Press Release February 17, 2003


Pakistani families are fleeing the US and seeking
refugee status in Canada because of new and tougher
immigration laws there. Refugee claimants and
non-status people feel deep insecurity, fear and
imminent danger because of draconian measures adopted
by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service).
They were being stopped by US authorities at newly set
up check posts just before the border and in some
cases were deported back to Pakistan. US police are
now arresting Pakistanis before they can even reach
the Canadian border! This is a blatant violation of
the freedom to travel and the right to claim refugee
status, guaranteed by international law to which
Canada subscribes. The human tragedy involved in these
desperate flights to safety and their abortion by
agents of the state rarely get covered. Husbands
separated from wives and families, and men who
disappear without trace are all too common. In the
recent 'war on terror' in Afghanistan similar
situations were common all along the Afghan-Pakistan
border where Afghan families were broken apart as the
men were held back, usually to be imprisoned. What is
so different from what is happening to these families
at the US-Canada border? In Canada we are very
familiar with the case of Shakir Baloch who was picked
up in a post 9/11 sweep in New York City and held in
detention for several months without any word to his
desperate family in Toronto.

'Pre-emptive arrests' of this kind are a new and
repugnant escalation of the attack on asylum seekers.
They violate the basic right of refugees to seek
asylum from situations of persecution. The United
States is no longer perceived as a 'safe country' by
nationals of certain countries who are being
discriminated against. The South Asian Women's
Community Centre (SAWCC) demands that the Canadian
government protest this treatment of asylum seekers
by the US and that the asylum seekers be allowed to
make their case for asylum in Canada.

Further, we caution the Canadian government against
implementing the 'safe third country agreement' which
recognizes the US as a 'safe third country' for
refugees seeking asylum from the US to Canada. Recent
events have shown that many refugees, particularly of
Pakistani background are actively seeking asylum from
the US because their future and the future of their
families is being endangered by detention and
deportation. At the South Asian Women's Community
Centre we have recently prepared a brief on the "Safe
Third Country Agreement" which has been submitted to
Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

We also want to express our strong objections to the
way Canadian citizens who were born in certain
countries are being harassed by US immigration when
passing through US




airports. An example is the recent case of Berna Cruz,
an Indian born Canadian whose Canadian passport was
rejected as fake at Chicago airport and who was put on
a plane back to India. What is Canada doing about the
racial profiling of its citizens by the US which is
leading to their being deported back to their
countries of origin?

The South Asian Women's Community Centre calls upon
the Canadian Government to honour its stated
commitment to safeguard the human rights of all
immigrant, refugee and non-status people.

For more information contact:

Sarwat Viqar 528-8812
Dolores Chew

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A Proud Indian Canadian