[Bloquez l'empire!] update Re: breaking news: two arrested in Toronto

[mfoster at web.ca]

(6:30 pm, Saturday, 21 January 2006) -- Both arrestees (both of whom have
citizenship) are now released. Apparently they were charged with trespass.

Upwards of 100 people gathered to picket Joseph Volpe on the eve of the
federal elections with the message that justice and dignity don't fit into
a ballott box. Pictures of the demonstration can now be seen via
www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/node.

> (2pm, Saturday 21 January 2006) -- Two members of the Solidarity Across
> Borders network of Montreal have just been arrested for participating in a
> popular mobilisation at Minister of Immigration Joseph Volpe's election
> campaign office in Toronto.
>
> The picket was called to draw attention to the fact that Joseph Volpe has
> not responded to non-status people and their supporters who marched from
> Montreal to Ottawa in June 2005 to demand a full and complete
> regularisation of all non-status people, an end to deportations and
> detentions, and the abolition of security certificates (details below).
>
> It is unknown what charges are being used to silence the two defenders of
> justice and dignity, nor when they will be released. The two are
> apparently being held at Toronto's 32 division.
>
> ==========
>
> [The text below is from a flyer that will be passed out at a picket
> sponsored by Solidarity Across Borders of Montreal outside of Immigration
> Minister Joe Volpe's election offices in Toronto this January 21, 2006. At
> least 50 members of Solidarity Across Borders, most of whom participated
> in the No One Is Illegal March on Ottawa (June 18-25, 2005) will make the
> trip from Montreal to Toronto. If you are in the Toronto-area, join us at
> the corner of Lawrence and Avenue Road at 2pm for our spirited
> child-friendly picket!]
>
> -- JUSTICE AND DIGNITY DON'T FIT INTO BALLOT BOXES!
>
> -- WHY WE ARE HERE.
>
> We are Solidarity Across Borders, a Montreal-area network of
> self-organized
> migrants, refugees, and immigrants, and their allies. This past summer,
> between
> June 18-25, 2005, we marched, step-by-step, over 200km, from Montreal to
> Ottawa. From the immigrant neighborhoods of Montreal, to Parliament Hill
> in
> Ottawa, we marched because we refuse to be invisible and silenced.
>
> We marched through the lands of the Mohawk and Algonquin peoples, and
> publicly
> supported their demands for sovereignty and self-determination.
>
> We marched to support our main demands: 1) the regularization of all
> non-status
> people in Canada; 2) an end to the deportation and detention of migrants;
> and
> 3) the abolition of racist security certificates.
>
> We marched because hundreds of thousands of people live in Canada without
> status. These people - our friends, co-workers, schoolmates and neighbours
> -
> make up the social, economic and cultural fabric of cities like Montreal,
> Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Without status, and deemed "illegal",
> thousands
> of migrants are forced to live in poverty, without sufficient access to
> health
> care or education, and in great fear of being detained or deported, all
> the
> while being the most exploited in the workplace.
>
> We marched on the 10th anniversary of the "Bread and Roses" March against
> poverty, organized by Quebec women, and the 70th anniversary of the
> "On-to-Ottawa" Trek, organized by unemployed workers during the Great
> Depression; we marched in the tradition of those previous efforts for
> social
> and economic justice.
>
> We marched because there is no such thing as an "illegal" human being,
> only
> unjust laws and illegitimate governments.
>
> Our march was directly inspired by Shamim Akhtar, a Pakistani refugee
> claimant
> and active member of Solidarity Across Borders. Shamim first proposed the
> idea
> of a refugee march to Ottawa in the summer of 2003. Unfortunately, Shamim
> and
> her family (including 4 children) were deported in the summer of 2004, and
> could not join our march.
>
> We marched almost one year later with Shamim very much in mind, as well as
> all
> our other friends and allies who have been removed, detained, or forced
> underground or into sanctuary in the past years: Wendy Maxwell, Shakir
> Baloch,
> Sergio Loreto, the Cordoza family, the Daschevi family, Zahoor Hussein,
> Fahim
> Kayani, Tilo Johnson, the Isakovs, Kader Belaouni, Khursheda Khanam, the
> Arrellano-Diaz family, Dorothy Dube, Fatima Marhfoul, Mohamed Cherfi,
> Ahmed
> Nafaa, Ahmed Abdel Majeed, the Ibad family, the Butt family, the Syed
> family,
> Eduardo and Gorka, Mourad and Nadia, the Portnoy family, the Vega family,
> the
> Borja family, the Ayoub family, the Ayele family, Mohammad Mahjoub,
> Mahmoud
> Jaballah, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui and many, too
> many,
> more.
>
> Before deciding to march to Ottawa, we wrote 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 permanently removed from our lives.
>
> Despite our efforts, Joe Volpe, the Minister of Immigration, completely
> ignored
> our historic march. With his inaction, Joe Volpe showed his contempt for
> the
> rights of immigrants and refugees.
>
> Today in Toronto -- more than six months after we left downtown Montreal
> on a
> collective journey to the decision-makers in Ottawa -- our march
> continues. We
> join with our allies in Toronto, dedicated groups like No One Is Illegal,
> Justice for Migrant Workers, the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials, Toronto
> Action
> for Social Change, SIKLAB, OCAP Immigration, and many more.
>
> There will undoubtedly be many more challenges after the election, no
> matter
> who claims to hold power over our lives; but today, two days before the
> elections, we hold Joe Volpe accountable for his ignorance of the reality
> of
> non-status persons in Canada. Our actions are never taken in vain, but
> they are
> the result of our lived reality as immigrants and refugees; Joe Volpe must
> be
> made to understand that.
>
> 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 - all the days, months, years that the government
> has
> stolen from us - we will continue to march and struggle, for justice and
> dignity. Join us and take back stolen time.
>
> -- SOLIDARITY ACROSS BORDERS-MONTREAL --
> 514-859-9023 -- sansfrontieres at resist.ca
> www.solidarityacrossborders.org
> [January 21, 2006]
>
>