By Sima Zerehi*
OneWorld
July 16, 2003
The mass mobilizations against the war in Iraq were an inspiring beginning to the anti-racism/anti-war/anti-occupation movement. However, as we move into the next phase of organizing, it is important to continue to build stronger links between the US-led invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan with the war at home against First Nations people, immigrants, refugees, and poor and working people.
MIGRATION
Despite the shortcomings of our movement to address the issues of Canada's racist immigration policies, immigration is very much an anti-war and anti-occupation issue. Migration statistics bear out the connection between war, occupation and immigration. According to the United Nations, the war on Iraq is expected to create an estimated 900,000 refugees. The current estimates of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reveal that the war has already displaced more than 300,000 people within Iraq. The number of Iraqi's seeking asylum is not surprising, as we saw the same catastrophic effects in the aftermath of the war and occupation of Afghanistan. The US Committee for Refugees (USCR) estimates that by the end of 2001 one million Afghans had been internally displaced due to war and occupation. At the end of 2001, some 4.5 million Afghans were living as refugees in other countries, making Afghanistan the biggest producer of refugees in the world. In Europe, the number of asylum applications by Afghans increased by 60 percent and made Afghanistan the source of the largest number of asylum seekers in Europe in 2001. To add to the statistics, there are between 20 and 25 million "Internally Displaced People" worldwide, a number that is not included in the refugee statistics produced by the UN. Not surprisingly, many of these refugees are in countries in which the US or the UN have intervened in the last couple of decades; countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the former Soviet Union, Sudan, Angola, Sri Lanka, Colombia and of course Afghanistan.
THE ECONOMY OF BORDER SECURITY
Despite these alarming facts, to this date the "Peace" movement focused primarily on the bombings of Iraq and whether Chretien would publicly support the war or simply send troops and battleships to assist the US occupation. In the meantime, as activists were distracted by the smokescreen of war, representatives from Ontario and its neighbouring American states met at the Great Lakes Security Summit in Toronto to discuss the "harmonization" of Canadian and American borders. Fittingly, the conference was hosted by two of the most outspoken supporters of the war on Iraq, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves and the Ontario Minister of Public Safety and Security, Bob Runciman.
The mandate of this conference, which brought together Canadian and US government and immigration officials, as well as police and corporate bosses, was the integration of all levels of policing at the borders as well as the harmonization of Canadian and US security laws. The ultimate goal was to create a blue print for a long-term infrastructure guaranteeing the free flow of material goods and capital without interference from tighter border control. As Eves said in a press release announcing the conference, "[s]tronger security along our border would help ensure the free flow of goods, services and people across the Ontario-New York border to keep our economies strong." Implicit in this statement is the connection between border control and the economy.
The real agenda of the summit was to facilitate neo-liberal globalization: the free movement of capital and goods, but zero mobility for workers. Above all, capitalism uses border security, immigration laws and policies, racial profiling and police brutality as tools to exploit migrants as a cheap source of labour. We don't have to go far to see the effects of Canadian and US immigration policies on the lives of displaced people. The people driving our cabs, washing our dishes, cleaning our homes, schools and offices, and delivering our food are oftentimes immigrants, refugees or undocumented people with few other options for employment. Immigration laws reinforce the vicious exploitation of migrants by threatenin deportation or detention.
To facilitate the exploitation of immigrants, politicians like Ernie Eves constantly fan the flames of racism with their insistance on tougher border security and increased policing of racialized communities. Thinly veiled beneath this hysteria, however, is an attempt to distract voters from the real failures of capitalism – unemployment, poverty, cut backs to social services and so on.
IMMIGRATION
It's no surprise that since September 11, 2001, under the smokescreen of the war against Afghanistan and then Iraq, the Canadian immigration system has taken so many steps backwards. On June 28, 2002 the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was passed into law with a number of troubling amendments. Left out of the Act were appeal processes for refugee claimants. In addition, all refugee claimants now have only 28 days after their interview with a Refugee Protection Officer to put together a Personal Information Form — an impossibly short time for many. To make matters worse, all required documents must be submitted 20 days in advance of a hearing with the Immigration and Refugee Board. Finally, the number of initial decision-makers on a panel has been reduced from two board members to one. As a result, refugee protection decisions, which are often a matter of life or death, are now made by a single decision-maker with no right of appeal. One of the most striking new changes to the Canadian Immigration system is the signing of the "safe third country" agreement with the US in December of 2002. The danger of this agreement is that once implemented, many refugee claimants coming through the US and other countries will be automatically turned away at the border. The agreement leaves no opportunity for asylum seekers to explain why they wish to flee the US, and many of those turned back will not even be allowed to apply for refugee status in the US, as the US requires refugee claimants to apply within the first year of arrival. The safe third country agreement significantly limits the number of people able to apply for refugee status in Canada as many of the avenues of international travel to Canada are rooted through the US. Currently, fifteen thousand refugees come to Canada via the US border every year. Unfortunately, this agreement could be extended to many other countries that the Canadian government deems as "safe", despite the reality that the safety of a country is often gauged by its trade relations with Canada, rather than by its human rights record.
