Second National Rally on Refugee Rights and Sanctuary

Press Release

The First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa
Interfaith Refugee Network Ottawa

For Immediate Release Ottawa, Oct. 15, 2007

More than 20 leaders from the House of Commons, churches, refugee support groups, unions and other organizations have agreed to speak at a second National Rally on Refugee Rights and Sanctuary to be held at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa, 30 Cleary Ave., at 7 p.m. on Wednesday October 24.

The rally has been organized to highlight the continuing failure of the federal government to fix its system of refugee determination and to establish an appeal process for refugees to challenge flawed decisions by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. While the 2002 Refugee Protection and Immigration Act provided for appeals, this section has never been proclaimed, leaving the refugee system with no mechanism for correcting errors or inconsistent decisions.

Speakers at the rally will also press the federal government and its Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to allow Shree Kumar Rai, who fled persecution in Nepal 10 years ago, to remain permanently in Canada. Mr. Rai has been in sanctuary at the Unitarian church for almost eight months while church members together with an alliance of other Ottawa churches and faith communities, the Interfaith Refugee Network Ottawa, worked to secure his admission to Canada. Shree is one of some 10 sanctuary refugees in Canada. He will take part in the Oct. 24 rally along with Moti Nano of Ethiopia, who was in sanctuary at All Saints Lutheran church in Ottawa for 21 months before being granted leave, late in September, to remain in Canada.
Even though church sanctuary dates back to Biblical times, there are no laws in Canada to protect it. Canadian governments are reluctant to breach sanctuary, however, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has assured the Unitarians that it will not interfere with a church that has granted sanctuary to a refugee while that person’s status is being resolved.. Mr. Rai can now go outside onto the church grounds – but not beyond - and still be considered to be in sanctuary, thanks to an understanding with immigration officials
First Unitarian Congregation gave sanctuary for 18 months to Mr. Samsu Mia before Immigration Minister Judy Sgro granted him a ministerial permit to remain in Canada, in December 2004, and allowed his family to join him from Bangladesh. His admission came just weeks after a a previous rally on refugee rights at the church on Oct. 21, 2004.

The Oct. 24 rally will include music from three choirs and messages from MPs from three of the Parliamentary parties. Local MP John Baird (Ottawa West-Nepean) and Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Immigration, have been invited but have not yet indicated that they will attend. The rally will be chaired by Rev. Fred Cappucino, a retired Unitarian minister who spent five months in voluntary sanctuary in support of Samsu Mia in 2004.

Further information: http://www.uuottawa.com/sanctuary/
Media contacts;
Joan Auden,Sanctuary Committee First Unitarian Congregation 613- 730-1716
Mary Duncan, Interfaith Refugee Network Ottawa 613-798-0267
Michael Cassidy, Sanctuary Committee, First Unitarian Congregation 613-829-4231

Listen to the rally

Radio Canada International carried a report on Oct.26 on the Rally for Refugee Rights that included clips from

This report can be accessed on The Link at http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/emissions/archives/archivesDetails_1952_26102007.shtml - second part.

NATIONAL RALLY FOR REFUGEE RIGHTS - Rally Program

7 P.M. Wed., 24 October, 2007
First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa

Statements from leaders who could not be present at the rally

1) Refugees are entitled to a timely and fair process. When the safety and even the life of an individual or a whole family are in the hands of one person then justice demands that there be an impartial review process.
- Marlene Catterall, Former Liberal MP, Ottawa West – Nepean.

2) The concept of a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA) is a good one- it is meant to determine if, just prior to deportation, the person will be at risk in his/her country of origin. But… only new evidence is accepted “that arose after the rejection [of the refugee claim], or was not reasonably available, or that the applicant could not reasonably have been expected in the circumstances to have presented at the time of the rejection” [s. 113 IRPA]. In practice this means that even evidence that strongly supports a conclusion that the applicant would be at risk if returned home will not be considered if this evidence was available at the time of the initial hearing. A true evaluation of risk would consider any evidence that is relevant, regardless of when it became available. The acceptance rate of PRRA applications is only 2- 3%.
- Prof. Michael Bossin, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa.

