prison

"Sometimes you put up walls not to keep people out, but to see who cares
enough to break them down." - Anonymous
---
Media Contacts (English/French):
Craig Fortier, No One Is Illegal-Toronto: 416-735-0409
Blandine Juchs, Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), Montreal: 438 323 1456

For updates from the court on April 28, please phone/text: Jessica
Denyer, Community Solidarity Network: 416-708-3195
---

TORONTO, APRIL 28, 2011 -- Today, at the Ontario Court of Justice at Old
City Hall, Montreal-based G20 protester Jaggi Singh has pled guilty to
urging people to tear down the G20 security fence.

Jaggi, a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) and No One Is
Illegal-Montreal, has technically pled guilty to “counselling to commit
mischief over $5000”. His specific crime occurred during a short speech
and subsequent replies to media questions during a No One Is Illegal press
conference at the $5.5 million G20 security fence on June 24, 2010, just a
few days before the G20 conference officially began in downtown Toronto.

Jaggi’s remarks, which will be entered into evidence, can be viewed online
in two segments:
i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc;
ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030).

For Jaggi’s words, the Crown is demanding six months in prison, while his
lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, is arguing for a much lesser penalty.

In return for Jaggi’s plea, the Crown is withdrawing all criminal
conspiracy charges, charges still being faced by 17 other former
co-accused who will begin their preliminary inquiry in September.

As part of the plea agreement between the Crown and Jaggi: i) the Crown
will not call Jaggi as a witness in any G20-related case; ii) Jaggi’s plea
cannot be used by the Crown in any other G20 prosecutions; iii) Jaggi will
offer no cooperation to the Crown or the police; iv) Jaggi will offer no
apologies for his actions and words; v) the entirety of my agreement will
be public and not subject to any publication ban (plea agreement and
related exhibits are linked below).

Sentencing arguments are being heard in front of Justice Bigelow at the
Ontario Court of Justice today, and it is expected that he will deliver
his ruling on sentence on June 21.
----------

The following groups have today issued public support letters in support
of Jaggi:

* No One Is Illegal (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Vancouver): On
the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders

* Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC): In Montreal, In Toronto and
Everywhere, the Walls Must Fall!

* Solidarité sans frontières: Déclaration de soutien avec Jaggi

* QPIRG Concordia: A Public Statement in Support of Jaggi Singh

* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP): Support Jaggi Singh and
Resistance to Capitalist Austerity

* Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW): (to be posted shortly)

If your group or organization would also like to write a support letter,
or endorse an existing one, please contact the CLAC in Montreal via
blocampmontreal@gmail.com
----------

- PLEA AGREEMENT: http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/PLEA
AGREEMENT - English.pdf

- Exhibit A: Agreed Statement of Facts

- Exhibit B: Jaggi Singh twitter feed (June 3-July 6, 2010)
(Why the twitter feed?: The twitter feed was public and intended for a
general audience. The Crown is using Jaggi’s twitter feed (June 3 to July
6, 2010) to highlight that he posted information like: 1) CLAC’s
Anti-Capitalist Reader produced before the G20 called “Warning Shot!”; 2)
No One Is Illegal statements produced before and after the G20; 3) a video
posted by Jaggi (but not produced or made by him) called “Mon voyage à
Toronto”, which includes the Dead Prez song “Fuck the Law.” You can access
the relevant excerpts of the twitter feed directly at
http://www.twitter.com/JaggiMontreal)

- Exhibit C: Jaggi Singh Speech and Q&A at the G20 Security Fence (June
24, 2010)
The speech can be viewed at the following links: i)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030). A transcript
of the speech is available HERE.
----------

276 letters were submitted to the judge today in support of Jaggi. Many
letter-writers indicated their full support for Jaggi’s words at the
fence, and expressed agreement that the G20 security fence should have
been removed. All letter-writers have urged the judge to impose a minimal
sentence.

Among the groups who submitted support letters for Jaggi (as
organizations, or as individuals on behalf of the organization): Anarchist
Bookfair Collective (Montreal), Artivistic, l’Association pour la Défense
des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du
Québec (ADDICQ), Beehive Design Collective, Canadian Union of Postal
Workers (CUPW), Center for Community Organizations (CoCo), le Centre des
femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs, CKUT Board of Directors, Committee to Aid
Refugees (CAR), Le comité exécutif de L’R, Coopérative Nos Rêves (Parc
Extension), Community Solidarity Network (Toronto), Dignidad Migrante, le
Bibliothèque Anarchiste DIRA, Le Frigo Vert Collective, le Front d’action
populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), le Front commun des personnes
assistées sociales du Québec, le Groupe de Recherche en Intérêt Public de
l’Université du Québec à Montréal (GRIP-UQÀM), Head & Hands (NDG),
Immigrant Workers Center, Institut de recherche et d’informations
socio-économiques (IRIS), JOC-Montréal, Montréal-Nord Républik, National
Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA), Ontario Coalition
Against Poverty (Toronto), OPIRG Toronto, People’s Potato Collective,
Prisoner Correspondence Project, le Projet accompagnement solidarité
Colombie (PASC), Purple Thistle Collective (Vancouver), QPIRG Concordia,
QPIRG McGill, Radical Reference Montréal, Re-Con, le Regroupement
intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal, Solidarité sans
frontières, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Stella, le Table des
regroupemens provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles, Toronto
People’s Assembly on Climate Justice

As well, many more individuals (and other groups) from Montreal, Toronto,
as well as all over Quebec, Canada, the USA and overseas have submitted
letters of support.

-----
After today’s plea, Jaggi Singh has issued the following short statement:

“By pleading guilty to counseling to commit mischief, I can openly state
that the fence deserved to come down, and that the G20 deserved to be
confronted. I'll pay a price for having said so openly, but I am ready to
assume that responsibility,

I assume that responsibility knowing that I have amazing and deep support
from an engaged community of social justice organizers and activists in
Quebec, Canada and beyond. I would like to express my profound thanks to
everyone who’s offered me support in the past few months, in so many
touching and diverse ways.

Importantly, I would like to particularly express a public note of
solidarity and support for all remaining G20 defendants who continue to
fight their criminal charges. They are all deserving of everyone’s
interest and active support, and I encourage all concerned about police
and state repression to provide it, tangibly.

By pleading guilty now, I am ending this legal matter, relatively
speaking, on my own terms and timetable, and I’m looking forward to
returning to the streets and protests of Montreal shortly.”
-----

SUPPORT G20 DEFENDANTS:

- “Support G20 Defendants” Flyer:
http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/new-g20-support-flyer/

- Free Byron Sonne: http://freebyron.org/index.php/Main_Page

- Community Solidarity Network Updates: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

CONTRIBUTE:

- The G20 Legal Fund (Québec): http://www.clac2010.net/en/node/193
"The G20 Legal Fund considers that all arrests occurred in the context of
a legitimate struggle against the capitalist policies of the G20, and that
all charges should be dropped immediately."

- Guelph ABC G20 Support Fund:
http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/g20-support/
"An accessible alternate fund for G20 arrestees, mostly those facing
serious charges. The fund is for immediate short-term needs of the
defendants."

- The G20 Legal Defence Fund (Toronto):
http://g20legaldefencefund.wordpress.com/
"A fund that exists to hold and give out funds raised to support legal
costs, fees, and other associated costs of legal defense for people facing
charges stemming from the June 2010 Toronto G20 Summit."

INFO: www.clac-montreal.net/en/jaggi

Local Candidate's Positions on Immigration-Security Issues

2011-04-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

No One Is Illegal Halifax asked all candidates in HRM ridings to answer six questions of local and national relevance related to immigration and security issues. We decided to pose these questions to candidates in response to the many inquiries we receive from local citizens concerning the future of the Fairview-based Chaudhry family and Canada's immigration policy overall.

No One is Illegal-Halifax in no way endorses any political candidate, or the political system. However, we do not discourage voting if individuals feel it is strategic to do so.

Below are the six questions posed to all candidates. Scroll down to see the responses of candidates in your riding.

______________________________

Questions Posed to Candidates:

1.The Chaudhrys are a family of five living in Halifax, Nova Scotia and are facing an imminent deportation order to Pakistan, where they face imprisonment, violence, or death. They have lived in Canada for 8 years, and their 3 Canadian and American-born children have never been to Pakistan. They are currently waiting for the results of their Humanitarian and Compassionate application. If elected, what measures would you take to assist the Chaudhry’s and others who seek residency on Humanitarian grounds? (For more info, visit: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/)

2. According to the Vancouver Sun, hundreds and possibly thousands, of Canadian-born children are being denied access to the most basic services -a home, food, health care and schooling. They are being denied these necessities because their fathers abused their immigrant mothers, their mothers fled the relationship, and the fathers then reneged on promises to sponsor the women for permanent residency. If elected, how are you planning on addressing the proposed introduction of a conditional permanent residence period of two years or more for spouses and partners sponsored as part of the family class or spouse or common-law partner in Canada class category who are in a relationship of two years or less with their sponsor at the time of sponsorship application?

3. One of the objectives of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is to facilitate family reunification. This allows Canadian citizens or permanent residents to sponsor close family members for immigration to Canada, including spouses, partners and dependent children. According to an Access to Information request provided to the Canadian Migration Institute, targets for family class sponsorships are increasingly lower – 2011 targets are below both 2010 and 2009. How would you and your party support family reunification?

4. 2008 marked the first time in Canadian history that we as a country admitted more foreign workers than permanent residents to our country. Despite this increase, temporary workers not only lack status but are denied protection, services and access to information on their rights. If elected, what will you do to ensure temporary foreign workers have their rights fulfilled?

5. Security certificates have been increasingly used by the government to detain permanent residents and foreign nationals in Canada on the basis that they are suspected to have links to terrorism. In a number of recent decisions Canada’s courts have been highly critical of Security Certificates. Both the Federal and Supreme Court of Canada found that they have been used to violate an individual’s rights to fundamental justice and due process and have been used to keep individuals detained on misleading and unverified evidence. If elected, would your government maintain the Security Certificates provisions in the IRPA? What changes would you propose?

6. According to documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was jailed, tortured and beaten while on a visit to Sudan – all at the recommendation of Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. Despite never being charged, and eventually being released of all suspicion by Sudan, Abdelrazik was placed on the UN 1267 list, which imposes a travel ban, an arms embargo and a total asset freeze on individuals. Abdelrazik was then repeatedly denied travel and entrance to Canada. A Federal Court judge eventually ordered the government to repatriate Abdelrazik, and in 2009 he returned home to Montreal. However, he has been unable to return to a normal life because his name remains on the 1267 list and he is unable to accept any material aid (including a salary or health insurance). The delisting process for the UN 1267 list requires a vote by the UN Security Council. Support from the Canadian government is absolutely essential if Abdelrazik's name is to be removed from this list so his life can return to normal. What would you and your party do to support the removal of Abdelrazik's name from the 1267 list? (For more info, visit: http://www.peoplescommission.org/en/abdelrazik/summary.php)

________________________

Find out what candidates in your riding have to say on these issues:

Halifax

Stan Kutcher - Liberal Party

Megan Leslie - New Democratic Party

Michael Dewar - Green Party

Tony Seed - Marxist-Leninist Party

George Nicolaou-Conservative Party

Halifax-West

Geoff Regan - Liberal Party

Gregor Ash - New Democratic Party

Bruce Robert Pretty - Conservative Party

Thomas Trappenburg - Green Party

Dartmouth-Cole Harbour

Robert Chisolm- New Democratic Party

Mike Savage - Liberal Party

Paul Shreenan - Green Party

Wanda Webber - Conservative Party

Sackville-Eastern Shore

Peter Stoffer - New Democratic Party

Adam Mimnagh - Conservative Party

John Percy - Green Party

Scott Hemming - Liberal Party

Letter writing brunch potluck in support of the Chaudhry family!

2011-03-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

Stop by to share in a community brunch and write a letter in support of the Chaudhry family's H&C application. Feel free to join us with or without a contribution to the brunch and bring along your pens, paper, friends, family, and letter writing prowess.

This gathering will take place Sunday, March 27th from 10 am - 2 pm at 2706 Fern Lane (big green house directly across the street from the EAC). We regret that this space is not wheelchair accessible. For more information, please feel free to call Liz @ 478-5063.

