CANADA: STOP JAILING AND DEPORTING REFUGEES, LET THEM STAY! SUPPORT THE TAMIL MIGRANTS! SAY NO TO RACISM!

Time : August 21 · 3:30pm - 6:00pm
Location : Gather @ Vancouver Art Gallery, Robson Side, Unceded Coast Salish Territories - Vancouver, BC
Created By : No One Is Illegal - Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories


* Download poster PDF http://bit.ly/aq9HWI or JPG: http://bit.ly/c0VN60

Join No One is Illegal to call for the immediate release of detained Tamil asylum seekers, and an end to racist and restrictive refugee policies. Justice, Freedom, and Status for All!

Surviving a dangerous journey, 500 Tamil refugees, including women and children, arrived in BC after fleeing war and persecution in Sri Lanka. When the ship first neared Esquimault, territories of the Songhees First Nation, it was immediately boarded by the Armed Forces, Border Services, and RCMP. Families are now being separated, with many children being taken by the Ministry of Child and Family Development. The refugees now face the threat of incarceration and eventual deportation.

Canadian government officials and media outlets are perpetuating false and dehumanizing stereotypes of 'illegals', 'terrorists', and so-called queue-jumpers. The earlier arrival of 76 Tamil migrants on Ocean Lady was similarly sensationalized. This deliberately created hysteria appeals to prejudices of refugees as undesirable. Well-known neo-Nazis, like Paul Fromm and the Aryan Guard, also known as the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee, are openly organizing rallies for the ship to be sent back.

This fear-mongering is just another tactic used to disguise the racist policies that define Canada’s immigration and refugee system. The Canadian government was recently forced to apologize for its “keep Canada white” measures, such as the Komagata Maru incident. Yet Minister of Censorship and Deportation Jason Kenney continues to increase detentions and deportation of refugees and undocumented migrants, while bringing in more temporary exploitable migrant labour. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews recently declared that Cabinet is drafting new policies to clamp down on migrants and “make this country less welcoming for future shipments of human cargo.”

No One is Illegal-Vancouver asserts the basic human right to safety, mobility, and protection. It is well known that Tamils in Sri Lanka are fleeing military atrocities and mass displacement. The only crime the migrants have committed is transgressing this imposed settler-colonial border. We encourage you to join us in rejecting repressive, racist, and exclusionary ideologies and policies, and instead encourage compassion, solidarity, respect for life, and justice for all refugees. Release Detained Asylum-Seekers! Let the Boat Stay! Status for All!

*** HOW ELSE CAN I SUPPORT? ***
THERE ARE 10 THINGS YOU COULD DO!

1) Join other cities and communities for nation-wide actions. Wherever you maybe, whatever you can organize (delegation to a Minister’s office, street theatre, leafleting, community speak-out), will help build this movement. Please email noii-van@resist.ca and let us know how you can participate.

2) Engage in dialogue and widely circulate the factsheet on the 6 most popular myths about the 490 Tamil Refugees, available here: http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2167

3) Sign the online petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/16082010/petition.html. Join the Facebook group Uphold the Rights of the MV Sun Sea Migrants here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=106719212717437

4) Put up posters in your neighbourhood, workplace, and campus, and as your social media profile. We have ‘Let them Stay’ and ‘Anti Neo Nazi, Fight Racism’ posters available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nooneisillegal/. PDF’s: http://bit.ly/9HBtGa and http://bit.ly/cgM3gK

5) Participate in the Call/Email/Fax Campaign to the Government and your MP. State your support for the refugees to stay in Canada and denounce the government for spreading unsubstantiated racist lies. This is easy to do and you can tell others to do the same!

Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Phone 613-992-2235 or 403-225-3480. Fax 403-225-3504 or 613-992-1920.
Email: Minister@cic.gc.ca and kennej@parl.gc.ca

Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety
Phone: (204) 326-9889 or (204)345-9762 or (613) 992-3128.
Fax: (204) 346-9874 or (204) 345-9768 or (613) 995-1049
Email: toewsv1@mts.net and Toews.V@parl.gc.ca

To find out who your MP is and where to write them:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

6) Always take a minute to write letters to the editor and comment on news stories - make a difference in public discourse! Reinforce your support for the migrants and condemn irresponsible reporting including repeating unsubstantiated lies and giving white supremacists like Paul Fromm a platform. All letters must be short (100 words), include name, mailing address and daytime phone number of the writer; state “Letter to the Editor” in subject; and content should be in the body of the email.

