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
Friday, December 14, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
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. |
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.»
«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.
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 10QUEBEC - 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
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Immigration surge propels size of foreign-born population to 75-year high
Eric Beauchesne , CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, December 04, 2007OTTAWA - 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
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