Posted by admin on May 22nd, 2011
A Wikileaks cable reveals that US Consulate in Vancouver was tracking No One Is Illegal – Vancouver Coast Salish Territories campaign against detention of the 76 Tamil migrants on the Ocean Lady in 2009 and noted that a campaign with the CTC “strongly advocating refugee status for all of the detainees”. Cable is here http://is.gd/aMtQOp.
Also CBSA & RCMP passed on names & birthdates of migrants aboard MV Ocean Lady to ICE agents http://bit.ly/mApGPz
Posted by admin on May 20th, 2011
Michelle Shephard, Toronto Star, May 20 2011
A well-travelled British human rights activist and former Guantanamo Bay detainee said he was barred from boarding a direct flight from London to Toronto Friday because of concerns the aircraft could be diverted to the U.S. Moazzam Begg was to speak at a Saturday conference on Islamophobia organized by the Canadian lawyer for Omar Khadr, 24, the Toronto-born Guantanamo prisoner convicted last fall of war crimes.
» click here to continue reading
Posted by admin on May 18th, 2011
By TIM NAUMETZ Published May 18, 2011 8:42 PM, Hill Times
PARLIAMENT HILL—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Cabinet overhaul reveals he intends to “move and move quickly†with steep public service cuts and plans to extend his notorious personal control over government affairs into a surprising arena—the oversight of national security and intelligence gathering by a range of military and civilian agencies and departments. Underneath the surface of new ministers Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) shuffled or appointed on Wednesday to major and minor portfolios, two unprecedented changes to the Cabinet’s structure surprised political opponents and prompted comment that the majority government Mr. Harper won on May 2 has emboldened him into heading in new directions entirely unexpected prior to the election campaign.
» click here to continue reading
Posted by admin on May 18th, 2011
By Neil Macdonald, CBC News, May 18, 2011 5:07 AM ET
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Canada’s principal intelligence agency, routinely transmits to U.S. authorities the names and personal details of Canadian citizens who are suspected of, but not charged with, what the agency refers to as “terrorist-related activity.” The criteria used to turn over the names are secret, as is the process itself. But a new cache of WikiLeaks documents pertaining to Canada lays bare the practice. It contains not only frank assessments by U.S. officials of Canadian co-operation, but the names of 27 Canadian citizens turned over by their own government as possible threats, along with 14 other names of foreign nationals living in Canada.
» click here to continue reading
Posted by admin on May 15th, 2011
“We are the wrong people of / the wrong skin on the wrong continent and what / in the hell is everybody being reasonable about… but let this be unmistakable this poem is not consent / I do not consent†– Poet June Jordan
No One Is Illegal Vancouver Coast Salish Territories is an anti-colonial migrant justice collective. We are writing this statement only two weeks into the recent federal election, where Stephen Harper’s Conservatives attained a majority in Parliament. We understand that the whole electoral system is flawed – from the façade of choice in liberal democracies to the illegitimacy of the Canadian state that occupies Indigenous lands. We do not simply advocate for “better†politicians or laws. Nonetheless, the specific context of the Conservative government, who have been in power since 2006, requires us to analyze our strategies and our struggles accordingly.
» click here to continue reading
