This is a bill modeled after Australia’s internationally condemned
policies of mandatory detention and human rights abuses against
asylum-seekers.
This bill proposes mandatory detention without review by
the Immigration and Refugee board for 12 months; denial of the right to
apply for permanent resident status until five years have passed since
favourable determination of the protection claim; denial of access to
relief based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, temporary
resident permits or refugee travel documents for five years or longer;
and denial of the right to appeal an unfavourable determination of
protection claim to the Refugee Appeal Division of the board.
Read an extensive Backgrounder below.
SCRAP ANTI-MIGRANT BILL C-4!
STOP KENNEY, HARPER AND THE TORIES!
The People v. Kenney
Freedom to move
Right to stay, and to Return
We are many.
Under the banner of combating human smuggling and deterring the
arrival of boats such as the MV Sun Sea, this is a bill that blatantly
criminalizes refugees and targets them for imprisonment and/or
deportation. By today’s standards, Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad
would have been considered a human smuggling operation!
TAKE ACTION!
It is imperative that people are aware of the implications of this bill, and organize to defeat it!
1) Download, post, share, and distribute these “I am a Human Smuggler” series: http://bit.ly/lEiRTW
2) Organize a rally, press conference, flash mob, or community
meeting against this bill. Write a statement or public release
expressing your opposition. Invite a speaker to your meeting. If you
need, email us noii-van@resist.ca for ideas and suggestions.
3) Contact your MP and demand that this bill be scrapped. Find your MP: http://bit.ly/mfMkVq
4) Let Jason Kenney know what you think about his racist anti-migrant
bil. Call him 403-225-3480
begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 403-225-3480 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
or 613-992-2235; Email kennej@parl.gc.ca; Twitter @kenneyjason
5) The story is currently getting a lot of coverage. Write your
comments in online stories or write a letter to the editor – make a
difference in public discourse! When you write a letter to the editor
you must include your name, mailing address and daytime phone number of
the writer; state “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line; and
content should be in the body of the email. Keep them short (under 100
words). Globe and Mail: letters at globeandmail.com, Vancouver Sun:
sunletters at png.canwest.com, Vancouver Province: provletters at
png.canwest.com, 24 Hours: news at sunmedia.ca, Metro News:
http://www.metronews.ca/Vancouver/comment/lettereditor, National Post:
letters at nationalpost.com, Georgia Straight: letters at straight.com,
Toronto Star: lettertoed at thestar.ca
6) Follow No One Is Illegal’s People v. Kenney Campaign. You can read
a factsheet about Kenney’s record on immigration and refugee policy,
ten reasons why we oppose Harper, and more: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?page_id=4139
>> Scrap Anti-Migrant Bill C 4!
>> Release Detained Asylum-Seekers!
>> Right to Stay, Freedom to Move, Right to Return!
It is not human smuggling that need be combated. It is the violence
of immigration controls and displacement that must be targeted,
struggled against, and defeated. No One Is Illegal!
www.nooneisillegal.org
www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
https://twitter.com/noii_vancouver
BACKGROUND ON BILL C 4
> Kenney and the Tories are justifying Bill C49 with the false rhetoric of “illegals”.
THE REALITY: Migrants who arrive irregularly – whether by boat or
with the assistance of smugglers are not illegal. There is no “queue”
for refugee claimants. Refugees are forced from their homes in emergency
situations due to human rights abuses committed during wars, military
occupations, or persecution. We must understand that they undertake long
and dangerous journeys to protect their lives and the lives of their
families. According to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, to which
Canada is a party, there are no penalties on refugees who arrive without
pre-authorization and irregularly.
> Bill C4 is being framed as a means to combat “human smuggling”.
THE REALITY: Many refugees have no choice but to use irregular means,
including resorting to smugglers, to flee persecution. A report by the
International Labour Organization discusses how many smuggling
operations are “difficult to distinguish from legitimate work of travel
agencies or labour recruitment agencies.” It is not criminal
organizations but anti-immigration policies that are the biggest
facilitators of human smuggling. Given increasingly restrictive border
policies, how are most people able to migrate if not with the assistance
of smuggling operations? As written by Professor James C. Hathaway,
“Human smugglers play a critical role in assisting refugees to reach
safety. Canada and other developed countries created the market on which
smugglers depend by erecting (literal and virtual) migration walls
around their territories.” The rhetoric against human smuggling is not
intended to ‘protect’ victims of smuggling (who are routinely detained
and deported), but to reinforce securitization of the border. Any
attempt to further criminalize human smuggling will ensure that migrants
forced to move irregularly across borders will do so in more dangerous
conditions, at higher cost and face further exploitation. This is simply
unacceptable.
> Kenney and the Tories say that Bill C4 would not harm refugees.
THE REALITY: Bill C-4 would give the Minister the power to single out
for special punishment refugees who are suspected of having fled by
means of smugglers. Asylum seekers, including children, suspected of
using a smuggler will be subject to mandatory detention for at least the
first year after arrival, with no chance of a detention review. They
will not have the right to appeal a negative refugee decision and will
be denied access to health coverage. They will be prohibited from
obtaining permanent residency and from sponsoring their family members
for a period of five years even after obtaining refugee status, during
which time their status could be revoked and they could face
deportation. Though not well publicized, the Bill also gives vast new
powers to detain and arrest non-citizens, including permanent residents,
based on mere suspicion of criminality. This is a shameful and inhumane
piece of legislation.
> Kenney and the Tories say that Bill C4 is part of Canada’s positive record on immigration.
Bill C-4 (previously Bill C 49) is the latest in a series of drastic
changes including Bill C-50 and Bill C-11. Bill C-50 has given the
Immigration Minister immense powers to arbitrarily reject visas
(permanent resident, visitor etc) without any Court review and to to
issue quotas and restrictions. Bill C-11, passed with minimal
opposition, has created two tiers of refugees, establishing a racist
hierarchy based on nationality. As avenues for refugees and permanent
residency are being slashed and deportations are increasing,
exploitative temporary worker programs have proliferated. Last year,
major changes resulted in limiting most migrant workers to a term of
four years, after which a six-year ban will be imposed before workers
can return to Canada.
Canada’s immigration and refugee system is not generous. It is the
result of a perfected system of social control, containment, and
commodification. Instead, No One is Illegal-Vancouver asserts the basic
human right to safety, mobility, and protection. The only crime that
migrants have committed is transgressing this imposed settler-colonial
border. We encourage you to join us in rejecting and standing up against
repressive, racist, and exclusionary ideologies and policies, and
instead encourage compassion, solidarity, respect for life, and justice
for all refugees.
FURTHER RESOURCES
> Factsheet on Kenney and Tories Record on Immigration:
http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=1027
> Video of No One Is Illegal Toronto forum on human smuggling:
http://www.youtube.com/NoOneIsIllegalVan#p/c/569429AE3D5D7089/29/OhFuyQAVYS0
> Myths and Realities about Tamil refugees on MV Sun Sea:
http://rabble.ca/news/2010/08/seven-myths-about-tamil-refugees
> Canadian Council of Refugees Resource Page on Bill C 4 / c 49:
http://ccrweb.ca/en/c49
> List of hundreds of organizations call for defeat of human smuggling bill:
http://ccrweb.ca/en/organizations-calling-defeat-bill-c-49
> Globe and Mail, “Smuggling bill endorsements not all they seem”
http://bit.ly/bKdo1Y
www.nooneisillegal.org
www.facebook.com/nooneisillegal
www.twitter.com/noii_vancouver