Much gratitude and hope to see you on the 27th!

Support the Chaudhry Family: More Community Support Letters Needed

2011-03-05T09:15:00.001-08:00

As many of you have heard, the Chaudhry family won their recent court case! This means they have a chance to have their H&C application re-reviewed by Immigration, giving them another chance at winning permanent residence status in Canada.

We have also learned that we may be able to add to the family's H&C file. Support for the family has grown in recent months, and it would be great to include more evidence of this support.

So...Write a Letter of Support for the Chaudhry Family!!!!

We are asking people to write personalized letters in support of the family. It is best if these letters include personal details that indicate your connection to the family.

For example,
-If you know the family well, indicate how long you have known them, and what your relationship to the family is.
-If you have ever met the family, indicate where or how you came to meet them.
-If you have not met the family, indicate how you came to hear about them, and why you think they should be granted permanent residence status.

You may also want to include,
-That the Chaudhrys have lived here for 8 years (since March 2003), and have not been to Pakistan in over 10 years
-The danger the family faces in Pakistan
-Why you think it would be negative to deport the family, especially the children, to Pakistan.
-The contribution the family would make to Canada (including things like their plan to open a Halal restaurant, that they are active volunteers, and that they have taken trainings to upgrade their skills)
-More details about the family can be found at: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

The full names of the family members are as follows:
-Chaudhry Roouf Ahmad
-Fakhira Chaudhry
-Rukhna Roouf Chaudhry, born July 5 2001 in USA
-Noor Ul Imaan Chaudhry, born May 26 2007 in Halifax
-Muhammad Bilal Hasan Chaudhry, born Nov 21 2009 in Halifax

Letters can be dropped off or mailed to:
Chaudhry Support Team C/O NSPIRG
Rm 314 Dalhousie Student Union Building
6136 University Avenue
Halifax NS
B3H 4J2
Or, email janekirby2@gmail.com to arrange pick up.

Court case won!!!

2011-02-26T06:30:00.001-08:00

We just received news that the Chaudhrys won their court case, and have
received leave for judicial review!

The judge ruled that the immigration officer did not take into account the
best interests of the children in making her negative decision.This is great
news, and means the Chaudhrys are one step closer to obtaining
permanent resident status. Now their Humanitarian and Compassionate
application will be re-reviewed by another immigration officer.

The family wanted to thank everyone who came out last week to support them
in court, and everyone who has otherwise supported them along the way.
Everybody (including the Chaudhrys' lawyers) is quite sure that the visible support
of the community in the courtroom made a big difference.

Thank you to everyone for their continued support!

http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

Chronicle Herald media coverage:
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1230764.html

Family's Deportation Hearing Left Undecided

2011-02-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

More than 100 people show up in court to support Chaudhry family

http://halifax.mediacoop.ca/story/familys-deportation-hearing-left-undecided/6339

Brunch a success!

2011-02-15T18:13:00.001-08:00

More photos at: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/photos/

SAVE THE DATE: FEDERAL COURT HEARING for the CHAUDHRY family

2011-02-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

Your presence will show the judge that the community doesn’t want the Chaudhrys deported to Pakistan.

NOTE: Please be silent during the proceedings.

Wednesday, February 16th
9:30 am to 11:30 am
Arrive before 9:30 am.

Court Room #501, 5th Floor
‘The Law Courts’
1859 Upper Water Street

At Duke St intersection.
Between Bus Terminal and Historic Properties. Enter building via parkade or stairs.
Directions: call 441-6423

The Chaudhry support committee invites you come to the Federal Court Hearing for the Chaudhry’s Judicial Review of the negative decision on their Humanitarian and Compassionate application. On Wednesday, February 16th, at 9:30am, we will show the court that the Chaudhrys are supported by many local communities to stay in Canada and not be deported to Pakistan.

The audience will not be asked to speak or address the court. The Chaudhry’s lawyers and the immigration lawyers will address the judge. The judge may make a decision on this day.
Audience members can arrive late, and can also leave early if needed. While in the court room, please be silent and attentive to the court case. Your mere presence will be a great support.

The Court Room is Number 501, on the 5th floor of the ‘Law Courts’, 1859 Upper Water Street. It holds 90 to 100 people. If the room is full, people are welcome to wait outside. When room becomes available, they can come in. If you have any questions, contact Jane Kirby at 494-6662.

info: chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com

END THE DEPORTATIONS

Fundraiser Brunch in Support of the Chaudhry Family

2011-02-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 12th
Two Sittings: 10am and Noon (please RSVP to noii-halifax@riseup.net)
St. Andrews United Church
6036 Coburg Rd. (on the South West corner of Robie and Spring Garden/Coburg)
$10-$20 Sliding Scale

This event will also feature a silent art display and auction with
pieces donated by local artist on the theme of the human impact of our
immigration system.

+++++

The Menu will include:
-Pancakes with blueberry reduction
-Local tofu/veggie scramble
-Roasted Root Vegetables

Both served with:
sourdough rye bread, coffee or tea, juice.

Community Support needed for Chaudhrys' Federal Court Date

2011-01-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

February 16, 2011
9:30-11:30AM
1801 Hollis St.
More details to follow

Many people have been asking us how to support the Chaudhry
family in their struggle to stay in Canada--this is your chance!

The Chaudhrys and their legal counsel will be presenting a case
in Federal Court arguing that Immigration did not follow process
when they decided to deny the Chaudhry's application for status
on Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds. In particular, they
will argue that Immigration failed to consider the best interests of
the children in making their decision. If successful, the Chaudhrys
will have the chance to have their application re-evaluated by
another immigration officer.

One of the key points being argued in court is that Immigration
completely dismissed the large number of letters collected in support
of the Chaudhrys from the community without adequate grounds for
doing so.

WE NEED TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE CHAUDHRYS HAVE
COMMUNITY SUPPORT---LETS PACK THE COURTROOM!!!

Stay tuned for more details, but in the meantime, save the date!

The Chaudhry family is a Pakistani family of five living in Halifax,
who is fighting a deportation order to Pakistan. They fled Pakistan
after facing death threats and violence when their marriage was not
approved by family members, and have built a home for themselves in
Halifax. Their three young children have never been to Pakistan, and
consider Canada home.

For more details about the family and their case, see
http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

Call for Submissions: Art Against Borders

2010-11-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Make art that crosses borders ...

No One Is Illegal-Halifax is inviting anyone with creative itches to make donations of art for a show and auction to take place at the beginning of February.

Art that explores borders, experiences of migration, racism and xenophobia; art that inspires or articulates resistance. All these are themes that resonate with "No One is Illegal", but any art you are inspired to contribute to this event would be welcome and appreciated ...

More details about the art show will follow. All proceeds from the auction will go to support the Chaudhry family, a local family from Pakistan fighting to stay in Canada.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: January 26, 2011

If you are able to submit a piece, please get in touch as soon as possible to let us know by emailing noii-halifax@riseup.net. We may be able to cover some materials costs if necessary.

Pre-Order Samosas to Support the Chaudhry Family!

2010-11-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Wednesday January 19, noon-2pm
Pick up in the NSPIRG Office, room 314 Dal SUB

Samosas cost $2.75 each or two for $5

TO ORDER: Please email your name, email address, and the quantity you would like to jane@nspirg.org by Monday January 17.

All proceeds go towards the helping the family pay ongoing fees related to their legal battle to stay in the country. Please keep your eyes open for more fundraisers and events in support of the family coming up soon. We will also be mobilizing to support the family in court the morning of February 16th--save the date and watch out for more details, coming soon!

The Chaudhry family is a Pakistani family of five living in Halifax, who is fighting a deportation order to Pakistan. They fled Pakistan after facing death threats and violence when their marriage was not approved by family members, and have built a home for themselves in Halifax. Their three young children have never been to Pakistan, and consider Canada home.

For more details about the family and their case, see
http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

Please keep your eyes open for more fundraisers to support the family.

DONATIONS NEEDED: Support the Chaudhry Family

2010-10-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

**Urgent Funds Needed to help the family replace their furniture**

As many of you know, the members of the Chaudhry family are thankfully still with us here in Canada. In August, all deportations to Pakistan were delayed due to the catastrophic flooding. The family is currently working with their lawyer in appealing the negative decision on the Humanitarian & Compassionate application in the federal court.

Though we are thankful that the Chaudhrys are still here with us, they are living in precarity, without status and unable to work. The family recently discovered that their apartment is infested with bed bugs and that they have to get rid of all of their furniture. Replacing all their furniture is likely to cost a few thousand dollars.

We are currently soliciting donations to help the family through this difficult time. If you are able to donate money or gently used furniture (no pets or smoking please: Fakhira has severe allergies), please contact Jane by calling (902) 494-6662 or through email at jane@nspirg.org to make arrangements. This situation is putting an enormous amount of personal and financial stress on the family, and they would very much appreciate any help you are able to offer.

About the Chaudhry Family:

The Chaudhrys are a family of five living in Halifax. Fakhira Chaudhry and Chaudhry Roouf Ahmad fled Pakistan almost 10 years ago from violence and death threats after their marriage was not approved by Fakhira's family. They came to Canada via the US in 2003, and have made a home for themselves in Halifax's vibrant Muslim community. However, their refugee claim was rejected in 2006, and the Chaudhrys have since been fighting legal battles to stay in the country. Since being in Canada, they have been actively trying to upgrade their skills and have gained support for their plan to open a Halal food restaurant. Their three children--U.S. born Rukhna Roouf, aged nine, Canadian born Noor-Ul-Imaan, aged three, and ten month old Muhammad Bilal Hussan--have never been to Pakistan and consider Halifax home. Well-respected members of the community, many hundreds of letters, emails, and phone calls have been made urging the Canadian government to give the Chaudhrys status.

They were scheduled to have been deported in August 2010, but their deportation has been indefinitely delayed due to the catastrophic flooding in Pakistan. They are continuing to pursue legal avenues to gain status in Canada, and are currently appealing a negative decision on their H&C application in the Federal Court.

More info:
chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com

About No One Is Illegal-Halifax:
noii-halifax.blogspot.com

Brunch Against Borders (and Fences)

2010-09-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

G20 Legal Defence Brunch Fundraiser

Sunday September 12
Two Sittings 10am and Noon (please RSVP)
Roberts Street Social Centre
5684 Roberts Street
$10-$20 Sliding Scale

Join No One Is Illegal-Halifax for a brunch fundraiser to support the legal defence of G20 arrestees, featuring banana & blueberry pancakes, tofu scramble, coffee and tea (and more!). All proceeds will be directed to the legal defence funds of No One Is Illegal organizers in other cities facing G20 related charges.

Please RSVP to Jane: jane@nspirg.org

No One Is Illegal Statement in Solidarity with the G20 Resistance:

Joint Statement of No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver, No One Is Illegal Halifax, No One Is Illegal Montreal and No One Is Illegal Ottawa, July 3, 2010

From June 22 to June 27, No One is Illegal dared to dream of a world without fences. As we marched with thousands, we dared to confront the walls erected daily to separate the rich from the poor, the powerful from the powerless. We reclaimed power, we shook the fence, and we broke through the police lines. We challenged the G20’s system of global apartheid as it manifested on the streets of Toronto. We now stand alongside all of those currently caught in the walls of the(in)justice system for daring to envision a world without fences, borders and cages. The people harassed, detained, arrested and charged over this past weekend were migrants, indigenous peoples, people of colour, queer and trans people, feminists, disabled people, anarchists, anti-poverty activists, rank and file labour activists, anti-capitalists, ecological justice activists, and community organizers. They are our allies and our friends; they are the fabric of our communities.

In particular, we stand in solidarity with those who have faced and are currently facing the worst excesses of the repressive police state, including several members of No One is Illegal Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Many of these organizers were targeted not only for their involvement in opposing the G20, but for their ongoing work struggling for communities that are rooted in love, justice and self-determination. They are dedicated, courageous and passionate organizers who continue to be an inspiration within our communities. The state’s attempt to criminalize these individuals is a targeted attempt to silence our movements.

But we will not be silenced. We raged on the streets this week in Toronto. We will rage in the courts and in the prisons. We will continue to rage as we work daily in our local communities. And we will tear the fences down.

