Program Information

Fighting racist policies of the INS and Immigration Canada: first hand accounts

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Program Type:

Speech

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CKLN 88.1 fm Contact Contributor

Date Published:

April 3, 2003, 5:57 a.m.

Summary: Dorothy Igharo and Shakir Baloch speak about, respectively, their experiences of fighting deportation orders from Immigration Canada and being detained by INS shortly after 9/11.

Credits: Producer: CKLN News
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Notes: Dorothy Igharo was a refugee claimant from Nigeria who has been living in Canada for the last 7 years. Last year she successfully fought her deportation order from Immigration Canada and has been granted landed status.

In December 2002 Dorothy and members of OCAP, the Committee of Non-Status Algerians (Montreal) and No One is Illegal(Montreal) brought delegations to two Immigration offices demanding that Dorothy be allowed to remain in Canada. The day after the actions a Director from the Enforcement Centre contacted Dorothy's Immigration lawyer informing her that Dorothy's Pre-Removal Risk Assessment had been approved. Winning this assessment meant that Dorothy would not be deported and forced Immigration Canada to grant her landed status.

Shakir Baloch is a doctor born in Pakistan who has been a Canadian citizen since 1994. He was one of countless men of Middle Eastern and Asian descent picked up by the INS shortly after September 2001. Charged with illegal entry into the United States, he was detained in Brooklyn for 7 months (5 of which was in solitary confinement).

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Canada, responsible for the welfare
of its citizens abroad, was extremely reluctant to intercede in Shakir's case. Consular officials visited Shakir in detention after his story went public, prompting the INS to bring the case before the courts, but stopped short of ensuring an expedient return to Canada for Shakir or even his transfer into the general prison population, somewhat less onerous than segregation.

After 7 months in a maximum security prison in Shakir was given a one way ticket to Canada without any explanation or an apology.

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