As many of you have probably already heard, Canadian Border Service Agency officers conducted raids at number of construction work sites yesterday, including one raid which was filmed for a border security reality TV show. In a show of solidarity and rage, approximately 80 members of the community, including families of those detained as well as activists and community organizers, attended an emergency rally today.

Diana, a family member of one of the workers picked up in the immigration enforcement raid states, “I feel frustrated and sad and angry and hurt. I don’t know when I will see him. As a First Nations woman, I have a right to choose my partner and my life and how I want to live. He was working, supporting his family back home and my family here. Who is this government to say who can stay?”

Angela Joseph, another family member, said of her husband, “He is a great person and a great father and spouse and I’m here to help him any way I can. I think that the immigration services needs to be more lenient on families to keep them together, especially when they have small children?”

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About 50 people occupy the Citizenship and Immigration buildings in Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories, seeking justice for refugee Hossein Blujani and demanding a public investigation in to the cause of his death.

The body of the 31-year-old Kurdish-Iranian refugee was found on December 1, 2012 on the railway tracks near Commercial Drive and Broadway in an apparent suicide. Blujani survived over 12 years of imprisonment, torture and forced labour in Iran and Iraq. When Blujani sought refuge in Canada he was faced with immediate detention and CBSA began to pursue unfounded allegations of him being a “security threat” and a member of a “terrorist” organization – an organization he was recruited into as a 15-year old and one which Canada itself has delisted. Blujani had appealed this decision and a Federal Court hearing was set for February 12th, 2013. However on February 8th, the Court dismissed the appeal due to his death.

No More Deaths, No More Deportations.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALL NEWS EDITORS

RALLY TO DEMAND INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH OF KURDISH REFUGEE HOSSEIN BLUJANI

WHAT: Rally to Demand Investigation into Death of Kurdish Refugee Hossein Blujani
WHEN: Tuesday February 12, 2013 at 9:30 am
WHERE: Federal Court, 701 West Georgia, corner Granville
WHO: Iranian Federation of Refugees, Lawyer Peter Edelmann, Kinbrace Housing Society, No One Is Illegal, and others

Monday February 11th, 2013, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories – The Kurdish and Iranian communities as well as refugee advocates will be holding a memorial in remembrance of deceased Kurdish-Iranian refugee Hossein Blujani on Tuesday February 12 at 9:30 am at 701 West Georgia. The body of the 31-year-old was found on December 1, 2012 on the railway tracks near Commercial Drive and Broadway in an apparent suicide. The groups are demanding an investigation into this death and condemning Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) for enforcing racist and inhumane policies.

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Community March Against Racism
Saturday March 23
Starts at 2 pm at Clark Park (Commercial Drive and 14th)
Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/470528346341308/?fref=ts

Family-friendly festivities! Bring your neighbours, banners and drums!

WATCH VIDEOS FROM LAST YEAR:

The International Day for the Elimination of Racism marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa when police opened fire on hundreds of South Africans protesting against Apartheid’s passbook laws, killing 67 and wounding 186. Every year we join friends and allies around the world to mark this day and to speak the truth about racism.

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Rally Demanding Justice in the Death of Kurdish-Iranian Refugee

Tuesday February 12th
9:30 Am
701 West Georgia Street

With much sadness and rage, we inform our community that we have lost a vibrant, kind and thoughtful Kurdish and Iranian young refugee.

The body of 31-year-old Hossein Blujani was found on December 1, 2012 on the railway tracks near Commercial Drive and Broadway in an apparent suicide. We send our condolences to his surviving family and loved ones. We share in this pain with them so as to lighten their grief.

Hossein was a recognized UNHCR refugee (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) who claimed refugee status in Canada in 2010. The unjust and inhumane Canadian immigration system, however, relentlessly pursued allegations of him being a “security threat” and a member of a “terrorist” organization (an organization he was recruited into as a 15-year old and one which Canada itself has delisted). For years he endured long interrogations and hearings, while living without a work permit (until May 2012), no access to housing or social assistance, and no health care.
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We are thankful for being on the unceded Algonquin territory that this launch is taking place on, and for the inspiration that Idle No More and Indigenous communities provide us.

We honour all the Original peoples of Turtle Land and we honour the diverse lands of the Original peoples of Turtle Island on which we individually reside. We recognize the legacy of all Indigenous teachings across this continent and the world. We are committed to working in solidarity as allies with the Indigenous caucus and with the Original peoples of Turtle Island – in words and in actions – again colonization. We are committed to supporting the needs of your nations.

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South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD) invites you to a talk with

Dr. Deepa Kumar
Associate Professor of media studies and Middle East Studies, Rutgers University

Author of Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike and Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire

Mar. 2 – 7:00 – 9:00pm
Rm. 1700
SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

The recent murder of an Indian settled in New York by pushing him in front of a subway train and the shooting of Sikhs in the Oak Creek Gurdwara in Wisconsin are not isolated incidents. Deepa Kumar places such incidents within the matrix of US policy and institutions.

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Migrant worker programs are the only avenues left for many migrants and pathways to residency are getting cut. Calling for abolition of temporary worker programs without addressing the systemic shifts in canadian immigration policy is a de facto call to end immigration. Instead, call for full legal status and basic labor rights for migrant workers upon arrival.

We must denounce by any means necessary the institutions, corporations and governments that allow the exploitation of ALL people to take place, especially those who do not have ‘status’, those who are poor, and those who are of colour.
While the government insists that migrant workers are treated fairly, migrant workers have documented experiences of isolation, discrimination, fear, exploitation, and limited access to social services. The typical migrant worker experience includes earning less than minimum wage, dangerous working conditions, and working 10-12 hours per day- often seven days a week- without overtime pay, basic employment standards, or the right to unionize. Most importantly, their temporary status makes them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, as any assertion of their rights leads not only to contract termination but also deportation. Therefore, access to citizenship is a tool of the labour market that fuels multi-million dollar industries.
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Talking about Indigenous Sovereignty and No One Is Illegal

Ruling puts two Tamil cases in limbo

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/14/bc-human-smuggling-tamils.html

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has taken the bluster out of the Conservative’s campaign against illegal migrants by striking down a section of the law targeting human smuggling, putting at least two high-profile prosecutions in limbo.
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