[antiwar-van] Approximately 500 People March in Vancouver to Demand Status for All and Justice for Immigrants...

[Harsha]

Approximately 500 People March in Vancouver to Demand Status for All and
Justice for Immigrants...

** (See below for Canada-wide coverage)

==> For pictures (courtesy of Jon Elmer, Harjap Grewal, and Sarah Race):
http://solidarityacrossborders.org/en/node/176

==> Working TV 6-minute video featuring interviews with immigrant
organizers, solidarity messages from indigenous sisters, testimony from
families of non-status migrants, and historical perspectives on struggles
against racist immigration policies:
http://www.workingtv.com/27may2006.html


Across Canada, migrants, refugees and their allies demonstrated against
the deportation and detention of migrants and refugees, for a full,
inclusive, unconditional and ongoing regularization program, and for full
rights and dignity for immigrant communities against racism, poverty, and
criminalization. In both Toronto and Montreal, over 1000 people marched,
while demonstrations and activities were also held in Ottawa, Halifax,
Peterborough, and Fredericton.

In Vancouver approximately 500 people gathered at the Vancouver Art
Gallery and then marched down the commercial and shopping Robson district.
The Vancouver rally and march was organized by the STATUS Coalition, a
coalition of Middle Eastern, Latino, South Asian, African, Iranian,
Chinese, and South East Asian immigrant community-based organizations, and
was supported and endorsed by a wide range of community groups, unions,
women's centres, and student organizations (see below for a full list of
our supporters).

The rally was opened by Bernie Williams, who on behalf of the Elders
Council at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, traditional matriarchs
and traditional hereditary chiefs, welcomed everyone onto unceded Coast
Salish territories. The MC’s of the march emphasized solidarity with
indigenous struggles in Canada, and Coscuya Annita McPhee of the Tahltan
Nation expressed her support for migrants who were being forced off their
lands across the Global South. Indigenous women led the march with a
“Freedom from Colonialism” banner followed by elders from various
communities carrying Immigrant Rights banners.

Over three hours, the rally and march blocked major intersections in the
heart of downtown Vancouver with speakers and poets and spoken word
artists. Judy Hanazawa and Sadhu Binning outlined historical struggles
against the racist and exclusionary immigration policies of Canada, while
Victor Porter spoke about current realities facing immigrants, refugees,
and non-status communities. Mexican migrant workers and women from SIKLAB
(Overseas Filipino Workers) described the exploitative and insecure
working and living conditions of Canada’s guest worker programs. Poets
Wayde Compton and Ameena Mayer highlighted struggles against racism,
poverty, and global systems of war and apartheid.

Various community groups of the STATUS Coalition and others such as the
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, Grassroots Women, Philippine Women’s
Centre, Al-Awda Vancouver, and immigrants, refugees, migrant workers, and
those without status from the Middle East, Latin America, South Asia,
North Africa, Iran, China, Japan, and the Philippines participated in the
march. Anti-war groups, anti-poverty organizations, women’s centers,
unions including HEU and CUPE, and a strong contingent of high school
students took to the streets to the chants of “Status for All!” and “No
one is Illegal!” The demonstrators demanded an end to deportation and
detention of migrants and refugees, an end to the use of security
certificates and anti-terrorism legislation, while calling for a full and
inclusive regularization program. The march also called for an end to
immigrant poverty and wage-slave conditions forced by policies of
neo-liberalism and globalization in Canada and world-wide. Speakers from
the Iranian Federation of Refugees and CIPO-The Other Campaign Vancouver
made links to Western foreign policy and the war abroad that fuels global
occupation, militarization, and displacement.

At the beginning of the march, bandanas with painted red question marks
were distributed to symbolize the invisibility of migrant communities and
the reality of non-status migrants who every day face the anxiety and fear
of being targeted and deported. Throughout the march, thousands of flyers
explaining why we were marching and the realities for immigrants,
refugees, migrant workers, and non-status migrants were passed out.

For every arbitrary detention, for every summary deportation, for every
minute spent in jail without charge, for every anxious and dehumanizing
day spent waiting for status, for every hour spent working in Canadian
sweatshops-- for all the stolen time and the stolen lives -- the march
paid tribute to our communities. Join us as we refuse to be silenced and
continue to organize together to demand status for all and dignity for our
friends, families, and communities!

==> Organized by the STATUS Coalition, a coalition of Middle Eastern,
Latino, South Asian, African, Iranian, Chinese, and South East Asian
immigrant community-based organizations: Association of Chinese Canadians
for Equality and Solidarity Society, Bolivia Solidarity Committee,
Canadian Network for a Democratic Nepal, Consejo Indigena Popular de
Oaxaca -Ricardo Flores Magon - Vancouver, Committee for Solidarity with
Colombia, Iranian Federation of Refugees, Iranian Refugee B.C, La Surda
Latin American Collective, Justicia 4 Migrant Workers B.C, No One is
Illegal, Palestine Arab Women’s Association, Palestine Community Center,
Salaam Vancouver, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy,
Vancouver Status of Women

==> ENDORSERS AND SUPPORTERS OF MAY 27TH RALLY (as of Monday May 22nd):
Americana Latina Al Dia, Anti-Capitalist Community Forum, Anti-Trafficking
Coalition Vancouver, Al-Awda Vancouver, Anti-Poverty Committee, Asian
Society for the Intervention of AIDS, B.C. Committee for Human Rights in
the Phillipines, BC Latin American Collective, Bulland Awaaz, Bus Riders
Union, Café Rebelde Coalition, Canada Palestine Association, Canadian Auto
Workers Union (CAW) National, Canadian Union of Public Employees Union
(CUPE) Local 15, Chetna Association, Collective Perspectives, Co-op Radio,
Colouring Book Project, Downtown Eastside Residents Association, Filipino
Nurses Support Group, Grassroots Women, Group of Relatives and Friends of
Political Prisoners in Mexico, Haiti Solidarity BC, Headlines Theatre,
Hospital Employees Union, International Solidarity Movement, Muslim
Canadian Congress, Latin American Connexions, Latinos in Action, Kalayaan
Resource & Training Centre, North Shore Women’s Centre, Palestine Human
Rights Committee, Philippine Women Centre, of B.C, Poets Against the War,
Red Star Club, Rainbow Refugee, SIKLAB (Overseas Filipino Workers), Red
Mexicas in Canada, SFPIRG, Teaching Support Staff Union, Ugnayan Ng
Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada (Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance), Vancouver
Internationalist Bolivarian Circle “Bob Everton, Voices of Palestine, Wake
up with Co-op, Wall Must Fall Campaign Canada.

Leading up the march, Canada-wide anti-imperialist groups such as
Canada-Haiti Action Network
(http://www.canadahaitiaction.ca/article.php?id=188 ) and Al-Awda
Palestine Right of Return (http://www.al-awda.ca) wrote statements of
solidarity with the marches.

==> CANADA WIDE REPORTBACKS:
For a Canada-wide photo-essay: http://gallery.cmaq.net/may27montreal For
pictures from Toronto: http://johnb.smugmug.com/gallery/1499669 Toronto
reportback: http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/
Montreal reportback: http://solidarityacrossborders.org/en/node/183