Today, on Refugee Rights Day, Refugee rights activists are occupying Conservative MP offices, Immigration and Canadian Border Services Agency offices, and dropping banners in SEVEN cities

UPDATES:

1) NOII Announcement linked here:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/10436

2) PHOTOS from the actions are linked here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nooneisillegal/

3) Live updates and pictures are being streamed through
https://www.twitter.com/NoOneIsIllegal
Please visit and share; you do not need a twitter account to access these.

4) Press release linked here: https://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=4789

TODAY IS REFUGEE RIGHTS DAY: In a coordinated effort on Refugee Rights Day, members of refugee and immigrant rights groups including No One Is Illegal are occupying Immigration/Canadian Border Services Agency offices in Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. We received lots of support from refugees who were in the offices at the same time, many with pending deportation orders, many unaware of the horrific impacts of the proposed Bill C31. Conservative MP offices are being occupied in Ottawa, Toronto, St. Catharines and Edmonton. Banners have also been dropped in Montreal and Halifax and Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. These actions are being organized to demand that the Refugee Exclusion Act, Bill C-31, be
discarded.

OFFICES BEING OCCUPIED: Immigration and Canadian Border Services Agency offices (300 West Georgia, Vancouver). Occupations of Conservative MP offices are currently underway at John Baird’s office (2249 Carling Avenue, Ottawa), Ted Opitz’s office (577 Burnhamthorpe Road, Unit 2, Toronto), Rick
Dykstra’s office (61 Geneva Street, St. Catharines), and Laurie Hawn’s office (11156 – 142nd Street, Edmonton).

ABOUT THE REFUGEE EXCLUSION ACT: The actions and occupations today are part of a campaign against the Refugee Exclusion Act. The Refugee Exclusion Act (Bill C-31) creates a two-tier system of refugee protection that entrenches nationality-based discrimination, mandates jail for many asylum seekers, denies and revokes permanent residency for many who have already been granted refugee status, and violently targets and expels refugees and migrants from Canada. This Act also introduces intrusive biometrics data collection on all migrants and gives increased powers of arrest and detention to border guards. This racist and repressive new bill is a major roll-back on an already minimalist and exclusionary refugee system.

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE: “The Lhe Lin Liyin of the grassroots Wet’suwet’en supports No One Is Illegal in their effort to see the Refugee Exclusion Act axed. The future generations amongst Indigenous, Refugee, and Settler Societies have an opportunity today to make known that we all as a human family require respect, compassion, a home to live in, and our status to be complete and recognized. In a world faced with increased industrial activity, intensifying climate change, and war mongering; refugees require understanding, respect, and safety. The occupation of Canada does not recognize the status of refugees and migrant peoples, but the Indigenous peoples who are the true owners of these lands will!”

BUILDING RESISTANCE: As with opposition to the Tar sands & Enbridge pipeline, Crime bill, public sector layoffs, and the Harper austerity budget, escalated and wide-spread opposition is necessary to ensure justice and dignity for refugees and migrants. The Refugee Exclusion Act is part of a frightening trend towards temporariness – where through shutting the door to permanent residency for refugees, family sponsorships, and skilled workers, Canada is ensuring that migrants are recruited primarily as indentured labour for big business. Hundreds of asylum-seekers languish behind bars, while hundreds of thousands of temporary workers and non-status people toil in fields and factories. Canada and its economy is built on the theft of Indigenous lands and resources locally and globally, and the exploitable (im)migrant labour of those who have been displaced through capitalism and imperialism. If the Refugee Exclusion Act is passed, more migrants will choose precarious means to get to Canada. Today we are sending a clear message to the Tories that their laws and policies will be resisted at every turn and that we will continue to offer our solidarity to migrants. No One Is Illegal, Power to the People!

ACT NOW!

+ Today go on facebook or twitter, email or text a friend, talk about Refugee Rights Day and the Refugee Exclusion Act. Help Break the Silence! Use #noBillC31 #CdnImm #RefugeeExclusion For more ideas http://bit.ly/H95QsJ

+ Learn more Joint NOII Statement – Axe the Refugee Exclusion Act:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/no-one-illegal/2012/03/noii-alert-axe-refugee-exclusion-act

+ Sign & share Amnesty’s appeal to MP’s – easy way to send a message:
http://www.amnesty.ca/iwriteforjustice/take_action.php?actionid=843

+ Find your MP’s contact info http://bit.ly/mfMkVq and call or write them.
Some sample letters http://scr.bi/GNtvx2 and http://is.gd/jCeRm6 and http://bit.ly/HzFWYJ

+ Join No One Is Illegal. Find us at
www.facebook.com/NoOneIsIllegalNetwork
www.twitter.com/NoOneIsIllegal