Sat Dec 6, 6-10pm. Rhizome Café, 317 East Broadway.
$2 suggested donation at the door, but no one turned away for lack of funds. Phone 6048723166 or Email: rhizome@rhizome.ca

Come shop for holiday gifts while supporting migrant rights, youth empowerment, Indigenous autonomy and more!  Peruse socially conscious crafts by local artists and items created by local organizations to support their social justice work.

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Saturday, December 13  from 4-7pm. An evening of discussion — hearty dinner provided. 706 Clarke Drive )between Venebles and Hastings)

Along with many other important struggles, December 10th, 2008 - International Human Rights Day - marks the one year anniversary of the historic airport action to prevent the deportation of Mr. Laibar Singh. Over 1500 supporters - primarily elderly, women, and working class South Asians - converged at the Vancouver International Airport and surrounded the vehicle holding Mr. Singh. This physical prevention of a deportation by a grassroots community mobilization has served as a powerful inspiration to movements across North America. 

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ICE RAIDS: THE NEW FRONTIER- IMMIGRATION RAID IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA TARGETS ACTIVISTS

Dear friends and allies,

Earlier this year, you supported the Indian guestworkers who risked everything in a heroic fight against human trafficking after Signal International (Signal) and its labor recruiters brought them to the Gulf Coast under false pretenses in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Despite their valiant efforts and your support, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has refused to grant them protections as victims of trafficking—including continued presence—and has not yet filed charges against any of the traffickers.

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Environmental Justice: Race, Displacement, and Land

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29TH from 1-5 pm. SFU HABROUR CENTRE, 515 WEST HASTINGS

Please join us for a half day conference with inspiring speakers, powerful films, and thought-provoking discussion on environmental justice. The aim of this gathering will be to expose the root causes of environmental injustice as stemming from institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism; the commodification of land, water, energy, food, and air in a capitalist economy; and the plunder of the Earth and displacement of all its inhabitants due to a colonial legacy of pillage and militarization. Join us in exploring how environmental movements are inextricably connected to these broader struggles and in deeply acknowledging that there exists an inequitable distribution across the planet of those who bear the greatest brunt of environmental degradation.

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Allison Hanes ,  Canwest News Service, Thursday, November 20, 2008

TORONTO - Police Chief Bill Blair convinced the Toronto Police Services Board on Thursday to kill a proposal that would have prohibited his officers from telling federal authorities if they suspected immigration law violations. Toronto Police already have a “don’t ask” policy on immigration status in family abuse cases, and immigrant advocates had hoped to add a ”don’t tell” component. But the police board disbanded the committee studying the issue, burying activists’ hopes, after Blair said officers simply cannot turn a blind eye to potential infractions of immigration and refugee legislation.

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Nov 18, 2008. Toronto Star

Farm workers across the province are celebrating the fruits of a major legal victory after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled they have the right to unionize. In a 3-0 decision yesterday, the court said the Agricultural Employees Protection Act, which prevents farm workers from collective bargaining, “substantially” impairs their right to freedom of association under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision affects an estimated 32,000 agricultural workers in Ontario, including 16,500 migrant farm workers who come from Mexico and the Caribbean each year.

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November 14. Counterpunch.  By JOSEPH NEVINS  and TIMOTHY DUNN

On August 18, 1971, first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated Border Field State Park. Located in Imperial Beach, California, at the extreme southwest corner of the continental United States, the park is the site of the initial international borderline established after the U.S.-Mexico War ended in 1848. The park’s planners, according to the San Diego Union, envisioned free access to it for people on both sides of the boundary. In her speech, the first lady promised to cross the boundary to shake hands with some of the hundreds of Mexican nationals witnessing her visit. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, she declared, “I hate to see a fence anywhere.”  After a member of her security detail cut a section of the then barbed-wire barrier, she crossed the divide and embraced Mexican children, stating, “I hope there won’t be a fence here too long.”

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By DENISE LAVOIE – Nov 14, 2008. AP

BOSTON (AP) — Zeituni Onyango came to the United States seeking asylum from her native Kenya but was turned down and ordered to leave the country in 2004. Four years later, she is still here. And her nephew is about to become president of the United States. Onyango’s family connection to Barack Obama has thrown a spotlight on a phenomenon many Americans might find startling: An estimated half-million immigrants are living in the United States in defiance of deportation orders.

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100 years of Reflection, Resistance, Celebration: A Surrey Community Program Marking our History since Komagatamaru

Saturday, November 22, 2008. Doors open at 1:30 p.m, Program begins at 2:00 p.m. sharp. Conference Rooms G 1205A and G 1205B. Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666 72nd Ave., Surrey [ From Scott Road Skytrain station a short bus ride on #319. ] Snacks provided!

NOII is happy to support this event and we are arranging rides from Vancouver. If you have an extra vehicle or would like a ride from Vancouver at 1:00 pm from Safeway Parking Lot (Broadway and Commercial), please be in touch at maripayet@hotmail.com or call 778 862 8895.

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By Monisha Martins - Maple Ridge News. Nov 2008

A man who illegally entered Canada is on a hunger strike at a Maple Ridge prison. Mohammad Reza Nouri has been detained at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre since Oct. 13, the same day he landed at Vancouver’s International Airport carrying a fake passport. The 40-year-old Iranian, who can’t speak English, was charged the next day under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act with one count each of illegally possessing a document to establish identity, using false document to enter or remain in Canada and communicating false or misleading information for immigration to Canada.

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