Dear friends

Below is the text of a flyer we are currently distributing to promote a three-day "Walk for Canada's Disappeared" to draw attention to the horrible injustice being visited by Canada's "security" forces in specific targetted communities.

While "disappeared" is a term we usually associate with the types of brutal regimes, such as Colombia, which Canada regularly supports with military and financial assistance, we can think of no better term to describe the experience of hundreds of men and women of Middle Eastern or Muslim background who have been arbitrarily thrown into Canadian prisons because of the colour of their skin, their religion, their countries of origin or ancestry.

They are separated from their families, denied access to legal counsel, refused the right to practice their religion, tried in secret without knowing the "evidence" against them, and quite possibly deported with no one knowing. In one instance, a man cleared of "connections to terrorism" allegations by a Federal Court was nevertheless re-arrested this past August. This father of six sits once again in solitary confinement.

In an effort to confront this injustice and stop further disappearances under new legislation recently passed by Parliament this walk is an opportunity for a community of like-minded individuals and groups to spend three days on the road, within Metro Toronto, disseminating information, sharing thoughts and ideas, and making public an insidiously quiet issue.

The flyer below describes the issues behind the walk, how the walk will work, and who the walk's main sponsors are: Toronto Avction for Social Change and Homes not Bombs, Toronto.

We sincerely hope you may join us for some or all of this walk.

Peace

TASC, (416) 651-5800, tasc@web.ca

"A time comes when silence is betrayal. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers and sisters." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Walk For Canada's Disappeared:

Free All Political Detainees and Stop the Repression

A Three-Day, 36 km Hike from Etobicoke to Thornhill to

Stop Canadian Racism, Repression and War

Sunday January 13 to Tuesday, January 15 (Martin Luther King Day)

Organized by Toronto Action for Social Change and Homes not Bombs, Toronto (416) 651-5800, tasc@web.ca

Since September 11, hundreds of people have been arbitrarily arrested and thrown into prison for no other reason than because they have a Middle Eastern or Arabic background. Under the new anti-civil liberties and restrictive refugee legislation passed by Parliament, such detentions will increase. We still do not know the names of everyone illegally imprisoned, or how many have been deported from Canada following secret trials conducted in the prisons. In the nonviolent, confrontational spirit of the civil rights movement, join us to demand justice for Canada's disappeared and for their families, and to say no to the rampant racism, repression and war in which Canada is so deeply involved.

Canada's Disappeared

Even before September 11, the kidnapping and disappearance of people of colour by local police, RCMP and CSIS has been a regular occurrence in Canada (just ask any black youth in Toronto who might "fit the suspect's profile."). In the post 9/11 hysteria, thousands of people of Middle Eastern, Arabic and Asian background have been illegally detained in the U.S., and it is estimated that hundreds have been placed behind bars in Canada. Members of these communities are stopped, harassed and threatened by police, RCMP and CSIS, and often thrown in jail on either trumped up charges or no charges at all.

Walls of Racism

Those not imprisoned are still locked behind the walls of racism which permeate our society: they are the targets of racist jokes, harassment and threats, suffer from unequal job opportunities, unequal access to decent housing opportunities, unequal access to education and health care.

Hundreds behind bars

Like citizens under Canadian-supported regimes abroad which regularly "disappear" people (such as Colombia), we here in Canada do not know the exact numbers and names of those held behind Canadian prison walls. We do know, however, that some have been released after it has been determined that they were victims of a hyperactive "security" service. It is likely many more innocents sit in jail for the same reason, and should be released immediately. In one instance, a man already cleared of alleged terrorist links by a Federal Court was nonetheless re-arrested in August and has been separated from his family (including his six children) ever since in high security detention.

Secret Trials, Rights Violations

Men and women are currently being held in places like Metro West Detention Centre under conditions that would make Amnesty International cringe: not allowed to know the "evidence" against them, denied access to family members, refused the right to practice their religious traditions, threatened with and often receiving physical abuse, often denied access to legal counsel, often tried in their jail cells away from public scrutiny and without legal counsel in attendance. These are clear violations of basic human rights, and serve to remind us that the charges of Canada being a racist country made in Durban, South Africa have far more substance than critics would allow.

A Manufactured Threat

During the manufactured Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s, anyone who did not go along with the status quo and instead called for peace and racial equality was labelled "communist." The Red Scare allowed for the creation of a permanent war economy and increased state repression. Similarly, whole cultural communities are now being scapegoated and tarred as "terrorists" as a cover for an insidious agenda: massive spending increases to maintain the permanent war economy, planning for and conducting permanent war itself in the interest of corporate profit, suspension of civil liberties to prevent protesting against these injustices, and a wave of racism designed to return greater numbers of Canadians to de facto apartheid-like conditions.

