[IPSM] No One Is Illegal-Montreal Newswire/Bulletin de Nouvelles (April 17, 2006)
No One Is Illegal Montreal
nooneisillegal at gmail.com
Mon Apr 17 00:49:04 PDT 2006
=====
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL-MONTREAL NEWS AND EVENTS DIGEST
BULLETIN DE NOUVELLES ET D'ÉVÉNEMENTS DE PERSONNE N'EST ILLÉGAL
=====
APRIL 17, 2006 -- LE 17 AVRIL 2006 (1.9)
::::: PEOPLE'S COMMISSION/LA COMMISSION POPULAIRE :::::
1a) Luttez contre le racisme et l'insécurité. PARTICIPEZ à la
Commission populaire montréalaise ces 21, 22 et 23 avril
1b) Challenge racism and insecurity. PARTICIPATE in Montreal's
People's Commission this April 21-23
::::: EVENTS/ÉVÉNEMENTS :::::
2) April 19: BREAK THE CHAINS! An evening of spoken word, poetry,
music and resistance in defense of child political prisoners in
Palestine
3) 20 avril: La Bataille de Québec 2001: 5 ans plus tard/April 20: The
Battle of Quebec 2001: 5 years later
4) Appel à la formation d'un contingent précaire dans la manifestation
d'un contingent précaire dans la manifestation du 29 avril 2006
5) Mayworks! Montreal 2006!/Mai à l'oeuvre Montréal 2006!
::::: STATUS FOR ALL! UN STATUT POUR TOUS ET TOUTES! :::::
6a) STATUS FOR ALL! National Day of Action (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal)
6b) UN STATUT POUR TOU(TE)S! Journee Nationale d'Action (Vancouver,
Toronto, Montreal)
::::: SIX NATIONS :::::
7) (CIPO-RFM) Open Letter from the Popular Indigenous Council of
Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón"
8) (Hamilton Spectator) Heavy history to standoff: Was the land taken
by trickery, intimidation, exploitation or legal transactions?
::::: THE RODRIGUEZ FAMILY/LA FAMILLE RODRIGUEZ :::::
9) Photo Essay: Rodriguez Family is Removed
10) (La Presse) Expulsion de la Famille Rodriguez: Pas question que
les enfants terminent leur année scolaire
::::: EN SANCTUAIRE/IN SANCTUARY :::::
11a) Trois Mois, C'est Trop Long! Demandez un statut pour Abdelkader
Belaouni Maintenant!
11b) Three Months is Too Long! Demand Status Now for Abdelkader Belaouni!
12) (Toronto Star) Church holds vigil for family denied asylum: 4
given sanctuary for 7 months
::::: ACTION :::::
13) (Toronto) Act Now to Stop the Deportation of Issam Al Yamani
14) (USA) May 1st: A Day Without an Immigrant: No Work! No School! No
Selling! No Buying ...
::::: NEWS/NOUVELLES :::::
15) (La Presse) Pas d'amniste en vue: De 120 000 à 200 000
sans-papiers vivent et travaillent au Canada
16) (Guelph Mercury) Mexican couple who complained about working
conditions at worm-picking operation in Guelph seeking refugee status
17) (Immigration News Briefs) Protests Sweep Nation: North, South,
Midwest and West
18) (CKUT Radio) NYC United for Immigrant Rights
19) (Associated Press) Some Immigration Marchers Pay High Price
20) (San Franciso Chronicle) Mexican migrants' death toll sets record
21) (Seattle Times) 14 indicted in alleged human smuggling ring on
US-Canada border
22) (A-Infos) Abolishing the Borders from Below – an anarchist journal
from Eastern Europe
23) (The Guardian) Australia to Send Asylum Seekers to Camps
-----
The No One Is Illegal News and Events Digest is a bilingual (English
and French) weekly selection of analysis, news and events, compiled by
the No One Is Illegal collective in Montreal. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/nooneisillegal-l; to
contribute, e-mail nooneisillegal at gmail.com
Le bulletin de nouvelles et d'événements de Persone n'est illégal
rassemble une sélection hebdomadaire et bilingue (anglais - français)
de nouvelles, analyses et événements compilée par le collectif
Personne n'est illégal - Montréal. Pour vous abonner (ou vous
désabonner), suivez ce lien:
https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/nooneisillegal-l; pour
contribuer au bulletin, contactez-nous par courriel: nooneisillegal at gmail.com
-----
(((((1a)))))
Pendant trois jours en avril, dans un centre communautaire du
Sud-Ouest de Montréal, des militantEs, des organisateurRICEs
communautaires, des universitaires, des diplôméEs en droit et des
membres de diverses communautés se rassembleront pour participer aux
Audiences publiques de la Commission populaire sur les mesures
«sécuritaires» en immigration ...
Luttez contre le racisme et l'insécurité.
PARTICIPEZ à la Commission populaire montréalaise ces 21, 22 et 23 avril.
SOYEZ NOMBREUX!
::::::::::::::::::::
LA COMMISSION POPULAIRE
sur les mesures «sécuritaires» en immigration
AUDIENCES PUBLIQUES
VENDREDI, 21 AVRIL, de 10h à 18h
SAMEDI, 22 AVRIL, de 10h à 18h
(suivi d'un souper communautaire)
DIMANCHE 23 AVRIL, de 10h à 18h
Au CÉDA (2515, rue Delisle, près du métro Lionel-Groulx)
[Tous les événements sont gratuits - Garderie sur place - Accessible
aux chaises roulantes - Traduction simultanée (français-anglais) -
Traduction chuchotée disponible en arabe et en espagnol.]
::::::::::::::::::::
TÉMOIGNAGES DE : Tekarontake, Wolf Clan (aîné Mohawk); Hind Charkaoui;
Adil Charkaoui; Sophie Harkat; témoignages des familles Jaballah et
Mahjoub; Alex Neve (Amnistie internationale); Halima Mautbur (Canadian
Council on American-Islamic Relations); Sherene Rezack (Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education); Sharryn Aiken (Queen's University
School of Law); Denis Barette (Ligue des droits et libertés); Evert
Hoogers (Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs des postes du
Canada); Johanne Doyon (avocate en immigration); Warren Allmand
(ancien Solliciteur général du Canada); Gary Kinsman (Laurentian
University); Janet Dench (Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés);
Marie-Jo Ouimet (médecin avec ASILE); John Norris (avocat au
criminel); ainsi que des membres de la Campagne pour l'arrêt des
procès secrets au Canada (Campaign to Stop the Secret Trials); le
Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP), Personne n'est
Illégal - Montréal et autres.
La Commission populaire comprendra aussi des témoignages de personnes
directement affectées par les mesures «sécuritaires» en immigration
dont Dieter Misgeld (à confirmer), le conjoint de Amparo Torres (qui
fait face à la déportation vers la Colombie), Victor Regalado (refugié
salvadoran arrêté en vertu d'un certificat en 1982), et Suleyman Goven
(qui a passé 12 ans dans l'attente de ses papiers après avoir obtenu
son statut de réfugié).
Les témoins seront interrogéEs par les Commissaires et par le public
après avoir donné leur témoignage.
Face aux politiques du gouvernement canadien, qui emprisonne des
personnes pendant des années sans procès, sous des preuves secrètes et
avec la menace constante d'une déportation vers la torture, la
Commission populaire constitue un forum alternatif pour réfléchir à
ces questions qui nous affectent toutes et tous, en se basant sur nos
propres expériences historiques et actuelles en tant qu'autochtones,
que membres d'une minorité, que femmes, que pauvres...
--> HORAIRE DES ÉVÉNEMENTS
VENDREDI, 21 AVRIL
Témoignages de 10h à 18h
SAMEDI, 22 AVRIL
Témoignages de 10h à 18h
***Suivi d'un souper communautaire (avec Dj Leila P et d'une
mini-pièce de théâtre sur les déportations).***
DIMANCHE 23 AVRIL
Témoignages de 10h à 18h
Cérémonie de clôture à 18h
L'horaire mis à jour est disponible au : www.peoplescommission.ath.cx
--> La Commission populaire est une initiative de la Coalition
Justice pour Adil Charkaoui (www.adilinfo.org), GRIP-Concordia, et
Solidarité sans frontières (www.solidarityacrossborders.org).
La Commission populaire est appuyée par : l'Association pour la
défense des droits sociaux (ADDS), la Campagne pour l'arrêt des procès
secrets au Canada, CAIR-CAN, Centre communautaire des femmes
sud-asiatiques de Montréal, Centre justice et foi, le Centre des
travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants (CTI), CKUT 90.3 FM, le
Comité justice pour Mohamed Harkat, Comité chrétien pour les droits
humains en Amérique latine (CCDHAL), Comité des sans-emploi
Montréal-Centre, Communauté Catholique Congolaise de Montréal ,
Concordia Student Union (CSU), le Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés
(CCR), Conseil des canadiens, Conseil musulman de Montréal, Fédération
canado-arabe (CAF), Downtown Legal Services (DLS) Toronto, Fédération
autonome du collégial (FAC), Institute in Management and Community
Development (part of the Centre for Continuing Education at Concordia
University), Inter Pares, International Civil Liberties Monitoring
Group (ICLMG), Jesuit Refugee Service, la Ligue des Noirs du Québec,
Moog Audio, Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG),
People's Potato, Personne est illégal-Montréal, Personne est
illégal-Toronto, Personne est illégal-Vancouver, Ontario Coaliton
against Poverty (OCAP), Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie
(PASC), Soeurs Auxiliatrices, le Syndicat des travailleurs et
travailleuses des postes du Canada (STTP), Table de concertation des
organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI),
Toronto Action for Social Change (TASC), United Muslim Students
Association (UMSA).
----------
INFOS : abolissons at gmail.com, tél.: 1 514 859 9023,
www.peoplescommission.ath.cx
Commission populaire c/o QPIRG Concordia
1500, de Maisonneuve O., ste. 204
Montréal QC H3G 1N1
-----
(((((1b)))))
For three days in April, at a community center in Montreal's
southwest, a diverse group of activists, organizers, academics, legal
scholars and community members will gather for the Public Hearings of
the People's Commission into immigration "security" measures ...
Challenge racism and insecurity.
PARTICIPATE in Montreal's People's Commission this April 21-23.
JOIN US!
::::::::::::::::::::
THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSION
into immigration "security" measures
PUBLIC HEARINGS
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 10am-6pm
SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 10am-6pm
(followed by a Community Dinner)
SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 10am-6pm
At the CEDA (2515 Delisle, near metro Lionel-Groulx)
[All events are free - Childcare on-site - Wheelchair accessible --
Simultaneous translation (English-French) -- Whisper translation
available for Arabic and Spanish.]
::::::::::::::::::::
TESTIMONY BY: Tekarontake, Wolf Clan (Mohawk elder); Hind Charkaoui;
Adil Charkaoui; Sophie Harkat; testimonies from Jaballah and Mahjoub
families; Alex Neve (Amnesty International); Halima Mautbur (Canadian
Council on American-Islamic Relations); Sherene Rezack (Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education); Sharryn Aiken (Queen's University
School of Law); Denis Barette (la Ligue des Droits et Libertés); Evert
Hoogers (Canadian Union of Postal Workers); Johanne Doyon (immigration
lawyer); Warren Allmand (former Canadian Solicitor-General); Gary
Kinsman (Laurentian University); Janet Dench (Canadian Council for
Refugees); Marie-Jo Ouimet (MD with ASILE); John Norris (criminal
lawyer); as well as members of the Campaign to Stop the Secret Trials;
the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, No One Is Illegal-Montreal
and others.
