Seattle Times, Sun Feb 15, 2009

OTTAWA — The Canadian government is repatriating a database of personal information about British Columbia citizens after warnings the U.S.  government might misuse it. The information on several hundred Canadians was provided to U.S.  Customs and Border Protection last year as part of a project to issue  “enhanced driver’s licenses” instead of passports to streamline land  border crossings. The pilot project is the first step in a Canada-wide program in which  personal information on hundreds of thousands of Canadians could have been handed over to the U.S. agency.

» click here to continue reading

SAT FEB 28TH from 4:30 – 7 pm. 706 Clarke Drive (between Hastings and Venables) Right on #22 or any Hastings busline
* Dinner served at 4:30 and childcare on site

We know you already know that mega-corporate industries like the 2010 Games and Tar Sands suck. But how does it affect displacement of peoples from their land, their homes, their jobs, their communities. From traditional Indigenous territories to urban ghettos, from migrant workers to low-income families, thousands are being evicted or pushed out, and once displaced many become cannon-fodder as precarious labour.

As intense policing and security measures (like 1000+ military personal in Vancouver earlier this month for training exercises!) disproportionately target the dispossessed, the ones with the wrong skin colour, the undesirables, we rise in struggle against injustice. against the ongoing occupation of this land. against the racist police state. against the exploitation of displaced migrant workers. against gentrification and so-called revitalization. For our dignity as the poor, the displaced, the colonized.

» click here to continue reading

Below is the second in a two-part excerpt from The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 9/11. By Edward Alden

The Canadian government says it bears no responsibility for what happened to Benamar Benatta in a New York jail after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The U.S. government says that its top officials — who were acting in the name of national security — are not accountable for the abuses suffered by Benatta and hundreds of other Muslim men. But who, then, is to blame for the nearly five years that Benatta, a young Algerian who had sought asylum in Canada, spent in U.S. jails charged with nothing more than a routine immigration violation?
» click here to continue reading

Toronto Star. December 18, 2008. Michelle Shephard

Canada’s spy service has been listening to telephone conversations between terrorism suspects and their lawyers for the past 18 months as part of a strict monitoring program developed by the government. The revelation today enraged defense lawyers who argue that intercepting these calls breaches the fundamental right of solicitor-client privilege. “I feel as though my house was broken into,” said Toronto lawyer Barb Jackman. “It’s incredibly invasive.”

» click here to continue reading

Sue Montgomery, Montreal Gazette. Monday, December 15, 2008

MONTREAL — Canada’s spy agency doesn’t verify whether information it receives has been obtained through torture or other human rights violations, even if it comes from the notorious American prison in Guantanamo Bay, an agent for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service revealed Monday. The agent, known only as Jean-Paul to protect his identity, was testifying at the public portion of hearings to determine whether the security certificate under which Adil Charkaoui has been living for almost six years is reasonable.
» click here to continue reading