Globe and Mail: letters@globeandmail.com
Vancouver Sun: sunletters@png.canwest.com
Vancouver Province: provletters@png.canwest.com
24 Hours: news@sunmedia.ca
Metro News: http://www.metronews.ca/Vancouver/comment/lettereditor
National Post: letters@nationalpost.com
Toronto Star: lettertoed@thestar.ca

7) Take your own initiative. This issue is not just the Tamil communities’ or for migrant justice organizers. The growing racist backlash that is taking root should concern all of us. Think of creative ways to disrupt this xenophobic climate (do a banner drop, host a community picnic, take some friends postering, organize a forum or press conference, distribute anti-racist zines, take action at the prison).

8) Consider inviting a speaker to your next meeting. Email noii-van@resist.ca and we would be happy to attend or suggest speakers, as well as provide educational materials.

9) Have your organization, traditional council, union, community group, or artist collective write a short public statement of support for the Tamil migrants. Please email us a copy at noii-van@resist.ca.

10) Join our low-traffic email announcement list to receive news and events. You can subscribe yourself https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/noii-l. Our Facebook group is: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6252584281&ref=ts. Visit our website regularly for articles: http://noii-van.resist.ca/

www.nooneisillegal.org

Torontonamo

I have finally finished translating the testimony written by a very good friend of mine from Quebec. He has been both politically and socially involved in his community as well as on an international level . He has dedicated his life to activism and for this I will always have the utmost respect for him. He has been a personal influence and inspiration to me, and I feel that sharing what he went through is a small way to show my gratitude for all that he has done. The following testimony has to do with our comrade and I did have to cut a lot of pieces out because the original of this document will be used in court,so certain situations, the names of victims, and so forth, have been edited out.

Testimony dated Thursday, July 8th, 2010

Part One:
False Accusations
Arrests made on Sunday June 27, 2010 between the hours of 08h00-09h00
On Saturday June 26, the evening before the mass arrests were made, the police created a perimeter around the Graduate Students' Union building of the University of Toronto, where we had been throughout the night. The police stopped anyone attempting to leave the premises so they could rummage through their belongings without reasonable cause by threatening to put them under arrest if they did not comply.

During the early morning hours of Sunday June 27, A "Special Unit" task force arrived on the scene. A leader or delegate from a group of activists from Quebec that were staying with us went outside to ask to speak with an official delegate of the Special Unit that had arrived and also for an official search warrant. That is when a police officer hit him in the face and tackled him to the ground. The other officers stormed into the building. The first police officer inside shouted, "Nobody move!" in English. He was carrying a very large rubber bullet gun, the type used as an anti-riot weapon for large-scale crowd control. He intimidated us by pointing it within inches of the faces of people in the room who, like me, were sleeping quietly before the officers barged in. Several minutes passed before I knew what was happening to us – a police chief came into the room to explain to us, in English, that we were all accused of having participated in a riot, and also for supposedly being in possession of "street-type weapons" that were found scattered around the premises. Most of us did not quite fully understand what he was telling us because of the language barrier. Twenty minutes had passed before a senior police officer from Montreal arrived to explain to us in French about the counts of rioting being charged on us. I took the initiative to urge everyone to call their lawyers and relatives to tell them what had happened to us. Some of us had asked the officers for their badge numbers which were hidden by their vests, and they flat out refused to identify themselves by name or their badge number.
Because I told everyone to call their lawyers and families, the police perceived me as being some sort of leader. I was taken outside and placed with the other activists from Quebec. A police officer, "T-Lee", violently threw me to the ground then told me to sit down. He searched my belongings and looked at my digital camera. Frustrated that I had no images on it, perhaps to use against me in some way, he violently threw it to the ground and, afterwards, I had not been able to find it. "T-Lee", along with another police officer I could not identify, picked me up off the ground and walked me over to the side of the building. "T-Lee" held me against the brick wall, while my arms were being pulled behind me very strongly by the unidentified police officer. "T-Lee" then proceeded to take my head and repeatedly bash it against the brick wall and said, "Welcome to Toronto, Asshole!" He told me that if I had "cooperated with him", he would have not used force against me – even though I had already been cooperating, never once did I resist him or any other police officer, he still beat me for no reason. For my well-being and for him to stop physically assaulting me, I reluctantly said I would cooperate because he was hurting me – I knew the only reason he did this was to make me submit to his apparent need for domination. I witnessed the others being treated the exact same – a high-ranking police officer did not want me to look at how the others were being treated so he began to hit me. Then, we went through the usual procedures of arrest (photo identification, handcuffs), but, strangely, in front of all the journalists, it was the police officers from Montreal who escorted us into the prisoner transport bus to be brought to a detention facility.

