VOL SPÉCIAL

Fernand Melgar / CH / 2011 / 100 min / French with English subtitles

This special screening is co-presented by No One is Illegal and Solidarity Across Borders. Robyn Maynard & Jaggi Singh will be our guest speakers.
INFO: www.solidarityacrossborders.org / www.nooneisillegal.org

[Message from the organizers at Cinema Politica: "Few films have affected us in the way VOL SPÉCIAL has - the images of men detained for months without rights or recourse, in that infamously "liberal" country, Switzerland, is haunting and will send chills down the spine for long after viewing. Join us Monday for this special screening, with guest speakers who will connect the film to local issues as well as ways to get involved."]

SYNOPSIS: Each year, thousands of men and women in Switzerland are imprisoned without trial or sentence. Simply because they stay in the country illegally, they may be deprived of liberty for up to eighteen months before being deported.

After The Fortress (awarded with the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival), which dealt with the reception conditions for asylum seekers in Switzerland, Fernand Melgar takes a look at the other end of the chain, i.e. at the situation towards the end of the migrants’ journey. The filmmaker immersed himself for 9 months in the administrative detention centre Frambois in Geneva, one of the 28 deportation centres for the paperless in Switzerland.

For more info and to watch the film’s trailer, click here: http://www.cinemapolitica.org/emvideo/modal/4080/800/600/field_trailer_url/youtube/9vL1PgyL0lk

December 23, 2011, Montreal — Three months after Canada deported Paola Ortiz to Mexico, the mother of two Canadian citizen children has received her selection certificate from the Quebec immigration authorities. Today, Ortiz is applying to the federal authorities to allow her to return to Canada as a temporary resident, so she can be reunited as quickly as possible with her children, aged 2 and 5. Now welcome in Quebec, there remains one man standing between Paola and her family: federal immigration minister, Jason Kenney.

Ortiz had fled Mexico in 2006 to escape domestic and sexual abuse at the hands of her then-partner, who is a federal officer in the Mexican police. Despite  lots of individuals and more than 20 community, women’s and human rights groups urging the federal government to reverse its decision to deport Ortiz, and widespread condemnation of the deportation she was deported in September 2011.

« Amongst Western nations, Canada has one of the worst records when it comes to deporting non-citizen parents of Canadian children, and thus of breaking apart countless families» decries Ortiz’s lawyer, Stewart Istvanffy. «We have a government that calls itself the protector of family values, but where is the respect for the sanctity of family life? It’s pure hypocrisy. »

Since her removal, Ortiz has been forced to live in hiding, as she fears for her life at the hands of her ex. As more time passes, she is increasingly distressed that her kids, who have special needs, are being denied the care of their mother. She thanks the Quebec immigration minister for acting with compassion and in the best interests of her children, but this time of year, it is hard for Paola to be in good spirits. As more time passes, and as Christmas approaches, Paola’s anguish intensifies.

Solidarity Across Borders, which is supporting Ortiz in her struggle to return to Canada, and over 700 individuals who have signed an online petition urges the federal government in whose hands her case now rests to take action so that she can be reunited with her kids as soon as possible. Because of the Canadian government’s intransigence, two Canadian children have been deprived of their mother for months and must now spend Christmas without knowing when they will see her again.  It has left them both traumatized.

–30—

CONTACTS:
Stewart Istvanfy: 514-876-9776
Julie Marcoux: 438-937-9844 (french)
Rosalind Wong: 514-839-1657 (english)

Thursday, December 22, 2011

JACOB IS SAFE AND SOUND (update)

Jacob Niyongabo was deported to Burundi on Tuesday afternoon. In the evening of December 21st, he arrived in the capital city of Bujumbura, a city his family was forced to flee 16 years ago due to ethnic-based violence that took over 300,000 civilian lives.

The customs officers in Bujumbra initially attempted to hold Jacob in their custody to verify his travel documents and identity, but friends of Solidarity Across Borders who work in Bujumbra were present at the airport and negotiated for his clearance. He is now with extended family members, and our friends will help Jacob get his Burundi papers in order.

Jacob’s mother, Marie-Louise, was elated to speak to him upon his arrival and to find out that he was not handcuffed during the trip, as the CBSA officer had stated, ‘if Jacob is calm, we will take his handcuffs off’.

