February 5, 2004 Montreal

As many of you know, several refugee groups have been actively organizing in the Montreal-area. Three of these groups — The Pakistani Action Committee Against Racial Profiling, the Coalition to Stop the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees and the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians — are self-organized groups of directly affected refugees with active campaigns for justice and dignity.

With the appointment of Toronto-area MP Judy Sgro as Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, all three committees feel it is important to have the endorsement of as many Toronto-area social justice organizations as possible, as a means to pressure the Minister in the coming weeks and months. To date, we have over one hundred endorsements for each group, but mainly from the Montreal-area.

On behalf of the No One Is Illegal Campaign in Montreal, which is actively supporting each committee, we are writing to ask for your endorsement of the basic demands of each committee (included below, with contact info). Please, pass this onto any possible cultural/religious group, union, community centre, activist group or other organization that might consider endorsing the demands.

The members of each refugee committee live with the threat of deportation in the coming days and weeks. In each committee, members have already been removed from Canada against their will. Still, with consistent organizing efforts and public pressure, there have been victories. We need your help.

In solidarity, Rabie Masri, Jaggi Singh and Harsha Walia (No One Is Illegal-Montreal)

If your group endorses, please let us know: nooneisillegal@tao.ca or 514-859-9023

THE PAKISTANI ACTION COMMITTEE AGAINST RACIAL PROFILING
1) Regularization of the status of Pakistani refugee claimants.
2) An end to deportations and detentions of Pakistani refugees.
Contact info: The support contact is Harsha (harsha@resist.ca or 514-812-0858).

THE COALITION AGAINST THE DEPORTATION OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
1) Stop the deportation of all Palestinian refugees.
2) Accept Palestinian refugee claims to regularize their status.
Contact info: The support contact is Rabie (refugees@riseup.net or 514-591-5171).

THE ACTION COMMITTEE OF NON-STATUS ALGERIANS
1) An immediate end to all deportations.
2) A return to the moratorium on removals to Algeria.
3) The regularization of non-status Algerian residents in Canada.
Contact info: The support contact is Jaggi (jaggi@tao.ca or 514-728-5650).