3) My husband Mohamed and my family continue to struggle after 43 months in detention under a Security Certificate- no charges and no access to evidence. After 18 months on bail under the toughest conditions in Canadian history, (wearing a GPS bracelet, 24 hr. supervision by me or my mother, mail and phone intercepted, curfew and city boundaries, pre-approved outings 3 times per week for 4 hours, pre-approved contacts, followed by Canadian Border Services agents, computer under lock and key, surveillance cameras on the house and on...we feel violated and betrayed by the justice system. I am my husband's jailer and guard. We are prisoners in our own home. And now another devastating blow - the new Security Certificate legislation includes more secrecy and clearly continues to violate our Charter. All we want is a fair trial.

Because of the bail conditions, I am unable to attend tonight's event. I thank your community for fighting so hard for the rights of refugees and immigrants from which Mr. Mia and my husband have benefited. My husband and I are blessed with so many of your community members as supporters and friends. Some of the most special, beautiful and true friendships have come out of this dark nightmare. Even during the darkest times, there is still true beauty. Let's all stick together to fight for justice, rights and freedom. Injustice to one is injustice to all. Please continue to support our cause...the fight is far from over. I thank you for your time- In solidarity,
- Sophie Harkat

4) The Council of Canadians (CofC) stands with our allies today to demand justice for asylum seekers in Canada. We fear that the so-called ‘war on terror’ has worsened an already flawed immigration and refugee system. In particular, the CofC is concerned with the impacts of the Safe Third Country Agreement. There has been a marked reduction in the number of accepted refugees since the implementation of the Dec. 2004 Safe Third Country Agreement. The U.S. is designated as a 'safe country' so refugee claimants arriving at Canada’s border with the U.S. are not allowed to claim refugee status in Canada – even if they were only passing through the U.S. on their way to Canada.
The Council of Canadians believes that the Harper government should:

  1. abolish the Safe Third Country Agreement, and maintain an independent immigration and refugee policy distinct from the United States.
  2. examine and eradicate racial profiling in Canada's immigration policies.
  3. review their 'homeland security' measures and ensure that they do not restrict the civil liberties of people in Canada, including immigrants and refugees.

- Maude Barlow, national chairperson, Council of Canadians

5) Today you are gathered together in solidarity with Shree Kumar Rai and others seeking a safe haven. You have chosen to stand up for the rights of refugees, when some are calling for those rights to be undermined. You are here to remind Canadians that through our Charter of Rights and Freedoms we have a commitment to recognizing the dignity and fundamental rights of every human being. You are here to remember that there are international human rights obligations that need to be respected, here in Canada, as Elsewhere in the world. And when governments forget those obligations, as the Canadian government has done in failing to implement the refugee appeal and thus exposing refugees to the risk of return to persecution - then it is time for citizens to act - by persisting in demanding that the government give refugees the appeal legislated by Parliament, and by providing through sanctuary the protection that the government fails to give.
- Janet Dench, Executive Director, Canadian Council for Refugees

6) This week the government brought down a new law on security certificates to replace the one struck down by the Supreme Court in February. The new law is almost identical law to the old with one cosmetic change: adding a CSIS-cleared "special advocate.” Over sixty groups across Canada are now calling for no new security certificates.. Here are some of the problems the new law fails to address:

- Diana Ralph, Refugee Committee, Temple Israel.

7) What are we to make of a Canadian government that passes a law that is supposed to guarantee certain limited rights through mechanisms such as a refugee appeal division but, almost six years after the fact, refuses to implement it, making every subsequent failed claim, every detention, every deportation, the result of a seriously flawed and unfair process which in no way has granted full due process?"

-Matthew Behrens, Campaign to Stop Secret Trials, Toronto

8) It is with continuous interest and concern that I follow the file of refugee rights and sanctuary. In 2004, I attended a rally in support of Samsu Mia. This year, I couldn't attend you rally but my heart and thoughts are with you. I still believe that the Canadian government should respect the church sanctuary and establish an appeal process for refugees to challenge flawed decisions by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. This shouldn't be written only on paper but implemented and applied on cases. We cannot leave our immigration system open to subjectivity and to mistakes.

