1) Video: Comedian’s take on immigrants stealing jobs in Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4kvY9bVDi0&feature=youtu.be

2) Video: Migrant baby Alpha born in jail, still there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9pgveUowjw

3) A bad year for Canadian citizenship “The reform has made it possible for citizenship to be withdrawn at the whim of politicians. In the year to come, it will become clear which citizens will be targeted for removal and who will be extended the privilege to belong.”. Read more: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/01/03/a_bad_year_for_canadian_citizenship.html

4) Border Services ramping up arrests, advocates say “Nearly 600 people in the Pacific region were removed between April and November. Community groups who work with undocumented migrants are reporting an increase in arrests of workers by the Canada Border Services Agency in recent months.” Read more http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Border+Services+ramping+arrests+advocates/10461322/story.html#ixzz3LeqyCzit

5) Iranian refugee’s jail ordeal: 173 days and counting – with no end in sight “On Canada Day, six CBSA officers gave up on trying to drag him out of his cell as he wept and clung to the bars. On September 18, they got him as far as a cell at Pearson International Airport, where he tried to slit his wrists with a piece of metal he found in the cell.” Read more: http://globalnews.ca/news/1732366/iranian-refugees-jail-ordeal-173-days-and-counting-with-no-end-in-sight/

6) National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada statement on changes to Live in Caregiver Program “Amidst a range of reactions, criticisms and opinions on the changes, the NAPWC stand firm that the program, and the so-called “improvements” therein, have always been a neoliberal tool to facilitate and profit from the gleaned fear and desperation of workers in the program. The Filipino Canadian community cannot accept these as “improvements” as announcements of cosmetic changes are being branded as such.” Read more: http://www.magkaisacentre.org/2014/12/04/regressive-rebranding-of-the-live-in-caregiver-program/

7) Injured migrants fear being reported to CBSA by hospitals “People without legal status in Canada are increasingly afraid to go to hospitals for fear of being reported to the Canada Border Services Agency, a community health group claims. As a result of that, we are dealing with very scary situations. Like we have a guy … a machine cut his nose and he didn’t go to hospital. He was bleeding, we had to see him out(side) of the hospital …. We had to glue the skin because we couldn’t do the stitches,” Cruz said, explaining that stitches are inadvisable more than 12 hours after the initial wound.” Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Injured+migrants+fear+being+reported+CBSA+hospitals/10661297/story.html

8) Decisions by Refugee Appeal Division members vary widely “An analysis of past decisions by current members of the Immigration and Refugee Board’s appeal division shows wide discrepancies in the rate of positive decisions, a fact that’s concerning to many refugee advocates.” Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/decisions-by-refugee-appeal-division-members-vary-widely-1.2867191

9) Ottawa hiking citizenship fees for second time in a year “Starting Jan. 1, Ottawa will raise the citizenship application fee — the second time in less than a year — to $530 per adult, making Canadian citizenship further out of reach for many of marginalized communities.” Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2014/12/24/ottawa_hiking_citizenship_fees_for_second_time_in_a_year.html

10) Europe’s fear of Syria’s ghost boats “The conflict in Syria is getting worse with 5,000 Syrians fleeing every day (over three a minute) and 2015 could see the number of refugees top 4 million.” Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/01/europe-fear-syria-ghost-boats-20151443810338138.html

Also of interest:

1) Video from Typhoon Haiyan Survivors to Pope Francis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpP7XGLg6CY

2) Video: Do Black Lives Matter? Robin D.G. Kelley and Fred Moten in Conversation http://vimeo.com/116111740

3) Teju Cole’s “Unmournable Bodies” on Charlie Hebdo: “Rather than posit that the Paris attacks are the moment of crisis in free speech—as so many commentators have done—it is necessary to understand that free speech and other expressions of liberté are already in crisis in Western societies” Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/unmournable-bodies

4) Ten crimes of John A. Macdonald: In the context of this weekend’s state-sponsored glorifications of John A. Macdonald across Canada, read this piece on John A. Macdonald’s role in genocide against Indigenous people, the Chinese Head Tax, criminalizing abortion and labour picketing, and more. Read more: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/jesse/2015/01/10-crimes-john-macdonald

5) In conversation with Gayatri Spivak http://www.dawn.com/news/1152482

6) Scholar and activist Glen Coulthard on the connection between indigenous and anticapitalist struggles: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/01/indigenous-left-glen-coulthard-interview/

7) Leaving the Cops Behind in 2015 “Reclaiming the stolen parts of our imaginations and dreaming beyond police and prisons is full-time creative, intellectual and emotional labor. But we will not settle for weak reforms. We see decriminalization, decarceration, defunding police, closing detention centers and prisons, supporting individual acts and organized resistance on the inside, and the building of alternatives on the outside, all as a part of a larger strategy for the world we want.” Read more: http://youngist.org/leaving-cops-behind-in-2015/#.VLcXGychzt9 ​

8) Unist’ot’en Camp’s Freda Huson Named Top Five Heroes of 2014 http://unistotencamp.com/?p=1052​