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September 26, 2013 - Vol. 2
No. 51
Our Anniversary!
Ontario Political Forum Enters
Third Year of Publication
Our
Anniversary!
• Ontario
Political Forum Enters Third Year of Publication
In the Legislature
• Oppose Attempts to Incite Passions Against
Quebec to Divert from Violations of Rights at Home!
• PMLQ Welcomes the Discussion on Quebec Values
- Statement of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec
Working People in
Action Against Austerity
• Spirited Action at PC Convention Demands
Justice for Injured Workers
• Oppose the Austerity Agenda! Picket Liberal
Provincial Council in Hamilton
September 28
Wynne Government's
Refusal to Affirm Workers' Rights
• Minister of Labour Must Certify Part-Time
College Workers' Union!
- Christine Nugent
• Harper Sides with Ontario Government Against
Workers
• Labour Board Hearing Concerning Withdrawal of
Voluntary and Extracurricular Activities Resumes - Mira Katz
Oppose
Federal
Government's
Anti-Immigrant
and
Refugee
Campaign
• Support Striking Immigration Detainees in
Lindsay!
Our Anniversary!
Ontario Political Forum Enters
Third Year of Publication
Today, September 26, we celebrate our second
anniversary. With this issue Ontario
Political Forum enters its third year of publication!
We have remained true to our aim - to publish a
political affairs paper which informs the Ontario contingent of the
Canadian working class and all working people in Ontario on matters of
concern. Our very first issue set the tone with a headline which
declared "40th Ontario General Election: All Out to Establish a New
Direction for Ontario." Since then, we have had a momentous two
years of reporting on the struggles of the working people against the
anti-social, anti-national and anti-worker offensive being waged by
different levels of government in Ontario and federally, providing
news, analysis and opinions on the lessons learned. We plan on staying
the course and thank the several thousand readers we have acquired
along the way for their support. Please continue to send reports,
photos and also financial assistance to make this project possible. We
are convinced it is a worthy cause!
Financial Contributions
Please send contributions to help sustain OPF in
the coming year. Any cheques above $20.00 made out by individuals to
the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (MLPC) dated prior to December 31,
2013 entitle the donor to a tax credit. You can contribute a total of
$1,200 under the Canada Elections Act and receive a tax credit of $625.
By making a financial contribution to the MLPC, you will be defending
your own interests! Furthermore, if you will owe the government
money on income, help build OPF instead! Send a cheque or money order
made out to MLPC, P.O. Box 666, Station C, Montreal, QC H2L 4K4.
In the Legislature
Oppose Attempts to Incite
Passions
Against Quebec to Divert from Violations
of Rights at Home!
On September 19, Liberal MP Monte Kwinter tabled a
Private Member's motion in response to the Charter of Quebec Values.
The
motion
was
endorsed
by
all
those
sitting
in
the
Legislature
at
the
time.
The
motion states: "[...] that, in the opinion of this House, the
government of Ontario should oppose
any legislation that would restrict or prohibit people's freedom of
expression and religion in public places and affirm that Ontario
greatly values our diverse
population and the social, cultural and economic contributions they
make to help our society thrive."
At the federal level the Harper government too has taken
up presenting itself as the defender of rights, declaring the Quebec
Charter violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that
if the
Quebec Assembly passes its Charter of Values, the federal government
will challenge it in court.
Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair has also issued all kinds of threats
about taking the proposed Charter of Values to court.
Ontario Political Forum calls on the people of
Ontario not to let themselves be sucked into this Quebec bashing debate
which has no other
purpose than to incite passions. The people of Quebec are having a
discussion and debate about their future and should be fully supported
in doing so. Every
time they seek to deliberate on their social and political affairs, the
federal government and parties start inflaming passions and accusing
Quebeckers of
xenophobia and all kinds of other epithets to cover up the reality.
