Migrant Justice News
VIDEO: “Guantánamo of the Pacific”: Australian Asylum Seekers Wage Hunger Strike at Offshore Detention Site
A massive hunger strike is underway at what some are calling “the Guantánamo Bay of the Pacific.” TSome have barricaded themselves behind the detention center’s high wire fences; others have resorted to increasingly drastic measures such as drinking washing detergent, swallowing razor blades, and even sewing their mouths shut to protest their confinement.
Watch Democracy Now video here: http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/22/guantanamo_of_the_pacific_australian_asylum
Are you already violating the feds’ new anti-terror bill?
Harper introduced Bill C-51, a sweeping piece of legislation that covers everything from what you’re allowed to say and write to who can board a plane, what happens to your tax information and how long you can be detained without charge.
 http://globalnews.ca/news/1803553/are-you-already-violating-the-feds-new-anti-terror-bill/
My call from a former hunger striker inside the Lindsay Superjail
In recent months I’ve been receiving collect calls from a man who’s being held at the Central East Correctional Centre, also known as the Lindsay Superjail. He’s one of about 200 immigration detainees who began hunger strikes at the jail in September 2013 to protest lengthy detentions and seemingly endless immigration hearings. More than a year later, many of them are still in a maximum-security purgatory that sounds like hell on earth.
https://nowtoronto.com/news/my-call-from-a-former-hunger-striker-inside-the-lindsay-supe/
Radio: Life in an immigrant detention centre
On the DNTO Behind Bars episode, Sook-Yin spoke to a young woman who is in jail indefinitely, even though she hasn’t been charged with a crime. Glory Anawa fled Cameroon to escape the threat of genital mutilation. Two years ago, while pregnant, she sought refuge in Canada. She admitted travelling on a fake passport, and was arrested and taken to an immigration detention centre. Her son Alpha is now 16 months old. He has only ever known life in jail. Glory doesn’t know when or if she will be released. She shared her story from the Toronto Rexdale Detention Centre.
What it’s like to live like a refugee
This year, I went from sitting at a desk in an air-conditioned newsroom writing about refugees to sitting across from them in their hut made of sticks in the world’s largest refugee camp. The story didn’t just move me — it shook me up, big time.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/what-its-like-to-live-like-a-refugee-287186141.html
Stress levels high as thousands of TFWs face April 1 deadline to return home
“That’s the message from immigration lawyers and migrant worker advocates, who warn the federally imposed deadline of April 1 — the date on which any TFW who arrived in 2011 or earlier will see their contract expire — is creating a glut of panicked foreign nationals trying desperately to secure permanent residency before they are forced home.”
Immigrant Health & Social Power: An interview with Harsha Walia
“Whether people are immigrants or refugees, I think most have an overwhelming experience of racism, poverty, and dislocation. And as we know, these are social determinants of health; they impact mental health, emotional well-being, and physical health. We see this manifest in a number of ways, and for many refugees, this is on top of PTSD as a result of living in war zones.”
 http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/immigrant-health-and-social-power
