[IPSM] No One Is Illegal-Montreal Newswire/Bulletin de Nouvelles (March 6, 2006)
No One Is Illegal Montreal
nooneisillegal at gmail.com
Mon Mar 6 03:07:52 PST 2006
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NO ONE IS ILLEGAL-MONTREAL NEWS AND EVENTS DIGEST
BULLETIN DE NOUVELLES ET D'ÉVÉNEMENTS DE PERSONNE N'EST ILLÉGAL
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MARCH 6, 2006 -- LE 6 MARS 2006 (1.3)
::::: EVENTS/ÉVÉNEMENTS :::::
1) Demo/Manif: International Women's Day/Journée internationale des
femmes (8 mars)
2) Consultation publique: Commission Populaire sur les mesures
"sécuritaires" en matière d'immigration (16 mars)
3) Public Consultation: People's Commission on Immigration "Security"
Measures (March 16)
4) Teach-in: Oppose "Guantanamo North" in Kingston, Ontario (March 11)
::::: ACTION :::::
5) Keep Gary Freeman in Canada!
::::: FEATURE :::::
6) (The Dominion) Bordering On Apartheid: Challenging immigration
control in Canada
::::: AUDIO :::::
7) (Indymedia) Ten Months in an Immigration Jail: A first-hand account
by Arash Aslani
8) (CBC Radio, The Current) Amnesty for Undocumented Workers?
::::: NEWS/NOUVELLES :::::
9) (Le Droit) Sursis jusqu'au 7 mars pour la famille Van Hauve
10) (Radio-Canada) 2000 signatures contre une déportation à Edmonton
11) (Radio-Canada) Une Iranienne menacée d'expulsion obtient un sursis
12) (Radio-Canada) Des Amérindiens font flèche de tout bois
13) (CP) Grassy Narrows warns Weyerhaeuser, Abitibi against
destruction of homeland
14) (Toronto Star) Woman wins reprieve from deportation to Iran
15) (Toronto Sun) Cleared terror suspect wants to stay
16) (Edmonton Sun) Family prays for deportation stay
17) (New York Times) The Gospel vs. H.R. 4437
18) (Narco News) Former Braceros and Zapatistas Unite to End the
System that Beats Them Down
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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
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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
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contribuer au bulletin, contactez-nous par courriel: nooneisillegal at gmail.com
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(((((1)))))
International Women's Day 2006
DEMONSTRATION
March 8th, 6pm (meet at 5pm)
Place Emilie Gamelin
Corner Ste-Catherine and Berri
(Metro Berri-UQAM)
--> Bring flags, banners and noise-makers!
Organized by the March 8th Action and Coordination Committee of Women
of Diverse Origins. For more information, please contact: The March
8th Committee at (514) 342-2111.
:::::
Journée internationale des femmes 2006
MANIFESTATION
8 mars, 18h (rencontre a 17h)
Place Emilie Gamelin
Coin Sainte-Catherine et Berri
(Metro Berri-UQAM)
--> Apportez vos bannieres et vos drapeaux!
Organisé par: le Comité d'action et de coordination des femmes de
diverses origines pour le 8 mars. Pour plus d'informations, contactez:
le comité 8 mars au (514) 342-2111.
-----
(((((2)))))
COMMISSION POPULAIRE sur les mesures "sécuritaires" en matière d'immigration
Consultation publique
jeudi le 16 mars 2006, 19h00
Bibliothèque Atwater
1200, Atwater (coin Ste.-Catherine, métro Atwater)
La COMMISSION POPULAIRE est mise de l'avant afin d'offrir à nos
communautés un moyen d'examiner la question des "certificats de
sécurité" ainsi que les autres enjeux liés aux politiques de «
sécurité » en Immigration et d'identifier des moyens de résoudre les
problèmes qui en découlent.
Une série de Consultations publiques se tient à travers le Québec et
le Canada, dans le but de présenter le projet, recevoir les
suggestions de la population, et encourager une participation large à
la Commission populaire.
Venez exprimer votre opinion !
Avec:
+ projection de " Certificat de culpabilité " (réalisation de
Alexandre Kozminski, Clic Focus, 2005)
+ Faraj Nakhleh, président, Fédération arabo-canadien
+ Marie-Eve Lamy et Tatiana Gomez
et plus !
* traduction (anglais, français, espagnole, arabe) * bouffe gratuit * garderie
CONTEXTE
Détenus pendant des années sans accusations, sous des preuves
maintenues secrètes; menacés de déportation vers la torture. Telle est
la situation dans laquelle les immigrantEs et les réfugiéEs peuvent se
retrouver au Canada. Tel est le cauchemar que vivent actuellement cinq
hommes et leurs familles à Toronto, Ottawa et Montréal, sous les
"certificats de sécurité".
L'obsession sans cesse grandissante pour la sécurité nationale et le
climat post 9/11, sur un fond de peur raciste, se sont traduits par
l'incarcération, la détention et la mort de milliers de personnes. La
militarisation et l'occupation de territoires vont de pair avec des
politiques intérieures restrictives en matière d'immigration, mesures
mises de l'avant par les États occidentaux sous le prétexte de la
"guerre au terrorisme". Alors qu'un nombre grandissant de personnes
partout dans le monde sont forcées de quitter pays d'origine, à la
recherche d'un minimum de sécurité, de dignité et d'une vie meilleure,
les gouvernements d'Amérique de Nord ont répondu par de nouvelles
mesures qui excluent ou marginalisent les plus vulnérables. Les
politiques en matière de sécurité nationale font que la détention
arbitraire, la sous-traitance de la torture vers des plus ou moins
prisons secrètes semblent banales, ou même normales.
Au Canada, les mesures de sécurité incluses dans les procédures
régissant l'immigration sont à l'avant-plan de la lutte pour l'égalité
de traitement des immigrants et des non-européens et contre les
pouvoirs de surveillance et de contrôle du gouvernement dans la
soi-disant « guerre au terrorisme ». Sous les mesures de sécurité de
l'Immigration, des non citoyen-ne-s se voient retirer leurs droits à
un procès juste et équitable, à la protection contre la détention
arbitraire et à la protection contre la torture. Les « certificats de
sécurité » et les autres politiques semblables soulèvent des questions
sur la façon dont les principes d'égalité et de liberté sont appliqués
aux Canada. Ces mesures augmentent dangereusement les pouvoirs du
gouvernement sur les individus et menacent les principes de
présomption d'innocence et de sécurité de la personne. En fait, elles
soulèvent d'importantes questions sur l'avenir même de notre société.
La COMMISSION POPULAIRE offrira une tribune pour que les voix
populaires se fassent entendre sur ces enjeux, spécialement les voix
de celles et ceux qui sont directement et indirectement affecté-e-s
par ces mesures et de ces personnes pour qui la sécurité a davantage à
voir avec la survie au jour le jour qu'avec de vagues critères de «
sécurité nationale ». Les noms des Commissaires seront dévoilés le 28
mars 2006. Les commissaires étudiera ensuite les rapports existants,
compilera de l'information, réalisera des entrevues, révisera de
nouvelles soumissions et écoutera de nouveaux témoignages lors
d'Audiences publiques libres et publiques (du 21 au 23 avril 2006, au
2515 rue Delisle, Montréal). Toute la documentation étudiée par la
commission sera disponible sur le site Internet (dans le respect de la
confidentialité des témoignages). Un rapport final sur les conclusions
et les recommandations de la commission sera publié à la mi-mai et
distribué aussi largement que possible.
La COMMISSION POPULAIRE souhaite votre implication! Contactez-nous
pour connaître les divers moyens par lesquels vous pouvez contribuer à
la Commission.
abolissons at gmail.com
tél. : (514) 859-9023
Une initiative de la Coalition Justice pour Adil Charkaoui
(http://www.adilinfo.org) et Solidarité sans frontières
(http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org)
La Commision populaire était endossé par : l'Association pour la
défense des droits sociaux (ADDS), Black Coalition of Quebec, Campaign
to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, CAIR-CAN, Canadian Arab Federation
(CAF), Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
(CUPW), Communauté Catholique Congolaise de Montréal , Immigrant
Workers' Centre, Muslim Council of Montreal, No One Is Illegal –
Montreal, No One Is Illegal-Toronto, No One Is Illegal –Vancouver,
Ontario Coaliton against Poverty (OCAP), Souers Auxiliatrices, the
South Asian Women's Community Centre, Toronto Action for Social
Change. ; Sponsored by: CKUT 90.3 FM, Council of Canadians, Inter
Pares, Soeurs Auxiliatrices
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(((((3))))))
PEOPLE'S COMMISSION on Immigration "Security" Measures
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
Thursday, 16 March, 7pm
Atwater Library
1200 Atwater (corner Ste. Catherine; Atwater metro)
The PEOPLE'S COMMISSION is being launched to provide a means for our
communities to examine the issue of "security certificates" and other
immigration security policies in depth and identify ways to address
the problem. A series of Public Consultations is taking place across
Quebec and Canada in order to explain the project, seek public
feedback, and encourage broad participation in the Commission. Come
out and join in!
with:
+screening of "Guilt certificate" (short film by Alexander Kozminski,
Clic Focus, 2005)
+Faraj Nakhleh, President, Canadian Arab Federation
+Marie-Eve Lamy and Tatiana Gomez
and more!
*translation (english, french, spanish, arabic) *snacks *childcare
BACKGROUND
Detained for years without charge, held under secret evidence,
threatened with deportation to torture. This is a situation in which
immigrants and refugees can find themselves in Canada. This is the
nightmare which five men and their families are currently living in
Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal under the immigration "security
certificate".
The ever-widening web of racist national security in the post 9/11
climate has incarcerated, deported, and killed thousands of people as
Western states are waging a "war on terror" through militarization and
occupation globally and policies of restrictive immigration
domestically. As increasing numbers of people worldwide are forced to
leave their homes in search of minimal security, dignity and
opportunity elsewhere, governments in North America have responded
with new measures which exclude or marginalise many of those who
arrive on these stolen shores. At its most extreme, the national
security agenda is making arbitrary detention, extraordinary rendition
and secret and not-so-secret torture prisons seem normal, or at least
up for debate.
In Canada, security measures in the immigration regime have emerged as
a battle-front in the ongoing struggle of migrants and non-Europeans
for equality in Canada and in the fight against expanding government
powers of surveillance and control advancing under cover of the "war
on terror". Under immigration security measures, non-citizens are
denied their rights to a fair trial, to protection from arbitrary
detention and to protection from torture. Security certificates and
similar policies raise serious questions about how the principles of
equality, liberty, presumption of innocence and security of the person
are practised in Canada. They increase the power of government
officials over individuals. They raise important questions about the
future direction of our society.
The PEOPLE'S COMMISSION will provide a forum for popular voices to be
heard on this issue, especially the voices of people directly and
indirectly affected by these measures, and of people whose security
concerns have more to do with getting by than with undefined "national
security". The names of the Commissioners will be announced on 28
March 2006. The Commissioners will study existing reports, gather
information, conduct interviews, review new submissions and also hear
testimonies at three days of accessible, open Public Hearings (21 to
23 April 2006, at 2515 Delisle St., Montreal). All material under
review will be published on our website (though witness
confidentiality will be respected). A report giving the findings and
recommendations of the Commission will be published in mid-May and
distributed as widely as possible.
The PEOPLE'S COMMISSION would like your input! Come out to the Public
Consultation or contact us to find out the various ways you can
contribute to the findings of the Commission.
abolissons at gmail.com
tel 1 514 859 9023
The People's Commission is a project of the Coalition for Justice for
Adil Charkaoui (http://www.adilinfo.org) and Solidarity Across Borders
(http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org).
The People's Commission has been endorsed by: l'Association pour la
défense des droits sociaux (ADDS), Black Coalition of Quebec, Campaign
to Stop Secret Trials in Canada, CAIR-CAN, Canadian Arab Federation
(CAF), Canadian Council for Refugees, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
(CUPW), Communauté Catholique Congolaise de Montréal, Immigrant
Workers' Centre, Muslim Council of Montreal, No One Is Ollegal –
Montreal, No One Is Illegal-Toronto, No One Is Illegal –Vancouver,
Ontario Coaliton against Poverty (OCAP), Souers Auxiliatrices, the
South Asian Women's Community Centre, Toronto Action for Social
Change. ; Sponsored by: CKUT 90.3 FM, Council of Canadians, Inter
Pares, Soeurs Auxiliatrices
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(((((4)))))
KINGSTON: Teach-in Against "Guantanamo North"
Is it necessary to deny people their most elemental human rights to
"guarantee" national security?
Detained for years without charge, held on secret evidence that the
accused does not have access to, threatened with deportation and
torture, this is the situation for five men from Toronto, Ottawa and
Montreal. Within the next month, four of these five men will be
transferred, far from their families, to an isolated wing of the
Milhaven maximum security prison, just outside of Kingston, Ontario.
This recent addition to the prison has been built specifically to
house those detained under the controversial security certificates.
This is GITNO (Guantanamo North)! Right here in Kingston! And these
four Arab nationals are scheduled to become its first inhabitants.
Security certificates allow the Canadian government to incarcerate any
non-citizen it deems a "threat" to national security without having
to charge the suspect with a crime, or give them access to the
evidence that will be used against them. Both the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International have admonished
the Canadian government for the indefinite incarcerations, lack of
fair trials, and absence of mechanisms for judicial reviews.
Come to a public teach-in to learn more about what we can do to stop
the secret trials, abolish security certificates, and end the
indefinite detentions.
Teach-In hosted by No One Is Illegal, Kingston
March 11, 2006 beginning at 12pm
Dunning Hall Room 11
Speakers will include:
- Members of the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee, Ottawa
- Representatives from No One Is Illegal, Toronto
- Matthew Behrens from The Campaign to Stop Secret Trials, Toronto
- Members of The People's Commission, Montreal
- Martin French from No One is Illegal, Kingston
Snacks and beverages will be provided.
EVERYONE WELCOME!
Directions:
Get off the 401 @ the Divisions Street Exit and follow Division south
to Union. Turn right (west) on Union and go one block to University.
Dunning Hall is on the South West corner of the intersection of
University and Union Streets.
Please let us know if you need to arrange for accommodations or have
any other questions. Contact Info: noii-k at email.com
(613) 545-1329
Justice for Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed
Harkat, and Adil Charkaoui!
-----
(((((5)))))
Celebrate Black History Month by Keeping Gary Freeman in Canada!
Stop an Unjust Extradition to the United States!
[From http://www.freemandrum.org]
(Details on how you can help at the end.)
TORONTO, FEBRUARY, 2006 -- It seems that Black History Month is an
appropriate time to reflect on the case of one Douglas Gary Freeman
(the former Joseph Coleman Pannell, Jr.), a 56-year-old African
American man sitting in a Canadian jail almost two years as he fights
extradition to the United States.
As with Martin Luther King Day, Black History Month is often an
excellent opportunity missed. Focusing on the horrible crimes of
slavery, colonialism, and the struggles to overcome such evils as
segregation and apartheid, it sometimes feels like "black history" is
just that -- a fascinating, inspiring, yet somehow disconnected frame
of time unrelated to the present.
Yet there are many from "back then" who are still paying the price for
standing up, for resisting racism (The Angola 3, Leonard Peltier,
Mumia Abu-Jamal, to name a few).
And then there's this Freeman guy. He would be the first to admit he's
nobody famous. He was never a leader or high-profile activist. But
these are not prerequisites to walk into the gun-sights of racist
America. All it took in his case was a simple matter of the wrong
skin pigmentation, an incident of racial and political profiling.
MARCH 1969
"Man" had yet to walk on the moon when Freeman, then 19 years old, was
walking down a Chicago street in 1969. It is hard for most people in
Canada, especially those of us who enjoy what can only be described
as white skin privilege, to imagine what would be going though
Freeman's mind when he was arbitrarily stopped by a white police
officer and asked to identify himself. After all, this was 1960s
Chicago, when the police department had a hard-earned reputation as
one of the most corrupt and brutal in North America. Chicago
officers were given "shoot-to-kill" orders during 1968 disturbances
by then Mayor Richard J. Daley. A combined city/federal effort
boosted the police Red Squad and other agents of repression to isolate
and "neutralize" peace and anti-poverty groups.
The stench of racism hung particularly heavy during those years, as
Martin Luther King found when he was exposed to racist mobs in
Chicago far worse than any he had survived in the south while
campaigning for civil rights. Incidents of police brutality were an
everyday occurrence, and the African-American community quite
appropriately viewed the Chicago police as an occupying army.
During 1969, a committee formed whose title painfully illustrated the
social scene at the time: The Committee to End the Murder of Black
People. The Chicago police murders of 11 young black men, so long a
part of daily life that it hardly made the news, had reached such
proportions that the community had to stand up and name this police
practice for what it was: outright murder. According to The Boston
Review, "In the late 1960s, Chicago police led the nation in the
slaying of private citizens, who were euphemistically characterized
as 'fleeing felons' to mask the routine use of excessive force by
police against racial minorities. The police also exploited seemingly
benign offense categories, such as disorderly conduct, vagrancy, and
loitering to bully minority youths and adults who had the audacity to
challenge police authority."
Freeman's Choice: Become a Statistic or a Survivor?
Court documents indicate Mr. Freeman attempted to defend himself when
his life was threatened. Freeman appears to have had two choices:
become a statistic, or a survivor.
One could argue over the details of what happened that day (and
argument is about all one could do, since physical evidence was
destroyed, and there are no surviving police witnesses other than
Terrence Knox, the officer involved in the incident), but suffice it
to say, Knox was hospitalized with a wounded arm, and Freeman was
jailed. Two weeks after the 1969 incident, Freeman was indicted by an
all-white jury of his non-peers. After a number of years in custody,
fearing for his life and realizing he could not get a fair trial in
Chicago, Freeman jumped bail and came to Canada.
Given the intense climate of fear and racism at the time, it is
unlikely anyone would have listened to what Freeman said in his
defence. As leading civil rights attorney William Kunstler wrote in
the late 1980s, "For more than twenty years my representation of
black defendants has been motivated by one of my strongest beliefs:
that our society is always racist. None of our institutions,
including our legal system, deliver on this country's fundamental
promise that we are all created equal, especially those of us not born
with white skins. ...Rodney King [The L.A. motorist whose vicious
beating by L.A. police was videotaped from afar] brought it home once
again: No matter what the cops do, even if you have it on tape, they
will not be convicted."
It seems Knox and Chicago police knew of Freeman's whereabouts in
Montreal during the 1970s, but no one bothered to seek extradition at
the time. Flash forward some 30 years, and now the case is in the
news again. Chicago headlines scream out hysterical, unfounded
accusations (from "Black Panther militant" to "accused
murderer"--hardly the stuff that creates an unbiased community pool
for jury duty!)
WHY NOW?
So why now? A full 37 years after the original incident? What can be
gained? Knox refuses to see anyone other than himself as the victim in
all this. True, his arm was never the same; that is unfortunate and
sad. But there are still big questions that Knox has yet to answer,
questions that would point to the fact that Freeman was also
victimized here: why the arbitrary stopping of a mature looking
19-year-old when Knox claimed he wanted to ask him if he was in
school? Why the dramatic discrepancies in the various statements Knox
has made? Why was the physical evidence destroyed? Why does Knox claim
he fears Freeman is coming after him when Knox's name is in the
Chicago phone book?
Freeman does not appear to be the kind of guy who recklessly goes
about shooting up police officers; in fact, he has never been involved
in another incident like that on March 7, 1969, and instead settled
down, got married, raised four kids in suburban Mississauga, and
worked in a library -- hardly the life of a criminal fugitive hiding
out in a mountainside cabin. Indeed, the guy was so boring that he
forbade violent video games and movies in his household. Rather than
stocking up on beer and shoot-em-ups, he mentored his kids' friends
on African-American history and jazz and related philosophical topics,
and paid his taxes. His only run-ins with the law seem to be for
occasionally motoring over the speed limit on our nation's highways,
a common enough ticketing offence.
Sure, Freeman could go back to Chicago, and plead self-defence. He
may get off, he may get nailed. But surviving until trial might be
another matter. Knox was a member of the city's notorious Red Squad,
the subject of massive and, to this day, ongoing litigation over that
department's illegal surveillance, infiltration, and disruption of
progressive organizations. Any trial involving Knox would inevitably
bring up these memories that Richard Daley, Jr., the current mayor,
would prefer to keep under the rug.
And loyalties run deep in police departments, especially when it comes
to suspects who are accused of shooting one of their own.
A Racist System Through and Through
Although there were many changes in American society during the civil
rights era, the years under Reagan, Clinton, and Bush I and Bush II
have served as an attack on and rollback of those gains. A simple
look at prison statistics reveals little has changed. The current
U.S. rate of incarceration for African American males is four times
what is was under apartheid South Africa. Whereas white males are
jailed at a rate of 649 per 100,000, black males are thrown into
prison at a rate of 4,810 per 100,000 (as of June, 2002).
Amnesty International reports that "application of the death penalty
in the United States is racially biased -- and in some jurisdictions
is reserved solely for non-white defendants," describing the U.S.
justice system as "infected with racial prejudice."
A landmark Human Rights Watch report found systematic torture
practiced by Chicago police. In their 1998 report, Shielded from
Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States, the
group noted "The People's Law Office, an activist firm, conducted an
investigation and identified sixty-five suspects who were tortured by
[Chicago Police Commander Joe] Burge or other officers and detectives
between 1972 and 1991...A report by the police investigatory agency,
the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), found that physical abuse
'did occur and that it was systematic....[T]he type of abuse
described was not limited to the usual beating, but went into such
esoteric areas as psychological techniques and planned torture. The
evidence presented by some individuals convinced juries and appellate
courts that personnel assigned to Area 2 engaged in methodical
abuse."
The acknowledgement that police engaged in torture goes higher still,
as then-Republican Governor of Illinois George Ryan in 2003 pardoned
numerous death row prisoners who said they had signed confessions
tortured out of them by police under the direction of Police
Commander Burge. CNN reported on January 14, 2003, that Burge "was
fired after internal police investigators found systemic evidence of
physical abuse of suspects. The four men 'were tortured,' the
governor said. 'There isn't any question about that.'"
Since 1991, appellate courts have thrown out the murder confessions
of at least 70 defendants in [Chicago's] Cook County -- more than
half because police arrested people with insufficient evidence before
interrogating them. Taking people into custody without probable cause
is both illegal and a precursor to many false confessions. But in
Cook County, an appellate judge wrote last year, that prohibition is
"routinely ignored." (from "Coercive and illegal tactics torpedo
scores of Cook County murder cases," December 16, 2001)
It is clear that systemic abuses continue to occur, and that the
allegations against Mr. Freeman would make him a prime target for
police retaliation while in custody. As the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights points out, "The treatment of minorities in the criminal
justice system is the most profound civil rights crisis facing
America in the new century. It undermines the progress we have made
over the past five decades in ensuring equal treatment under the law,
and calls into doubt our national faith in the rule of law....Unequal
treatment of minorities characterizes every stage of the process.
Black and Hispanic Americans, and other minority groups as well, are
victimized by disproportionate targeting and unfair treatment by
police and other front-line law enforcement officials; by racially
skewed charging and plea bargaining decisions of prosecutors; by
discriminatory sentencing practices; and by the failure of judges,
elected officials and other criminal justice policy makers to redress
the inequities that become more glaring every day."
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clarke, in an August, 2005,
Toronto Star Interview, has urged Canada to refuse the extradition.
"Surely law enforcement has something better to do in these difficult
times, where its resources are stretched, than to pursue this man...It
is a clear sign of either overzealous protection of police conduct or
a vendetta by an individual officer to request extradition after a
biblical generation against an alleged perpetrator who has long since
embarked himself on a new and constructive life."
The Extradition Act: A Rubber Stamp for Shaky Requests
Mr. Freeman's fate lies in the hands of a white-run justice system in
Canada, where a decision about whether to hand Freeman over to the
U.S. will likely be made this year. That decision, already
rubber-stamped by a court and now awaiting the decision of the
Justice Minister, hinges to a great deal, according to extradition
precedents, on faith in the judicial system of the extradition
partner. Ask anyone on the streets of Canada whether they think a
black man can get a fair trial even in today's U.S., and they will
likely laugh you to the other side of the street.
Try a simple computer search of Illinois and, specifically, Chicago
police, and you will find up to the minute reports of police
brutality and racial profiling, torture-induced confessions, and
mistreatment of inmates at Cook County Jail. Ask yourself: if you
were in Freeman's shoes, would YOU feel comfortable going back to the
United States?
Perhaps most galling is the state of Canadian law, which allows this
country the perceived right to hand over someone based on false and
contradictory evidence. As constitutional law expert Gary Botting
points out, "The overall scheme of the legislation is so patently
unfair that eventually the Supreme Court of Canada should strike down
significant parts of the Extradition Act, especially those parts
dealing with evidence, and with the perceived apprehension of bias of
the Minister of Justice/Attorney General in being both the prosecutor
and the judge at every stage of the procedure."
Indeed, at the recent hearing for his extradition, Freeman's attempt
to introduce some of the contextual, historical background to the
events of March 1969 was ruled irrelevant. The judge also had no
problem accepting false and contradictory evidence. Rather, all he
had to do was meet the very narrow guidelines laid out for him in the
act, and pass Freeman into the hands of the Justice Minister.
And so to this day Freeman sits, and waits, at Toronto's Don Jail, a
rotten place to spend the night, much less two years.
In the end, if we had a restorative system of justice (as opposed to a
system based on vengeance), this might have a much happier ending for
two men and their families. Freeman carries the weight of history on
his shoulders. He is someone who has known what it means to feel
real, skin-tingling fear, to never feel comfortable inside his own
skin, because that skin comes from the wrong end of America's colour
divide. And then there is Knox. We don't know a lot about him, other
than that he himself is haunted by being shot in the arm and losing
its full use. And that he cannot help as a white person but carry the
poisoned inheritance of racism which all of us must acknowledge in
ourselves if we are to end this vicious cycle.
Under a system of real and compassionate justice, these two might be
brought together and some reconciliation might occur. But we remain
shackled to a system based on punishment and informed by bias, fear,
and hatred.
Given the unlikelihood of a total transformation of the two judicial
systems, we are left with a number of questions. How are the best
interests of justice served by sending Freeman away from his family to
face possible punishment both before and after a trial? Would YOU feel
comfortable being sent to the United States if you were in his shoes,
based on a story that seems to keep changing? As with any traumatic
act, there needs to be some form of closure. This just doesn't seem
to be the right way to do it.
--> Get involved in the effort to keep Gary Freeman in Canada!
1. Sign the online petition at http://www.freemandrum.org
2. Download a copy of the petition, have your friends sign it, and
return it to this address:
Family & Friends of Gary Freeman
H-110 Frederick Street
Toronto, ON M5A 4A9
3. Write to the new Minister of Justice Vic Toews asking that he not
sign the order of surrender for extradition (sample letter at
http://www.freemandrum.org/sample_letter.html)
4. Contribute to the defense fund (see details at
http://www.freemandrum.org/support.html)
5. Write letters of support to Gary Freeman -- for his address,
e-mail us at freemandrum at web.ca
-----
(((((6)))))
March 03, 2006
Bordering On Apartheid: Challenging immigration control in Canada
by Hillary Bain Lindsay
The Dominion (http://dominionpaper.ca)
http://dominionpaper.ca/features/2006/03/03/bordering_.html
Abdelkader Belaouni is telling me about his day. "Every day I wake at
seven," he begins. "Ten after seven at the latest. I make my bed,
listen to the news. Around seven twenty or seven thirty I head down to
the kitchen." He methodically lists his daily activities. "I play the
piano - I'm getting lessons now. Around one - after lunch - I use the
stationary bike for fifteen or twenty minutes."
Belaouni can't get his exercise outside. He can't go outside.
Abdelkader Belaouni has not left St. Gabriel's Church in Montreal
since he took sanctuary there on January 1st 2006, defying Immigration
Canada's deportation order.
The nights are the hardest. "I have a lot of nightmares." His voice is
quiet. He explains that he can't sleep without medication; even with
the medication he often wakes at 3 in the morning. "I think a lot... I
think too much."
Belaouni has a lot on his mind. On November 21st, 2005 Immigration
Canada notified him that on January 5th 2006 he would be deported;
forced to abandon a life and community that has taken him three years
to build and over a decade to find.
Belaouni fled Algeria, his country of birth, in 1996. He left behind a
civil war that took the lives of over 100 000 people and a country
where he no longer felt safe. He moved to New York City, but after
September 11th 2001, he no longer felt safe there either. Belaouni
crossed the border, filed a refugee claim, and became one of more than
200 000 people in Canada living without status.
Refugee claimants will wait months or even years to learn whether
Canada will award them permanent status. In the meantime, "you're a
second class citizen," notes Jordan Topp, a member of The Committee to
Support Abdelkader Belaouni. Lack of permanent status makes finding
work extremely difficult, "even if you're a professional - a nurse or
an engineer - your degree doesn't mean anything once you get here,"
she explains. "[Non-status people] end up doing the shit jobs that no
one else wants." Belaouni reports that many of his non-status friends
also suffer from stress and depression - as he does - while living
under the constant threat of deportation. Non-status people (like
refugee claimants) are only covered for essentials and emergencies
under Canada's medical system, and some - like Belaouni - are not
covered at all.
Living in such a precarious state is not a choice that many people
make willingly, says Topp. "People generally don't want to leave their
homes and families," she says. "They don't want to uproot their entire
lives and move." But many people - like Belaouni - do. They do, says
Topp, because they're fleeing--among other things--war, poverty, and
oppression. And although many refugee claimants may count themselves
as 'lucky' to be here, Topp says Canada is partly to blame for many
people's initial displacement.
Canada's foreign policy and immigration system contribute to what Topp
calls the 'global apartheid:' a system where a minority of the world's
population controls a vast majority of its wealth and power, a system
where capital can move freely but the majority of people cannot.
"Canada's economic and geographic interests take priority over
people's well-being," she asserts. Topp gives the example of mining
projects in the global south that benefit Canadian multinationals:
people are displaced and livelihoods lost due to Canada's economic
interests, "yet we won't let them into Canada because they don't fit
the bill" says Topp. "Immigration Canada makes boxes that you have to
fit into," boxes into which few people can fit.
One of these boxes used to assess Humanitarian and Compassionate
Applications for permanent residence is based on whether or not an
individual has "established" themselves in Canada. According to
Immigration Canada, the fact that Belaouni does not have a job, and
does not have a wife and child here means that he has failed to
establish himself in Montreal.
Belaouni argues, however, that he does have a family in Canada: he has
a family of friends and supporters. His connections and contributions
to his community are reflected in the over 40 organizations in
Montreal that are supporting his demand for status, most recently the
French-speaking branch of Amnesty International in Canada. Belaouni
also says that he was working, he just wasn't being paid. For over a
year he had been volunteering with The Multi-Ethnic Association for
the Integration of Persons with Disabilities. His involvement with
that particular organization points to another reason he couldn't find
paid work despite his best efforts: Belaouni is blind. According to
Topp, this, along with his non-permanent status means that he's facing
"huge systematic barriers [to employment]."
According to a study conducted by the Canadian National Institute for
the Blind last year, only 25% of blind and visually impaired people
are employed - and only 30% of those people have permanent employment.
As a non-permanent resident, Belaouni didn't qualify for government
programs that may have increased his chances of employment. "We ask
people to prove that they're established," explains Topp, "but then
create a system where it's next to impossible for them to become
established." Topp is tired of the hoops non-status people are
expected to jump through, and the boxes they are expected to fit into,
in order to prove that they deserve to stay in Canada.
Topp is not alone. Last June up to a thousand people took part in the
No One Is Illegal March On Ottawa. The 200 km march from Montreal to
Ottawa was organized by Solidarity Across Borders, a network of self
organized migrants, refugees, immigrants and their allies. With a
rallying cry of "No Borders, No Nations, Stop The Deportations!"
Solidarity Across Borders asserts that all people - not just wealthy
and educated people- should be able to decide where they wish to live
and work. To this end, they call for an end to deportations and the
regularization of all non-status people.
Belaouni and his supporters have reframed the debate. Instead of
focusing on risks he may face if forced to return to Algeria they are
making the case that he should be allowed to stay based on his
right--on the rights of all human beings--to choose where he lives his
life. But won't Canada's borders be flooded with refugees? "That's
exactly the point," says Topp.
Topp's analysis is shared by Samir Shaheen-Hussain, a member of the No
One Is Illegal collective in Montreal. "Because of the primal
injustices that exist globally, people should be able to move wherever
they wish," says Shaheen-Hussain. "So long as wealthy, powerful
corporations and nation-states continue to benefit from the oppression
and exploitation of those living in the global South, those people who
are displaced should have the freedom of movement to determine where
they will live"
This economic and political analysis of the immigration system may
seem radical to some, and the proposed solutions may be dismissed as
'unrealistic', but the No One Is Illegal movement is gaining ground;
No One Is Illegal groups have been established across Canada and
around the world.
Besides, argues Topp the normalization of immigration controls is a
relatively new phenomenon.
"Until recently, people have been able to migrate to where they are
best able to live and survive. Today, that's not possible unless you
have a bank account with over $200 000 in it or are one of the people
who meet the very narrow criteria of persecution required for refugee
status."
This narrow criteria is also applied in an arbitrary manner, continues
Topp. In the last two years Belaouni's refugee officer sat on the
Immigration and Refugee Board he accepted only one person. "That's why
people call it a lottery," she explains. "It has little to do with the
actual case and more to do with the person you end up in front of."
Although The Committee to Support Abdelkader Belaouni is doing
everything it can to help Belaouni win the legal 'lottery' for
permanent status, it is also trying to shift the terms of debate about
refugees from ideas of charity to ones of justice, dignity and
autonomy; from benevolence to solidarity. At a press conference
announcing his intention to take sanctuary in St Gabriel's Church,
Belaouni was clear. "I'm not hiding from Immigration Canada, but I
want to tell them clearly, I will not be presenting myself for
deportation. I've been able to achieve autonomy and dignity in
Montreal, and I don't want to lose that. My family are my friends
here. I am here to defend myself; I am here to defend justice".
[More information about Abdelkader Belaouni's case is available at:
http://www.soutienpourkader.net]
-----
(((((7)))))
Ten Months in an Immigration Jail - A first-hand account by Arash Aslani
In this two part audio series Arash Aslani shares his first-hand
experiences of being a political refugee in today's racist and
exploitive immigration system. His story begins in Iran and ends in
Canada, where he was detained for 10 months in the Laval Immigration
Prevention Center, just north of Montreal. He speaks after having been
released following a three week hunger strike, and is currently
awaiting a decision on his refugee claim in Montreal.
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/03/8828.php
Recorded by Seth Porcello of the CKUT Community News Collective.
-----
(((((8)))))
CBC Radio's The Current:
Amnesty for Undocumented Workers?
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2006/200603/20060303.html
Being an undocumented immigrant in this country means a life of hiding
and waiting. So anytime they're offered hope or help, it's hard to
blame them for banging down doors--- no matter how controversial the
plan might be. That's what happened this week in Toronto.
An organization called, CHOICES is offering to help undocumented
immigrants in this country obtain legal status. The plan is to bring a
petition---signed by as many undocumented immigrants as
possible----directly to Stephen Harper...calling for him to grant
amnesty to those already toiling under the legal radar.
Signers were being asked to pay $50-dollars each. The organization
claims this was a voluntary donation to help with the campaign...
however some people allege they were given to believe the charge would
give them amnesty. Immigration officials have asked the RCMP to look
into the group's plan.
Steve McGregor is an Immigration consultant volunteering with
Choices... he defends his group's plan. When word got out about the
effort, Choices' offices were flooded with people - nearly 10,000 over
the past few days, the group claims. And all of them desperate for
help. CBC reporter Jean Carter spoke with one mother about what
gaining legal status would mean to her and her family.
Immigration Lawyer
But this controversy draws attention to an even bigger problem.
Statistics show this is a nation-wide issue-- with over two-hundred
thousand people working illegally across the country. Lorne Waldman is
an immigration lawyer. And he has been representing undocumented
workers for nearly 30 years. He joined us in our Ottawa studio.
Liberal Accountability
The federal government has made several attempts over the decades to
deal with the problem of undocumented workers in Canada. And since the
1960s Canada has legalized more than 80,000 illegal immigrants. But,
as we mentioned, at least 200,000 workers are still without legal
status in this country.
Andrew Telegdi is the Liberal MP for Kitchener-Waterloo. Under the
Liberal government, he was chair of the standing committee on
Immigration and Citizenship. He joined us in our Toronto studio."
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2006/200603/20060303.html
-----
(((((9)))))
Le jeudi 02 mars 2006
Sursis jusqu'au 7 mars pour la famille Van Hauve
André Dumont
Est ontarien
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060302/CPACTUALITES/603020767/5199/CPDROIT
Le ministre de la Sécurité publique Stockwell Day a suspendu jusqu'au
7 mars l'avis de déportation et les mandats d'arrestation qui pèsent
contre la famille de Michel Van Hauve.
Le travailleur agricole, son épouse et leurs fils recouvrent ainsi la
légalité. "Nous sommes ravis. Le gouvernement a enfin fait le premier
de plusieurs pas dans la bonne direction", a déclaré hier Randy
Hillier, le président de la Ontario Landowners Association,
l'organisme qui a supporté la famille belge dans la clandestinité.
Joint à la ferme de Navan où il travaille, Michel Van Hauve n'avait
pas nécessairement le coeur à la fête.
"On respire un peu mieux, mais après le 7 mars, qu'est-ce qu'on fait ?"
Les ministres Monte Solberg (Immigration) et Stockwell Day pourraient
mettre fin définitivement à son calvaire, mais au lieu, on s'acharne à
lui faire répéter des démarches administratives, déplore l'homme de 45
ans. Les autorités ont pris ses empreintes digitales le 14 décembre,
puis le 14 janvier. En février, il a dû fournir de nouvelles
empreintes.
Plus de détails dans notre édition du jeudi 2 mars
-----
(((((10)))))
Radio-Canada (Alberta)
2000 signatures contre une déportation
http://radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/regional/modele.asp?page=/regions/alberta/2006/02/26/002-deportation_petition_edmonton.shtml
2000 personnes ont signé une pétition à Edmonton pour implorer
Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada de permettre à une famille
costaricienne de rester au Canada.
Le gouvernement fédéral a refusé d'accorder le statut de réfugiés à
Gus Jimenez et aux siens, expliquant que le Costa Rica était une
démocratie sécuritaire. Mais l'homme soutient que des gangsters
pourraient éliminer sa famille si elle était déportée.
Gus Jimenez explique qu'il était propriétaire d'une compagnie de taxis
quand son partenaire a été assassiné par trois gangsters, en 2000. Il
aurait décidé de venir au Canada parce que la police de Costa Rica
était incapable d'assurer sa sécurité.
-----
(((((11)))))
Radio-Canada (Toronto)
Une Iranienne menacée d'expulsion obtient un sursis
Mise à jour le jeudi 2 mars 2006, 12 h 39 .
http://radio-canada.ca/regions/Ontario/2006/03/02/006-sursis-s.shtml
La femme iranienne, que le Canada voulait expulser le 12 mars, obtient
un sursis de la Cour fédérale.
Un juge l'autorise à rester au pays jusqu'à ce que la Commission de
l'immigration et du statut de réfugié complète un examen des risques
de renvoi. Le magistrat précise aussi que la femme ne pourra être
expulsée avant l'épuisement de tous les recours.
Selon l'avocat de l'Iranienne, Thomas Richards, le juge a fait preuve
d'une générosité exceptionnelle en statuant de la sorte.
La ressortissante, une femme dans la vingtaine qui demande à être
identifiée par la lettre S. par crainte de représailles si elle devait
être renvoyée en Iran, vit à Toronto depuis près de 4 ans. Elle a
notamment milité contre les tribunaux islamiques en Ontario.
-----
(((((12)))))
Radio-Canada (Ontario)
Des Amérindiens font flèche de tout bois
Mise à jour le mercredi 1 mars 2006, 13 h 57 .
http://radio-canada.ca/regions/Ontario/2006/03/01/006-amerindiens-forestieres.shtml
La communauté autochtone de Grassy Narrows, dans le Nord-Ouest de
l'Ontario, menace de porter sa cause sur la scène internationale si
les entreprises forestières Weyerheauser et Abitibi-Consolidated
poursuivent leurs activités de coupe de bois sur leur territoire.
Les Amérindiens ont fait parvenir une missive aux deux compagnies pour
les avertir de leur intention. Située au nord de Kenora, la communauté
de Grassy Narrows réclame depuis des années sa part des revenus
générés par l'activité forestière. Elle veut également mettre un frein
à la coupe de bois, qui, selon les autochtones, entre en contradiction
avec leur mode de vie traditionnel.
Le porte-parole d'Abitibi-Consolidated, Denis Leclerc affirme que la
forestière « comprend partiellement les demandes que la communauté
Grassy Narrows fait, surtout au niveau de la reconnaissance de ses
terres ancestrales ». Il prévient cependant que l'exploitation
forestière dans la région va se poursuivre comme prévu, selon le plan
d'aménagement forestier durable.
Denis Leclerc ajoute qu'Abitibi-Consolidated examinera de près les
doléances des Amérindiens pour ensuite leur faire part de son
interprétation du dossier.
La possession des terres
Il s'agit de la seconde dispute entre des entreprises et des
communautés autochtones à éclater publiquement dans le Nord-Ouest en
quelques jours.
Plus tôt cette semaine, la compagnie Platinex a été forcé de suspendre
temporairement son programme d'exploration minière de 1,2 millions de
dollars, près de Big Trout Lake, en raison de l'opposition
amérindienne.
L'Association des prospecteurs du Nord-Ouest de l'Ontario joint sa
voix à ceux qui réclament des éclaircissements sur qui possède les
droits sur les terres au nord du cinquantième parallèle.
John Halet promet que les prospecteurs informeront les communautés
autochtones avant de se rendre dans la région. Il affirme que la
province a aussi un rôle à jouer et dénonce le mutisme du gouvernement
dans cette affaire.
-----
(((((13)))))
Grassy Narrows warns Weyerhaeuser, Abitibi against destruction of homeland?
Canadian Press
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=f9f432ea-c811-44f9-b300-12af5d6d9afc&k=19356
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
GRASSY NARROWS, Ont. (CP) - Frustrated by what they see as an
industrial invasion of their territory, aboriginal people in
northwestern Ontario are warning two forestry giants to stop logging
the area or face an international protest.
In a letter sent to Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. and Abitibi-Consolidated
Inc. on Tuesday, the Grassy Narrows First Nation accused the companies
of cultural and environmental devastation.
"This letter is your final official notice that you are taking part in
the destruction of our homeland," the letter states.
"Know that you face a fierce campaign against you on all fronts - in
the woods, in the streets, in the marketplace, in your boardrooms and
in the media."
The 700-member community of Grassy Narrows has long complained that
decades of unsustainable logging have poisoned area waters with
mercury and other toxins and all but destroyed their aboriginal way of
life.
Negotiations, lawsuits, requests for environmental assessments, public
protests and a three-year blockade in the forest have all failed to
win an improvement in the situation, the letter states.
"The Earth is suffering and we as human beings are suffering," said
Judy Da Silva, a member of the Grassy Narrows environmental committee.
"The water is really polluted, there's a lot of erosion on the land,
and . . . we're still finding high levels of mercury in animals."
Denis Leclerc, Abitibi's director of corporate affairs, said Grassy
Narrow's demands recently changed to include recognition of their
traditional land-use area, something the company has no control over.
"It's almost impossible for a forest and paper company to contribute
concretely to a resolution when the demands from Grassy Narrows are
directly related to government decisions," Leclerc said.
Bonny Skene, Ontario public affairs manager for Weyerhaeuser Canada,
said Montreal-based Abitibi-Consolidated is responsible for managing
the forest and does so according to plans sanctioned by the provincial
government.
Weyerhaeuser, which uses hardwood from forests in the area to feed its
mill in nearby Kenora, Ont., takes the concerns stated in the letter
seriously, she said.
"Weyerhaeuser is committed to building mutually beneficial
relationships with aboriginal communities," Skene said from the
company's regional offices in Dryden, Ont.
"We understand the demands on forests today and meeting the demands
requires all of us to work together."
David Sone, an organizer with the Rainforest Action Network based in
San Francisco, said the forest companies have "run amok" in Grassy
Narrows and need to be stopped.
"This letter signals the beginning of a serious escalation of the
struggle to protect Grassy Narrows," Sone said.
"It makes very clear their wishes and interests aren't being respected
and they don't intend to sit back and watch that happen."
Last fall, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society issued a report
that denounced Abitibi for clear cutting huge tracts land in the
region and replanting it with ecologically barren tree plantations.
"The clear cutting of the land and the destruction of the forest is an
attack on our people," said Roberta Kessik, a Grassy Narrows
grandmother and trapper.
"The land is the basis of who we are."
The First Nations also worry that irreversible damage will be done to
eco-tourism in the area, further damaging the longer-term economic
prospects in the region.
-----
(((((14)))))
Woman wins reprieve from deportation to Iran
Mar. 3, 2006. 01:00 AM
NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1141339814067&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845
A Federal Court judge has stayed a deportation order against a failed
refugee claimant from Iran who campaigned against the introduction of
sharia law in Ontario and could face the same gender persecution if
returned to her native country.
In a decision released late Tuesday, Justice Robert Barnes ruled that
the 27-year-old woman from Tehran will be allowed to remain in Canada
until a judicial review is completed of an earlier risk assessment
that concluded she would not face danger in going back.
Out of concerns for her safety, the Toronto Star is not publishing the
woman's name.
The woman, who was due to be deported March 12, said she fled Iran in
2002 because she was afraid of persecution, stemming from her
outspokenness against sharia law following her divorce from an abusive
husband.
She remained part of the "dissident movement" in Canada and was active
in a recent campaign against a controversial plan in Ontario to allow
Muslims to use religious law to settle family disputes under the
Arbitration Act. The government scrapped the plan last month.
After rejecting her refugee claim, immigration officials conducted a
risk assessment and ruled in December that there was no reason to
believe the woman's political involvement in Canada would put her life
at risk in Iran.
Her lawyer, Thomas Richards, said yesterday the court's order has
cleared the way for an appeal against the risk assessment.
-----
(((((15)))))
Cleared terror suspect wants to stay
http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/03/03/pf-1471051.html
By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN
A Toronto man says Canada owes him a home after he was arrested for
being a member of what turned out to be a non-existent al-Qaida
sleeper cell.
Mohammad Imran Akhtar Malik, 33, claims through his lawyer and in
court documents that he cannot return to Pakistan due to news reports
that wrongly called him and 20 other students terrorists.
Immigration officials claimed the accused, mostly Pakistani, were
agents in a sleeper cell and posed as students at an Ottawa business
college.
The year-long probe by Canada immigration officers cost about $1
million and was dubbed Project Thread, according to evidence at
detention hearings.
The investigation was patterned after a manhunt that followed the U.S.
Sept. 11 attacks, in which officers focused on "clusters" of students,
some of whom took flying lessons or visited nuclear plants.
CHARGES DROPPED
At the immigration hearings, evidence was presented that an attack on
Toronto may have been foiled by the arrests. No details of the threat
was presented.
Malik's lawyer Amina Sherazee said charges against her client and the
others of being a threat to national security were dropped. Malik was
freed from jail within weeks.
Sherazee said nearly all the men were held for a lesser offence of
misrepresenting themselves to enter Canada.
About 13 were promptly deported to Pakistan and India.
Malik and five others, who are fighting to remain in Canada, claim
their lives are in danger if they return home because of the false
links to al-Qaida.
"My client is afraid of going back home," Sherazee said.
-----
(((((16)))))
March 3, 2006
Family prays for deportation stay
EDMONTON SUN
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/03/03/1470927-sun.html
An Edmonton family facing deportation to Costa Rica is praying for a miracle.
Gus Jimenez, his wife and their four children have applied to
Citizenship and Immigration Canada to stay in the country on
humanitarian grounds. They say if they're sent back to the Latin
American country, they face death.
"We have only one chance," said Jimenez yesterday. "We're praying for
a miracle next week."
Jimenez was a taxi company owner in San Jose in March 2000 when he
says he saw the murder of his business partner by three teenage
members of the gang Los Mocos.
As the only witness to the heinous crime, Jimenez said the killers
threatened to kill him if he went to the police.
Jimenez reported the crime to police anyway and fled the country.
Immigration spokesman Randy Gurlock said an application to stay in the
country on humanitarian grounds doesn't stay a deportation order. That
could take anywhere between 12 and 18 months.
-----
(((((17)))))
NY TIMES, March 3, 2006
Editorial
The Gospel vs. H.R. 4437
It has been a long time since this country heard a call to organized
lawbreaking on this big a scale. Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation's largest, urged
parishioners on Ash Wednesday to devote the 40 days of Lent to
fasting, prayer and reflection on the need for humane reform of
immigration laws. If current efforts in Congress make it a felony to
shield or offer support to illegal immigrants, Cardinal Mahony said,
he will instruct his priests — and faithful lay Catholics — to defy
the law.
The cardinal's focus of concern is H.R. 4437, a bill sponsored by
James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin and Peter King of New York. This
grab bag legislation, which was recently passed by the House, would
expand the definition of "alien smuggling" in a way that could
theoretically include working in a soup kitchen, driving a friend to a
bus stop or caring for a neighbor's baby. Similar language appears in
legislation being considered by the Senate this week.
The enormous influx of illegal immigrants and the lack of a coherent
federal policy to handle it have prompted a jumble of responses by
state and local governments, stirred the passions of the nativist
fringe, and reinforced anxieties since 9/11. Cardinal Mahony's
defiance adds a moral dimension to what has largely been a debate
about politics and economics. "As his disciples, we are called to
attend to the last, littlest, lowest and least in society and in the
church," he said.
The cardinal is right to argue that the government has no place
criminalizing the charitable impulses of private institutions like
his, whose mission is to help people with no questions asked. The Los
Angeles Archdiocese, like other religious organizations across the
country, runs a vast network of social service programs offering food
and emergency shelter, child care, aid to immigrants and refugees,
counseling services, and computer and job training. Through Catholic
Charities and local parishes, the church is frequently the help of
last resort for illegal immigrants in need. It should not be made an
arm of the immigration police as well.
Cardinal Mahony's declaration of solidarity with illegal immigrants,
for whom Lent is every day, is a startling call to civil disobedience,
as courageous as it is timely. We hope it forestalls the day when
works of mercy become a federal crime.
-----
(((((18)))))
Former Braceros and Zapatistas Unite to End the System that Beats Them Down
In Stories of Migration to the US, a History of Slavery
By Bertha Rodríguez Santos
The Other Journalism with the Other Campaign, Reporting from Tlaxcala
February 21, 2006
This report appears on the internet at
http://www.narconews.com/Issue40/article1635.html
ZACATELCO, TLAXCALA: As old workers of the fields, as guardians of the
knowledge that makes them part of that other Mexico that jumps to
defend its land and territory, more than a thousand former "Braceros"
publicly joined the Other Campaign, led by the Zapatista Army of
National Liberation yesterday, while Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos
showed the warmth, respect and support that the indigenous Zapatistas
hold toward this struggle.
During the meeting with members of the National Assembly of Braceros
(ANB in its Spanish initials), held in the esplanade of "El Dorado"
(once a local strip club), Marcos said that the Zapatistas will unite
their struggle with the movement of the former Braceros, who since the
late 1990s have sought the restitution of a savings fund created by
the Manuel Avila Camacho and Franklin D. Roosevelt administrations as
part of the Bracero Program. From 1942 to 1966 the Bracero Program
permitted the hiring of Mexican workers in the United States, with
more than 5 million contracts eventually signed for work in the fields
and on the railways.
Obviously tired by the weight of their years, the former Braceros,
most of them between 60 and 90 years old, began to fill the chairs on
the esplanade where Subcomandante Marcos would later make his
presentation. The widows of the former Braceros and their children
were there as well. Many came from the interior of Tlaxcala, but
delegates also attended from the state of Mexico, the Mexico City
Federal District, Hidalgo, Querétaro, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas,
Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Guerrero, Aguascalientes, Jalisco and
Morelos – the states that form the National Assembly of Braceros.
