[antiwar-van] Status for All! March June 26

[No One is Illegal-Vancouver]

* Update on Solidarity Across Borders March on Ottawa: over 1000 people
marched through downtown Montreal and north to two mainly immigrant
neighborhoods during the first day of the march (June 18)
www.solidarityacrossborders.org


                  STATUS FOR ALL!
               SUNDAY JUNE 26 @ 2 PM
              GATHER AT VICTORY SQUARE
Lunch served at The Canadian Refugee Camp at Victory Square. The Canadian
Refugee Camp will go up prior to the march and visually depicts the
various historic and present community struggles against exclusionary
immigration policies.

A silent march to honour all the deportees struggling against Citizenship
and Immigration Canada
.

This march is being organized to coincide with the historic 200 km walk
from Montreal to Ottawa being organized by Solidarity Across Borders- a
Montreal network of self-organized refugee groups, individuals and their
allies- from June 18-25, 2005 to draw attention to the struggles of
refugees and immigrants for life and dignity. Dozens of groups have so far
endorsed the march, including the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the
Canadian Union of Postal Employees (CUPW), the Quebec Women's Federation
(FFQ), and many more.

Lack of status, deportations, detentions, and security certificates all
contribute to making migrants vulnerable to exploitation, poverty,
insecurity and indignities that no one should suffer. In the current
political context, as Canada rushes to harmonize its border policies with
the United States to create a unified "Fortress North America", the
situation of immigrants and refugees is worsening.

Every day, thousands of migrants and their families struggle against the
uncertainties created by the racist and anti-poor processes of
criminalization carried out by Immigration Canada. They are forced
underground; threatened with detention or with deportation to desperate
situations; and subjected to discriminatory legal standards. The people
whose lives have been torn apart by Canadian immigration are not
anonymous; they are our friends and neighbors. Some families threatened
with deportation have lived and worked in Vancouver for several years and
have Canadian-born children; this is their home. In the past years, we
have written hundreds of letters, collected thousands of signatures, and
organized dozens of demonstrations. We have successfully fought
deportations and detentions, but have also seen our family members and
friends removed, detained, forced underground or forced into sanctuary.

In Vancouver, the migrant communities leading the march are simply
demanding their basic rights to a secure life, dignity and a future. Our
demands for regularization call for the recognition and affirmation of
rights and status of people residing in Canada without permanent
residency- non status peoples, refugees, and temporary workers.

For every arbitrary detention, for every summary deportation, for every
minute spent in jail without charge or trial, for every anxious and
dehumanizing day spent waiting for status—for all the stolen time and the
stolen lives -- this march will pay tribute to all those fighting in this
silent battle.


Organized by Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity
Society, Vancouver Status of Women, No One Is Illegal, Iranian Federation
of Refugees, Kalayaan Centre (Philippine Women Centre), South Asian
Network for Secularism and Democracy, Iranian Refugees of BC, La Surda
Latin American Collective, Committee for Solidarity with Columbia.

More information:
noii-van at resist.ca
778 552 2099
Website:http://noii-van.resist.ca