Despite public outcry, officials turn blind eye to danger mother of two faces from abusive ex in Mexico
By Isabel Macdonald
Coop média de Montréal
September 24, 2011
On Friday, Sept. 23, Canada deported Paola Ortiz, the mom of two Canadian citizen kids, aged 2 and 4, to Mexico, a country she fled in 2006 to escape sexual abuse and domestic violence at the hands of her then-financé, a federal Mexican police officer.
Since last week, Paola’s case has gathered widespread support, particularly across Quebec, where she had been granted residency. More than 25 groups answered a call from immigrant rights group Solidarity Across Borders (SAB), and joined forces in calling on federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Security Minister Vic Toews to intervene to stop the deportation of the Montreal mom. The Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ) issued a statement pointing out that it was “totally delusional” to think Paola “would be protected by the Mexican police authorities once she is returned to Mexico.” The deportation was also denounced publicly by Québec Solidaire and by a near-unanimous vote by the Parti Québecois (the official opposition party in the Quebec parliament), with the péquiste spokesperson on immigration opposing the deportation as inhumane. The immigration critic also denounced the ruling Quebec Liberal’s silence on the issue and urged the provincial government to “intervene energetically” on the issue.
In the federal House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois called for federal intervention and the Member of Parliament representing Paola’s riding in Pointe St. Charles, Montreal, the NDP’s Tyrone Benston, also joined more than 200 of Paola’s neighbours and community members in calling on Kenney to stop the deportation.
Quebec’s former immigration minister, André Boulerice, publicly denounced the silence of the Quebec Liberals, as well as the role of the Harper administration (an “espèce de Tea Party,” as he called the federal authorities responsible for allowing the deportation to go forward).
In the context of this fast-growing opposition to Paola’s expulsion, it seemed possible to hope that sanity might prevail in Canadian immigration, and the Montreal mom be allowed to stay. Particularly given that less than two years ago, a Mexican woman who’d been refused asylum and deported by Canada was murdered by the assailants she’d tried to escape in her efforts to flee to Canada. And on Sept. 22, a family that had sought asylum but been rejected by Canada returned to the country, after their deportation was overturned, drawing attention to the fact that decisions in refugee cases can be flawed.
Paola was originally slated to be deported on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Following orders from Canadian immigration authorities, she presented herself at Trudeau airport, with her luggage. But her deportation was narrowly averted when airport medical staff intervened. Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in the wake of the domestic violence she survived, Paola suddenly began shaking, and had difficulty breathing as she waited for Canadian Boarder Services Agency (CBSA) agents to march her onto a Mexico-bound plane. She was hospitalized later that morning, but Canadian authorities instructed her to present herself to Immigration Canada to receive a new deportation date.
On Wednesday morning, Paola’s friends and supporters gathered outside the towering grey building at 1010 Rue St. Antoine West that houses the Citizenship and Immigration Canada offices in downtown Montreal, in a show of support as she presented herself to the immigration authorities.
“There’s no guarantee she’ll come out,” a cop patrolling the demonstration on the sidewalk outside told Paola’s supporters, explaining that this was what Immigration security personnel had told the Montreal police. Paola had recently been incarcerated for a week in an immigrant detention centre in Laval, so it was conceivable that immigration authorities would simply throw her back into a cell at the immigrant jail to await her deportation.
When Paola stepped out of the federal building around noon, her supporters breathed a collective sigh of relief. Until they learned that Canada had ordered her deported in less than 48 hours.
On the night of Thursday, September 22, a vigil was held blocks from the federal immigration offices. Dozens of Paola’s friends and supporters turned out for the all-night event, which was organized by Dignidad Migrante. Attendees included the former immigration minister André Boulerice, as well as the péquiste immigration spokesperson Yves-François Blanchet.
In the centre of the gathering, a sign, lit up by a ring of candles that also formed a heart, proclaimed “Basta de deportaciones” (Stop Deportations!).
The following morning at 5:30 am, several of the supporters who’d kept the vigil, as well as a handful of the journalists who’d been doggedly following Paola’s story, congregated in front of the grey building on Rue St. Antoine.