- Monia Mazigh

9) "When I received the decision to refuse me, I was shocked. I wanted to explain that I had been discriminated against, that it was unjust. But there was no one to listen to me. There was no right to appeal. There was no right to be heard. It was over. Then I found a church and they allowed me to be heard. It protected me, it allowed my voice to go out. That's what sanctuary is for me: if it weren't for the church, no one would have listened to me.
Sanctuary, it's necessary to protect those who are weak. The rich, they have money to protect them. They are never going to enter into a church. They don't need to. But me, I had the choice: go underground or enter into a church. The church, it allowed me to live another time."

- Abdelkader Belaouni, Sanctuary Refugee, St. Gabriel’s Church, Montreal, since January 2006

11) Canada stands out against many other countries for the relative fairness of its refugee determination system. Nonetheless the system has flaws which have led to many unjust refusals, notably the absence of the right of appeal for refugees that Parliament wrote into the Immigration Act six years ago, but which successive governments have refused to implement. Almost every government-led legal process in Canada provides a right of appeal . . . it’s a basic protection in a democracy against judicial error. Unfairly rejected refugees may face oppression or even death if they are returned to their homeland. Canadian churches should not have to rescue them from deportation by giving them sanctuary. It is time the refugee appeal system promised in 2001 was put into place.

- Ed Broadbent, former MP, Ottawa Centre and leader, New Democratic Party

12) I was lucky to have the backing of a congregation who knew me and who understood my situation. An appeal on merit system could have saved a great deal of pain and anxiety if I could have accessed this rather than going into sanctuary. I wish to thank the All Saints Lutheran Church for offering me sanctuary in their church. Without an appeal system I had no other place to turn.

- Moti Nano, Sanctuary Refugee for 21 months, Ottawa.

13) The Conservative government has given up on merit based appointments. The IRB has been struggling to handle their caseloads with 52 vacant positions. These vacancies have led to huge backlogs, all the while refugees wait for decisions about their futures.

- Bill Siksay, NDP MP, Burnaby Douglas.

14) Challenges to Refugee Rights:

- Salvation Army , April 4, 2007

15) Failure of the government to proclaim and implement the judicial appeal provision of the act passed by parliament is an affront to Parliament and the citizens who elected it. If this appeal provision were available to UN Refugee Convention applicants they could pursue their claims to asylum under law and not via the ancient custom of sanctuary in houses of worship.

I commend congregations who are giving refuge to those few refugees whose claims have been unjustly rejected and all citizens who are pressing our government to proclaim and implement the appeal law enacted by parliament.

- Flora MacDonald, former Secretary of State for External Affairs (PC),

16) Any of us, not just refugees, can become casualties when human rights are under sustained attack. It all depends on what the current version of “National Security” happens to be, and what activity becomes viewed as a threat to it. Postal workers know this from our past experiences with CSIS and the RCMP Security Services. As a result, we believe we have no choice except to fight on behalf of the rights of refugees. So today we celebrate the entry into Canada of Moti Nano, another refugee who was in sanctuary in Ottawa, and we salute the First Unitarian Congregation for providing sanctuary to Shree Kumar Rai. Through determination, and solidarity, we can make a huge difference.

-Deborah Bourque, National President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers

17) I am outraged at the changes to the Immigration Act so that a refugee claim is decided by one person. There is no appeal on merit. This is a flagrant act of injustice. It denies the spirit of the refugee board mandate. Officers were named to provide a comprehensive hearing; two would hear the case, discuss and decide the outcome. The fate of refugees now lies with one individual who could easily misinterpret the information and make a faulty decision. This is shameful and challenges our reputation internationally as well as our own self image. As Canadians we view ourselves as a welcoming nation that believes our policies build a better world. Shame, shame on a government that would treat persons who have often experienced a great deal of human suffering in such a cavalier manner!

- Marion Dewar, former MP and Mayor of Ottawa

3-minute Addresses

Pierre R Gauthier

“Churches should not be forced . . . to break the law by providing sanctuary. If the system were fair to all, the need for sanctuary would no longer exist.”

