I went with the Rivera family, lawyer Alyssa Manning and some other campaigners to the centre where refugee claimants receive their final decisions. Earlier, I said this was an Immigration and Refugee Board centre, but I forgot that at this point, it's Canadian Border Services Agency. The deportation people.
The "Greater Toronto Enforcement Centre" is a brutal place. The walls are the colour of vomit, the chairs are as uncomfortable as possible and there aren't enough of them, there's one washroom, and it's hidden. There's not even a vending machine. The whole place fairly screams, "You are not welcome here".
People are told to be there at 9:00 a.m., but you're seen when they get to you. It sits in the shadow of Pearson Airport, and if you don't have a car, it's an enormous time and expense to get there. How many refugee claimants can afford to keep a car, I wonder?
Many campaigners have been up there several times when resisters were getting decisions, but the timing had never worked out for me. I was glad (so to speak) that I got to see it in person this time, and to be there for my friend Kim.
So. Kim Rivera, Iraq War veteran, peace activist, mother, wife, friend, and her beautiful family, are slated for deportation at the end of this month.
The good news is that we've been winning in the courts: stays of deportation, then leave to appeal, and in one case so far, permission to file a new application. I have to believe that Kim will get a stay, too.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney makes no pretense at impartiality, as his predecessor Diane Finley did. Kenney says the war resisters are not "real" refugees, and we've got to deport them back to the US. The Government is not supposed to intervene in Immigration and Refugee Board decisions, but this Conservative Government has no shame.
And no heart.
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