“Canada should also accept non-Ukrainians fleeing the conflict” in Ukraine, said Diana Gallego, FCJ Refugee Centre Senior Director, on an interview this morning on CBC Radio program Metro Morning.

“The war and occupation in Ukraine is a tragedy for all humanity,” said Gallego. “In Ukraine there were already refugees living there, people already displaced by conflicts from the Middle East or Africa. Now, where are they going to run again? Who is going to protect them? Canada should open the door for them also,” she added.

Listen to the whole interview:

 

Canadian Health Coalition

The Canadian Health Coalition has won the right to intervene in an important case before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that could impact the ability of refugees to access Canada’s medicare system.

The CHC, the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues (CCPI) and the FCJ Refugee Centre were granted leave to intervene in the case of Nell Toussaint v. Attorney General of Canada by Justice Belobaba on January 14, 2022. Their application was opposed by the Attorney General of Canada. The coalition was represented by well-known human rights lawyer Martha Jackman, past board member who also represented the CHC and CCPI in the Chaoulli case.

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Joe Gunn, The Globe and Mail

You always knew when Francisco Rico Martinez was in the room: he was brash, outrageous and had the loudest laugh. His life was characterized by feet lovingly planted in both his native, as well as his adopted, homelands. He wore the red sweater of his favourite hometown soccer team (Salvador’s FAS) but quickly switched whenever it became time to don the colours of the Blue Jays or Raptors.

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CBC News

Asylum seekers hoping to cross the border at unauthorized border points, such as Quebec’s Roxham Road, will once again be allowed to enter the country to make a claim. The federal government lifted the ban on Sunday, citing the improving public health situation and the re-opening of the land border with the United States. The ban, which has been in place since late March of last year, saw would-be refugees denied at the border and returned to the United States.

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Radio Canadá Internacional

El gobierno federal canadiense levantó la prohibición que impuso durante la pandemia para quienes llegan a Canadá de forma irregular para solicitar refugio. La decisión del gobierno de Justin Trudeau fue anunciada el domingo e implica la reapertura del camino Roxham, así como otros puntos fronterizos no oficiales, por donde usualmente llegan estas personas, provenientes de Estados Unidos.

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Isabel Inclan, Toronto Star

Though immigration is one of the issues being discussed at the North American Leaders’ Summit, the issue did not figure prominently despite the recognition of a regional refugee crisis fueled by insecurity, cartel wars and unemployment, according to some analysts.

The Summit, known popularly as the Three Amigos summit, is having Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, President of the United States Joe Biden, and President of Mexico Andres M. Lopez Obrador meeting in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 18 to revive the trilateral meeting, where the topic of immigration was last on their list of items to be discussed.

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Paloma Martínez Méndez, RCI

Por la puerta del Centro de Refugiados FCJ de Toronto se cuelan el viento y el sol sin bloqueo alguno. De la misma manera puede entrar cualquier persona que así lo desee.

Las puertas de este organismo están siempre abiertas, como lo han estado durante los últimos 30 años. […]

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Simran Singh, Toronto Star

Francisco Rico-Martinez, co-director of FCJ Refugee Centre, passed away on Friday.

After coming to Canada from El Salvador with his wife and two children at the time, Francisco became committed to issues of social justice as a lawyer and economist.

He began his work with human rights in El Salvador and continued with solidarity work in Europe before settling down in Canada, where he began working for refugee rights.

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Lattin Magazine

Francisco Rico-Martínez, codirector del Centro de Refugiados FCJ, y una de las caras más conocidas en la lucha por los derechos de refugiados e inmigrantes en Canadá, falleció este viernes en Toronto a los 63 años de edad, víctima de un cáncer.

Nacido en 1958 en la ciudad salvadoreña de Santa Ana, Francisco llegó a Canadá como refugiado en 1989, junto con su esposa, Loly, y sus dos hijos (un tercero nacería ya en su nuevo país de residencia). Dos años después, bajo el paraguas de la organización religiosa FCJ (Fieles Compañeras de Jesús), la pareja puso en marcha el Centro de Refugiados FCJ, del que Loly Rico es codirectora, y que este año celebra su 30 aniversario.

