Algerian should not be deported

I write this letter to draw attention to a case regarding Canada Immigration and a man who has spent 600 days in sanctuary in St. Gabriel's Church in Montreal.

Canada has left this man no other choice but to defy an deportation order by taking sanctuary in a church.

He is from Algeria, a country full of strife, and a return to this country would put him in harm's way.

Sending him back to Algeria would be like throwing a bone to a hungry dog.

Abdlekader Belaouni has applied for and been refused immigration status for no clear reason.

Kader, as he is referred to by friends, is supported by individuals, as well as dozens of organizations, community groups and a five-person sponsorship.

Canada is always sending troops to "save" another country and here in our own country of Canada we have a man who needs to get on with his life. Yet, he is virtually being held prisoner.

For more information on this injustice taking place right here in Canada, go to www.soutienpourkader.net or you can write or e-mail MP Bob Mills or Minister of Immigration Diane Finley.

I see no reason not to grant Kader status. He is not a criminal and I believe that his blindness is being held against him.

Please help this man stay in Canada.

Call or e-mail your MP today.

Judy Spenceley

Red Deer County

PUBLICATION: Red Deer Advocate
DATE: 2008.01.18
SECTION: Letters
PAGE: A6
COLUMN: Letter to the editor
WORD COUNT: 170

Réfugié depuis 750 jours dans un presbytère

Photo: Jacques Nadeau

Guillaume Bourgault-Côté

Des sympathisants demandent à la ministre de l'Immigration de faire preuve d'humanité

Sept cent cinquante jours plus tard, l'Algérien Abdelkader Belaouni reste dans l'incertitude la plus totale quant à son avenir. Aveugle et diabétique, cet homme, réfugié depuis plus de deux ans dans un sanctuaire de Montréal, attend toujours un signe de la part du ministère de l'Immigration dans l'espoir de régulariser sa situation.

Mais ce signe ne vient pas, ont dénoncé hier une centaine de manifestants réunis à Montréal. Seule la ministre Diane Finley a la prérogative d'accorder à M. Belaouni le statut de résidant permanent pour motifs humanitaires. Sinon, le réfugié a épuisé tous les recours possibles pour éviter l'expulsion vers les États-Unis et, ultimement, l'Algérie.

M. Belaouni, de confession musulmane, s'est réfugié le 1er janvier 2006 au presbytère de l'église Saint-Gabriel, dans le quartier Pointe-Saint-Charles. Depuis, confiné, l'homme attend. A ce jour, il a reçu l'appui de plus de 500 personnes et 71 organismes, dont la Ligue des droits et libertés et Amnesty International. Ils ont tous écrit à la ministre Finley pour lui demander d'agir.

«Un peu d'humanité et d'ouverture de la part de Mme Finley pourrait faire la différence», a affirmé Thomas Mulcair, député néo-démocrate d'Outremont, qui était présent à la manifestation d'hier. «C'est gênant de penser qu'au XXIe siècle, on soit obligé de protéger une personne aveugle dans un sanctuaire pour lui éviter la déportation.» Depuis deux ans, les responsables du dossier de l'immigration des trois partis d'opposition à Ottawa ont tous demandé à Mme Finley de redonner sa liberté à M. Belaouni, mais sans succès.

Au Canada depuis 2003

Abdelkader Belaouni est arrivé au Canada en mars 2003 après un séjour de six ans aux États-Unis. Il affirme avoir fui l'Algérie pour ne pas avoir à collaborer avec des groupes armés impliqués dans la guerre civile. Sa demande d'obtention du statut de réfugié a été rejetée par la Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié en janvier 2004.

Ce refus était basé sur des contradictions apparentes entre deux déclarations faites par M. Belaouni. De même, ses demandes d'examen des risques avant renvoi ont été refusées au motif qu'il n'a pas de famille au Canada et qu'il n'a pas réussi à trouver un emploi pendant les premiers mois qu'il a passés ici (M. Belaouni a toutefois fait du bénévolat pour divers organismes).

«On demande que la ministre respecte l'esprit de la Loi de l'immigration au lieu de l'appliquer à la lettre», a lancé le père James McDonald, qui accueille le réfugié dans son presbytère.

http://www.ledevoir.com/2008/01/19/172468.html

Kader: Vernissage Guerilla devant la CISR

VERNISSAGE GUERILLA DEVANT LES BUREAUX DE LA COMMISSION DE L'IMMIGRATION ET
DU STATUT DE RÉFUGIÉ

704 : Still here / Toujours là - Une exposition de photographies d'Abdelkader Belaouni.