I’m pleased to add my voice in support of the many others who are speaking out tonight on behalf of justice and human rights for refugee claimants.

I’m honored to be part of such a group. You are rallying against the unfair practices and disconnected administrative structures in our country’s refugee determination system.

Your presence is an indication of your deep concern for refugee claimants. It’s a concern for justice and human rights, especially for the many thousands of refugees who are summarily judged and have no access to an appeal.

At St. Joseph’s, the Parish located on the corner of Laurier and Cumberland, we experienced first hand the lack of communication and the bureaucratic stonewall thrown up by the Immigration and Citizenship Department. I’m referring to the yearlong experience of maintaining sanctuary for Maoua Diomande, a totally worthy refugee claimant from the Ivory Coast.

At times during that year it seemed that nobody was listening to us. But gradually the news releases, the background papers, the web site devoted to Maoua, the accurate and sympathetic major feature article in the Ottawa Citizen had an impact. The public and the politicians took notice.

We took our particular case to our elected federal representatives. In varying degrees, they showed some interest. Most notably, representatives of all four parties in the Commons joined us on Parliament Hill on a frigid November night. The occasion: a “Free Maoua” rally. A fifth MP, working late, watched from his office window. He later became an activist in support of Maoua.

We struggled to find a way for the bureaucrats to take notice. This is not an easy task but we managed with the help of the local MP Mauril Belanger to have a review by the official languages commissioner who demonstrated that her language rights had been breached during her hearing. This was the wedge that pushed the bureaucracy to review the humanitarian & compassionate application and decide to grant her a minister permit before the report reached the House of Commons.

Maoua was granted – under humanitarian and compassionate grounds – the freedom to stay in Canada and to resume managing her own boutique in a shopping mall.

It’s always difficult to get public attention, particularly when the issue appears to involve the fate of only one person. But Maoua became a symbol for the many denied access to an appeal from the erroneous decision rendered by a sole adjudicator. This case was not about one person. It was about many.

Yet, despite that expression of humanity and understanding on Parliament Hill, the bureaucracy continues to go its unaccountable way. You probably saw the story a couple of weeks ago about the Canadian Border Services turning back refugee claimants to the U.S. in breach of Canada’s duty to let them seek asylum. The refugees were seeking Canada’s protection and we turned them away.

What can we as concerned citizens do? First, continue our strenuous lobbying to have an appeal system in place. Bill C-280 under review in the Senate needs all the support we can muster. Our federal government should implement the appeal system (RAD) that Parliament passed into law in 2002.

Second and finally, a word about churches and refugee claimants: Churches should not be forced, even when acting in the name of justice and fairness, to break the law by providing sanctuary. If the system were fair to all, the need for sanctuary would no longer exist. The implementation of the appeal process would provide a refugee claimant a second chance to have his or her case reviewed and heard.

The lesson we learned from the Maoua case: if the cause is just never give up the fight.

Pierre R Gauthier, Coordinator of Sanctuary Refugee Outreach Committee, St Joseph’s Parish, Ottawa

Karl Flecker

The Canadian labour movement’s 3.2 million members . . . join with you in this national rally advocating justice for refugees, now!

Thank you for the invitation to stand together with all of you tonight in this national rally for refugee rights.

The toll that refugees like Shree and others bear in challenging oppression is very difficult for many Canadians to truly appreciate. Separation from family, separation from community, risk to life and livelihood, and increasingly, refugees are facing a diminishment of compassion and fairness by our government.

Refugees demonstrate tremendous courage – their choices are extra ordinarily limited, but they do chose – they chose life, they chose security and they chose justice. Their decision to speak out against injustice and seek sanctuary cannot be made alone – it is a decision that leans on the strength of communities like those of you here.

The Canadian Labour Congress representing over 3 million workers has firsthand experience understanding why refugees and their families have had to flee their homes. Last year ,144 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers’ ¹ rights while more than 800 suffered beatings or torture, according to an annual survey conducted by the International Trade Union Confederation. These numbers are going up, not down.

