[Wamvan] Updated: Supper in solidarity with immigrants and refugees

[Harsha W.]

Community Supper in solidarity with immigrants and refugees
with the Figueroa family as special guests.

Monday November 26, 2012. Doors at 6:00 pm
Grandview Calvary Baptist Church
1803 East 1st Ave (just east of Commercial Drive)
Dinner and Childcare provided. By donation (no one turned away).

Please join us for a community supper to highlight the particular struggle
of the Figueroa family - including their Canadian-born children - who are
facing deportation to El Salvador after having resided in Canada for
fifteen years. To learn more about the Figueroa family:
http://wearejose.wordpress.com/

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Program update:
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* Doors at 6 pm.
* Dinner served by 6:10 pm.

Program featuring:
* Figueroa family
* Daisy Chen of NOII and Sanctuary Health on current immigration issues
* Performances by Hari Alluri, Ruby Smith Diaz, and Cecily Nicholson
* Caroline N. Chingcuanco and Kim Villagante of Social Justice Art in
support of Jose Figueroa
* Maryam Adrangi of Rising Tide and CoC on the current austerity, and
anti-environmental/land defense agenda in the context of the War on Terror
* Hamoudi, a Palestinian refugee will be speaking about the current
Israeli attacks on Gaza, as well his personal struggle to remain in
Canada.

* Followed by breakout discussions at 7:30 pm, including:
- How you can get involved with the We are Jose campaign and Sanctuary
Health - Button-making with NOII and art table by Social Justice Art
- Strategizing concrete next steps and actions with NOII
- How can we build bridges between environmental justice and migrant
justice organizing with Ananda Tan of Rising Tide
- Discussions on growing the migrant justice movement: building solidarity
with those who are directly affected, countering growing anti-migrant
sentiments, and expanding spaces of resistance and sanctuary.

The situation of the Figueroa family is part of a frightening anti-refugee
trend in Canada that includes increasing deportations, mandatory
detentions including for some children, fatal cuts to refugee health care,
a two tier refugee system with discrimination based on nationality, and
so-called safe country lists making it harder for queer refugees.

The condition for immigrants is also rapidly deteriorating with a
moratorium on parent and grandparent sponsorships, heightened anti-terror
and security measures, the unilateral cancellation of 300,000 immigration
applications, stripping thousands of citizens of their citizenship,
implementation of a niqab ban at citizenship ceremonies, slashing the
quota for live-in caregivers to become permanent residents by almost 50
percent, conditional permanent residence for spouses that places women at
increased risk for spousal and partner abuse, and over $50 million in cuts
to immigrant services.

All of these changes are paralleled by an exponential increase in
temporary migrant workers, who can legally be paid 15 percent less than
the prevailing wage. The number of migrant workers, who have no rights to
permanent residency and are constantly exploited for their labour, is up
30 percent. This is a model of temporariness; Canada is ensuring that
migrants have no permanent rights of residency including family
reunification, and instead migrants are recruited primarily as indentured
labour for big business. Hundreds of refugees languish behind bars, while
hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and non-status people toil in
fields and factories.

Meanwhile, Canada continues to support policies of global militarism and
intervention, including in Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Haiti, as
well as negotiating economic trade agreements with Colombia, China, EU,
India, Tanzania, and Israel that facilitates corporate plundering,
environmental degradation, and displacement of people from their lands,
homes, and livelihoods. Under the guise of both the ‘War on Terror’ and
‘Austerity’, there is a rush to secure borders, expand the prison and
military, cut and privatize public services, extract and commodify natural
resources especially on Indigenous lands, and exploit labour.

Please join us on November 26th to continue to organize and raise
awareness around unjust immigration and refugee policies and their painful
impacts within our communities.

Accessibility info: Grandview Calvary Baptist Church’s kitchen’s entrance
is at street level, which gives access to washrooms, kitchen and lower
hall. The women’s washroom has a stall that can accommodate a wheelchair.
The washroom door opening is 86 cm, and the stall door is 61 cm.


Organized by No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories
www.nooneisillegal.org
www.facebook.com/NoOneIsIllegalNetwork
www.twitter.com/nooneisillegal



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/NoOneIsIllegalNetwork



-- 
Harsha Walia

https://twitter.com/HarshaWalia
https://www.facebook.com/NoOneIsIllegalNetwork