How to become members of IMA-Canada

Dear friends in the IMA,

Warm greetings from Hong Kong!

The IMA Secretariat has been receiving emails from groups wanting to join the IMA. I am sure that some of you may have been receiving the same or are already recruiting.

In this regard, we would like to provide you with the process on how to become a member of the IMA. Based on Article V of the IMA's Constitution and By-laws:

a) Any interested organization may submit a letter of intention to any IMA member.

b) The member organization will forward this application/letter together with a letter of recommendation to the ICB.

c) The ICB will then decide whether to approve the application or not. Whatever the decision is, it will be reported to the IMA Assembly.

The requirements for membership are the following:

a) letter of intent

b) copy of the organization's constitution and bylaws

c) organization's program of activities

The membership form will be sent to the interested organization. Membership/annual fee is pegged at Euro 20 (CAN $35).

We hope that this information is helpful to everyone. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

In solidarity,

Rey Asis for the IMA Secretariat

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For friends in Canada please contact IMA-Canada
ima.canada.2008@gmail.com
or call +1514 342-2111 (pls leave message)

Pour nos ami-e-s québécois et canadiens, svp contacter IMA-Canada
ima.canada.2008@gmail.com
tél: +1514 342-2111 (veuillez laisser un message)

Les masques de la discrimination

Stéphane Baillargeon
Le Devoir - lundi 01 juin 2009

Des travailleuses domestiques manifestent pour recevoir la protection de la Loi sur la santé et la sécurité au travail (Photo: Jacques Grenier)


Malgré les demandes répétées de modifications de la loi, les aides domestiques du Québec, majoritairement originaires des Philippines, sont toujours exclues du régime de la santé et de la sécurité au travail. Elles manifestaient de nouveau hier contre cette situation jugée discriminatoire.

À peine deux douzaines de personnes ont manifesté hier matin au parc Nelson-Mandela de Montréal, contre l'exclusion des travailleuses domestiques du régime de santé et de sécurité au travail. Cette discrimination a été présentée comme un «apartheid social», d'où le choix symbolique du lieu de la manifestation.

La Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse a également parlé d'une discrimination grave dans un avis déposé en décembre dernier. L'organisme a même évoqué une triple faute fondamentale puisque les personnes touchées sont écartées de la protection légale pour des raisons de sexe (il s'agit surtout de femmes), de condition sociale (elles sont pauvres) et d'origine ethnique (elles viennent très souvent des Philippines).

Pour la suite voir: http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/06/01/253006.html

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Nine women migrant workers arrested in Leamington, Ontario

Justice for Migrant Workers reports that nine women migrant workers have been arrested in a workplace raid in Leamington, Ontario.

In the early morning of Wednesday, May 27, 2009, Immigration Enforcement swarmed Lakeside Produce arresting nine women, one of whom is pregnant. They were all being detained in the Windsor County Jail.

“We are outraged by these arrests,” says Chris Ramsroop of Justica for Migrant Workers. “These attacks destroy our communities. Instead of attacking the immigration system, we are attacking workers who put food on our table.”

These latest arrests mark an alarming trend of workplace raids by the Canada Border Service Agency. In April, CBSA conducted large scale raids throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Southwestern Ontario, where over 80 migrants were arrested and deported.

IMA condemns Canadian gov’t for immigration raids

Crackdown is omen of worst things to come

The International Migrants Alliance (IMA) denounces the Canadian government in the strongest possible terms after its Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) rounded up and detained last week over 100 migrant workers considered illegal in the Greater Toronto Area.

These raids, according to Canadian authorities, are a part of the three-month probe into illegal immigration after a more stringent immigration policy was imposed a few months ago.

“The crackdown on our fellow migrant workers in Canada is not only unjust but inhuman and equally terroristic,” said Eni Lestari, chairperson of the IMA, a global alliance of grassroots migrants and immigrants’ organizations. “By branding illegal workers (or those as called holding precarious immigration status) as criminals, the Canadian government is only sowing a climate of fear among the migrant community and terrorizing those who are already in vulnerable situations.”

The CBSA-imposed crackdown, stated Lestari, will only push illegal migrants into more dangerous and slave-like jobs instead of helping them become regular workers in Canada.

Lestari likened the crackdown to the massive arrests, detention, inhuman treatment and deportation of migrants in the U.S. during George W. Bush’s term. “Apparently, Harper is doing a Bush as he seems to be following into the footsteps of his Big Bully Brother.”

Lestari expressed concerns that these state-instigated attacks are an omen of worst things to come for migrant workers not only in Canada but in the rest of the world.

“Stephen Harper’s government is not the only one brandishing its iron fist on migrant workers,” said Lestari. “As the global financial crisis worsens, governments in Europe and several countries in Asia-Pacific are now eyeing migrant workers as their primary targets. From more repressive anti-migrant policies to lower subhuman wages, migrants will face more than just crackdowns and possibly even more brutal racist attacks if such policies are left unchallenged.”

