The latest headlines from : No One is Illegal (NOII) Vancouver

100 years of Resistance

[ November 22, 2008; 1:30 pm; ] 100 years of Reflection, Resistance, Celebration: A Surrey Community Program Marking our History since Komagatamaru

Saturday, November 22, 2008. Doors open at 1:30 p.m, Program begins at 2:00 p.m. sharp. Conference Rooms G 1205A and G 1205B. Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666 72nd Ave., Surrey [ From Scott Road Skytrain station a short bus ride on #319. [...]

NOII Benefit with Nefasha Ayer, Gabriel Teodros, Canary Sing

[ November 13, 2008; 8:00 pm; ] A benefit show for No One Is Illegal. $5 - $20 Sliding Scale. ALL AGES SHOW. Hosted by Gabriel Teodros

Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 8:00pm @ The Wise Hall. 1882 Adanac St. (off Commercial)

* Nefasha Ayer (San Francisco, CA - featuring Meklit Hadero on vocals)
* Gabriel Teodros (last Vancouver show as a resident)
* Canary Sing (Seattle, [...]

Quebec demands immigrants sign-off on ’shared values’

Graeme Hamilton, National Post . Published: Wednesday, October 29, 2008
MONTREAL — Future immigrants to Quebec will be required to sign a declaration promising to learn French and respect Quebec’s “shared values,” the government announced on Wednesday. In a document with echoes of the controversial code adopted last year by the rural town of Hérouxville, immigrants will [...]

Update: Laibar Singh’s “Return” to India

Dear friends and allies, As you all might have heard by now, Mr. Laibar Singh will be returning to India. In a statement released by his legal counsel Peter Edelmann to media via No One Is Illegal “Mr. Laibar Singh intends to present himself to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for removal to India. [...]

Federal officials contributed indirectly to torture of Canadians: report

CBC News, Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The actions of Canadian officials contributed indirectly to the torture of three Arab-Canadian men in Syria, a federal inquiry has concluded. “I found no evidence that any of these officials were seeking to do anything other than carry out conscientiously the duties and responsibilities of the institutions of which they [...]

Arid harvests for migrant women

October 14, 2008. Lesley Ciarula Taylor. Toronto Star
The difficulties of migrant farm women in rural Ontario that Evelyn Encalada Grez plans to describe to UN workers this week may come as a surprise to her audience, and to people here. “The ads you see for Foodland Ontario when you’re driving into Toronto give you a [...]

Abused Woman Waits 12 Years for Asylum

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (IPS) - In what some government critics are citing as an egregious example of public foot-dragging and bureaucratic inefficiency in immigration rule-making, the woman at the centre of one of the United States’ longest-running asylum disputes may now be in further jeopardy. The case involves the asylum claim of Rodi Alvarado, [...]

Future Shop clerk faces deportation and execution, says his lawyer

James Weldon. North Shore News. October 12, 2008
A North Vancouver Future Shop employee faces arrest and possible execution if an order for his deportation — which may take place as early as today (Oct. 12) — is carried out. Thirty-year-old Seyed Anari, known locally as Bob Anari, was arrested Thursday right after his bid to [...]

George Monbiot stirs debate over fate of tar sands

Georgia Straight. By Matthew Burrows
George Monbiot wants the Alberta tar-sands industry shut down “as quickly as possible”. The best-selling author, Guardian columnist, and environmentalist told the Georgia Straight he would like to see “large-scale direct actions” to make that happen. When Monbiot granted the Straight an interview in late August, in a small restaurant in [...]

2010 Olympic security costs could hit $1B, says minister

Friday, October 10, 2008 CBC News
The cost of security for the 2010 Winter Games could reach as high as $1 billion but B.C. will not be on the hook for the runaway costs, according to the provincial finance minister. B.C. is protected from cost overruns because the province is only paying for security inside Games [...]

Many immigrant seniors `penniless’

Toronto Star. October 09, 2008. Nicholas Keung
At 73, Balkar Singh Bajwa cares for his two grandsons, taking them to school, parks and doctors’ appointments. At times, the Brampton man, a retired principal from India, gets calls to work as a certified Punjabi translator. The little money he makes is his sole income. “Many of us, [...]

Environmental Crisis to Spur Mass Migration

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 9 (IPS) - As climate change, sea-level rise, earthquakes and floods threaten countries such as Bangladesh, Tuvalu, Vietnam and Tajikistan, the Tokyo-based U.N. University (UNU) warns that by 2050, some 200 million people will be displaced by environmental problems. This estimated figure is roughly equal to two-thirds of the current population in [...]

National Support for NOII TO Campaign for Non Status Women feeling Violence

Friday October 3, 2008 VANCOUVER-  Women centres and women organizations are joining refugee rights group No One Is Illegal in Toronto and Vancouver in calling for the immediate cancellation of a deportation order against Ms. Isabel Garcia Rivas and her children. The family is currently residing in Toronto, having fled domestic violence from Ms. Rivas’ [...]

B.C. Tory candidate won $578,590 contract from Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Glen McGregor. The Ottawa Citizen. Thursday, October 02, 2008
The Harper government gave a $578,590 contract to a small consulting company run by a Vancouver sociologist after she became a Conservative party candidate. Citizenship and Immigration Canada awarded the contract to Wai Young & Associates in April, three months after Wai Young had been acclaimed as [...]

U.S. Prosecutors File New Charges Against John Graham

The Associated Press. October 3, 2008 at 4:03 PM EDT
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — U.S. prosecutors filed a new complaint Friday  against a Vancouver man less than two hours after a judge dismissed the  indictment in the slaying of a Canadian Mi’kmaq woman 32 years ago. John Graham was scheduled to stand trial Monday in Rapid [...]