Wednesday January 28th
from 6:00-8:00

YWCA 733 Beatty St,
Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories

We’re calling on members of our communities to come together for a discussion about the collaboration of Translink and Transit Police with CBSA. At the meeting, we hope to share experiences and develop ideas, strategies and solutions on how we can collectively reach our goals. Possible strategic actions could include flooding the Transit Police Public Board Meeting and creating canvassing teams for major transit hubs.

If you are unable to attend please see how you can get involved here: http://transportationnotdeportation.wordpress.com/get-involved/

Background:
Every day in the Greater Vancouver area – Coast Salish territories, at various skytrain stations and bus stops, Transit Police racially profile people of colour and subsequently turn migrants over to Canada Border Services Agency. Transit Police reported three hundred and twenty eight people to Canada Border Services Agency in 2013, one in five of whom faced a subsequent immigration investigation including deportation.

One of these people was Mexican migrant and hotel worker Lucia Vega Jiménez, who later committed suicide in a detention centre. At the coroner’s inquest into her death, a Transit Police officer testified that he turned Lucia over to Canada Border Services Agency, in part, because Lucia had an accent and that he believed “she wasn’t originally from Canada.”

We want all residents of the Lower Mainland to access public transit without fear of immigration detention and we want Translink to stop turning people over to CBSA.

Specifically, we call on Metro Vancouver’s TransLink, the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, and the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service (Transit Police) to:

1) End the race and class based profiling of people on our public transit system and ensure access without fear of criminalization or deportation to all residents.

2) Stop turning people over to CBSA and stop enforcing federal immigration law, particularly given that most Transit Police referrals to CBSA are for situations where no warrant even exists.

3) Terminate the existing Memorandum of Understanding between Transit Police and Canada Border Services Agency and not enter into any such future collaborations with CBSA.

4) Ensure that a range of identification is accepted as sufficient to verify identity. This can range from passport, birth certificate or photo ID from country of origin; valid or expired immigration or visa documents; community center, public library, or food bank identification; bank card or tax forms; lease or any bill with place of residence; or a notarized letter.

5) Remove the CBSA Enforcement and Intelligence Division, CBSA Investigations Tip Line, and Immigration Warrant Response Center phone numbers as well as all immigration-related databases such as Immigration Detainees Management System from Translink and Transit Police databases.

https://www.facebook.com/events/419426174876342/
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ACCESSIBILITY:
We will have snacks and bus tickets.
We will also have childcare on-site.

The YWCA Hotel is wheelchair accessible. The building has about 10 stairs to the front entrance and a side ramp to the front entrance. The room is on the ground level with double doors. There are two wheelchair accessible bathrooms.For a look at the room and what seating looks like visit: http://ywcavan.org/hotel/meeting-rooms)