The "Special Registration" procedures implemented in the US after September 11 target male adults over the age of sixteen from many predominantly Muslim countries. The threat of detention or deportation implicit in these procedures have prompted hundreds of non-status people in the US to flee to Canada in order to avoid deportation to their country of origin. In response to this influx of asylum seekers at the end of January of 2003, the Canadian government started to direct refugee claimants at the border back to the US to wait for an appointment. People are sent back regardless of whether they are suffering from trauma, are pregnant, have small children, or are without any money or a place to stay. Waiting periods could extend up to seven weeks before an interview. In many cases, claimants are jailed in the US and are therefore unable to return to Canada to pursue their claim. Families are broken apart and stranded at the border as husbands and fathers are detained due to visa violations. Few refugees are able to pay the thousands of dollars in bonds in order to secure a release. Many have no choice but to remain in jail or face deportation to their home country. Ultimately, the direct-backs break families apart and rob refugees of the opportunity to explain their fear of persecution in the United States or their country of origin.
The most alarming change to Canadian immigration policy over the past year has been the detention of more and more refugee claimants upon arrival in Canada. Under new Immigration Canada ‘instructions', issued January 27, 2003, officers have the right to detain claimants if ‘sufficient' identity documents are not produced, or interviewees show any hesitancy in response to questioning. Many refugees who are in shock or under severe stress and cannot readily answer questions are therefore detained. Similarly, those who have had to flee their homes at a moments notice, without time or ability to get proper identification or documents, will find themselves behind bars in Canada. Unfortunately, even after the desired documentation is provided some claimants are not released from detention until they post a bond (an average of $5,000 to $10,000 set by Immigration Canada officers), an impossible task for many refugees who have spent their life savings trying to get to Canada.
To make matters worse, Canadian politicians, with Bob Runciman at the forefront, are openly calling for increased detention of all undocumented people living in Canada. To facilitate this plan, Immigration Canada is publicly discussing leasing a section of an Ontario "super jail" in a concerted move to expand facilities for long-term immigration detention, despite the fact that existing detention centres like the ‘family' detention facility at Toronto's Celebrity Inn have a despicable history. Beside the lack of access to basic needs such as fresh air or exercise, there have been reports of the denial of essential supplies to Canadian-born infants and children in jail because their only caregivers are their ‘illegal' parents. While the current model of detention facilities in Canada is disturbing, the purposed changes to this model are even more frightening. Anti-immigration advocates like Minister of Immigration Denis Coderre and Bob Runciman have been pushing for Canada to adopt an "Australian-style" detention policy, which requires the detention of all asylum seekers prior to adjudication of their claims. Australia's system has forced detained people who have fled civil war and poverty abroad to sew their lips shut in hunger strikes, to fling themselves against razor wire perimeters, to riot and attempt escapes into the desert, and to languish without decent food, legal support and proper education for their children and without any assurance of release for years.
ATTACKS ON NON-CITIZENS AT HOME AND ABROAD
The attacks on immigrants and refugees don't end at the border. Once landed, all residents are required to carry at all times a Permanent Resident identification card. Bio-identification is micro-encrypted at the back of the card in addition to the cardholders's entire immigration file. If a cardholder leaves Canada without their card they will be rejected re-entry. This card must be updated every five years, requiring residents to provide a complete history of their activities over the past five years. Furthermore, new legislation (Bill C-18) now makes landed status revocable in the case of serious criminal activity. Those convicted of any crime are denied the ability to ever sponsor anyone. In addition to the attacks on non-citizens at home, the Canadian government has given a low priority to processing refugees abroad for resettlement. In fact, it is very likely that the government will fail to meet its own targets for resettled refugees in 2003, leaving thousands of refugees to remain in limbo. The government's response to the shortage of resources dedicated to refugee resettlement is to charge refugees fees for the privilege of being processed for resettlement to Canada. This would mean that much like the point system used to process immigrants, only affluent refugees could hope to settle in Canadian.
Amina Shirazee, an immigration lawyer and member of Lawyers Against the War, summed up the Canadian immigration system best in a recent interview with ZNET. She said: "It is classist, racist, and sexist. It grants the power to discriminate. So, if you are poor, you are classified as an economic immigrant and not allowed refuge. If you are wealthy, you can be an economic immigrant as well. The difference is that you can enter. The criteria is simple – you have to have $400,000. Canadian residency is for sale."
FIGHTING BACK
While the racist war launched against immigrants, refugees, migrant workers and non-status people in Canada has been relentless in its pursuit to marginalize and silence communities of colour, these communities have not given up the fight. Even at the risk of increased racial profiling by the police, and the ever-present threats of deportation or detention, immigrant and refugee communities have taken to the streets in larger and larger numbers to raise their voices in solidarity with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Community initiated groups like the Commite de Sans Status in Montreal are an inspiring reminder that immigrants and refugees are not "victims", but communities with the ability to self-organize and fight back.
About the Author: Sima Zerehi is a member of the New Socialist Group
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