--> Reportage photo du vernissage : www.gallery.cmaq.net/

Le 5 décembre dernier, une délégation de 30 ami(e)s et supporteur(e)s d'Abdelkader Belaouni (Kader) ont organisé un vernissage de photographies sur chevalets humains devant les bureaux de la Commission de l'immigration et du statut de réfugié (CISR).

704 : Still here / Toujours là met en image les 704 jours passés ensanctuaire par monsieur Belaouni. L'exposition se déplace aujourd'hui pour s'installer pendant un mois dans le quartier de Pointe-St-Charles, le quartier de monsieur Belaouni, où elle sera exposée dans les locaux des Services juridiques communautaires de Pointe-St-Charles et Petite-Bourgogne, 2533, rue Centre, bur. 101 (métro Charlevoix). Lundi au vendredi de 8h30 à 16h30. Pour visionner les photos : www.tatianagomez.net/kb2/.

Depuis le 1er janvier 2006, sous la menace d'être déporté, Kader vit en reclus et ne peut quitter l'Église St-Gabriel de Pointe-St-Charles où il a pris refuge à Montréal. Sa demande d'asyle a été refusée par Laurier Thibault, un commissaire de la CISR qui a refusé 99 % des demandes lui ayant été soumises en deux ans.

À travers 704 :Still Here/Toujours là, la photographe montréalaise Tatiana Gomez nous offre un portrait intime de la réalité de Kader, son quotidien en sanctuaire et sa vigueur à maintenir l'espoir et sa dignité malgré les atteintes à sa liberté.

« En le mettant dans une situation où il n'a pas le choix de prendre sanctuaire, en le forçant à se réfugier dans une église, le gouvernement tente de rendre ses actions et monsieur Belaouni lui-même invisibles », selon madame Gomez. « Nous sommes ici aujourd'hui pour rompre cette
invisibilité, pour faire sortir Kader par l'entremise de ces photos qui témoignent des défis quotidiens auxquels il fait face ainsi que du nombre sans cesse croissant d'appuis qu'il récolte dans ses démarches pour vivre avec un statut et toute sa dignité au Canada. »

Rick Goldman, porte-parole de la Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI) a aussi pris la parole.

L'événement s'est terminé par une procession de l'exposition dans la ville souterraine, menée par une fanfare qui accompagnait le tout d'une musique festive depuis le Complexe Guy-Favreau jusqu'au métro Place-des-Arts, où des centaines de spectateurs ont pu regarder les photographies déambulantes portées par des chevalets humains.

Le 1er janvier 2008 marquera le deuxième anniversaire du sanctuaire d'Abdelkader (Kader) Belaouni, qui a pris refuge en 2006 à l'Église Saint-Gabriel. Kader continue d'exiger une régularisation immédiate de son statut, afin qu'il puisse quitter l'église sans risquer l'arrestation et la déportation et qu'il puisse continuer sa vie au Canada.

Sous la bannière ""DEUX ANS, C'EST DEUX ANS DE TROP!": un statut pour Kader maintenant!", nous vous invitons à vous joindre à nous pour deux événements très importants :

* vendredi le 18 janvier 2008: Journée internationale d'action avec une manifestation à Montréal
* samedi le 26 janvier 2008: Souper communautaire avec concert à l'Église Saint-Gabriel


Contexte : www.soutienpourkader.net

------------------
Comité de soutien d'Abdelkader Belaouni
soutienkader@gmail.com
Tél : 514-691-0567

Kader: Guerilla Art Show at Montreal IRB Offices

GUERILLA VERNISSGE AT MONTREAL IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD OFFICES
704: Still here/ Toujours là - An exhibition of photographs of Abdelkader
Belaouni.

--> Photo essay of the guerrilla vernissage: http://photos.cmaq.net/v/704/

A delegation of 30 friends and supporters of Abdelkader Belaouni set up a photo vernissage - with human easels - in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) offices on December 5th.

The exhibit, which portrays Mr. Belaouni's 704 days in sanctuary, will move to his neighborhood of Pointe St-Charles today. 704: Still here/Toujours là will be displayed for the coming month in the offices of the Community Legal Services of Pointe St-Charles and Little Burgundy, 2533
Centre St. # 101 (Charlevoix metro). They can be visited Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 4:30pm. The photos can also be viewed on line at www.tatianagomez.net/kb2/.

