[van-announce] "Borders Within: Two-Tiered Citizenship in Post-9/11 Canada" - March 19th Keynote Panel

[riaz ahmed behra]

***Please Forward Widely***
 
Borders Within: Two-Tiered Citizenship in Post-9/11 Canada
Friday March 19, 2004 2-4 pm
Norm Theatre - Student Union Building – UBC
Keynote Panel Featuring Tarek Fatah, Hind Charkaoui, Amina Sherazee and Sunera Thobani
 
"This is the same process we saw in France before the revolution with lettres de cachet, and it's the same process we used during the Second World War against Japanese and Italian Canadians who were interned"–Rocco Galati, prominent civil rights lawyer

In the last three years, post-9/11 legislation has been hastily pushed through Parliament under the pretence of "security concerns," yet the majority of Canadians are unaware of their full implications. These sweeping changes in citizenship, immigration, and security policy radically alter the rights of foreign-born citizens, immigrants, refugees, and "non-status" people, entrenching a system of two-tiered rights in Canada. 

Arab and Muslim people currently face mass deportations, racial profiling, denial of judicial rights, and even the stripping of citizenship, while a culture of fear has isolated and demonized these communities. At the same time, the legislation has given the state increased powers to criminalize all immigrants and refugees. 

These changes have long-term ramifications for the ongoing struggle for racial equality and social justice. How have these communities, already fighting economic marginalization, displacement, and unequal access to resources, responded to recent attacks, and how can we support them in their struggle for equal rights?

Featuring guest speakers:
Tarek Fatah - Tarek is the founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a progressive grassroots organization that advocates for a more anti-racist and accessible immigration policy, and works to build communities free from racism, intolerance, patriarchy, and poverty. Tarek is the host of the TV show Muslim Chronicle, and is regularly featured on Counterspin, the Globe and Mail, and other news media, writing on a variety of topics from attacks on civil liberties and gay rights to Pakistan and Palestine. Tarek makes his home in Toronto.

Hind Charkaoui - Hind is the sister of Adil Charkaoui, Montreal student and father of two who has been detained without charge, evidence, or trial since May 2003 under a "national security certificate." Adil's case has been central in federal court appeals challenging the constitutionality of security certificates. Hind has been extremely active speaking out against the use of secret trials through the Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui. Hind states: "This process is itself a danger to security - not only to my family but to all of us in Canada."

Amina Sherazee - Amina is a Toronto-based immigration, employment and human rights lawyer. She is also a member of Lawyers Against the War, and one of Canada's leading voices against repressive federal legislation such as Bill C-36. 

With UBC faculty:
Dr. Sunera Thobani: Sunera is a professor in the Women's Studies' Department at UBC and a former president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. She has been an outspoken critic on the War on Terror, and is active on many feminist and anti-racist issues. 
 
Presented by AMS Colour Connected and International House
with UBC Equity Office and Safe Together @ UBC
 
"Borders Within" is the joint keynote for 
UBC Realities of Racism Week March 15th-19th
 Contact: march21ubc at yahoo.com 604-822-1421
See www.ams.ubc.ca for full program of events

and 
UBC International Week March 17th-19th
www.students.ubc.ca/international






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