Immigration Policy

No One Is Illegal - Toronto has launched an anonymous phone line for migrant patients and service providers to share information about healthcare services they are being denied or are unable to provide due to recent changes to refugee healthcare by the federal government.

CALL 1 888 602 6365
press 1 if you were denied services, press 2 if you are a service provider who is facing constraints

"We are trying to figure out exactly where immigrants and refugees are facing obstacles, what medication and services people need the most, which hospitals and services are denying or charging for services," explained Nanky Rai of No One Is Illegal - Toronto. "We are hearing stories about the impacts of the cuts to refugee health care on refugees individually but we don't know enough about which healthcare institutions are most vehemently implementing the federal regulations."

On December 15, the Refugee Exclusion Act (Bill C-31, formally the "Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act") will be fully implemented.

Please watch, and share this video, of past and current immigration detainees and No One Is Illegal - Toronto organizers explaining the impacts of these new laws. Filmed by Liberation Cooperative Organization outside the Toronto Immigration Holding Centre.

WATCH & SHARE
https://vimeo.com/55622758

Among other things, these laws will mean even more immigrants will end up in in immigration detention.

Did you know that there have been nearly 95,000 immigrants that have spent time in detention in Canada since 2004? and that immigration detention is $50 + million business with private companies managing and operating immigration detention centres?

KEY FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DETENTION
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/ImmigrationDetention2012
Includes a flyer you can print and distribute

AND LEARN MORE ABOUT SECURITY CERTIFICATES
www.supportmahjoub.org & www.justiceforjaballah.org

As of December 15, 2012, our communities face:

* Mandatory detention: Many refugees deemed "irregular arrivals" or "smuggled", including children over the age of 16, will face mandatory detention upon arrival. Migrants will become one of the largest growing prison populations with Harper's prison expansion plan.

On July 1st, immigrant and refugee allies interrupted Canada Day events at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, holding up massive foam letters that spelled out “Oh Canada, No Home for Refugees”, visible from balconies and rooftops in the surrounding area. This action was organized on the day that the federal Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) cuts went into effect, gutting a range of services delivering health care for refugees.

"Canada has a long history of extremely regressive immigration policies, such as the Chinese Head Tax. Cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program that provides health care for refugees, implementation of Bill C-11 and the recent passing of Bill C-31, otherwise known as the Refugee Exclusion Act, are all intensified efforts by this government to exclude and exploit immigrants and refugees while also denying them access to basic services", said Dr. Abeer Majeed.

In a coordinated effort on Refugee Rights Day, members of refugee and immigrant rights groups including No One Is Illegal are occupying Conservative MP offices in Ottawa, Toronto, St. Catharines, Edmonton, and Vancouver Coast Salish Territories. Banners have also been dropped in Montreal and Halifax. These actions are being organized to demand that the Refugee Exclusion Act, Bill C-31, be discarded.

Update: Vancouver activists are occupying Citizenship and Immigration Canada offices.