The G8 and G20 leaders and their corporate villains erect borders, manufacture weaponry, pillage the earth with industrial projects and profit from war. They push people from their homes and force people to migrate across borders and into situations of precarity. Daily, we stand in solidarity with those who are deemed “illegal” by the colonial state and are forced to live under the threat of detention and deportation. And daily, we organize against the racism and xenophobia that defines the history of colonization and displacement in Canada.

The type of repression seen during the weekend is not only a testament of Canada being a police state, but a glimpse into the daily reality of indigenous and racialized communities. When the police state indiscriminately turns its batons against ‘innocent’ bystanders, members of the media, and a diverse range of protesters, we see responses of widespread public shock and anger. Yet we refuse to exceptionalize this moment, the largest mass-arrest in Canadian history, at the expense of normalizing the daily violence of police and prisons and the criminal (in)justice system for Indigenous communities, people of colour, low income neighborhoods, street-involved youth, and trans people.

We further reject all differentiation between so-called ‘peaceful’ and ‘violent’ protesters, while the violence that compels us to resist, assert our dignity and struggle for justice – enabled by policies and deals such as those brokered by the G8 and G20 – is callously ignored. Instead, our outrage is directed at the policing apparatuses that are a central part of the militarization of Canada, the criminalization of our communities, and the brutality that defines the prison-industrial complex and the global realities of detention and imprisonment.

Those brutalized, harassed, and violated in the fallout of the Toronto G20 protests now join the three community organizers arrested last week in Ottawa in facing the consequences of a system more interested in protecting property than people. We must be steadfast in our support for those who are being targeted, by mobilizing around the upcoming trials and court battles. We will not allow the courts, the police, or the media to divide our solidarity. We demand the immediate release of ALL our friends and allies who are still being held in detention. We call on everyone to join us in taking back our city from the hands of the security state that has turned it into an armed fortress.

No One is Illegal stands with all of those who were on the streets resisting the G20 and the Toronto police state. They cannot jail our hearts. No borders, no fences! No one is illegal, Canada is illegal!

***

To Donate to the G20 Legal Defence Fund Please Visit: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

FIRE JASON KENNEY!

2010-07-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

A Panel Discussion on Migrant Justice, Anti-Occupation and the Neoconservative Threat

In Solidarity with the National Day of Action Against Jason Kenney (Details of Events in Other Cities Below)

***************************
Tuesday July 27
6pm-8pm
Halifax North Memorial Library
2285 Gottingen Street
****************************

Featured Topics & Speakers Include:

The Niqab and Bill 94 - Azza Anis - Professor of Women's Studies at SMU
Migration & Global Apartheid - David Parker - CKDU journalist, solidarity activist and member of NOII-Halifax

Palestinian Solidarity - Judy Haiven - Professor of Management at SMU, member of Canadians, Arabs and Jews for a Just Peace & Independent Jewish Voices
War Resisters Movement - Roger Davies - Member of the war resisters support group of the Canadian Friends Service Committee

Migration and LGBTQ Rights - TBA

Jason Kenney is known as the Minister of Censorship and Deportation because of his record as one of the most repressive immigration ministers in Canadian history. Deportations have increased, while the number of people accepted as refugees and sponsored family members have drastically dropped. Instead, Kenney has increased the number of temporary workers who are constantly exploited for their labour. His new refugee bill creates a racist two tier system based on nationality, and he has called a wide range of migrants - from Mexicans to the War Resisters “bogus”. Under his regime, an Eritrean refugee from Halifax committed suicide from fear of a pending deportation, and a young woman was murdered upon her deportation to Mexico.

Kenney is also a staunch supporter of imperialism, stifling anti war voices such as George Galloway and the Canadian Arab Federation. Kenney’s neoconservative values are obvious in his comments and actions: pulling Canada out of the Durban World Conference Against Racism; introducing a citizenship guide that omits the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) communities; defending Quebec Bill C 94 that discriminates against women who wear the niqab; and stating that immigrants are not integrating well into (colonial) Canada.

This evening aims to help build a people's movement against Jason Kenney while drawing the links and building solidarity among diverse issues and campaigns. Join us!

* TAKE ACTION! *

1) Participate in the actions Against Kenney by organizing an event
in your city on July 24 and always confront Kenney if he rolls into your
town.

2) Download leaflets and multilingual pamphlets from
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2034 and spread the word.

3) Comment on online news stories, send a letter to the Editor, or write
your local MP regarding Kenney. Keep it short: “Minister Kenney is a
racist, anti-immigrant, war-mongering Conservative. The Minister of
Censorship and Deportation has got to go!”

4) Write Kenney at kennej@parl.gc.ca and bmq@cic.gc.ca and tell him what
you think!

* Read more about the People v. Jason Kenney Campaign:
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=1027

(V)(A)(N)(C)(O)(U)(V)(E)(R)

P.E.O.P.L.E.S M.A.R.C.H A.G.A.I.N.S.T J.A.S.O.N K.E.N.N.E.Y

Saturday July 24th at 2 pm
Central Park, right outside Patterson Skytrain Station, Burnaby
Snacks will be served. Bring your family, friends, and banners.

Endorsers list below, to endorse email noii-van@resist.ca
Leaflets & multilingual factsheets: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2034
RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=128201047199876

The People v. Kenney
Freedom to move
Right to stay, and to Return
We are many.

(M)(O)(N)(T)(R)(E)(A)(L)

An invitation from Solidarity Across Borders and No One Is Illegal
Montreal, as part of the National Day of Action against Immigration
Minister Jason Kenney

PEOPLES’ PICNIC IN PARK ATHENA (Parc-Extension)
corner Jean-Talon and de l'Épée
SATURDAY JULY 24TH, 2010
3 PM-7 PM

rain plan to be confirmed, keep in touch

*Free meal
*Kidz Activities
*Pinata
*DJs

&

Speak Out Against Immigration Canada

All are welcome!

Every day, hundreds of migrants across the city of Montreal face deportation and detention, dangerous work, exploitative living conditions and the dehumanizing fear and anxiety brought on by Immigration Canada's unjust, colonial and racist policies.

Every day, non-status migrants walk into hospitals, clinics, schools, shelters and food banks seeking the basic services to which every one of us is entitled, only to find out they are denied access.

These are our neighbours, our colleagues, our classmates. These are people whose only "crime" was to migrate to seek a better life for themselves and their families.

On July 24th, Solidarity Across Borders invites you to a free meal and speak out against Immigration Canada. Together, we will share experiences, stories of previous battles and victories, good food and nice weather. We invite you to join us, as we gather to break the isolation forced on migrant and refugee communities.

July 24th is also a National Day of Action against Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and is an occasion to highlight his repressive track record. Under Kenny, deportations have increased and numbers of people accepted as refugees and sponsored family members has dropped. He has increased the number of temporary foreign workers, who are constantly exploited for
their labour. Kenney's new refugee reform bill will create an even more racist and two-tier immigration system, in which migrants will be accepted
or refused based on nationality.

Join us!

** No borders, no nations, stop the deportations!
** No One is Illegal!

Info: solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com // 514 848-7583

(O)(T)(T)(A)(W)(A)

Details forthcoming. Stayed tuned.

(W)(I)(N)(N)(I)(P)(E)G)

Details forthcoming. Stayed tuned.

Picnic/BBQ in Solidarity with the Chaudhry Family

2010-06-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday July 1
2pm-4pm
George Dixon Centre (Upper Field)
2502 Brunswick St.
Some BBQ food provided, people are encouraged to bring a dish to share
All are welcome!

A family-friendly picnic-BBQ in solidarity with the Chaudhry family, a family of 5 from Pakistan fighting to stay in Canada. The event will offer the opportunity to meet the family, learn about the case, sample some of their delicious food (they have a business plan for opening a Halal restaurant in Halifax), sign a letter of support, and enjoy a fun holiday picnic. This July 1st, come show your support to those who are suffering the injustices of the racist Canadian immigration system.

About the Chaudhry Family: The Chaudhry family are a family of five living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Well-established members of the broader community, they are facing an imminent deportation order to Pakistan, where they face violence, or death. We need to collect support letters from as many community members as possible to improve their chances of winning an application to stay on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds. For more information about the family's case please visit: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

Presented by No One is Illegal-Halifax, http://noii-halifax.blogspot.com/
For more information please contact: jane@nspirg.org

No One Is Illegal at the G8/G20 Mobilizations in Toronto

2010-06-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Joint Statement of No One Is Illegal Toronto, No One Is Illegal Vancouver,
No One Is Illegal Halifax, No One Is Illegal Montreal, No One Is Illegal
Ottawa

No Fences, No Borders!
No One Is Illegal, Canada Is Illegal!

As most of you have heard, from June 25th to 27th the world’s richest countries (the G8 and G20) will send their poli-trickers and banking elite, along with heads of the EU, IMF and World Bank, to meet in Huntsville and then in Toronto. They will be talking bailouts, corporate
green-washing, and how to further deepen their own and their friends’ pockets. The G8 and G20 countries and their corporations make most of the weapons on the planet, profit from war, subsidize oil corporations and massive industrial projects and are responsible for pushing millions out of their homes and on to borders and fences each year. Migrants arriving
in G20 countries are treated as exploitable labour, fenced in to precarious work and often live in fear of detention and deportation.

This week, thousands will converge in Toronto to expose and challenge the deadly policies of the G8 and the G20. No One Is Illegal, a grassroots anti-colonial migrant justice group across Kanada with members primarily of racialized/immigrant background, will be there! We will fight to create a world free of the many fences and borders that divide us, and to create
communities that all can live with justice and dignity. We invite our friends and allies to join us and particularly for those who are vulnerable (as people of colour, trans folks, non status etc) we encourage you to form affinity groups to support each other and to stay safe.

On June 22nd, we will join our allies in the gender justice and queer liberation movements in their fierce and creative actions grounded in the daily lived experiences of women, queer, and trans folks to overcome marginalization. As part of No One Is Illegal’s Access Without Fear
campaign, we will be demanding the right to Shelter, to Sanctuary, and to Status for all migrant women and trans people. On June 23rd, we will gather with environmental justice activists exposing institutions and corporations responsible for the environmental and social impacts of
Canada's extractive industries at home and abroad.

On June 24th, we will stand alongside Indigenous defenders who struggle across Turtle Island against centuries of colonial and genocidal policies that have caused impoverishment, forced assimilation of distinct cultures, and theft of land and resources. As non-native multiracial supporters, we strongly believe that our movement must always be in active solidarity
with Indigenous communities.

On June 25th, we will march alongside community groups who daily organize against the indignities and dehumanization of poverty, discrimination, lack of inclusive services, wage-slave working conditions, repressive immigration policies, gentrification, environmental degradation, and police brutality. Joining struggles against homelessness and displacement,
we will march towards the fence and will build a Tent City that will showcase the just communities we wish to live in.

On June 26th, we will rally alongside anti war activists demanding an end to Canadian complicity in imperialist occupations from Afghanistan to Haiti. We will be alongside working people to oppose patriarchy, racism, privatization, cuts to services, and exploitation of (im)migrant workers; to demand living wages, workers control, and status for all; and to make
clear that the violence of capitalism cannot be reformed.

On June 26, we will also rise alongside anti-capitalists and radical labour activists who are continuing towards the fence to confront the police state and the billion dollar security apparatus that the G20 finance ministers and corporations hide behind. Just as resistance against the border walls from Palestine to Mexico cannot be contained, our love and rage for liberation cannot be contained. We assert: the militarized fence - another physical and ideological symbol of global apartheid, corporate greed, and a way to keep the elite separate from the people -should come down.

On the evening of June 26th, we will party alongside those reclaiming the streets, while on June 27th we will join prison abolitionists highlighting the growing insecurity and repression of the prison and surveillance industrial complex.

In the coming week, we encourage all our allies to join us on the streets and unite for justice. For a world with self-determination for all Indigenous communities; environmental justice; income equity and community control over resources; migrant justice; gender, queer, disability, and reproductive rights; and freedom for all oppressed peoples; Rise in
struggle till all the walls and fences fall!

“Walls turned on their sides, are bridges.”
- Graffiti on US/Mexico border wall

www.nooneisillegal.org

* For further details on these events and information on Accessibility,
Legal, Medics, Schedule, and more:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

* For G20 and G8 People's Convergence Breaking Updates:
http://2010.mediacoop.ca/
To contribute to this site, please tag youtube, twitter and flickr posts
with #g20report.