Since 1 January 2006, Abdelkader Belaouni, has been confined to St Gabriel's church in Pointe St.-Charles, Montreal. Under threat of deportation, he is unable to leave church property. Mr. Belaouni was refused by an IRB Commissioner, Laurier Thibault, who refused 99% of the cases
before him in a two-year period.

Through 704: Still here/ Toujours là, Montreal-based photographer Tatiana Gomez offers an intimate portrait of Kader, his life in sanctuary and his struggle to keep hope and dignity alive.

"By forcing him to seek sanctuary, to be imprisoned within the church, the government has tried to make Kader's life invisible", said Gomez, "We are here today to break that invisibility, bringing him here through these portraits and testifying to the day-to-day realities of his life in sanctuary and the growing support for his struggle to live with dignity and status in Canada."

Rick Goldman, of the Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI) also spoke at the vernissage.

At the end of the event, a marching band led the procession of human easels through the city's underground, from Complexe Guy Favreau to Place-des-Arts metro, while hundreds of on-lookers enjoyed the unexpected photo exhibit and musical performance.

January 1, 2008 will be the 2 year mark since Abdelkader (Kader) Belaouni took sanctuary in St. Gabriel's Church. Kader continues to demand an immediate regularization of his status so that he can leave the church without the risk of arrest and deportation, and continue his life here, in Canada.

Under the banner ""TWO YEARS TOO MANY!", Status for Kader NOW!", we invite you to join us at two important events :

* Friday, 18 January 2008: International Day of Action with Montreal march
in support of status for Kader
* Saturday, 26 January 2008: Community dinner and Cultural event at St.
Gabriel's Church

Background: www.soutienpourkader.net

Traite de personne: la Couronne retire ses accusations

Accusé à tort de traite de personne, un couple lavallois exige maintenant des excuses. Dans l'ordre, Nichan Manoukian, son épouse Manoudshag Sariboyajian et leur fille Arvine Manoukian. Photo Robert Mailloux, La Presse

Hugo Fontaine

La Presse

La Couronne abandonne les poursuites contre un couple lavallois accusé d'avoir maintenu une aide domestique dans des conditions d'esclavage. Le couple accuse à son tour la GRC d'avoir mal enquêté et lui demande des excuses.

Quand Nichan Manoukian et Manoudshag Sariboyajian ont été accusés de traite de personne, en mai dernier, l'histoire a fait grand bruit dans les médias. Hier, c'était le grand soulagement pour eux et leurs quatre enfants, le tout mêlé à la frustration d'avoir été l'objet de fausses accusations. La Presse a rencontré le couple et sa fille Arvine chez son avocat. «Nous étions persuadés que la vérité apparaîtrait», a soutenu Arvine Manoukian, 21 ans, avant de commencer à raconter l'histoire qui a les a conduits dans ce bureau d'avocat.

M. Manoukian a engagé une aide domestique d'origine éthiopienne en 1997, alors que la famille vivait au Liban. «Presque tout le monde au Liban a des servantes, a-t-il assuré. J'ai payé 3500$ à une agence.»

«Un membre de la famille»

«Elle travaillait comme servante, mais on la traitait comme un membre de la famille», a soutenu pour sa part Arvine Manoukian.

Selon la jeune femme, la servante a eu des vacances après trois ans de contrat. «Elle est retournée chez elle, et elle est revenue plus tôt que prévu avec des cadeaux pour nous.»

La famille Manoukian a emménagé au Canada en août 2004. Depuis, M. Manoukian a entrepris des démarches pour régulariser le statut de la servante.

Entre-temps, assure la famille, la femme était tout à fait libre de ses déplacements. Elle travaillait même dans d'autres familles pour gagner un peu plus d'argent.

Au tournant de l'année 2006, Mme Sariboyajian a reçu un appel à l'intention de la servante, puis un second, de la part d'une dame originaire d'Éthiopie. Quand l'interlocutrice aurait demandé à Mme Sariboyajian si la servante pouvait aller passer quelques jours chez elle, Mme Sariboyajian et son mari ont refusé, car ils ne la connaissaient pas. Quelques jours plus tard, en janvier 2006, la GRC se présentait chez les Manoukian, à Laval, et emmenait la servante.

Depuis ce temps, les Manoukian n'ont pas eu de contacts avec la femme qui a partagé huit années de leur vie. «Elle n'a jamais voulu partir de chez nous, soutient M. Manoukian. Nous l'aimons et elle nous aime.»

