• About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
Thursday, June 30, 2022
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
  • Articles en français
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Culture
  • Videos
  • NB debrief
  • Articles en français
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home *Opinion*

Let Lucy Stay

by Gül Çaliskan
April 11, 2018
Reading Time: 3min read

Lights for Lucy vigil held at Fredericton City Hall on April 10, 2018. Photo by Jared Durelle.

Update: On April 13, 2018, Lucy Granados was deported from Canada to Guatemala. Lucy’s supporters in Canada are organizing for her return to Canada. 

This speech was delivered by Gül Çaliskan, an organizer with No One Is Illegal Fredericton and a professor of sociology at St. Thomas University, at the Lights for Lucy vigil held at Fredericton City Hall on April 10. 

Can we chant for Lucy? Let Lucy Stay!

We are here today because we dream of a better world—a world without borders, without the systems that force people to leave their homes.

A world where there is justice and dignity for migrants; a world where indigenous peoples have self-determination.

A world where those wishing to return to places they have left can do so.

It is a world where the state does not separate people into geographic territories.

This world might seem so far away.

But I can see it. Can’t you? We have no choice but to continue to dream that world.

Because, this world we envision puts a mirror for us to see this land.

Half a million of our friends, neighbors, co-workers, peers, and community members are undocumented in this land that we presently call Canada.

Even now, tens of thousands of refugees await decisions on their cases.

Nearly a hundred thousand migrant workers work in dangerous and difficult conditions.

Hundreds of people face indefinite periods of detention.

Nearly 100,000 migrants in Canada have been jailed without charge. Migrants are the only population of people in Canada who can be jailed on administrative grounds, without ever being charged with a specific criminal offense. That punishment is inflicted on up to 807 children per year.

Segregation is a legally recognized form of torture, and it must end.

In 2017, over 20,000 people entered Canada overland, escaping Trump’s America. They have access to few services, they lack full status, and they face possible deportation.

In the face of these challenges, communities across Canada are fighting back, as they envision the possibility of another world.

In dozens of places across the country, directly affected people and organizers are struggling for dignity.

The non-status women are organizing in Montreal.

We struggle to stop individual deportations (Lucy and Abdoul are only two of them).

Caregivers fight to stop the upcoming program closure that might deny status to thousands of workers.

Like many communities in cities across the country, in our city we are working to nurture a culture of commitment to reducing barriers and to accessing services for migrants who have precarious status or no immigration status.

We dream that future world, and so we demand full access to dignity, rights, and services for all people, regardless of immigration status, with a clear and consistent anti-colonial perspective. That commitment takes us a few steps closer to the world we dream of.

We will continue to hold that vision that feels so far away, yet so near.

Today, we say LET LUCY STAY.

Every day, we will demand, NO MORE DETENTIONS. STATUS FOR ALL, STATUS NOW!

Gül Çaliskan is a member of No One is Illegal in Fredericton.

Tags: asylumcaregiversCity of FrederictonFrederictonGül ÇalışkanimmigrationLet Lucy Staymigrantmigrant justicerefugeeslider
ShareTweetSend

Related Posts

New Brunswick writers have a new avenue of support
Culture

New Brunswick writers have a new avenue of support

June 21, 2022

There is strength in community. That much we know.  One of the biggest lessons learned over the past couple of...

What Rolling Thunder and the Freedom Convoy tell us about the Canadian working class
Canada

What Rolling Thunder and the Freedom Convoy tell us about the Canadian working class

May 25, 2022

The Canadian working class is organized yet ideologically confused. A few weeks ago, in late April and early May, Rolling...

New Brunswick must stop dragging its feet on affordable housing
Housing

Fredericton city council must delay vote on NBEX development: housing advocate

March 25, 2022

I'm writing as a Fredericton resident deeply concerned about the housing inequalities in our city. We have an opportunity to...

Students call on the University of New Brunswick to divest from fossil fuels
Climate change

Students call on the University of New Brunswick to divest from fossil fuels

March 20, 2022

The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is still invested in fossil fuels. Students, faculty and the wider community in Fredericton...

Load More

Recommended

More nuclear reactors (SMRs): A bad investment for New Brunswick

Public trust eroded: Longer 10-year licence for Lepreau nuclear reactor reduces Indigenous and community input

3 days ago
Let Us Be Seen: Pro-choice activism in Northern Ireland

Let Us Be Seen: Pro-choice activism in Northern Ireland

2 days ago
L’annulation de l’assurance-emploi suscite de « graves inquiétudes », selon les leaders étudiants

L’annulation de l’assurance-emploi suscite de « graves inquiétudes », selon les leaders étudiants

17 hours ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In