* Independent media:
http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/
http://rabble.ca/
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/altmedia

* Toronto Community Mobilization Network Solidarity and Respect Statement:
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/SolidarityRespect

URGENT ACTION: Support the Chaudhry Family

2010-05-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Call Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews today to demand that the family not be removed

The Chaudhry family recently received news that they will be removed from Canada in the coming weeks. This has been devastating news for the family of five, who are terrified of being returned to Pakistan, where they will face violence and possibly death because their marriage was not approved by their family.

CALL MINISTER VIC TOEWS TODAY TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY
Halifax supports refugee claimants and will not tolerate senseless deportations!

Parliament Hill Office: 613-992-3128
Manitoba Offices: 204-326-9889; 204-345-9762

The deportation will be extremely difficult for the family's three young children (aged 9, 3, and 6 months), two of whom are Canadian citizens and one of whom is an American citizen, and who all consider Canada their home. Forcing the family to go through a stressful, expensive and potentially dangerous deportation in order to apply for a way to return is a clear example of how Canada's immigration and refugee system needlessly hurts migrants.

The family has received outpourings of community support, including the support of two local Members of Parliament, business partners, students, the Muslim community, service providers and many others. They have a business plan to open a Halal food restaurant, and are likely to be able to return to Canada under the Nova Scotia Nominee Program after being out of the country. The Provincial Immigration office is so confident in the family that they have agreed to expedite their application return to Canada. The family has also applied to stay in Canada on Humanitarian & Compassionate grounds, given their integration in the community, but this application has not yet been processed and will not on its own stop a deportation.

Points to emphasize in your call:

-they currently have an application to stay on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds. Deporting the family before this is processed may needlessly put the family through stress, danger and a financial burden. They should be allowed to stay at least until this application has been processed.
-they face violence or an honour killing if returned to Pakistan
-they have lived in Halifax since 2003 and have made a home for themselves here.
-they have a viable business plan to open a Pakistani food restaurant, with business partners
-they have taken courses to upgrade their skills, including computer and food safety courses
-they are active members of their community and volunteer with their local mosque
-their two youngest children were born in Canada. Their eldest child was born in the U.S.
-there has been a large amount of grassroots public support for the family.

For more information about the family, please visit: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

CALL MINISTER VIC TOEWS TODAY TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY
Parliament Hill Office: 613-992-3128
Manitoba Offices: 204-326-9889; 204-345-9762

Please pass this along to your friends, families and networks.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Migrant Justice Activists Protest Bill C-11

2010-05-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Refugee Reforms will hurt refugee claimants

HALIFAX -- Early this morning, migrant justice activists dropped a banner reading “Status for Refugees: No to Bill C-11” from the Cogswell interchange, in protest of the refugee reform bill currently being debated in parliament. The protests came in response to a visit by Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney, who is responsible for the proposed reforms.

“Already people are falling through the cracks in the refugee system and are deported to unsafe situations” says Jane Kirby, a member of No One is Illegal-Halifax. “These reforms will only impose further hardship on those who are fleeing unsafe situations”.

The proposed reforms would create a two-tier system for refugee claimants based on their country of origin, limit the availability of mechanisms like the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment and Humanitarian and Compassionate applications to refugees, and process claims so quickly as to deny refugees adequate preparation.

“It's the people who face real risks who will suffer most from these 'fast track' reforms. It makes it harder to be accepted as a refugee in Canada, which is already difficult”, says David Parker of No One is Illegal, who also criticizes the streaming of refugee claimants based on their country of origin, such that those from so-called safe countries would be denied appeal and have their claims fast-tracked. “This erodes the whole concept of justice by allowing non-judges to determine a refugee's risk not based on the individual, but based on origin. This is discrimination, and is unacceptable for a country that claims to uphold human rights”.

Critics also disagree with Kenney's claim that these reforms are necessary to combat “abuse and a backlog” in the refugee system. “This backlog was created by Kenney and the Harper government when they delayed appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board in 2006 and 2007”, says Kirby, a member of No One is Illegal-Halifax. “Kenney created this crisis and cannot be trusted to fix it. Refugees should not be punished for Kenney's mistakes”.

Grassroots activists across the country have called for Jason Kenney's dismissal. He is best known for his appointing of a known anti-gay activist to the Immigration and Refugee Board, his barring of British MP George Galloway from Canada because of his support for Palestine, and for his frequent inflammatory and anti-immigrant comments. He has also overseen the largest immigration raids in Canadian history, including a large raid in a mall in West-End Toronto earlier this week.

In December 2009, Kenney cut the number of refugees accepted in Canada from 29,000 to 12,000. Although Kenney claims that the new refugee reforms would add 2500 new spaces for refugees in Canada, 2000 of these would have to be privately funded. Even with these additions, this still represents a 14,500 person cut in the number of refugees accepted.

“So many people are denied refugee status who actually deserve it and need it”, says Parker. “Federal immigration fails to take seriously the real risks these migrants face: The risks they faced just to get here to Canada, and the real risks they face if returning”.

In Halifax this past March, a man from Eritrea committed suicide upon hearing that his refugee claim was rejected. In December 2008, a young woman was murdered within months of being forced to return to Mexico, after applying for asylum in Canada twice. This came as Kenney was imposing visa requirements on Mexicans, claiming that they were bogus.

“These stories are not that uncommon”, says Kirby. “We should be putting the needs of people first, and opening our borders to immigrants and refugees, not closing them”.

Changes to the Immigration System That You Need to Know About

2010-05-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

From No One is Illegal-Toronto: http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/

(1) The Conservative Attacks on the Refugee System:
Why Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is Lying

Jason Kenney recently proposed a number of sweeping changes to the Refugee System. Unfortunately, most of what he said was deceiving, or an outright lie.

Kenney Says: Canada’s asylum system is crippled by long delays and a cumbersome process. This results in claims taking years to resolve.

We Say: When the Tories took power in 2005, the backlog was zero and the processing time was 11.5 months. It has now gone up to 19.5 months and the backlog is in the thousands. The Tories created this ‘crisis’ to push through these vicious changes.

Kenney Says: The Government-Assisted Refugees Program will be expanded over time by up to 500 places. An additional 2,000 places will be added to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program..

We Say: In December 2009, Kenney cut refugee quotas from 29,000 to 12,000. That’s a cut of 17,000. Even with a 2500 person increase, that still means a 14,500 person cut. The 2000 private sponsorships put an unnecessary burden on private individuals and takes away Canada’s responsibility to settle people that it displaces.

Kenney Says: We will abolish hearings and replace them with an administrative evaluation. We will revoke the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) application because it’s an unnecessary safety net used by refused asylum seekers to stay in the country.

We Say: There are no fair hearings without independent judges! Refugees will no longer be allowed to write down their own stories. Instead, a civil servant will conduct an oral interview and will have full power to deny status. The PRRA , though limited, was the only way for people facing risk upon deportation to stop their removal - revoking it means denying the simplest of protections.

Kenney Says: We will establish a list of “safe countries” in order to expedite claims. But we will ensure all asylum seekers have a fair hearing and we will introduce an appeal process.

We Say: The Immigration Minister has refused to specify which countries will be on the ‘safe’ list. Establishing such a list will create a two-tiered system based on nationality. Any country could be deemed safe and claimants from those countries would be treated differently. Poor women, queer and trans survivors of violence have little means of entering Canada outside of the refugee system. This change will slam the doors on those people’s ability to immigrate. Also, though the rest of the changes will be implemented immediately, the appeals system is scheduled to be setup in 2-3 years. The Liberals promised the same a few years ago but then got rid of it a year later.

(2) Family Sponsorship: Adopting children or bringing a spouse or a parent to Canada has been made very difficult. Staff in the family sponsorship office has been cut which has increased processing time up to 12 years. Arranged marriages and same-sex partnerships are under increased inspection and Immigration officers now have more powers to deny sponsorship.

(3) Permanent Residency: Under new laws few people can get permanent residency as skilled workers. Only people in 38 professions are allowed to immigrate while all others have to wait decades to get in. The list of ‘preferred’ professions is created by the Immigration Minister which favours rich, western-style educated people while discriminating against people from the Third World, women and folks with disabilities.

(4) Temporary Work: While ways to get permanent residency or get full rights are being cut, more and more people are coming in as Temporary Migrant Workers. Migrant workers have few rights, often face abuse, work long hours with little pay and are deported at the employers whims. Under new laws, some migrant workers work up to four years and are then banned for the next six years.

The laws and policies that shut out Immigrants in Canada go along with military and economic foreign policies that are making it harder and harder for Third World People to live with dignity. Canadian police and military from Haiti to Afghanistan, Canadian mining companies from Papua New Guinea to Congo, Canadian trade agreements Mexico and Columbia to Israel all work together to keep people poor, harass, intimidate and exploit women, queer folk, disabled people and children.

As a result millions of people come to Canada looking to survive. Those that gain citizenship live in poverty, children pushed out of schools, the last hired and the first fired. In Ontario, 47% of children of new Immigrant families live in poverty. Those that do not are either deported or, in the case of 500,000 undocumented people in Canada, live in daily fear and always threatened with deportation.

It is obvious that Canadian government and political parties are unwilling to defend the interests of Migrants. Only in working together in solidarity, taking to the streets and creating everyday solutions can we defend and achieve justice. Grassroots groups have stopped deportations, changed labor and immigration policies, opened up schools and shelters to non-status people, and have fought and won alongside struggles for self-determination.

Asylum appeal ends in death

2010-03-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Eritrean refugee in Halifax commits suicide after losing case to stay in Canada

Link to article in the Chronicle Herald : http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1172185.html

Upcoming Migrant Justice Events from NOII-Halifax

2010-02-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

1. Our Terrain of Struggle: Immigration, the G-20, the crisis of
capitalism and global apartheid

A Presentation by Montreal based organizer, Jaggi Singh

Thursday Feb 4th, 7pm - 9pm
Room 105 Weldon Law Building (6061 University avenue)
Free coffee, tea and snacks
Free event

Description

A multi-media presentation. Using research and lived experiences, this presentation will raise questions about all border controls & nation-states; and make the case that all human beings have the autonomous right to migrate, resist displacement and return home. The big picture
is one of global apartheid, and with the economic crisis deeply set and the G8/G20 working to keep unequal relations intact, the terrain of struggle grows rougher.

About Jaggi Singh

Jaggi Singh is an organizer, active on indigenous solidarity, migrant justice, no border, anti-poverty and anti-police brutality issues. He is a founding member of groups such as the Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes (CLAC), No One Is Illegal, Solidarity Across Borders
and the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair, as well as many related campaigns and initiatives. He is also a writer and independent journalist, and has reported from occupied Palestine, India, as well as all over Canada. Jaggi hosts a monthly current affairs radio show on CKUT 90.3fm

2. Community Potluck in Solidarity with the Chaudhry Family

Friday February 5
6:30-8:30pm
Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 2096 Windsor Street

Come meet the Chaudhry family at this community potluck. Sample some of the family's delicious food (they have a business plan for opening a Halal restaurant in Halifax) and learn about their case.

The Chaudhrys are a family of five living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Well-established members of the broader community, they are facing an imminent deportation order to Pakistan, where they face violence, or death. We need to collect support letters from as many community members as possible to improve their chances of winning an application to stay on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds. Letter writing materials will be made available at the event.

All welcome, family friendly!

For more information about the family's case please visit:

http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

http://www.noii-halifax.blogspot.com/

Or contact: jane@nspirg.org

Update: Chaudhry Family

2010-01-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Support the Chaudhry Family!

The Chaudhrys are a family of five living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Well-established members of the broader community, they are facing an imminent deportation order to Pakistan, where they face violence, or death.

Hundreds of letters have already been sent to the Minister of Public Safety, asking him to stay the deportation. The family is now submitting a Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds application that, if successful, would allow the Chaudhrys to permanently stay in Canada. They need your support to make the application!

