[van-announce] ACT NOW TO STOP A DEPORTATION

[ha rsha]

* Contact information for immigration, sample letter, and recent article 
below


PLEASE POST WIDELY---

Solidarity and struggle, friends and neigbours of the Ibad family, Action 
Committee, No One is Illegal, and REBELdesis. Contact nooneisillegal at tao.ca 
or call 514-409-2049.


STOP THE DEPORTATIONS !!!
JUSTICE FOR IBAD FAMILY!!!

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RALLY:
1010 ST ANTOINE (IRB offices)
Tuesday October 21, 2003
@ 7:30 am sharp (their deportation is 8 AM)

MASSIVE CALL/FAX CAMPAIGN
FLOOD THE  IRB OFFICES WITH CALLS, EMAILS AND FAXES

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ACT TODAY !

CALL:
*** RENE D’AOUST director of Investigations and Removals: (514) 496-1238 ***

If you are more comfortable not speaking to an immigration official, leave a 
message on the voice mail over the weekend. For those calling during office 
hours, if asked who you are, you can say you are a concerned citizen.

Points to emphasize in your call:
- The demands of the campaign:
1) At least no removal take place to either Pakistan or the US prior to the 
Humanitarian and Compassionate claim being processed in a fair and just 
manner and particularly in light of the recent violence in Islamabad.
2) Further we demand that the family be given full status in Canada on 
humanitarian grounds.
- The recent violence and curfew in Islamabad
- Their children’s education has previously been interrupted while they were 
in hiding, and their deportation will surely impact their education again
- Great danger Naveed faces of being detained in the US.
- The family’s contribution to Canadian society over the past fifteen 
months.

EMAIL/FAX :
* Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Denis Coderre:
Phone: (613) 957-0312
Fax: (613) 957-2688
Email: Minister at cic.gc.ca

* Montreal Constituency Office
Phone: (514) 323-1212
Fax: (514) 323-2875
Email: Coderd1 at parl.gc.ca


October 17, 2003

Honourable Minister Coderre:

I would like to draw your particular attention to the case of the Ibad 
family who is scheduled for deportation on October 21, 2003. The Ibad family 
(Naveed, Assia and their three children) have been in Canada for over 
fifteen months, during which their refugee claim has been refused. All three 
of their children, ages 14, 12 and 9, are in school and speak four languages 
fluently (Urdu, English, French, Punjabi). Naveed is currently working two 
jobs and Assia volunteers in an organization supporting disabled people and 
works night shifts.

One of the allegations made by the IRB is that they should have made claims 
in the United States (their port of entry) instead of Canada, even though 
they are under no legal obligation to do so. Naveed will surely be 
incarcerated in detention upon their removal to the US, before eventually 
being deported back to Pakistan.

Another one of the allegations of the IRB is that they are not convinced 
that the Ibad family and Ali face imminent and grave danger in Pakistan. The 
Ibad family belongs to a religious minority in Pakistan. The family has been 
physically attacked by SSP (a sectarian and extremist organization) on 
several occasions in the past few years and Naveed still carries scars on 
his body from these attacks. Members of their families have died due to 
these attacks. The family was forced into hiding for over 2 years, during 
which time their children were unable to attend school or even play with 
other children. The family face grave danger and persecution, including 
rape, torture, and a certain death if they are forced to return to Pakistan.

The situation in Pakistan is especially heightened now as the head of the 
SSP was recently killed and there have been riots and curfews imposed in the 
capital city of Islamabad. In light of the recent violence and the 
increasingly intensified attacks against minorities, it is deplorable and 
unacceptable that any Pakistani refugee would be returned, particularly to 
Islamabad.

I urge you to please consider their situation and mounting support for their 
case from various church groups, unions, student groups, womens groups, 
media outlets, members of political parties, and community organizations. On 
humanitarian and compassionate grounds, particularly in light of the recent 
violence in Islamabad, you should intervene immediately to allow the family 
the right to remain in Canada and be granted regularized status immediately.

