About 50 people occupy the Citizenship and Immigration buildings in Vancouver, Unceded Coast Salish Territories, seeking justice for refugee Hossein Blujani and demanding a public investigation in to the cause of his death. The body of the 31-year-old Kurdish-Iranian refugee was found on December 1, 2012 on the railway tracks near Commercial Drive and Broadway [...]

Migrant worker programs are the only avenues left for many migrants and pathways to residency are getting cut. Calling for abolition of temporary worker programs without addressing the systemic shifts in canadian immigration policy is a de facto call to end immigration. Instead, call for full legal status and basic labor rights for migrant workers [...]

Talking about Indigenous Sovereignty and No One Is Illegal

Ruling puts two Tamil cases in limbo http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01/14/bc-human-smuggling-tamils.html A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has taken the bluster out of the Conservative’s campaign against illegal migrants by striking down a section of the law targeting human smuggling, putting at least two high-profile prosecutions in limbo. In February 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to toughen [...]

Reports of exploited foreign temps have grown as fast as the federal program. First in a series from the Tyee. By Krystle Alarcon http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/01/07/Canada-Migrant-Workers/ They hand you a soothing cup of Tim Hortons, pack frozen beef in factories, pick blueberries and apples on Abbotsford farms, serve fast-food meals and wipe tables, excavate mines and drill [...]

Canada’s controversial 2012 changes to immigration and refugee system Debra Black and Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporters http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/immigration/article/1308263–immigration-and-refugee-system-canada-made-controversial-changes-in-2012 Over the past year Ottawa has made some sweeping and controversial changes to the immigration, asylum and refugee system, and the rules involving Canadian citizenship. In doing so, the federal Conservative government has radically changed the landscape and [...]

“Immigration detention cholbey na! cholbey na!”* (immigration detention will not be tolerated!) Report on day of action Free the three, Freedom for migrants, End detentions! The numbers are shocking: since 2004, at least 95,000 immigrants have experienced detention; the longest held – under the notorious ‘security certificate ‘ regime – for more than 12 years. [...]

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by Krystle Alarcon http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/canada/report-canadas-growing-culture-exclusion Jason Wong came from China as a refugee in 1987 to avoid aborting his child, who was conceived out of wedlock – as family law at the time persecuted unplanned babies. That baby, born in Vancouver, is now a 25-year old student who currently supports Wong, as he cannot legally work [...]

Advocates urge Canadian government not to go further down the route of privatising immigration detention by Bilbo Poynter http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/29/canada-asylum-seekers-private-prison-companies Dramatic changes to Canada’s immigration laws expected to come into effect in December will mean that asylum seekers face more restrictions and have less time to make a claim. Advocates fear this will lead to more [...]

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was in Burnaby, B.C. this week. The minister told the crowd gathered at the Executive Hotel that his immigration crackdown — from marriage fraud to human smuggling and what he called the “abuse of Canada’s generosity” — is not driven by ideology or racism. “One thing that is unique [...]

by David P. Ball http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Federal-Politics/2012/11/10/Kenney-Visit/ Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was in Burnaby, B.C. yesterday to explain changes to how would-be newcomers connect with employers in Canada, and to answer questions about the controversial Temporary Foreign Workers Program, which has come under scrutiny this week over 200 Chinese coal mine workers in B.C. The [...]

by Janet Dench http://ccrweb.ca/en/conditional-permanent-residence-more-complicated-it-looks New immigration rules mean some sponsored spouses will have “conditional permanent residence” for two years – and will be subject to deportation if they don’t live with their spouse for the full two years. The change is designed to combat “marriage fraud” – people getting married in order to obtain permanent [...]

Sanctuary Health: United for Refugee and Migrant Health is coordinating with our friends in the Latin American community to celebrate the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This is an event open to all members of our communities to honour our friends and family who have died. We will also be noting the [...]

Jonathan Woodward, CTV British Columbia http://bc.ctvnews.ca/canada-s-tough-talk-on-tamil-migrants-backfires-1.967043 Canada’s Federal Court has upheld a ruling that warns tough talk by the Harper government against Tamil migrants is putting them in more danger back in Sri Lanka – and making it harder to send them back. The ruling says that because the government publicly connected the Tamil migrant [...]