(en español abajo)
https://www.change.org/p/conservative-government-remove-mexico-from-the-refugee-list-of-safe-countries

The Canadian government considers Mexico, its North American Free Trade Agreement partner, a safe country for refugees.

Since the 2012 Refugee Exclusion Act, Mexico and forty other countries have been placed on the “Designated Countries of Origin” list. Refugee claimants from these countries face a different legal system: they have fewer rights and the timelines for their claims are shorter. This enables Canada to fast-tracks deportations to these countries.

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by Harsha Walia

http://themainlander.com/2014/10/06/10-key-facts-about-the-lucia-vega-jimenez-inquest/

This past week an all-white jury listened to testimony at the inquest into the death of Lucia Vega Jimenez while in Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) custody.

During the last month of her life, every institution that Lucia came into contact with was most interested in law enforcement and least interested in her safety. Though this is not shocking to anyone familiar with the immigration system, the facts that are emerging about what happened to Lucia while in custody are illuminating to those unfamiliar with how immigration enforcement really operates.

While the inquest has focused on proposals for suicide prevention, better communication between officials, and training for private security employees, it has stayed clear of systemic issues. Lucia’s fears were due to her deportation to Mexico (a country Canada deems ‘safe’ under the new Refugee Exclusion Act), fears she relayed multiple times to numerous authorities. But CBSA does not care for refugees like Lucia; their mandate is to callously enforce deportations. The holding cells below the Vancouver International Airport and Vancouver Public Library are a grim metaphor of the invisible underclass of 11,000 migrant detainees, including children, held in CBSA custody every year. The inquest does not insist on an end to these coercive practices nor does it interrogate the criminalization of migration.

Emerging story about Lucia’s tragic death

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by Harsha Walia

http://rabble.ca/columnists/2014/09/death-and-despair-canadas-migrant-dungeons

One month after the death of 42-year-old hotel worker and Mexican migrant Lucia Vega Jimenez in Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) custody, I received a call from a young Haitian woman at the same prison Lucia had been in. Unlike most detainees, she did not call to ask for legal advice to fight for her release, nor was she seeking support to stop her deportation. She called to ask me if I could find information on preventing the spread of infection. She had just miscarried.

One month after Lucia’s death, another migrant death in detention.

A coroner’s inquest into the death of Lucia is scheduled to begin today. Lucia was found hanging in detention cells at the Vancouver International Airport — what has been referred to as a dungeon — nine months ago. Lucia’s death was kept secret by CBSA for over a month, until community groups revealed the information to media and called for an independent investigation. (These same community groups are now being shut out of the inquest, much like the process of the Missing Women’s Inquiry).

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Wednesday October 15th from 6:00-8:00
YWCA 733 Beatty St, Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories
RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/1469256423338435/

Every day in the Greater Vancouver area, at various skytrain stations and bus stops, transit police check fares and issue tickets. And every day, some of those people who cannot show proof of purchase are reported to Canada Border Services Agency.

Three hundred and twenty eight people were reported to CBSA by Transit Police last year, one-in-five of whom faced a subsequent immigration investigation. One of these people was Lucia Vega Jiménez, who later committed suicide in a detention center.
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