The Commission will also include personal testimonies from other
people directly affected by immigration "security" measures including
Dieter Misgeld, partner of Amparo Torres, facing deportation to
Colombia (TBC), Victor Regalada (a Salvadoran refugee who was arrested
under a certificate in 1982) and Suleyman Goven, who has spent 12
years in legal limbo after having been accepted as a refugee.
Witnesses will be open to questions from the Commissioners and the
public after giving their testimony.
In the face of Canadian government policies which detain people for
years without trial, under secret evidence, with the ongoing threat of
deportation to torture, the People's Commission is an alternative
forum to consider these issues, as they affect us, from our own
historical and contemporary experiences, as indigenous people,
racialized minorities, women, the poor and other sectors of society.
--> SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
FRIDAY, APRIL 21
Testimonies from 10am to 6pm.
SATURDAY, APRIL 22
Testimonies from 10am to 6pm.
***Followed by a Community Dinner (with DJ Leila P and a short play on
deportations)***
SUNDAY, APRIL 23
Testimonies from 10am to 6pm.
Closing ceremony at 6pm.
Updated schedule available at: http://www.peoplescommission.ath.cx/
--> The People's Commission is a project of the Coalition for Justice
for Adil Charkaoui (www.adilinfo.org), QPIRG-Concordia, and Solidarity
Across Border (www.solidarityacrossborders.org).
The People's Commission has been endorsed or sponsored by:
l'Association pour la défense des droits sociaux (ADDS), Black
Coalition of Québec, CAIR-CAN, Campaign to Stop Secret Trials in
Canada, Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), Canadian Council for Refugees
(CCR), Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Centre justice et foi,
Comité chrétien pour les droits humains en Amérique latine (CCDHAL),
Comité des sans-emploi Montréal-Centre, CKUT 90.3 FM, Communauté
Catholique Congolaise de Montréal, Concordia Student Union (CSU),
Council of Canadians, Downtown Legal Services (DLS) Toronto,
Fédération autonome du collégial (FAC), Immigrant Workers' Centre
(IWC), Institute in Management and Community Development (part of the
Centre for Continuing Education at Concordia University), Inter Pares,
International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), Jesuit Refugee
Service, The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee, Moog Audio, Muslim
Council of Montreal (MCM), No One Is Illegal -Montreal, No One Is
Illegal -Vancouver, No One Is Illegal -Toronto, Nova Scotia Public
Interest Research Group (NSPIRG), Ontario Coalition against Poverty
(OCAP), Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC), People's
Potato, Soeurs Auxiliatrices, South Asian Women's Community Centre
(SAWCC), Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes
réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI), Toronto Action for Social Change
(TASC), United Muslim Students Association (UMSA).
----------
INFO: abolissons at gmail.com; 514-859-9023;
www.peoplescommission.ath.cx
People's Commission c/o QPIRG Concordia
1500 de Maisonneuve W., ste. 204
Montreal QC H3G 1N1
-----
(((((2)))))
UPDATE: Break the Chains! will also include a special performance by
Narcicyst of Euphrates, as well as beats by DJ Leila P.
The evening will include solidarity statements by North American
political prisoners read by filmmaker Mary Ellen Davis,
artist/activist Freda Guttman, Bruce Katz of Palestinian and Jewish
Unity (PAJU) and members of the Coalition Against the Deportation of
Palestinian Refugees.
BREAK THE CHAINS!!!
... an evening of spoken word, poetry, music and resistance
... in defense of child political prisoners in Palestine.
:::::
Wednesday April 19, 2006
@ EL SALON
4388 St-Laurent Boulevard
(between Rachel and Mt-Royal)
$5 or pay what you can.
:::::
---
7pm - Film: STOLEN YOUTH (directed by Saed Andoni)
about child political prisoners in Palestine.
7:30pm - Guest speaker from Palestine:
-> Ayed Abu Eqtaish (former political prisoner and currently research
co-ordinator for Defence for Children International in Ramallah)
with
-> Kahentinetha Horn (journalist and elder from Kahnawake of Mohawk
territory, speaking about indigenous resistance)
8:30pm - Spoken Word and Poetry
with
-> Rafeef Ziadah (Toronto/Palestine)
and
-> Ehab Lotayef (Montreal/Egypt)
Featuring solidarity statements from North American political
prisoners: Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, Jaan Laaman, Russell Maroon
Shoats, Jalil Muntaqim, the Cuban Five and Janet and Janine Africa.
9:30pm - MUSIC!
With Narcicyst of Euphrates (Montreal/Iraq): MC of the Montreal-based
Iraqi hip-hop crew Euphrates, whose recent album 'Stereotypes
Incorporated' made musical waves both locally & internationally.
Euphrates weaves together modern hip-hop innovation, the politics of
grassroots movements and the spirit of the Iraqi Diaspora (and
Palestinan Intifada). For more info: www.iraqisthebomb.com
And DJ Leila P!
---
Organized and sponsored by: Books to Prisoners-Montreal; the Coalition
Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees; Indigenous Peoples
Solidarity Movement (IPSM); International Solidarity Movement
(ISM)-Montreal; Montreal Anarchist Black Cross Federation; No One Is
Illegal-Montreal; Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at
McGill and Concordia; Twelve Months Political Prisoner/POW Calendar
Project.
National tour organized by SUMOUD: A Political Prisoner Solidarity Group
(http://sumoud.tao.ca)
INFO: ism-montreal at resist.ca or 514-848-7583
-----
(((((3)))))
[English below the French ...]
*******************************************************
La Bataille de Québec 2001: 5 ans plus tard...
Le party des vétéranEs... et de tous les militantEs!
*******************************************************
Le 20 avril 2001, des milliers de manifestantEs anti-capitalistes
s'unissaient dans une lutte historique contre le sommet de 34
dirigeants des Amériques barricadés derrière un mur de sécurité...
Le 20 avril 2006, réunissons-nous à nouveau pour socialiser, célébrer
nos acquis, mesurer le chemin parcouru et refaire le monde!
Rendez-vous le
JEUDI 20 AVRIL 2006
Comité Social Centre-Sud
à partir de 18H00
1710 Beaudry, métro Beaudry
-- Bière pas chère (les bénéfices de la vente iront à DIRA) --
-- Musique, DJs, films --
-- Micro ouvert: venez prendre la parole! --
Pour info, suggestions, initiatives:
sommet5ans at yahoo.ca
:::
*******************************************************
The battle of Quebec 2001: 5 years later
A party for veterans... and all protesters!
*******************************************************
On April 20th 2001, thousands of anticapitalist activists gathered in
a historic fight against the summit of 34 heads of States locked up
behind a protection wall...
On April 20th 2006, let's meet again to socialize, celebrate our
victories, see how far we've gone and change the world once again!
Be there on
THURSDAY APRIL 20th 2006
at Comité Social Centre-Sud
starting at 6 pm
1710 Beaudry, Beaudry metro
-- Cheap beer (all profits will go to DIRA anarchist library) --
-- Music, DJs, movies --
-- Open mic: speak up! --
For info, suggestions, initiatives:
sommet5ans at yahoo.ca
-----
(((((4)))))
APPEL À LA FORMATION D'UN CONTINGENT PRÉCAIRE
DANS LA MANIFESTATION SYNDICALE DU 29 AVRIL2006
À l'occasion de la journée des travailleuses et des travailleurs, le
Réseau de Solidarité des Travailleuses et Travailleurs (RST) et
l'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) vous
invitent à participé dans le but de d'unir nos forces afin de former
un contingent «Précaires» dans la manifestation organisée par les
grandes centrales syndicales. Ce contingent mettra de l'avant le
syndicalisme de combat, en opposition à la tactique de concertation
des grandes centrales syndicales qui ont tendance à délaisser les
secteurs de travail jugés non-rentables.
Les revendications communes pour le contingent précaire sont :
1. Pour une éducation publique, gratuite, laïque, de qualité,
accessible et non discriminatoire
2. Contre la précarité au travail et à tous les niveaux
3. Pour la régularisation de toutes les personnes sans statut et la
fin des déportations
4. Pour des logements décents et accessibles
5. Contre la pauvreté
6. Pour un mouvement social, combatif, démocratique et solidaire
samedi le 29 avril
Rassemblement parc Théodore
MÉTRO Viau, coin Théodore/Hochelaga
à 12h
Organisé par:
le Réseau de Solidarité des Travailleuses et Travailleurs (RST)
l'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ)
Endossé par:
Solidarité sans frontières
Personne n'est illégal-Montréal
-----
(((((5)))))
[la version française ci-dessous ...]
*Mayworks Montreal 2006!*
A festival of working people and the arts, Mayworks! is a
multi-disciplinary arts festival that celebrates the building of
communities and people's struggles for social and economic justice.
Built on the premise that workers and artists share a common struggle
for decent wages, healthy working conditions and a living culture,
Mayworks!'s goal is to promote the interests of cultural workers and
trade unionists and to bring working-class culture from the margins of
cultural activity onto centre stage.
******************
*"DayShift!": A Day in the Parc with the Immigrant Workers' Centre*
Saturday April 29th
from 2pm to 6pm
Parc Kent
On blvd Côte-des-Neiges at the corner of Appleton/Plamondon
Celebrate our work on labour and migration with dance and music
performances, art workshops, art exhibits, children's activities and
film projections (by No One is Illegal).
For more info :
514-342-2111
iwc_cti at yahoo.ca
******************
*"NightShift!": 1 year of Worker Solidarity*
Saturday April 29th
8pm
Main Hall, 5390 St-Laurent
The Workers Solidarity Network celebrates its first anniversary with a
concert, theatre and a painting exhibit.
On the agenda :
*Joe Beef*, a play by David Fennario
*Without Ben's Ukelele*, a folk-punk musical outfit
*Genr' Radical*, a feminist-folk musical outfit
The *paintings of Benoit Tremblay*, member of the Workers' Solidarity Network
also...presentations on struggles that involved the Solidarity Network in
the past year : direct actions, strike support, help with union drives.
for more information :
859-9092
rst.wsn at gmail.com
:::
Mai à l'oeuvre Montréal 2006!
Un Festival portant sur la conjugaison de la lutte ouvrière et les
arts, Mai à l'oeuvre! est un événement artistique multidisciplinaire
célébrant les luttes populaires de justice sociale et économique,
contribuant à bâtir la solidarité entre ouvriers et artistes, qui
partagent une lutte commune visant des salaires décents, des
conditions de travail saines et une culture bien vivante. Le but de
Mai à l'oeuvre! est de promouvoir les intérêts des travailleurs et
travailleuses du domaine des arts ainsi que ceux du milieu syndical
tout en accordant une place centrale à la culture ouvrière, trop
souvent marginalisée dans les milieux culturels.
*****
« Shift de jour! »
Une journée dans le parc avec le Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses
immigrants
Samedi, le 29 avril
14h à 18h
Parc Kent
Sur blvd Côte des Neiges, coin Appleton/Plamondon
Célébrer les enjeux du travail et de la migration avec des
performances de danse et musique, ateliers artistiques, exposition de
l'art, activités pour enfants, projections de films (par Personne
n'est illégale)
Pour plus d'info :
514-342-2111
*****
« Shift de soir ! » : 1 an de Solidarité Ouvrière
Samedi 29 avril
20h
Main Hall
5390 St-Laurent
Le Réseau de Solidarité des Travailleurs-euses fête sa première année
d'existence avec un concert, du théâtre et des expositions.