Jacob was escorted by CBSA from Montreal to Amsterdam, and then allowed to travel freely to Burundi. When Jacob’s mother and older brother brought his luggage to Immigration Canada, at 1010 St-Antoine, they were fortunate to be granted a visit with Jacob just before he was whisked away to the Dorval airport. ‘We kept telling them to think about how they would feel if Jacob was their son’, recounts Marie-Louise as she describes the last moments of anxiety and fear that she has ravaged her family’s life for months.

Jacob’s humanitarian and compassionate claim is still being processed, but his family will have to wait at least 5 years before requesting permission from the government for Jacob to re-enter Canada. Jacob now begins a new life and will have to live with the politically motivated violence that still grips Burundi, and can erupt in public places at any time.

The Niyongabo family is deeply grateful to everyone who responded to their call for support and appreciates our efforts in exerting political pressure on a belligerent government that arrogantly refuses to respect peoples’ rights. Solidarity Across Border is equally thankful to everyone who took the time to make calls and fax in letters to the Ministers office.

The struggle continues…
Status for all!

Tuesday, DECEMBER 20th, 10am

Fill the courtroom at the Federal Court !

30 ave McGill,  metro Square Victoria

Monday, December 19th

Call and fax the Ministers

Jacob Niyongabo is a young Montrealer, born in Burundi, who is currently detained and threatened with a deportation order set for Tuesday, December 20th, 2011.

He is one of six children in a family which has lived in Quebec for the past 16 years. The family were welcomed as refugees after they fled persecution and ethnic violence which has plagued Burundi since the 1994 genocide. Jacob arrived in Montreal when he was 10 years old; he grew up here and his entire family lives here.

Jacob was a victim of violent physical and psychological abuse perpetuated by individuals, among whom were federal police officers. He has suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and has had many personal difficulties growing up. He has no contacts whatsoever in Burundi: no family, no friends, no acquaintances and no allies. On the contrary, there are only people who might harm or kill him because of the on-going ethnic persecution and his family name.

Jacob was convicted of several misdemeanors stemming from a difficult childhood, and has purged his sentences since 2008. Today, the Canadian government demonstrates irresponsibility in refusing to recognize the violence and impunity that ravages Burundi, and turns a blind eye to the serious risk to his life Jacob faces if deported.

The Niyongabo family has spent years recovering from psychological trauma caused from the context of war that forced them to flee Burundi. Today, they find themselves once more reliving these war traumas. Jacob’s family has the right to live in justice, dignity and security, in Canada, with Jacob.

The manner in which Jacob Niyongabo’s case has been dealt with exposes a disturbing trend within the Canadian immigration system; denial of the realities of violence and impunity in many countries throughout the world, and an increased reliance on repressive measures such as detention and fast-track deportations, utterly failing to consider the rights of the family and the psychological vulnerability of a young man who has lived through multiple violent traumas.

Last thursday, Jacob’s lawyer applied for a stay of deportation at the Federal Court – for Jacob’s sake and for the sake of his entire family, devastated by this double punishment.

It seems likely that he will be granted a Federal court hearing by teleconference this Monday. With this in mind, we ask that you support Jacob and show your complete rejection of this injustice, in order to overturn the decision to deport him.

We are asking you to please take a few minutes of your time to write and call the two Ministers who have the political power to intervene, to demand that Jacob remain in Canada – be precise and state that they can stay the deportation so that the humanitarian and compassionate claim for permanent residency be processed and accepted. 

You will find a model letter to send by fax below (email is less reliable).

Minister of Public Safety (responsible for deportations)

Vic Toews

Tel: 613-992-3128

Fax : 613-995-1049

toews.v@parl.gc.ca

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Jason Kenney

Tel: 613-992-2235

Fax: 613-992-1920

Minister@cic.gc.ca

** Model letter to send to the two Ministers **

CITY / DATE

RE: STAY FOR JACOB NIYONGABO (DATE OF BIRTH: 3 APRIL 1984)

Honorable Vic Toews / Honorable Jason Kenney,

I am writing to ask you to intervene in the file of Jacob Niyongabo – currently facing deportation – and request that he be granted a stay of deportation so that his application on humanitarian grounds can be duly processed and accepted.