Canada’s unsuccessful earlier efforts to deport Paola had become a major news story in the Montreal media, with TV, radio and print journalists turning up at Trudeau airport along with Paola’s friends and supporters. This time, though, Paola was to be deported in secret. She had been ordered to appear on Friday not at the airport, where she would again be able to be with her friends, family and supporters, and speak to media, but at the immigration offices at 1010 Rue St. Antoine. A journalist familiar with deportation proceedings predicted that the authorities would transport her directly to an RCMP security gate at Trudeau airport, keeping her out of any public spaces in the airport where she would have access to media.
At 6 am on September 23, two white men wearing white uniforms appeared at the glass doors of the office building at 1010 St. Antoine. Her friends asked if someone could accompany her for support. Without even looking up, the men in uniform brusquely refused. “No,” one of them said firmly, as the glass doors slammed shut behind Paola.
Half a dozen local journalists, along with her friends and supporters, were left to stare at the closed glass doors from the sidewalk, as Paola was whisked into the bowels of the grey building.
She had had to leave behind her two young children--one of whom is autistic, and the other of whom has hearing difficulties. She worried about her kids’ safety (as well as her own) in Mexico, and also wanted the youngsters to continue receiving the special medical services they depend on in Canada, which would not be accessible to them in her home country.
“What did she tell her kids?” one journalist asked, several minutes after Paola disappeared with the men in uniform.
But the question might be better directed at Canada.
How on earth will we explain to those two young Canadian kids why our government has robbed them of their mother?
Follow Isabel Macdonald on twitter at @IsabelMacdo
http://montreal.mediacoop.ca/story/paola-ortiz-deportation-canadian-disgrace/8216
Showing posts with label Expulsions in Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expulsions in Canada. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Canada Set to Deport Mexican Mom and Her Canadian Kids
Pacific Free Press
September 13, 2011
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent deportation of a Mexican mother and her two Canadian children by Solidarity Across Borders.
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent decision by the Canadian authorities to procede with the deportation of Paola Ortiz and her two Canadian children of two and four years old.
Paola Ortiz arrived in Montreal five years ago after fleeing a situation of sexual and conjugal violence in Mexico, her country or origin. There she was a victim of violent physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by her then-husband, a federal police officer. She has been diagnosed by various specialists with post-traumatic stress and depression. Mrs. Ortiz's children also have health challenges. Her daughter of four years suffers from significant hearing problems, while her son of two years has recently been diagnosed with autism. Both children are receiving treatment and support from various specialists.
In 2006 upon her arrival in Canada, Paola Ortiz requested refugee status from Canada. The Immigration and Refugee Board refused her application one year later, under the pretext that the Mexican state provided adequate protection to women survivors of conjugal violence. However, many sources from the field uncover the situation of violence for women in Mexico, and the almost absolute impunity accorded to its perpetrators.
During the summer of 2011, Ms. Ortiz was detained for one week at the Immigration Detention Centre in Laval, being consequently separated from her children. She is presently in limbo, awaiting a deportation date that could be issued and executed as early as this week. Her lawyer has submitted a request for a stay of her deportation, in her interests and those of her children.
« By constantly threatening Paola and her family with deportation, the Canadian government is acting as an accomplice to the sexist violence that Paola has endured », explains Rosalind Wong, a member of the Solidarity Across Borders network that is supporting Ms. Ortiz. « Moreover, the government is ignoring not only its human rights obligations and its obligations towards refugees, but also its responsibilities towards children born on Canadian territory, children who have the right to live in conditions that are fair, safe, and with dignity. This means to remain in Canada, the country of their birth, with their mother. »
For the other members of Solidarity Across Borders working with Ms. Ortiz, there is no question that Ms. Ortiz and her children will not receive the specialized services that they need should they be deported to Mexico.
« The treatment of Ms. Ortiz in recent weeks displays a worrying tendency on the part of Canada's immigration system, » adds Rosalind Wong. « Mainly, a flat-out denial of the situation of violence and its impunity in countries like Mexico, and the increasing use of repressive tools like detention and precipitated deportation, deliberately overlooking any consideration of the rights of the children or the psychological precarity of women who have experienced trauma and violence.»