Au programme :
Joe Beef, présentation de la pièce de théâtre avec David Fennario
Without Ben's Ukelele, ensemble musical folk-punk
Genr' Radical, ensemble musical folk féministe
Exposition des oeuvres de Benoit Tremblay, membre du Réseau de Solidarité
aussi... présentations sur les luttes auxquelles a participé le Réseau
de Solidarité dans la dernière année : actions directes, support aux
grèves, aide à la syndicalisation.
pour plus d'information :
859-9092
rst.wsn at gmail.com
-----
(((((6a)))))
:::::
Stop the Deportations!
STATUS FOR ALL!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
National Day of Action
(Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal ...)
:::::
Across Canada, migrants, refugees and their allies will demonstrate
against the deportation and detention of migrants and refugees, and
for a full, inclusive, unconditional and ongoing regularization
program, meaning STATUS FOR ALL!
Building on ongoing organizing efforts led by migrant communities
across the Canadian state, we are demonstrating because hundreds of
thousands of people live without status, while hundreds of thousands
more are exploited by the arbitrary and racist policies of Immigration
Canada. 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 are demonstrating as part of a struggle for self-determination as
migrants, immigrants and refugees, supported by our allies.
Join us on May 27, in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and elsewhere. We
refuse to be invisible; we refuse to live in fear. We demand STATUS
FOR ALL!
-----
IN VANCOUVER --> Action to be organized by the STATUS (Standing
through action towards unity and solidarity!) Coalition. For more
information, or to get involved, please phone 778-885-0040 or e-mail
saic at resist.ca
IN TORONTO --> The Status for All! March will meet at 1pm at O.I.S.E.
(252 Bloor Street West at the St. George subway station). We will
march through the city and end with a community festival. For more
information or to get involved, contact nooneisillegal at riseup.net;
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org
IN MONTREAL --> The Status for All! March will gather at NOON at
Phillips Square (corner of Ste-Catherine and Union, metro McGill) and
march thru downtown, up into the Plateau and Mile-End, north to Parc
Extension and into Cote-des-Neiges for a community picnic at Kent
Park. For more information or to get involved, contact: 514-859-9023,
sansfrontieres at resist.ca; www.solidarityacrossborders.org
-----
-> To endorse the STATUS FOR ALL National Day of Action (May 27,
2006), please e-mail: sansfrontieres at resist.ca
-> If you are organizing an action or demonstration in your local
community, please get in touch with details: sansfrontieres at resist.ca
NO BORDERS, NO NATIONS, STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!
JUSTICE AND DIGNITY FOR ALL MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES!
-----
(((((6b)))))
[svp diffuser ...]
:::::
Arrêtez les Déportations!
Statut pour tous et toutes!
Samedi 27 Mai 2006
Journée Nationale d'Action
(Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal ...)
:::::
A travers le Canada, des migrant-e-s, des réfugié-e-s et leurs
allié-e-s vont manifester contre la déportation et la détention de
migrant-e-s et de réfugié-e-s, and pour un programme de régularisation
totale, inclusive, inconditionnelle et continue, ce qui signifie
STATUT POUR TOUTES ET TOUS!!
Nous appuyant les efforts continus de la part des communautés
migrantes à travers le Canada, nous manifestons car des centaines de
milliers de personnes vivent sans statut, tandis que des centaines de
milliers d'autres sont exploités par la politique raciste et
arbitraire d'Immigration Canada. Des milliers de migrant-e-s sont
obligés de vivre dans la pauvreté, privés de l'accès minimal aux soins
de santé ou à l'éducation, et dans la peur terrible d'être emprisonnés
ou déportés, tout en étant les plus exploités du marché du travail.
Nous manifestons dans le cadre de la lutte pour l'autodétermination
des migrant-e-s, des immigrant-e-s et des réfugié-e-s, avec le soutien
de nos allié-e-s.
Soyez des nôtres le 27 mai, à Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal et
ailleurs. Nous refusons d'être invisibles; nous refusons de vivre dans
la peur. Nous exigeons le STATUT POUR TOUTES ET TOUS!
----
A VANCOUVER --> Plus de détails seront confirmés dans les semaines qui
viennent. La manif sera organisé par la Coalition STATUS ("Standing
through action towards unity and solidarity") de Vancouver. Pour plus
d'information, ou pour vous impliquer, appeler le 778-885-0040 ou
saic at resist.ca
A TORONTO --> La Marche Statut pour Toutes et Tous! commencera à 1pm à
O.I.S.E. (252 Bloor Street West à la station de métro St. George).
Nous marcherons à travers la ville et nous finirons avec un festival
communautaire. Pour plus d'information ou pour vous impliquer,
contacter nooneisillegal at riseup.net; http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org
A MONTREAL --> La Marche Statut pour Toutes et Tous! commencera à MIDI
au Square Phillips (au coin de Ste-Catherine et Union, métro McGill)
et traversera le centre-ville, montera au Plateau et dans le Mile End,
puis montera jusqu'à Parc Extension et Côte-des-Neiges pour un
pique-nique communautaire à Parc Kent. Pour plus d'information ou
pour vous impliquer, contacter le 514-859-9023, ou bien
sansfrontieres at resist.ca; www.solidarityacrossborders.org
-----
-> Pour soutenir la Journée Nationale d'Action STATUT POUR TOUTES ET
TOUS (27 mai 2006), envoyer un e-mail à : sansfrontieres at resist.ca
-> Si vous organisez une action ou une manifestation dans votre
communauté local, contactez-nous à : sansfrontieres at resist.ca
PAS DE FRONTIERES, PAS DE NATIONS, ARRETONS LES DEPORTATIONS!
JUSTICE ET DIGNITE POUR TOUS LES MIGRANT-E-S ET LES REFUGIE-E-S!
-----
(((((7)))))
Brothers, Sister, Friends and Allies of Six Nations:
The Popular Indigenous Council for Oaxaca of Mexico sent the following
letter to their brothers and sisters at Six Nations, with copies of
the letters they send to the Governor General of Canada, Prime
Minister of Canada, the Attorney General of Ontario and the Minister
of Indian Affairs. They are shocked at Canada's use of force against
Indigenous people who have legitimate claims. The English translation
is first followed by the original letters. As you can see, there is
growing fear all over the world that Canada does not accept
responsibility for their theft of Six Nations land and are threatening
violence to stop our peaceful protest. We thank the Indigenous people
of Oaxaca and everyone else for their encouragement. Please continue
to stand by us.
Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News
:::
Brothers and Sisters,
We would like to send you our deepest salutations from the heart, we
know about the hard path we Indians have to walk due to the rich
peoples ambitions, but our love of Mother Earth and liberty is
stronger, that's why we will keep defending them even if the price to
pay could be death.
We want to tell you you're not alone, and that we have sent letters,
by fax and email, to your governments to demand justice for your
peoples
Our solidarity is with you
>From Indian communities of Oaxaca,
For the reconstitution and free association of the peoples
Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón"
CIPO-RFM
Dolores
CIPO-RFM Representative
:::::
LETTER FROM CIPO-RFM
Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, México, April 13th of 2006.
MICHAEL BRYANT, ONTARIO ATTORNEY GENERAL
STEPHEN HARPER, PRIME MINISTER, OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
MICHAELLE JEAN, GOVERNOR GENERAL
JIM PRENTICE, MINISTER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT
PARLIAMENT HILL: HOUSE OF COMMONS OTTAWA, ONTARIO
Sirs,
With great shock and discontent, we learned from Six Nations Mohawk
people's press releases that on March 3rd, Ontario Supreme Court gave
to Henco company a legal order so the OPP could dislodge by means of
force Native Mohawk people of Six nations from the land where the
company plans to build 72 houses, the same projects that sits in
ancestral territory, for which Natives have never in any way been
consulted and which will not bring any good to the communities.
The Six Nations communities are defending their land based on
Haldimand tract that was signed in 1784, which represent 9,6
kilometres on each side of Grand River from his source to its mouth.
The Mohawk of Six Nations, since February 28th, have mobilized
themselves to stop their Territories' illegal invasions and eviction
menaces.
The Judge said in his verdict, during an audience held without Six
Nations peoples even knowing, that if they didn't get out of the place
by March 22nd at 2pm, they could be arrested and jailed for 30 days.
On march 29th at noon, 6 boats, 3 vans and 15 polices came nearby the
Mohawk camp, looking at them and taking notes. We oppose to the
eviction and jail menaces they are subjected to for defending their
territory. Canada must stop using repression to solution its legal
disputes with Native Peoples.
We know that John and Don Henning, from Henco Industries Limited, say
they have a title of property certificated by Ontario Provincial
Government and which guarantees the company is the "legal landowner"
of these lands, and they say "we are confined between a group of
Natives and Federal Government". Canadian government has to solve the
jurisdiction ant titles problem by political means, not with weapons.
In both international and Canadian Law, when negotiations are broken
between the two Parties, " any person should have the access to an
audience in a competent, independent and impartial Court." Since when
is Ontario Court a neutral Court in a fight between Ontario and
Indigenous Nations ? It is necessary to find an international mediator
without any interest in the affair, or to create a meditation team
that would include representatives from Native peoples and other
States which are not involved in this particular case. But the
mediators have to understand both colonial and indigenous Laws, such
as the kaianereh'ko:wa. Canada has to find a peaceful solution to this
conflict, establishing a nation-to-nation dialogue with On'kwe'hon:we
people.
For all of the above and facing a possible unjustified eviction and
serious Human Rights violations which could endanger the life and
integrity of Mohawk people of Six Nations, we demand:
1. Henco Industries to cease immediately all construction on Six
Nations ancestral territory.
2. That the conflict get to a political and negotiated solution
without Police interventions.
3. That a Nation-to Nation dialogue be established between Canada and
On'kwe'hon:we nation.
4. That a resolution of the conflict should pass by a solution to the
Titles and Jurisdiction problematics, and would mean for the Federal
Government to take responsibility for his actions towards Six Nations,
accordingly with its international law obligations.
>From our countries, we will closely follow this situation Six Nations
peoples have to get through.
For the reconstitution and free association of the peoples.
Popular Indigenous Council of Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón"
CIPO-RFM
The Organizers Group
Dolores Villalobos Cuamatzi
Rosario Gómez Hernández
Leonardo López Sarabia
Miguel Cruz Moreno
Pedro Barrios Vásquez
Agustina Reyes Martínez
Rosario Ortega Luciano
FREEDOM TO ALL CIPO-RFM JAILED NATIVES "VIVA LA AUTONOMÍA"
visit our website : www.nodo50.org/cipo Consejo Indígena Popular de
Oaxaca "Ricardo Flores Magón", CIPO-RFM. Calle: Emilio Carranza 210,
Sta. Lucía del Camino Oaxaca, México. tel: +(951) 51-78183 y +(951)
51-78190 mail: cipo at nodo50.org, mujercipo at hotmail.com,
los_magoneros at hotmail.com
FOR DONATIONS IN THE NAME OF CIPO-RFM: Banco Nacional de México, SA.
Domicilio Hidalgo # 821. col.Centro, Oax. C.P.68000, Sucursal Oaxaca,
No. 120, Suit: Banamex: BNMXMXMM, Cuenta: 002610012077451770
-----
(((((8)))))
Heavy history to standoff
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1144878612115&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815
Sheryl Nadler, the Hamilton Spectator
Native protesters hold their ground outside a housing subdivision in
Caledonia where construction has come to a halt because of the
dispute.
Was the land taken by trickery, intimidation, exploitation or legal
transactions?
By Meredith Macleod
The Hamilton Spectator (Apr 13, 2006)
There are 165 years of outrage, division, infighting and mistrust
behind a six-week-long occupation of a newly begun Caledonia
subdivision.
The core of the issue is disagreement over ownership of land given to
Six Nations and then, piece by piece, taken back by the British Crown.
