Toronto declared ‘sanctuary city’ to non-status migrants

[M II A II R II K]

Toronto declared ‘sanctuary city’ to non-status migrants


Feb 21 2013

By Nicholas Keung

Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/02/21/cisanctuarycity21.html

.....

On Thursday, City Council passed the motion by a vote of 37 to 3 that also requires training all city staff and managers to ensure Toronto’s estimated 200,000 non-status residents can access its services without fear of being turned over to border enforcement officers for detention and deportation.

- “It is an enormous step for the city in the right direction. We are all contributing to the city, the well-being of Toronto. It’s important that we are not making a distinction between those who don’t have rights or access to services and those who do,†said Harald Bauder, associate professor of Ryerson University’s graduate program in immigration and settlement studies. “Distinctions are divisive. They establish second-class citizens. That leads to all kinds of other problems, not just a rift in the community, but other issues of exploitation.â€

- Council’s vote was significant at a time when the undocumented population is expected to surge in 2015, when many legal but temporary foreign workers will see their four-year work permits expire under a new federal law and potentially move “underground.†Proponents of the policy argued that the city must embrace and monitor the changing reality rather than just bury its head in the sand.

- “This is a historic moment because we are saying we are a sanctuary city and that anyone who is in the City of Toronto will be able to access all the services the city offers, be it in the areas of health, in the area of parks, in the area of library, in the area of health and safety,†said councilor Joe Mihevc. “That is the kind of city we want. We want to open our arms to anyone who comes here while they are here.â€

- However, Mihevc pointed out the new city policy will not address barriers faced by non-status residents for services under the provincial or federal jurisdictions such as housing, income security, welfare and labour protection. “With the police, their policy is, ‘don’t ask.’ But if they find that someone tells them, they actually have a legal obligation to report it to Immigration Canada. That’s the nuance with respect to the police. This doesn’t change that,†Mihevc explained.

- However, councillor Minnan-Wong, a vocal critic of the motion, said undocumented people are illegal in Canada and do not deserve government services. “We shouldn’t encourage them. We shouldn’t help them. We should not facilitate them. They are an insult to every immigrant who plays by the rule to get into the country. They are an insult to every immigrant who is waiting to enter this country legally,†said Minnan-Wong. “It sends a message to the world that it is okay to break the law to come to Canada and it says that the City of Toronto is an accomplice to this lawbreaking.â€

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[jaycola]

Why is the city getting involved in a federal issue? Is this part of the mandate for which they were elected?
The city has no place condoning illegal activity.
So, do we suppose the next move is to give these illegal immigrants an opportunity to vote in municipal elections?
If they are undocumented aliens, are they paying the taxes which support these services they demand?

 

[M II A II R II K]

And how does it get funded as well.

 

[jje1000]

Illegal immigrants will be here regardless of this law- by allowing them use of our services, they can avoid having to turn to the black market in obtaining services or go without services, potentially creating health and crime risks. They'll still be subject to the typical hearings and if their case doesn't stand, they can still be deported.

From the Star article:

On Thursday, City Council passed the motion by a vote of 37 to 3 that also requires training all city staff and managers to ensure Toronto’s estimated 200,000 non-status residents can access its services without fear of being turned over to border enforcement officers for detention and deportation.

The vote puts Toronto in the same league with 36 American cities, including Chicago, New York City and San Francisco that already have such policies.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Outrageous. The City of Toronto has no right to condone illegal activity. These people are breaking federal law, pay no taxes and are assaulting our sovereignty. Toronto has the responsibility to assist the federal government in every way possible to ensure that all 200,000 of these illegal immigrants either gain Canadian citizenship or are swiftly removed from the country. I hope the feds respond by passing laws requiring cities to report illegal migrants to CBSA.

 

[Peepers]

Outrageous. The City of Toronto has no right to condone illegal activity. These people are breaking federal law, pay no taxes and are assaulting our sovereignty. Toronto has the responsibility to assist the federal government in every way possible to ensure that all 200,000 of these illegal immigrants either gain Canadian citizenship or are swiftly removed from the country. I hope the feds respond by passing laws requiring cities to report illegal migrants to CBSA.