In 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney imposed a mandatory visa on all visitors from Mexico, alleging that too many requests for asylum seekers originating from Mexico were false. This gesture is one of several measures recently put into place by the Canadian government that refugee advocates have decried as simply dividing and criminalizing immigrant and refugee communities, in an aim to restrict their access to Canadian territory.
Solidarity Across Borders joins Ms. Ortiz, her family, and many friends and community members of Montreal and Point St. Charles neighborhood, to demand that Ms. Ortiz be given permanent status in Canada.
Soldarity Across Borders is a network of support and struggle for the dignity and justice of migrants without status. Its principal demands are the end of deportations and detentions, the regularization of all non-status people and the abolition of the double punishment.
For more information:
Stewart Istvanffy, legal representative of Paola Ortiz — 514-876-9776
Rosalind Wong, Solidarity Across Borders — 514-759-8346
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/9700-canada-set-to-deport-mexican-mom-and-her-canadian-kids.html]
September 13, 2011
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent deportation of a Mexican mother and her two Canadian children by Solidarity Across Borders.
Solidarity Across Borders denounces the imminent decision by the Canadian authorities to procede with the deportation of Paola Ortiz and her two Canadian children of two and four years old.
Paola Ortiz arrived in Montreal five years ago after fleeing a situation of sexual and conjugal violence in Mexico, her country or origin. There she was a victim of violent physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by her then-husband, a federal police officer. She has been diagnosed by various specialists with post-traumatic stress and depression. Mrs. Ortiz's children also have health challenges. Her daughter of four years suffers from significant hearing problems, while her son of two years has recently been diagnosed with autism. Both children are receiving treatment and support from various specialists.
In 2006 upon her arrival in Canada, Paola Ortiz requested refugee status from Canada. The Immigration and Refugee Board refused her application one year later, under the pretext that the Mexican state provided adequate protection to women survivors of conjugal violence. However, many sources from the field uncover the situation of violence for women in Mexico, and the almost absolute impunity accorded to its perpetrators.
During the summer of 2011, Ms. Ortiz was detained for one week at the Immigration Detention Centre in Laval, being consequently separated from her children. She is presently in limbo, awaiting a deportation date that could be issued and executed as early as this week. Her lawyer has submitted a request for a stay of her deportation, in her interests and those of her children.
« By constantly threatening Paola and her family with deportation, the Canadian government is acting as an accomplice to the sexist violence that Paola has endured », explains Rosalind Wong, a member of the Solidarity Across Borders network that is supporting Ms. Ortiz. « Moreover, the government is ignoring not only its human rights obligations and its obligations towards refugees, but also its responsibilities towards children born on Canadian territory, children who have the right to live in conditions that are fair, safe, and with dignity. This means to remain in Canada, the country of their birth, with their mother. »
For the other members of Solidarity Across Borders working with Ms. Ortiz, there is no question that Ms. Ortiz and her children will not receive the specialized services that they need should they be deported to Mexico.
« The treatment of Ms. Ortiz in recent weeks displays a worrying tendency on the part of Canada's immigration system, » adds Rosalind Wong. « Mainly, a flat-out denial of the situation of violence and its impunity in countries like Mexico, and the increasing use of repressive tools like detention and precipitated deportation, deliberately overlooking any consideration of the rights of the children or the psychological precarity of women who have experienced trauma and violence.»
In 2009, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney imposed a mandatory visa on all visitors from Mexico, alleging that too many requests for asylum seekers originating from Mexico were false. This gesture is one of several measures recently put into place by the Canadian government that refugee advocates have decried as simply dividing and criminalizing immigrant and refugee communities, in an aim to restrict their access to Canadian territory.
Solidarity Across Borders joins Ms. Ortiz, her family, and many friends and community members of Montreal and Point St. Charles neighborhood, to demand that Ms. Ortiz be given permanent status in Canada.
Soldarity Across Borders is a network of support and struggle for the dignity and justice of migrants without status. Its principal demands are the end of deportations and detentions, the regularization of all non-status people and the abolition of the double punishment.
