Saturday November 27th @ 1pm. Vancouver Public Library (Corner of Georgia and Homer)

Surviving a dangerous journey, 492 Tamil refugees, including women and children, arrived in BC after fleeing war and persecution in Sri Lanka. Three months later, the vast majority of the refugees remain in jails, facing endless hearings that have revealed the clear incompetency, deliberate negligence, and racism of the system. Join No One is Illegal in a rally and march to call for the immediate release of detained Tamil asylum seekers, and an end to racist and restrictive refugee policies, including the recently tabled Bill C-49

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by Laura Sullivan, October 28, 2010, NPR

Radio show, click here

Last year, two men showed up in Benson, Ariz., a small desert town 60 miles from the Mexico border, offering a deal. Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers the pitch. “The gentleman that’s the main thrust of this thing has a huge turquoise ring on his finger,” Nichols said. “He’s a great big huge guy and I equated him to a car salesman.” What he was selling was a prison for women and children who were illegal immigrants.

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Saturday Oct 30 12 noon. Meet in the Safeway parking lot near Broadway and Commercial

Join No One is Illegal-Vancouver in a Noise Demo Road Trip to the three prisons (Burnaby Youth Detention Centre, Alouette Correctional Centre for Women and Fraser Regional Correctional Centre) where most of the Tamil refugees, who arrived aboard the MV Sun Sea in mid-August, remain detained. Come express your support and solidarity with those still being held inside and loudly call for the immediate release of detained asylum seekers.

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A talk delivered the the 4th World Social Forum on Migration

By Bill Fletcher, Znet October 22 2010

From October 8-11 in Quito, Ecuador, the 4th World Social Forum on Migration was held. Hundreds of activists and scholars from around the world participated in some of the most interesting plenary sessions and workshops of any conference I have attended.

“The conference was an eye-opening experience. Migration was examined on various levels, including global economic, political, military and environmental factors, all of which influence migration. The International Labor Organization estimates that at least 83 million people are currently migrating, a figure that is bound to grow for many reasons, particularly climate change. Yet in the face of this mass migration of human beings, there are political forces that have taken advantage of the fear that is often produced through demographic changes in order to advance right-wing, irrationalist and xenophobic politics. This, too, was addressed at the conference.

“I was asked to deliver a key note speech to one of the plenary sessions that addressed discrimination and xenophobia. The following is the text of the remarks that I delivered. I hope that you find them of interest and use.”

–Bill Fletcher, Jr.
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Thursday, October 7, 2010 | 8:20 PM ET CBC News

The Canada Border Services Agency has detained nine people found on a ship at the Port of Montreal early Thursday.The Canada Border Services Agency has detained nine people found on a ship at the Port of Montreal early Thursday. (CBC) Nine migrants have been taken into custody by the Canada Border Services Agency at the Port of Montreal. Agency officials confirm the migrants were discovered and didn’t have any official documents when the Moroccan-based boat docked at the port from Casablanca at 2 a.m. Thursday.

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