Colombia remains the most perilous place in the world for union activity, with 78 killings, almost all of which were carried out with impunity by paramilitary death squads linked to government officials or acting at the behest of employers. Of 1,165 murders documented between 1994 and 2006, only 56 perpetrators have been brought to trial, and a total of 14 have been sentenced.

The CLC faces more and more requests for refugee support from around the world as dictatorships and authoritarian governments persist – from Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe and several Gulf countries. Multi-national corporations like Coca-Cola, its suppliers, Wal-Mart, Goodyear, Nestle also come to our attention, as they are often linked with heavy hand policies of repression of workers’ rights, which precipitate the plight and flight of refugees.

For nearly 10 years the CLC has helped sponsor over a dozen trade unionist refugees and their families. Union members have raised tens of thousands of dollars, spent innumerable hours supporting their fellow comrades integration to Canada. These are tasks willingly entered into and repaid with immeasurable benefits. Simply put, relationships of solidarity are built between comrades in struggle.

We have also spent many more hours dealing with what I would call, our government’s increasingly hostile refugee policy and practice. Earlier this year, immigration authorities detained young children of refugee claimants, entering their school, removing them from class and placing them in a detention centre in an effort to flush out their parents for deportation. We spoke out.

These last few months, we spoke out when immigration authorities pursued and arrested a paralyzed refugee, claimant, in a BC hospital. This former labourer suffered deteriorating health while in sanctuary – he required medical treatment and had to leave sanctuary to go to a hospital – where he was arrested and now faces deportation.

We speak out against Canada’s Guest Worker Program and its unjust deportation practices for migrant workers who find themselves trapped in exploitative workplace contracts. We speak out against this government’s recently tabled legislation that persists in maintaining a secretive and untenable judicial process for immigrants and refugees detained under the security certificate regime.

Because of these injustices and their enormous cost to our values, to our sense of fairness and humanitarianism – I stand in solidarity with comrades today. I’m here to lend one more voice – the voice of the Canadian labour movement’s 3.2 million members to join with you in this national rally advocating justice for refugees, now!

Karl Flecker, National Director, Anti-Racism and Human Rights Department, Canadian Labour Congress

Harry Ghadban

“As long as there is political strife, economic exploitation, ethnic cleansing, gender inequality, and a lack of a fair and reasonable appeal process, the church has a significant role to play to ensure that refugees are protected and heard.”

I bring you Greetings from our National President Buzz Hargrove and the Canadian Auto Workers’ National Executive Board. We represent 265,000 workers across Canada in every sector of the Canadian economy

The issue of refugees is very complex, and is constantly evolving, heavily swayed by the politics of the day. Our definition of a refugee has not changed significantly since the 1940’s, but as we all know the world has changed significantly over the last number of years. The definition must be broadened to recognize and respond to the economic as well as the political basis of refugee creation. It must also recognize that women are a significant portion of refugees the world over, yet the traditional definition of refugee fails to see gender oppression as a ground for refugee status.

Shree Rai should not have to be in sanctuary. Our system has failed him. Sanctuary is not to be taken lightly, I know that this congregation does not take it lightly, yet there are skeptics who want to abolish the right of churches to provide sanctuary. To them I would say, as long as there is political strife, economic exploitation, ethnic cleansing, gender inequality, and a lack of a fair and reasonable appeal process, the church has a significant role to play to ensure that refugees are protected and heard.

Our Union has a statement on refugees and I would like to quote from it:

‘There have been moments in Canadian history when the rights and needs of refugees have been given their proper priority. Those humanitarian moments have, sadly, been reversed in recent years with increasing meanspiritedness. Refugee claimants in Canada have had to endure bureaucratic backlogs condemned by church, labour and community organizations.’

It ends with:

‘Above all, we must give sanctuary to those most in need - the refugees fleeing oppression and exploitation.’

To this congregation, I applaud your courage, your strength of will and desire to help those in dire need, I pledge our support.

Harry Ghadban, Ottawa Area Director, Canadian Auto Workers

Father Richard Kelly

Let’s pray that justice for refugees will prevail, and that our faith will continue to provide us with the ability to stay involved in this good work together - for as long as it takes.

