EMERGENCY PROTEST!
All out to protest Immigration and Citizenship Minister Diane Finley!
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TUESDAY MAY 20
SURREY: 9:15 am @ Sheraton Guildford (15269 - 104 Avenue, Surrey)
>From Vancouver: Gather at 8:15 am in South East corner of Safeway Parking
Lot, Corner Commercial Drive and Broadway
Transport to Surrey provided- if you have access to a vehicle please email
harjap@resist.ca or call 778 552 2099
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As part of the Conservative government's frantic efforts to appease
immigrant communities about Bill C50 and to attempt a positive media spin
on the fundamentally unjust and racist Bill C50, Diane Finlay will in
Surrey on Tues May 20th.
Finlay has most recently launched a multimillion dollar advertisement
campaign. The ads- which contain few details about the actual bill- are
running in ‘ethnic’ media only and are the first time that CIC has ever
launched an ad campaign to promote legislation that Parliament has not yet
even passed yet.
At the same time, the Conservative government has hypocritically and
opportunistically made announcements to acknowledge the Komagata Maru,
survivors of residential schools, and allocated grant money to commemorate
the Ukranian-Canadian internment and the Chinese Head Tax.
It is absolutely crucial that we let Diane Finlay know what we think about
Bill C50 and that no matter how hard they try to repackage or sell these
amendments, we are not buying into them! No One Is Illegal!
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COMMUNITY RALLY TO SCRAP RACIST BILL C 50 !
refuse to be invisible! join the fight against racist immigration laws
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SUNDAY JUNE 1 AT 2 PM
RALLY AT SURREY IMMIGRATION OFFICES
Located in Centralcity Shopping Centre (north entrance by SFU Surrey
Tower) Address: 13450 102nd Avenue Surrey (between 134th and 135th Street)
1 short block from Surrey Central Skytrain Station!
Information email noii-van@resist.ca or call 778 885 0040
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Recently the Conservative government introduced a series of amendments to
the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act buried in Bill c-50, the budget
bill. This undemocratic move sneaks in critical changes to immigration
policy without proposing any of those changes before Parliament.
Under the proposed changes, even if someone meets the necessary- already
stringent- criteria for a visa (such as permanent resident, visitor etc),
the Minister can reject the application without any Court review. The
Minister will also have the power to issue quotas and restrictions on the
category (including Family Class and Economic Class immigrants) and
country of origin of people. Humanitarian and Compassionate applications
no longer have to be examined if the applicant is outside Canada. Finally,
the Minister will have the power to decide the order in which applications
are processed, regardless of when they are filed.
These sweeping changes will give enormous and arbitrary powers to the
Minister around application processing, while perpetuating a racist and
anti-poor agenda of setting immigration agendas based on ‘labour market
needs’. The government is stating that these measures are a solution to
the growing backlog by essentially giving the Minister and her department
the power to kick people off the backlog/waiting list.
The major lobby for Bill C50 comes from employer organizations and
business lobbies who want immigration policy to meet labour market needs,
meaning immigrants are disposable other than their value as cheap labour.
These proposed legislative changes come in the context of a global
capitalist and nationalist reinforcement of labour flexibility as the
guiding principle of immigration policy, where migrants are only as
valuable as their labour. In conjunction with the Security and Prosperity
Partnership Agreement, it is clear that the priorities will be
relativelyvwealthy people applying under the skilled worker program and
investor classes, as well as increasingly vulnerable temporary migrant
workers.
The Conservative government says they are “welcoming record numbers of
newcomers”, however the reality is that the percentage of permanent
residents is decreasing while there is an increase of vulnerable temporary
migrant workers without basic rights. Such ‘categories’ of workers will be
favoured for “priority processing” at the grave expense of family class,
refugees, and other ‘undesirables’. This commodification is taking place
in an increasingly racist and hostile climate to immigrants, who are
perceived as security threats, backwards, too accommodated etc.
In respose to an overwhelming negative reaction to these amendements, the
Immigration Minister has recently been forced to attempt to spin these
regressive changes, including launching a intense advertising campaign
only in ethnic media to help get the bill through second reading within
the next few weeks!
Join us in an action to call for the scrapping of Bill C-50! Demand
justice and dignity for migrants- No One Is Illegal!
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REPORTBACK: ACTION TO OPPOSE BILL C 50
* Pictures at: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=731
Approximately 40-50 people gathered in response to an emergency call to
protest Bill C50. Despite pouring rain, the spirit of the march was
lively, and the group blocked traffic on some of the busiest streets
downtown during rush hour. Thousands of leaflets were distributed about
the racist Bill C50 and two Citizenship and Immigration offices were
stickered with messages opposed to Bill C50.
Last week, MP Offices in Vancouver were targeted with “Scrap Bill
C50″ Message:
http://ottawa.indymedia.ca/en/2008/05/7577.shtml
The action was organized by No One is Illegal-Vancouver and endorsed by
Canadian Arab Federation, Vancouver Catholic Worker, Canadian Muslim
Union, Siraat Collective, Salaam Vancouver, Coalition of South Asian Women
Against Violence, SFU Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace and
Social Movements, Al-Awda Vancouver, Neworld Theatre, Indigenous Action
Movement, Battered Women Support Services, Association of Chinese
Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society, Bolivia Solidarity
Committee, Industrial Workers of the World, Justice for Migrant Workers,
Christian Radicals, La Surda Latin American Collective, Filipino Nurses
Support Group, Philippine Women Centre of B.C, SIKLAB-B.C,
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance-B.C, Grassroots Women, South Asian
Network for Secularism and Democracy.
===> MAINSTREAM COVERAGE <===
Advocates protest changes to immigration policy
By Kate Webb The Province Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Advocates for immigrants and migrant workers will rally at 4:45 p.m.
Tuesday to demand the scrapping of a federal bill overhauling Canada’s
immigration application process.
Under the new legislation, the immigration minister would have the
authority to limit the number of immigration applications Canada accepts,
deny admission to applicants already approved by immigration officers and
block the entry of would-be immigrants “by category or otherwise.”
Citizenship and Immigration Canada would no longer be required to process
all new skilled-worker applications, and would be free to select
applications for processing based on the skills of the applicant.
The government says the measures have been designed to clear out some of
the backlog of 900,000 unprocessed immigration applications.
Vancouver community group No One Is Illegal called the proposed changes
“anti-democratic” and “anti-immigrant,” believing the government wants the
power to select immigrants on the basis of wealth and willingness to do
“temporary . . . exploitative jobs.”
Members of No One Is Illegal, Justice for Migrant Workers and the Chinese
Canadian National Council were to participate in the rally.