Selon lui, il est clair que celle qu'il appelle encore «notre fille» a été victime d'une mauvaise influence et qu'elle a menti. «Elle nous a trahis», dit-il.

Une grande page d'excuses

Avant de tourner la page, la famille réclame des excuses de la GRC. Des excuses «sur une pleine page», demande M. Manoukian, afin que la même importance médiatique soit accordée aux accusations et aux excuses.

«La GRC a mal enquêté dès le début, dénonce M. Manoukian. Ils avaient leurs réponses dans le dossier avant même d'entrer chez nous. Je veux que la GRC emploie des professionnels pour enquêter, pas des amateurs.»

L'avocat Frank Pappas était encore abasourdi par l'enquête de la GRC. «Ils auraient dû au moins aller voir les voisins!»

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20071207/CPACTUALITES/712070809/5358/CPPRESSE

Ottawa stonewalls refugee claimant

Has Quebec residency; Cherfi still on outside looking in after 2 years

KEVIN DOUGHERTY, The Gazette

Published: Saturday, November 10

QUEBEC - Mohamed Cherfi, the Algerian refugee claimant who was arrested in 2004 by police in the Quebec City church where he was given sanctuary, still can't get back into Canada even though Quebec granted him permanent residence in August 2005.

Jacqueline Roby, spokesperson for the federal immigration department, said yesterday a 25-month delay between an application to immigrate to Canada and admission is normal.

"We have to look at who enters Canada," Roby said. "We are committed to the safety and security of the Canadian public."

Janet Dench, a Montreal lawyer specializing in immigration and refugees, said for family members seeking to enter Canada, 30 per cent of cases are resolved in three months and 80 per cent of applicants get into Canada 11 months after their application has been received.

But Cherfi has applied on humanitarian grounds, not family reunification, and Dench confirmed that could take longer.

"Nothing justifies what is happening," Cherfi's partner, Louise Boivin, said at a news conference in the St. Pierre United Church, where Cherfi was taken into custody in 2004.

Because he entered Canada from the United States in 1998, Cherfi was expelled to the United States, where he was held in a Batavia, N.Y., detention centre near Buffalo, for 16 months before the Americans granted him political refugee status the second time he applied.

Boivin noted the Americans have their own security concerns. Yet they are not worried that Cherfi, now a free man working the night shift in a Buffalo factory, is a security threat.

And she wonders why he has had to wait so long to get into Canada.

But two years after Quebec granted him permanent residence in the province, Cherfi still hasn't received the security clearance from the federal government to cross the border, which includes checks of his "moral" and physical health, according to Roby.

"I don't know what they are doing," Boivin said, adding she can't get information from the federal immigration and public security departments.

When The Gazette called the office of Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, a reporter was referred to the office of Immigration Minister Diane Finley. Finley's spokesperson Tim Vail did not return calls. After three days of no response from Vail, the Gazette spoke with Roby, the department's spokesperson in Montreal.

Roby said the department handles 350,000 applications to enter Canada a year, accepting 250,000 new immigrants a year.

Under an agreement between the federal and Quebec governments, Quebec can choose its own immigrants, but Roby stressed Ottawa has the final word on who enters Canada.

Cherfi, 38, was a high school teacher in Algeria nine years ago, at the height of a bloody conflict between the Algerian state and Islamic fundamentalists, when he was called up for military service.

Because Algeria does not recognize the status of conscientious objectors, Cherfi fled first to the United States, entering on a tourist visa, then entering Canada from the United States as a refugee claimant.

His demand was refused and while living in Montreal he became active defending Algerian refugee claimants, while appealing his own case. His request to stay in Canada was refused, on the ground he had not integrated into Canadian society.

He was arrested and deported after living three weeks in the church basement.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=8049f2f3-af7b-4ad9-959f-b4e585649fa1

Activists protest security bill

JAN RAVENSBERGEN, The Gazette

Teams of activists launched a one-day blitz of 17 Montreal-region Members of Parliament Friday morning to underline their opposition to new security-certificate legislation which could be given third reading as early
as next week by the House of Commons.

The round of visits is expected to culminate at 3 p.m., with a visit to the St. Laurent-Cartierville riding office of Stéphane Dion, Liberal Opposition leader.

About 50 people are on the road as part of the effort, said Mary Foster, an organizer with Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui.

"It's going to be up to the Liberals to stop this" new bill, Foster added, given the current balance of power in the Commons. The Conservative government has a minority and both the Bloc Québecois and the New Democratic
Party have been indicating their members will vote against the bill.

