[Read on for instructions and talking points]

Urgent: Despite insisting otherwise, Canadian officials have been quietly trying to re-negotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) with the United States to make it even harder for refugees to enter Canada. While we just found out, these backdoor negotiations have been going on since September! The STCA is an unjust law that turns many asylum seekers away at Canadian land border official crossings if they entered via the US. Now Canada wants to extend it not just to official posts, but the entire border. 

Canada must #LetThemIn and #LetThemStay.

Over 40,000 of you signed the petition calling on Trudeau to scrap the STCA. Your pressure helped force this issue onto the government’s agenda. Now we need you to turn up the heat.  
 

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The most important thing you can do right now is take 5 minutes to call your MP calling on them to #LetThemIn and #LetThemStay

Enter your information in to the box and we’ll automatically connect you to your MP.  If no one answers - you can leave a voicemail.

Here are some talking points you could include in your message:

• I’m calling because I heard that you are quietly negotiating with the US government to turn away refugee claimants and extend the STCA to the entire US-Canada border. This is neither fair, nor just!  
• Trump’s America is not safe. Thousands of asylum seekers are facing deportation from , separated from their families and being forced back to countries where they could be persecuted or even killed -- these people deserve to live with dignity in Canada.
• Extending the STCA would force migrant to take more dangerous routes and put them at risk. Already asylum seekers are avoidding regular official immigration channels and risk their lives in crossing the border on foot. People have lost fingers and toes making this trek, and it’s unacceptable. Mavis Otuteye died crossing in to Canada. 

I’m calling on the government to:

• #LetThemIn: End the Safe Third Country Agreement, welcome asylum seekers fleeing Trump’s America into Canada and stop jailing them;
•  #LetThemStay: Ensure all asylum seekers get proper legal, healthcare, housing and social services. No more case-by-case processing, give them all permanent status now. We need #StatusforAll 

 
Can we count on you to bring this message forward?
 

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Canadian immigration laws are in need of an overhaul. If you want to say more, here’s a more substantive list of other things Canada could do to open its borders to refugees and asylum seekers:

• Many asylum seekers are turned away from Canada because they are from a so-called “Safe Country”. Under the Designated Country of Origin (DCO) system, individuals are assessed not on the basis of their claims but on the country of origin. The DCO system must end.
• Asylum seekers coming in are unable to get decent housing, social support systems and are facing a processing backlog. We need federal funding for shelters, and immediate status for all.
• Lift all limitations and caps on refugee applications and sponsorships.
• Many asylum seekers and migrants are jailed indefinitely in Canada including children. We need to end to all immigration detention.
• Migrant workers are tied to their employers, and cannot leave jobs that make them sick. Migrant workers deserve open permits and status on landing.
• Over half a million undocumented residents also fear detentions and deportations. We need status for all undocumented residents, an end to deportations and for provinces to give them basic services (Sanctuary Provinces).
• Canada must rescind all federal legislation that attacks racialized Black and Brown Muslims and refugees, including the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act as well as anti-terror legislation such as Security Certificates and Bill C-51.

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Justin Trudeau is attempting to expand the dangerous and deadly effects of precarious border crossings to even more innocent people. People fleeing Trump. People seeking refuge, Mothers, fathers, children, families who only want to be safe and build a life. 

Don’t let him get away with it. 

Join us as we call on Canada to #LetThemIn #LetThemStay. Please call right now. 

In struggle and solidarity, 

No One Is Illegal - Toronto