THE FIGHT CONTINUES
2 other cases end!

13 Feb 2005: The Colombian family which was in sanctuary since July 2003 was told this week that her demand based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was finally accepted. The three Colombians will be able to stay in Canada. After Minister Sgro announced, on Dec 13th, she would allow 1 family in sanctuary in Montreal (Union United church) and 1 gentleman from Bengladesh in sanctuary in Ottawa (Unitarian church) to stay in Canada, this is the third sanctuary case to be resolved in 2 months.
No doubt that our campaigns helped the Ministers realize that these cases merited the compassion and protection of Canada.

March 2005: The Palestinian family in NDG church is free to go.

The fight continues though. There are still 1 case of sanctuary in Canada and the appeal process is still not in place.

WHAT WE ARE ASKING immigration MINISTER SGRO
Put in place the long overdue appeal process and solve the sanctuary cases!

We are deeply concerned that, because of flaws in the refugee determination system, people whose lives and safety are in jeopardy currently face deportation from Canada. In failing to protect some refugees, Canada is not meeting its moral and legal obligations.

Errors in refugee determination are occurring which the system cannot correct because the government has not implemented the appeal on the merits provided by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Uncorrected errors can mean that a person is sent back to torture, death or other forms of persecution.

We call on the Canadian government to protect refugees in Canada by ensuring that all claimants have access to a fair hearing before a well-qualified decision-maker, by implementing the appeal on the merits and by offering a meaningful review of the cases of refused claimants currently in Canada whose claims appear to have been wrongly rejected.

Declaration supported by:

United Church of Canada, Unitarian Universalist Church of Canada, Social Ministry of the Archdiocese of Montreal, Canadian Conference of Bishops Episcopal Commission for Social Affairs, Anglican Church of Canada, Canadian Islamic Congress, Centre Justice et Foi, B'Nai Brith Canada, Canadian Council for Refugees, Colombianos Unidos, McGill Refugee Research Project, Ligue des Droits et Libertés, Canadian Labour Congress, Réseau oecuménique justice et paix, Concertation Comprendre et Agir pour une paix juste, Primate's World Relief and Development Fund , and many others...