[IPSM] FAX/CALL CAMPAIGN: Justice for Yasmine! Defend the Right to Education for Immigrants and Refugees

[Jaggi Singh]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 20:52:44 -0800 (PST)
From: No One is Illegal Montreal <noii-montreal at resist.ca>

JUSTICE FOR YASMINE! EDUCATION IS A RIGHT FOR ALL!

Call-out for a telephone and fax campaign to the offices of Citizenship
and Immigration Canada.

Admit Yasmine to Cegep this semester!

Yasmine Behlouli, 19, is an Algerian refugee who has lived with her family
in Quebec for the past nine years. Her family faced deportation and lived
without status for many years until they were finally regularized in 2002.
They are still waiting for their permanent residence. Yasmine was active
in the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians (CASS) and helped to fight
against the deportation of her family and others.

Even after having successfully won the right to stay, Yasmine must still
continue to struggle to have her basic rights recognized. She has been
trying to attend Cegep (pre-university college in Quebec) for the past two
years. However, because she is still waiting for her permanent residence,
the government is determined to consider her as an "international student"
and to make her pay fees that run several thousand dollars per semester,
fees that she can obviously not afford to pay.

In September 2004, students and supporters organized a delegation to the
offices of Quebec's Ministry of Education to demand an exemption that
would let Yasmine attend Cegep for the normal fee. Twice thereafter, the
government announced that she would be able to attend school, at Cegep
Ahuntsic, starting January 2005. However, the Quebec Ministry of Education
and Immigration Canada changed their minds and decided to make her wait
longer.

Even after having received a generous scholarship that would have enabled
her to pay the international student fees for as long as she needed to,
she was still unable to attend Cegep, since Citizenship and Immigration
Canada (CIC) has rejected her application for a study permit. Yasmine is
sick of false promises and needs to have the certainty that she will be
able to attend Cegep this January. There is no reason that justifies
denying her fundamental right to education, a right that prevails for all,
and not just for Canadian citizens.

Here is what you can do to support Yasmine Behlouli:

- CALL Immigration Canada and demand that they take clear action to admit
Yasmine to Cegep for the semester starting January 2005 and that she not
pay international student fees. Call Inland Services Director Louise
Gaudreault at 514 283 0243, Vegreville Alberta Case Processing Center
(where study pemits are processed) Director Tony Brothers 780 632 8030,
and Minister of Immigration Judy Sgro 613 992 7774.

- FAX a letter and demand that Immigration Canada clear action to admit
Yasmine in cegep for January 2005. A letter is posted below. Fax the
letter to (514) 496 2060, (780)632 8101 and / or (613)947 8319

For more information, contact noii-montreal at resist.ca or 514-859-9023.

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SAMPLE LETTER

I am writing to ask you to take action regarding the case of Yasmine
Behlouli, 19, an Algerian refugee waiting to receive permanent residence.

Yasmine and her family fled civil war in Algeria and came to live in
Quebec. They lived for many years without status and faced deportation
before being regularized in accordance with the special procedures set up
by Quebec City and Ottawa in 2002. But over two years have passed and the
family has still not received their permanent residence even though they
have been living here for nine years.

Meanwhile, Yasmine Behlouli is being denied her right to an accessible
education. She has tried several times to attend Cegep, but she is
considered to be an "international student" and thus asked to pay fees
that range around $4000 per semester, not counting books and other related
fees. Being unable to pay this much money, she is forced to wait for her
permanent residence papers, which have been languishing in the Immigration
bureaucracy for the past 18 months.

Yasmine and her supporters have put pressure several times on the Ministry
of Education, asking that an exception be made so she can study in Cegep
while paying the regular fees for Canadian citizens and permanent
residents. Twice thereafter, she was told she would be able to attend
Cegep starting January 2005. But they changed their minds both times, thus
making her wait even longer. I am writing this letter a couple of weeks
before the start of the Winter 2005 semester, and Yasmine still does not
know whether or not she will be able to continue her studies at last.

This is a cruel and unjust punishment. Yasmine is highly motivated to
pursue her studies here in Montreal. Her family will certainly receive
their permanent residence. There is no motive that justifies that she be
treated any differently than any of her citizen classmates.

The Quebec Ministry of Education of Quebec is promising to deliver an
exception for humanitarian reasons on condition that she obtain a study
permit that Immigration Canada refuses to give her. Yasmine even received
a generous scholarship that would have covered international student fees,
but with no study permit she can not even use it.  Immigration Canada is
responsible for giving her this permit and letting her, finally, continue
her studies.

I demand that Immigration Canada take clear action -- no false promises --
so that Yasmine Behlouli can obtain her study permit as well as any other
document that will permit her admittance to Cegep in January 2005.

We also demand that Immigration Canada do the same for all people who are
currently in this situation.

Sincerely,