Transportation Not Deportation: Community, Legal, Human Rights Groups Speak At Transit Police Board Meeting On Transit Police and CBSA Collaboration, February 27, 2015
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0:01 - 0:04We will no longer hold people for CBSA
(Canada Border Services Agency); -
0:04 - 0:06nor will CBSA ask us to.
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0:06 - 0:08They're aware of everything that's been going on,
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0:08 - 0:13and they understand that this
is not activity we will participate in. -
0:15 - 0:19We're just here to say that we think that the termination of the Memorandum of Understanding
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0:19 - 0:23and the directives that
Transit Police have submitted to -
0:23 - 0:24are a step in the right direction,
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0:24 - 0:27and we just want to ensure
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0:27 - 0:31that information sharing does not occur
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0:31 - 0:33between Transit Police and CBSA
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0:33 - 0:36and that we have oversight of these directives.
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0:36 - 0:38We're really glad to see these reforms
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0:38 - 0:42to hopefully make it so that folks without status
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0:42 - 0:48can access transit with less fear
of being reported to CBSA and deported. -
0:48 - 0:50The point that we want to bring up
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0:50 - 0:53is that we still have
tens of thousands of people in this region -
0:53 - 0:57who actually can't afford the bus fares.
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0:57 - 0:59Who structurally, because of low wages,
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0:59 - 1:02because of the welfare rates,
because of the high rents, -
1:02 - 1:04cannot afford to pay for transit,
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1:04 - 1:08which is a fundamental human right
and a basic public service that people rely on. -
1:08 - 1:11Those people, which includes many migrant workers
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1:11 - 1:13who are working often for very low wages
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1:13 - 1:16still don't have access without fear
to our public transit system. -
1:16 - 1:20They're still gonna have skytrain police with guns
-
1:20 - 1:26being paid over $100,000 a year at a cost
to taxpayers of $32 million a year -
1:26 - 1:27checking their busfares.
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1:27 - 1:31And we'd really like to see
the Transit Police out of fare enforcement. -
1:31 - 1:35I want to start by acknowledging that we're here
on un-ceded Coast Salish territories, -
1:35 - 1:37and thank you for the opportunity to speak.
-
1:37 - 1:40First of all I want to start by
congratulating everyone in this room -
1:40 - 1:44who has been part of making possible
the recent encouraging developments, -
1:44 - 1:50which is the termination of the Memorandum of
Understanding between Transit Police & CBSA. -
1:50 - 1:53All of us here have spent
hours and hours advocating on this issue. -
1:53 - 1:56And we do so because we care
very very deeply about this issue, -
1:56 - 1:59and we see it affecting our communities.
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1:59 - 2:01I think about Lucia Vega Jimenez,
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2:01 - 2:04who committed suicide and died in CB(S)A custody.
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2:04 - 2:06She was initially turned over to CBSA by Transit Police
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2:06 - 2:12in part because Transit Police officer Jason (Schuss)
believed that she wasn't originally from Canada. -
2:12 - 2:14And not only did she get a ticket for lack of fare,
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2:14 - 2:16but she was then detained by Transit Police,
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2:16 - 2:20and actually driven to the holding centre
by Transit Police, to do CBSA's work. -
2:20 - 2:25It was Lucia's tragic death that spurred a movement
within the community over 10 months ago. -
2:25 - 2:29In May and in June, conversations
among members of various groups -
2:29 - 2:33began to look at and to challenge Transit Police policy
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2:33 - 2:36in light of what became known to us in Lucia's death.
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2:36 - 2:39This includes groups like Mexicans Living in Vancouver,
who are here today; -
2:39 - 2:41BCCLA, who is here today;
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2:41 - 2:43Sanctuary Health, No One Is Illegal, Rainbow Refugee,
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2:43 - 2:45and many other organizations.
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2:45 - 2:47As we are witnessing all across this continent,
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2:47 - 2:49people are questioning the role of police,
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2:49 - 2:52and the impact of policing
on marginalized communities. -
2:52 - 2:54From police inaction
on missing murdered Indigenous women, -
2:54 - 2:58to police impunity being raised by
the Black Lives Matter south of the border, -
2:58 - 3:01or the killing of Naverone Woods.