 It is incredible to hear
the Harper government launch
accusations when it has participated
in the worst Islamaphobia possible
and even taken Canada to
war, legitimized the use of torture and spying on Canadians and drones
in commercial airspace, as well as trafficking in cheap labour,
stripping citizenship
without due process and refusing to abide by international laws and
conventions — all in the name of what the Government calls Canadian
values. For the
government of Ontario
to also intervene in the most knee-jerk way is also not acceptable.
Whereas the Quebec government is speaking about the separation of
church and state, the
government of Ontario counters that in Ontario anyone can do whatever
they please in "public places," as if this is not the case in Quebec.
What have "public spaces" got to do with the separation of church and
state which means that the church does not run the state? The motion is
even more egregious given that the public authority in Ontario is being
privatized at a very rapid rate. Today, the separation the working
people demand is no longer a matter of church and state but private
monopoly interests and state.
This motion can only be
considered an attempt to stir up
passions and chauvinism against Quebec on the basis of the most crass
self-righteousness and
hypocrisy so as to divert the attention of the people of Ontario from
what is taking place right here. The same forces supporting this motion
in the Legislature
used the Labour Board to make illegal the political expression of
teachers and education workers against the violation of their rights in
the form of their
political protests and the coordinated withdrawal of voluntary and
extracurricular activities. These same forces sat back and watched as
certain school boards
attempted to bully teachers and education workers of ETFO from
expressing their membership in their union by wearing shirts simply
stating I AM ETFO in
public schools. These "champions of diversity and freedom" were in an
all-out attack against teachers and education workers, targeting them
in the most
aggressive fashion, with one PC MPP going so far as to call their
actions "labour terrorism." This was all done in order to steal
billions from the public purse
to hand over to private interests. They did not consider any of this
worthy of rising to the defence of high ideals as they are claiming to
do when it comes
to the proposed Charter of Quebec Values.
 The PCs, who on a daily
basis call for the violation of
workers' rights, including using laws to eliminate the right of unions
to participate in political
expression, also resoundingly supported the motion. One high-ranking PC
MPP with direct links to the Harper government stated: "[...] We fought
long and
hard for our rights, including the right to have freedom of religion.
We've made significant strides in building a province that believes in
unity and togetherness.
As Ontarians, we all share the same values. We believe in giving back
to our communities and helping those who are less fortunate. Divisive
policies like the
one proposed in Quebec hurt us as Canadians. It goes against the values
we treasure as Canadians. Regardless of our religion, the colour of our
skin, our
sexuality, we are all one: We are Canadians."
There is clearly a total disconnect between the notion
of rights contained in the motion adopted by the Ontario Legislature
and the notion of rights upheld
by the people of Ontario. No to the interference of the federal and
Ontario governments in the right of Quebeckers to deliberate on their
own social and political
affairs! For your information OPF is reprinting the statement
of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec on the proposed Charter of
Quebec
Values.
PMLQ Welcomes the
Discussion on Quebec Values
- Statement
of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec, September 20, 2013 -
The government of Quebec, through its Premier Pauline
Marois and Minister Responsible for Democratic Institutions and Citizen
Participation, Bernard
Drainville, is proposing to enact a Charter of Quebec Values.
The direction in which governments take Quebec is
necessarily based on the values they espouse. Thus, the
Marxist-Leninist Party of Quebec (PMLQ) considers
that to engage the entire polity
in deliberating on the values to be upheld in Quebec is a positive
development. The PMLQ welcomes the discussion on Quebec's values and
calls on everyone
to join in!
In the opinion of the PMLQ, a great opportunity has
presented itself to discuss the government's proposed values. Do those
values arise out of the Quebec
experience? If so, how? What is the Quebec experience? What about the
experiences of other peoples, which might shed light on the subject and
contribute
to our ability to draw warranted conclusions?
The period the world has entered is highly complex and
the way forward is not so obvious. The demand has never been greater to
discuss the
significance of the experience achieved to date and to engage in its
summation to serve the needs of the present and open a path for the
future. We must educate
ourselves about the definitions inherited from the past and the
considerations that informed those who built the nation. While it is
true we must study the past,
it is also true that such a study will not be helpful unless we first
identify the needs of the present. We can then go into the past to
understand better where
the present came from.
