Noisy protest in Burnaby, B.C., to support detained women and children.
detention
Aung San Suu Kyi's 'revolution of the spirit,' part one
Interview with author Alan Clements.
Related rabble.ca story:
Argentina detention centre serves as lesson for Guantanamo
"Gitmo is going to remain open for the foreseeable future," said an unnamed White House official to The Washington Post this week. For guidance on the notorious U.S. Navy base in Cuba, President Barack Obama should look to an old naval facility in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Bill C-31: The Minister says one thing, his bill says another
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney has released a document to Canada's ethnic communities entitled Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act (C-31): Myth vs Reality.
The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) has corrected the misinformation contained in the Minister's document, using a precise reading of Bill C-31, the Minister's own bill.
Safe countries
Bill C-31 will destroy key aspects of Canada's refugee system
On February 16, 2012, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney introduced legislation "to protect the integrity of Canada's immigration system." The Harper government minister proposed measures to" include further reforms to the asylum system to make it faster and fairer, measures to address human smuggling, and the authority to make it mandatory to provide biometric data with a temporary resident visa application."
Minister Kenney said in the prepared press release that "Canadians take great pride in the generosity and compassion of our immigration and refugee programs. But they have no tolerance for those who abuse our generosity and seek to take unfair advantage of our country."
Refugee policies should be evidence-based
Canadian policy-making on refugee issues is ignoring the evidence of leading researchers in the field. Empirical research that would improve refugee legislation and the practices of our refugee determination system is being overlooked to the detriment of refugees and the Canadian public.
A key example is the immigration detention process.
Dividing lines: The case of Mohamed Mahjoub
Twelve years ago, Mohamed Mahjoub became a victim of one of the most egregious legal measures that can be taken against a person in Canada, a security certificate. Since then, though he was never even charged with a crime, he faced seven years of detention followed by release with draconian conditions. Though his conditions of release were recently loosened somewhat, troubling questions remain about the entire security apparatus in which Mahjoub and others are ensnared.
Challenging indefinite detention: Chris Hedges sues Barack Obama
Attorneys Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran filed a complaint in the Southern U.S. District Court in New York City on my behalf as a plaintiff against Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to challenge the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force as embedded in the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by the president Dec. 31.
Taking liberties: Canada's booming business of detention and deportation
Most Canadians would shudder at the thought of women being shackled to their hospital beds after giving birth. Yet that is exactly what happens to a specific class of women who, having come to Canada seeking safety, are detained even though they pose no threat to the public.
Detained refugees experience the trauma of being shackled and chained on their journey to and from medical care and during certain procedures in Canadian hospitals, according to a brief presented to the House of Commons last month by McGill University researchers Janet Cleveland, Cécile Rousseau and Rachel Kronick. In addition, they reported many detained refugees forgo health-care visits for fear of being shackled and humiliated.