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. SEND AN EMAIL to Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews, asking him to stay the deportation of the family. This will give us more time to complete an application for the family on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, and explore other options for the family.
You can do this via the Chaudhry Family Support Website at: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com/

2. WRITE A LETTER in support of the family to be included in the Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds Application. The letter should emphasize the family’s integration in Canada, including:

-they have lived in Halifax since 2003 and have made a home for themselves here.
-they have a viable business plan to open a Pakistani food restaurant
-they have taken courses to upgrade their skills, including computer and food safety courses
-they are active members of their community and volunteer with their local mosque
-their two youngest children were born in Canada. Their eldest child was born in the U.S.
-their eldest child attends school at the Maritime Muslim Academy
-there has been a large amount of grassroots public support for the family.

Letters should be mailed, faxed or dropped off at the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group, Rm 314 Dalhousie Student Union Bldg, 6136 University Avenue, Halifax NS, B3H 4J2. Fax: (902) 494-5185 (please specify NSPIRG).

3. Get more involved by joining No One is Illegal. Contact jane@nspirg.org

4. Tell your friends to do the same!

ABOUT THE FAMILY:

Chaudhry Roouf Ahmad and Fakhira Chaudhry fled Pakistan after being subject to violence and death threats from Fakhira’s family, who did not approve of their marriage. Fakhira was lucky to have been well-educated: she obtained a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Pakistan, and was able to make her own decisions about whom to marry rather than submitting to the will of her parents. According to an Amnesty International 1999 report, every year hundreds of women in Pakistan die as a result of honour killings for the crime of choosing their marriage partner.

Given this situation, the couple were lucky to be able to escape to the US and then to Canada. The current threat of removal from Canada places the family, including their three children, at great risk. They came to Canada via the US in 2003, and have made a home for themselves with their three children in Halifax’s vibrant Muslim community. They have taken courses to upgrade their skills, and volunteer regularly with their mosque. The Chaudhrys also have the support of Greater Halifax Partnership and the local Islamic community in their proposal to open an Islamic / Halal food restaurant in Halifax.

On November 21, Fakhira gave birth to their third child, Muhammad Bilal Hasan Chaudhry, in a Halifax hospital. Their two older children, Noor-Ul-Imaan, born in Canada, and Rukhna Roouf, born in the US, have grown up in Halifax. Rukhna is currently attending Grade Three at the Maritime Muslim Academy.

The family’s refugee claim was rejected in 2006 and they are scheduled to be deported to Pakistan in Spring 2010. They face extreme violence if returned to Pakistan. Fakhira also has diabetes and other health conditions that she suffers as a result of the beatings she endured at the hands of her family.

For more info on the family’s case please visit: http://chaudhrysolidarity.wordpress.com

The Chaudhry Support Campaign is part of the No One is Illegal Campaign of the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group.

Update on Mohammed Mahjoub: Bail Now Raised

2009-12-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

(From the People's Commission)

Bail now raised; donations still neededSecurity certificate detainee remains in Kingston Immigration HoldingCentre (KIHC)
All the money needed for bail for Mohammed Mahjoub has now beenraised! The response to the appeal has been a strong expression of oursolidarity. It has meant a great deal to Mr. Mahjoub to receive thiskind of community support and solidarity. THANK YOU!
OUR SUPPORT IS STILL NEEDED:
* Financial donations are still needed. Unjustly prevented fromworking by the court-imposed bail regime, he is forced to rely on oursupport and solidarity. WE NEED ENOUGH TO COVER MR. MAHJOUB'S LIVINGEXPENSES - RENT, FOOD, AND OTHER ESSENTIAL NEEDS - FOR THE NEXTSEVERAL MONTHS.
Make checks out to: "Marlys Edwardh Barristers ProfessionalCorporation in trust". Note that it is for Mohammed Mahjoub. Send bymail to: 20 Dundas Street West, Suite 1100. Toronto Ontario Canada M5G2G8.
* In addition, if you are in Toronto, donations of furniture (bed,dresser, kitchen-table, chairs, couch, linens, curtains, kitchen-ware)would be very much appreciated. Please get in touch atabolissons@gmail.com if you can help with that.

Court orders Mohammed Mahjoub released from detention centre: Security certificate detainee will remain in prison until bail is raised

2009-12-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

(From the Peoples Commission)

* URGENT call for support (details below): please help ensure Mr.
Mahjoub is released quickly
* Background (new webpage!): www.peoplescommission.org/en/mahjoub/

UPDATE

On 30 November 2009, Mohammad Mahjoub received a court order releasing him from the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre (KIHC). Until the court conditions are put in place, he will remain in hospital or prison - an intolerable situation that has already led him to a
life-threatening hunger-strike.

On the day that he received the news, Mr. Mahjoub had been on a juice and water hunger-strike for six months. The sole detainee at KIHC (dubbed "Guantanamo North" to draw attention to the practice of holding prisoners indefinitely at the facility on secret evidence), he began his hunger-strike on 1 June 2009, a month which marked the beginning of his tenth year of indefinite detention on a security certificate. He was hospitalized on Thursday, November 26th.

On 30 November 2009, the Federal Court ordered Mr. Mahjoub released from KIHC into house arrest pending the final outcome of his case. This time he will live alone. The complex conditions which will govern his life can be read in full at
http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/rss/DES-7-08.pdf.

As the details of the bail package are worked out, a process which could take weeks, Mr. Mahjoub will remain in hospital or prison.

BACKGROUND

The 50-year old father of two was accepted as a convention refugee in Canada in 1996, having fled Egypt, where he was tortured and subject to other ill treatment. He settled in Toronto, married and had two children. However, in June 2000 he was arrested on a security certificate and threatened with deportation to Egypt, the very country where Canada had determined he was at risk. Since then, he has been detained, including long periods in solitary confinement, and has been denied any meaningful opportunity to respond to the allegations against him. In February 2007, the Supreme Court struck down the security certificate process as failing to provide constitutionally-guaranteed rights to a fair trial, but this did not restore Mr. Mahjoub's freedom. The government merely passed a slightly modified, still fundamentally unjust, law and issued a new security certificate against him. Transferred to house arrest in April 2007, Mr. Mahjoub returned to KIHC two years later, in March 2009, in order to free his wife and two children from the unbearable burden of the intrusive and suffocating house arrest regime.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO BAIL AND LIVING COSTS

Many thanks to the outpouring of solidarity in response to our last appeal and for the many letters that were sent in support of Mr. Mahjoub to the Minister of Public Safety.

Mr. Mahjoub urgently needs our continued support: bail must be raised before he can be released and - because he is prevented from working - funds are needed for his new apartment. The faster we raise the funds, the faster this man, who has already suffered enormous injustices and violence, could be moved to his own apartment. Please donate quickly
and generously! Please ask others to contribute!

1) Make checks out to:

"Marlys Edwardh Barristers Professional Corporation in trust"

2) Importantly,

a) Include a note with your cheque stating that it is for Mohammed Mahjoub.

b) Specify whether you are

- Contributing to the cash bail. Please indicate whether or not you wish your name to remain confidential. This money will be held in trust by the court; as long as the court deems that Mr. Mahjoub has abided by the bail conditions, the money will be returned to you when Mr. Mahjoub is completely freed from the security certificate. Otherwise, the money could be forfeit. Mr. Mahjoub will not be released from the detention centre until bail is raised. DURING THIS
TIME HE WILL REMAIN IN THE INTOLERABLE SITUATION THAT HAS ALREADY LED HIM TO A LIFE-THREATENING HUNGER STRIKE. We still need $12,500.

OR

- Making an outright donation. This will go towards Mr. Mahjoub's living expenses, including costs of outfitting a new apartment. Having been unjustly prevented from working for over nine years because of prison or court-imposed restrictions, Mr. Mahjoub must rely on
community support and solidarity.

3) Send by mail to:

20 Dundas Street West, Suite 1100
Toronto Ontario Canada M5G 2G8

THANK YOU!

Background information: www.peoplescommission.org/en/mahjoub/

Urgent Action: Stop the Deportation of the Chaudhry Family!

2009-12-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Chaudhrys are a family of five living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Well-established members of the broader community, they are facing an imminent deportation order to Pakistan or the US, where they face imprisonment, violence, or death. Local community members are calling on MP Peter Van Loan to stop the deportation immediately.

Chaudhry Roouf Ahmad and Fakhira Chaudhry fled Pakistan after being subject to violence and death threats from Fakhira’s family, who did not approve of their marriage. They came to Canada via the US in 2003, and have made a home for themselves with their three children in Halifax’s vibrant Muslim community.

The family’s refugee claim was rejected in 2006 and they are scheduled to be deported to Pakistan or the US in January 2010. They face extreme violence if returned to Pakistan. Fakhira also has diabetes and other health conditions that she suffers as a result of the beatings she endured at the hands of her family. The Chaudhrys have the support of Greater Halifax Partnership and the local Islamic community in their proposal to open an Islamic / Halal food restaurant in Halifax, and will likely be eligible to immigrate formally if the deportation order is stayed and they are able to apply for permanent resident status from within Canada.

MP Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and MP Peter Van Loan, the Minister of Public Safety, are the two individuals with the power to stop the deportation. We are asking for your help in demanding the removal of the deportation order against Chaudhry Roouf Ahmad and Fakhira Chaudhry.

Please take the time to contact Minister Kenney and Minister Van Loan to express your support for the Chaudhry family in their struggle to remain in Canada.

More information, and a sample letter with the phone numbers, mailing addresses and email addresses of Minister Kenney and Minister Van Loan are located on the Chaudhry solidarity website. Please bear in mind that a phone call or letter is more effective than an email, but every contribution is helpful. Postage is free to MPs, and letters are also available to be signed in the NSPIRG office.

Workshop: Advocacy Training 101 on Refugee Rights

2007-07-23T06:42:00.001-07:00

A free workshop, open to the public, offering an overview of the refugee determination system, recent legislative changes, stowaway rights, immigrant advocacy, and more.

Brought to you by No One is Illegal Halifax, the Halifax Refugee Clinic and the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association.
- Lunch and informational hand-outs will be provided -

DATE: Saturday, September 29 th
TIME: 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m
LOCATION: Room 307, Dal SUB
6136 University Ave, Dalhousie University
For more info, please call (902) 494-6662 or email noii@nspirg.org

Workshop Objectives:
- To build greater awareness about refugee and immigration processes
- To learn about local resources and support for refugees

*Please register as soon as possible as space is filling up quickly!*

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
(Francais)

ATELIER D’ENTRAÎNEMENT : LE SOUTIEN AUX RÉFUGIÉES

Un atelier gratuit, ouvert au public, qui offre une vue d’ensemble du système de détermination des réfugiées, les changements législatifs récents, les droits des passagers clandestins, le soutien aux immigrants, et plus.

Organisé par No One is Illegal Halifax, La clinique des réfugiées d’Halifax (Halifax Refugee Clinic), et M.I.S.A. (Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association.

Le dîner ainsi que des dépliants d’information seront fournis.

DATE : samedi le 29 septembre 2007
HEURE : 9h30 – 16h30
LIEU : Salle 307, SUB de Dalhousie University
Pour d’autres renseignements veuillez téléphoner au (902) 494-6662 ou email noii@nspirg.org

Objectifs de l’atelier :

- Se conscientiser par rapport aux processus d’immigration et de réfugiées
- D’apprendre sur les ressources locales et le soutien aux réfugiés

*Prière de s’inscrire le plus tôt possible, l’espace est limitée!*

Immigration Canada to Tear Apart Halifax Family

2007-05-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Sri Lankan Man to be Deported to War-Torn Country

HALIFAX – Dammika Kumara Tissawalangumndiyanselage (Kuma), a Sri Lankan man and 5-year resident of Dartmouth, faces a deportation order currently slated for this Saturday. The Halifax office of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be proceeding with Kuma’s deportation, currently scheduled for May 19th, 2007, to war-torn Sri Lanka. Kuma is currently married to a Canadian citizen, has been living and working in Halifax for five years. He was originally scheduled for deportation on May 11th, however the order was delayed due to the fact that the only international airport in the country has been closed as a result air attacks by the Tamil Tigers. His deportation represents a disturbing and repressive act on the part of immigration officials, due to the dangerous situation to which he and his wife would be subjected in Sri Lanka.

Kuma’s Canadian wife, Kimberly Charron, had applied to be his sponsor in his permanent residence application, based on Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds. Regardless of the pending nature of this legal claim, his deportation date to Sri Lanka was set for May 11th, 2007. Kuma lost his refugee claim in 2005 and was notified on April 14th of this year that he lost his Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) application. His deportation date was later extended to May 19th due to the closure of Sri Lanka’s only international airport.