We need to appreciate in a profound way the values we
espouse, not superficially, but in terms of how they are experienced
and understood by all individuals
and all their collectives. The aim to harmonize all the competing
interests with the general interests of the society is crucial. This
must be recognized as an
important condition to ensure the discussion is successful.
When it comes to individuals, all have rights by virtue
of being human. There is no such thing as one having more rights than
another. But when it comes
to individuals, they are not born equal. Some are born rich with many
privileges; others are born into poverty. Some are more gifted than
others in different
fields of human endeavour. Furthermore, not all people experience the
world the same way. It is because people are not born equal that we
need governments,
state institutions and laws which defend the rights of all and provide
them with a guarantee. It is because of our competing interests that we
require political
processes to sort out differences and problems without resorting to the
use of force. Recourse to use of force can only be condoned based on a
rule of law and
due process.
The PMLQ thinks no other field of endeavour is more
important today than the one we undertake ourselves to define both who
we are and the social,
political, economic and ecological arrangements we need to flourish.
Such a discussion requires an atmosphere where everyone can speak
responsibly and freely
without fear of recrimination. The very aim of the discussion rejects
those who are boorish and seek to benefit from sowing confusion for
partisan reasons or
for purposes of disinforming the polity and inflaming passions so that
people cannot think.
The PMLQ believes a substantive discussion can greatly
enrich the Quebec polity, unite it and strengthen its confidence in
itself. Only those who have a
morbid preoccupation with defeat have no confidence in the people or
question their striving to build a society that upholds the rights of
all. In this regard, the PMLQ rejects with utmost contempt the uncouth
intervention in this debate of the misnamed federal Minister of
Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney. He displays
crass ignorance not conducive to building the unity of the Quebec
people, or the fraternal unity between the people of Quebec and the
Canadian people.
That a minister of the federal government has the power
to use his position to trivialize matters of great sensitivity
underscores the necessity for people
to arm themselves with enlightened opinions on all the fundamental
matters of concern. These include basic concepts such as the
distinction between citizenship
and nationality, the separation of church and state, what is meant by
secularism, tolerance, multiculturalism and integration, and others.
Most importantly, it
includes how these concepts have evolved over time within Quebec itself
and in its relationship and arrangements with the Anglo-Canadian
federal state.
The PMLQ will do its utmost to contribute to this
discussion in the days ahead.
Working People in Action Against Austerity
Spirited Action at PC
Convention
Demands Justice for Injured Workers
On September 20, working people from across southern
Ontario demonstrated against the Progressive Conservative Party (PC) at
their policy convention
in London. This action was another expression of the widespread
opposition to the austerity agenda being pushed by both the ruling
Liberals and the Official
Opposition PCs and both their attacks on workers' rights. The
demonstrators carried banners reading "Justice for Injured Workers!,"
"No to Austerity! Defeat
the Liberals and PC's" and "Our Future Lies in the Fight for the Rights
of all!"
The militant action was
organized by activists of the
London and District Injured Workers Group who have held ongoing actions
to demand justice for
injured workers. They used the convention as an opportunity to denounce
the PCs for pushing for the privatization of Workers' Compensation and
for allowing
employers to opt out of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
coverage. Other working people participated in the action to support
the stand of
injured workers. They also expressed the widespread opposition of
workers to the PC proposals for a slave labour "right-to-work" law and
for other anti-worker,
anti-union legislation.
  
Delegations from Hamilton, Brantford, Toronto, Kitchener
and Windsor joined participants from London in the demonstration. The
demonstration was part
of the continuous struggle of injured workers for just compensation.
Working people in Ontario are determined to keep up the momentum of
this movement
with the aim of defeating the Liberals and PCs in the next Ontario
election and defeating the Harper Conservatives in the 2015 federal
election.