For more information:
Stewart Istvanffy, legal representative of Paola Ortiz — 514-876-9776
Rosalind Wong, Solidarity Across Borders — 514-759-8346
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/9700-canada-set-to-deport-mexican-mom-and-her-canadian-kids.html]
Friday, May 20, 2011
Mexicans ordered deported; Four men admit slipping into Canada illegally
By Kim Bolan,
The Vancouver Sun
May 18, 2011
Four Mexican nationals found last week at a Chilliwack marijuana growing operation have all been ordered deported.
One man was sent home immediately without a hearing before the immigration board.
Three others, including a man who also holds American citizenship, all agreed with an immigration board adjudicator Monday that they had entered Canada illegally and were therefore inadmissible.
Antonio Andrade-Lomeli and his brother Israel Lomeli-Molina are expected to be sent back to Mexico later this week and will remain in detention until then. Their mother in Mexico has sent their birth certificates to the Canada Border Service Agency by courier so they can get travel documents and be sent home within days.
Immigration board member Lynda Mackie heard how the brothers had slipped into Canada last December without going through a port of entry or presenting themselves to a Canadian border guard. Lomeli-Molina admitted that he had been working illegally and had no family, friends or connections in B.C.
In a separate hearing Monday, dual American-Mexican Orlando Aurelio Owings admitted he walked across the Canada-U.S. border on Jan. 11 after being turned back by the CBSA at the Douglas border crossing.
"He entered through a park on foot," CBSA delegate Denise Reid told Mackie. "The [immigration] minister is asking that an exclusion order be made."
Owings, who had an interpreter present but spoke English, agreed with all the allegations against him.
Reid asked that Owings be held in custody until his deportation given that he came to the attention of immigration "as the result of police involvement with respect to a marijuana grow-operation in Chilliwack."
He was escorted to the U.S. border later Monday.
Because none of the Mexicans challenged the allegation they had entered Canada illegally, no information was presented at their hearings about how they came to be at a house where police found 20 kilos of B.C. bud, 600 plants and a gun. Neighbours had called police May 11 after hearing shots fired.
Three local men, including the renter of the house in the 6800-block of Unsworth Road, were also arrested and are expected to face gun and trafficking charges. Two of those men are known to police.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Mexicans+ordered+deported/4801862/story.html#ixzz1MinTQKYa
The Vancouver Sun
May 18, 2011
Four Mexican nationals found last week at a Chilliwack marijuana growing operation have all been ordered deported.
One man was sent home immediately without a hearing before the immigration board.
Three others, including a man who also holds American citizenship, all agreed with an immigration board adjudicator Monday that they had entered Canada illegally and were therefore inadmissible.
Antonio Andrade-Lomeli and his brother Israel Lomeli-Molina are expected to be sent back to Mexico later this week and will remain in detention until then. Their mother in Mexico has sent their birth certificates to the Canada Border Service Agency by courier so they can get travel documents and be sent home within days.
Immigration board member Lynda Mackie heard how the brothers had slipped into Canada last December without going through a port of entry or presenting themselves to a Canadian border guard. Lomeli-Molina admitted that he had been working illegally and had no family, friends or connections in B.C.
In a separate hearing Monday, dual American-Mexican Orlando Aurelio Owings admitted he walked across the Canada-U.S. border on Jan. 11 after being turned back by the CBSA at the Douglas border crossing.
"He entered through a park on foot," CBSA delegate Denise Reid told Mackie. "The [immigration] minister is asking that an exclusion order be made."
Owings, who had an interpreter present but spoke English, agreed with all the allegations against him.
Reid asked that Owings be held in custody until his deportation given that he came to the attention of immigration "as the result of police involvement with respect to a marijuana grow-operation in Chilliwack."
He was escorted to the U.S. border later Monday.
Because none of the Mexicans challenged the allegation they had entered Canada illegally, no information was presented at their hearings about how they came to be at a house where police found 20 kilos of B.C. bud, 600 plants and a gun. Neighbours had called police May 11 after hearing shots fired.
