[news] Bring Mohamed Home! National Day of Action (Tuesday, March 9, 2004)

[l'ombre noire]

----- Forwarded message from No One Is Illegal Montreal
<nooneisillegal at tao.ca> -----

[For Montreal-area readers: A support demo for Mohamed Cherfi will take
place this coming TUESDAY, March 9, 2004 between 4-6pm. The demo will take
place at the offices of Immigration Canada at 1010 St-Antoine West (corner
of Peel, near metro Bonaventure). Bring your banners, placards and
noisemakers, and spread the word.

This e-mail contains :
- An Appeal by the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians and supporters
in Montreal for a National Day of Action on Tuesday, March 9, 2004
- An English translation of the most recent press release by the
Solidarity Committee with Mohamed Cherfi in Quebec City (March 6, 2004)
- Statement by Mohamed Cherfi on taking sanctuary (February 18, 2004);
- The text of a flyer that will be used in the Montreal-area to mobilize
around Mohamed?s case (dated March 7, 2004)]

A Solidarity Committee for Mohamed is active in Quebec City. They can be
reached at 418-262-0144 or solimo2004 at yahoo.fr. They also maintain a
website in French at http://www.mohamed.levillage.org

The No One Is Illegal Campaign in Montreal can be reached at
nooneisillegal at tao.ca or 514-859-9023.]
-----

---> AN APPEAL BY THE ACTION COMMITTEE OF NON-STATUS ALGERIANS

BRING MOHAMED HOME!
A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION - MARCH 9, 2004

Please post and forward widely
Saturday, March 6, 2004

Yesterday, dozens of police officers forcibly entered a Quebec City church
to arrest a non-status Algerian refugee, Mohamed Cherfi. Within hours,
Mohamed was deported to the United States and is now in a prison cell.

Mohamed's supporters in Montreal will be gathering this TUESDAY to
denounce the treatment of Mohamed, and to support the cause of all
non-status persons in Canada.

The Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians and their supporters are
calling for demonstrations at the offices of Immigration Canada and the
new Border Services Agency. At present, we are expecting demonstrations in
Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. We encourage actions and
demos across the country.

WE WILL BE DEMANDING: the regularization of all non-status Algerians; an
end to deportations; a return of the moratorium on deportations to
Algeria; the return of Mohamed Cherfi to Canada from the United States

WE WILL ALSO BE DENOUNCING: the Quebec City police, Quebec Immigration
Minister Michele Courchesne, federal Immigration Minister Judy Sgro and
federal Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan (responsible for the Border
Services Agency), for their role in violating the sanctuary of the
Saint-Pierre United Church in Quebec City, and in summarily deporting
Mohamed Cherfi to the United States.

If you are organizing a demonstration, or to stay in touch, please
contact: nooneisillegal at tao.ca or phone 514-859-9023.

If you are outraged by the violation of sanctuary at the Saint-Pierre
United Church, we encourage you also to express your anger, politely but
firmly, to Ministers Michelle Courchesne (Immigration Quebec), Judy Sgro
(Immigration Canada) and Anne McLellan (Public Security Minister,
responsible for the Border Services Agency). Please re-iterate the basic
demands of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians, and demand also
the return of Mohamed Cherfi to Canada. You can write, fax or phone the
ministers at the following addresses :

Michelle Courchesne
Cabinet de la ministre
Ministere des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration
Edifice Gerald-Godin
360, rue McGill, 4e ?tage
Montreal (Quebec)  H2Y 2E9
Fax: (514) 864-2899
Tel: (514) 873-9940
E-mail: cabinet at mrci.gouv.qc.ca

Judy Sgro, P.C., M.P.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
Fax: 613-947-8319
Tel: 613-992-7774
E-mail: Minister at cic.gc.ca

Anne McLellan, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
c/o Solicitor General of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6
Fax: 613-990-9077
Tel: 613-991-2924
E-mail: McClellan.A at parl.gc.ca

MONTREAL DEMONSTRATION IN SOLIDARITY WITH MOHAMED CHERFI :
TUESDAY, MARCH 9
4-6 pm
At the offices of Immigration Canada, 1010 Saint-Antoine West
(metro Bonaventure)
Bring your banners, placards and noisemakers.
-----

BACKGROUND :
For background, we have included three items :
1) An English translation of the most recent press release by the
Solidarity Committee for Mohamed Cherfi in Quebec City (March 6, 2004);
2) Statement by Mohamed Cherfi on taking sanctuary (February 18, 2004);
3) The text of a flyer that will be used in the Montreal-area to mobilize
around Mohamed?s case (dated March 7, 2004)
-----

---> PRESS RELEASE BY THE SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR MOHAMED CHERFI (QUEBEC
CITY)

It's not too late: Bring Mohamed Home!
The Canadian authorities have this power, let's make them use it

Saturday March 6 2004
(translated from the original French)

Quebec City, March 6 2004 - The Solidarity Committee for Mohamed Cherfi
and Pastor Gerald Dore of the Saint-Pierre United Church denounce the
summary arrest of Mohamed Cherfi, Algerian refugee. Mohamed Cherfi had
been in sanctuary at Saint-Pierre United Church since February 10 in order
to avoid deportation to Algeria where he fears for his life.