As Minister, you have the discretionary power to grant a stay for Jacob and thereby offer him the possibility of life and freedom – free from suffering, fear, hardship and probably death.

Jacob Niyongabo is a Montrealer who was born in Burundi. His family arrived in Quebec 16 years ago, after fleeing the violence related to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and its parallel reality in Burundi. The Niyongabo family was accepted as convention refugees and settled in Montreal. In Burundi, Jacob experienced physical and psychological violence by individuals, including federal police officers. He subsequently suffered post traumatic stress syndrome and many personal difficulties growing up.

Immigration Canada refuses to accept the risk to his life if the deportation is executed. The deportation has been scheduled for December 20, 2011.

In Burundi, many denounce the widespread violence and impunity in which the aggressors operate. The deportation is nothing less than a death sentence for the offenses that Jacob has already paid for through the Canadian criminal justice system.

Although Jacob already purged his sentence (in 2008), he is currently detained. His lawyer has applied for a stay to the Federal Court, in Jacob’s interest and in the family’s interest as well, as they are all devastated by this double punishment. The Niyongabo family has spent years recovering from psychological trauma stemming from the context of war that forced them to flee Burundi. Today, they find themselves once more reliving these war traumas.

We believe that the deportation order against Jacob Niyongabo represents the failure to protect human rights and refugee rights, given the fact that the country where he is being sent to is politically unstable and has a history of ethnic cleansing. Jacob’s family has the right to live in justice, dignity and security, in Canada, with Jacob.

It is clear that Jacob Niyongabo will be deported to inhumane conditions in Burundi. Moreover, he has been here since he was 10 years old and has lived in Montreal for 16 years. He has no contacts whatsoever in Burundi: no family, no friends, no acquaintances, and no allies. On the contrary, there are only people who might harm or kill him because of the on-going ethnic persecution and his family name.

I am requesting that you consider Jacob’s fate from a human perspective, and that you act according to humanitarian principles, which should be guiding all decisions made by this government. Please grant a stay of deportation to Jacob Niyongabo so that his humanitarian application can be duly processed and accepted.

Sincerely,

NAME

SUNDAY, December 18, 2011

Gathering at NOON in front of the IRB

200 boul Réné-Levesque W. (metro place d’armes)

December 18^th is International Migrants Day, designated as a global day of action against racism and for the rights of migrants, refugees and displaced persons around the world. Contrary to the spirit of this annual event, Canada systematically violates the rights of migrants. A glaring example of this is the new visa requirement for Mexican nationals enforced in July 2009, and the subsequent deportation of almost all asylum seekers who seek protection in Canada due to the endemic violence engulfing Mexico in recent years.

To mark this day of action, Mexicans United for Regularization invites you to join us on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 12pm at the Guy Favreau Complex, located at 200 René-Lévesque Boulevard West, Montreal.

Who are we?

We are a group of Mexicans and their allies who are fighting for the regularization of all Mexicans living in Quebec. We demand a comprehensive and continuous regularization program, open to all Mexicans established in Quebec who do not have immigration status.

Due to the irresponsibility of the Canadian government and its refusal to recognize the extreme violence that ravages Mexico coupled with the inability of the Mexican state to protect its citizens, thousands of people fearing for their lives if they were to return to their home country, have been, are or will be forced to remain here without papers. Consequently, we find ourselves in a situation of extreme vulnerability. Indeed, we are the most exploited in the labor market and throughout society. We are deprived of basic rights such as education, health, labor standards and generally live in fear, anxiety and isolation.

We demand –> an end to the deportations of Mexicans and that we be granted permanent residency.

Why we take action?

In December 2006, Felipe Calderon’s government declared a “war on drug traffickers” and deployed the army throughout the country, despite its history of human rights violations and impunity. Rather than contributing to a decrease in violence associated with organized crime, the military has committed countless human rights violations, including executions, torture, rape and other abuses.