The IMA expressed solidarity and support with migrant organizations and migrants’ rights advocates who are now campaigning for the immediate and unconditional release of all arrested migrants as well as the implementation of a regularization program for all migrant workers as a better alternative.

The IMA also called on all its members and networks in Canada and other global regions to express solidarity with the affected migrant workers there.

“We will not condone these raids. An attack on one migrant is an attack on all of us,” concluded Lestari.

Migrante Ontario rallies against anti-immigrant raids

5 April 2009

We stand together with migrant workers and migrants’ advocates today to condemn the recent raids on workplaces and homes conducted April 3 by immigration enforcement authorities. Close to a hundred people – Chinese, Thai and Filipino among them - were arrested and detained.

We express deep concern for the way these migrants were treated as criminals being handcuffed for hours. Regardless of status, these migrant workers are not criminals. They are “the unrecognized hands that contribute a lot to the economies of the countries they work in and countries where they come from.”

It is regrettable that instead of choosing to implement comprehensive immigration reform that can be just and equitable, the Harper government and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney have chosen the enforcement path as response to the immigration problem.

Undocumented migrants have the same desire just like us to provide for the well being of their families. The existence of undocumented migrants is a part of the whole phenomenon of the forced migration of people and the commodification of human labour.

The worsening economic and political conditions that they faced in their home countries force them to migrate and seek fortune regardless of their status.

Like all migrant workers, they are sources of cheaper and docile labor force found in sweatshops, farms and even in households though where most do not enjoy many benefits and rights that the former enjoy including medical insurance. Despite their status, the contributions of undocumented migrants to the economies of Canada and their home countries are undeniable.

We believe that we need a clear and fair immigration policy.

Crackdown operations must end. Those arrested must be treated humanely and not as criminals.

Non-status workers have human dignity and human rights that should be respected at all costs.

Governments at both provincial and federal levels must work to ensure that the protection of workers must be put in place regardless of the worker’s status.

The Canadian government should initiate a comprehensive review of immigration policy that includes addressing the regularization of non-status migrants.

Migrante Ontario http://migrante.ca/

Les Philippines: quand l'avenir est ailleurs... | Radio-Canada.ca

Avec cette série de reportages, le journaliste Gino Harel vous propose un survol des principaux enjeux économiques et sociaux auxquels sont confrontées les Philippines. Des enjeux qui, à cause de la crise financière mondiale, doivent être considérés sous un jour nouveau.

Accueil et réportages - Radio-Canada.ca

In Memory of Juana Tejada, Bagong Bayani par excellence

Migrante International, the global alliance of Filipino migrant workers, together with her family, met the remains of Juana Tejada, the OFW* heroine from Toronto, Canada, who finally lost her battle with cancer, at the Pair Pags Center, Ninoy Aquino International Airport Avenue in Pasay City, Philippines. (Photo Alex Felipe)

Juana Tejada, a former caregiver under Canada’s Live-In Caregiver Program, was hailed a hero among OFWs and Filipino immigrants in Canada because of her key role in amending section 38(2) the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of Canada. The amendment highlighted the inclusion of the Live-in Caregiver Class to the list of applicants who should automatically be granted exemption from the “good health” requirement. This is known to as the Juana Tejada Law.

“We give our highest salute to Juana Tejada,” Migrante Chairperson Garry Martinez exclaimed. “She is, indeed a female OFW par excellence, who while battling the debilitating disease of cancer, relentlessly worked for the rights and welfare of caregivers in Canada.”

It is to be remembered that last year, after she was diagnosed with cancer, Canadian authorities told her she could not stay as she would be a burden to the Canadian health care system. Tejada had been working as a caregiver in Canada for two years, fulfilling the two year eligibility period, under the Live-in Caregiver Program, for a permanent residency. Her case sparked a campaign to amend the immigration law and eventually led to the Juana Tejada Law.

Martinez continued, “Our commemoration of March 8, International Women’s Day, will certainly be more meaningful as we add Juana’s name to the list of resolute and courageous women we will remember. It is not so much her triumph but her dignity and commitment to struggle against an oppressive system is what will inspire many of us to go on with the struggle for, not only for migrants rights, but for the emancipation of the toiling masses from exploitation.”

At the airport, Migrante conducted a short tribute, while draping a Migrante banner on the coffin as a symbol of their homage to Tejada. Tejada’s remains will be brought all the way to her home province, Abra.

20 March 2009
Garry Martinez, Chairperson, Migrante International, +63 9217229740
Ailyn Abdula, Media Liaison, Migrante International, +63 9212708994

*Overseas Filipino Worker