 Wendy Knelson of the London
and District Injured Workers
Group and injured worker activist Kim Hoover spoke on behalf of the
injured workers who had
organized the action. They spoke about how the Liberals are trampling
on injured workers' right to just compensation and how the Liberals and
PCs both have
proposals in the works that will make things worse. They also spoke of
how instead of providing just compensation from the funds paid into by
employers the
government is more and more pushing injured workers onto social
assistance as another way of using public funds to pay the rich. Patti
Dalton, President of
the London and District Labour Council welcomed working people from
other cities to London and condemned the PCs for their callousness
towards the most
vulnerable in Ontario.
Members of OSSTF and UNIFOR from Windsor also spoke,
expressing the unity of the working people of Windsor and London
against austerity.
Rolf Gerstenberger, President
of USW Local 1005
congratulated the working people of London for taking a stand against
austerity in the August by-election
by defeating the candidates of both the Liberals and PCs in London
West. He closed by inviting everyone to come out to the action being
organized by Local
1005 and the Hamilton and District Labour Council at the Liberal annual
Provincial Council meeting in Hamilton on September 28. Working people
will be demonstrating
at the Liberal Council meeting to oppose the Liberal-PC austerity
agenda.
Oppose the Austerity
Agenda! Picket Liberal Provincial Council in Hamilton September 28
Oppose
the
Austerity
Agenda!
Picket Liberal Provincial Council in Hamilton!
Saturday,
September 28, 2013 -- 7:00 am to 10:00 am
 
Hamilton Convention Centre, 1
Summers Lane
Called by USW Local 1005 and Hamilton and District Labour Council
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Steelworkers of Local 1005 in Hamilton in conjunction
with the Hamilton and District Labour Council have called a picket
outside the Liberal Provincial
Council meeting in Hamilton. They are inviting everyone to join them to
"Oppose the Liberal Attacks on the Workers of Ontario with their
Austerity Agenda."
No doubt the Liberal Council will now be pre-occupied
with another by-election the Liberals will be forced to deal with
following the resignation on September 25 of another Liberal MPP; Kim
Craitor from the riding of Niagara. Of particular significance to the
Conservatives as well is that like London-West, Niagara is a riding
held by the Harper government, Conservative stallwart and current
Minister of Defence Rob Nicholson.
This picket will be an opportunity for the working
people to keep the initiative in their hands following the recent
by-elections. Ontario Political Forum
encourages
everyone who can attend the picket to do so.
For more information about the picket call the USW Local
1005 Union Hall at (905)
547-1417 or go to their website at www.uswa1005.ca or call the HDLC
office at (905) 547-2944
Wynne Government's Refusal to Affirm Workers' Rights
Minister of Labour Must
Certify
Part-Time College Workers' Union!
-
Christine Nugent -
 Since the Ontario Liberals chose
Kathleen Wynne
as head
of their party and the government, they have been advertising
themselves as more fair and friendly
toward public sector workers than the openly anti-worker, anti-union
Conservatives (PCs). The way the Liberal government -- under both
McGuinty and Wynne -- has trampled on the union rights of part-time
workers in Ontario's community colleges exposes such claims as
deceptive political posturing. What the PCs
want to achieve with straightforward anti-union legislation, the
Liberals are accomplishing by stealth through administrative measures.
The latest development in the long struggle of part-time
college faculty and support staff for a union to represent them is the
August 12, 2013 decision by
the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) turning down their
application for certification with the Ontario Public Service
Employees' Union (OPSEU) as
their bargaining agent. Part-time faculty and support staff in
Ontario's twenty-four community colleges had been seeking to join
OPSEU, which already represents
full time staff, to represent them in collective bargaining. This
decision follows four years of collaboration between the Ontario
government, the College
Employer Council, which is the bargaining agent for Ontario's community
colleges and the OLRB to stonewall the college workers' union
certification bid.
