URGENT: Migrant workers detained in Toronto area

dawn — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:37:37 +0000

[[Reposting]]

Dear friends and supporters,

This is an URGENT NATIONAL ALERT being sent out by our allies in No One Is Illegal Toronto.

Approximately 100 (exact figures unconfirmed) migrant and
non-status workers have been detained in large-scale workplace enforcement
actions in Ontario, primarily in the Greater Toronto Area district.

There has been minimal media reporting on these huge-scale operations, a
local report on one of the raids in Bradford is available
here.

* DETAILS ON THE RAIDS:

April 4, 2009 - Executing massive and unprecedented US-style raids in East
Toronto, Leamington, and Bradford/Simcoe County, the Canada Border
Services Agency has arrested and detained over 100 migrant workers across
Southern Ontario, who are now languishing in detention centres.

Hundreds of families and friends are wondering right now why their loved
ones have not returned from work. The hundreds of thousands of non-status
people across Canada have woken up to a horrible day in Kanada.

On early Thursday morning, enforcement officers stormed into three
different businesses in Bradford and Markham where they arrested migrant
workers. CBSA even followed workers to their homes throughout the GTA and
surrounding areas. In total 80 people were arrested. They were placed on
GO buses, handcuffed and held immobile for hours.

"One of my relatives was arrested in the raid. She called me from jail
this morning. She and her co-workers are terrified that they may be
deported at any time," said Jonathan Canchela, chair of the Filipino
Migrant Workers Movement- and member of Migrante-Ontario.

The Dominion - Branford

URGENT: Migrant workers detained in Toronto area