How that land was taken -- whether by trickery, intimidation,
exploitation or entirely legal land transactions -- is the subject of
both the current blockade and discussions between lawyers for Six
Nations and the federal government about tens of thousands of acres of
land surrounding the reserve.
Protesters blockading the Douglas Creek Estates back the view of the
traditional hereditary chiefs, the Haudenosaunee, that 384,451
hectares running 9.6 kilometres deep on either side of the Grand River
from Lake Erie 210 kilometres northwest near Dundalk was stolen by the
Crown in 1841.
Local native protesters, bolstered by warrior factions and other
activists from Ontario and the U.S., say they are "reclaiming" their
land.
Negotiating the claim is complicated because many within Six Nations
do not share the view the land was stolen. The elected band council
acknowledges the hereditary chiefs signed over the land in question in
Caledonia but believe there has never been fair compensation for other
large land parcels.
The sharp split between the political role of the elected band council
and the traditional chiefs has led to a complete breakdown in
communication between the two, said Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, an
aboriginal studies and history professor at the University of Toronto
and Laurentian University.
"There is a power struggle. Traditional chiefs won't speak to (elected
Chief Dave General) or shake his hand. It goes against our values of
honour and respect, but it shows there is a very deep rift."
The federal and provincial governments recognize only the elected band
council and that feeds the belief that no one is listening to what
some argue are the authoritative First Nations voice.
There are 14 outstanding Six Nations land claims affecting about half
of Haldimand and more than 4,000 hectares between Brantford and
Onondaga, a nearby Brant County community. The Plank Road Tract in
question was registered as a land claim in 1987. But that land claim
did not affect third party interests.
A lawsuit launched in 1995 dragged on until the two parties agreed to
sit down and explore a resolution, beginning with two of the claims.
As of last month, they had agreed on the basic facts of each claim.
This is not one of them.
"That's a huge step towards working out an agreement," said Jo-Anne
Greene, director of Six Nations Lands and Resources.
This claim had been put aside while the sides worked on the other two.
The issue across the Haldimand tract is that in some cases, land was
taken against the wishes of Six Nations. In others, land was never
paid for. Six Nations also alleges there was fraud, misappropriation
of funds and poor investments and that natural resources were
extracted without any native compensation.
A current trust account held by the federal government holds less than
$3 million.
Meanwhile, the federal and provincial governments point fingers at
each other over who is responsible. Legal arguments have been made
that the Canadian government can't be held accountable for actions of
the British Crown before Canada was formed in 1867.
Hagersville real estate lawyer Ed McCarthy says the lands upon which
the Douglas Creek subdivision is being built was clearly and legally
sold by Six Nations in 1841. If the money was not properly cared for
by the federal government, that is an accounting issue with the
federal government, not a land claim against a private landowner, said
McCarthy.
mmacleod at thespec.com
905-526-3408
Six Nations land reward chronology
* Oct. 25, 1784: Six Nations rewarded with a tract of land for its
loyalty to the British Crown during the American Revolution. It's
referred to as the Haldimand Proclamation after Frederick Haldimand,
general and commander of the British forces. It gave to Six Nations
six miles on either side of the Grand River from Lake Erie to its
source, about 385,000 hectares.
* 1792: Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe reduces the Six Nations
grant to 111,000 hectares.
* 1796: Six Nations grants its chief, Joseph Brant, the power of
attorney to sell off some of the land and invest proceeds. The Crown
opposes the sales but eventually concedes to grant Brant the patents
required.
* 1830-1840: Members of Six Nations dispose of land to white settlers
without approval of chiefs or the Crown. Squatters become a major
problem.
* 1835: Crown approaches Six Nations about development of Plank Road
(now Highway 6) and lands around it. Six Nations agrees to lease half
a mile of land on each side for road, but does not surrender land.
Lieutenant-Governor John Colborne agrees to lease but his successor,
Sir Francis Bond Head, does not. After 1845, despite protests of Six
Nations, Plank Road and surrounding lands were sold to third parties.
* 1840: Government recommends a reserve of 8,000 hectares be
established on the south side of the Grand River and the rest sold or
leased.
* Jan. 18, 1841: Six Nations council agrees to surrender for sale all
lands outside those set aside for a reserve. A faction of Six Nations
petitioned the surrender, saying the chiefs had been deceived and
intimidated.
* June 1843: A petition to the Crown said Six Nations needed a 22,000
hectare reserve and wanted to keep and lease a tier of lots on each
side of Plank Road and several other tracts of land in the Haldimand
area.
* Dec. 18, 1844: Document signed by 47 Six Nations chiefs appears to
authorize sale of land to build Plank Road.
* May 15, 1848: Crown deed issued to George Marlot Ryckman for Lot B,
west of Plank Road in Oneida Township, about 23 hectares. That land is
now Douglas Creek Estates.
* 1850: Crown passes proclamation setting out extent of reserve lands,
about 19,000 hectares agreed to by Six Nations chiefs.
* 1924: Under the Indian Act, the Canadian government establishes an
elected government on the reserve.
Glossary
Six Nations: A confederacy of Iroquois tribes including originally the
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (the Five Nations). After
1722, they were joined by the Tuscarora to form the Six Nations
Confederacy. The tribes were based in Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania
and upstate New York.
Haudenosaunee: Used by those who reject the term Iroquois, which is
said to be a derogatory French word meaning "black snakes."
Haudenosaunee means "People building a longhouse," referring to native
nationalities coming to live together in peace under one common law.
Six Nations Reserve: Located west of Highway 6 between the Grand River
to the north and Indian Line or Regional Road 20 that runs through
Hagersville. Six Nations is the most populous reserve in Canada with a
population of about 22,000. Roughly half live on the 46,500-acre
reserve. That's less than 5 per cent of the land originally granted to
the Six Nations.
Grand Council: The assembly of 50 chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy
who represent all of the clans of the member nations. The Grand
Council was once united at the Onondaga Nation near Syracuse, N.Y.
But when nearly half of the Haudenosaunee moved north after the
American Revolution, the Grand Council split. Onondaga is still
regarded as the capital of the Confederacy and is home to the central
fire.
-----
(((((9)))))
-- RODRIGUEZ FAMILY IS REMOVED
-- PLEASE PHONE CBSA OFFICIALS TO DENOUNCE THIS DEPORTATION
--> A photo essay from today's picket is available at:
http://gallery.cmaq.net/rodriguez
APRIL 11, 2006 -- The Rodriguez family of Montreal -- Jaime, Arguelia
and their three children, Fernando, 15, Brandon, 8, and Steffani, 5 --
are in the process of being deported to the United States today.
A last-minute picket gathered at 7:30am in front of the downtown
offices of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) today. Thirty
supporters and allies of Solidarity Across Borders demonstrated to
stop the deportation of the Rodriguez family, or at least to allow a
delay so that Fernando and Brandon could finish their school term.
Two members of Solidarity Across Borders pushed their way into the
building, and proceeded upstairs to talk to CBSA officials. They had
letters from schoolteachers, asking that the deportation be postponed,
in the interests of the children's well-being. Fernando has already
lost three years of school due to his family's previous displacements
from Guatemala and the United States. The family fled Guatemala due to
the murder of Jaime's brother. They have lived in Canada since 2002.
CBSA officials have the discretionary power to delay or stop a
deportation, and could have acted. Instead, all last-minute pleas,
including previous efforts (including lobbying by lawyers and
politicians) were ignored.
In the end, the Rodriguez family reported for their deportation
shortly after 8am. They were greeted with chants, "So-so-so,
solidarité, avec, avec avec les Rodriguez!" while friends and
supporters gave tearful goodbye hugs and kisses.
The simple demand of the Rodriguez family that their children be
allowed to finish their school term was rejected. Even a last-minute
cellphone call by Brandon's teacher, directly from her classroom to
the CBSA Director of Removals, failed to create a change of heart.
If you are outraged by this deportation, we strongly encourage you to
phone the two CBSA officials responsible for today's removal and tell
them what you think of their actions, especially the failure to take
into account the school years lost by Brandon and Fernando.
PLEASE PHONE the following officials, whose direct phone lines are
included below, to denounce the removal of the Rodriguez family:
-> Réné D'Aoust, Montreal's CBSA Director of Removals: 514-496-1237
-> Alfred Pichard, CBSA Deportation Agent (responsible for the
Rodriguez file): 514-283-8236
Again, PLEASE PHONE to express your outrage at today's actions by the
Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).
--> A photo essay from today's picket is available at:
http://gallery.cmaq.net/rodriguez
INFO: sansfrontieres at resist.ca - 514-848-7583
http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org
-----
(((((10)))))
Le mercredi 12 avr 2006
EXPULSION DE LA FAMILLE RODRIGUEZ
Pas question que les enfants terminent leur année scolaire
Caroline Touzin
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060412/CPACTUALITES/604120836/1028
L'enseignante Marie-Hélène Courteau avait les larmes aux yeux, hier
matin, devant sa classe de deuxième année du primaire. Elle a dû leur
expliquer que «des gens dans un bureau» ont décidé que leur copain de
classe, Brandon, ne pouvait pas rester au Canada.
Brandon Rodriguez, 9 ans, et tout le reste de sa famille ont été
expulsés de Montréal vers les États-Unis, hier matin. Les Rodriguez
avaient fui le Guatemala en 2002, après l'assassinat du frère du père
de famille, Jaime Rodriguez. Ils sont arrivés en Alberta, pour ensuite
déménager à Montréal.
La Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié a décidé de les
expulser. Après quatre ans passés au pays, la famille a épuisé ses
recours. Jaime et sa femme, Arguela, ont alors demandé à l'Agence des
services frontaliers du Canada de permettre à leurs deux fils, Brandon
et Fernando, 15 ans, d'au moins terminer leur année scolaire.
Appel de la dernière chance
Les enseignantes de Fernando et Brandon ont écrit des lettres à
l'Agence, en appui à la demande des parents. Mme Courteau a laissé son
cellulaire ouvert, hier matin, dans la classe. Elle attendait l'«appel
de la dernière chance». Un agent l'a appelée vers 9 h. «L'agent m'a
dit qu'il ne pouvait rien faire. J'ai quand même insisté. Trois mois,
c'est un court délai qui aurait fait une grande différence dans le
développement de Brandon», dit Mme Courteau.
Le jeune garçon «brillant» risque ainsi de devoir reprendre encore une
fois sa deuxième année l'année prochaine, croit l'enseignante d'une
école de Montréal-Nord (la direction de l'établissement refuse d'être
nommée). L'hispanophone qui a appris l'anglais en Alberta, puis le
français au Québec, avait repris sa deuxième année en septembre à
cause de ses difficultés en français.
Son frère de 15 ans est dans une situation encore plus grave. Fernando
terminait sa scolarité de quatrième et cinquième années, alors qu'il
devrait être en troisième secondaire.
L'Agence des services frontaliers a refusé de commenter le cas de la
famille Rodriguez. Toutefois, son porte-parole, Robert Gervais,
indique que des délais d'expulsion peuvent être accordés dans certains
cas. «Si le délai est considéré raisonnable, on peut l'accorder.
Au-delà de quelques semaines, cela peut être déraisonnable»,
explique-t-il.
-----
(((((11a))))
TROIS MOIS, C'EST TROP LONG!
DEMANDEZ UN STATUT POUR ABDELKADER BELAOUNI MAINTENANT!