This decision represents a flagrant denial of the
collective bargaining and union rights of 16,000 part-time college
workers and must be opposed. It will
also affect the rights of many more workers in the future as the
Ontario government and the colleges are rapidly converting more and
more college faculty and
support staff positions into jobs with part-time, contract and other
precarious work arrangements and sub-standard wages and working
conditions. Part-time college
workers were denied the right to join a union until the Community
Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA) was passed by the
Liberals in 2008. But in characteristic Liberal style, rights granted
in law were negated through administrative means.
In its decision the OLRB ruled that the
bargaining agent
chosen by the workers, OPSEU, had not submitted enough signed union
cards to reach the thirty-five per cent threshold for certification
under the CCBA. The ruling also upheld the demand of the College
Employer Council for the destruction of the ballots
from the 2010 OLRB-supervised certification vote by part-time college
workers on whether they wanted a union or not.
OPSEU had in fact submitted union cards signed by far in
excess of the thirty-five per cent required under the CCBA for a
certification vote of the part-time
faculty and support staff. Union organizers fully expected to win the
certification vote after a successful organizing campaign. The Employer
Council opposed
the expressed will of the workers by taking advantage of the precarious
work arrangements at the colleges to fraudulently inflate the
bargaining unit with
phantom "members" and to challenge membership in the bargaining unit by
many people actually working at the colleges.
 Another tactic of the Employer Council was to
grind down
OPSEU with countless legal challenges aimed at draining the union of
staff time and legal fees.
Following the certification vote held at the colleges, the Employer
Council blocked the counting of the ballots by challenging every
signed union card and by resorting to countless other legal challenges.
In July, after fighting for four years to have the ballots counted,
OPSEU notified the
OLRB that it could no longer challenge the Council's obstructions at
the Board.
During this four-year long legal farce the OLRB, the
Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities or the
Cabinet could have at any time
put an end to it. Instead, they allowed this stonewalling and the
trampling of workers' rights to continue, no doubt because it serves
the aim of limiting the rights
of public sector workers to organize, making it easier to impose
austerity measures on them.
When it came to teachers and education workers employed
by school boards however, the government used Bill 115 to limit unions
from challenging
violations of their members' rights under the Human Rights Code,
the
Labour Relations Act and even the Charter of
Rights
and
Freedoms before the Labour Board, putting the lie to the Ontario
Liberals' and Harper government's claims (see next article) that the
OLRB operates
outside government control and should not be influenced or interfered
with.
After all the fraud and violation of the rights of
workers the community colleges have engaged in, there is only one way
the situation can be set right: by
voluntary recognition of OPSEU as the bargaining agent of part-time
college faculty and support workers. Under the
CCBA the Minister of Labour has the authority to set aside the unjust
and arbitrary ruling of the OLRB. He should do so immediately to affirm
the rights of
college workers to join a union and bargain collectively with their
employers.
Harper Sides with Ontario
Government
Against Workers
One of the allies of the Ontario government in
suppressing the right of the province's part-time community college
faculty and support workers to join a union
is the Harper government. The federal government defended Ontario
during an investigation by the International Labour Organization (ILO)
into complaints
that Ontario (and thus Canada) is in violation of United Nations
conventions on workers' rights by allowing Ontario's twenty-four
community colleges to block the
certification of the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU) as
the bargaining agent for 16,000 part-time college workers.
The complaint to the ILO for violation of workers'
rights was filed by OPSEU/NUPGE against Canada and Ontario under a UN
convention Canada is
signatory to, the Freedom of
Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948
(no. 87). The complaint described the anti-union tactics
of the community colleges which are Ontario government agencies: "After
flooding their own lists of affected workers with employees who clearly
would not
be part of the union bargaining unit and manipulating the timing of
workers' contracts so as to limit the number of signed union cards, the
employers had
undertaken long, costly and protracted mediation and litigation
proceedings at the OLRB to challenge the certification process which
would likely take months
or even years before a final decision." OPSEU/NUPGE also complained
about the "abusive use of procedural mechanisms under the amended Act [Community
Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008] by employers to delay
the certification process and substantially impede or altogether
prevent workers to unionize
and engage in collective bargaining."
