MONTREAL – With only nine days to go before the federal election, four Montreal-area migrant justice groups joined forces to organize a Unity March against deportations.
Activists from Solidarity Across Borders, Let’s Unite, Le Comité d’actions contre la décision 168-13 de la République dominicaine and Le Comité d’action des personnes sans statut, gathered at Norman Bethune Square at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in the hopes of raising awareness around several key issues, including the need for Canada to welcome more refugees and migrants to Canada.
The issue was brought to the forefront in Canada and the world over, after the body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on the shores of a Turkish beach in a failed attempt to flee Syria.
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And although the plight of Syrian refugees has moved people to action, others are not so lucky.
Organizers also hope to bring attention to the plight of Haitians and Zimbabweans who face deportation from Canada. A moratorium on deportations to those countries was lifted after the federal Canada judged that the situations in those countries had improved sufficiently and no longer posed a risk to civilian populations living there.
The moratorium on deportations was announced in December 2014 and affected individuals were granted a six month period to apply for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds, with applicants being granted status on a case-by-case basis.
Activists have been urging the government to allow every single person to stay in Canada based on a collective agreement and not on a case-by-case basis, arguing that the moratorium has been in place for years and people have built their lives here.
Montreal boasts a large Haitian community and estimates at least 3,000 people are affected by the measure.
READ MORE: Montrealers march against deportation of Haitians, Zimbabweans
Organizers are also concerned with the plight of Haitians living abroad and more specifically of those living in the Dominican Republic, saying that Dominicans of Haitian descent, have been rendered stateless.
Protesters argue that the human rights of Dominicans are being violated by President Danilo Medina’s “Migration Policy Action Plan 2015-2016,” whereby children born in the Dominican Republic to undocumented parents can not claim Dominican nationality.
The policy applies to anyone born after 1929.
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