Last February, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the federal government to come up with a new law governing security certificates by Feb. 23, 2008.

Bill C-3, the legislation that resulted, was introduced by the Conservatives Oct. 22.

"Notably," according to the Coalition, the bill "will continue indefinite detention without charge, secret hearings without the detainee or their lawyer present, use of unreliable evidence obtained under torture, house
arrest, deportation to torture and a two-tiered system of justice."

Representatives of the Canadian Bar Association have told a Commons committee studying C-3 that they believe some provisions of C-3 would not be ruled constitutional.

More: www.jerome.koumbit.org/adil

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=8df9c7bb-7312-471d-a685-f349612e3665&k=64040

Immigration surge propels size of foreign-born population to 75-year high

Eric Beauchesne , CanWest News Service

Published: Tuesday, December 04, 2007

OTTAWA - Canada is becoming a nation of immigrants again.

Canada's foreign-born population grew four times as fast as that of the Canadian-born population during the first half of this decade to reach a 75-year high of nearly one in five people living here, according to the latest analyses of data from last year's census.

The 13.6 per cent surge in Canada's foreign-born population between the 2001 and 2006 censuses, compared with the 3.3 per cent growth in the Canadian-born population, was mostly due to the arrival of 1.11 million new immigrants, Statistics Canada noted Tuesday in its analyses on "Immigration, citizenship, language, mobility and migration."

The proportion of foreign-born, which was at 22.2 per cent in 1931, fell during the Depression and the Second World War to a low of 14.7 per cent in 1951, and has been rising since.

The relatively rapid growth in Canada's immigrant population is seen as a potential offset to looming labour shortages that will follow the start of the retirement of the baby boom generation.

Supporting that view is the census finding that 57.3 per cent of immigrants to Canada over the past half decade were in the prime working age group of 25 to 54 years, compared with only 42.3 per cent of the Canadian-born population.

And they also tend to be better educated, especially the younger immigrants, added Jean-Pierre Corbeil, with Statistics Canada's language and demographics section.

"Everyone sees immigration as one way to counter this aging factor," he noted in an interview. "It's not the only way, but it's certainly one important way."

The continuing flow of immigrants here has also left Canada with a much higher proportion of foreign-born than the United States, 19.8 per cent compared to 12.5 per cent.

In fact, only Australia has a higher proportion of foreign-born than Canada.

And for the first time, in a land with more than 200 mother tongues, allophones - people whose mother tongue is neither English nor French - accounted for a full fifth of the population.

The increase in the proportion of allophones is mainly due to the immigrants who arrived during the latest census period, as four out of five of them had a mother tongue - the first language learned and still understood - that was neither French nor English.

These newcomers, nearly 60 per cent of whom were born in Asia, including the Middle East, made up almost 18 per cent of the foreign-born population in 2006, or 3.6 per cent of Canada's total population of 31.2 million.

The proportion of new immigrants who were born in Asia was unchanged from the previous census but was up from only 12.1 per cent 2-1/2 decades earlier, Statistics Canada noted.

And for the first time the foreign-born population from Asia and the Middle East in 2006 exceeded that from Europe.

Newcomers from Europe, who use to make up the majority of new immigrants to Canada, accounted for just 16.1 per cent over the half decade, down from more than 60 per cent as recently as 1971.

During the latest census period, just over 10 per cent of new immigrants were from Central and South America and the Caribbean, and another 10.6 per cent were born in Africa.

Regardless of where immigrants were from, separate Statistics Canada surveys found that Canada was the only choice for 98 per cent of them.

Those surveys found the largest proportion said they came to improve the future for their family, and when asked four years later why they planned to stay also cited the quality of life here and the positive future prospects for their family.

Meanwhile, Canada's three largest metropolitan areas became home to more than two-thirds of new immigrants, between two to three times the 27.1 per cent of Canada's total population who call Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal home.

Toronto accounts for 37.5 per cent of the total immigrant population, the highest of the three by far, and 40.4 per cent of recent immigrants.

While most of the recent immigrants live in the core of the metropolitan areas, more are also moving out to the suburbs.

A slightly higher proportion than during the previous census period -16.6 per cent compared with 14.3 per cent - also chose to settle in the smaller metropolitan areas of Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton and London.

Nearly 87 per cent of the foreign-born population live in three provinces: Ontario, with 54.9 per cent, British Columbia with 18.1 per cent, and Quebec with 13.8 per cent.

Those three provinces also received nearly 86 per cent of newcomers since 2001.

