Canada's Immigration Policy

Source: CBC News Montreal and The Canadian Press URL: [link] Date: February 26, 2016 [PHOTO: Dany Villanueva was facing deportation over an armed robbery charge.] Dany Villanueva, the brother of a man killed by police in 2008, will be allowed to stay in Canada because of the risks he would face in his native Honduras. Villanueva was facing deportation after pleading guilty to a 2006 armed robbery. This week, he received a letter from a representative of federal immigration minister John McCallum, confirming that his request for a pre-removal risk assessment was accepted, his lawyer Stéphane Handfield said. Federal authorities decided that the risk he faces in Honduras is greater than the danger he poses to Canadian society, Handfield noted. Villanueva is the brother of Fredy Villanueva, who was gunned down by a police officer at a Montreal North park in August 2008. He was charged again with armed robbery in 2008, just weeks prior to Fredy's death, but was acquitted in 2011. Villanueva's lawyer sees this decision as evidence of a "new attitude" in the immigration department since the election of the new Liberal government. "It's like night and day," Handfield said. ©2016 CBC/Radio-Canada. All rights reserved.

par La Presse Canadienne Source: La Presse URL: [link] Date: 26 février 2016 Le ministère fédéral de l'Immigration permet à Dany Villanueva de rester au Canada en raison des risques auxquels le jeune homme s'exposerait en rentrant dans son Honduras natal.

Celui qui était menacé d'expulsion en raison de ses antécédents judiciaires a reçu cette semaine une lettre d'un délégué du ministre John McCallum, lui confirmant que sa demande d'Évaluation des risques avant renvoi (ÉRAR) a été acceptée, selon son avocat, Stéphane Handfield. Dany Villanueva est le frère de Fredy Villanueva, qui était tombé sous les balles d'un policier alors qu'il se trouvait dans un parc de Montréal-Nord en août 2008, un drame qui avait fait grand bruit à l'époque. Il était sous le coup d'un ordre d'expulsion du Canada après avoir été condamné pour vol qualifié. Les autorités fédérales ont toutefois déterminé que le risque auquel il s'exposait en rentrant dans son pays d'origine était plus important que le niveau de dangerosité qu'il constituait pour la société canadienne, a expliqué en entrevue téléphonique Me Handfield. L'avocat voit en cette décision la matérialisation d'une « nouvelle attitude » au ministère fédéral de l'Immigration depuis l'élection du nouveau gouvernement libéral. « C'est le jour et la nuit », a-t-il résumé. Tous droits réservés © Société Radio-Canada 2016

by Press Release Source: ICLMG URL: [link] Date: August 20, 2015 Toronto, August 20, 2015 - The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) is joining its voice to the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) to denounce the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act (formerly Bill C-24) as unconstitutional and anti-Canadian. BCCLA and CARL have launched a constitutional challenge to the new Citizenship Act, a federal law relegating over one million Canadians to second-class status. The lawsuit argues that the new Citizenship Act, in force since the passage of Bill C-24, creates a two-tier citizenship regime that discriminates against dual nationals, whether born abroad or in Canada, and naturalized citizens. These Canadians will now have more limited citizenship rights compared to other Canadians, simply because they or their parents or ancestors were born in another country. Under the new law, these Canadians could see their citizenship taken away if convicted of certain serious crimes in Canada or abroad (including in a country that does not have due process or rule of law). New Canadians who became citizens after the passage of Bill C-24 could also lose their citizenship if they move abroad for work, school, or family reasons. Other Canadians would not be vulnerable to losing their citizenship. "The ICLMG opposed Bill C-24 since it was tabled in Parliament" said Monia Mazigh, National Coordinator of the ICLMG. "The Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act is a step backward for our democracy and rule of law principle. With this new Citizenship Act, Canadians are divided into two classes: those who will keep their Canadian citizenship no matter what and those who can be stripped of their Canadian citizenship if some federal bureaucrats decide so. Thus, if you are born in Canada but you have parents or ancestors from another country, your Canadian citizenship is worth less. It can be revoked not by the court but by the government and this is unacceptable by any democratic standards." Despite the public outcry, the criticisms and concerns formulated by legal experts, academics and media commentators, Bill C-24 became law. "The ICLMG is really happy to support this constitutional challenge and to send a strong message that the Canadian citizenship should have the same meaning for all Canadians regardless of their genetic background." - 30 - For more information about the legal challenge, contact: Sarbjit Kaur, Kaur Communications 416-274-5324, [email] For more information about the ICLMG, contact: Anne Dagenais Guertin, Communications and Research Coordinator 613-241-5298 ext. 2, [email]

by David P. Ball Source: Rabble.ca URL: [link] Date: December 10, 2012 Organizers in at least eight cities across the country are rallying support for Canadian Muslims rounded up in the so-called War on Terror -- particularly the ongoing punishment without trial of three men under security certificates. The events, which kicked off last night with a candlelight vigil in Vancouver, include what is billed as a "family-friendly noise demonstration" in front of Montreal's Laval Immigration Prevention Centre today, as well as events in Toronto, Calgary, Saskatoon, Ottawa, and Halifax. The actions coincide with the unveiling, 64 years ago, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 -- a document frequently cited by the Canadian government as it criticizes other regimes' behaviour around the world, such as Iran or Syria. But Dec. 10 is not only International Human Rights Day. It is also the day that Mohamed Harkat was arrested on alleged terrorism-related charges ten years ago, when he was imprisoned for nearly four years, one of which in solitary confinement.



