anctuary

10ugh to aid refugees
ted immigrants?

, Assistant Editor

 

it continues to be complicit in the detention
of children, the separation of families, and
the deportation of people to countries where
they will face violence and persecution,”

she said in the statement. “If you collaborate
with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA),
you're not providing ‘Access Without Fear’.”

The shadow of the CBSA looms large over

the Lower Mainland whenever the status of
undocumented immigrants here is discussed.
The Metro Vancouver Transit Police especially
have gained a sort of infamy over the past decade
or so for their previous policy of collaboration
with the CBSA, a policy which resulted in the
suicide of a Mexican migrant in a CBSA holding
cell after she was detained by the Transit Police
following a fare check made three weeks prior.
Indeed, Lucia Vega Jimenez’s story became a
rallying point for activists calling for a change to
immigration policy in Vancouver on the whole,
and resulted in the Transit Police ending their
official agreement with the CBSA in 2015.

“A person who's in the process of seeking
documentation faces a certain set of challenges,
and if it’s a person who doesn’t have a pathway
to documentation then that’s a whole other

set of challenges,” said Cohn. “They'll often
have to exist in underground types of ways,
and the mental health challenges that come
along with that are just exacerbated.”

Vancouver is not without services for refugees and
undocumented immigrants. However, there are

challenges to offering and accessing these services.

“That infrastructure tends to be somewhat
underfunded and therefore is not able to do
everything it needs to do,” said Cohn. “So, there
are good settlement agencies; [VAST is] a good
mental health [services] provider that works
independently and with settlement agencies. But
for refugee claimants, those who are seeking
asylum, there’s a lot of restrictions to what they’re
able to use. A lot of those restrictions are due to
tight funding, a lot are due to discrimination.

“Discrimination is certainly something that

a lot of new arrivals experience. Canada is a
wonderful, open, and inclusive country, but
we're certainly not beyond being a racist,
racializing country as well. So that affects
housing, employment, and other opportunities.”

Unfortunately, these types of opportunities are
of vital importance for those fleeing violence
and discrimination, Cohn went on to explain.

“Our slogan is, ‘Healing is an act of resistance’,”
said Cohn. “That really speaks to the idea of
challenging that this violence needs to exist in

the places where it does, and engaging people
who have suffered most from it in the process

of speaking out against it. When there are
opportunities available for people here, then
they are able to participate in that process. When
there aren't those types of opportunity like
housing, and healthcare, and employment, and
acceptance, and integration ... when we don’t
have that, then it’s hard for them to heal.”

The process of settling in Canada and
seeking documentation is in itself a source
of stress and anxiety for new arrivals.

“People’s refugee claims, the wait time has
shifted from being about six weeks to being about
18 months now, with people regularly getting
about three cancellations or postponements —
which often come the day before,” said Cohn.

“It remains a very stressful process.”

There are many advocacy groups dedicated to
addressing these issues. Notably, grassroots
community group Sanctuary Health released an
audit this past May of the City’s “Access Without
Fear” policy titled Still Waiting, Still Afraid,
which is available for public reading on their
website. In the report, Sanctuary Health makes
note of the many gaps in the policy, including
the emphasis the policy puts on providing access
to shelters for undocumented immigrants.

“.. The City policy explicitly recognizes shelters
as an important site for Access Without Fear,”
states the audit. “However, none of the frontline
workers were aware of the Access Without

Fear policy. Several staff stated they would
have to give personal information to Canada
Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers. This
lack of training about the need to protect client
confidentiality could prove to be most devastating
to the safety and security of undocumented
individuals. Furthermore, a new agreement
between CBSA, the John Howard Society, and
the Belkin Shelter will put shelter workers in
direct contact with the CBSA as the shelter

will be used as a de-facto detention centre.”

It’s clear that there is an impulse on the part

of Canadian politicians to oppose the kind of
mentality that could lead to the sort of crisis
currently taking place on the southern border of
the US. However, the impulse and the rhetoric
mean very little if not supported by action.

“I think we have some really good work that’s
happening here,” said Cohn. “T think it’s a
fine, fragile balance though, because you look
what's happening in Ontario and we certainly
have to recognize [that] if we don’t do this
work well, we risk going down that road.”