== plz fwd widely ==

No Visa? No Rights?!
DON'T CLOSE THE BORDER ON REFUGEES!
Community Rally & March

Thursday, July 23rd 1:00pm

Meet at the corner of Davenport & Perth (to get there by transit, take the 168 Symington bus from Dundas West station).

Come raise your voice against the Canadian government's recent decision to impose visa requirements on Mexico and the Czech Republic!

Using arbitrary powers, granted to him under Bill C-50, Kenney single-handedly slammed the door on migrants and refugees from Mexico and the Czech Republic last week.

Kenney’s decision shows blatant disregard for asylum-seekers fleeing racism, violence and persecution and prevents families from reuniting. Following US-style workplace raids this spring, these new visa requirements are a clear escalation in the attack on migrant communities that force people apply for a tourist visa before being able to apply for refuge. This change limits poor and working people entrance to Canada to 'precarious and temporary work programs.

Rather than considering the individual merits of each case as stated under the Refugee Protection Act, Kenney has just decided that all claims from these countries are “bogus and illegitimate”!

NAFTA and the SPP regime are responsible for displacing millions within Mexico. The American led, Canada backed War on Drugs has resulted in violence that has killed over 6000 people in 2008 alone. On one hand, the Canadian government has warned ‘Canadians’ against traveling to Mexico (in a travel advisory this spring issued by DFAIT), but on the other hand continues to assert that Queers, Women surviving domestic violence and others fleeing persecution can be safe in Mexico. Obviously there are two standards of safety: one for Canadians and one for people in the global south.

The escalation of racist violence in the Czech Republic has gone unmentioned in Canadian and EU political circles. Kenney has turned a blind eye to vicious neo-Nazi attacks on the Roma people. Kenney lies about the failures in Roma refugee cases - for when the Immigration and Refugee Board has actually heard a Roma case, even this arbitrary body has granted status 85% of the time.

Lets learn from history - don't let the borders be shut on refugees and immigrants! Join your neighbors in defense of our rights! Demand Status for All!

There will be speakers at the rally from the Roma Community Centre, the FCJ Refugee Centre, No One Is Illegal-Toronto and others.

Organized by the Bread and Bricks Davenport-West Social Justice Group. For more info, call the number above.

Endorsed by: No One Is Illegal-Toronto

To read more on Kenney’s lies and attacks, read:
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/300

On facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103940003093