Three local men, including the renter of the house in the 6800-block of Unsworth Road, were also arrested and are expected to face gun and trafficking charges. Two of those men are known to police.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Mexicans+ordered+deported/4801862/story.html#ixzz1MinTQKYa
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Mexican teen deported from Canada
By United Press International
Jan. 1, 2011
TORONTO, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A Mexican youth who said he feared returning to his homeland was deported from Canada Saturday, a day after a judge rejected his appeal, an advocacy group said.
No One Is Illegal said Daniel Garcia, 18, who came to Canada three years ago with his older sister, was put on a plane in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.
Garcia's sister, Brenda, 30, was returned to Mexico Monday. She had asked for asylum in Canada on the grounds she faced persecution in Mexico as a lesbian. She said her partner had been shot to death and she would be in danger if returned to Mexico. Her brother also expressed concern for his safety in Mexico, Postmedia News said.
In a last-ditch appeal, Garcia's lawyers argued it would be unfair to send him home halfway through the school year at Parkdale Collegiate. A judge disagreed, supporting immigration officials.
No One Is Illegal posted a statement on its Web site: "At 8:30 a.m. this morning, Daniel Garcia unwillingly boarded a plane to Mexico City. The new year begins with a hole in the Parkdale community and in our hearts."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/01/Mexican-teen-deported-from-Canada/UPI-66571293938501/
Jan. 1, 2011
TORONTO, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A Mexican youth who said he feared returning to his homeland was deported from Canada Saturday, a day after a judge rejected his appeal, an advocacy group said.
No One Is Illegal said Daniel Garcia, 18, who came to Canada three years ago with his older sister, was put on a plane in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.
Garcia's sister, Brenda, 30, was returned to Mexico Monday. She had asked for asylum in Canada on the grounds she faced persecution in Mexico as a lesbian. She said her partner had been shot to death and she would be in danger if returned to Mexico. Her brother also expressed concern for his safety in Mexico, Postmedia News said.
In a last-ditch appeal, Garcia's lawyers argued it would be unfair to send him home halfway through the school year at Parkdale Collegiate. A judge disagreed, supporting immigration officials.
No One Is Illegal posted a statement on its Web site: "At 8:30 a.m. this morning, Daniel Garcia unwillingly boarded a plane to Mexico City. The new year begins with a hole in the Parkdale community and in our hearts."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/01/Mexican-teen-deported-from-Canada/UPI-66571293938501/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Deportations from Canada surge 50 per cent in a decade, documents show
By Tobi Cohen (CP)
The Canadian Press
October 13, 2009
MONTREAL — Deportations from Canada have skyrocketed more than 50 per cent over the last decade and the bulk of those given the boot are failed refugee claimants who often return home to face torture and persecution.
Figures from the Canada Border Services Agency show the country removed 12,732 people last year - a major increase from the 8,361 who were deported in 1999.
A series of steady increases over the years shows no sign of abating in 2009. By Aug. 25 of this year, 8,999 had already been deported.
Statistics show failed refugee claimants accounted for three-quarters of deportations while the remainder were often removed on criminal or security grounds.
The Canadian Council for Refugees says the figures debunk the widely held notion that Canada is a haven for asylum seekers.
"This totally contradicts people who continue to say in the media that claimants are never deported from Canada. Once you put your foot on Canadian soil, you can stay here forever," said Janet Dench, the council's executive director.
"These facts contradict it and that's what people who work with refugees know - that this is a daily business, a daily experience that claimants are very routinely removed from Canada."
The government explains the spike in deportations as the logical result of a jump in refugee applications; there were 35,000 refugee claims last year, and the government says the system can only handle 25,000.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says problems with the refugee system will be addressed in upcoming reforms.
But the stats cast some doubt on Ottawa's explanation. Figures obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board indicate the 35,000 refugee applications received last year is no record.
While the figure represented a six-year high, it was still far less than the 44,000 cases received in 2001 and 39,000 in the following year. While there was an increase in claims in 2008, the government also completed far fewer cases than in the past.
Refugee advocates say the explanation is simple: the government has wanted to deport more people, and has taken steps to do it in recent years.
"There's been a lot of effort, especially in the last three years," said former IRB chairman Peter Showler. "It was an area that they knew was a problem."
The most common deportation destinations are the U.S. and Mexico, although hundreds more are being sent to places with shoddy track records on human rights or security, like China, Pakistan, Haiti and Zimbabwe.
