Stop deporting needy women

Refugee and women’s activists are calling for an immediate stay on the deportation orders of immigrant women who are trying to stay in Canada as an asylum against violence.

Refugee and women’s activists are calling for an immediate stay on the deportation orders of immigrant women who are trying to stay in Canada as an asylum against violence.

Amnesty International and the YWCA joined the immigrant rights group No One Is Illegal and they collectively demanded the four federal parties to take a stand on an immigration system that according to them doesn’t live up to Canada’s own policies of human rights protection.

YWCA’s Ann Dector said that Canada was one of the first countries to recognize violence against women as grounds for refugee claim, but now, we honour that only on paper and not in practice.

Dector said that one arm of the immigration and Refugee Board has guidelines about women asking for refugee status on grounds of domestic violence, but unfortunately, not all parts of the system follow that.

Letters have been sent by the New Democrats and the Green Party to support the campaign. And though the Liberals have promised a response in seven days, the Tories haven’t replied yet. The campaign is also calling for the federal and local authorities to stop going into shelters to hand over deportation orders.

Cindy Cowan, who organized the conference, said that they know the number of instances when a woman has been arrested, detained and finally deported.

All the groups, along with the NDP and the Greens, have urged immediate action in Isabel Garcia’s case, who is a Mexican woman who came to Toronto fleeing her violent ex-husband. She has gone underground with her children after her appeal to stay in Canada was rejected.