I agree the city should not be condoning illegal activity but what surprises me is how this passed almost unanimously with both Fords voting in favor of making Toronto a sanctuary for illegal immigrants (so much for "respect for taxpayers").

The Toronto Police have long had a policy of "don't ask don't tell" when it comes to illegal immigrants. I don't know how police officers sworn to uphold the law can turn a blind eye to people in Canada illegally.

I am not sure to what extent this will entitle illegal immigrants to access city services (I really don't care if they are getting library cards). As far as I know the province requires that the city verify immigration status to anyone applying for social benefits (welfare) or housing (TCHC).

I watched some of the debate yesterday and the sponsor of this motion Joe Mihevc expressed the opinion that the province should "loosen up" on these requirements, i.e. Joe Mihevc believes that illegal immigrants should be entitled to apply for welfare and TCHC. We have 10,000's of Canadians on a ten year waiting list for subsidized housing and this moron thinks we should be providing subsidized housing to illegal immigrants?

Kristyn Wong-Tam proved again how dumb she really is by stupidly stating “Unless there are aboriginal people in this building, every single one of us and our ancestors arrived to this country at some point in time as undocumented workers,”


I wonder how many people take the time to watch a council meeting either in person or televised? It is a real eye-opener to see most of these people in action. Makes you wonder how they ever got elected in the first place.


http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/0...grants/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

[TOperson]

Outrageous. The City of Toronto has no right to condone illegal activity. These people are breaking federal law, pay no taxes and are assaulting our sovereignty. Toronto has the responsibility to assist the federal government in every way possible to ensure that all 200,000 of these illegal immigrants either gain Canadian citizenship or are swiftly removed from the country. I hope the feds respond by passing laws requiring cities to report illegal migrants to CBSA.

Assaulting our sovereignty? That's an extreme statement.

Anyway, this decision is small potatoes. In the last few decades planet Earth has seen the largest human migration in history. It affects every major city in developed countries and many small ones too. It's all caught up in economic, political, even ecological issues, and it's not going to slow down or get better anytime soon. There is very little to be gained by denying illegal immigrants access to these services. It just makes their lives harder, and for what? They won't just turn around and go back home. They had good reasons to leave in the first place.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Assaulting our sovereignty? That's an extreme statement.

Anyway, this decision is small potatoes. In the last few decades planet Earth has seen the largest human migration in history. It affects every major city in developed countries and many small ones too. It's all caught up in economic, political, even ecological issues, and it's not going to slow down or get better anytime soon. There is very little to be gained by denying illegal immigrants access to these services. It just makes their lives harder, and for what? They won't just turn around and go back home. They had good reasons to leave in the first place.

I know it's an extreme statement but it's the truth. Anyone who enters or occupies Canada without the permission of the Canadian people has assaulted the sovereignty of the nation.

That being said I am not one of those people who believe that illegals should be deported just because they're illegal. They should be given a path to citizenship.

I watched some of the debate yesterday and the sponsor of this motion Joe Mihevc expressed the opinion that the province should "loosen up" on these requirement. Joe Mihevc believes that illegal immigrants should be entitled to apply for welfare and TCHC (we have 10,000's of Canadians on a ten year waiting list for subsidized housing and this moron thinks we should be providing subsidized housing to illegal immigrants?).

Can't believe this guy wants the government to subsidize illegal activity. Undocumented migrants should be dead last in line for THCH and welfare.

 

[Solipsist]

I think this is a noble yet misguided step on the council's part.

I understand that they also passed an agreement to speak to the federal government about the possibility of granting some undocumented migrants amnesty. I'd much rather they stick with that than the "sanctuary" designation (and its implications.)

Simply put, the city's already cash-strapped and with Torontonians (with Canadian citizenship) vying for limited spots in city services, this arrangement is totally unsustainable.

