Tuesday, 16 June at 10am
At office of Quebec Minister of Immigration Kathleen Weil
5252, de Maisonneuve Ouest, Montréal (Vendôme metro)
https://www.facebook.com/events/841244462577342/
“Daniel” (not his real name) arrived in Montreal with his mother when he was ten. When the family’s refugee application was refused, his mother made the difficult decision to remain in Canada without papers to protect her children. Thus, when he was 12 years old, Daniel joined the ranks of the half a million undocumented people living in Canada.
In October 2014, Daniel was arrested in a Montreal-area school. It happened on his 17th birthday, when he was visiting friends at his former high school. School staff are suspected of having reported the undocumented teenager. He was arrested, handed over to border police and, after a week in detention, deported by himself to Mexico. The Commission des droits humains et droits de la jeunesse du Québec is currently investigating the role played by the school in his arrest.
Daniel was detained for a week at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre before being deported all alone to Mexico at the age of 17. He was separated from his family, who live in Montreal. An unaccompanied minor who hasn’t been in Mexico since he was 10, he is currently living in great insecurity in Mexico City.
Solidarity Across Borders denounces this border violence and specifically the deportation of a minor alone, the forced separation of a family, and the complicity of SPVM and CBSA in making schools unsafe for children.
Solidarity Across Borders, the Collectif éducation sans frontières, and other community organizations have launched a solidarity campaign to bring Daniel home and regularize the status of his family in Canada.
Join us on 16 June to bring two messsages directly to Kathleen Weil:
– Find a Quebec solution to bring Daniel home to his family in Montreal
– Take a clear stand in favour of free, safe education for all kids in Quebec, whatever their immigration status. Quebec fails to respect several human rights instruments protecting the right of all children, including undocumented children, to free education.