Kuma’s wife, Kim Charron, is currently working two full-time jobs in Dartmouth, due to the fact that the Canadian government has revoked Kuma’s work permit. The Canadian government’s unwillingness to consider issuing a stay of Kuma’s deportation order has placed an immense emotional strain on Kim and her family. Kuma and Kimberly will be forced apart due to the financial strain caused by the repeated rescheduling of Kuma’s departure flight by Immigration officials. Despite the dangerous nature of the situation in Sri Lanka due to the current civil war, Kimberly had initially planned to depart with Kuma. Instead, she will remain in Canada for the next few months due to threats to her safety, as well as financial constraints.

Not only is the Canadian government willing to place this man and his wife in immediate danger, but in a show of an incredibly racist double standard, the government has imposed a travel warning for Canadian citizens to this war-torn region. This represents a slap in the face for all Canadians who believe in a society which is not based upon racism and discrimination.

Kuma is prepared to depart willingly, but will be filing a new application for spousal sponsorship in hopes of returning to Canada. Such a process could take up to a year to complete. Kuma faces the prospect of living in a war zone while awaiting the results of this process. Kuma’s deportation will occur less than two weeks after the deportation of the Silva family, a Brazilian family who had lived for years in Halifax, by Canadian Immigration officials.

Stateless and Deported

2007-03-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

An Interview with the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees
Z Net, June 24 2004
By Justin Podur

For over a year, the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees has been working in Montreal to stop deportations against these members of an already stateless and oppressed community. The coalition's political campaign and case work has afforded some of the only protection and publicity for those few Palestinians who have managed to escape from the refugee camps in Lebanon or the occupied Palestinian territories. The Coalition itself is a part of is part of the Solidarity Across Borders Campaign, which brings to together various self-organized immigrant and refugee communities who are fighting for collectively for their status, against deportations and detentions. Members of the coalition visited Toronto to share their experience with Toronto organizers and community members in June 2004.

Justin Podur (JP): Last year (1), the Coalition had begun its work, identifying over 100 Palestinians facing deportation. It was built up of community members, activists from No One is Illegal who had experience campaigning against the deportation of Montreal Algerians (2), and others, including Palestine solidarity activists. Can you describe the experience of the past year?

Coalition (CADPR): The most searing experience of the year for us was the deportation of Ahmed Abdel Majid in November. He was one of the most active organizers. He was the first one to get a deportation order. He was deported to the United States, which was his point of entry, and is now in the refugee camp in Lebanon where he came from, Ein El Helweh, and trying to leave again.

We learned a lot from that experience, about the lies the immigration authorities are willing to tell to make a deportation happen. We've learned a lot about the system: the dynamics, the politics between the Refugee Board, Immigration Canada, the Ministry of Immigration, the Minister herself, the lawyers, the consultants.

JP: How does immigration policy work?

CADPR: It doesn't work, in fact. Or, it doesn't work for the people who are most vulnerable. There is a battery of lawyers and immigration officials, politicians and their offices, a battery of forms and applications and laws. But when you need a straight answer to a simple question, you can't get one. You get inconsistent answers. We had a very hard time. People with language barriers, cultural barriers, financial barriers, find it nearly impossible to navigate this system.

Immigration authorities also have a fortress mentality. They look for ways to close doors, and they give you bureaucratic answers out of some catalog. They use all this bureaucracy to hide from the human tragedies that their policies bring about.

They are hiding from their own mistakes. The bureaucracy cloaks injustice. Let's get into some specifics. There are different officials working in different aspects of immigration. There are removal officials, enforcement officials, and intelligence officials. Within Immigration Canada there are different people dealing with refugee claims and with enforcement. The Minister herself is unaware of regulations and laws. Can that be accidental, when her ignorance helps serve Canadian foreign policy and economic policy?

JP: How does immigration policy relate to foreign policy in this case?

CADPR: Canada has a free trade agreement with Israel and business interests in Lebanon. It doesn't want to take a strong stand against the treatment of the Palestinians in the refugee camps or in the occupied territories, which is at the root of the problem here. Canada was one of the first regimes to recognize the partition in 1948 when the Palestinian refugee problem began. Canada was part of the 'refugee working group' of the Oslo accords of 1993, a body created to help the Palestinian refugees. There was a Canadian mission to the camps in Lebanon in 1997, and it stated part of the reality on the ground. It asked for funding increases for the UN refugee works organization, UNRWA, and discussed the humanitarian disaster of the camps. But UNRWA is still underfunded and it is the only body that offers anything to the Palestinians: they lack even the protection of the UN High Commission on Refugees.

Many of us are active in the Palestine solidarity movement. One of us was talking on the phone to a Palestinian friend in a camp in Lebanon. We began talking about the right of return and resolving the Palestinian refugee problem, and he asked: "Why are you talking about 4 million refugees when your country won't even accept 100?" The fact is the refugees are a manifestation, on Canada's doorstep, of the occupation, displacement, economic and military warfare waged on the Palestinians, and it is something the Palestine solidarity movement has to deal with.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) travel advisory is a great illustration of the racism inherent in the system. DFAIT specifically warns Canadians against going to both the refugee camps in Lebanon and Occupied Palestine - even telling Canadians to leave the territories immediately, although that may be difficult due to curfews, closures, and incursions. Yet they see no problem sending non-citizens back

JP: Let us go back to the deportation of Ahmed Abdel Majid.

CADPR: He was born in Ein El Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon. In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees are barred from working in 78 professions, can't own or inherit property, and has no access to public services. He arrived in Canada in March 2001 and claimed refugee status. His claim was refused, so he lived underground without access to basic services. He worked with the coalition and helped other refugees.

On November 4 2003 four Canadian Immigration agents picked him up outside his work, handcuffed him, and took him to detention. He called us. We went to the Immigration offices and got a meeting with Rene D'aoust, the head of removals. We explained why he shouldn't be deported to a life of statelessness and persecution. D'Aoust said - and the one of us who met him will remember this forever - "We know we are not dealing with cargo here, but the life of a human being." He told us we had to get a letter from the Minister of Immigration and that he wouldn't be deported for 48 hours. We had sympathetic Members of Parliament intervene. While we tried to get the letter, Ahmed was told he would have a detention hearing at 1pm on November 6. We went to the detention centre that morning, at 6am. He called us and told us about the hearing.

Then at 8:30am he called us and told us that he was being released. Carloads of us went to the detention centre to greet him, assuming the Minister had intervened. About 30 people, mostly refugees themselves, went. We got there - and the security people called the police. The police told us we had to leave or we'd all be arrested. Just like that. We were confused - we thought we were going to pick Ahmed up. But we left, because we didn't want to be arrested and have more deportations come out of this.

It turns out that while we were waiting outside, they were deporting Ahmed, and they were nervous because they didn't know that we didn't know that the deportation was happening. They had actually scheduled his hearing at 1pm, lied to him, and packed him off to a New York county jail, where the guards were abusive and where we had to go through a great deal of bureaucracy to get him released on a $10,000 bond. They lied to him, they lied to us, repeatedly, so that they could deport him as quickly as possible.

JP: Immigration authorities violated sanctuary in order to violate Non-Status Algerian Mohammad Cherfi. There are Palestinian refugees living in sanctuary now too, correct?

CADPR: There is a Palestinian family of 3 elderly people who have been in sanctuary since January 5, 2004. They are living in a church, again without access to health care services. The previous immigration minister had a policy of not negotiating with churches or claims of people in sanctuary. The current immigration minister has carried that forward. So these people, who have lived through multiple wars and horrors, are now living in a church basement in fear of deportation because the government won't negotiate.

There is another case, of Ashraf, from Jenin. He had a deportation hearing and was released from detention on a $2000 cash and $2500 bond ticket. The judge was unusually sympathetic. Her job was only to assess whether or not he was a flight risk. Instead, she wrote in her judgement that if he is deported, he ought not to be deported through Israel. She recognized that he is from Jenin, and that if he lands in Israel the fact that he is from Jenin alone is enough to land him in prison for a very long time. So she wants him to be deported through Jordan straight into the West Bank. But Ashraf was denied a visa from Jordan. And then his Palestinian Authority passport expired. So now Canada wants to deport him but has nowhere to deport him to. He has to check in every Wednesday with an immigration officer. This has been going on for three months.

These are examples of Immigration Canada's fortress mentality. On the few occasions when we have secured a meeting with the immigration minister's office, we were typically allowed to send a single member, under heavy security escort, after submitting to repeated searches. We would get to the office of some member of the immigration office, surrounded by security, and the person we were meeting would be visibly scared. One time, as one of us was being escorted to the elevator after the meeting, a security guard commented: "Well, that was quite peaceful," as if surprised.

But it is demonstrative of the attitude of immigration officials towards Palestinians. It shows the stereotypes that they believe. Immigration and Refugee Board judges demonstrate these stereotypes in their judgements. IRB member Jeannine Beaubien Duque, for example, has written in her judgements statements like: "the violence of the Middle East is part of Israel's attempts at establishing secure political frontiers and preventing terrorist attacks on its territory," that "it is not the panel's duty to conclude as to the rightfulness or wrongfulness of the military activities of the Israeli authorities in the war stricken area", and that "many young men in their thousands volunteer to take part in martyr operations." These are the people that are deciding the fates of Palestinian refugees.

JP: What have been the coalition's successes over the year?

CADPR: We do a lot of work in our campaigns, contacting organizations, generating letters to the minister and the immigration authorities, holding rallies and demonstrations, we have a weekly picket at the immigration office, we have leaflets and petitions. We make an effort to make sure organizations supporting the coalition aren't just signing on, but giving support, time, resources, mobilizing people for actions.

To go along with this political work, we have a legal strategy where we go case by case and file a Humanitarian and Compassionate claim (H & C) to land the refugees based on the persecution they would face if they returned and their integration into Canada and Quebec society. So we try to create pressure on all levels. It costs $550 to file an H & C, so we have to do fundraising. We save money in one place: we have found that our activists do a better job than lawyers who don't know the situation in Lebanon, don't take the time, don't have the time because they are overworked (partly because there is not enough of them, due to legal aid budget cuts). The H & Cs that are part of a political campaign have a much better chance of success.

By fighting cases as part of a larger campaign, we have had some victories. One major one is, in spite of all of the difficulties of underground living, lack of access to services, fear, being hunted by the CIC, and the deportations and repression, the coalition has managed to maintain itself over this difficult year and continue its work. Another success is that now the authorities know that every single deportation is going to result in a battle. Every time there is a Palestinian who wants to fight deportation, that refugee will have support. There won't be a deportation without media, without publicity, without a battle.

A concrete victory is the staying of the deportation of Osama Saleh, a Palestinian refugee from the West Bank whose claim was denied in 2002, whose 'appeal' was denied in April 2004, but whose deportation was stayed. None of us thought that would happen and we know it is because of the campaign.

Notes:
1) See the previous interview with the coalition, 'Stop the (re) Deportations' July 5, 2004
2) See the interview with the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians of December 2002. Among those interviewed was Mohammad Cherfi, who was deported several months ago when police violated a sanctuary of a church in Montreal to arrest him.

What Regularization Means

2007-03-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

Regularization is an issue of self-determination and justice. Entire families live in a state of constant stress and fear. Workers are being exploited. Children of non-status immigrants, whether Canadian-born or not, are denied the right to education. Children and entire families lack adequate and affordable medical coverage.

The Canadian government supports international agreements that allow the free movement of capital, business and goods across the globe. While businesses are free to move across borders to find thriving economic conditions, these same agreements deny people the same type of free movement. Business relocation has created huge areas of poverty and depression around the world giving people no choice but to migrate in order to save their families and children from poverty, war and militarization.

Many sectors of the Canadian economy rely on the exploited labour of non-status and refugees and it is not in the best interest of the Canadian government to deport non-status immigrants, thus maintaining a social and economic system that has created two classes of people - exploited non-status immigrants without social and citizenship rights- and the rest of the population.