APPELEZ LE MINISTRE DE L'IMMIGRATION ET VOTRE DÉPUTÉ
10 avril 2006
Depuis trois mois, Abdelkader Belaouni vit confiné dans l'église
St-Gabriel de Pointe-St-Charles, à Montréal, où il a prit sanctuaire
le 1er janvier dernier, défiant ainsi un ordre de déportation
d'Immigration Canada. Malgré des manifestations incroyables de support
la lutte menée par Kader pour la dignité, la justice et l'obtention
d'un statut, ses demandes de base n'ont pas encore même été reconnues
par le nouveau ministre de l'Immigration, Monte Solberg. Avec la
reprise des travaux en session parlementaire, le Comité de soutien
d'Abdelkader Belaouni fait appel à ses supporters pour continuer de
faire pression sur le ministre Solberg, portant un message clair :
TROIS MOIS C'EST TROP LONG! UN STATUT POUR KADER MAINTENANT!
1. MISE-À-JOUR
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/maj.html#1
2. APPEL À UNE RELANCE DE LA CAMPAGNE DE TÉLÉPHONE/FAX/LETTRES
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/maj.html#2
3. COORDONNÉES DU MINISTRE ET DES DÉPUTÉ-E-S
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/maj.html#3
4. Modèle de Letter
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/maj.html#4
5. INFORMATION SUR LE CAS DE KADER / POINTS À SOULEVER
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/maj.html#5
Pour rester en contact: soutienkader at gmail.com ou 514-859-9023 ou
www.soutienpourkader.net
-----
(((((11b)))))
THREE MONTHS IS TOO LONG!
DEMAND STATUS NOW FOR ABDELKADER BELAOUNI!
CALL THE MINISTER OF IMMIGRATION AND YOUR LOCAL MP TODAY!
10 April 2006
For the past 3 months, Abdelkader Belaouni has been living within the
confines St. Gabriel's Church in Point St. Charles, Montreal, where he
took sanctuary last January 1st in defiance of a deportation order
from Immigration Canada. While there has been an incredible outpouring
of support for Kader's continued fight for justice, dignity and
status, his basic demands have yet to be acknowledged by the new
Minister of Immigration, Monte Solberg. As a new Parliamentary session
gets underway, the Committee to Support Abdelkader Belaouni is calling
upon supporters to continue applying pressure on Minister Solberg,
with a clear message: THREE MONTHS IS TOO LONG! STATUS NOW FOR KADER!
1. UPDATE ABOUT ABDELKADER'S CASE
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/home.html#1
2. APPEAL FOR A RENEWED PHONE/FAX/LETTER CAMPAIGN
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/home.html#2
3. MINISTER & MP CONTACT INFORMATION
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/home.html#3
4. SAMPLE LETTER OF SUPPORT
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/home.html#4
5. BACKGROUND/TALKING POINTS
http://www.soutienpourkader.net/home.html#5
To stay in touch: soutienkader at gmail.com or 514-859-9023 or
http://www.soutienpourkader.net
-----
(((((12)))))
Church holds vigil for family denied asylum
4 given sanctuary for 7 months
Say they face death in Costa Rica
Apr. 14, 2006. 01:00 AM
NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1144965014069&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845
As Christians around the world mark Good Friday today, members of a
North York church are praying for freedom from suffering of one of
their own.
Parishioners at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church planned an all-night
candlelight vigil from 10:30 p.m. last night to 6 a.m. this morning
outside the church at Jane St. and Wilson Ave., where a Costa Rican
family has taken refuge for seven months.
Juan, who asked for safety reasons that his last name not be used,
wife Kathia and their two boys, Juan, 9, and David, 3, have taken
sanctuary there since Sept. 1, when they were scheduled to be removed
from Canada after their asylum claim was denied and appeals exhausted.
The family fled to Canada in early 2003, after Juan, a former police
drug enforcement officer, received threats from gangsters involved in
the drug trade.
Despite testimony from Costa Rican police that they could not protect
the family on their return, Canada rejected their refugee claim, a
judicial review and pre-removal risk assessment.
"Easter is a time of suffering and a time of hope. Jesus did suffer,
but we did find new hope and new life," noted St. Philip's pastor,
Father John Juhl. "We believe that the family would be killed if
they're sent back to Costa Rica. We just can't knowingly send somebody
to death."
But living in sanctuary is not much different from jail, Juhl
explained, adding that both parents have suffered depression and panic
attacks.
The family of four has been staying in a small meeting room, and the
only views they have of the outside world are through a window or a
television screen.
The family has applied for a minister's permit to stay on humanitarian
and compassionate grounds. Juhl said they were told a decision was
likely by Easter, but they have yet to hear from the office of new
Immigration Minister Monte Solberg.
While the pastor escorts their 9-year-old to school daily, Juan and
his wife perform chores and maintenance for the church in return for
the parish's kindness.
"All we are asking for are safety and freedom. This is our first
Easter in sanctuary, and we hope God would answer our prayers," said
Juan, 37.
Juhl agreed: "We pray for justice to be served. At least criminals
would know when they'd be released, but for Juan and his family, we
don't."
-----
(((((13)))))
10 April 2006
**Act Now to Stop the Deportation of Issam Al Yamani!**
Canadian authorities have issued a deportation order for Thursday 20
April 2006 for Issam Al-Yamani, a stateless Palestinian refugee, long
time Palestinian and human rights activist and deeply-respected member
of the Palestinian and Arab community in Canada.
The deportation of Issam Al-Yamani is the most recent example of
attempts to silence and deport Palestinian refugees in Canada. Issam
has lived peacefully in Canada for over 20 years. All those who know
him attest to his tireless efforts on behalf of the Palestinian and
Arab community in Mississauga and Toronto. He has two Canadian born
children currently attending high school and university.
Issam was issued an immigrant visa by visa officials in Amman, Jordan
on March 21, 1984. He was subsequently granted permanent resident
status at Lester B. Pearson airport on April 27, 1985. He applied for
Canadian citizenship on May 17, 1988. Since that time, Canadian
authorities have been attempting to deport Issam due to his previous
political affiliations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP). His father was one of the founding members of the
PFLP. He grew up in a community committed to self determination for
Palestinians and because of his father, came to know many persons in
the Palestinian leadership. Issam had previously been a member of the
political wing of the PFLP but severed all ties in 1991. He has never
engaged in or been in any way involved with acts of violence.
We call on all supporters of Palestinian and refugee rights to act
urgently to prevent the deportation of Issam Al-Yamani.
Please contact the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency
Preparedness, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada and
the Prime Minister of Canada to ask them to halt the deportation order
and use their discretionary power to grant Issam Al-Yamani permanent
status in Canada.
Also contact the Liberal Party MP for Mississauga-Erindale, Omar al
Ghabra, and ask him to raise the case with the relevant ministers.
MINISTERS' CONTACT INFORMATION
Monte Solberg, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 992-4516
Fax: (613) 992-6181
E-Mail: Solberg.M at parl.gc.ca
Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
In Ottawa: Stockwell Day, MP, P.C.
House of Commons Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Phone: 613.995.1702
Fax: 613.995.1154
Email: day.s at parl.gc.ca
In BC: Suite 202, 301 Main Street
Penticton, BC V2A 5B7
Phone: 250.770.4480
Fax: 250.770.4484
Email: days1 at parl.gc.ca
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada,
Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington Street,
Ottawa, K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm at pm.gc.ca
Omar Alghabra, Member for Mississauga-Erindale
1270 Central Parkway West, Suite 305 Mississauga,
Ontario L5C 4P4
Phone: 905-276-2806
email: alghabra.o at parl.gc.ca
--
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL - Toronto
-----
(((((14)))))
http://www.nohr4437.org
The Great American Boycott: A day without an Immigrant!
MAY 1, 2006
CALL TO ACTION: No Work! No School! No Selling! No Buying ...
Yes to Immediate Amnesty - Yes to Family Unity - No to Criminalization
- No Border Fences and Racism - No Increased Enforcement
http://www.nohr4437.org
-----
(((((15)))))
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060410/CPACTUALITES/60410018/1019/CPACTUALITES
Le lundi 10 avr 2006
PAS D'AMNISTIE EN VUE
De 120 000 à 200 000 sans-papiers vivent et travaillent au Canada
Laura-Julie Perreault
Le nouveau ministre canadien de l'Immigration a affirmé la semaine
dernière qu'il ne comptait pas imiter les Américains en considérant un
projet d'amnistie pour les immigrants illégaux du Canada. Ils sont
pourtant entre 120 000 à 200 000 à vivre sous le radar de l'État, au
dire des experts.
«Une amnistie enverrait le mauvais message, estime le ministre Monte
Solberg. Nous avons un système d'immigration qui permet aux gens de
faire une demande de manière légale. Une amnistie n'est pas juste pour
ceux qui passent par ces canaux légaux pour immigrer et qui doivent
attendre leur tour», a-t-il dit à La Presse lors d'un récent passage à
Vancouver.
Plusieurs secteurs de l'économie exercent pourtant des pressions pour
que le gouvernement canadien change d'avis.
L'industrie de la construction, notamment dans la grande région de
Toronto, serait fortement ébranlée si les autorités canadiennes
décidaient de mettre à la porte tous les sans-papiers qui y
travaillent.
«Dans la restauration, la garde des enfants, les soins aux personnes
âgées et dans le textile, les travailleurs illégaux ont une place
importante», explique Jill Hanley, du Centre des travailleurs
immigrants.
Des amnisties avortées
Pour satisfaire les employeurs de ces secteurs de l'économie, qui
manquent de main-d'oeuvre, trois ministres libéraux ont échafaudé des
projets afin de régulariser les sans-statut au cours des cinq
dernières années.
Mais ces projets n'ont jamais vu le jour. L'an dernier, l'ex-ministre
Joe Volpe, originaire de la région de Toronto, avait fait de ce
programme d'amnistie une priorité, mais il n'a pas réussi à rallier
ses collègues du Conseil des ministres.
«Il parlait de régularisation mais, en même temps, le gouvernement a
procédé à plus de 10 000 renvois du pays», souligne le ministre
Solberg.
Ce dernier a été vertement critiqué au cours des dernières semaines à
la suite de l'expulsion de travailleurs illégaux. Le mois dernier,
plus de 40 Portugais - certains installés au Canada depuis plus de
cinq ans - ont été renvoyés dans leur pays d'origine à bord du même
avion. M. Solberg a dû s'expliquer devant le ministre des Affaires
étrangères du Portugal, inquiet de cette soudaine vague d'expulsions.
Contrôle permanent
Mais à l'Agence des services frontaliers - responsable des expulsions
-, on assure n'avoir reçu aucune nouvelle directive du gouvernement
conservateur.
«Nous procédons toujours de la même manière. Nous essayons de
déterminer où il y a des travailleurs illégaux et d'y faire des
vérifications», explique Robert Gervais, porte-parole de l'Agence.
Tantôt les agents interceptent des autobus de travailleurs, tantôt ils
accompagnent les policiers de Montréal lorsqu'ils font des descentes
dans les bars.
La plupart du temps, ceux qui se font prendre reçoivent un délai de 30
jours pour quitter le territoire. S'ils le font de leur propre gré,
ils peuvent éventuellement revenir au Canada.
«Le nombre de renvois est le même depuis 2003. Nous renvoyons entre 11
000 et 12 000 personnes chaque année», explique M. Gervais. Beaucoup
de ces personnes sont des demandeurs d'asile auxquels le Canada a
refusé sa protection. Les autres sont restés sur le territoire
canadien après l'échéance de leur visa ou ont réussi à entrer au pays
clandestinement.
Des statistiques approximatives
Puisque ces gens vivent hors des radars de l'État, il est impossible
d'évaluer leur nombre exact. D'où vient donc le chiffre de 120 000 à
200 000 avancés par les experts de l'immigration?
«Nous estimons que 30% des personnes qui essaient de rentrer
illégalement au Canada sont interpellées. En sept ans, nous en avons
interpellé 40 000», explique Delphine Nakache, associée de recherche à
la chaire de recherche du Canada en droit international des
migrations.