For the people of Mexico, the military violence adds insult to injury. Civilians are dying every day, caught in the crossfire of the drug cartels and armed forces. In addition, organized crime is targeting the civilian population with extortion, kidnapping for ransom, forced recruitment and the killing of anyone who does not submit to their rules and reign of terror. Not a day goes by without a shooting, killing, bombings, discovery of decapitated bodies, or tortured victims that have been thrown onto a public plaza in order to terrorize the population. The city of Ciudad Juarez has won the dubious distinction of the most violent city on the planet. After 5 years of this bloody war, the death toll is at 50,000 deaths (including 1322 children), between 10,000 and 20,000 missing persons, and 230,000 displaced people.  Moreover, drug cartels have infiltrated several spheres of power. More than 200 municipalities are controlled by organized crime and are completely beyond the control of the state. Recently, an application was filed with the International Court of Justice at The Hague to begin proceedings against the President of Mexico for crimes against humanity in connection with the so called “war against drugs.”

Yet, the violence from drug trafficking and the army is not the only phenomena that Mexicans who sought refuge in Canada face and for which they cannot return. The following list explains the countless violations Mexicans are submitted to:

- Extreme forms of violence against women perpetrated in complete impunity.

- Attacks, intimidation and frequent murders of human rights defenders, activists and militants.

- An increase in the paramilitarization of entire regions, leading many to call it the “colombianization of Mexico.”

- Mexico ranks second in the world for the number of journalists who are murdered.

- A severe deterioration in the rule of law, a dysfunctional judicial system, and no access to justice for the majority of Mexicans, causing and perpetuating violence and impunity.

- And there is widespread persecution of sexual minorities.

For these reasons, we consider it to be a crime that the Canadian government continues to deport Mexicans back to a country ravaged by unprecedented violence. We therefore demand that they be granted the right to remain here and be given permanent resident status immediately.

WE ARE HERE AND WE WILL STAY HERE!

Mexicans United for Regularization (M.U.R)

Video link of MUR at a CCR conference

https://twitter.com/#!/MurUnidxs

Press Review

Mexicans protest Ottawa’s asylum policies  CTV

FRENCH

Premier Noël dans la clandestinité   Canoe

Rassemblement contre l’expulsion des Mexicains   La Presse

Des ressortissants mexicains critiquent les politiques d’Immigration Canada   La Presse Canadienne

Les politiques d’Immigration Canada à l’endroit de Mexicains dénoncées   Le Devoir

Today at Mont Zion Evangelical Church, 7064 St. Hubert St., where Victor has long been a member of the congregation, family, friends and community members will gather for a press conference to reject double punishment and demand status for Victor Morales.

After living and working in Montreal for 32 years, musician Victor Morales was slated to be deported on February 8th to Chile – a country his family fled when he was just six years old. Victor Morales went to Federal court and obtained a stay of deportation on grounds that the Canadian government is obliged to protect family life and the best interests of his children.

This Sunday, November 13th, 2011, Victor Morales and fellow musicians will perform Andean music before his congregation where he has been active for years. This short performance will be followed by a press conference, during which several members of his community will express their support for Victor and his indisputable place in Quebecois and Canadian society.

Victor was accepted as a refugee by Canada in 1978 and subsequently became a permanent resident. Although he obtained a stay of removal, he is still threatened with deportation. “It is so discouraging” Victor explains. “It feels like at every step, there is a huge battle just to prove myself. I am so tired. All I want is peace, and to take care of my family in peace.”

 For the best interests of his children and the protection of family life, Victor applied to stay in Canada for humanitarian reasons. He now awaits a decision for a judicial review of the refused humanitarian and compassionate claim for permanent residency from the federal court.

“We hope to send a strong message to the public and to the government that Victor Morales’s place is here, among his friends and family, and with the community where he has lived since his early childhood,” states Rosalind Wong of Solidarity Across Borders.  “In order for double punishment to go unopposed, authorities paint people like Victor as irredeemable perpetrators of ‘great criminality’. But the truth is that many are parents, workers, and friends who work hard and who take care of their families. They are capable of turning their lives around overcoming enormous obstacles and do contribute to society.  Double punishment only succeeds if we ignore this reality, and allow that they be stripped of their humanity, their dignity and their rights.”
- 30 -

BACKGROUNDER on Victor Morales’ struggle

MEDIA LINKS on Victor Morales’ struggle

Pétition: Paola doit revenir/ Paola must come back!