 

[TOperson]

I know it's an extreme statement but it's the truth. Anyone who enters or occupies Canada without the permission of the Canadian people has assaulted the sovereignty of the nation.

That being said I am not one of those people who believe that illegals should be deported just because they're illegal. They should be given a path to citizenship.

Um... the indigenous people of Canada never gave permission for all those English and French to come here and take over the place*, so let's be careful about all this "assault on our sovereignty" stuff. What does that even mean, anyway? That plus the "path to citizenship" - which is pure US hyperbole, we don't use that phrase here - sounds like the cheesiest propaganda.

*I know I know, treaties and yadda, but all that happened when indigenous people already had very few options, so it wasn't a truly free choice.

 

[pman]

Um... the indigenous people of Canada never gave permission for all those English and French to come here and take over the place*, so let's be careful about all this "assault on our sovereignty" stuff. What does that even mean, anyway? That plus the "path to citizenship" - which is pure US hyperbole, we don't use that phrase here - sounds like the cheesiest propaganda.

*I know I know, treaties and yadda, but all that happened when indigenous people already had very few options, so it wasn't a truly free choice.

I'm struggling to understand how aboriginals have anything to do with immigration policy but here goes. TOperson is right to say that no indigenous people freely gave permission without coercion to settlers to displace them, but that pretty much describes all human history and settlement everywhere. The equivalent might be to say that people of Norman descent have no right to live in Britain because after all their ancestors displaced the Anglo-Sanxons...who displaced the Celts... This search for absolute justice tracing ownership and legitimacy to the very first human to take a crap on a piece of land is absurd. What makes Canada unique is that a not insubstantial number of people like people like TOperson question the legitimacy of our government, laws and occupation of this territory because some of our ancestors did what people have been doing since the beginning of recorded history. For that matter, aboriginal groups here were pretty much constantly at war here so you can be reasonably sure that in most places in Canada, the occupants of the land found by European settlers were by no means the "first peoples" who lived there.

There are two positions you can take:

1. The awful atrocities perpetrated on the only rightful owners of this land - the soi-disant "First Nations" - mean that all of us of impure blood have no right to be here or apply our (illegitimate) laws to anybody. Paradoxically this morphs into an argument that anyone born on planet Earth has the right to live in Canada because after all our laws have no moral basis. I guess it would solve our demographic problems but you might find the billion or so potential economic migrants something of a problem. And our aboriginals would presumably claim that all those immigrants have no more right to come here than our ancestors did.

2. Canada is a free democracy of laws and has the right to determine who comes here and how they come. We have the right to distinguish between citizens and non-citizens (as does every other country on the planet), and it's reasonable not to confer the benefits of citizenship on people here illegally who by definition violate our laws. It's also reasonable to enforce our laws and that includes deporting people who violate our immigration laws.

 

[TOperson]

because some of our ancestors did what people have been doing since the beginning of recorded history

So if it was OK for the Normans, the Romans, the Persians etc etc etc to take land by force, what is the problem with allowing some people to just show up here, work a job, get settled and build a life?

 

[Peepers]

I just read this on the CBC site: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/01/31/toronto-undocumented-workers.html

It also calls for City Council to request the federal government to establish a regularization program for undocumented residents, and request the Ontario government to revisit provincially-funded services including health care, emergency services and community housing to ensure access for undocumented residents.

Unbelievable! By a near majority - Toronto Council members believe that illegal immigrants should have access to social services including community housing!

 

[TheTigerMaster]

I just read this on the CBC site: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/01/31/toronto-undocumented-workers.html



Unbelievable! By a near majority - Toronto Council members believe that illegal immigrants should have access to social services including community housing!

Majority of council members including the Ford brothers! That is what I found really surprising. I would love to hear their reasoning behind voting for it. Certainly dosen't fit well with their 'respect for taxpayers' mantra.

 

[adma]

Illegal immigrants = hard-working cheap labour? As opposed to those whiny unionized bike-riding lefty pinkos...