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3:01 - 3:03Migrants without permanent legal status
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3:03 - 3:06are some of the most vulnerable
members of our community. -
3:06 - 3:08They're often vilified in the media,
-
3:08 - 3:09but migrant workers and non-status people
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3:09 - 3:11are the ones taking care of our children,
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3:11 - 3:14growing our food, serving us food,
growing our food, -
3:14 - 3:16building our homes, pumping our gas.
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3:16 - 3:21Refugees are fleeing war, persecution and
unimaginable and horrendous levels of violence, -
3:21 - 3:23often escaping paramilitaries
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3:23 - 3:25and arriving here seeking some level of safety,
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3:25 - 3:28only to question whether they can ride transit safely,
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3:28 - 3:31just to get to and from work
like Lucia was doing. -
3:31 - 3:35So in memory of Lucia Vega Jimenez and the
thousands of other migrants in our community, -
3:35 - 3:37public transit should not be a border checkpoint.
-
3:37 - 3:39There are far too many lives at stake.
-
3:39 - 3:41(Next speaker) Lucia is just one of the cases.
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3:41 - 3:47I hear many cases around the time
I remember since 6 years ago, -
3:47 - 3:54about immigrants that were sent back just because
they didn't have a fare in the skytrain. -
3:54 - 4:00Immigration didn't look at them when
the Olympics were starting -
4:00 - 4:05and they were needed in order to construct
and create infrastructure that we didn't have; -
4:05 - 4:08but once that was done, they didn't matter.
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4:08 - 4:12So I heard a lot of members that were sent back.
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4:12 - 4:18I heard hard working people that was contributing
enormously to this country sent back. -
4:18 - 4:23I heard people that was in risk sent back.
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4:23 - 4:27People with humane cases sent back.
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4:27 - 4:28Over a $2.50 fare.
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4:29 - 4:31I want to congratulate everybody in this room
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4:31 - 4:36for working to end the Memorandum of Understanding
between CBSA and the Transit Police. -
4:36 - 4:38That's an important step,
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4:38 - 4:42and as has already been said, that's a first step.
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4:42 - 4:46I personally as a transit user,
and I think many of the people in the room, -
4:46 - 4:49would like to get clarity about
what that process is going to look like, -
4:49 - 4:58and how we're going to ensure that there is adequate
separation between CBSA and the Transit Police. -
4:58 - 5:02We need to keep in mind the real realities
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5:02 - 5:11of what criminalizing, scrutinizing, racially profiling, detaining and deporting people,
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5:11 - 5:15of how all that stuff affects them.
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5:16 - 5:20This is real, these policies are very very real.
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5:20 - 5:26People are being deported, people are fearful,
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5:26 - 5:34people are going as far
as Jimenez and my uncle went. -
5:34 - 5:36(same speaker continues) We're happy about
some of the changes you've made, -
5:36 - 5:38some of the concessions,
-
5:38 - 5:40but we need to see that they're implemented.
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5:40 - 5:42We are all gonna hold you to it,
-
5:42 - 5:48and we just want to see the end
of detentions and deportations. -
5:48 - 5:53So please, to everyone here,
and to everyone who couldn't be here, -
5:53 - 5:57but who's still involved,
and who cares about this issue, -
5:57 - 6:04let's keep fighting, let's keep pushing for
the end of detentions and deportations, -
6:04 - 6:08and let's ensure that public transportation
is not a border checkpoint. Thank you. -
6:08 - 6:10[APPLAUSE]
- Title:
- Transportation Not Deportation: Community, Legal, Human Rights Groups Speak At Transit Police Board Meeting On Transit Police and CBSA Collaboration, February 27, 2015
- Description:
-
https://transportationnotdeportation.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TransportationNotDeportation
================
Captions courtesy of the Radical Access Mapping Project,
Un-ceded Coast Salish Territories of the Skwxwú7mesh, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.To learn more, see:
http://radicalaccessiblecommunities.wordpress.com/subtitled-videos/
================ - Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 06:17
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Transportation Not Deportation | ||
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Transportation Not Deportation | ||
Radical Access Mapping Project edited English subtitles for Transportation Not Deportation |