Donald Trump holds up a signed Presidential Memorandum on Saturday January 28 that bans travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Photo by Alex Brandon/ Associated Press.
The Council of Canadians North Shore chapter is encouraging people to contact their Member of Parliament asking them to denounce the Trump administration’s racist travel ban targeting Muslims, and to demand that the Trudeau government rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement and welcome more refugees to Canada this year, including those left stranded by Trump’s ban.
The chapter has tweeted, “Tell Canada’s government to step up against hate.”
They have also tweeted in support of an online action alert by our friends at The Leap Manifesto highlighting, “This is an easy tool to call on your MP to act NOW and step up against hate and attacks on Muslims in Canada & the US.”
The action alert calls on MPs to:
1- Publicly condemn the U.S. government’s racist travel ban.
2- Recognize that the U.S. is no longer “safe” for asylum-seekers.
3- Increase the number of refugees accepted by Canada in 2017.
4- Offer asylum to every refugee who has been vetted through the US resettlement process but can no longer travel to the US due to the executive order.
The Council of Canadians is supporting both the No One Is Illegal petition and this Leap Manifesto action alert.
Our chapters in Peterborough-Kawarthas, South Niagara, Guelph, Centre Wellington and London have participated in local vigils over the past two days in solidarity with the Muslim community following the attack on the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec on Sunday night that left six people dead and eight wounded.
Eight Ottawa-based Council of Canadians office staff and a member from the Ottawa chapter also took part in the protest on Monday afternoon outside the US Embassy in which thousands chanted ‘no bans, no walls, sanctuary for one and all’ as they formed a human chain that surrounded the embassy.
Chapters are also being encouraged to participate in the National Day of Action against Islamophobia and White Supremacy this Saturday February 4.
The Council of Canadians supports the calls for Trudeau to explicitly reject the Trump-imposed travel ban, for the Minister of Immigration to present a plan in the House of Commons on how to address this situation, and for the government to immediately rescind the Safe Third Country agreement with the United States.
We hope that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will undertake these actions before he meets with US President Donald Trump at the White House later this month.
The Council of Canadians supports diversity and inclusion, and rejects racism and Islamophobia.