Experiences full of sacrifice, humiliation and exploitation color the
lives of these men who still maintain hope of surviving by cultivating
their own lands, running some small business or from the pension of
one of their close relatives.
Gerardo Vásquez Herrerías, a native of San Cosme Xalostoc, Tlaxaca,
tells of how at age 18 he was forced to enter the Bracero Program. The
entire country, recounts the old man, was going through a strong
economic crisis. The poverty was palpable everywhere after the
unfortunate years following the Mexican Revolution, as Mauricio Ocampo
Campos explains in his thesis, "Sociopolitical Organization of the
Former Bracero Movement in Tlaxcala." Meanwhile, the United States
faced an even greater economic crisis, as the Second World War had
started and the country needed cheap labor to sustain its economy.
The construction of railway lines necessary to transport U.S. products
to market and other activities related to the locomotive industry were
among of the main labors of the Braceros of that time. The cotton and
vegetable fields were also worked by the hands of Mexican peasant
farmers.
At age 63, Vásquez Herrerías remembers how hard life was in the field.
"In 1965 there was a frost all over the country, there was nothing to
eat, no work. There was a lot of need. Before, corn was grown but the
work was done with mules or by hand. Our families lived in houses made
out of roofing tiles or hay; the floor was dirt. We had no table and
we ate on the floor."
He mentions that he was the sixth of ten children, which made him feel
obligated to seek another way to help his family survive.
On this farmer's hands there are still signs of the tough work he had
to do in the cotton fields of Texas and Arizona. He says that many
Braceros without experience handling cotton bolls spilled blood all
over their hands, cutting themselves on the fibers.
"We suffered greatly," he says, and adds that the pay most of the
workers received was 13 cents for each pound of cotton.
The former Braceros' testimonies speak of their work in California and
Arkansas – "right next to the Mississippi river," remembers Francisco
Flores Muñoz, 75, originally from San Felipe Cuauhtenco – as well as
almost every part of the southern U.S.
Nearly all the Braceros knew humiliation since the moment they were
pushed into the train cars that brought them to the sites where they
would be hired. They all underwent physical evaluations that included
a kind of "disinfection" from possible illnesses. "They suffered a
very inhuman treatment," says Felipe Monroy Sandoval, son of a Bracero
and an advisor to the delegation from the state of Guerrero.
Monroy claims that the bosses ignored many of the conditions outlined
in the contracts. Although these documents established that Mexican
workers would receive the same status as U.S. workers, there were no
decent living conditions and there was much discrimination. "Many work
sites were like concentration camps where the people worked a minimum
of 12 hours each day. When they had to, they even made the Braceros
work at night."
The Zapatistas know this story and see themselves reflected in it.
Marcos said that the indigenous understand the pain and sacrifice of
the men and women who make up the Bracero movement. In their meetings
throughout the eight states that the Other Campaign has already toured
they have come across "old men who tell us: 'they treat us like broken
furniture, as if we were in their way. We weren't born old; we worked
hard and now they want to push us aside, they want to kill us.'"
"We understand them. The same thing happens to the indigenous and we
feel much indignation and rage."
He said that the former Braceros had to go to work in dangerous
conditions, as there was a World War going on. "What if bombs fall in
the fields? Who is going to die and who is going to get maimed? The
Mexican workers, of course."
They also endured, added Marcos, the racist mistreatment of the
foremen, "because of our color and our language."
Now the government treats the Braceros "as if they were beggars… they
don't fit in to the government's thinking. The old are like the
Indians: they are only good for making little things and begging in
the street."
He added that the government does not understand because it is up
above. If it were below, it would understand pain and dignity. Those
that have power say: "I am going to wait until you die, until the
indigenous die, until we are sorry for the color that we have, for the
language that we speak."
He called the 38,000 pesos ($3,600 dollars) per person offered by the
law that legislators approved five months ago a beggar's pittance. The
law also creates the new "Trust Fund for the Former Braceros Who Lent
Their Services in the United States from 1942 to 1966."
According to the Braceros' calculations, they have a right to some
180,000 pesos ($17,000) for each contract, including the interest
accumulated for all those years. In their opinion this was a financial
scam on the part of the banks entrusted to transfer the money.
According to the information provided during the meeting with the
Zapatista representative, "the money that they took out of our
paychecks was deposited in the Wells Fargo Bank, which made a transfer
to the National Bank of Mexico (Banamex); this was then transferred to
the Banco de Crédico Agricola, which held on to our money for 36 years
until in 1975 they transferred it to the National Rural Bank
(Banrural), which no longer exists. This is unjust."
In a serious tone and sometimes showing great emotion, the peasant
farmers expressed their feeling that "the word does not die although
silence accompanies our steps. Our children and all those who show
solidarity with our just demands will continue this struggle."
After reading a document with great difficulty, Aureleano Santiago
Naranjo, a Mixteco indigenous man from Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca, asked
Subcomandante Marcos with tears in his eyes to include the Braceros'
demands in the EZLN's program of struggle.
Several of the former Braceros spoke of how their representatives have
appealed to different government officials, from the Chamber of
Deputies (Mexico's lower house of Congress), to the Executive Branch
and the president, to the Supreme Court. In the latter case, last
January 17, the ANB presented a lawsuit demanding that various federal
bodies – such as the Department of the Interior, the Department of
Labor and Social Security, the Department of Foreign Relations and
Banrural – produce their accounting on the Braceros' savings fund's
disappearance. Nevertheless, until now, "they keep passing the buck";
for this reason, the farmers are requesting that the EZLN make the
petition, supported by thousands of Mexicans, its own, so that "the
fruits of our labor be returned."
The Zapatistas, as "Delegate Zero" announced, did take up this
struggle as their own and will continue their tour across the country
to add themselves to the struggles of the Indian peoples, workers,
peasant farmers, men, women, youth, children, immigrants, and "other
elderly people who also say that it is not right to treat us as though
we were garbage."
"We want to make a national uprising without weapons. With a movement
of everyone, so that those from the government leave." Marcos also
spoke of the need to do away with a system that looks down upon us,
and of the lie of the political parties that sometimes paint
themselves green, white and red; sometimes blue, and sometimes yellow
and black.
At the beginning of his speech, Marcos said that for the Zapatistas,
the most valuable people are those of greater age. In fact, he
clarified the fact that in the EZLN, those that command are the older
men and women. "We listen to them with attention because their
knowledge is greater. We don't think that people have more worth
because of what they studied, or because they speak well or because
they can carry on about some subject. We look simply at one's heart,
one's word, one's work."
During his speech, Marcos received signs of appreciation from several
of those present, such as one woman who introduced herself suddenly in
order to give him some tlacoyos (corn cakes filled with vegetables) –
he really was in the land of the corn tortilla, from which the word
Tlaxcala derives in the Nauhatl language – and one woman who presented
him with a special festival bread.
Finally, Delegate Zero proposed that the Braceros participate in the
great mobilization that all the workers of the country will carry out
next May 1 to commemorate international Workers' Day in Mexico City,
"to see if it doesn't embarrass them to see us together and hear our
voice for justice."
The other proposal is that the Braceros come to see today's migrant
workers in the United States, who will participate in the meetings to
be held in the border cities of Tijuana and Juárez in June. The EZLN
promised to support this proposal by arranging transport for seven
representatives of the former Braceros, so that the Mexicans who live
on the other side of the border "know your struggle against injustice
and support you."
After forming the human fences that would allow Sup Marcos to pass
through, those present began to chant warnings: "Somos braceros. No
somos limosneros." ("We are Braceros, not beggers.") "Gobierno,
ratero, regresa el dinero." ("Theiving government, return our money!")
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No One Is Illegal/Personne n'est illégal-MONTREAL
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