Just as Canada was dependent upon colonial plantations in Latin America, Africa and Asia that produced fruit, vegetables, coffee, tea, sugar for the Canadian market, today the Canadian economy depends upon the labour of migrant workers of colour who are underemployed and exploited. One clear and present example is the garment industry, in which 77% of workers are racialized immigrant women whose pay depends on their status- ranging from two to four dollars per hour. (Women and Welfare Project March 2004, Vancouver Status of Women).

In the past, every time there has been an overhaul of our immigration law, the government has brought in programs to regularize the status of those who were caught in the old system. The first time the government introduced a special program to allow a person in Canada to regularize their status was in 1960. Since then there has been many other such programs: in 1972, 1986, 1989, and in 1995.

War on Terror a War on Immigrants?

2007-03-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

With America’s unrelenting ‘War on Terror’ scourging the sands of the world to tap the flow of oil profits westward, the flows of population migration have been stifled; an almost reciprocal effect of a neo-colonial pan-American agenda. The increased instability precipitated by George W. Bush’s ‘democracy project’ in the Middle East has displaced and disenfranchised millions of Arabs and Muslims, who’ve sought refuge in Europe and North America. Not coincidentally, these same countries have tightened border restrictions under the pretext of national security measures.

In Canada, exclusive immigration policies have become more impregnable within federal legislation. Alleged terrorist plots at home, and Canada’s peripheral role in supporting allied forces in their occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Palestine have created conditions for he accelerated deterioration of rights and protections for migrants in Canada – especially those hailing from these same adversarial countries.

Next, after diplomatic relations between countries, as a criterion for
differential treatment, is a nation’s affluence. First world nations cherry-pick migrants based on class, as well as race, which is why African refugees, for example, from third world countries (like Sierra Leone or Somalia) get second-class treatment through Canada’s immigration system.

Since the events of September 11th 2001, broad declarations in the
corporate media and generalizations or oversimplifications in government bills have made more and more migrants the targets of racism and xenophobia; countless migrants in Canada have faced harassment and unjust treatment in the form of secret trials, arbitrary detention, abuse and harassment, torture, racial or religious profiling, security certificates, police surveillance, deportation, and the restriction of family visitation rights.

In light of these injustices, a Halifax-based coalition formed in August 2006 with the explicit mandate of “demanding the rights, dignity, and respect of immigrants and refugees, as well as those living without status in Canada”.

The group, which calls itself No One Is Illegal (Halifax), brings together immigrants, refugees, academics, activists, caseworkers, lawyers, and other interested community members. We are committed to establishing links and networks of solidarity in Nova Scotia, and the Atlantic Provinces, to defend migrants and migrant communities against these systemic attacks.

Guantanamo North?

2007-03-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

Security Certificates and secret trials in Canada
Briarpatch Magazine, Dec 2005
By Jessica Squires

"Those who exchange liberty for security will soon find they have neither."
-Benjamin Franklin (attributed)

"As someone who has suffered and endured physical and psychological torture at the hands of a regime that does not respect basic human rights, I find it very shocking that Canada will deport Mr. Jaballah to Egypt, a country it admits practices torture on detainees.

"There is nothing on earth that justifies shipping off someone to torture. The best way to have security is to support and promote justice. If someone is guilty of breaking the law, then he should be allowed to see the evidence against him and to defend himself in an impartial and fair manner.

"It is about time for Canada to repair the damage that was done to its reputation since it was criticized by various human rights organizations for being directly or indirectly complicit in sending people to torture. Canada has a choice to make and I hope it chooses the right one by committing not to send people back to countries where they will face a substantial risk of being abused and tortured."

Maher Arar (Canadian citizen deported to Syria and tortured)
Advertisement

Without warning or explanation, a Muslim man is arrested and detained. Neither he nor his lawyers are given access to any evidence against him, and no charge is laid. The man is detained indefinitely on the basis that he might, at some point in the past, present, or future, pose a risk to national security. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has collected the required signatures of the Federal Ministers of Public Safety Citizenship and Immigration to authorize the detention.

While in detention, the man is denied proper heat in his cell. He is denied access to a Koran. He is not provided with meals in a timely fashion to enable him to pray during Ramadan. He is not able to touch his wife or children for years, seeing them only through thick panes of glass. If his Security Certificate is deemed "reasonable" by a CSIS-approved judge, he can be deported to his country of origin, which he fled because of religious or political persecution. If he is returned, he will likely be tortured or killed.

This is the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Security Certificate. This is Guantanamo North.

Algerian refugee Mohamed Harkat was arrested, ironically, on Human Rights Day, on December 10, 2002, in Ottawa. Harkat has been in Canada since 1995. Working as a gas attendant and pizza delivery man, he worked an average of 18 hours a day. In 1997, he was given refugee status after successfully claiming government persecution should he return to Algeria.

On December 10, 2002, Mohamed Harkat was arrested by undercover police agents outside his home in Ottawa. Since then, he has been in jail, in the dark as to the specific evidence against him. CSIS alleges that Mohamed either has been, is, or will be involved with terrorism. Mohamed denies any involvement with any terrorist organizations.

Harkat is one of Canada's Secret Trial Five, five Muslim men whose lives have been torn apart by accusations they have not been allowed to fight in a fair and independent trial. Three men are imprisoned in Toronto: Mohammad Mahjoub, a refugee from Eygpt who has been in prison since June 2000 (almost four years in prison without charge); Mahmoud Jaballah, a refugee from Egypt who was arrested in August 2001 (three years this summer), and Hassan Almrei, a refugee who has been facing deportation to Syria since October 2001 (two and a half years in solitary). The fifth man, Montreal resident Adil Charkaoui, was detained on 21 May 2003. All five men were arrested under "security certificates," a provision of" the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) that have been described by Amnesty International as "fundamentally flawed and unfair."

The Security Certificate, which dates back to 1991 and was reintroduced in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in 2002, is one of the roots of the attack that has been mounted, with frightening rapidity, on civil liberties and international norms since September 11, 2001. "National security," now endangers all of us. It is being used to justify legislation that would amend the Citizenship of Canada Act to allow naturalized citizens to be subjected to indefinite detention, secret trials, and deportation. And with C-36, the Anti-Terrorism Act, similar violations of rights are extended to all citizens.

Human rights monitoring groups including Amnesty International and the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group have all denounced the use of security certificates because the accused is denied the protection of basic rights, such as a full and complete defence.

The Security Certificate also runs contrary to the Canadian justice system. Because the lawyer of the accused cannot review the evidence against him, mounting a defence becomes impossible. The Security Certificate violates the most fundamental principles of justice and human rights. It violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Constitution, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on Refugees, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention on Torture.

Update on Portnoy Family

2007-03-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

Update from Portnoy support committee in NFLD: "the Humanitarian Application included extensive medical documentation on how a deportation would negatively affect the health and well being of the children involved and the fact that this information was clearly ignored. Given the current situation in Israel, this hardly provides any comfort level. The thought that three Canadian children, two siblings including a newborn and their parents are being deported to a war torn country, is gut wrenching".

During the H & C review process, not one call or visit was made to the family or any named parties, or any medial professionals referred to in the applications; the recommendation of the Newfoundland & Labrador Child Advocate was ignored; the application was mysteriously not reviewed in St. John's but in Moncton (as we were advised). It is alarming to think the NL Immigration Office was deemed unfit or unqualified to access a file; and to add insult, no clear reasons were given in the letter of rejection, just a flat "no".

Lee Cohen, legal counsel for the Portnoys, is shocked by the decision of CIC. "The Portnoy family are perfect candidates for the humanitarian process. It is shocking that it was rejected. But when it comes to people in sanctuary, Canada acts much like a child, and feels the need to win. Canada refuses to let people in sanctuary win regardless of how just their cause. In the absence of fairness in the system, the Portnoys are powerless. They need to hear voices of anger rising up from the people of Newfoundland and Labrador expressing frustration over this decision."

Scott Hemming - Liberal Party, Sackville-Eastern Shore

2006-04-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

This is Scott Hemming's Response:

I can only respond to this on a personal level and not on behalf on
the liberal party. I need to forward this to our head office for
research into the various topic's. I wish I could respond with
informed answers to the 6 questions. I do not have the staff, just
great volunteers. If I am elected I would be pleased to discuss these
issues and forward them to our immigration officials.

Tony Seed - Marxist Leninist Candidate, Halifax

2006-04-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

Here is Tony Seed's Response:

Thank you for addressing your questions to all candidates. You are raising specific problems and your questions are objective and straightforward, which demand direct action from the government. They reveal the necessity for workers and people, regardless of national origin, to be empowered so that everyone, by dint of being human, can participate in society where the rights of all are upheld. When all four incumbent MPS from the HRM voted unanimously on March 21st for the war on Libya in Parliament - without any consultation whatsoever with either their local organization or Haligonians - how credible are the claims of these parties that they care about immigrants from foreign lands, friendship and equality amongst peoples, and the rights of all?

* The Chaudhrys are a family of five living in Halifax, Nova Scotia and are facing an imminent deportation order to Pakistan, where they face imprisonment, violence, or death. They have lived in Canada for 8 years, and their 3 Canadian and American-born children have never been to Pakistan. They are currently waiting for the results of their Humanitarian and Compassionate application. If elected, what measures would you take to assist the Chaudhry's and others who seek residency on Humanitarian grounds?

TS: The Chaudhry and hundreds of other families should be granted residency immediately. As MP for Halifax, I would fight politically for a process of conferring citizenship immediately after a person takes up residence in Canada, discarding present requirements based on residency, knowledge of an official language or the politics, history and geography of Canada, etc. Many other measures can be taken, e.g.,the election of citizenship committees by people themselves whose duty it should be to welcome new citizens to the country - the fraternal welcome No One Is Illegal has extended to the Chaudhry and other families on behalf of Haligonians.

The state discrimination against the Chaudhry family illustrates that Canadians need to set their sights on a nation-building project that would include developing new arrangements. The Program of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (see mlpc.ca) states: "In order for the people to exercise their sovereignty and govern themselves, there is an immediate need to: PROCLAIM A NEW AND MODERN CONSTITUTION. This new and modern constitution must enshrine the rights and duties of all citizens without any discrimination on the basis of language, race, national origin, religion, gender, lifestyle, ability, age, wealth, sexual orientation or on any other basis." A new Citizenship Act is also needed which would provide the enabling legislation which guarantees that this conception of citizenship is protected by the state. This is the rule of law.

Canada has no citizenship act which applies to all, and there is no law which lays down the rights and responsibilities of citizenship as the fundamental law of the land. Arbitrary considerations continue to determine what makes a "desirable Canadian," instead of rights and duties applicable to all on the basis of their membership in the body politic, irrespective of whether they acquire citizenship by birth or through naturalization. A modern constitution which begins with the fundamental law on rights and duties of citizens will go a long way towards uniting Canadians and eliminating division.

* According to the Vancouver Sun, hundreds and possibly thousands, of Canadian-born children are being denied access to the most basic services - a home, food, health care and schooling. They are being denied these necessities because their fathers abused their immigrant mothers, their mothers fled the relationship, and the fathers then reneged on promises to sponsor the women for permanent residency. If elected, how are you planning on addressing the proposed introduction of a conditional permanent residence period of two years or more for spouses and partners sponsored as part of the family class or spouse or common-law partner in Canada class category who are in a relationship of two years or less with their sponsor at the time of sponsorship application?

TS: This mediaeval practice must be terminated. According to this definition, a "desirable Canadian" is one who submits to Harper's definition of "Canadian values" - see his "study guide" for new citizens called "Discover Canada - The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship." So as to leave no doubt, this guide is imbued with racist admonitions to new immigrants to leave their "barbaric" ways behind when coming to the "civilized world."

The racist concept of "conditional relationships" must be rejected, as any other consideration based on gender, life style, national origin, etc.

This concept also reflects the outmoded thinking that the family and not society can be the guarantor of individual well-being and rights. Social programs should be guaranteed for all, from the moment one is born to the time one dies - or from the moment one takes up residency in Canada - according to the standard of living that society is able to provide.

* One of the objectives of Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is to facilitate family reunification. This allows Canadian citizens or permanent residents to sponsor close family members for immigration to Canada, including spouses, partners and dependent children. According to an Access to Information request provided to the Canadian Migration Institute, targets for family class sponsorships are increasingly lower - 2011 targets are below both 2010 and 2009. How would you and your party support family reunification?