This arrest breaks a longstanding secular tradition of right to sanctuary,
the first time such an outrage has occurred in Canada.

"The United Church, on whose ground Mohamed Cherfi had taken refuge,
considers it a moral duty to offer asylum to any person whose life is
endanger if the State does not fulfil its responsibilities," said Gerald
Dore. The event is all the more significant considering that only a
political decision could have prompted such an intervention.

This is an undeniable case of miscarriage of justice on the part of the
authorities of Quebec and Canada. A warrant for arrest was emitted by the
Municial court of Montreal - under the absurd pretext that in taking
sanctuary, Cherfi changed his address without informing the authorities -
and then immediately withdrawn upon Cherfi's arrest. All this in order to
illegally arrest and detain Cherfi without ever allowing him his right to
defend himself in a court of law. What seems at first glance to be an
ordinary police operation, seems upon further examination to be an abuse
of the rule of law, orchestrated by high-level officials in order to
silence a strong defender of human rights. This is the gravest (though not
the first) in a series of arbitrary and questionable practices in the case
of Mohamed Cherfi, practices which are not worthy of a state committed to
democracy and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. All this
against a person whose only crime is to have defended justice publicly and
courageously.

"He thought he had found a country where freedom of _expression, of
association and of assembly were respected, unlike his country of origin
Algeria," said Louise Boivin, Cherfi's partner. What is now at issue is to
ensure that the government authorities will respect the most fundamental
rights and freedoms of a democratic society.

The ministers concerned still have the power to reverse their decision and
accord to Mohamed Cherfi his fundamental rights, as upheld in the
international conventions to which Canada is a signatory. We call on
Michelle Courchesne, who is Quebec's Minister for Citizen Relations and
Immigration and who has spent the past months consulting with the public
to determine the positions of her government in matters of immigration.
What message do we send to immigrants with procedures like this?

We call on the federal authorities to ensure a rapid return of Mohamed
Cherfi to Canada, on the basis of the most obvious humanitarian
considerations. Ministers Judy Sgro (Immigration) and Anne McLellan
(Public Safety), Minister Denis Coderre (Privy Council Minister who
ensures the coordination between these two departments) and Prime Minister
Paul Martin, have the power to intervene with American officials and allow
Mohamed to return home to Canada. These officials have the power and the
duty to intervene.

-30-

Solidarity Committee for Mohamed Cherfi
(418) 262-0144
solimo2004 at yahoo.fr
http://www.mohamed.levillage.org
-----


---> STATEMENT BY MOHAMED CHERFI ON TAKING SANCTUARY

Statement by Mohamed Cherfi
February 18, 2004
Saint-Pierre United Church, Quebec City
(translated from the original French)

I, Mohamed Cherfi, have taken sanctuary in the Saint-Pierre United Church
in Quebec City, rather than presenting myself for an appointment at the
offices of Immigration Canada in Montreal last February 10. I risked being
put into detention due to my refusal to collaborate with a deportation
that would put my life in danger. It is not with a cheerful heart that I
have come to take this step; it was the only option possible so that I
could continue to try to convince the public and immigration authorities
of the need for protection, while at the same time assuring my personal
safety. The Canadian immigration authorities had a warrant for my
deportation to the United States, the country from which I entered Canada.
The American authorities would put me in detention until my deportation to
Algeria.

As asserted in a letter by Lucie Lemonde -- the Vice-President of the
International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (la Federation
internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme, FIDH) -- recognizing my
need for protection: my deportation to Algeria via the United States will
put my life in danger due to the systematic violation of human rights
(disappearances, torture, imprisonment) that have taken place, principally
against the defenders of human rights. For having been the spokesperson of
the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians for almost two years, and
having publicly expressed criticisms against the Algerian regime, I am
exposed to serious risks.

The report that the FIDH will submit to the UN Human Rights Commission in
March, brings attention to the dramatic situation in Algeria, where a
civil conflict that has lasted for more than ten years has resulted in
150,000 deaths and more than 7000 disappearances. The state of emergency
continues, which allows for the systematic violation of human rights.
Moreover, the Algerian authorities have refused access to the UN Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights, the FIDH and other organizations, so that they
may investigate the situation.