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From our friend and longtime supporter Bill Clennett: Hi all, Here are the links to the YouTube videos I put together from the press event held last Friday (April 24, 2009) in Ottawa. In solidarity Bill Clennett

========= Deportation to Torture: Past, Present and Future – Part 1 of 5 The Case of Mohamed Harkat

[link]

Deportation to Torture: Past, Present and Future – Part 2 of 5 The Case of Maher Arar

[link]

Deportation to Torture: Past, Present and Future – Part 3 of 5 The Case of Abousfian Abdelrazik

[link]

Deportation to Torture: Past, Present and Future – Part 4 of 5 The Point of View of Amnesty International Canada

[link]

Deportation to Torture: Past, Present and Future – Part 5 of 5 National Security and Human Rights

[link]

From: "RPCIS-Mtl" <[email]> (english below) MANIFESTATION D'URGENCE mercredi, le 27 février, 16h30 Devant les bureaux du SCRS et de l'Agence des services frontaliers du Canada (AFSC), sur Peel au coin de Ste-Antoine (métro Bonaventure)

Vendredi passé, Adil Charkaoui, Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, Hassan Almrei et Mohamed Harkat ont été informés que des nouveaux certificats de sécurité avaient été émis contre eux, en vertu de la toute nouvelle loi des certificats de sécurité. Joignez-vous à nous MERCREDI pour une manifestation d'urgence contre les nouveaux certificats de sécurité et pour exiger que le gouvernement : 1. libérer immédiatement, sans conditions, les cinq détenus des certificats de sécurité ; 2. leur accorde un procès juste et ouvert, si des preuves existent vraiment contre eux ; 3. abolisse les certificats de sécurité ; 4. mette fin aux procédures de déportation contre les détenus des certificats de sécurité et mette fin à la déportation vers la torture ; 5. cesse son utilisation raciste des communautés musulmanes, arabes et autres communautés ciblées comme des boucs émissaires.

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Source: CBC.ca
URL: [link]
Date: July 18, 2006

An Ottawa man who spent years in a Canadian prison on terrorism allegations has been ordered deported to his native Algeria — but it's unlikely he'll be forced to leave anytime soon.

Mohamed Harkat — who was detained without charge beginning in 2002 under one of the controversial federal security certificates — was told on July 14 that the Canadian Border Services Agency had decided to send him back, despite his fears that he will be tortured and killed.

The deportation decision was confirmed late Monday by Harkat's lawyer, Paul Copeland.

Both Harkat and his lawyer have argued that he would be in grave danger if he returned to Algeria because the Canadian Security Intelligence Service accused him of being an al-Qaeda "sleeper agent" and alleged that Harkat trained under Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Afghanistan. Harkat has denied the allegations.

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Original author: sans frontieres! - sansfrontieres at resist dot ca Source: SAB Email List URL: N/A Date: June 1 2006 Speech By Canadian Immigration Minister Disrupted byImmigrant Rights Protesters Monte Solberg flees event as demonstrators demand a moratorium on all deportations and the regularization of all non-status migrants

May 31, 2006, OTTAWA -- Canadian Immigration Minister Monte Solberg fled the Christ Church Anglican Cathederal just seconds after beginning a scheduled speech this evening. He left abruptly after being directly confronted about his government's policy on deportations, and lack of action on regularization, by immigrant rights protesters from Ottawa and Montreal. --> Photos of the disruption are available at: [link] --> The flyer passed out during the disruption ? "Why we're protesting" -- is linked at: [link] Monte Solberg was due to address the Annual Meeting of Citizens for Public Justice on the theme of "Welcome the Stranger: Becoming Neighbours". At least a dozen members of Solidarity Across Borders and No One Is Illegal-Montreal came to Ottawa to attend the speech, and were joined by immigrant rights allies in Ottawa.

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Original author: "Justice for Adil"
Source: Justice Coalition for Adil Charkaoui Listserv
URL: N/A
Date: May 21, 2006

Three days of democracy

Report on People's Commission Public
Hearings 21-23 April 2006, Montreal

** PHOTO ESSAY HERE:

[link]

**

** Commissioners' report of findings and recommendations
is due on 6 June. **

For three days, the People's Commission on Immigration Security Measures held Public Hearings at a community centre in Montreal's St-Henri neighbourhood. The first popular commission of inquiry to take place in Quebec, it was set up to look into the injustices and abuses inflicted on immigrants in the name of national security, and to offer recommendations for change and action.

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Original author: CTV.ca News Staff
Source: CTV.CA
URL: [link]
Date: April 29, 2006

In an unusual move designed to net an illegal immigrant couple, immigration officials in Toronto went to a school and threatened to take away two young sisters if their parents didn't turn themselves in.

The officials then took the sisters, who are seven and 14-years-old, and their Costa Rican mother to a detention centre.

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