Part Two:
Inside the Belly of the Beast...
Sunday June 27, 2010 between the hours of 10h00-11h00
Arriving at the detention center, I could see it was a very large, warehouse-type building, with extremely high ceilings and concrete floors. The sight was too much to process what I was seeing through the cage-like interior of the transport bus. It felt like we were in some 3rd world country. Out in front of the building were two physically disabled individuals on wheelchairs, with their hands cuffed to their feet. I was very disturbed by this image. Once parked in front of the building, guards took our belongings and disrespectfully mishandled them, without a care. Several people have testified that my personal property has been broken along with my glasses. We were then taken inside the building, and we all had asked to have our phone call to speak with our families and the right to an attorney or contact our own lawyers, and the guards said they did not have access to a phone or legal assistance for us. I knew of a lawyer in Ontario, but I had never met him in person or been a client of his in the past. 57 to 60 hours passed before I got to speak to with him. I specifically asked him whether or not he understood French, and he said yes but when I questioned him, he was incapable of answering me. Fifteen of us were crammed into a small holding cell equipped with one chemical toilet without a door. They had installed extremely strong lights that hung over the holding cells which were blinding, and the cells were made of iron and steel which made a huge and deafening echo when the guards would open and close the doors. The concrete floor was freezing because the air conditioning was on extremely high and, in addition, most people were barefoot and without shoes and badly dressed because we had been arrested in while sleeping. Twelve hours would pass before they removed our wrist ties. I happened to be double-cuffed, both of my arms became numb and I had extremely sharp pains in my wrists. The following hours in the detention center were like a horror story. We were moved from cell to cell. We were starving because they had arrested us while we were sleeping so we did not have anything to eat since the night before. We had asked for food and water, and waited between 4-6 hours from the time we asked before they actually gave us something. They arrived with a small white bread sandwich with margarine spread and a slice of processed American cheese, along with a small cup of water and some sort of instant juice mix which tasted like nothing. I had spent over 20 hours without food or water to the point that I quickly fell ill, and because of that I have been to the hospital twice for a saline drip due to my state of undernourishment and dehydration because of the circumstances the police and the ones responsible at the Detention Center put me in. Back in the cell, I had severe diarrhea due to starving, dehydration, and the stress of what was happening. My friends created a "wall" by standing in a row in front of me for my dignity so that I could be able to relieve myself in quiet without having to be outwardly ridiculed by the guards. We also did not have access to any toilet paper, which, made keeping a hygienic environment difficult to maintain. Because of the lack of proper air circulation, chemical toilets without doors, and the fact that were not being serviced, the whole detention center reeked of excrement throughout to the point where some people could not eat the little food they were given because it was so overwhelming. The prison guards were under pressure for the large number of orders. I noticed how much stress they were really under. They were extremely impatient and arrogant, and used racist slurs (such as: frenchie, frenchie piece of shit, frog, etc) and disparaging remarks you would not have to endure if you were English/Anglophone or not being detained. It was quite a problem when it came down to all of the procedures and steps taking place since none of the prison guards or other staff spoke French. I had been brought into a private meeting room to be recorded while having my charges read to me, but it was exclusively in English so I did not quite understand everything that was being said to me. Not to mention the constant and unrelenting humiliation from being strip searched, having the guards creating false hopes of liberation with twisted mind games.
After 40 or 45 hours of detention, we were transferred to a van in which we were suffocating because it had no windows and very poor air circulation and sat in it for 20 minutes waiting to leave. We never ended up leaving the premises so they had us exit the van and return to our holding cells. We all thought we were going to go mad if we spent another night at the detention center. My friends were extremely on edge and very sick. They started shouting that they would not sleep another night here, so the guards were preparing start using pepper spray to control outburst. It was a critical situation concerning the complete disregard lack of human rights and rights as Canadians we never would imagine could happen. Finally, after hours of negotiations with the guards, we were transferred to the Toronto Jail.