Good evening. My name is Richard Kelly, I’m an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, and I am the Pastor of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Parish on Laurier Avenue in downtown Ottawa. I am pleased to be here with you this evening, for several reasons.

First of all, I want to express our solidarity with Mr. Shree Rai, who remains in sanctuary in this building. We also keep him in our prayers, along with all the members of this community who have taken on the task of protecting and assisting him.

As you may know, our parishioners worked tirelessly to assist Ms. Maoua Diomande, a woman from the Ivory Coast, during her year of sanctuary across the street from us in Sacré Coeur parish. Many of you rejoiced with us on June 21, 2006 when Maoua was allowed to remain in this country, just as you celebrated the successful conclusion of Mr. Moti Nano’s sanctuary in All Saints’ Lutheran church earlier this month.

We learned a lot of lessons during the far-too-long period of Maoua’s sanctuary.

Our parishioners learned that by praying for and working with refugees, we ourselves are assisted in becoming who we really want to become as caring members of the human family.

We realized that unless the root causes of migration are addressed in terms of violence, ecological degradation and global social inequality, more and more people will be forced to move. Our parishioners also accepted that Christians should be at the forefront of international campaigns to promote just international development, cancel onerous debts, establish fair trade agreements and end child poverty.

Our parishioners recognized that, even with the eventual success of these individual sanctuary cases, the system remains broken. Maoua emerged from the church, but the system was not changed. As Canadian church leaders pointed out in 2004, the problem is not recourse to sanctuary, but the flawed Canadian refugee determination system that leaves too many refugees without protection.

The very law of Canada, which since 2002 promised a Refugee Appeal Division, has not been implemented by either of the last two governments. We learned we cannot any longer allow the law to remain broken.

Nor can we rest while the promises of our politicians remain broken. In 2005, members of all four federal political parties on two occasions presented the House of Commons with over 24,000 signatures in an ecumenical petition sponsored by KAIROS (the churches’ social justice organization) calling for the implementation of the Refugee Appeal Division. We’ve raised the consciousness of our people, but we’ve yet to be able to raise the politicians to act.

In January of 2006 the Catholic Bishops of Canada released a pastoral letter which called upon the government to correct these and other major flaws in our immigration system. In November of 2006 the bishops appeared before a Parliamentary Committee to make the same points. Members of our parish Refugee Outreach Committee also appeared before the Parliamentary Committee for Citizenship and Immigration, along with representatives from the Unitarian and Lutheran parishes in Ottawa, as well as the national offices of the Presbyterian and United churches. We know we are in this battle together.

Let us not be discouraged. Rather, this evening’s lesson is that our faith commitment to advocate for beneficial change for refugees and their families is making us all who we want to become, together. Let’s pray that justice for refugees will prevail, and that our faith will continue to provide us with the ability to stay involved in this good work together - for as long as it takes.

Father Richard Kelly, Pastor, St. Joseph’s RC Parish, Ottawa

Summary - Prof. Peter Showler

“Canada’s refugee system has to change, has to do a better job of identifying those refugees who truly do fear persecution.”

I will make a few comments about our refugee claim system and then attempt to summarize some of the key issues raised by the previous speakers.

Summary of remarks by other speakers

  1. Church congregations have stepped forward because it has been necessary to do so. Refugees have asked for their help and, as a matter of conscience, they could not refuse to offer sanctuary.
  2. Providing sanctuary is hard work. It is hard on the refugee, average duration of sanctuary has been about 18 months. Hard on members of the congregation. There is fund raising, daily support for the refugee, lobbying, retaining lawyers.
  3. Churches have been cautious in granting sanctuary, not only because of the collective burden on the congregation but to also preserve the integrity of sanctuary itself.
  4. Churches understand that Canada’s refugee system has to change, has to do a better job of identifying those refugees who truly do fear persecution.
  5. The solution is not more sanctuary cases but less need for sanctuary.

I want to thank all of the churches and congregations who have supported sanctuary movements in Canada. You have set a standard of moral courage and right thinking that should be an inspiration to all Canadians.

Prof. Peter Showler, Refugee Forum, University of Ottawa;
Former Chair, Immigraiton and Refugee Board of Canada.