Emergency rally Saturday and other events
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- Published on Friday, 04 September 2015 11:00
- Written by editor
Emergency rally Saturday, Noon, tourist info booth. "Open the border: Stop bombing Syria!"
Spread the word. If you are Facebook the event is https://www.facebook.com/events/866680666713863/
You will all by now have seen the heart-rending photograph of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian refugee who drowned off the Turkish coast along with his five-year-old brother Galib and mother Rehan trying to escape their war-torn country.
But this is not just another shameful tale from Fortress Europe, of yet another needless death amongst the thousands this year who have lost their lives trying cross the Mediterranean on crowded dinghies or frozen in the back of trucks or asphyxiated in airplane cargo holds.
This is a Canadian shame as well.
Aylan’s family was trying to enter Canada, sponsored by their aunt in Vancouver. But in June, Harper’s vicious, anti-immigrant government rejected their application.
Under the Tories, the number... of refugee claims has dropped by 50 percent and the number of successful claims cut by 30 percent. Canada has dropped from the fifth to the fifteenth on the UN list of refugee-accepting industrialised countries. The Harper government has introduced a raft of exclusionary restrictions for refugees and immigrants, including mandatory incarceration for some refugees, restricted access to basic healthcare, and deportation if the minister of immigration decides that they no longer need protection—and of course making it much, much harder to come to Canada.
This is the same attitude to that taken in the 1930s when Jews were fleeing the Holocaust, and Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King—the man who adorns our $50 bill—infamously said when asked how many refugees Canada could accept, that “None is too many.”
As Europe grapples with its largest influx of refugees since the Second World War, we ordinary people must show solidarity with our fellow human beings from other lands and demonstrate to our government that immigrants and refugees are welcome here.
Immigration restrictions are an abominable cruelty anywhere, but in Canada—the second least densely populated country in the world—they really make no sense. We are a wealthy country and all but empty.
It is an absurdity that billions of dollars can cross borders in the blink of an eye without let or hindrance, yet humans cannot.
Just open the borders and let as many come as want to. No one is illegal. Open the borders now!
Join the demonstration on Saturday at noon declaring that No One is Illegal. Bring homemade signs saying calling on our government to open the borders and showing how immigrants are welcome here.
Many people have wept at the photographs we have seen. They could be our children, our nieces and nephews, our cousins or grandchildren. Come show your fury and grief at our government’s callous indifference to the suffering of our fellow human beings.
Make your voice heard!
The tragic picture of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, drowned off Turkey as he and his family fled Syria as refugees, should be the final straw!
Faites-vous entendre!
L’image tragique du petit Aylan Kurdi, 3 ans, noyé au large de la Turquie alors que sa famille et lui tentait de fuir la Syrie en tant que réfugiés, devrait être le coup de grâce!
More Info :
Minister Chris Alexander excuses himself and his government saying that the Kurdi’s family did not actually have a refugee file with Canada. Nevertheless, Kurdi’s aunt sought to sponsor both of her brothers’ families, and Canadian sponsorship rules limited her to just one of the families. Aylan Kurdi’s aunt chose to try to sponsor her older brother – a choice that was perhaps a macabre “happy coincidence” for Minister Alexander. But ultimately, the older brother’s family was rejected by Canada anyway. What’s more, Alexander was personally handed a file by NDP MP Fin Donnelly, which mentioned the urgent need of both families. Alexander ignored the file.
But the tragic picture of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, and his family’s tragic story are only the latest chapter in Alexander’s mean-spirited, arrogant, and racist tenure as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.
Systematic Policy to Turn Away Refugees
According to Geraldine Sadoway and Andrew Brouwer, two refugee lawyers in Toronto, “Canada has been closing every possible avenue of access for refuges.” Canada’s actions have been both quiet and systematic, driving asylum seekers “into the hands of smugglers who are reaping profits at the expense of the lives of desperate people.”
Alexander and the Canadian government have been imposing visa requirements, sanctioning airlines and shipping lines that bring in people without satisfactory documentation. It has also been penalizing people who assist refugees to reach Canada, denying refugees the opportunity to bring family into the country with them, restricting refugee seekers to enter Canada through the United States, and increasing the number of administrative control points a refugee must pass through in order to enter the country.
The numbers speak for themselves. The number of people claiming refugee status in Canada reached a “historic low” of 10,356 in 2013, according to Ottawa — less than half the average of previous years. To help illustrate the degree of Canada’s anti-refugee measures, immigration reporter Nicholas Keung compared our country to Sweden, a fellow OECD member of 9.6 million people. While in 2014, Canada received 13,500 asylum claims—about one-third more than the year before—the small Nordic country admitted 75,100 refugees in the same period; roughly five times more asylum claims than Canada, despite the fact that Sweden has a quarter of Canada’s population and a fraction of its landmass.
Canada’s new “low” with Syrian refugees
To date, the Canadian government has committed more than $700 million to respond to the Syrian crisis, only half the $1.4 billion it provided to Haiti since 2006. Worse, war-ravaged Syria received only $110 million in 2014, considerably less than what Canada’s largest aid recipients got the same year—Ethiopia ($186 million), Tanzania ($180 million), and Mozambique ($133 million).