Montreal immigration lawyer Stewart Istvanffy says he's seen many heartbreaking cases among the thousands he's taken on over the last 20 years.
He watched many deserving clients lose their fight to stay, and wind up on planes bound for unimaginable horrors. He says he's also seen families wrenched apart by poor decisions from immigration officials.
One client was sent back to Morocco in 2003, and he was detained at the airport in Casablanca and tortured during an 18-month incarceration.
"Because he made so much noise about his case here in Canada, his eldest daughter was kidnapped, raped and she was told, 'Tell your father to shut up,"' he said.
"I have a newspaper article about that from a Moroccan newspaper. She now has a . . . child who can't go to school because you need to show who the father is on your birth certificate."
He tells the story of how a Sikh client was sent back to India in 2007, and bribed his way through the airport and returned to his Punjab village. A police raid two weeks later sent him into hiding and Istvanffy says he hasn't heard from him since.
In a recent case, a Pakistani couple who had established themselves as pillars in their Montreal community were deported while their children - including a five-year-old Canadian-born girl - were allowed to stay.
Istvanffy said 98 per cent of pre-removal risk assessments end in rejection.
Supporting evidence painstakingly gathered from foreign newspapers, far-flung relatives, village leaders and even politicians is often tossed out because it comes from "interested parties."
"Dismissing any evidence from people who know you as self-interested, this is absolutely typical of their decision-making," he said.
"The pre-removal risk assessment in Canada is just a total joke."
Refugee advocates are calling for changes to the system.
They say it's not right that the fate of claimants rests with a single Immigration and Refugee Board decision-maker. They also want the appeals process outlined in the legislation to be implemented.
Last month, Showler released a proposal.
In it, he called for a process that would see rejected claimants removed within 13 months.
He recommended replacing the IRB with a two-pronged Refugee Tribunal that would include a claims and appeals division. Tribunal members would be appointed on merit without influence from the federal cabinet.
He believes a good first decision, a fair appeals process, and a prompt removal of failed claimants would eliminate the need for pre-removal risk assessments.
He says the quicker turnaround time would also prevent people from establishing themselves in Canada, and later seeking status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Kenney spokesman Alykhan Velshi said the government has already addressed the issue of patronage. Velshi said IRB members are now appointed on merit.
Although some may fall through the cracks, he said there is adequate recourse for failed claimants within the current system and argued that an appeal process would only lead to further processing delays.
The government is particularly concerned with targeting those who abuse the system, Velshi said.
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gtfW6Y0QlrzX7aH0TWS0EovwUqBQ
The Canadian Press
October 13, 2009
MONTREAL — Deportations from Canada have skyrocketed more than 50 per cent over the last decade and the bulk of those given the boot are failed refugee claimants who often return home to face torture and persecution.
Figures from the Canada Border Services Agency show the country removed 12,732 people last year - a major increase from the 8,361 who were deported in 1999.
A series of steady increases over the years shows no sign of abating in 2009. By Aug. 25 of this year, 8,999 had already been deported.
Statistics show failed refugee claimants accounted for three-quarters of deportations while the remainder were often removed on criminal or security grounds.
The Canadian Council for Refugees says the figures debunk the widely held notion that Canada is a haven for asylum seekers.
"This totally contradicts people who continue to say in the media that claimants are never deported from Canada. Once you put your foot on Canadian soil, you can stay here forever," said Janet Dench, the council's executive director.
"These facts contradict it and that's what people who work with refugees know - that this is a daily business, a daily experience that claimants are very routinely removed from Canada."
The government explains the spike in deportations as the logical result of a jump in refugee applications; there were 35,000 refugee claims last year, and the government says the system can only handle 25,000.
A spokesman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says problems with the refugee system will be addressed in upcoming reforms.
But the stats cast some doubt on Ottawa's explanation. Figures obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board indicate the 35,000 refugee applications received last year is no record.
While the figure represented a six-year high, it was still far less than the 44,000 cases received in 2001 and 39,000 in the following year. While there was an increase in claims in 2008, the government also completed far fewer cases than in the past.