In a mandatory response to the investigation by an ILO
tribunal, the Harper government replied, "The Government of Ontario
emphasizes the importance
of the adjudicative role played by the OLRB in the process of
certification established by law and considers that it would be
inappropriate to interfere with or
influence the procedure. It adds that this position is shared by the
National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)."
NUPGE is a national union central made up mostly of
OPSEU and other provincial public service unions. On June 18, NUPGE and
OPSEU issued a
statement debunking this blatant falsehood the Harper government in its
typical hooligan fashion saw no problem in presenting to an important
international body
of the United Nations. The statement said that NUPGE and OPSEU took
exactly the opposite position to what the federal government reported.
They maintain
that the Ontario government should intervene and order the colleges to
grant voluntary recognition of OPSEU. "We have made it clear in our
bargaining process
and in our presentations to the Ontario government, that political
influence on the employer to grant voluntary recognition would be our
preference," said the
OPSEU/NUPGE statement.
Further information about the anti-worker tactics of the
Ontario government, the college employers and the Ontario Labour
Relations Board was given in
another letter to the ILO from NUPGE in June: "The Ontario Labour
Relations Board (OLRB) has provided contradictory rulings on the
process of signing up
and recognizing cards from academic and support staff. OPSEU's request
to recognize the right of part-timers to union representation has been
consistently
stonewalled by process at the Ontario Labour Relations Board and as
well, there has been no political solution offered by the Ontario
government."
The Ontario Labour Relations Board's final ruling
against the union certification bid in August comes after the
government and its agencies stonewalled
the part-time college workers for more than four years in order to
prevent certification. As OPSEU and NUPGE have proposed, the Ontario
government should
direct the College Employer Council to extend voluntary union
recognition.
Labour Board Hearing
Regarding Withdrawal of Voluntary and Extracurricular Activities Resumes
- Mira Katz -
On September 13, the
Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) hearing regarding
the complaint of two school boards over the
withdrawal of voluntary
and extracurricular activities by two locals of the Elementary
Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) resumed. The hearing was last
convened on April 11,
at which time Chair Bernard Fishbein issued an interim ruling that
members of ETFO at the two boards had engaged in an illegal strike by
their withdrawal
of voluntary and extracurricular activities to protest Bill 115. The
ruling set a precedent as it was based on a decision by the Chair that
voluntary/extracurricular
activities are considered part of the normal functioning of Ontario
school boards, which if withdrawn in "coordination or concert" during
the term of a collective
agreement constitute a strike under the meaning of the Education Act. In a summary of his
decision, Fishbein wrote at that time:
 "the withdrawal in
combination or in concert of
participation in voluntary co-instructional (or extracurricular)
activities as listed in Appendix A and B in
paragraph 27 of this decision constitutes a ‘strike' within the meaning
of the Education Act;
He also wrote: "[N]o final orders are issued because
ETFO's Charter challenge to the definition of strike in the Education
Act
remains to be
litigated -- but a direction to post a Notice to Employees is issued
clarifying the stage that this litigation has reached and the position
of ETFO (at least up until
it withdrew its "advice" to members on March 26, 2013) with respect to
the participation of its members in the withdrawal of these activities."
Fishbein did not wait to consider ETFO's argument that
its members' Charter rights would be violated if the Education Act
were interpreted
as prohibiting them from withdrawing from voluntary/extracurricular
acitivities before issuing a ruling and a direction to effectively
prohibit their withdrawal
from these activities unless their union was in a legal strike
position. In his interim decision he indicated he did so out of a
concern that ETFO did
not consider its actions improper or illegal in any way and that there
was no assurance at the time ETFO would reach a deal with the
Government (regarding
terms imposed by Bill 115), leaving the possibility that this form of
protest would recur "if not on this issue -- on the next about which
ETFO and the
Government disagree, perhaps about provincial bargaining?"