TS: Family reunification is supported on the basis of our program outlined above. The facts cited and your question are an indictment of the high ideals proclaimed in the preamble to such laws. They also indict the political parties of the rich who are vying with each other as to who will be the best defender of "Canadian families"! They are saying that it is the responsibility of the family, not the society, to care for its members, whether it is providing a life of dignity and security for seniors or the care and education of children. But wait! When they come to families of immigrants, they have another standard: split your family according to your wealth. This obsolete outlook suits the interests of the owners of capital for whom immigration is being reduced to existing temporary foreign workers program, the live-in caregivers program and the temporary agricultural worker program - or a privilege granted to those with capital.

* 2008 marked the first time in Canadian history that we as a country admitted more foreign workers than permanent residents to our country. Despite this increase, temporary workers not only lack status but are denied protection, services and access to information on their rights. If elected, what will you do to ensure temporary foreign workers have their rights fulfilled?

TS: Who benefits? Irving and other monopolies. I have seen seven woods workers from Mexico being forced to live in two bedrooms in a small rural shack near New Germany, NS. The owners of capital then turn around and promote that they are doing the jobs Nova Scotians refuse to do. Their aim is to pit worker against worker and drive down the overall wages and working conditions. Workers must have a say-so in deciding their future. Workers are answering this attack across Canada by affirming that An Injury to One is and Injury to All!

Colonial Nova Scotia was built on the basis of enslavement and conquest. The migrant workers program is in contempt of modern society and modern relations between human beings and must be eliminated. The MLPC has published on its website (mlpc.ca) its policy on Migrant Workers. We state: "Slavery is slavery. It cannot be reformed, it must be abolished. It is not possible to reform a program where workers are indentured and tied to an employer, and the temporary foreign workers' program should be restricted to providing work permits for genuinely short-term employment, such as academic exchanges.

"Permanent resident status must be granted to both migrant workers and undocumented workers on the basis of Status for All! and by affirming that No One is Illegal!

"Illegal activities such as those practiced by the brokers to whom many temporary foreign workers have become indebted must be ended and violators punished.

"Immigration and citizenship must not become the domain of the monopolies. Far from it, citizenship must be given a modern definition consistent with the rights which belong to all people by virtue of being human. A new and modern constitution which guarantees people's rights by virtue of their being human, regardless of any consideration, is the requirement of our times."

This is what I stand for. I advocate similar policies with regard to international students.

* Security certificates have been increasingly used by the government to detain permanent residents and foreign nationals in Canada on the basis that they are suspected to have links to terrorism. In a number of recent decisions Canada's courts have been highly critical of Security Certificates. Both the Federal and Supreme Court of Canada found that they have been used to violate an individual's rights to fundamental justice and due process and have been used to keep individuals detained on misleading and unverified evidence. If elected, would your government maintain the Security Certificates provisions in the IRPA? What changes would you propose?

TS: On October 31, 2003, myself and my colleagues organized the first demonstrations in Halifax to oppose security certificates as part of the National Day of Action. In 2005 I published an online dossier to inform Nova Scotians of this practice (http://www.shunpiking.com/DOST/dostindex.htm). I stand with the families of those being unjustly detained and the thousands of Canadians who have condemned "Guatanamo North."

When arbitrary powers are exercised by a government and its officials on behalf of a ruling elite and laws conditioned upon the latter's values and interests, no one is safe. This draconian process whereby the government is prosecutor, judge and jury, where trials are held in secret, and "evidence" supplied to the judge by CSIS but kept from the defendant, is in contempt of any modern concept of the rule of law and must immediately be abolished. It is the hallmark of dictatorial regimes. A rule of law worthy of the name is based on the premise that the law applies to everyone equally and that nobody can be above the law. To call impunity rule of law is self-serving, just as Canada has a definition of "terrorism" and "national security" that is self-serving. Despite the rulings by these courts, laws are deliberately written so that they are "Charter proof."

The use of the security certificate to persecute national minorities and others who are fighting for their rights must be ended by involving all Canadians to demand

(a) that those currently imprisoned under the security certificate be released immediately or be charged with concrete crimes and evidence presented in accord with fundamental justice and rule of law;

(b) that the use of secret certificates be scrapped as an unacceptable and gross violation of an individual's fundamental rights.

Canadian law makes no distinction between citizenship and nationality, an important development of the 20th century. Ensure that ideological and political considerations must not be a basis for granting or depriving citizenship to anyone and provide compensation to all who have suffered at the hands of the political police.

Under no circumstances must freedom of conscience be impinged. The fact that the Canadian state can disregard the fundamental rights of people through the arbitrariness of the security certificate shows that anyone can be targeted with impunity. If one section of the polity can be so lawlessly attacked, so can others. The state agencies routinely criminalize those such as at the G7 and G-20 protests who oppose the wrecking of the social fabric, annexation, predatory wars and occupation by Harper and the big powers. Recently Harper's minister, James Flaherty, publicly denounced protestors as "un-Canadian."

Only the united struggle of the Canadian people can end the lawlessness, arbitrariness and state terror and provide the security of the people of Canada with a guarantee.

* According to documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was jailed, tortured and beaten while on a visit to Sudan - all at the recommendation of Canadian Security and Intelligence Service. Despite never being charged, and eventually being released of all suspicion by Sudan, Abdelrazik was placed on the UN 1267 list, which imposes a travel ban, an arms embargo and a total asset freeze on individuals. Abdelrazik was then repeatedly denied travel and entrance to Canada. A Federal Court judge eventually ordered the government to repatriate Abdelrazik, and in 2009 he returned home to Montreal. However, he has been unable to return to a normal life because his name remains on the 1267 list and he is unable to accept any material aid (including a salary or health insurance). The delisting process for the UN 1267 list requires a vote by the UN Security Council. Support from the Canadian government is absolutely essential if Abdelrazik's name is to be removed from this list so his life can return to normal. What would you and your party do to support the removal of Abdelrazik's name from the 1267 list?

TS: Guarantee the inviolable right to domicile to all citizens. Under no circumstances should Mr. Abdelrazik or anyone else be forced to live in exile or deprived of citizenship. All extradition treaties must be reviewed to make sure they do not deprive a citizen of his or her rights, especially on the basis of political considerations which may underlie those treaties. All such treaties should be put to a referendum.

The needed reforms you refer to in your questions necessitate empowerment, i.e., democratic renewal. If Canadians and residents wage an organized political fight to establish a People's Canada, individual and collective rights will be guaranteed for all and a dignified and secure future established for the Canadian people. I call on everyone to join in.

To signify your support for the principle of defending the rights of all, I encourage your supporters to vote Marxist-Leninist or for any other small party.

Thomas Trappenberg - Green Party, Halifax West

2004-04-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here is Thomas Trappenberg's Response:

Thank you for your email and your questions, and in particular for your
engagement and concerns which are also of great concerns to me. While I am
an immigrant myself, I was very lucky that I did not have to come here as a
refugee with the threads of persecution in my home country, and I didn't
even pretend that I know how that would feel like other than that I would
not understand the world anymore if a rich and `nice' country like Canada
would drop me. I had only the pleasure of helping once with a family from
Kosovo (who also spoke some German) early after the war started there, and I
was pleasantly surprised that officials knew about humanitarian concerns
long before it became well known in the public. But I am also increasingly
concerned about our system. Why do we send families on a boat in the storm
season when the whole community supports the familty as in Lunenburg a few
years ago? I am sorry that I have not yet heard about the Chaudhry family.
While I do not know the details I am very concerned especially (but not
only) that there are children involved. I think we must include the judgment
of our local communities instead of bureaucrats blindly following dobvious
rules.

You mention other cases where so called security is an excuse for human
right abuses. This is very concerning and since this often includes the US
it is practically impossible to intervene without a government that stands
up for us. I am personally also very unhappy with how immigrants are
supported (or rather the luck of support) even if they are excepted into
Canada. Immigrants have often outstanding skills that are not easily
recognized in Canada, and it seems to be a wide-held believe that immigrants
are a burden where in truth is that they contribute more than average to our
economic strength, often starting whole new traits in Canada.

I am sorry to ramble on when I know that you like specific answers to your
questions. However, I am not sure how much I can say without further
information on the specific cases (here is another example where the
incumbent has an advantage). And I also do not want to just blindly promise
things because it sounds good. But I would like to ensure you that I am
genuinely concerned.

Below is a section of our platform that specifically addresses immigration
and refugee issues:

4.9.3 Immigration and new Canadians
Canada is a multicultural society with a strong history of welcoming
immigrants and celebrating cultural diversity. Canada currently accepts
about 300,000 new immigrants annually. Opportunities for new immigrants,
however, vary. Studies show that immigrants from some countries do a lot
better than others in securing jobs with decent incomes and opportunities
for advancement. Access to immigration itself varies, as well. The criteria
for granting landed immigrant status to refugees and other immigrants seem
at times arbitrary and the process is frustrating and stressful for many.
The backlog of files is too long. Over- cautious security officials have in
some cases put the civil liberties of new Canadians at risk. Recent reforms
to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act have fostered a culture of
fear and discrimination. Canadian citizens, like Maher Arar, have had their
rights as Canadians discarded by allies who are too willing to break
international law to fight a “war on terrorism.”
Our immigration policies must be revamped to ensure we stay true to our
identity as a just, fair and open country, and to be prepared for new
challenges that are predicted to arise with increased numbers of
environmental refugees seeking a safe new home in an increasingly perilous
world.
Canada’s multicultural diversity is an essential part of our national
identity. New Canadians are a source of incredible skills and potential for
our country. Immigrants and refugees come to Canada in search of a safer,
more fulfilling life for themselves and their families, and to be full
participants in Canadian society. We must make sure they are supported in
achieving their hopes and ambitions as new Canadians. Our national tradition
of welcoming newcomers and embracing social and ethnic differences gives us
a unique opportunity to exert a positive influence on the rest of the world.
Canada must embrace the energy and creativity of all our cultural
communities and ensure genuine equality of opportunity and equal treatment
of all Canadian citizens, regardless of their country of origin.
Green Party MPs will: • Lead a national discussion to define
“environmental refugee” and advocate for the
inclusion of environmental refugees as a refugee category in Canada and
accept an
appropriate share of the world’s environmental refugees into Canada. •
Eliminate the valuation of foreign credentials for immigration purposes
except in those
cases where such credentials are recognized in Canada or a clear and
expeditious path to Canadian accreditation is established, and in place
establish realistic criteria for immigrants based on existing job
opportunities for immigrants to Canada.
• Press professional societies to remove unnecessary barriers hindering
the recognition of valid professional credentials of immigrants.
• Ensure professionals being considered for immigration will have the
licensing requirements for their professions clearly explained before entry.
Landed immigrants with professional qualifications will be supported and
given the opportunity to obtain Canadian licenses consistent with public
safety.
• Allocate much greater funding for training in official languages (ESL
and FSL) for new immigrants, knowing that many new immigrants are not fluent
in either official language, through earmarked transfers to the provinces
for primary and secondary public school and free night school programs.
• Establish a program to deal with the estimated 200,000 people living in
Canada without official status that leads to full landed immigrant status
for those who have become contributing members of Canadian society.
• Work with municipalities and provinces to improve the integration of
new Canadians into the multicultural fabric of our country.
• Support multicultural communities by assisting cultural organizations
to obtain charitable status.
78
4.9.4
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered rights
• Seek to have the regulations governing the practices of immigration
consultants toughened and enforced and increase penalties in the Criminal
Code for those convicted of human smuggling.
• Amend the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Public Safety Act to require that,
after a reasonable length of time, formal charges be brought against all
those detained.
• Open an investigation into allegations by the United Nations Human
Rights Committee of Canadian officials cooperating with foreign agencies
known to use torture.
• Ensure the “lost Canadians” quietly being denied citizenship through
archaic laws are protected and their citizenship restored. Although some
significant progress has been made, some are still “lost.”
• Implement the recommendation made by the Standing Committee on
Citizenship and Immigration to immediately allow those who have refused or
left military service regarding a war not sanctioned by the United Nations
permanent resident status in Canada.
• Oppose legislation imposing jail time retroactively, and targeting
people who arrive by ship.
• Oppose the Harper government’s efforts to place barriers on family
reunification.