Part Three:
Toronto Jail
During the night of Monday June 28, 2010
We were once again put into the van that had little air circulation to be transferred to the Toronto prison. Upon arrival of the prison, we were paired off and placed in handcuffs. We were quickly transferred to a temporary cell for a time yet to be identified. Then we were individually examined by a nurse, without asking our permission, the nursing assistant injecting something into our arm that was supposedly to control tuberculosis. Again, we had to endure a second strip search along with a cavity search. After the examinations, we got placed in cells once more. We asked the prison staff to give us food and water, since I had spoken to the provincial judge a few hours before during a teleconference with my lawyer, I asked the judge for the right of access to food and water. The judge did order the prison to feed me, but I was conveniently forgotten about. I had to wait an additional 12 hours before eating when I already had not eaten for 8-10 hours prior. I was so hungry that during night I re-opened a wound that "T-Lee" had inflicted on my hand and I drank my own blood to soothe the unbearable ache in my stomach. I had hoped to be in a better situation with better conditions compared to the detention center but, my hopes quickly crumbled. It was the same as before- 15 people in a cell that normally could accommodate maybe 6 or 8. There was nothing to protect us from the cold, or sanitary conditions and very little to no access to water or food. I truly felt like I was in a Third World prison. It has been so cold that we sat glued to one another to be able to sleep a little. In the morning, they moved us in an even smaller cell. We went from one extreme to another- The heat was stifling and the smell was unbearable because we could not take any showers, or change clothing since our arrest. The prison guards were very psychologically abusive, and made extremely racist and homophobic remarks towards us. None of us dared to ask them for something we needed because they had such blind hatred towards us because we are Quebecers. The mental abuse and humiliation was almost unbearable, but I turned a deaf ear and did not answer.
Around noon we were transferred from prison to the courthouse.


Part Four:
A Lasting Effort...
Monday 28 June 2010
Once at the courthouse, we thought we ended our trip from hell, but the proceedings were so long that we were there all day until the late hours of the night before we were released.
We waited for a very long time in a packed cell of 9 to 10 people. We went through the same routine for a third time. We were given a sandwich with margarine and processed cheese once again. We had to fight with the guards for toilet paper and once again they refused. I saw several of my friends start to be very psychologically affected because of the long incarceration with the complete lack of basic necessities, and not really knowing exactly what will happen with them. For most people this was the first time they were in prison. Many were upset at not being able to speak to their immediate family or even some thought of going to prison even though they knew they were innocent of any charges for the way he had been arrested and treated throughout this ordeal. They no longer believed in justice. They had been victims of racial profiling and reactionary attitudes and that the only way out was the prison for trying to defend an ideal. Many hoped for all of the mistreatment and abuse to stop, but were able to endure it because everyone supported each other in strength through solidarity until the end. Once before the judge, the proceedings were a very brief and expeditious issue of formality. I talked to a lawyer for two, perhaps three seconds and I'm sure it was not the same with whom I had previously talked on the phone. The judge told me that I was going to be released on certain conditions and a thousand dollar fine. After she told me I would be able to leave in three hours after I got my paperwork. Five hours passed before I had my official papers.
I was released late at night, and I was fortunate that my eyesight isn't completely compromised due to the fact I wear glasses. I had asked the judge on four occasions to have my glasses when I was looking through my personal effects. My glasses were bent and broken as if someone had tried to completely break them apart but ran out of time.

