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En Caminohttp://www.tools4change.org/encamino/
July 05, 2003
Interview with Rabie Masri, Stefan Christoff, and
Palestinian
Refugee of the Coalition Against the
Deportation
of Palestinian
Refugees
Justin
Podur
The Coalition Against the Deportation
of Palestinian
Refugees was formed by a group of
Palestinian
refugees with the help of
organizers from No One is Illegal and Solidarity for
Palestinian Human Rights in
Montreal. The Coalition immediately found that there are a significant number of
refugees set for
deportation and a large number
awaiting their first court date, that the Coalition has been able to meet.
The struggle of the Palestinian
refugees is very similar to that of
the
non-status Algerians. The anti-G8 protests in Ottawa last year raised
the 'No One is Illegal' demand around the struggle of the Algerians, and the the
Palestinian
Refugees will raise the No One is
Illegal demand at the upcoming Popular Mobilization Against the WTO in Montreal
(July 27).
Members of the Coalition visited Toronto for the al-Awda (www.al-awda.ca)
Palestinian Right of Return
Conference in June 2003, where they were interviewed. One of the members of the
Coalition will remain nameless for fear of persecution by the immigration
authorities. Rabie Masri is active in Solidarity for
Palestinian Human Rights (Montreal)
and Stefan Christoff works with No One Is Illegal (Montreal).
Top
Can you describe the situation of the
Palestinian refugees in
Montreal?
The Palestinian
refugees from Montreal are mostly
from the refugee camps of Lebanon and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, and had
come throughout the 1990s. They are claming refugee status here in Canada. Some
of the claims have been accepted. After September 11 2001, the rejection rate
started to rise and many were rejected, even though the situation in the camps
had not changed at all.
After 9/11, there were new judges dealing with the refugee claims, and these
new judges rejected many claims. Many who have been rejected have received
deportation orders.
What is your sense of the kinds of numbers we are talking about?
That we have met-and these are not official numbers-there are over 100 facing
deportation. We are meeting
people in Toronto as well, and we think there must be many in Toronto in the
same situation.
The situation of Palestinian
refugees is unique, isn't it?
Palestinians are a stateless people. We have no home, no land. Whatever
country they came from, they are refugees.
So we are accused of 'shopping for citizenship'. But what are stateless people
supposed to do? Of course a stateless person needs to shop for citizenship and
has the right to do so!
If you look at the article,
'Promises of an Unpredictable Future' by Jordan Topp of Solidarity
for Palestinian Human Rights
Montreal, you can get a sense of what people are suffering as they try to flee
the camps in Lebanon. Talking about the Bourj el Barajneh camp near Beirut, she
says: "Families in the camp have literally sold their houses and jewelry to send
their sons on these illegal crossings. Many have been returned to the camp,
often after being jailed, sometimes tortured in prison, and even shot at while
crossing borders illegally. Yet, people still feel the risk (both monetarily and
physically) is better than the other option: staying here."
People who try to go through Europe, the way Jordan's article describes, are
hunted. And people here are hunted too. One member of our group is terrified of
police. He's not done anything wrong, never harmed a flea, and he's terrified.
He needed to see a doctor once, they gave him an appointment, but he was afraid
to go back. He came here to Canada at 20 years old. He had spent the first 20
years of his life in a refugee camp. After 3 years here, the Canadian government
is trying to deport him. His brother spent 7 years trying to get a refugee claim
in Europe, and was finally accepted here. So we have a situation where one
brother is being deported and the other has been accepted. They are from the
same camp, the same family, in Ein-el-Helweh in Lebanon. How objective a claims
process is it where one brother can be accepted and another rejected?
Another problem for us is the 'safe third country' agreement between Canada
and the United States. Many of the refugees
came to Canada through the United States after the US Embassy in Lebanon, for
unknown reasons, granted a large number of visas to
Palestinian
refugees in the late 1990s. With
the 'safe third country' agreement, if the US rejects your refugee claim Canada
rejects it as well, and you're supposed to be deported to your home country. The
United States has not been deporting Palestinians back to the Occupied
Territories, because it won't recognize Palestine. So we could be deported to
the United States and detained, like the 13,000 (low estimate) who were detained
by the Department of Homeland Security when they came forward to register.
Top
Tell us more about the judges and the process of accepting or rejecting
claims.
The judges on the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) were subjective,
biased, and showed a lack of understanding of the law and of the situation on
the ground in Lebanon and in the Occupied Territories. In some cases, the judges
acted as if the hearing was an interrogation, attacking the claimants'
credibility.
