"NO ONE IS ILLEGAL"

Solidarité Sans Frontières has begun a week long march on Ottawa to protest Canadian immigration laws and the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). "The march is a manifestation of our status as non-status, as refugees," said Saritha, one of the representatives of the group at a recent press conference. "It is to force a public debate that Canadian and Québec society needs today."

In recent months, the IRB has come under attack for its lack of a full appeals system and its deficiency of qualified judges. Some of the judges have even been described as political appointees and largely ignorant of immigrants' realities.

"Racism has become a modus operandi [inside the IRB]," one of the SSF representatives told the Link.

With the march, the SSF is "demanding an exhaustive [status-granting] system to all non-status people," said Tatiana Gomez, one of the planned marchers.

Meanwhile, The Ecumenical Association of Portuguese and Hispanic Churches is vowing to open church doors as sanctuary for vulnerable "underground" residents if immigration officials don't stop their stepped-up enforcement effort.

"There is a cry that the ecumenical community has heard and we cannot stand by as passive observers," Rev. Elias Morales of North Park Presbyterian Church told the Toronto Star. "We hope (Immigration) Minister Joe Volpe will listen to us, work with us and find ways to help these people. We hope we don't have to get into the sanctuary situation. But that will be our last resort." The coalition claims that over the past six weeks it has been getting dozens of calls a day from community members facing removals and deportations. As many as 30 people are being picked up daily by officials at construction sites, in homes and off the street.
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DAY1 : The NO ONE IS ILLEGAL MARCH ON OTTAWA:

June 18, 2005 -- The NO ONE IS ILLEGAL MARCH ON OTTAWA began today in Montreal.
A spirited and diverse demonstration of up to 1000 people (at the high point), marched through downtown Montreal, and north to two mainly immigrant neighborhoods: Parc Extension and Cote-des-Neiges.

The demonstration was opened by Kahntinehta, a Mohawk elder from Kahnawake Mohawk territory. She was followed by remarks by members of the Behlouli family (Smail, Nacera, Yasmine, Kenza and Kahiina), who have been active members of both the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians and Solidarity Across Borders, who will be marching as a family the entire route to Ottawa. Dorothy Dubé, a non-status Zimbabwean refugee who took sanctuary in a Montreal-area church in 2002, also addressed demo participants.

Throughout the demonstration, many directly affected migrants addressed by-standers and the crowd, including representatives of migrant communities from the Congo and Iran, and individuals facing deportation to Egypt and Palestine. As well, members of the South Asian Women's Community Center (SAWCC), the Immigrant Workers Center (based in Cote-des-Neiges) and the Migrant Workers Support Center (defending the interested of seasonal farmworkers in Quebec, mainly from Latin America).

Today's demonstration ended in Kent Park, with a neighbourhood festival, including an open-air concert with local acts Syncop, Nomadic Massive and Muzion.
The march continues tomorrow to the village of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, on the tip of the island of Montreal. On Monday, marchers will leave the island, and be welcomed in the evening on the Mohawk territory of Kanehsatake.
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Solidarity Across Borders : RESISTING THE WAR ON IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES
NO TO DEPORTATIONS! NO TO DETENTIONS!
FOR THE ABOLITION OF SECURITY CERTIFICATES!
A STATUS FOR ALL!

Solidarity Across Borders is a Montreal-area coalition initiated by several groups active in defending the rights of migrants, immigrants and refugees. The majority of groups within Solidarity Across Borders are self-organized committees of persons directly affected by repressive anti-immigrant and 'anti-terrorist' laws and regulations in Fortress North America. We have been together since the summer of 2003, and have organized demonstrations and cultural events, produced a newspaper, and supported each other’s day-to-day campaign work. We have mobilized in opposition to the detention and deportation of migrants, against security certificates, and for the regularization of all non-status persons living in Canada.

In addition to the specific demands of each group comprising Solidarity Across Borders, the network maintains four principal demands:
1) The regularization of all non-status persons ;
2) An end to deportations ;
3) An end to the detention of migrants, immigrants and refugees ;
4) The abolition of security certificates.

In the current political context, as the Canadian state rushes to 'harmonize' its immigration policies with the United States in order to 'secure' Fortress North America and perpetuate the so-called War on Terror, immigrants and refugees are particularly vulnerable to racist and anti-poor processes of criminalization & subsequent deportation perpetrated by Canada Immigration and Canada's police forces.
SAB calls on you to take a stand and fight for justice ;

MARCH TO OTTAWA: Demand Regularization for all non status migrants NOW!
Recently, Solidarity Across Borders has decided to take a major step in our organizing efforts: We will be organizing a one-week march to Ottawa from Montreal! This march will take place between June 18-25, 2005 . We will begin the march through downtown Montreal on June 18, marching thru some of Montreal’s immigrant neighborhoods into the West Island of Montreal. By day 2, we expect to be marching out of the Island, and onto the highway that will take us to Ottawa over the course of seven days. We invite you to join us.

The groups comprising Solidarity Across Borders are: The Coalition Against the Deportation ofPalestinian Refugees, The Human Rights Action Committee, The Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians, Action Colombienne, The Catholic Congolese Community of Montreal, The No One is Illegal Collective (Montreal), The Justice Coalition for Adil Charkaoui, The Immigrant Workers Center, The Support Committee for Basque Political Prisoners, South Asian Women's Community Center, Filipino Women of Quebec (PINAY), L'Association Vwa Zanset (Haïti), The Support Center for Migrant Agricultural workers, as well as individual refugees and non-status persons.
NO BORDERS, NO NATIONS, STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!

Please contact us at (514) 859-9023 or sansfrontieres@resist.ca