OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants together with the City of Toronto Newcomer Office and a coalition of community organizations launched Refugee Rights Awareness Month 2017 today, in the Member's Lounge at Toronto City Hall.
OCASI and many others across Canada are calling on the Canadian government to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US. Asylum seekers that enter Canada from the U.S. through regulated border points are subject to the Agreement, and may not be allowed to stay to make a refugee claim. Many Canadians are concerned about the health, safety and well-being of asylum seekers who are crossing the border into Canada at unregulated points, while others mistakenly believe they are breaking the law and should be stopped.
Refugee Rights Month is commemorated on April 4 every year in Canada to bring attention to the advances made in the protection of refugee rights in Canada as a result of the Supreme Court decision (the ‘Singh’ decision) in 1985. Join us this year to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the 'Singh Decision'.
The weather outside as I write this belies the fact that it is mid-March and we are less than a week away from the official start of Spring. But the frigid cold temperatures we have experienced in the past week did not deter the tens of thousands of women, children and male and non-binary allies who showed up to celebrate and protest across the province as we observed International Women’s Day.
In Honour of International Women’s Day and the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants invites you to participate in an online live, interactive event:
Act today! Please use this template to send a letter by email to your Member of Parliament, with a copy to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and to OCASI.
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