Shelter Sanctuary Status

March 8th, International Women’s Day
1pm. Immigration and Refugee Board – 74 Victoria Street

Join us on International Women’s Day to demand immigration enforcement stop stalking non-status women.

On Friday, February 11, Canada Border Services Agency issued a national policy ordering its officers to enter and wait outside anti-violence against women spaces to detain and deport women survivors of violence. Immigration Enforcement has also been given instructions to follow women survivors of violence on their way to and from spaces where they may seek support. We condemn this policy and all actions of the CBSA to detain and deport women fleeing violence.

16 February 2011
3 - 5pm
519 Community Centre (at 519 Church Street, north of Wellesley)

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147403881988044

In a stunning move, the Canadian Border Services Agency issued a national policy late Friday afternoon ordering its officers to enter and wait outside anti-violence against women spaces to detain and deport women survivors of violence. Immigration Enforcement has also been given instructions to follow women survivors of violence on their way to and from spaces where they may seek support.

In passing this policy, Immigration Enforcement has declared that it supports abusers, and is willing to deport women to places of grave danger. This new policy forces survivors of abuse and violence to live with the added fear of deportation. Immigration Enforcement is sending a clear message to women survivors of violence that for undocumented women, no space is safe from the violence of deportation.

February 14 National Day of Action
Toronto’s 6th Annual Rally & March for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women
Monday, February 14, 2011 @ **5 pm** (NOTE THE NEW TIME)
Rally at Police HQ, 40 College St at Bay
March to the Coroner’s Office, 26 Grenville St.

Gathering with food following rally & march (6:30-8pm); a bus will be available to transport participants to the gathering. TTC tokens will be available for those attending by public transit.

According to research conducted under the Native Women Association of Canada’s (NWAC) Sisters in Spirit project, over 580 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing, most of them over the last 30 years. Despite the clear evidence that this is an ongoing issue, the federal government decided in Fall of 2010 to end funding to Sisters in Spirit. In a move to detract attention from this cut, Rona Ambrose announced a $10 million fund to be put primarily towards creating a central RCMP missing person centre. It is evident that few of those in power have a genuine interest in ending the violence against Indigenous women. On February 14th, we come together in solidarity with the women who started this vigil in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and with the marches and rallies that will be taking place across this land. We stand in defense of our lives and to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP, coroners’ offices, the courts, and an indifferent federal government) that prevents justice for all Indigenous Peoples.