Some fifty people gathered at beautiful Point Pleasant Park this Remembrance Day afternoon for a moving ceremony to honour all victims of war anywhere – civilians, women, children, refugees, hospital workers, animals, and the environment.
This Remembrance Day there will be a ceremony with a difference in Point Pleasant Park. Halifax Remembers Peace: K’jipuktuk 2019 commemorates refugees and other civilian casualties of war. The ceremony also serves as a reminder of the environmental damage caused by wars.
El Jones: “Remember that this is Indigenous land. And those rights were extended to settlers by Indigenous people as we see in the Peace and Friendship treaties. That is what should govern this territory. We live on these lands in this spirit of extending help and support to those who come here, as the Mi’kmaq did. It is status that is illegal, it is not people that are illegal.”
News release: On Thursday, October 3rd at 12pm Haligonians will participate in a multi-city Day of Action Against Canada’s Detention of Immigrants. Organizers and supporters of No One is Illegal – Halifax / K’jipuktuk will go to the campaign office of MP Andy Fillmore on Quinpool Rd to deliver a mailbox filled with letters from the public calling for an end to immigrant detention.
Already, we see racism and immigration emerging as key topics in this election and that includes discussions at the local level. At the September 12th “All Candidates Debate on Women’s Rights and Gender Equity” in Halifax, migrant justice was a key topic of discussion. Migrant justice organizer Stacey Gomez reports on where the four Halifax candidates stand.
Just published my story on the UN intervention when we received the wonderful news that Abdilahi Elmi will be freed, pending the UN decision.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is considering the case of Abdilahi Elmi, the former child refugee who Canada wants to deport to Somalia, one of the most dangerous countries in the world. This presents a glimmer of hope for Elmi, but it is crucial that the public continues to pressure politicians, El Jones tells the NS Advocate.
Abdilahi Elmi will be deported to Somalia any day now, putting his life at grave risk. A group of advocates held a press conference at Andy Fillmore’s office to raise awareness of this impending injustice and to ask for public support.
PSA: On Tuesday, August 20, 2019 there will be a press conference at the office of Liberal MP Andy Fillmore to protest the deportation of Mr. Abdilahi Elmi, and to draw attention to the lack of change in deportation policy since the case of Abdoul Abdi.
In a few days our government is planning to deport another Somali refugee who never got his citizenship because of government neglect. Abdilahi Elmi came to Canada as a refugee at age 10. At 13, Ontario Child Welfare apprehended Elmi from his mother. At that point child welfare was the only entity that could legally apply for Elmi’s citizenship—it never did.