by Travis Lupick

http://www.straight.com/news/614931/cbsa-enforcement-against-immigrants-rise-bc

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) immigration-enforcement activities conducted in B.C. have intensified this year, an analysis of regional department data suggests.

CBSA recently supplied the Straight with statistics for the last two fiscal years (which run from April to March) plus the last nine months of 2015. Based on that data, the Straight estimates that CBSA Pacific region officers will have initiated 2,210 immigration investigations by March 31, 2016. That’s up from 1,843 during the previous fiscal year and 2,060 for 2013-14.

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Community Alert: Increased CBSA enforcement

Over the past two weeks, we have been contacted by a number of people who have had Canada Border Services Agency come to their workplaces and homes and a number of people who have been detained by Canada Border Services Agency. The number of support calls we receive regularly has also increased with more people reporting deportation orders coming up soon and a possible raid (unconfirmed) at a worksite on Marine Drive.

We don’t want to alarm people but we don’t want to let everyone know. To us this suggests increased CBSA enforcement, something we have witnessed in past years towards the end of the year.

For those in our communities who are at risk of CBSA enforcement, let us know if and how we can support you in staying safe. For anyone who witnesses CBSA vehicles or CBSA inland enforcement teams, please contact us. If you work in a workplace where you know of undocumented workers, please ask how best to support in case of a CBSA raid (safe exits, emergency contacts etc). We are deeply troubled and angered and saddened by these raids and invite others to join in the movement to end CBSA enforcement in our communities.

By Tara Carman

http://www.vancouversun.com/private+security+firm+gets+contract+monitor+Vancouver+airport+holding+cells/11205566/story.html

The federal government has awarded the Canada Border Services Agency security contract for the immigration holding centre at the Vancouver airport to Garda Canada, ignoring a coroner’s jury recommendation that CBSA use its own officers.

The jury made the recommendation amid revelations that a supervisor from the previous security firm, Genesis, falsified room check records the morning Mexican national Lucia Vega Jimenez hanged herself in a shower stall. The inquest heard evidence Genesis frequently understaffed the centre to the extent that guards could not safely perform room checks, and that guards routinely played video games or watched movies on overnight shifts.

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IMMIGRATION CHANGES:

It’s official – second class citizenship goes into effect

Last Friday, part of Bill C-24 went into effect, officially creating a two-tier citizenship system. As a result of this new law, dual citizens and people who have immigrated to Canada can have their citizenship taken away while other Canadians cannot. The government’s press release last week tried to justify this discriminatory law by raising the threat of “jihadi terrorism,” but Bill C-24 could easily be used against non-terrorists—for example, a journalist who is convicted of a “terrorism offence” in another country for reporting on human rights violations by the government.

Read more: https://bccla.org/2015/06/its-official-second-class-citizenship-goes-into-effect/

Hundreds make final bids to stay in Canada after deportation hold lifted

Mr. Lafleur is one of 3,500 people in Canada – 3,200 Haitians and 300 Zimbabweans – who were affected when the federal government lifted a hold on deportations to their home countries in December, deeming the situation in Haiti and Zimbabwe to be stable. Those without status were given six months to apply for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hundreds-make-final-bids-to-stay-in-canada-after-deportation-hold-lifted/article24728764/

New Tory legislation will force deportation of foreign criminals and strip them of refugee protection

The government’s plans is to change several acts to make it easier and faster to remove non-Canadian criminals out of Canada, including some who have already been accorded refugee protection and permanent residency status, he said.

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/new-tory-legislation-will-force-deportation-of-foreign-criminals-and-strip-them-of-refugee-protection

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SK Hussan

http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/blog/hussansk/33683

A week ago, Abdurahman Ibrahim Hassan, a 39 year old Somali man died in immigration detention custody after being denied adequate medical care, and then being ‘restrained’ by border and prison officials. Hassan, as he was known to his friends, came to Canada from Mogadishu in 1993 as a teenager. He was granted refugee status, but according to family members, didn’t gain permanent resident status because of his mental illness.

“He was moved from school to school. No one knew how to deal with him. He finally dropped out and we kept him at home,”  Deina Ibrahim told the Toronto Star. “Being bipolar, he had his good days and bad days. On a bad day, he got agitated and people would call police on him. He was just in and out of hospital a lot.”

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