Avec moins de 200 000 immigrés illégaux, le Canada se classe loin
derrière les États-Unis, qui estiment à plus de 11 millions le nombre
de sans-statut sur leur territoire.
La Russie se classe juste derrière avec 10 millions de clandestins.
L'Europe en abrite de 3 à 5 millions.
«C'est particulièrement difficile d'arriver sur le territoire
canadien. C'est un pays entouré d'océans. La majeure partie des
immigrants illégaux arrivent par la voie terrestre, à la frontière
américaine», souligne Mme Nakache.
«Mais c'est vraiment un problème de moindre ampleur ici qu'aux États-Unis».
-----
(((((16)))))
Mexican couple fear death if they go home again
Pair who complained about working conditions at worm-picking operation
in Guelph seeking refugee status
LIZ MONTEIRO
GUELPH MERCURY
KITCHENER (Apr 12, 2006)
A Mexican couple terrified by death threats when they complained about
their treatment as migrant workers after a worm-picking job in Guelph
in 2004 hope Canada will accept them as refugees.
Pedro Sagahon and his wife, Blanca Jimenes, who now live in Kitchener,
will go before the Immigration and Refugee Board in Toronto today.
Their claim states that their lives are at risk if they return to
their village in northern Mexico, where Sagahon was threatened with
death, brutalized by a government worker and terrorized by two police
officers.
"If God so wishes, we would really like to stay,'' Sagahon, 33, said
in a recent interview through a Spanish interpreter. "We are at peace
here."
The couple, who fled Mexico in May, want to raise their two sons, ages
eight and six, in Canada, where they feel safe. They are expecting
their third child in May.
For support with their refugee claim, Sagahon and Jimenes approached
the Kitchener-based Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support and the
Bread of Life Spanish Church.
"They have a real claim and an honest story,'' said Lisa Jarvis, the
chair of the coalition board.
The couple's story began in Mexico two years ago, when they heard a
radio commercial calling for people willing to work in Canada for six
months. Sagahon, a mechanic, was unemployed, so he and his wife jumped
at the chance.
"We had high hopes of getting employment and a higher quality of
life,'' he said. Canada's seasonal agricultural workers program allows
farms to recruit foreign workers.
In May 2004, Sagahon and Jimenes left their home near Saltillo, the
capital of the Mexican state of Coahuila. They were among 40 men and
women who signed on to pick worms for a Mississauga company called
National Bait.
The workers signed a six-month contract that promised medical
insurance and other benefits, Sagahon said. They were to earn $10 an
hour in a 44-hour work week.
But things were different when the Mexicans got to Ontario, where
National Bait put them up at a downtown Guelph motel.
The hourly wage dropped to $8, Sagahon said, and they didn't get
promised training. Worms must be picked during darkness, but at times
the workers were roused long before the sun went down for the
90-minute ride to the fields, Sagahon said.
The workers spent most of each shift bent over, with large cans
strapped to their ankles. Initially, they were paid by the hour but
eventually were told they had to fill 10 cans a shift, he said.
The Mexicans worked long hours without breaks and in the rain without
proper gear, Sagahon said. Flashlights were attached to their heads,
and they carried battery packs on their backs.
Jimenes, 30, remembers the day a woman fainted in the field. The
supervisor told the other workers to help her because he couldn't
provide medical care.
"We felt betrayed,'' Sagahon said.
He also felt obligated to keep working so that when he and his wife
returned to Mexico they'd be able to find jobs through that country's
national employment institute.
Other workers phoned the institute in Mexico to complain but were told
to keep quiet, said Stan Raper, national co-ordinator for the
Agricultural Workers Program.
The workers also sought help from the Mexican consulate, which sent
someone to speak to National Bait.
"We then realized that the consulate was OK with us being maltreated,"
Sagahon said. "We were desperate to have others help us."
By June, all but six workers, including Sagahon and Jimenes, had gone
back to Mexico, most because they were laid off. Finally, the last six
were sent home too.
"It seemed unjust to me," Sagahon said. "We were working hard and
being productive. We were doing 10 to 18 cans and we were meeting that
target."
National Bait owner Joseph Haupert said yesterday that he fired most
of the Mexicans because they didn't want to work. They were city
people, who couldn't handle farm work, he said.
He called it "hogwash" to describe the worm pickers' working
conditions as rigorous or to claim that wages were lowered.
"We did not persecute these people,'' Haupert said. "They never wanted
to work. They wanted to stay in Canada.''
Sagahon and Jimenes returned to Mexico in late September 2004. They
said they were scared by threats back home and wanted to keep a low
profile.
But six months later, Sagahon complained to the national employment
institute about the treatment he and his wife suffered as worm
pickers.
The next day, Sagahon said, he got an anonymous death threat. He went
to the police to report it.
Twenty minutes after arriving at the police station, he was hauled
into a private room. A worker from the local employment institute
office walked in and started punching him in the stomach.
"You must have a lot of nerve to report the death threat and talk
about what happened in Canada,'' Sagahon recalled the man saying.
Sagahon said he was then handcuffed and driven away by two police
officers. "They drove me to a remote area. I started to beg them to
let me go."
He then heard one police officer tell the other that he didn't want to
be an accomplice to murder. Suddenly, they opened the car door and one
of them suggested Sagahon disappear.
It was dark and Sagahon, still handcuffed, didn't know where he was. A
passerby picked him up and drove him to his brother's home.
"I felt that it was a miracle from God that I was alive,'' he said.
In May 2005, after selling the family belongings, Sagahon, Jimenes and
their sons took a 12-hour bus ride to Mexico City, then flew to Canada
on a 20-day tourist visa.
"We went on the faith of Jesus that we would find someone to help us,"
Sagahon said of the journey to Kitchener. "We were desperate to
survive and more importantly, protect our children.''
Kitchener lawyer Stephen Schmidt will present the family's case for
refugee status today.
Last year, 7,200 seasonal workers from Mexico came to farms in
Ontario. The Mexican Consulate even has an office in Leamington, a
large destination for migrant workers.
But reports of poor treatment by employers are also high, says the
United Food and Commercial Workers Canada. The union has set up five
support centres for workers -- four in Ontario and one in Quebec.
The union wants medical coverage for migrant workers, exemptions from
employment insurance deductions, the right to form a union and seek
higher wages, and a system that gives credit for seniority and
experience.
"They are impoverished people and they are prepared to put up with a
lot," Raper said. "Most Canadians wouldn't last five minutes doing the
work they do." In fact, despite the working conditions and having to
leave their sons behind for months, Sagahon and Jimenes both said
they'd return to worm picking.
"Unfortunately, the economy in Mexico is so poor, we don't have a
choice,'' Jimenes said. "It's worth the risk."
-----
(((((17)))))
* PROTESTS SWEEP NATION *
[Immigration News Briefs is a weekly supplement to Weekly News
Update on the Americas, published by Nicaragua Solidarity
Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; tel 212-674-9499;
fax 212-674-9139; wnu at igc.org. INB is also distributed free via
email; contact nicajg at panix.com for info.]
An estimated two million people took part in coordinated
demonstrations in more than 140 US cities on Apr. 10, a National
Day of Action for Immigrant Justice demanding legalization and
other rights for out-of-status immigrants. Organizers scheduled
the protests for a Monday during congressional recess so elected
officials would be in their home districts to witness them.
Hundreds of thousands more marched on the previous day, Apr. 9.
[Atlanta Journal-Constitution 4/11/06; Los Angeles Times 4/11/06]
NORTHEAST: DC TO MAINE
In Washington, at least 200,000 people poured onto the National
Mall on Apr. 10, waving US flags and chanting in Spanish, "Si, se
puede" ("yes, we can"). [AJC 4/11/06] Organizers estimated the
crowd size on the Mall at 500,000. The District's Metropolitan
Police Department did not provide crowd estimates. [Miami Herald
4/11/06; Washington Times 4/11/06]
In New York City, Police declined to estimate the size of the
crowds, but organizers said 125,000 people were present at City
Hall on Apr. 10. [AP 4/11/06] "We are inseparable, indivisible
and impossible to take out of America," Chung-Wha Hong, executive
director of the New York Immigration Coalition, told a spirited
crowd. [New York Times 4/11/06] On Apr. 9, some 700 people
rallied at the office of Rep. Peter King (R-NY) in Massapequa,
Long Island. The Long Island Immigrant Alliance organized the
action to protest King's co-sponsorship of anti-immigrant bill HR
4437, passed by the House last December. [NYT 4/10/06]
In New Jersey, several hundred people rallied on Apr. 10 in
Liberty Park, Jersey City, within sight of the Statute of
Liberty. [AP 4/11/06] Some 7,000 people rallied in Philadelphia.
[MH 4/11/06; Washington Post 4/11/06]
In Boston, an Apr. 10 march from Boston Common to Copley Square
drew a crowd Boston police estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 people.
[Boston Globe 4/11/06] The Washington Post gave a higher figure--
10,000--for the Boston demonstration. [WP 4/11/06] According to
police estimates, about 5,000 people marched in Providence, Rhode
Island, on Apr. 10. [AP 4/10/06] About three dozen people, mainly
religious leaders, rallied in front of St. Paul's Episcopal
Church in Concord, New Hampshire.
Some 200 people demonstrated in Portland, Maine--one of the few
sites where violence was reported. An individual described as a
Latino teenager, his face hidden with a bandanna, ran up to one
of three white counter-protesters and hit him with an
unidentified object, bloodying the man's face. "When you promote
violence, you get violence," said Rev. Virginia Maria Rincon, one
of the rally organizers. "Our rally is about promoting a peaceful
dialogue." [Portsmouth Herald (NH) 4/11/06 from AP]
SOUTH: FLORIDA TO TEXAS
More than 2,500 people, including many farmworkers, rallied at
sunset on Apr. 10 in Homestead, Florida, south of Miami. [AP
4/11/06; MH 4/11/06] Another 4,000 people rallied in Lake Worth,
Florida. [WP 4/11/06] More than 300 people rallied at the federal
courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. [MH 4/11/06] Some 7,000 people
rallied in Miami on Apr. 9. [Amherst Times (NY) 4/10/06]
Police estimated between 30,000 and 40,000 people marched in
Atlanta, Georgia, on Apr. 10; the Washington Post reported
50,000, while the Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggests the
number was probably closer to 60,000. [AJC 4/11/06; WP 4/11/06]
Organizers were forced to improvise a detour to extend the three-
mile march route after the front of the march caught up with the
tail end. Other supporters stood at intersections and cheered the
marchers on. [AJC 4/11/06] Rev. James Orange, from the Georgia
Coalition for the People's Agenda, compared the Atlanta march to
civil rights demonstrations led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and farmworker leader Cesar Chavez. "People of the world, we have
come to say this is our moment," Orange said. [AP 4/11/06]
The civil rights movement of the 1960s was also evoked at an Apr.
10 rally in Jackson, Mississippi, where some 500 people sang "We
Shall Overcome" in Spanish. [La Jornada (Mexico) 3/11/06] In
Birmingham, Alabama, some 4,000 demonstrators marched on Apr. 9
to a rally at Kelly Ingram Park, where in 1963 police turned
firehoses on black children at civil rights protests. Rev.
Derrill Wilson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
addressed the crowd. [AP 4/10/06, 4/11/06; Amherst Times 4/10/06]
Hundreds of people also demonstrated on Apr. 10 in Greenville,
South Carolina, and outside the federal courthouse in Lexington,
Kentucky. [AP 4/11/06]
In Dallas, Texas, police estimated that nearly 500,000 people
rallied on Apr. 9, making it the largest demonstration in the
city's history. Another 7,000 people (or up to 30,000, according
to the national radio program "Democracy Now!") marched the same
day in the neighboring city of Fort Worth. [Star-Telegram
4/11/06; AP 4/11/06; DN! 4/11/06] The Apr. 9 events included a
boycott of Dallas businesses, dubbed "Not a Penny Spent."
[MarketWatch 4/10/06; S-T 4/11/06] On Apr. 10, organizers in
Houston estimated 50,000 people rallied at a park before marching
to the spot where the city's founders first arrived. [AP 4/11/06]
Another 10,000 people marched in Austin, the state capital, on
Apr. 10. [WP 4/11/06]
Some 2,000 people converged from three feeder marches into an
Apr. 10 rally in downtown El Paso, Texas, organized by the Border
Network for Human Rights. In one of the feeder marches, some 300
people walked along a border highway from Sunland Park, just over
the state line in New Mexico. Organizers scheduled the march for
4pm and urged students not to skip school. On Mar. 31 some 6,000
people--including many students--marched in El Paso during school
hours to commemorate farmworker leader Cesar Chavez [see INB
4/2/06, which said "hundreds" took part]. [El Paso Times 4/11/06;
AP 4/11/06]
MIDWEST: INDIANA TO NEBRASKA
About 20,000 people rallied in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Apr. 10.
[Catholic News Service 4/11/06] Hundreds marched in South Bend,
Indiana and in Champaign, Illinois. Police estimated 30,000
rallied Apr. 9 at the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota. [AP
4/10/06, 4/11/06] Some 10,000 people marched on Apr. 10 to the
state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. [WP 4/11/06; NYT 4/11/06] On
Apr. 9, 4,000 marched in Boise, Idaho. [Amherst Times 4/10/06]
In southwestern Kansas, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people
rallied in Garden City, a farming community with a total
population of 30,000. [AP 4/10/06; Hutchinson News 4/11/06] About
50 miles to the east in Dodge City, home to two major meat-
packing plants, another 2,000 people marched to the local office
of Republican senator Pat Roberts. [HN 4/11/06, 4/12/06] The
Dodge City rally resulted in a slowdown at the Excel Corp. beef-
packing plant, according to Mark Klein, spokesperson for Wichita-
based Cargill Meat Solutions, which operates the plant. [Kansas
City Star 4/11/06; HN 4/12/06] A noon rally in Great Bend, about
100 miles northeast of Dodge City in central Kansas, attracted
between 200 and 300 people. And some 60 to 80 people rallied in
Liberal, another meat-packing town about 100 miles south of
Garden City on the Oklahoma border. [HN 4/11/06] An estimated
1,000 people rallied in Tulsa, Oklahoma. [KOTV 4/12/06] About
10,000 people had rallied in Oklahoma City more than a week
earlier, on Apr. 1. [Pioneer Online 4/10/06] Several thousand
people marched in Kansas City, Missouri, on Apr. 10. [KCS
4/11/06]
In eastern Nebraska, another meat-packing area, Apr. 10 brought
unprecedented demonstrations. Some 4,000 people rallied outside
the state capitol in Lincoln, while just 50 miles to the east,
police estimated another 8,000 to 10,000 marched through downtown
Omaha, from the Heartland of America Park to the federal
courthouse. [Lincoln Journal Star 4/12/06; KETV.com 4/10/06]
Several hundred people left school and work to rally in Columbus,
Nebraska, about 60 miles northwest of Lincoln, in what was called
"A Day without Latinos." According to demonstrator Porfirio
Centero, who works for the Tyson Fresh Meats Pork Plant in nearby
Madison, "They closed the plant because a lot of people walked
out." Cargill Meat Solutions spokesperson Mark Klein said
production was slowed at the Cargill plant in Schuyler, another
nearby town. [Columbus Telegram 4/11/06] Some 1,000 people
demonstrated farther north in Norfolk, and 5,000 people marched
from South Sioux City in the northeastern corner of Nebraska
across the state line to Sioux City, Iowa. [LJS 4/12/06; KETV.com
4/10/06] On Apr. 9, some 5,000 people marched in Des Moines,
Iowa. [Times-Republican (Marshalltown, IA) 4/10/06 from AP]
WEST: COLORADO TO CALIFORNIA
In Colorado, police estimated that 8,000 to 10,000 people took
part in an Apr. 10 march around Sloan's Lake in northwest Denver,
honoring migrants who died crossing the border. Organizers said
up to 15,000 people participated. An estimated 5,000 people
marched around the Denver Civic Center earlier in the day,
according to organizers. More than 1,000 people attended a rally
in Colorado Springs, headed by three Latino US soldiers who just
returned from a year-long combat tour in Iraq with the 3rd
Armored Cavalry Regiment based in nearby Fort Carson. "Today,
over 10,000 undocumented persons are serving in our armed
forces," said Albert Gonzales, president of the local chapter of
the American G.I. Forum. Rallies or vigils were also held in
Telluride, Boulder and Grand Junction. [Rocky Mountain News
4/11/06]
In Salt Lake City, Utah, some 50,000 people marched on Apr. 9.
[Diario Hoy 4/11/06, some from AP]
About 200 people, many of them high school students, demonstrated
on Apr. 10 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. [Albuquerque Tribune
4/11/06] Hundreds of students missed classes in Santa Fe, Deming
and Hatch on Apr. 10, and at least 300 people marched past City
Hall in Las Cruces. [AP 4/11/06]
More than 100,000 people marched through Phoenix, Arizona from
the state fairgrounds to the capitol on Apr. 10, backing up
freeway traffic for miles. Organizers believe the crowd may have
numbered 200,000 or more. [Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) 4/11/06;
AP 4/11/06] More than 11,500 people demonstrated in Tucson, while
an anti-immigrant counter-protest at the same site drew fewer
than a dozen people. A scuffle broke out when counter-
demonstrators burned a Mexican flag; Tucson police detained four
or five people. Nearly 15,000 students--about a fifth of the
total--and more than 500 teachers were absent from Tucson schools
on Apr. 10. [ADS 4/10/06, 4/11/06]
In San Diego, California about 50,000 demonstrators marched
through the streets on Apr. 9. [AP 4/11/06] In Los Angeles on
Apr. 10, thousands held a candlelight vigil outside La Placita
church before beginning an evening march. Police estimated the
crowd at 7,000. Several thousand protesters marched outside the
state capitol in Sacramento, and hundreds rallied in San
Francisco. [AP 4/11/06; LAT 4/11/06] An estimated 5,000 people
marched in Oakland, according to the Washington Post; Arnoldo
Garcia of the Oakland-based National Network for Immigrant and
Refugee Rights (NNIRR) estimated the crowd at close to 20,000.
[WP 4/11/06] According to the Los Angeles Times, California's
largest demonstration on Apr. 10 was in Fresno, where about
10,000 people marched in what a police spokesperson called "by
far the largest event we have ever had in the city." [LAT
4/11/06]
Thousands demonstrated in Salem, Oregon, on Apr. 9. [Amherst
Times 4/10/06] In Seattle, Washington, about 15,000 demonstrators
marched on Apr. 10. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/12/06]
[Contributions toward Immigration News Briefs are gladly accepted:
they should be made payable and sent to Nicaragua Solidarity
Network, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012. (Tax-deductible
contributions of $50 or more may be made payable to the A.J.
Muste Memorial Institute and earmarked for "NSN".)]
-----
(((((18)))))
CKUT Radio: NYC United for Immigrant Rights
-->To download or listen to this 7-minute radio report of interviews and
audio from the A10 NYC demo, visit:
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=17618
On April 10, 2006, over 125,000 people came out in New York City to
protest a repressive, anti-immigrant bill that has drawn much
resistance since it passed the House of Representatives. HR 4437, also
known as the Sensenbrenner bill, would extend the border wall across
the entire US-Mexican border, make it a felony to be living as an
undocumented migrant in the USA, and make it a criminal act if any
nurse, nun, or social worker provided a service for an "illegal".
April 10 was a nation-wide day of action, and over 70 cities took part
across the USA, with millions hitting the streets.
For more information, see:
http://nyc.indymedia.org
http://deletetheborder.org
http://ckut.ca
Aaron Lakoff, Seth Porcello, and Brett Story of the CKUT Radio
community news collective were in NYC to cover the demonstration.
This report takes a look at some of the issues surrounding this
historic march through the lens of some of the immigrants and
supporters who were there.
{}CKUT -- Radio Without Borders!! {} Ninguna Persona Es Illegal!!{}
-----
(((((19)))))
Some Immigration Marchers Pay High Price
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060413/ap_on_re_us/immigration_firings_1
By ANNA JOHNSON, Associated Press WriterThu Apr 13, 2:46 PM ET
Six employees at a seafood restaurant in Houston were fired this week
after skipping work to take part in a pro-immigration march. In
Detroit, 21 immigrants lost their jobs as meat cutters after attending
a similar protest last month.
And several students at a high school near Tampa, Fla., were suspended
this week for walking out of class to go to a demonstration.
Across the country, workers and students have paid a price for
attending the immigration rallies that have recently swept the nation.
They have lost jobs or been cited for truancy for joining the hundreds
of thousands who have protested proposed federal legislation that
would crack down on illegal immigrants.
In one case, the family of a 14-year-old Los Angeles-area boy said he
committed suicide because he was threatened by a school official for
participating in immigration protests. School officials disputed that.
Now, some rally organizers are telling people not to risk their jobs
or education to attend the demonstrations and are considering
rescheduling protests to weekends and evenings.
"This is a concern because this is a demographic of people who have
historically not come out into the streets to raise an issue," said
Germonique Jones, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Center for
Community Change, an umbrella group behind the rallies. "Obviously
businesses have to be run, and it's only right for people to tell
their employers that they will be out beforehand. ... We don't want
people losing their jobs over this."
But many others say marchers want to make the sacrifice to show the
importance of immigration reform.
In some cases, fired workers have been offered their jobs back after
advocacy groups have gotten involved, including the 21 Detroit
meatpacking company workers. The company said Thursday that it would
rehire them, but only if the staffing company they were hired through
can confirm they are legal immigrants.
Pedro Ortega, 30, was fired along with nine co-workers from an
automotive parts factory in a suburb south of Chicago after attending
a March 10 immigration march that drew more than 100,000 people.
A workers-rights organization got involved and negotiated with Cobra
Metal Works Corp., which rehired the employees about a month later, he
said. The company said in a statement it supports immigration reform
and will allow workers to speak out as long as they follow company
procedures for taking time off.
Ortega, who has worked at the factory for eight years, said attending
the march was worth the repercussions, and he plans to attend another
rally in Chicago scheduled for May 1.
"We have to change the way the American people think about us," Ortega
said. "We are here to work and to make our lives better."
But in Phoenix, one of the organizers of a city's immigration march
earlier this week, former state Sen. Alfredo Gutierrez, said a planned
May 1 work and school boycott is generating little interest from many
advocacy groups. He said participants are tired and have to return to
work.
In Chicago, Rafael Pulido, a deejay on WOJO-FM who was instrumental in
getting the word out about the city's huge March 10 rally, said he
tells his listeners not to skip school.
"I am not in favor of students leaving schools to protest," said
Pulido, who goes by the name "El Pistolero."
Jerry Gonzalez of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials,
which helped organize Monday's march in Atlanta, said while some
businesses shut down to allow employees to participate, organizers
stress that workers need to get permission to miss work and students
should stay in school.
"The whole reason people are here is to work," Gonzalez said. "We need
to do (protests) responsibly."