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Óscar Vigil, Debate

Canadá está de luto. Este viernes, alrededor de las 3pm, falleció en Toronto uno de los más destacados defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes, y particularmente de los refugiados y de las personas sin estatus migratorio en el país: Francisco Rico-Martínez.

Este día cayeron lágrimas del cielo. Las nubes cubrieron como un manto la ciudad que hace más de tres décadas le abrió las puertas y lo adoptó como un hijo muy querido, cuando llegó a Canadá en busca de refugio proveniente de su natal El Salvador, un país que en esos momentos se batía en una de las más violentas guerras civiles del continente americano.

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Metro Morning, CBC

Many essential workers don’t get paid sick leave, and experts say that’s a driving force of COVID-19 spread.

An undocumented worker shares his experience.

Brendan Kennedy, Toronto Star

With COVID-19 vaccinations in Toronto’s homeless shelters already underway the vaccine rollout has expanded to refugee homes in the city, with mobile hospital teams operating several pop-up clinics in recent days.

Residents and staff at the FCJ Refugee Centre, Romero House and Adam House all received their vaccines on Tuesday.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Francisco Rico-Martinez, co-director of the FCJ Refugee Centre, where 50 people were vaccinated on Tuesday. “We’re delighted.” […]

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Brendan Kennedy, Toronto Star

As a personal support worker in a long-term-care home, Lily has been eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine since the first shots were administered back in December. But she hasn’t been vaccinated yet because she’s afraid — not of the vaccine itself, but that getting it could lead to losing her job or being deported.

[…]

The City of Toronto has partnered with the FCJ Refugee Centre since the beginning of the pandemic to ensure undocumented residents were able to access a range of services, from income supports to COVID-19 testing, and co-director Francisco Rico-Martinez said that partnership is continuing. He said he has met with city officials regarding vaccine access for undocumented people.

“They understand the issue,” he said. “They’re very open about our ideas, but they didn’t say yes to any of them.” […]

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Isabel Inclan, New Canadian Media

The spread of COVID-19 in several farms across the country and the death of three Mexican farmworkers in Southwestern Ontario has exposed the overcrowding in which they live on some farms, the lack of official inspection to guarantee distance and protection during the pandemic, and even suspicions of labour exploitation.

Many workers in places surrounded by the risk to get coronavirus are reluctant to be tested for COVID-19. Why? Their temporary immigration status makes them feel afraid to be returned to Mexico if they are positive, as reported by migrant workers´ advocates. […]

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Lisa Xing, CBC News

The federal government has conducted mostly remote inspections of Ontario farms that employ migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of physically entering the properties to make sure the labourers’ living conditions are safe.

Employment and Social Development Canada, the department responsible for the inspections, told CBC News that over the last four months, all the farms it inspected during the initial 14-day mandatory quarantine period complied with the rules as of June 12. […]

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Kathryn Blaze Baum and Tavia Grant, The Globe and Mail

When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit in March, the annual flow of farm labour into Canada hung in the balance.

Farmers feared that border closings and grounded planes would prevent agricultural workers, coming from countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica, from reaching their fields and greenhouses in time for the seeding season. Knowing this, Ottawa allowed entry of temporary foreign workers critical to the food system.

Conditions – including a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival – were put in place to protect Canadians. But advocates and health officials say not enough was done to protect the workers themselves. […]

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Rachel Emmanuel, iPolitics

Migrant worker advocates say the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for the federal government to create a new mechanism for foreign workers to access critical benefits like employment insurance (EI).

Debbie Douglas, executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, told the House human resources committee on Monday that the government must find a way to ensure that temporary foreign workers (TFWs) can access the benefits they’re already paying into, such as the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) and EI benefits. […]

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Isabel Inclan, New Canadian Media

Migrant workers’ advocates are calling on the federal government to adopt a holistic approach to address human trafficking that encompasses prevention, social protections, accountability, and labour mobility.

Migrant groups said existing government programs and policies fail to protect some migrant workers who are most susceptible to labour trafficking. […]

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