In contrast, foreign-born people account for less than four per cent of the population of Atlantic Canada.
Meanwhile, more than 85 per cent of the foreign-born who were entitled to become Canadian citizens had done so.

While only 2.8 per cent of all Canadian citizens, or 863,100, also had at least one other citizenship, four-fifths of those were foreign born, with the largest single proportion being the 14.7 per cent who held British citizenship, followed by 6.6 per cent Polish, and 5.4 American.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=8383a923-f630-4367-9019-1ee9140de7eb

Les demandeurs du statut de réfugié – Les États-Unis ne sont pas un pays sûr, dit un juge fédéral

Hélène Buzzetti
Le Devoir Édition du samedi 01 et du dimanche 02 décembre 2007

Le gouvernement pourrait devoir réécrire l'accord d'harmonisation signé dans la foulée du 11-Septembre

Ottawa -- Les groupes de défense des réfugiés crient victoire: un jugement rendu jeudi a démoli l'accord d'harmonisation signé avec les États-Unis dans la foulée des attentats terroristes du 11 septembre 2001. À moins d'en appeler, le Canada devra récrire sa loi.

Cet accord, c'est celui dit des «pays tiers sûrs». Le Canada l'a signé avec les États-Unis mais avec aucun autre pays de la planète. Il prévoit qu'un réfugié ne peut demander l'asile que dans un ou l'autre de ces deux pays. Si cette personne a mis les pieds d'abord aux États-Unis (comme dans 40 % des cas avant l'entrée en vigueur de cette entente), elle doit y soumettre sa demande. Officiellement, ce règlement visait à mettre un terme au «magasinage» d'un pays d'accueil. Dans les faits, il a jugulé le flot des demandes d'asile au Canada.

Les groupes de défense des réfugiés se sont toujours opposés à cette entente en rappelant que les États-Unis avaient une politique d'accueil beaucoup plus sévère. Dans les années 80, lorsque les États-Unis soutenaient plusieurs dictatures sud-américaines, ils refusaient le statut de réfugié aux ressortissants de ces pays alors que le Canada les acceptait.

Ces groupes se sont donc adressés à la Cour fédérale et ont gagné jeudi. Dans son verdict de 124 pages, le juge Michael Phelan pose un jugement lapidaire: les États-Unis ne devraient pas être considérés comme un pays sûr. Pourquoi? Parce qu'ils ne respectent pas la Convention contre la torture, notamment en retournant des personnes dans leur pays d'origine même si elles risquent d'y être maltraitées. Le juge Phelan rappelle le célèbre cas de Maher Arar, renvoyé par Washington vers les salles de torture syriennes.

«Bien qu'il ne s'agisse pas ici de juger la cause Maher Arar, écrit le juge, la cour prend note des conclusions du rapport Arar. Même si les États-Unis n'ont pas participé aux travaux, ils ont signalé à la commission qu'ils respectaient l'article 3 de la Convention contre la torture. Les faits entourant le cas Arar nous fournissent des raisons de douter sérieusement de cette affirmation.»

Plus loin, le juge écrit que le gouvernement canadien a eu tort de tenir pour acquis que les États-Unis s'acquittaient de leurs obligations internationales en matière de lutte contre la torture. En conclusion, écrit-il, «les politiques et les pratiques des États-Unis ne répondent pas aux conditions établies permettant au Canada de conclure [avec eux] une entente sur les pays tiers sûrs».

Les États-Unis ont répliqué hier soir par la bouche de leur ambassade. «Nous avons un bilan reluisant en matière d'accueil et de protection des réfugiés, de défense des droits de la personne et de respect de nos obligations découlant de traités. C'est pourquoi les États-Unis accueillent plus de réfugiés que n'importe quel autre pays au monde et restent un havre de paix et d'espoir.»

Pas de changement immédiat

Pour le moment, ce jugement n'a aucun impact: le juge Phelan a accordé aux parties jusqu'au 14 janvier pour lui faire des recommandations d'ordonnance. La Loi sur les pays tiers sûrs sera-t-elle abrogée? Ottawa portera-t-il la cause en appel? «Nous soupesons nos options», a indiqué une porte-parole au ministère de la Citoyenneté et de l'Immigration.

«Je suis très heureuse d'assister à cette intervention de la part de la Cour fédérale», a lancé Janet Dench, directrice du Conseil canadien pour le statut de réfugié, à l'origine de cette cause.

