[IPSM] PHONE/FAX Campaign: Pressure Immigration Minister Joe Volpe; Support the No One Is Illegal March on Ottawa.

[No One Is Illegal Montreal]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sans frontieres! <sansfrontieres at resist.ca>

[We strongly encourage everyone who supports Solidarity Across Borders to
consistently pressure Immigration Minister Joe Volpe with phone calls and
faxes in the coming days, starting NOW until June 25. Your letters to
Volpe are a very important way to support the No One Is Illegal March on
Ottawa from where you live. If you do call or fax, let us know at
sansfrontieres at resist.ca. In solidarity, Solidarity Across Borders.]

**********
CALL OR FAX MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION JOE VOLPE
AND YOUR LOCAL M.P TO SUPPORT
THE NO ONE IS ILLEGAL MARCH ON OTTAWA
**********

In less than one week hundreds of non-status people and their supporters will
be undertaking a historic one-week long march from Montreal to Ottawa to demand
a full regularization program for refugees and non-status people be implemented
immediately.  The march will pass through the Cote des Neiges neighbourhood of
Montreal, the Mohawk community of Kanehsatake on whose land we're marching,
along the north shore of the Ottawa river and up to the front doors of the
Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.

But will the politicians hear us coming?

Less than two months ago non-status members of Solidarity Across Borders
confronted Minister Volpe outside of a Press Conference in Montreal.  The
Minister played the politician, refusing to address their specific cases and
responding with meaningless words when questioned about regularization.  This
is not enough!  Solidarity Across Borders has issued a letter to Minister Volpe
demanding that he deal with the situation of non-status people with more than
half-measures and words (see below).  We demand that he meet with the No One Is
Illegal March on Ottawa and come face to face with the people his Ministry
excludes on a daily basis.  We demand that he recognize the need for a full and
inclusive regularization program as outlined in our 12 Principles for
Regularization.

Not everyone can participate in our march for eight days but you can still
support the march and our demands.  In the coming days before the march begins
on Saturday June 18 we ask all of our supporters to call-in to Minister of
Immigration Joe Volpe and their local M.P to demand that they show the march
the respect that it deserves by meeting with the refugees who make the trek
when they arrive on Parliament Hill on the afternoon of June 25 and to express
their support for a regularization program without restrictions- a program that
would make no one illegal.

To see the 12 Principles for regularization visit:
http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/principles?PHPSESSID=9847fb011351dd8c050a97d5ad9f1e2b

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
PLEASE CALL OR FAX (OR E-MAIL)

Minister of Immigration Joe Volpe ...

In Ottawa at: 613-992-6361 or Fax at 613-992-9791
In Toronto at: 416-781-5583 or Fax at 416-781-5586

[You can e-mail the Minister at Minister at cic.gc.ca, but calls and faxes are
more effective.]

To find contact information for your local M.P visit:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/SenatorsMembers_house.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=2&Sect=hoccur


Demand:
1)      That the Minister and all M.P.s meet the march on Parliament Hill when
it arrives the afternoon of Saturday June 25;
2)      That a full and inclusive regularization program be implemented
immediately.

Be polite and patient, but also persistent.  Make sure your message is heard
loud and clear.

For more information contact Solidarity Across Borders at
sansfrontieres at resist.ca or visit http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org

----------
BACKGROUND:

Letter to Minister of Immigration Joe Volpe from Solidarity Across Borders:

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Joe Volpe,

We are contacting you from the Solidarity Across Borders coalition, a group
composed of several committees of self-organized refugees from Algeria,
Palestine, Congo, Colombia and elsewhere. As you should already be aware, we
are a part of a growing movement of non-status people and their supporters
organizing against the injustices handed down from your Ministry on a daily
basis.

Your Ministry has recently made policy changes and statements which suggest
that you are considering implementing a partial regularization program for
non-status people living in Canada.  As a group that has organized around
community-wide issues and individual cases we welcome any moves that allow more
non-status people to be regularized and their lives made easier here in Canada.
However, any partial regularization program will be no more than a band-aid,
temporary solution; it will not solve the massive crisis in the lives of the
thousands of non-status people within our borders. We also reject any
regularization program that will create or aggravate the division of people
into good immigrants and bad immigrants by highlighting certain industries and
situations viewed as respectable in the eyes of your ministry while deepening
the injustices against those you will leave out.

In June of this year hundreds of refugees and non-status people will be
embarking with allies on a march to challenge this exclusion.  We will march
for eight days, from downtown Montreal to Parliament Hill in Ottawa. We will
march in defence of the position that no one is illegal, that no one is
excludable. This march is more than another protest.it is a profound assertion
of dignity and a cry for justice for non-status people.

The demands of the march will be an end to the deportation and detention of
migrants and refugees, the abolition of Security Certificates and a full
regularization program that leaves not a single person behind, that makes no
one illegal.

This is not the first time in Canadian history that a group has sought to gain
the attention of the public and the Government by marching to Ottawa, but this
is a very historic occasion.  It will be remembered as the first loud challenge
to the public, the Government, your ministry and you as minister for a
fundamental change in the immigration policy of Canada. As hundreds march for
their dignity and thousands of others support the march and live the realities
that we will be challenging, we hope that you will grant the occasion and the
individuals the respect that is deserved by receiving the march when it arrives
on Parliament Hill on Saturday June 25 and initiate a dialogue around full
regularization, free from empty promises and political posturing.

-- Solidarity Across Borders

http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org
514-859-9023
sansfrontieres at resist.ca