Among the Demands of the Walk

1. Immediate halt to the war against Afghanistan and Iraq, and prosecution of those national leaders (including Canada's) who have aided, abetted, and participated in the slaughter of over 3,600 civilians in Afghanistan and the murder of over 1 million Iraqis through sanctions and bombing.

2. The federal government must free the many innocents held behind bars solely because of the colour of their skin or their country of origin or ancestry. We demand the release of a list of all those being held on trumped up charges, or no charges at all, in the post September-11 "security" hysteria, and demand that all those imprisoned have immediate and ongoing access to legal counsel, family members, and necessary medical treatment. Thanks to the work of a small group of lawyers and supporters, some innocents have been freed. How many more innocents languish behind bars because of their skin colour?

3. Repeal of the following repressive legislation:

•"Suspension of Canadian Civil Liberties Act" (Bill C-36), under which Martin Luther King's Montgomery Bus Boycott or the advocacy of sanctions against apartheid South Africa would be considered terrorist acts. Virtually all protections of arrestees (i.e., right to silence) are eliminated.

•"'None is Too Many' Refugee Rejection Act" (Bill C-11). "Upon review of C-11 we are concerned there may be some people who are not protected from return to situations where they may be arbitrarily detained, tortured, disappeared or executed." -- Amnesty International. Law allows expanded powers of detention and broadens the scope of inadmissibility.

•"Canadian Anywhere, Anytime Martial Law Act" (C-42), which allows the creation of a "military security" zone anywhere, anytime a government minister deems it necessary for national "security."

•"Protection of State Terrorists Act" (Bill C-35), which makes immune from prosecution state leaders who have engaged in crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and crimes of terror (ie, Henry Kissinger, Augusto Pinochet, George Bush Sr. & Jr., Bill Clinton, Jean Chretien, Art Eggleton)

GETTING INVOLVED:

HOW THE WALK WILL WORK

The walk begins at the Metro West Detention Centre, where so many have been imprisoned, and ends at the office of Elinor Caplan, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigraton whose signature on "security certificates" dooms so many to the abyss of maximum security jail cells and secret prison trials.

Each day, we will gather at a new starting point accessible by TTC (Call 416-651-5800 for details and availability of rides)

SCHEDULE

Sun., Jan. 13: Meet at 11 am, Metro West Detention Centre, 111 Disco Rd. (By TTC, take subway to Kipling, Kipling 45 bus north to Dixon, transfer to any Malton 58 West bus to Carlingview, walk north to Disco, turn right). This stretch of the walk is approx. 15 km to office of War Minister Art Eggleton.

Mon., Jan. 14: Meet at 10 am, Wilson Subway Station, walk approximately 15 km via CFB Downsview to the Yonge & Sheppard headquarters of Nestle, whose racist policies of exporting infant formula kill millions of poor children annually.

Tues., Jan. 15: Meet at 10 am, Armed Forces Recruiting Centre, 4900 Yonge, 1 block north of Sheppard and Yonge (West side). 6 km walk to Thornhill office of Minister for Refugee Rejection Elinor Caplan.

Each day the walk will stop at local symbols of war, racism and repression, with appropriate nonviolent direct actions to be decided upon. You can take part in all of the walk or chunks of it. If you are from out of town and require billeting, let us know!

WALK BASIS OF UNITY

We ask that walk participants join us in a basis of unity that respects the dignity and humanity of fellow walkers as well as those with whom we may disagree (politicians, police, angry bystanders). This basis of unity, which encompasses an understanding that we will do no verbal or physical violence, is in no way a judgment on those who would carry things beyond these perameters in other situations; rather, they are specific to this event and the legacy of King and the civil rights movement.

Who are Toronto Action for Social Change and Homes not Bombs?

TASC is a nonviolent direct action group that organizes campaigns and actions around ending systemic injustices from war and racism to greed, poverty, sexism, environmental degradation, and much more. From planting zucchini gardens at Queen's Park to occupying Bay Street on May Day to watching in disbelief as the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Robin Hood and the Great Pumpkin have been arrested by Loblaws for issuing anti-hunger flyers, we seek creative and effective ways of transforming injustice and nonviolently undermining an "economic security" based on mass starvation, global poverty, ecological destruction and permanent war.