Sincerely,


*******************************************************************

SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL PAKISTANI REFUGEES:

* Endorse the demands --->

In Montreal, there are over 200 Pakistani refugee claimants facing 
deportation in the coming months as their cases are being rejected in 
unprecedented numbers by the Immigration and Refugee Board. These refusals 
are based on the grounds that the situation in Pakistan from these refugees 
has improved, whereas, the facts are contrary to it. These refugees are 
fleeing a violent political and sectarian crisis in Pakistan, which has been 
well documented by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. A close 
review of the rejected cases indicates that some IRB judges are not aware of 
their own departments published reports, which clearly agrees with the 
aforementioned human rights reports, and as such the decisions of the IRB 
judges decisions are indicative of systemic racial profiling.

The Action Committee is asking for the public support of organizations and 
groups who support the demands of the campaign. If your organization 
endorses the demands below, please phone 514-409-2049 or e-mail 
nooneisillegal at tao.ca.

1) The Action Committee demands that the deportation of rejected Pakistani 
claimants to either Pakistan or the United States be stopped immediately;
2) All Pakistani refugee claimants be granted full and regularized status in 
Canada

* Current endorsing groups include: Pakistan Association of Quebec, Islamic 
Center Montreal, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, No One is Illegal 
Montreal, Rebel Desis, Union United Church- Little Burgundy, Action 
Committee for Non Status Algerians, No One is Illegal- Toronto, STATUS 
Coalition Toronto, Fire this Time Movement for Social Justice Vancouver, No 
One is Illegal Vancouver, South Asian Womens Community Center Montreal, 
QPIRG Mcgill, Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees, 
QPIRG Concordia, Dragonroot Center for Gender Advocacy, Solidarity for 
Palestinian Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement, Jewish 
Alliance Against the Occupation, Coalition Against War and Racism Toronto, 
Block the Empire Montreal, Direct Action Against Refugee Exploitation (DARE- 
Vancouver)

*****************************************************************************

Deportation means death, family says
Certain they will be sent back to Pakistan now that Canada has refused 
refugee status

LEVON SEVUNTS
The Gazette

Monday, October 20, 2003

Assia Ibad says she is preparing to die.

The 36-year-old mother of three is certain that if her family is deported to 
their native Pakistan, they will lose their lives.

"We think not how we are going to live but how we are going to die," she 
says, sobbing softly. "There is no chance of life."

Ibad, her husband Naveed and the couple's children are going to be deported 
to the United States tomorrow, following the Immigration and Refugee Board 
refusal to grant them refugee status. From the U.S., the family fears they 
will be eventually deported to Pakistan.

Ibad and her three children - daughter Aliza, 14, and sons Pallal, 12, and 
Nawwal, 9 - fled Pakistan in September 2001. They headed to the U.S. to join 
her husband, Naveed, who left Pakistan in 1998, fearing for his life.

In June 2002, the family finally made it to Canada and asked for refugee 
status.

Ibad comes from a prominent family in the Shia Muslim minority. Her husband 
was a Sunni Muslim. After they were married, he started to donate money and 
attended prayers at imambargah, a Shia place of worship.

Ibad said that didn't go well with the radical Sunni Islamic group 
Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, which for years has campaigned to declare the 
country's Shia minority as non-Muslim.

The SSP has been blamed by police for more than 400 killings in recent 
years.

Naveed said SSP thugs attacked him several times, threatening to kill him if 
he didn't denounce the Shia faith and divorce his wife. He abandoned his 
prosperous business and fled to the U.S.

But the threats against the family only accelerated, forcing Ibad and the 
children to spend three years on the run.

"My children couldn't go outside to play, they couldn't go anywhere," Ibad 
said. "They were stuck at home."

In July 2001, armed SSP militants caught up with them. Only the intervention 
of her neighbours saved her, she said.

Immigration lawyer Stewart Istvanffy said the family has a well-documented 
case. He called on the federal government to stop deportations of Shia 
Muslims to Pakistan, especially given the recent assassination of SSP leader 
Azam Tariq and the wave of sectarian violence and unrest that followed.

Robert Gervais, spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration, said refugee 
claimants who already lost their pre-removal risk assessment, could still 
ask the Federal Court for a stay of removal if new facts emerge. Gervais 
said, however, there is no automatic stay of removal.

lsevunts at thegazette.canwest.com

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