Clearly the OLRB Chair and the government were cognizant
of wanting to send a message that using extracurricular and voluntary
activities to affirm rights
would be met by the full force of the law.
The hearing was reconvened on September 13 to consider
whether the definition of a strike under the Education Act
violates the Charter
of Rights and Freedoms. It lasted only 25 minutes. ETFO's position
is that the Charter rights to freedom of association and expression of
its members
were violated when their ability to withdraw collectively from purely
voluntary activities was made illegal. The hearing was adjourned by the
Chair to allow
the boards' lawyer more time to submit evidence in support of his case
against ETFO's Charter arguments at a future date that has yet to be
set.
Clearly the OLRB does not operate with the same speed
and decisiveness when it comes to workers' rights. According to reports
of observers who attended the hearing, Mr. Fishbein questioned whether
the OLRB was even an appropriate forum for Charter issues to be dealt
with.
In related news, the Charter challenge to Bill 115 by a
number of unions including ETFO, OSSTF, CUPE and OPSEU is set to be
heard October 21-25
at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
For
background
on
the
previous
Labour
Board
hearings
see
Ontario Political Forum, February
5, 2013 - No. 22 , Ontario Political Forum, March 5,
2013 - No. 26
and Ontario
Political Forum, April 15, 2013 - No. 32.
Oppose
Federal Government's
Anti-Immigrant and Refugee Campaign
Support Striking Immigration Detainees in Lindsay!
As of September 24, 191 immigration detainees in Lindsay
Ontario's
Central East Correctional Centre (CECC) are on a hunger strike. In a
joint statement from groups building support for the action it is
pointed out "They are striking against conditions of their detention.
The detainees were recently moved from
other prisons in the Greater Toronto Area, about two hours away, and
have lost touch with families and legal support as a result. Conditions
at Lindsay are substantially worse for them then before. Some of the
prisoners began a hunger strike on September 18 which lasted 24 hours.
A new hunger strike started September
23."
The striking immigration detainees in Lindsay are
demanding
improvements in their living conditions, better access to legal aid and
to have the ability to be detained closer to their families, and legal
and social services.
Strikers are requesting supporters call and write
Detention Centre
Superintendent Neil Neville and immigration enforcement in support of
their demands. Call: 705-328-6009 or sign the petition here.
The statement goes on to inform that "some of the
prisoners are
long-term detainees, people immigration enforcement cannot deport but
will not release. Others have been designated as ‘high security' based
on prior criminal history but this can be as little as an arrest that
has not led to conviction. Some people
have been in jail for over 7 years because Canada has no limit on how
long someone can be held prior to deportation." The statement also
points out that that immigration detention centres are a $50 million
business. In some cases the government pays companies like G4S, Garda
and Corbel Management Corporation
to secure facilities. In Toronto alone, G4S and Corbel were paid $19
million between 2004 and 2008. Garda has the contract for the Laval
Immigration Holding Centre. For more information on the strike visit http://endimmigrationdetention.wordpress.com/
Since coming to power, the Harper government has paid
particular attention to persecuting new immigrants and refugees all in
the name of its bogus Canadian values. Showing how the Harper
government uses every occasion of historical injustice to hide its
crimes in the present, just two days after the beginning of the hunger
strike former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and current
Minister of Multiculturalism released a statement concerning Canada's
apology in 1988 for the expulsion and internment of Japanese Canadians
during World War Two. Kenney stated:
"The mistreatment of Japanese Canadians by authorities
of the era represents a dark moment in our country's history, one that
Canadians rightfully look back upon with regret.
"[...] I encourage all Canadians to reflect on the lessons learned from
past mistakes that are at odds with our values as a society, and to use
those lessons to continue to build a better future for Canada." [OPF emphasis added]
The Minister's statements show the necessity to defeat the Harper
government so that it is not permitted to use its control of state
power to violate rights with impunity all in the name of Canadian
values.
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