In the end, it was worth personally experiencing the horror which was "Torontonamo". Being wrongfully detained for 65 hours, comparing the many stories of inhuman treatment, deeply moved and affected me. It inspires me to continue the fight for my fellow man's rights and freedoms. My only hope is that justice is served to the real culprits responsible for these cruel acts. Many people will never recover from this experience; they will be affected for the rest of lives.

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
CRUELTY 12. Everyone is entitled to protection against any cruel and unusual punishment.

I would like to thank my dear friend Tom for helping with this text.

Is our Government Censoring the Internet?

Big Brother is Watching Us
And censoring information on Antifascists&Antiracists across North America involved in the G8/G20 in TO

We are trying to gather info to write a story on what's been happening on the internet for the past month or so according to a comrade of ours from Montreal QC, someone who has directly been affected by this, and more so during this past week I have really noticed this Anomaly...
No one else in the antifascist or anti-racist community has contacted me or our collective about this- But I find this to be quite alarming and I feel that it is something that needs to be addressed.

Multiple websites, either independent websites belonging to organizations with certain political views, personal blog posts on social networking sites by individuals mentioning certain subjects/exposing something, photos and graphics that were normally very easy to find through a search engine- Have all completely vanished. Without a trace.

Another comrade of mine in Spokane said to look on Archive.Org for any trace of the missing info/pics. I have tried so many search engines, and under different geographical locations (ie- abc.ca, abc.fr, etc).

Absolutely Nothing came back in the search.

*The Connection?

Now, the comrade of ours from Montreal, QC that has been affected by this strange turn of events on the net happens to have been in Toronto to protest against the G8/G20.

He was wrongfully arrested, experienced extreme racism, brutality and cruelty from law enforcement, due to the very fact he was a francophone [french speaking] Quebecois. But then they found out he is an Anarchist Activist who has a long history of being politically and socially involved in Montreal and France. He was beaten and questioned relentlessly in prison, and remained in custody without a reason for over 70 hours. The scene inside the prison was something he has never experienced in his entire life, and it was because of the mass arrests of over hundreds of people- Hundreds of law abiding citizens who were exercising their right and freedom to protest peacefully. Because of this, the extreme police brutality, the blatant disregard of human beings and their Rights and freedoms on such a mass scale, Toronto is now referred to as "Torontonamo".

He and his comrades have written detailed affidavits. They are taking this matter to the high courts. I actually have copies of all of them. What I've read so far is pretty disturbing...

He just so happened to mention his ordeal on a certain networking site, along with an endless amount of pictures (Probably around the 500 mark). They were all taken down without any notice. So were all of his posts. His page was completely wiped clean with no explanation.
Every time he mentions something about where he was, what did he did/what was done to him- Anything to do with the G8/G20- it disappears.

There is a certain Anti-Fascist Collective in the Northeast who was present at the G8/G20, who also had a ton of various material on the internet- It is like they have completely vanished off of the face of the planet. I couldn't find Anything about them except for 1 small iron on patch being sold by a company from Europe.

We'll keep you posted on what we could find, I will also translate our comrade's Affidavit, so that if anyone is interested in reading about his experience with what happened to him and thousands of other peaceful/innocent protesters who did nothing wrong, you guys will be able to read it first hand.

In the meantime, I urge you to check this site out:

http://www.torontonamo.net/

It is french, but you can use http://translate.google.com/ to translate whole websites.



Solidarity,

SARA

Violation of the Canandaigua Treaty : First Nations Rights

"We're not defending tobacco use... We're defending our right to have an economy in our territory. The Canandaigua Treaty promises us fair use enjoyment of our land. We take that to mean govern ourselves, the right to prosper, the right to engage in activities that benefit our people."

...The era of big time tobacco sales is coming to an end.

There are simply too many forces now aligned against the Iroquois to win this fight. With the recent setbacks in the U.S. courts, the resolve of New York state to tax the wholesalers and the complete failure of the Iroquois to come up with a cohesive, collective response it is clear the days of freewheeling tobacco are over.

