On July 24, hundreds took to the streets in Burnaby/Vancouver to oppose Minister of Censorship and Deportation. Under his regime, deportations have increased, while the number of people accepted as refugees and sponsored family members have drastically dropped. Instead, Kenney has increased the number of temporary workers who are constantly exploited for their labour. Kenney is also a staunch supporter of imperialism, supporting the occupations of Afghanistan and Palestine. Finally, he is responsible for perpetuating oppression against queers and women through substantive public policy changes.

* Photos of the march
* Video “This Time We Steer the Ship” courtesy VMC

According to Alex Mah of No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, “Jason Kenney is routinely called the Minister of Censorship and Deportation because of his record as one of the most repressive immigration ministers in Canadian history. But there is a growing grassroots movement across the country rising out of schools, neighbourhoods, and workplaces to reject Kenney’s oppressive and racist policies.”

* Full Press Release National Day of Action Against Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and ‘Kenney Wanted’ Poster
* Multilingual factsheets about Kenney
* In the leadup to the march, No One Is Illegal dropped a large banner which read: “The People versus Jason Kenney” above Highway 1 during rush-hour traffic. (photos of the banner drop)

Other actions took place in Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, and Winnipeg.  A video from Toronto’s People v. Kenney soccer match and creative actions across the city.

The People v. Kenney
Freedom to move
Right to stay, and to Return
We are many.

We were not just marching against Jason Kenney. We demand an end to detentions and deportations and the violence of all cages of control under any political party. We demand the abolition of exploitative temporary worker programs. We demand workers control over their own production, not corporate wage-slave working conditions that commodifies human beings especially women. We demand status for all those who have been deemed illegal in order to justify theft of their labour.  From Turtle Island to Afghanistan, we demand the dismantling of Fortress North America and its border security pacts as well as the global military-industrial complex, all of which deliberately creates and justifies a culture of fear and repression.

Instead, we assert the basic principle of self-determination. That people have the right to remain in their homes in the face of global displacement due to land theft, occupation, corporate globalization, and other capitalist and imperialist forces. That in light of the freedom afforded to capital and armies, people are free to move whether due to persecution or poverty, or simply in order to flourish with dignity. That people have the inherent right to return to the lands of which they have been unjustly dispossessed.

The Canadian state and its economy are built on the theft of Indigenous lands; the exploitation of labour, especially slave, migrant, and reproductive labour; and the global appropriation of natural resources. The ongoing apartheid reality instituted through reserves and sweatshops is one that must be fundamentally uprooted and transformed.

No One Is Illegal, Power to the People!
www.noonisillegal.org

* For a recent roundup of NOII organizing through a lens, check out our Flickr site. In the past 6 months, we have been involved in a series of anti-Kenney mobilizations and disruptions, creative resistance through hip hop and spoken word shows, participating in the G8/G20 convergence and anti-Olympic convergence, organizing for May Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, supporting struggles in Fish Lake/Teztan Biny, and more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nooneisillegal/