Refugees Welcome! Rally on Fredericton on Saturday

Fredericton – On Saturday, Sept. 12 at 2pm, a “Refugees Welcome!” Rally will be held at Fredericton City Hall.Refugee and migrant rights groups across Canada are demanding that Minister Alexander and Prime Minister Stephen Harper answer for the deaths of Ghalib Kurdi, five, and his three-year-old brother Alan.Organizers say that Canada urgently needs to welcome refugees. There are almost 60 million displaced people around the globe this year, and over 45,000 people have died crossing borders since 2000.Yet the Canadian government only assisted 5,790 refugees in 2013. Instead, the federal government deported 117,531 people between 2006 and 2014, including to countries with official moratoriums on deportation. The majority of those refused are refugees. See the latest research at www.neverhome.ca.German residents have convinced their government to change their refugee policies, while over 10,000 Icelandic families have opened their homes to refugees. At the same time, over 86% of the world’s refugees are housed in developing countries.

Canada needs to do far more than accept 10,000 Syrian refugees immediately. Canada needs a massive overhaul of the immigration system in order to ensure and protect refugee rights and permanent residency for all migrants. At the same time, Canada must do everything in its power to stop the war in Syria, without military intervention.

Events are endorsed by No One Is Illegal, Council of Canadians, Justice for Migrant Workers, Greenpeace Canada, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, UNIFOR Canada and others.

The local event is endorsed by Fredericton Palestine Solidarity and the Fredericton Chapter of the Council of Canadians. Speakers include: Ron Tremblay, Wolastoq elder; Judie Acquin-Miksovsky, Wolastoq artist; Jeremias Tecu, refugee and refugee activist; Saa Andrew, refugee of Sierra Leone civil war; Mary Lou Babineau and Terry Wishart, Green Party candidates; Gül Caliskan; Sylvia Hale on Fredericton efforts to sponsor a Syrian family; Asaf Rashid and others.