Refugee advocates say the explanation is simple: the government has wanted to deport more people, and has taken steps to do it in recent years.
"There's been a lot of effort, especially in the last three years," said former IRB chairman Peter Showler. "It was an area that they knew was a problem."
The most common deportation destinations are the U.S. and Mexico, although hundreds more are being sent to places with shoddy track records on human rights or security, like China, Pakistan, Haiti and Zimbabwe.
Montreal immigration lawyer Stewart Istvanffy says he's seen many heartbreaking cases among the thousands he's taken on over the last 20 years.
He watched many deserving clients lose their fight to stay, and wind up on planes bound for unimaginable horrors. He says he's also seen families wrenched apart by poor decisions from immigration officials.
One client was sent back to Morocco in 2003, and he was detained at the airport in Casablanca and tortured during an 18-month incarceration.
"Because he made so much noise about his case here in Canada, his eldest daughter was kidnapped, raped and she was told, 'Tell your father to shut up,"' he said.
"I have a newspaper article about that from a Moroccan newspaper. She now has a . . . child who can't go to school because you need to show who the father is on your birth certificate."
He tells the story of how a Sikh client was sent back to India in 2007, and bribed his way through the airport and returned to his Punjab village. A police raid two weeks later sent him into hiding and Istvanffy says he hasn't heard from him since.
In a recent case, a Pakistani couple who had established themselves as pillars in their Montreal community were deported while their children - including a five-year-old Canadian-born girl - were allowed to stay.
Istvanffy said 98 per cent of pre-removal risk assessments end in rejection.
Supporting evidence painstakingly gathered from foreign newspapers, far-flung relatives, village leaders and even politicians is often tossed out because it comes from "interested parties."
"Dismissing any evidence from people who know you as self-interested, this is absolutely typical of their decision-making," he said.
"The pre-removal risk assessment in Canada is just a total joke."
Refugee advocates are calling for changes to the system.
They say it's not right that the fate of claimants rests with a single Immigration and Refugee Board decision-maker. They also want the appeals process outlined in the legislation to be implemented.
Last month, Showler released a proposal.
In it, he called for a process that would see rejected claimants removed within 13 months.
He recommended replacing the IRB with a two-pronged Refugee Tribunal that would include a claims and appeals division. Tribunal members would be appointed on merit without influence from the federal cabinet.
He believes a good first decision, a fair appeals process, and a prompt removal of failed claimants would eliminate the need for pre-removal risk assessments.
He says the quicker turnaround time would also prevent people from establishing themselves in Canada, and later seeking status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Kenney spokesman Alykhan Velshi said the government has already addressed the issue of patronage. Velshi said IRB members are now appointed on merit.
Although some may fall through the cracks, he said there is adequate recourse for failed claimants within the current system and argued that an appeal process would only lead to further processing delays.
The government is particularly concerned with targeting those who abuse the system, Velshi said.
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gtfW6Y0QlrzX7aH0TWS0EovwUqBQ
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Reign of immigration raids in Southern Ontario continues
Nine female migrant workers arrested in Leamington
UFCW Canada
May 28, 2009
TORONTO, ON: In the early morning of Wednesday, May 27, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents raided Lakeside Greenhouse in Leamington, Ontario and arrested nine female migrant workers. One of the women arrested and detained is pregnant.
The arrested workers, who are all from Mexico, are being held at the county jail in Windsor, Ontario. A number of the women arrested have pending asylum claims as refugees and fear for their safety if deported. To date only one of the nine detainees has been released.
This latest raid comes on the heels of a series of U.S. - style raids first conducted by the CBSA in early April at various Ontario communities including Leamington. In those April raids, over one hundred workers were detained, and many were deported to their home countries.
"These unprecedented raids are shaking Leamington to its core. This is a community with a large and vibrant population of migrant workers," says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.
"Rather than criminalizing our society's most vulnerable workers, the resources used to carry out these raids should be re-directed to support desperately needed enforcement of decent working conditions and accommodation for migrant workers. These raids only further stigmatize workers, making them even more vulnerable to unscrupulous employers and labour recruiters."