Avec l'entente sur les pays tiers sûrs, très peu de demandeurs arrivés au Canada par la voie terrestre sont acceptés. Une personne qu'on sait avoir d'abord séjourné aux États-Unis est immédiatement refoulée à la frontière. Les États-Unis emprisonnent les demandeurs plus souvent que ne le fait le Canada. La réunification familiale est devenue plus difficile.

«Cette entente a été signée pour tenter de réduire le nombre de réfugiés au Canada, et ç'a marché», déplore Joseph Allen, président de l'Association des avocats en droit de l'immigration.

«Un grand nombre d'Haïtiens sont tout simplement refusés aux États-Unis. Même s'ils ont vécu là-bas quelques années, on les ôte à leurs enfants, ceux-ci étant placés dans des centres d'hébergement, et ils sont expédiés en Haïti», ajoute M. Allen. «Le Canada ne retourne personne à Haïti à cause des risques.»

À la Chambre des communes, ce jugement a eu des échos. «Comme cette entente contreviendrait à la Charte canadienne et aux conventions internationales que le Canada a signées, le ministre entend-il renégocier les termes de cette entente?», a lancé la bloquiste Meili Faille. Le gouvernement s'est limité à dire, comme c'est toujours le cas dans ce genre de dossier, qu'il devait d'abord analyser le jugement.

Du côté du NPD, on s'est déjà fait une idée: cette entente doit être annulée. «Vous savez ce que le juge a fait?, a lancé le chef Jack Layton. Il a fait ce que Stephen Harper refuse de faire, soit de renoncer au style George W. Bush quand vient le temps de traiter de questions internationales et d'affirmer l'indépendance et l'autonomie canadiennes.»

L'entente, conclue en principe en décembre 2001, est entrée en vigueur en décembre 2004. Le nombre de demandeurs du statut de réfugié est alors passé d'environ 19 000 à moins de 15 000.

Hier, les libéraux se sont défendus d'avoir adopté cette mesure par réflexe sécuritaire. «Nous avons été aspirés dans cette nouvelle ère de sécurité et de coopération, a expliqué le député Omar Alghabra. À l'époque, c'était sensé. Maintenant que nous avons testé ce régime pendant quelques années, il serait normal de faire un retour en arrière et d'apprendre de nos erreurs, des lacunes de l'entente, et de la revoir.»

ASYLUM SEEKERS: SAFE THIRD COUNTRY DEAL

Ottawa mulls options on refugee agreement
The Canadian Press
December 1, 2007

OTTAWA -- Armed with a major court victory, advocates urged the federal government yesterday to scrap a deal that sees Canada turn refugee claimants back to the U.S. to face deportation and possible torture in their home countries.

Opposition MPs, Amnesty International and other groups called on Ottawa to scrap the so-called Safe Third Country Agreement after a Federal Court judge ruled it violates refugee rights. The government says the deal remains in effect while it mulls its response.

"We're considering the options now," said Citizenship and Immigration spokeswoman Karen Shadd-Evelyn. "The court has given the parties time to make submissions regarding an appeal."

Lawyers for both sides have until Jan. 14 to file papers for a final court order, which would likely strike down the agreement based on the judge's reasons. It will then be up to Ottawa to decide whether to appeal the outcome - a move that could take years to ultimately clear the Supreme Court of Canada.

Mr. Justice Michael Phelan of the Federal Court said the U.S. can't be considered a "safe country" for asylum seekers from such countries as Haiti, for example, because it doesn't comply with international refugee protections against torture.

Unlike the U.S., Canada will not deport back to Haiti.

Judge Phelan also said the deal is unfair because it turns back claimants who arrive from the United States by land, while those who fly to Canada can stay to make their case.

Rather than appeal the ruling, refugee advocates say Canada should reassert its traditional role of defending some of the world's most vulnerable people.

"We have a judgment that in clear, stark, detailed ways highlights the multiplicity of human-rights violations and shortcomings in the refugee system that await asylum claimants who are turned away from the Canadian border and forced into the U.S.," said Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada.

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins countered in a statement yesterday that his country "has a proud record of accepting and protecting refugees, defending human rights and adhering to our treaty obligations.

"Last year alone, the United States accepted more refugees for resettlement than any other country, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees," Mr. Wilkins said.

However, the UN refugee agency also spoke out in October against Canada's practice of summarily sending refugee claimants back to the U.S. - even when they're entitled to seek asylum here.

