JUSTICE AND DIGNITY DON'T FIT INTO BALLOT BOXES!

[The text below is from a flyer that was passed out at a picket sponsored by Solidarity Across Borders of Montreal outside of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe's election offices in Toronto this January 21, 2006. At least 50 members of Solidarity Across Borders, most of whom participated in the No One Is Illegal March on Ottawa (June 18-25, 2005) made the trip from Montreal to Toronto. ]

UPDATE: SEE PICTURES OF THE STATUS FOR ALL DEMONSTRATION IN TORONTO

-- JUSTICE AND DIGNITY DON'T FIT INTO BALLOT BOXES!

-- WHY WE ARE HERE.

We are Solidarity Across Borders, a Montreal-area network of self-organized migrants, refugees, and immigrants, and their allies. This past summer, between June 18-25, 2005, we marched, step-by-step, over 200km, from Montreal to Ottawa. From the immigrant neighborhoods of Montreal, to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, we marched because we refuse to be invisible and silenced.

We marched through the lands of the Mohawk and Algonquin peoples, and publicly supported their demands for sovereignty and self-determination.

We marched to support our main demands: 1) the regularization of all non-status people in Canada; 2) an end to the deportation and detention of migrants; and 3) the abolition of racist security certificates.

We marched because hundreds of thousands of people live in Canada without status. These people - our friends, co-workers, schoolmates and neighbours - make up the social, economic and cultural fabric of cities like Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Without status, and deemed "illegal", thousands of migrants are forced to live in poverty, without sufficient access to health care or education, and in great fear of being detained or deported, all the while being the most exploited in the workplace.

We marched on the 10th anniversary of the "Bread and Roses" March against poverty, organized by Quebec women, and the 70th anniversary of the "On-to-Ottawa" Trek, organized by unemployed workers during the Great Depression; we marched in the tradition of those previous efforts for social and economic justice.

We marched because there is no such thing as an "illegal" human being, only unjust laws and illegitimate governments.

Our march was directly inspired by Shamim Akhtar, a Pakistani refugee claimant and active member of Solidarity Across Borders. Shamim first proposed the idea of a refugee march to Ottawa in the summer of 2003. Unfortunately, Shamim and her family (including 4 children) were deported in the summer of 2004, and could not join our march.

We marched almost one year later with Shamim very much in mind, as well as all our other friends and allies who have been removed, detained, or forced underground or into sanctuary in the past years: Wendy Maxwell, Shakir Baloch, Sergio Loreto, the Cordoza family, the Daschevi family, Zahoor Hussein, Fahim Kayani, Tilo Johnson, the Isakovs, Kader Belaouni, Khursheda Khanam, the Arrellano-Diaz family, Dorothy Dube, Fatima Marhfoul, Mohamed Cherfi, Ahmed Nafaa, Ahmed Abdel Majeed, the Ibad family, the Butt family, the Syed family, Eduardo and Gorka, Mourad and Nadia, the Portnoy family, the Vega family, the Borja family, the Ayoub family, the Ayele family, Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Hassan Almrei, Mohamed Harkat, Adil Charkaoui and many, too many, more.

Before deciding to march to Ottawa, we wrote hundreds of letters, collected thousands of signatures and organized dozens of demonstrations. We have successfully fought deportations and detentions, but have also seen our family members and friends permanently removed from our lives.

Despite our efforts, Joe Volpe, the Minister of Immigration, completely ignored our historic march. With his inaction, Joe Volpe showed his contempt for the rights of immigrants and refugees.

Today in Toronto -- more than six months after we left downtown Montreal on a collective journey to the decision-makers in Ottawa -- our march continues. We join with our allies in Toronto, dedicated groups like No One Is Illegal, Justice for Migrant Workers, the Campaign to Stop Secret Trials, Toronto Action for Social Change, SIKLAB, OCAP Immigration, and many more.

There will undoubtedly be many more challenges after the election, no matter who claims to hold power over our lives; but today, two days before the elections, we hold Joe Volpe accountable for his ignorance of the reality of non-status persons in Canada. Our actions are never taken in vain, but they are the result of our lived reality as immigrants and refugees; Joe Volpe must be made to understand that.

For every arbitrary detention, for every summary deportation, for every minute spent in jail without charge or trial, for every anxious and dehumanizing day spent waiting for status - all the days, months, years that the government has stolen from us - we will continue to march and struggle, for justice and dignity. Join us and take back stolen time.

-- SOLIDARITY ACROSS BORDERS-MONTREAL --
514-859-9023 -- [sansfrontieres at resist dot ca ]

www.solidarityacrossborders.org
[January 21, 2006]