UFCW Canada and the Agriculture Workers Alliance have joined forces with local legal clinics and community groups to provide support and advocacy for the arrested workers, and other migrant workers in the Leamington community.
"These actions are destroying the lives of these already marginalized workers. As community and labour groups, we are demanding an immediate moratorium on raids. We have to stop punishing workers for doing nothing more than earning a livelihood," stated Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant Workers.
As Canada's largest private-sector union, UFCW Canada has been advocating for the rights of migrant workers across Canada for almost two decades. In association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) (www.awa-ata.ca), UFCW Canada also operates nine agriculture worker support centres across Canada, including one in Leamington, Ontario. These centres have provided assistance to tens of thousands of workers since the first centre opened its doors in 2002.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Ufcw-Canada-996356.html
UFCW Canada
May 28, 2009
TORONTO, ON: In the early morning of Wednesday, May 27, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents raided Lakeside Greenhouse in Leamington, Ontario and arrested nine female migrant workers. One of the women arrested and detained is pregnant.
The arrested workers, who are all from Mexico, are being held at the county jail in Windsor, Ontario. A number of the women arrested have pending asylum claims as refugees and fear for their safety if deported. To date only one of the nine detainees has been released.
This latest raid comes on the heels of a series of U.S. - style raids first conducted by the CBSA in early April at various Ontario communities including Leamington. In those April raids, over one hundred workers were detained, and many were deported to their home countries.
"These unprecedented raids are shaking Leamington to its core. This is a community with a large and vibrant population of migrant workers," says UFCW Canada National President Wayne Hanley.
"Rather than criminalizing our society's most vulnerable workers, the resources used to carry out these raids should be re-directed to support desperately needed enforcement of decent working conditions and accommodation for migrant workers. These raids only further stigmatize workers, making them even more vulnerable to unscrupulous employers and labour recruiters."
UFCW Canada and the Agriculture Workers Alliance have joined forces with local legal clinics and community groups to provide support and advocacy for the arrested workers, and other migrant workers in the Leamington community.
"These actions are destroying the lives of these already marginalized workers. As community and labour groups, we are demanding an immediate moratorium on raids. We have to stop punishing workers for doing nothing more than earning a livelihood," stated Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant Workers.
As Canada's largest private-sector union, UFCW Canada has been advocating for the rights of migrant workers across Canada for almost two decades. In association with the Agriculture Workers Alliance (AWA) (www.awa-ata.ca), UFCW Canada also operates nine agriculture worker support centres across Canada, including one in Leamington, Ontario. These centres have provided assistance to tens of thousands of workers since the first centre opened its doors in 2002.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Ufcw-Canada-996356.html
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Nine Women Arrested in Workplace Raid in Leamington, Ontario
The Dominion
May 28, 2009
Nine Women Arrested in Workplace Raid in Leamington, Ontario
May 28, 2009
Nine Women Arrested in Workplace Raid in Leamington, Ontario
Justice for Migrant Workers and No One is Illegal-Toronto condemn the latest workplace raids in Leamington, Ontario. In the early morning of Wednesday, May 27th, Immigration Enforcement swarmed Lakeside Produce arresting nine migrant workers, all women, [o]ne of whom is pregnant. They are all being detained in the Windsor County Jail.
“We are outraged by these arrests,” says Chris Ramsroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers. “These attacks destroy our communities. Instead of attacking the immigration system, we are attacking workers who put food on our table.”
These latest arrests mark an alarming trend of workplace raids by the Canada Border Service Agency. In April, CBSA conducted large scale raids throughout the [Greater Toronto Area] and Southwestern Ontario, where over 80 migrants were arrested and deported.
Workplace raids will only serve to terrorize and intimidate workers into working for low wages and unsafe working conditions because they are constantly under the threat of deportation.
In the middle of this recession, the Tory government is spending money and resources on arresting people, throwing them into detention centers and buying their plane tickets, instead of supporting social services for those in need.
The Tory government is targeting racial and ethnic communities and is using the raids to inflame racism and bigotry. They are using migrant workers as scapegoats in this recession.
Justice for Migrant Workers and No One is Illegal-Toronto will be organizing over the next week to fight against the raids and these growing attacks on our community.
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