NEWS RELEASE about Direct ActionMigration posted on August 13, 2010 by stimulator

NOII BANNER DROP - CANADA JAILS REFUGEES!

by No One Is Illegal Vancouver

The banner was unfurled during rush hour

Friday August 13, 2010, Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories– No One Is
Illegal dropped a large banner which read: “Canada Jails Refugees” above
Highway 1 in Vancouver/Burnaby this morning during rush-hour traffic.

The banner drop was in response to the ongoing stigmatization and public
hysteria around the MV Sun Sea, carrying 490 Tamil asylum seekers to BC.
Now that the ship has been boarded by the Navy, Armed Forces, Canadian
Border Services Agency, and RCMP, it is expected that these migrants will
be incarcerated in prisons within the week.

Canada’s immigration legislation permits immigration officials to hold the
Tamil refugee claimants in a state of indefinite detention without charge
based only on a mere suspicion of inadmissibility on so-called security
grounds.  This form of arbitrary and indefinite immigration detention has
previously been condemned internationally as a breach of fundamental human
rights.

Public officials and media outlets have continued to perpetuate false and
dehumanizing stereotypes of the asylum-seekers as ‘illegals’, ‘criminals’,
and so-called queue jumpers. The label of “security threat is”
itself is rooted in racist stereotypes and generalized prejudgments of
Tamils as potential terrorists. This deliberately created hysteria appeals
to conservative fears of refugees, and anti-immigrant advocates like Paul
Fromm and the Aryan Guard have gained ground in protesting for the ship to
be sent back.

This public fear-mongering is just another tactic to disguise the racist
policies that define the history and ongoing realities of Canada’s
immigration system. It fits perfectly into Minister of Censorship and
Deportation Jason Kenney's plan to increase detentions and deportation of
refugees and undocumented migrants, while bringing in more temporary
exploitable migrant labour. Since the Conservatives came into in power,
the number of approved asylum claims has dropped by 56%. Kenney’s 2009
report reveals a decreasing “target” of 11,000 people to be accepted
refugees and sponsored family members.

Now Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has declared that Cabinet is drafting
new policies to "make this country less welcoming for future shipments of
human cargo."

In the face of escalating attacks against these asylum-seekers, No One is
Illegal-Vancouver asserts the basic human right to safety, mobility, and
protection. The only crime the migrants have committed is make a long and
dangerous journey, transgressing this imposed border. It is well known
that Tamils in Sri Lanka are fleeing military atrocities including
arbitrary detentions, indiscriminate killings, and mass displacement into
refugee camps. We continue to call for the immediate release of all the
detainees and demand their collective right to stay in Canada with
dignity.