TASC is a member of Homes not Bombs, a province-wide network of folks who believe Canada should build homes, not blow them up. We engage in nonviolent direct actions such as transforming military facilities into housing (picture below is attempt to transform the War Dept. into the Housing Dept.), closing war shows, transforming military industries into companies which meet real human needs, and ending Canada's research and development of space warfare.

Both groups' actions are unapologetically confrontational, nonviolent, and transformative.

Do we believe in security? Of course. But there is no security in Canada for First Nations peoples still struggling after centuries of oppression for land rights and self-government. Nor is there any security for the 250,000 homeless in our midst, or the 5 million-plus who are forced to survive in poverty, nor the 3 million plus Canadians who line up at food banks each year. There is no security in Ontario from the ravages of easily stopped air pollution that premarurely kills 2,000 of us each year. And because our wealth comes at the expense of someone else's misery, there is no moral security in the fact that our privilege is built on enforced poverty for the majority of the world's population.

For more information: Call (416) 651-5800, tasc@web.ca, or write to us at PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0

"We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Our only hope today resides in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism and militarism. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." -- Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1945, Germany

"A time comes when silence is betrayal. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers and sisters." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

January 15 marks the birthdate of the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, whose passionate use of nonviolence captured the conscience of the world. This is a time to reflect on the horrible injustices which King worked against, such as war, racism, and repression, and to dedicate ourselves to ensuring that these evils are eliminated from our world.

Unfortunately, this is not a time for carefree celebration, for the problems of war, racism and repression are very much a part of our daily lives, whether we want to admit it or not. That is why we are walking 38 km. Our walk, like the walks King participated in, is an attempt to highlight some grave injustices which have been going in on Canada for quite some time, especially since the violent events of Sept. 11 that took place in the U.S.

Rather than seeking to create the conditions of world peace and justice, our "leaders" continue to pursue war as a means of solving conflict: more than twice as many civilians as were killed in the World Trade Center have been murdered by the intense bombing of Afghanistan (over 4000!).

Canada, like the U.S, has also revealed its deep seated racism once again since Sept. 11, as hundreds of Middle Eastern, Muslim, Arabic and other people of colour have been arbitrarily thrown into prison in this country. They have, literally, been "disappeared," and we are walking to demand from the government information about how many are behind bars, and why they have yet to be released. This information has not been made public, yet we have every reason to suspect many innocents languish behind bars, as every week we read of yet another innocent who has been freed, without charges or apology, after harrowing months in solitary confinement.

Indeed, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), RCMP, and local police have been in a feeding frenzy. One man who was cleared by a Federal Court of any allegations about suspected "terror" links was nonetheless re-arrested in August, and although no specific allegation has been made against him, this father of six sits in Metro West Detention Centre separated from his family.

Many individuals in this situation face secret trials in which the evidence against them is never seen, not by the individual facing allegations or by their lawyers: only by the Crown and the Judge. This violates that most basic of legal rights, that you know what you are charged with when you go before a court. Otherwise, how can you defend yourself?

Thousands more have experienced the ugly face of racism: taunts, jokes, physical abuse, and an atmosphere of fear which has prevented many from leaving their homes to carry on with their day to day activities.

To make matters worse, the government has passed three extremely dangerous pieces of legislation in the past months which will restrict everyone's civil liberties, from the right to protest against injustice to the right to wear certain cultural or religious symbols. A new refugee bill will certainly send people back to where they came from to face prison, torture, and execution. Another bill allows any minister of the government o declare martial law in certain areas of Canada at any time for vague reasons of "national security." And new immigration criteria make it almost impossible for anyone who is not white, with university education and piles of money in the bank, to enter Canada.

Do we believe in security? Of course. But there is no security in Canada for First Nations peoples still struggling after centuries of oppression for land rights and self-government. Nor is there any security for the 250,000 homeless in our midst, or the 5 million-plus who are forced to survive in poverty, nor the 3 million plus Canadians who line up at food banks each year. There is no security in Ontario from the ravages of easily stopped air pollution that prematurely kills 2,000 of us each year. And because our wealth comes at the expense of someone else's misery, there is no moral security in the fact that our privilege is built on enforced poverty for the majority of the world's population.

We urge you to stand up for your neighbours when they are persecuted, to say no to war, to racism, and to the removal of democratic rights. Call your MP (they are listed in the Blue pages of the phone book) and definitely call the office of Elinor Caplan, who as a Cabinet Minister in the Chretien Government is responsible for much of the misery befalling targetted communities.

We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Our only hope today resides in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism and militarism. We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." -- Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1945, Germany

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