Other rally organizers say they plan to encourage people to
participate in the May 1 boycotts and marches and said they will work
with employers to ensure protesters will not be punished and to help
fired workers find new jobs. Groups also are helping students, parents
and schools prepare.
The Mexican-American Political Association, a central organizer of
rallies in Southern California, is planning to send thousands of form
letters to parents that they can use as school absence slips for their
children.
"Parents have every right to keep their children home from school for
personal reasons," said the association's president, Navito Lopez.
Others say while they recognize that some students and workers may not
be able to attend weekday rallies, the marches are too important to
hold them at night or on weekends, when fewer people will take notice.
"I think what all these sacrifices indicate is how critical this issue
is for workers and students," said Tim Bell of the Chicago Workers
Collaborative, the group that helped Ortega. "Workers want people to
know how valuable their work is to the nation, and if they don't work,
there is a huge effect on the country."
Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in Miami, Giovanna Dell'Orto in
Atlanta, Sarah Karush in Detroit, Juan Lozano in Houston and Peter
Prengaman in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
-----
(((((20)))))
Mexican migrants' death toll sets record
By TYCHE HENDRICKS
San Francisco Chronicle
14-APR-06
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=IMMIGRANT-DEATHS-04-14-06
The number of Mexican migrants who died attempting to come work in the
United States climbed to a record high of 516 last year, almost 40
percent more than in 2004, according to figures compiled by the
Mexican government.
Record heat last summer and an American border control strategy that
induced people to trek across more remote areas were largely to blame,
Border Patrol officials and immigration analysts have said.
An immigration bill now stalled in the U.S. Senate could, if passed,
drastically reduce the death toll by creating a legal way for Mexicans
and other foreigners to enter the country on temporary work visas,
some analysts said.
"We're trying to take a deadly, chaotic and disorderly system and turn
it into a safe, legal and orderly system," said Doug Rivlin, a
spokesman for the National Immigration Forum, a Washington, D.C.,
organization that supports proposals under consideration in the Senate
to create a temporary guest-worker program.
A competing bill that passed the House of Representatives in December
takes an enforcement-only approach, including construction of 700
miles of a double fence along the almost 2,000-mile Mexican border.
Rick Oltman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration
Reform, which favors stricter limits on immigration, said a fence
would do more to cut the death toll than establishing a guest-worker
program would.
"The answer is deterrence," he said. "The most humane thing to do is
to let people know they're not going to make it so they don't risk
their lives."
The Mexican Foreign Ministry's death toll mirrors the tally maintained
by the U.S. Border Patrol, which counted 473 dead during the fiscal
year that ended Sep. 30, 2005.
That tally also was up more than 40 percent over the previous year.
Those who lost their lives ranged from 11-year-old Cristian Perez
Ramirez of Oaxaca, who died in a car crash in San Diego County while
migrating into the United States, to 64-year-old Antonio Mendoza of
Chihuahua, who drowned in the Rio Grande. Authorities were unable to
identify 150 of the 516 dead.
-----
(((((21)))))
Fourteen indicted in alleged human smuggling ring on U.S.-Canada border
By Elizabeth M. Gillespie
The Associated Press
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002927026_websmuggling12.html
U.S. and Canadian authorities announced today that they have broken up
a human smuggling ring suspected of illegally shepherding dozens of
Indian and Pakistani nationals into Washington state from British
Columbia.
To date, a federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted 14 U.S. and
Canadian men for their roles in the alleged scheme. Twelve had been
arrested as of today.
Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement in Seattle, said investigators on both sides of
the border have worked closely for more than a year, apprehending
roughly 50 people who had paid as much as $35,000 apiece to be
smuggled into the United States.
Winchell said none of those smuggled or involved in the operation was
suspected of terrorist activity.
Investigators started tracking the Vancouver, B.C.-based operation in
January 2005, when U.S. customs officials got a tip about three men
near Oroville, a small Eastern Washington town just south of the
Canadian border. The men had bought maps of the border and had asked
about border patrol and Canadian police enforcement activity in the
area, U.S. and Canadian officials said in a joint news release.
Several days later, border patrol agents intercepted a minivan
carrying 10 illegal aliens near the Oroville port of entry. The van
was registered to the man investigators believe was the ringleader of
the operation: Kavel Multani, 46, a dual Canadian and Indian citizen
living in Vancouver, B.C.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrested Multani on Tuesday,
along with three other men believed to be involved in the smuggling
ring: Nizar Sabaz-Ali, 38, a Pakistani citizen of North York, Ontario;
Sandip Parhar, 26, a Canadian citizen of Delta, B.C.; and Armardeep
Singh Powar, 23, an Indian citizen of Vancouver.
Multani was named in a nine-count indictment unsealed today charging
him with smuggling and transporting illegal aliens. Others arrested so
far are:
Raman Pathania, 19, an Indian citizen of Surrey, B.C.
Anthony Maclean, 21, a Canadian citizen of Richmond, B.C.
Jatinder Brar, 19, a Canadian citizen of Surrey.
Sukveer Sandhu, 18, a Canadian citizen of Surrey.
Matthew Dehagi, 35, a Canadian citizen of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Harjeevan Parhar, 23, an Indian citizen of Surrey.
Harminder Singh, 37, an Indian citizen of Kent, Wash.
And Lawrence Carter, 23, a U.S. citizen of Whidbey Island, Wash.
Authorities were still seeking two other men who have been indicted.
Their names were not released.
"This type of cooperative effort between Canadian and American law
enforcement agencies demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that our
shared border remains closed to criminal activity," Bud Mercer, RCMP
chief superintendent, said in a statement.
Winchell said two undercover agents infiltrated the alleged smuggling
operation, which slipped most immigrants across the border in between
patrolled ports of entry. He said the network in Vancouver is part of
an organization spread across Canada, which means authorities have
plenty of work ahead of them.
Winchell said he expects the close ties U.S. and Canadian authorities
have maintained in recent years to continue. "It's as much a concern
to them as it is to us," he said, "because these organizations that
have gained expertise or are willing to risk their own well-being in
penetrating the border ... operate bilaterally."
-----
(((((22)))))
http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos17942.html
The new issue of "Abolishing the Borders from Below – an anarchist
journal from Eastern Europe", cooperative project of anarchist from
East and Central Europe, is out since April 1. Main topics of ABB#24
(April 2006) are the "Prison society, crime & punishment" and
"Anarchist mobilisation against the World Leaders convergence in
St.Petersburg" but the 60 pages of the journal include much more
reports, news and analyses on the struggles and resistance taking
place in this region written by eastern European anarchists.
Here short summary of this issue:
- The week after the elections in Belarus, protests and demonstrations
in Minsk (Eyewitness reports);
- Criminalisation of youth unsuitable to the system in Bulgaria –
Freedom for Joro!
- Prison system, rascism and gender oppression – all in action against
Roma communities in Hungary;
- Shoot the sheriff – and don't forget the deputy, an anarchist look
at the mass psychosis of the law and justice;
- "If innocents deserve our support, guilty ones deserve it even
more!" – interview with anarchist prisoner-support group in Bialystok
(Poland);
- Prisons in the East, prisons in the west … created by the reach,
adopted by the poor – situation in prisons in Serbia;
- Prisons for everyone – polish government go US-way consequently
increasing the number of prisons and prisoners;
- "Styrofoam Crime" or Solidarity on both sides of the wall – memories
from the period of interment during the state of war in Poland in
1981;
- Population of prisoners and amount of prisons in Eastern Europe –
statitistics;
- "Criminals" or "Barbarians"? – the production of crime and
mechanisms of criminalisation in service of social control and
exploitation, on the example of Walbrzych-"Biedaszyby" crises region
in Poland;
- G8 in SPB – Call out to protests against G8-summit in St.Petersburg 2006;
- G8 in SPB – Activists' media against G8 summit;
- G8 in SPB - Resistance against G8 in Russia – is there any reason
for optimism?
- G8 in SPB - Neoliberal globalisation and reform of education in Russia;
- G8 in SPB - The unique chance to increase the global consciousness
of the local struggles - interview with anarchists from Moscow;
- The Bolkestein Directive – social dumping and international
challenges, report from Poland;
- Anti-fascist news from Poland and Slovakia;
- Brutal realities of Russian conscription;
- Labour Struggles – taxi driver strike in Omsk and following
repression against anarcho-syndicalist;
- Anarchist Black Cross reports from Poland and Turkey;
- Reclaiming the City – text from Russia;
- Vera Lajos Kassak – tribute to anarchist poet from Hungary;
- NoBorder-Kiev, campaign against deportation of Uzbeki refugees from Ukraine;
- Many anarchist announcements and calls for solidarity;
So check your local distribution of anarchist press, and if there is
not such a one in your region contact AbolishingBB in order to get the
journal(s) directly from the editorial collective. Old issues are as
well still available. (ABB-Distro: wielkowitsch at hotmail.com )
Support distribution of AbolishingBB journal by spreading this news.
With anarchist greetings,
Anarchist collective
Abolishing the Borders from Below
-----
(((((23)))))
Australia to Send Asylum Seekers to Camps
Thursday April 13, 2006 7:16 AM
By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press Writer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5752609,00.html
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - The government will send all asylum seekers
arriving by boat on Australia's mainland to island detention camps,
the country's immigration minister announced Thursday.
The move was seen as an attempt to avoid further inflaming tensions
with Indonesia after 42 people from its Papua province were granted
refugee status.
Prime Minister John Howard denied the new policy was designed to
appease Jakarta, though he added that if it helped improve relations
it would be a ``very good thing.''
``It's not done as a concession to Indonesia,'' he told reporters in
Sydney. ``It is designed to regularize our policy in this area.''
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said Canberra will also boost
patrols of waters off its northern coast that separate Australia from
Indonesia.
``Any claims to refugee status will be properly assessed at an
offshore location, as they have been in previous years,'' Vanstone
said in a statement. ``People found to be refugees will remain
offshore until resettlement to a third country is arranged.''
Under a policy introduced in 2001, asylum seekers arriving on outlying
Australian islands were sent to detention camps on impoverished South
Pacific neighbors Nauru and Papua New Guinea and the Australian Indian
Ocean territory of Christmas Island.
But those who reached the mainland were deemed entitled to Australia's
full legal rights - allowing them to launch appeals which could take
years to resolve. Now, even those arriving on the mainland by boat
will be sent to island detention camps.
Indonesia's government demanded a review of Australian refugee
procedures after the 42 Papuans who arrived on Australia's coast by
dugout canoe in January were accepted as refugees last month.
Many in Jakarta saw the decision as tacit acknowledgment of Indonesian
human rights abuses in Papua and a signal of Australian support for a
long-running separatist movement on the half-island province.
Refugee advocates and opposition lawmakers attacked the proposed new
policy as an overreaction to the furor over the Papuan refugees.
David Mann, from the Refugee and Immigration Legal Center, said it
breached Australia's international obligations.
``This is an extreme and alarming development, and a radical and very
dangerous overreaction,'' Mann told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
radio. ``Under international law, people have a clear-cut, fundamental
right to seek asylum in Australia, and to have their case for
protection fully and properly heard in Australia.''
Opposition Labor Party Leader Kim Beazley accused the government of
buckling to another nation.
``The danger of letting it be known that your policy can be changed at
the behest of anyone else is that they will think of a few other
policies that they might like to change as well,'' Beazley told
reporters.
Vanstone said that despite the changes Australia will continue to deal
with asylum seekers in line with its obligations under U.N. rules.
``The new measures emphasize the government's strong commitment to
effective border control while ensuring we continue to meet our
international obligations,'' she said.
-----
No One Is Illegal/Personne n'est illégal-MONTREAL
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