In Lebanon, Palestinian
refugees are barred from pursuing
78 different professions. Restricted, essentially, to hard labour. So the IRB
asked one of the claimants why he had been studying engineering, since he would
not be allowed to work as an engineer in Lebanon!
In another case, there was some delay in processing some paperwork, because
there is no mail system in the refugee camps in Lebanon. One claimant explained
this, and the IRB said he was lying.
One of the refugees came
through Turkey, and the IRB judge asked why the claimant did not apply for
refugee status there. Others, who had applied for visas in Syria, were asked why
they didn't claim refugee status in Turkey. The claimants and their lawyers
tried to explain to the judges that neither Turkey nor Syria were giving
Palestinians any recognized status.
Judges have asked refugees their
political views and their opinions on the conflict in the Middle East.
Other judges have taken clear political positions on the conflict, saying
that "The panel believes that, on a whole, documentary evidence indicates that
the violence in the Middle East is part of Israel's attempts at establishing
secure political frontiers and preventing terrorist attacks on its territory.
Documentary evidence does not reveal that there exists a systematic will on the
part of the Israeli military authorities to systematically persecute and
exterminate the Palestinian
population while doing so, despite the horrors caused in the war-torn areas."
This is a political position undermining the position of the Canadian government
and the United Nations.
Top
Had the judges asked the questions they should have asked, what would they
have learned? What would they have concluded?
You can see that by looking at the judgements of those who did accept the
claims. One judge said, I don't need to test the credibility of this refugee-if
this person is a Palestinian
refugee from Lebanon, that is enough.
Palestinian
refugees in Lebanon do not have
rights to employment, are forced to work illegally, with some 60-80% living in
poverty. They are forbidden from owning property, with insufficient space and
hazardous environmental conditions. They have no political rights, freedom of
expression, association, movement. No rights to education, health care, or
social security.
Is this attitude from the judges a reflection of changes in the law, or
procedure?
There are some changes, like the 'anti-terrorism' legislation, that have
created a climate that have made deportations easier. The
Palestinian
refugees are not being deported on
'security certificates', though. (see
here for security certificate case) They are just being treated that
way.
Part of this climate is that these IRB judges have apparently received
'training' on 'terrorism'. We've heard that the trainers are CSIS. CSIS are the
people who are advocating for the security certificates in the first place. This
doesn't help.
One serious legal issue is the appeals process. In the law, there is supposed
to be an appeal board, but this has never been put in force. By putting all the
power into a single judge's hands, they're creating a systemic problem. Then
they can say that it's 'human error' and justify exclusions and deportations.
The error is in the system itself. It's a kind of institutional racism.
Top
Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are facing what amounts to a
campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Israeli military. Here in Canada, the
government is trying to deport them. It reminds me of
Charlie Smoke's case-he is an
indigenous man who Canada wanted to deport to the United States, but the United
States didn't want him, and he doesn't recognize the authority of either state!
Yes, and for Palestinians there is no contradiction between demanding the
right of return on the one hand, and seeking security and refugee status on the
other. Refugees are seeking
protection of their civil and human rights.
If there is hypocrisy, it is on the part of the Canadian state. Canada has
corporations arming and funding the Israeli state's assaults. You have CAE that
is selling flight simulators to Israel. Canadian Highways International that is
building Israel's transnational highway and expropriating
Palestinian lands. The Canadian
government has not taken a clear stand on the right of return and is now trying
to deport Palestinian
refugees. Supporting Israel in
creating refugees on the one
hand and trying to deport the refugees
on the other. That's hypocrisy.
On another level, Canada presents this public image as a great humanitarian
country that opens its gates to refugees.
This gives people hope, they come here, and they find their hopes taken away.
Top
What are the Coalition's Demands? How have they been received? How can
people help?
We have two demands: first, stop all deportations immediately. Second,
regularization. Accept the refugee claims.
We had considered making a third demand-that the arrogant judges be deported
instead of the refugees, or that
a new test be imposed on the IRB judges, that they spend a week living as
Palestinians in Ein-el-Helweh camp, after which if they still want to deport us
we'll all go back.
But to be serious, the response from the authorities has been disappointing.
They have been stringing us along. There was some communication with the
Immigration Minister's office and various members of Parliament, who promised us
a meeting. They promised us a meeting and asked that we not go public. They told
us to stay calm. It's as if they want us to stay calm while they quietly deport
us.
We aren't going to get the time of day
from the Immigration Minister's office unless this becomes a public issue with
public support. So we are looking to reach out to organizations and individuals,
to make presentations, to do events, assemblies, pickets, delegations. That's
where people can help. You can reach us at
refugees@riseup.net or call us at 514-591-3171.
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