La Presse (22 octobre 2011): Paola: La fugitive

An anti-colonial contingent joining and supporting protesters at Occupy Montreal
In solidarity with Occupy Wall Street actions worldwide

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15
MEET at NOON (sharp!)
SQUARE VICTORIA 

- Near métro Square Victoria
- Join our contingent by looking for the “F*#! Capitalism” banner.
- This is a family-friendly contingent.

As thousands of people across North America take the streets this Saturday, October 15, we invite you to join an anti-colonial contingent at the Occupy Montreal presence in Square Victoria, in the heart of Montreal’s financial district.

We stand in solidarity with demonstrators in New York, Boston, and countless other American cities, in rejection of this capitalist system and the misery it brings. We also recognize that those cities, like Montreal, are already occupied territory. We stand against colonialism and in support of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island struggling for land, autonomy, and dignity. We stand against patriarchy and racism, and for the self-determination of all peoples. We are also inspired by uprisings for justice and dignity around the world, from Egypt to Chile, from Greece to South Korea.

We fundamentally reject the notion that the police are “potential allies” of our movements, and call attention to the bloody and ongoing history of police impunity and killings in Montreal. We support a respect for a diversity of tactics and a culture of solidarity and mutual aid, not division, within our struggles.

INFO: indigenoussolidaritymontreal@gmail.com

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 at 5:30pm at PHILLIPS SQUARE

INFO: www.clac-montreal.net – info@clac-montreal.net

—
The next G20 summit will take place November 3rd and 4th in Cannes, France. This meeting between the 20 most powerful countries on the planet will take place while Europe is in a full-blown debt crisis. More than 10 000 police and military personnel will be on hand for the occasion, but resistance is being organized and will be heard in the streets of France and Europe.

The main theme on the agenda of this G20 summit is: “The return of growth and financial stability (…) it must be demonstrated that there is a global strategy to fix the debt crisis”. It’s always the same thing that preoccupies the puppets at the head of capitalist states: “Reassure investors”! Even if this is done while butchering people’s living and working conditions and forcing millions of families into precarious situations. They don’t need to reassure ordinary people, because our future, like the future of the planet, is expendable!

The Canadian Conservative government, which pitches an image of itself on the international scene as having “better succeeded” than others in the context of the global economic crisis, wants the “Canadian model” of repressive, racist, and regressive policies that are implemented here against our communities to serve as a guiding line for all the other G20 countries.

The outlook of the next few years under the Harper government is chilly: a heightened criminalization of young people, the poor, migrants, and political dissidents, new super-prisons, austerity measures (privatization of public services, cuts to social programs and to funding for community organizations), attempts to criminalize abortion, the tightening of immigration policies and more deportations, massive military spending, etc. But in reality, we are facing the same threats as people all over the Western world: a capitalist system which is taking off its “social-democrat” mask to reveal its true face. In the global South, people have long suffered the ravages of criminals in suits who are devouring their lands.

Harper’s Canada wants to take more place on the global chess board as an important capitalist and imperialist power. For Harper, the G20 is an important site to carve his place as a political and economic leader of the global capitalist system, and to export his reactionary morals. We should fight against the Canadian government and its policies of entrenching poverty on a local scale and then exporting it globally, much like the ensemble of the G20 capitalist and imperialist states who perpetuate the accumulation of wealth for an elite global mafioso at the expense of the rest of humanity.

This barbarism has gone on for long enough. The winds of change are picking up everywhere. We have a lot of challenges to overcome, but to stay silent in the face of these horrors is to be complicit. On November 3rd, come demonstrate your anger with us in the streets of Montreal against the G20, Canadian imperialism, and the Conservative government ! Let’s show them our rage against the incessant injustices of the capitalist system !
—

Reminder:
Anti-capitalist demonstration
against the G20, Canadian imperialism, and the Conservative government
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 at 5:30pm at PHILLIPS SQUARE
(Ste-Catherine West, between Union & Aylmer, McGill métro)
See you there!

English-language mobilizing materials:
- Flyers: http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/tracts-en.pdf
- Poster (black & white): http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/poster-nb-en.pdf
- Poster (colour):http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/poster-4c-en.pdf
(en français: http://www.clac-montreal.net/node/230)

INFO: www.clac-montreal.net – info@clac-montreal.net