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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Video: Naverone Woods Family Statement

Naverone Christian Landon Woods, 23 year old Gitxsan man, fatally shot by transit police on Dec 28, 2014. His death at the hands of police was profoundly tragic. It was also incredibly troubling; raising many questions about the use of deadly force by police, the role of armed transit police on our public transit system, and the broader dynamics of racism and colonial violence.

Watch statement from his family:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UmMRLObbW0&feature=youtu.be

Hubie, The Watchman

Since 2000, Hubert Jim has watched over the area known as Sutikalh—in the pristine wilderness of Cayoosh Canyon near Pemberton, British Columbia—with an attentive eye and clear love for it. From the nearby highway, following along a creek bed to a small opening, he occupies a lone cabin that was erected during a blockade. Hubert Jim, a member of the local St’át’imc First Nation known as “Hubie” to locals, has lived at Sutikalh since the blockade began. Outsiders commonly refer to Sutikalh as a “camp,” but Hubie explains that “15 years is too long to call this place a camp. For me, its Sutikalh Home.”

Read more: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/opinion/hubie-watchman

Grassy Narrows First Nation Holds Logging Protest in Kenora

In March of last year, the Grassy Narrows’ youth group released a statement rejecting the plan, as did the community’s chief and council. “The trees, like the water, are sacred,” stated Brenda Kokokopenace, an Anishinabe Elder from Grassy Narrows. “We have a duty to protect Mother Earth, and that duty is sacred, too. It is good to see the youth standing up for the land. It shows they know who they are and that they can wake up the people who have lost that connection.”

Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/grassy-narrows-first-nation-holds-logging-protest-in-kenora-1.2996899

The Ekos Poll: Are Canadians Getting More Racist?

Not only is opposition to immigration in general scaling heights not seen in twenty years but the number of Canadians saying we admit too many visible minorities has just cracked the 40-point ceiling for the first time ever.

Read more:
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/03/12/the-ekos-poll-are-canadians-getting-more-racist/

A detailed timeline of Stephen Harper’s weird, racially divided vision of Canada

Before Stephen Harper became an international laughingstock and trended on Twitter and BuzzFeed for telling women he knows best how they should dress, there was the divisive — and weird — campaign with racial overtones that came before it. How weird? Scroll down our 2015 timeline:

Read more:
http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/detailed-timeline-stephen-harpers-weird-racially-divided-vision-canada

Why I intend to wear a niqab at my citizenship ceremony

My desire to live on my own terms is also why I have chosen to challenge the government’s decision to deny me citizenship unless I take off my niqab at my oath ceremony. I am not looking for Mr. Harper to approve my life choices or dress. I am certainly not looking for him to speak on my behalf and “save” me from oppression, without even ever having bothered to reach out to me and speak with me.

Read more:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/03/16/why-i-intend-to-wear-a-niqab-at-my-citizenship-ceremony.html?referrer=http%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fd7ezjYQz0U

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