I asked for political refuge in Canada as a conscientious objector, having
refused to do compulsory military service that would have forced me into
the civil conflict in Algeria. Like numerous other people who are refugees
from war and do not manage to have their political status recognized, I
suffered a refusal as a refugee claimant. Still, I was temporarily
protected from removal by a moratorium on deportations to Algeria put into
effect by the Canadian government between March 1997 and April 2002, due
to the assertive presence of 1060 asylum seekers of Algerian origin. In
the face of our imminent deportation, we came together as the Action
Committee of Non-Status Algerians, of which I was the main spokesperson.

In October 2002, the Quebec and Canadian immigration authorities finally
put into place a procedure to regularize Algerians who were no longer
protected by the moratorium. However, this process was based on the
process of selection, and not on the assurance of protection from
deportation to a country in conflict. Moreover, the selection process was
based on criteria linked to an evaluation of our ability to "integrate"
into Quebec society, a very ambiguous and arbitrary process, in particular
for war refugees who have lived for years without status and with the
continual anxiety of being eventually deported.

I have found myself, at the end of the day, among the people refused
within the framework of the selection procedure, with the explanation that
I lack "integration" into Quebec society. Even while the Quebec
Immigration Minister -- Michelle Courchesne -- consented to review my file
and the file of other refused claimants, and even before her negative
response was conveyed to me on January 22, I received a notice from
federal authorities that would begin the process of my deportation.

I ask today that the Canadian and Quebec immigration authorities give me
protection by according me the status to live in Canada, in consideration
of the civil conflict in Algeria and the risk of my deportation to Algeria
via the United States. These risks are linked to the fact that I was the
spokesperson of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians for almost
two years, and in Algeria, the defenders of human rights are prime
targets.

-- Mohamed Cherfi
-----


---> TEXT OF FLYER TO BE USED IN THE MONTREAL-AREA

BRING MOHAMED HOME!
SOLIDARITY WITH CANADA'S NON-STATUS ALGERIANS

Sunday, March 7, 2004

Mohamed Cherfi, a non-status Algerian who has resided in Canada for six
years, was deported to the United States this past Friday. His sanctuary
inside the Saint-Pierre United Church was violated when at least 15 police
forcibly entered to arrest him. Without any sort of due process, Mohamed
was deported to the United States where he now sits in a prison cell.

Mohamed was an outspoken member of the Action Committee of Non-Status
Algerians, and their spokesperson. Due in large part to the tireless work
of Mohamed, hundreds of non-status Algerians were regularized in Quebec as
immigrants.

However, Mohamed was himself refused as an immigrant to Quebec on the
pretext that he was not adequately "integrated". Mohamed is a fluent
speaker of French and trained as a French teacher.

Here are some details concerning the work of Mohamed Cherfi in the past
two years:

* He was the person who accompanied people living underground to
Immigration Canada to have warrants for their arrest and deportation
orders revoked.
	(A lawyer's work: $300 per person.)

* He was the person who volunteered to fill out the applications of more
than fifty non-status Algerians in need, most of whom were subsequently
accepted.
	(A lawyer's work: $1,500 per person.)

* He was the person who put his body and soul into work for the Action
Committee every day for the past 2 yearas.
	(A community organizer's work: $30,000 per year.)

* He was the person who raised public awareness about the injustice faced
by his compatriots.
	(A Coordinator of Public Relations' work: $40,000 per year.)

* He is the person affectionately called the guardian angel of  non-status
Algerians, the public scribe, the psychologist for those in distress, and
finally, the friend.
	($: invaluable.)

* He is the person who found himself in jail 3 times in 6 months for his
involvement in the Action Committee for Non-Status Algerians. He and
others were chained up, beaten and brutally arrested during a peaceful
demonstration in Minister Coderre?s offices last May 29th, in solidarity
with those excluded from the regularisation procedure (See photo: Burns
with electrical shocks from Taser guns that Mohamed and others received.)
Prior to this struggle, Mohamed did not have a criminal record and had
never had any contact with police.


Like Mohamed, approximately 150 men, women and children have been rejected
and will be deported to Algeria if we remain indifferent.

We demand the immediate return of Mohamed Cherfi, and denounce the actions
of Immigration Canada, Immigration Quebec, the Ministry of Public Security
and the Quebec City Police. Moreover, we re-iterate the original demands
of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians: the regularization of all
non-status persons; an end to deportations; the return of the moratorium
on deportations to Algeria.

JOIN US IN MONTREAL AS PART OF A NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY
WITH MOHAMED CHERFI ...

TUESDAY, March 9, 4-6pm
at Immigration Canada, 1010 St-Antoine West
(metro Bonaventure)
Bring your banners, placards and noisemakers!

For more information on future actions:
514-859-9023 or nooneisillegal at tao.ca


----- End forwarded message -----