[IPSM] Report from STATELESS and DEPORTED: A Popular Mobilization Against Deportation of Palestinians from Canada

[Stefan Christoff]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 12:24:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: No One is Illegal Montreal <noii-montreal at resist.ca>


Report from STATELESS and DEPORTED:
A Popular Mobilization Against Deportation of Palestinians from Canada

On Saturday September 18th more than 1000 people took the streets of
downtown Montreal under the banner of "Stateless and Deported" to
illustrate the growing popular support for the struggle of Palestinian
refugees fighting deportation in Canada, within the context of the
Palestinian solidarity movement worldwide. The lively and spirited
demonstration was also held to commemorate the thousands of Palestinian
refugees who lost their lives in the September 1982 massacre of Sabra and
Chatila during the Israeli invasion of Beirut.

The demonstration kicked-off with speeches, slogans and traditional
Palestinian music and proceeded down Ste-Catherine Street, occupying
multiple city blocks in Montreal's downtown core, lead by a large banner
which read "Refugee Camps are No One's Home", carried by directly effected
Palestinian refugees facing deportation at the hands of Citizenship and
Immigration Canada (CIC), to the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian
refugee camps of Lebanon.

Spirited chants and slogans such as "Racists Out! - Palestinians In!",
resonated throughout the streets of downtown Montreal and were lead-by
directly effected Palestinian refugees active with the Coalition Against
the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees, such as Fouad Sakr an elderly
Palestinian refugee facing deportation in the coming months to Ein
El-Helweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon and Youssef Elloubani a
Palestinian refugee from Bourj El Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut.

The spirited demonstration was diverse in nature and included visible
support of many self-organized groups of refugees fighting deportation in
Montreal, who are active with the Solidarity Across Borders Campaign. The
demonstration also included the full-scope of groups who have been active
within the Palestinian solidarity movement in Montreal since the beginning
of the second Intifada, highlighting the seamless link between the
struggle of Palestinian refugees in Montreal against deportations and the
broader struggle for Palestinian freedom and liberation throughout the
world.

Saturday's demonstration ended at Complexe Guy-Favreau, headquarters of
the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) --- the institution directly
responsible for the rejection of Palestinian refugee claims --- with a
free food serving from local Montreal activists and speeches from groups &
organizations which actively mobilized for the demonstration, including
Sanjiv Kumar of the recently formed Human Rights Action Committee (HARC),
Bruce Katz of Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, Hicham Salfiti
of the Canadian Palestinian Foundation and Rabie Masri the spokesperson of
the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees.

This past Saturday's demonstration highlighted the political importance of
the struggle of Palestinian refugees in Montreal and throughout Canada who
continue to struggle against deportation and fight for their status.  It
is within this context that the Coalition Against the Deportation of
Palestinian Refugees plans to intensify the fight against Citizenship and
Immigration Canada in the coming months. We must continue to stand united
in the struggle against the deportation of Palestinian refugees from
Canada!

In Solidarity,
The Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees in Montreal
Tel: 514 591 3171
Email: refugees at riseup.net
Web: http://refugees.resist.ca

-> To view pictures, reports and video on the Stateless & Deported
demonstration produced by the Independent Media Center of Quebec (CMAQ),
visit: http://www.cmaq.net

-> Below is an article on the demonstration published in the Montreal
Gazette:

Hundreds protest against deportation of Palestinians: Demonstrators say
failed refugee claimants to be returned to Gaza Strip and West Bank
Montreal Gazette

Sunday, September 19, 2004
By CATHERINE SOLYOM

Whatever side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict you may be on, it's
clear from the endless headlines that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are
not the safest places to be.

Yet Canada is nevertheless set to deport about 40 Palestinians over the
next few months, said a group of about 500 demonstrators as they marched
through downtown Montreal yesterday.

"They're deporting people back to military occupation," said Rabie Masri
of the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees, one of
several groups that organized the demonstration down Ste. Catherine St. W.
yesterday.

"We hope (Paul Martin's) minority government will finally put an end to
this situation."

Masri said it's not easy - bureaucratically speaking - for the Canadian
government to deport stateless Palestinians.

Sometimes it must deal with two different countries: first with Jordan for
those going back to the West Bank, and with Egypt for those going to Gaza.

There are currently six young Palestinians in Montreal living underground
to avoid being sent back there, Masri said.

Ahmad Mustapha, 26, may soon be in the same situation.

"Like the 40 others, I have been refused refugee status," said Mustapha,
an engineer who was born and raised in a refugee camp in Lebanon. "I'm
basically waiting to be deported."

He and others at the march decried the system that refused them in the
first place. Since 2002, it is up to one Immigration and Refugee Board
judge to decide the fate of refugee claimants, often with little knowledge
of the home country, and with no chance for claimants to appeal based on
the merits of their case.

When Mustapha explained that he couldn't get work in Lebanon, for example,
an IRB judge told him he hadn't looked hard enough.

"But as a Palestinian it is illegal for me to work as an engineer in
Lebanon," he said.

As demonstrators marked the anniversary of the massacres at the Sabra and
Chatila refugee camps in Lebanon - on Sept. 16 to 18, 1982, up to 2,000
Palestinians were killed by right-wing Christian militias - they also
expressed particular concern for the Ayoub family here.

Before coming to Canada three years ago, Khalil Ayoub, 67, Nabih Ayoub,
69, and his wife, Therese Boulos Haddad, 62, had been living on the run or
in refugee camps for about 50 years.

Now they have spent more than seven months confined to the basement of a
Notre Dame de Grace church to avoid deportation, with no response from
Immigration Minister Judy Sgro other than to say refugee claimants should
not seek sanctuary in churches.

"(The Ayoubs) could be your parents or your grandparents," Masri told the
crowd of about 500 people. "All we want is for them to be able to live the
last few years of their life in dignity and peace in Canada."

csolyom at thegazette.canwest.com

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