Latin American, Indigenous communities march in Vancouver against family separations
Posted June 30, 2018 8:59 am.
Last Updated June 30, 2018 11:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Marches are happening across the country today as part of a National Day of Action against the now-rescinded US policy of separating migrant families at its southern border.
In Vancouver, more than 100 people gathered in front of the US Consulate before marching to the Trump tower.
“Our voice of protest is against the criminalization of migrants,” reads the Facebook page for the event. “Migrant families must be together in freedom. We have been moved by what we have seen in the media about the separation of children from migrant families in the United States.”
Organizer Byron Cruz says the event is all about getting Canada to put more pressure on the US government to change its immigration policies. He believes Canada has a role to play here.
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“And this role is about ending one of the main situations that we would like [to see addressed] is to ask the Canadian government to end the [Safe Third Country] agreement. [The] United States is not a safe country anymore.”
However, he admits our country has its own sins to answer for, everything from residential schools to the continued of removing children from Indigenous families and placing them into foster care.
“…because we situations of children in detention in Canada, we have situations of refugees being detained,” he tells NEWS 1130. “As of a matter of fact, in the month of January next year, a new detention centre will be open in the RCMP building in Surrey.”
Cruz is also calling for Ottawa to rescind Safe Third Country status from the US, claiming it is no longer a safe country.