It was in the early 1970s when Bob Satiacum, a traditional leader of the Puyallup Nation in Washington State, took a page from the Iroquois book of political activism, decided that Native sovereignty had an economic component which could be converted into cash with the right ambition.

Satiacum took on the state. He not only sold tobacco but opened the first commercial bingo hall on Indian lands in the U.S. Satiacum may have succeeded if he had run his operations as a collective but he wanted wealth and with that came corruption. He was indicted on various criminal charges by the U.S. and died as a political refugee in Canada but his ideas took hold across the continent.

At Akwesasne ,the Mohawk Nation was approached in 1986 to issue licenses for the retail sales of tobacco.

Many of the elders were concerned that we should not be involved in marketing this most sacred of plants with serious consequences should we decide to do so.

By no coincidence the issue of commercial gambling was also brought before the Nation, also in 1986.

A committee was formed to investigate both these issues. This was expanded to include all petroleum products in conjunction with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and the St. Regis Tribal Council.

[We] knew the prophecies which told of the problems we would encounter with gambling.

[We] knew tobacco was killing hundreds of thousands and there was a spiritual and psychological residue.

[We] knew all oil-based products were plant and animal based and to release them from the earth, where they were placed by the Creator, would cause serious problems for all that lived on the surface.

[We] knew about the teachings of Skaniateriio, that the veil surrounding the earth would be torn, the planet would heat up and the great winds would come, bringing great destruction before upsetting the delicate balance of the earth itself.

But [We] knew that without effective controls based on compromise and reason these things would get the better of us and we would be overwhelmed by the greed and passion they would arouse.

Without an effective policing agency, one which would exist in contrast to our ancestral customs, we could not hope to regulate this kind of commerce.

None of the Nation leaders wanted a top-heavy central government with cops, courts and jails. But what else could be done?

An appeal to reason was tried in December of 1986 when the three councils imposed a moratorium on the importation of tobacco products pending a resolution of the commerce issue with the retailers.

Would they comply with the Nation's tobacco regulations or not? The decision by some was to defy any entity which tried to oversee this activity and, naturally, chaos and anarchy was the result. The Nation was not prepared to physically fight with its own people.

In 1997 the Mohawk Nation joined with the other members of the Haudenosaunee to negotiate a Trade and Commerce Agreement which, despite the distortions and outright lies, would have established centralized control over tobacco.

This would have meant a radical shift in terms of profits with the bulk going to the nations to underwrite social programs, economic diversity initiatives and government operations. Other goals were to secure fiscal independence from the U.S. and Canada, eliminate smuggling and then terminate tobacco sales altogether.

The result was a series of staged protests organized by tobacco kingpins, the same ones who know wave the Haudenosaunee flag. The protests were enough to persuade New York Governor George Pataki to break his word and abandon the Commerce deal.

But that was then. Now there is tremendous pressure being exerted upon the Iroquois by the U.S., Canada and New York state.

They will use increasing force to eliminate smuggling (as they call it) and will not hesitate to respond with aggression should they encounter resistance. They will compel the retailers to pay sales taxes-and some have broken ranks and are already doing so.

They are eager to bring the formidable military powers to bear against [us].

Just listen to the words, or watch the face, of U.S. Department of Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano. Or the determination of New York Governor David Paterson, a man with nothing to lose.

Read the reports coming from the local and national media about Akwesasne and the Iroquois. The news is mostly negative which means there is not any sympathy for a Native people who, according to them, have now grown rich on the misery of others. No more "Indian plight" to exploit.

There is a slight possibility of salvaging our tax-free status but it would require the retailers to go to their respective tribal and national leaders and agree to not only revive the 1997 Trade and Commerce Compact but to set a time to get out of the tobacco trade completely.

If not, who among us is willing to take to the barricades, their lives on the line, for the right to market this product of death?

Doug George-Kanentiio, Akwesasne Mohawk, is the former editor of Akwesasne Notes, a co-founder of the Native American Journalists Association as well as a former member of the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian. He is the author of “Iroquois on Fire” and resides in Oneida Castle.

Source:
http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2010/07/06/opinion/doc4c33f7d009ef0415685306.txt