BY JEFF SHANTZ
TORONTO — On January 25, several hundred people took to the streets of Montreal, Quebec, to defend the nearly 1000 non-status Algerians facing imminent deportation from Canada.
The protest action was the most recent in a broad campaign initiated by the Action Committee for Non-Status Algerians and No One Is Illegal-Montreal following the decision by the federal immigration department to lift the moratorium on deportations to Algeria on April 5, 2002.
The end of the moratorium, coming as part of federal government attempts to expand trade relations with Algeria, has threatened thousands of non-status Algerians with very real possibility of violence, torture and death upon return.
The January 25 protest came only days before the January 30 end of a three-month stay of deportations of non-status Algerians in Quebec. Federal and Quebec provincial immigration authorities issued the stay as a "joint solution" on October 30, 2002, in response to mass protests in Montreal's streets and a growing movement to "stop the deportations" which was gaining momentum across Canada.
During the stay, people who had their refugee claims rejected by the federal government were given the opportunity to submit applications for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Non-status Algerians who had been living in Quebec at the time the moratorium was ended were allowed to make claims for landed status by Quebec immigration authorities without the usual requirement of having to leave the province.
The "solution" presented by the two levels of government in no way offered a satisfactory resolution, however. Quebec immigration minister Remy Trudel has publicly stated that no more than 300 non-status Algerians will be allowed to stay in Canada. That means that more than 700 people could face deportation.
Furthermore, many non-status Algerians, unable to work in Quebec, are unable to pay for applications covering their entire family. The application costs C$550 per adult and C$150 for each dependent child.
The 30-day stay period provided a partial solution for government officials in terms of demobilising the movement of non-status Algerians and their supporters. Many of them turned their efforts towards application procedures rather than political campaigning.
The January 25 demonstration was an important step in getting people back to the streets to demand government officials provide residency for all non-status Algerians, and allow the return to Canada of all 32 non-status Algerians deported since the moratorium was lifted. The end of the stay of deportations on January 30 makes winning these demands all the more pressing.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, February 5, 2003.
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