By Bill Fletcher - Znet

Approximately two million people of Mexican ancestry were deported from the USA during the Depression. This was not only Mexican nationals, but...US citizens of Mexican ancestry. This was a blatant example of ethnic cleansing taking place in the USA which destroyed families and exiled family members, in some cases indefinitely...What's to prevent this from happening again?

By Haroon Siddiqui - Wednesday, February 15 2012

[The Harper government] is cutting nearly $1 million in funding to the Mississauga-based Palestine House...The federal money is not for the centre per se...[but] for English language training and immigrant settlement services...“Palestine House, as also the Canadian Arab Federation, have long provided [English as a Second Language] and other immigrant settlement services...and both were doing a good job. Their funding was cut not because they were not doing the job or not delivering the services but because this government and this minister...do not like their political views.”

By Correy Baldwin - February 8, 2012

On August 13, 2010, a ship full of Tamil migrants arrived on the shores of British Columbia...all seeking asylum after enduring a desperate, four-month voyage on a cramped, unsanitary ship. Even before the boat arrived, the Conservative government labeled occupants as “criminals” and “terrorists”...This was the beginning of an aggressive campaign to rally support for harsh new anti-refugee legislation — a propaganda campaign built on disinformation, misleading rhetoric, disregard for the legal system, and some hefty stoking of public fear and misperceptions.

By Tyler Shipley - February 10, 2012

Monday's crash, which occurred as the Peruvian workers were returning home in a 15-passenger van from work on an Ontario chicken farm, killed 11 passengers and left the remaining three in critical condition. These kinds of vans are cheap and usually carry more workers than would a more expensive truck or SUV. They have also been described as "death traps" and have been investigated and banned in several states and provinces for failing to meet safety standards.

February 7th, 2012

Jason Kenney...is making headlines again with yet another parliamentary scandal...Kenney’s office organized a bogus citizenship ceremony broadcast on Sun Media...This is the latest in a series of political scandals surrounding Kenney...While these news-worthy scandals highlight the wheeling-and-dealing and corruption within Kenney’s office, we are troubled by the lack of anger and outrage at the real scandal in Kenney’s office: the racist tokenization of immigrant communities to mask increasingly repressive anti-migrant policies.

By Syed Hussan - January 29, 2012

On Friday, in a grand, sweeping, blustering speech...Harper has laid out his vision for the future. It is imperative that we understand it, to fight it...Harper's speech brushes over two areas: (1) job creation and economic stability through corporate tax cuts, free trade agreements, further investments in energy and oil production and cuts to pensions and (2) dealing with 'demographic challenges' by managing immigration. These are all connected and should be scrutinized as such.

By Samir Shaheen-Hussain, Robyn Maynard and Anne-Marie Gallant - Coop Média de Montréal

A primordial issue in Farshad Mohammadi’s killing is the social profiling carried out by Montreal city police. Police officers often harass people who are seeking shelter or sleeping in the metros, creating a climate of resentment and disdain vis-à-vis the police within marginalized communities...[A]ccording to eyewitnesses, Mohammadi wasn’t bothering anyone prior to the police intervention. So, the more fundamental question is why the police deemed it necessary to engage Mohammadi in the first place?

By David P. Ball - January 17th, 2012

Journalist Karla Berenice García Ramírez, 38, fled to Surrey, B.C. four years ago after blowing the whistle on corruption in a Mexican government ministry where she worked. Her writings about corruption and graft got her into hot water – bringing her harassment and ominous threats, she said – but despite her family's fears, she continued writing..."I started receiving death threats in 2003...I have received many threats by phone since then."

Asylum seekers and refugees are abducted, tortured and held for ransom.

On January 10, Haaretz writer Jonathan Lis headlined, "Knesset passes (Law to Prevent Infiltration) that could put asylum seekers in jail without trial," saying: "The bill would make 'illegal' migrants and asylum seekers liable to jail, without trial or deportation, if caught staying in Israel for 'long periods.'"

January 2nd, 2012 - No One Is Illegal-Coast Salish Territories/Vancouver

Thank you to our friends, allies, and supporters whom we stood alongside in 2011. We are inspired by the global uprisings this past year and we look forward to rising together in yet another year of struggle and liberation – till every wall and fence falls, and all prisons and sweatshops are abolished.

December 23rd, 2011 - No One Is Illegal Vancouver Coast Salish Territories

We are thrilled to be able to share the news with you that Nader has been released from detention and his Pre-Removal Risk Assessment has been accepted!...Nader is a 46 year old Iranian refugee who had been detained and imprisoned by Canadian Border Services Agency since 2005. Nader spent over SIX years behind bars, without any substantive charges, under the jurisdiction of the Immigration Act.

By Matthew Behrens - December 21, 2011

"It really makes me sick to think that when I was sitting in solitary confinement on secret allegations for almost eight years, the head of CSIS knew that my case, and the cases of the other men held on security certificate, were completely baseless, because they were likely based on information that came from torture...Once again, we see that CSIS uses secrecy to cover up what is not only politically embarrassing, but also clearly immoral and illegal."

- Former Secret Trial Detainee Hassan Almrei

By Stephanie Law - December 16, 2011

The federal parliament is set to pass Bill C-4...which would impose a mandatory one-year detention on any person who arrives in Canada via unconventional means...Before the bill comes into effect, concrete evidence is scarce as to whether the proposed legislation would protect or punish refugees...Australia provides a relevant example. Since 1992, the country has practiced mandatory detention of asylum seekers who arrive by unconventional means.

By Nick Day - rabble.ca

All I'm asking at this point is for one week to go by without another major gaffe of Conservative lunacy. Well, hopes be dashed! Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney announced today that "Muslim women" would henceforth be required to remove all face-covering garments before taking the citizenship oath...It doesn't take much to figure out the real rationale behind the new policy...[I]t's anti-Muslim racism.