The bodies of indigenous people, queer people, migrants, people of colour and the poor have been exploited, governed, labelled and regulated by the Canadian and U.S. states. The state has tried to interfere in our communities, our languages, our families, our love relationships and our ability to seek refuge. But we have seen that if we resist, we can win! On Septempter 28, No One Is Illegal-Toronto (NOII-TO), along with Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) called on queers, trans folks, two-spirted people, people of colour, migrants, workers, students, radicals, and allies to converge for an evening of discussion, reflection and celebration.

This spring, NOII-TO and QuAIA mobilized to stop the deportation of Alvaro Orozco, who was rejected for refugee status by the Canadian government because he didn't "look gay enough." This summer, the two organizations along with allies fought and struggled against the corporatization of Toronto Pride and dropped banners asserting the growing movement of QuAIA. They also mobilized together one year after the repression of our communities during the G20 -- where they continued to challenge the Toronto police and stepped up the fight against Rob Ford's planned austerity cuts to the Toronto budget.

This is a recording of the panel disucssion that evening. The discussion panel includes stories and thoughts shared by HAVOQ (Horizontally Aligned Very Organized Queers) based out of San Francisco -- who have been touring across occupied Turtle Island on their Undoing Borders Tour -- after launching their interactive zine Undoing Borders: A Queer Manifesto. This zine is the culmination of over two years of collective work where in people came together to discuss and analyze the relevance of queer identity and migrant justice organizing, the intersections and the contradictions.

00:24-05:20  Panel Introduction by Gabi
05:20-21:09  Craig Fortier - NOII TO
21:09-35:19  Natalie Kouri-Towe - QuAIA
35:09-54:38  Li, Molly and Essex - HAVOQ

For more information on these organizations, check out these links:

http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/609

http://queersagainstapartheid.org/2011/07/03/queers-against-israeli-apartheid-drops-a-massive-banner-during-toronto-pride/

http://undoingbordersblog.wordpress.com/about-us/

http://beitzatoun.org/cms/Home.aspx

Recorded by: Carly Forbes

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migrantmatters@cfru.ca