The practice again made headlines when four refugees from Haiti and one from El Salvador were sent back to the U.S. on Oct. 8 from the Lacolle, Que., border point near Montreal. Two of the five were later detained in the United States, said the UN high commissioner's office, making it difficult for advocates to track their fate.

NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow has already submitted a motion seeking support from the Commons all-party citizenship and immigration committee to support scrapping the safe third country deal.

The 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement struck under the former Liberal government was billed as a means of allowing both Canada and the U.S. to better manage the flow of asylum seekers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071201.ASYLUM01/EmailTPStory/National

Homeland Security changes asylum rules

Staff and agencies
02 December, 2007

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - More people seeking asylum in the U.S. could be detained and then jailed longer under a new Homeland Security Department policy for people wanting safe harbor.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Homeland Security Department, said it issued the new policy Nov. 6 to make detention rules for asylum seekers more consistent and clear. But refugee advocates say it sets tougher standards for asylum seekers to win parole from detention.

The U.S. generally grants safe harbor to refugees fleeing persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Last year, the country granted asylum to 26,113 people, according to Homeland Security Department statistics. Most were from China, followed by Haiti and Colombia.

A total of 5,252 people claimed to have a credible fear of persecution in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Sixty-three percent of those claims were handled by ICE‘s asylum office in Houston, according to Homeland Security Department statistics.

The numbers do not include Cubans requesting asylum because they are not placed in expedited removal.

The new policy says detention and removal officers also must decide whether the person is seriously ill, a juvenile, pregnant, a witness in judicial, administrative or legislative proceedings or whether detention of the person is not in the public interest. The policy does not define public interest.

In cases of people who requested asylum from deeper within the country — such as when a tourist visa ran out — an immigration judge can issue bond and order their release from detention.

Expedited removal was adopted to keep people in the country illegally from disappearing after being released on bond.

The agency chose not to define public interest to allow officers flexibility, she said. The policy also directs officers to collect information on parole denials and releases that will be collected monthly and analyzed.

"Rarely is there political will in existence to take a step back and say, ‘Maybe we shouldn‘t be doing this,‘" Bardavid said.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found in a 2005 study mandated by Congress that the expedited removal policy puts people with legitimate asylum claims at risk of being returned to their home countries to be persecuted or tortured.

The commission also found asylum seekers were being jailed with criminals while they waited for a decision on their claims. In a follow-up study this year, the commission said little had changed.

http://www.newsone.ca/piercelandherald/stories1/index.php?action=fullnews&id=98508

Photo-Report: Signs of Migrant Resistance on the Streets of Montreal

Grassroots organizations mobilize and raise awareness by various means. Street posters and spray painting are two such means that linger on the public sphere long after the event has taken place. They are an enduring testament to the grassroots struggles of migrants in this city.

From 18-25 June 2005, non-Status people and their allies marched from Montreal to Ottawa demand the regularization of all on-status people in Canada, an end to deportations and detentions, and the abolition of security certificates. Organized by Solidarity Across Borders, a network of migrants and their allies in Montreal, the march asserted the right to live and work with dignity. This stencil was spray painted onto a bus shelter at Atwater Park, where the march gathered before embarking on the march on Ottawa.

To read more click HERE

Feds reject refugee claim by disabled Laibar Singh

Jennifer Saltman, The Province
Published: Thursday, November 29, 2007

An application by Punjabi refugee claimant Laibar Singh to remain in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds has been denied by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

"Mr. Laibar Singh is incredibly disappointed and troubled from this news," Singh's lawyer, Zool Suleman, said last night.

Singh entered Canada on a forged passport in 2003, claiming political persecution, but suffered paralysis after a brain aneurysm a year ago.

He was ordered deported on July 8 but fled to the Abbotsford Sahib Kalgidhar Darbar Gurudwara temple July 7.

He was arrested Aug. 13 after leaving the temple to seek medical attention and was again ordered deported.

But on Aug. 18, he was granted a 60-day stay of deportation by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day. Singh had been detained at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre.

He was granted a further 20-day reprieve on Oct. 20, pending a decision on his humanitarian and compassionate claim.

Harsha Walia of No One is Illegal said, "The deportation of Mr. Singh is profoundly inhumane and we continue to demand that the government of Canada allow Mr. Singh to remain in Canada."

Suleman said he will be exploring legal avenues, including an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada or a plea to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada Diane Finley.

It costs the Canadian health-care system more than $146,000 a year to care for the 48-year-old. A medically staffed flight home would cost taxpayers $68,700.

Singh has four children in India.