Alexander and his Conservative government were heavily criticized for failing to meet an earlier commitment to resettle 1,300 Syrians by the end of 2014, following an appeal by the United Nations Refugee Agency to resettle 100,000 refugees worldwide. Canada then committed to resettling 10,000 more Syrian refugees over the next three years, but many questioned Canada’s resolve. Between 1975 and 1985, Canada accepted 110,000 Indochinese refugees, eleven times the amount Ottawa has assigned for Syrians. And most of those “new” 10,000 are to come to Canada under private sponsorships (churches, etc.), as Alexander and the government refused to offer another humanitarian cent for Syrian refugee resettlement.
Worse, in a very controversial manner, Ottawa fails to prioritize Syrian refugees whose families are already in Canada – like the family of Aylan Kurdi. And even worse, in a highly controversial move, the government said it will “prioritize” Syrian refugees based on ethnic and religious grounds, a move clearly intended to discriminate against Syrian Muslims, who make up over 85 per cent of Syria’s population.
Alexander should Resign
3-year-old Aylan Kurdi is a heart-breaking symbol of the failure of Alexander and Canada to respond in a humane and moral way to the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. Chris Alexander, spare us the empty promises and the lame excuses, and resign from public life!
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Robert Fisk to speak on ISIS in 7 Canadian cities
No service fees for
on-line tickets
Aucun frais de service à l’achat de billets en ligne
CJPME cordially invites you to hear veteran Middle East journalist and author Robert Fisk on his Canadian tour, September 20-26.
Fisk’s lectures will focus on how the Syrian civil war – especially the rise of the so-called “Islamic State” – has destabilized the existing order in the Middle East. Fisk’s talk is entitled: ‘Goodbye, Mr. Sykes! Adieu, M. Picot!’ How the ISIS ‘caliphate’ frightens the Middle East – and us.
Tour dates include (click links for details):
- Victoria, Sun., Sept. 20
- Vancouver, Mon., Sept. 21
- Guelph, Tue., Sept. 22*
- Hamilton, Wed., Sept. 23*
- Toronto, Thu., Sept. 24*
- Ottawa, Fri., Sept. 25
- Montreal, Sat., Sept. 26
Based in Beirut since 1976, Dr. Fisk has been the Middle East correspondent for the British newspaper The Independent since 1988. He is the author of five books, including the seminal tome The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (2005), Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War (1990) and The Age of the Warrior: Selected Writings (2008). He is a highly respected veteran journalist because of his direct and uncompromising reporting and analysis.
Fisk's address will be followed by a Q&A period.
Please share this email widely with friends and acquaintances.
Hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
The CJPME Leadership
Telephone: 438-380-5410
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- CJPME
Website
* Our sincerest apologies to our Jewish-Canadian and Muslim-Canadian friends who each have an important holiday on the week that Dr. Fisk is speaking. The choice of dates for this tour was out of CJPME’s control.
Ticket Information by City
Victoria, BC - Sunday, Sept. 20, 7:00 p.m.
Location (see map): University of Victoria, Auditorium TBA, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2.
Students (with ID): $10 advance / $15 at the door
Non-students:
$15 advance / $20 at the door
You may buy advance tickets on-line for this event by clicking here, or by calling 438-380-5410. For additional details on the Victoria event, please see the CJPME website. Share the Victoria Facebook event with your friends.
This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, University of Victoria.
Dining Out for Ghanaian Girls & Women
All money raised will be donated to the Queen Mother Veronica Project in Ghana
6:30 pm, Saturday, September 26, 2015
St. Joseph the Worker Church
753 Burnside Road West
Dinner prepared by Ghanaian born Executive Chef Castro Boateng http://www.castroboateng.com/contact/about-castro
Live music with Mbira Spirit http://www.newzimbabwe.com/showbiz-21299-Mbira+Spirit+make+Canada+impact/showbiz.aspx
For more on the Queen Mother Veronica Project, see http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-international-efforts-fight-female-mutilation-1.1754242
Helen
Helen Rezanowich
Program Assistant, UVic Women's/Gender Studies
CLE B111 250-721-7378
facebook.com/groups/284539241613614/
Follow @GndrStudiesUVic
Invitation to walk or Run for Biodiversity in Victoria!
For the 4th year running, one of Canada’s most experienced international development organizations, USC Canada (founded in 1945 as the Unitarian Service Committee), has registered our Run for Biodiversity<http://usc-canada.org/component/k2/item/116-r4b-victoria> (R4B) as part of the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, half marathon, 8km and kids races being held on October 11.
We’re looking for dedicated runners and walkers to help us fundraise! It’s for a great cause – you’ll be helping farming families rebuild their lives after the disastrous earthquakes in Nepal<http://usc-canada.org/resources/news/item/264-update-nepal-s-long-road-to-recovery>.
• All R4B-Victoria runners and walkers who commit to raising $100 will receive a specially-designed Run for Biodiversity T-shirt<http://www.flickr.com/groups/run-for-biodiversity/pool/> in appreciation for their fundraising efforts.
• As a special campaign again this year, the first 10 students who contact us will be registered for free!
• In addition, we will offer free registration to anyone who raises $250 or more.
• And for non-students, pls note that the registration rates go up on Sept 15, so contact us soon if you’re interested in joining us.
Send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.%3cmailto:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Many thanks,
David
David Rain
Legacy Gifts and Donor Recognition
Coordinator, Run for Biodiversity
USC Canada
56 Sparks Street, Suite 705
Ottawa, ON
Canada K1P 5B1
Tel: 1-613-234-6827, ext 231
Fax: 1-613-234-6842
Social Justice Studies ProgramUniversity of Victoriaweb.uvic.ca/socialjustice/@UVicSJS on TwitterUVicSJS on FacebookUVicSJS on YouTube
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