nightslantern.ca: #USA / #Québec // July 19, 2019

25.7.17

http://www.nightslantern.ca/2017bulletin.htm#jul19

July 19, 2019

U.S.A.: two threatened actions by the Trump administration may be points of no return in the enforcement of an illegal neo-fascist American agenda. The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that the DACA program will be dismantled. The "Deterred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program assures over 800,000 immigrants without official papers, work permits and a kind of asylum. The Department of Homeland Security has also warned that some undocumented workers under Temporary Protected Status risk having their TPS status cancelled. The disenfranchised are threatened with deportation to countries many have fled at the risk of their lives. Deportation to their countries of origin would be a violation of international law. According to Article 33 of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, "1. No Contracting State shall expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion." This Article is enforced by the U.S. accession to the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, Nov. 1, 1968. The Trump administration's disregard for aspects of human rights is underscored by the reported closing of the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Criminal Justice. The office was tasked with applying justice to war criminals. It has attempted to further U.S. policy interests at the International Criminal Court. It has recently engaged in identifying the sources of war crimes in Syria. Partial sources online: "Trump administration to end legal protection for over one million immigrants in US," Genevieve Leigh, July 15, 2017, World Socialist Web Site; "Those with DACA or TPS should “get ready to fight mass deportation”: Gutiérrez," Ricardo Ibarra, July 17,2017, La Prensa Sonoma; "Donald Trump's administration 'closes State Department office that investigates war crimes and genocide'," Ben Kentish, July 18, 2017, Independent; "Tillerson to Shutter State Department War Crimes Office," Colum Lynch, July 17, 2017, Foreign Policy (FP).

Québec City, Québec: Québec Muslims have been denied permission to develop a cemetery in the town of Saint-Apollinaire 35 kilometres from Québec City. The attempt to buy land adjacent to an established cemetery followed the massacre of Muslims at the Québec City mosque on January 29th. Five of the six victims were returned to their birth lands for burial and one was buried in the only Muslim cemetery in Québec currently, at Laval. The denial was possible when zoning changes which allowed the new cemetery were overturned by a 19 to 16 vote of town residents. The CBC reports that La Meute (see 1 and 2) was involved in early protest against the Muslim cemetery, applied through a petition to force the referendum which overturned the zoning changes. In a meeting at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Québec City after the vote, it was revealed that two days before, Canada Post had delivered a package containing a defaced Qur'an and a hate note in French suggesting the Muslims use a pig farm for their cemetery. There are also previous reports of strangers approaching the Mosque, asking for money etc. and running away. After Québec City's initial public show of sympathy and support for its Muslim community, survivors of the January 29th attack live under a kind of terror. Current information on accused murderer Alexandre Bissonnette, is not easily available. At Bissonnette's court appearance on February 21, 2017, the judge ordered a publication ban. Charged with six counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder he's expected in court September 8th. The Québec Court Judge Jean-Louis Lemay has expressed concern with delays caused by the Crown's (ie. the prosecution's) slowness in disclosing evidence against Bissonnette. Several murder suspects have been freed in Québec due to a Supreme Court ruling last year (the Jordan decision) which requires Provincial Court legal proceedings be completed within 18 months. Partial sources online: "Quebec town votes against allowing Islamic cemetery to be built," Kenyon Wallace, July 16, 2017, Toronto Star; "Voters reject Quebec City-area Muslim cemetery project 19 to 16 ," Jonathan Hayward, July 17, 2017, The Canadian Press; "Quebec City mayor worried about far-right group linked to cemetery referendum," Jonathan Montpetit, July 18 & 19, 2017, CBC News; "Defaced Qur'an, hateful note sent to Quebec City mosque where January shootings occurred," July 19, 2017, CBC News; "Quebec mosque shooting suspect Alexandre Bissonnette changes lawyer," Andy Riga, March 30, 2017, Montreal Gazette; "Judge worried about delays in alleged mosque shooter case," Canadian Press, May 29, 2017, CTV News Montreal.

-by J.B.Gerald, Gerald and Maas nightslantern.ca

Read the full article …

Dispatch: Aboriginal Press Media Group | Permalink | [25.7.17] | 0 comments

596192971970466482

» {Newer-Posts} {Older-Posts} «

0 Comments: