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Do you know someone who should be acknowledged for their extraordinary stand for peace?
Related to country: Canada
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Every time someone takes an action for peace, people are connected; to themselves and to each other. In every community there are people who make a difference and who try hard to bring peace and prosperity to the world they live in, often in the face of great conflict and injustice. The YMCA Peace Medallion is your way to recognize and celebrate members of your community who inspire us to join them in creating a more peaceful world.
 
I needed your help to generate a nomination (or two) in the next few days. Perhaps you know someone who qualifies for this prestigious award.
If so then lets chat. I am available to assist with a submission!
 
See examples of Last years 2007 YMCA Peace Medallion Recipients
 
We honour those who are working as volunteers to craft peaceful solutions to violence, poverty, injustice and discrimination. We are once again recognizing the extraordinary commitment that community Peacemakers have on the world. From all walks of life, from all cultures and heritages, Peacemakers are united by their desire to create a culture of peace.
 
CRITERIA
We are seeking individuals who:
  • Find peaceful solutions to violence, conflict, discrimination and injustice
  • Make a difference by working quietly without any special recognition (financial, status or otherwise) to create a culture of peace
  • Volunteer their time and work without any special resources (financial, status or otherwise) to create a culture of peace
  • Enhance the lives of people in their community and around the world by creating peaceful environments

This award is intended to acknowledge time and effort contributed on a voluntary basis. Services performed during the normal course of professional or business duties are not eligible for recognition. Self-nominations or YMCA staff will not be considered.

 
NOMINATION PROCESS
Typically it takes a few weeks to drum up nominations and get them ready for the Oct 10th deadline. This week I am calling folks within my network ask for their assistance in generating nominations for submission.
 
Contact: Dan Trepanier, YMCA of Greater Toronto, 42 Charles Street East, Toronto, ON M4Y 1T4,  T 416.928.3362 ext.2002, F 416.928.3552

PS: Final draft of Submissions are due by Friday, October 10, 2008. Details on the 2008 Awards can be found at http://www.ymcatoronto.org/en/who-we-are/our-organization/international/news-events/peace_week_08.html

 
SELECTION PROCESS
The committee is made up of community members and YMCA staff chosen to represent a variety of interests, experiences and ages. Recipients are honoured with the Medallion at special Peace Ceremonies in November during YMCA World Peace Week at YMCAs across the GTA.

See Blog link at http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/479883 Submit content or feedback for this list at http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/479883#postcomments Copyright © The YMCA of Greater Toronto. Duplication permitted with attribution and a link back to the blog

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September 17, 2008 | 11:09 AM Comments  0 comments
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Twelve Core Values in LGBTQ Services
Related to country: Canada
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

This "12 Core Values in LGBTQ Services" framework1 helps service providers to define program and participant outcomes. The list below2 has been adapted from a variety of sources.

1. Access
2. Inclusion
3. Client empowerment
4. User-defined services
5. Holistic approach
6. Respect for the individual
7. Cultural sensitivity
8. Community development
9. Collaboration
10. Accountability
11. Orientation towards positive change
12. Reliability

1. Services are accessible to all who need them. Access is assured by:
  • providing a welcoming LGBTQ ‘safe’ environment
  • offering services in the client’s own language, where possible and appropriate
  • offering culturally appropriate services
  • undertaking outreach, so that services are known to those who might benefit
  • communicating effectively about the organization and its services
  • where possible, offering services irrespective of immigration status or other criteria of eligibility
  • providing an environment where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered members feel comfortable
  • offering childcare, where appropriate
  • having a geographically accessible site and/or addressing clients’ need for transportation
  • having a physically accessible site
  • listening to and responding to concerns about accessibility.

2. Services are offered in an inclusive manner; respectful of and sensitive to diversity. Inclusion is assured by:

  • ecognizing the diversity of needs and experiences (e.g. young, old, highly educated, those without education, singles, families)
  • offering anti-racist, anti homophobia services
  • providing a non-sexist environment
  • enforcing a policy of non-discrimination
  • offering non-judgmental services
  • respecting different perspectives within LGBTQ communities.

3. Clients are empowered by services. Client empowerment is assured by:

  • fostering independence in clients
  • meaningful membership and participation of clients in the Board
  • encouraging client involvement in all areas of the organization
  • involving clients as volunteers
  • recognizing, affirming and building on the resources, experiences, skills and wisdom of LGBTQ members
  • providing information and education to allow clients to make their own informed decisions
  • offering programs and services leading to employment and career advancement
  • offering a supportive environment (especially to those who are traumatized)
  • supporting the clients' right to choose from among service providers the approach that best meets their needs.

4. Services respond to needs as defined by users. User-defined services are assured by:

  • undertaking an individual assessment for each client of needs, expectations, goals and priorities
  • assessment of the needs and priorities of LGBTQ communities
  • involving LGBTQ members in needs assessments
  • ongoing assessment of whether services continue to meet needs
  • listening to clients and communities served
  • responding to the particular needs of LGBTQ people (recognition of differences, changing needs)
  • offering flexibility in services
  • incorporating flexibility into programs, in order to allow them to adapt to changing needs
  • involving users in the planning, implementation and evaluation of services
  • offering users maximum control over programs.

5. Services take account of the complex, multifaceted, interrelated dimensions of settlement and integration. A holistic approach is assured by:

  • recognizing the diversity of an individual's needs (physical, social, psychological, political, spiritual)
  • responding wherever possible to a variety of needs at once
  • providing a range of services in one location ("one-stop")
  • recognizing that integration is a long-term process
  • avoiding compartmentalization
  • taking into account the effects of policy decisions on individuals and communities and responding through advocacy
  • recognizing the importance of the family in the lives of individuals
  • providing opportunities for relaxation and fun.

6. Services are delivered in a manner that fully respects the rights and dignity of the individual. Respect for the individual is assured by:

  • confidentiality
  • services free of racism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination
  • respecting the fundamental rights of each participant
  • compliance with a Code of Ethics
  • offering a professional quality of services
  • recognizing the uniqueness of each person
  • giving full and accurate information
  • making human contact
  • good monitoring, selection and training of volunteers.

7. Services are delivered in a manner that is culturally ‘queer’ sensitive. Culturally sensitive services are assured by:

  • having staff and volunteers from the same background as the clients served
  • ensuring that service providers are knowledgeable about the ‘queer’ culture of those being served
  • offering services in a ‘queer’ culturally appropriate manner
  • developing and implementing policies on ‘queer’ cultural competency and anti-racism
  • showing respect for ‘queer’ different cultures.

8. Services promote the development of LGBTQ communities and participation in the wider community, and develop communities that are welcoming of LGBTQ people. Community development is assured by:

  • giving priority to community building
  • investing in the development of LGBTQ communities
  • developing community leadership
  • building bridges between communities
  • eliminating barriers to LGBTQ participation in the community
  • familiarity with the resources in the local community
  • working towards changes in public attitude towards LGBTQ people
  • working through the organizations of LGBTQ communities
  • involving volunteers in services delivered.

9. Services are delivered in a spirit of collaboration. Collaboration is assured by:

  • promoting partnerships between organizations that build on strengths of each
  • good working relationships
  • team-building
  • communicating regularly with others and sharing information
  • referral services
  • coalition-building
  • providing opportunities for community problem-solving
  • taking account of available resources and experiences.

10. Service delivery is made accountable to the communities served. Accountability is assured by:

  • the organization's Board
  • evaluation, involving the participants
  • ongoing monitoring
  • performance appraisals
  • policy and procedure manuals (for financial management, administration and personnel)
  • close connection with immigrant and refugee communities
  • fiscal responsibility
  • development of goals and specific measurable, realistic outcomes.

11. Services are oriented towards promoting positive change in the lives of LGBTQ people and in the capacity of society to offer equality of opportunity for all. An orientation towards positive change is assured by:

  • advocating for improvements in policy
  • recognizing and building on the possibility of change in the lives of LGBTQ people and in society
  • developing new programs and new service models
  • improving services through training and research
  • celebrating successes.

12. Services are based on reliable, up-to-date information. Reliability is assured by:

  • keeping information up-to-date
  • using social research
  • exchanging information.

[1] For LGBTQ Terms and Definitions go to http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/368797

[2] See Blog link at http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/371771 Submit content or feedback for this list at http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/371771#postcomments Copyright © The YMCA of Greater Toronto. Duplication permitted with attribution and a link back to the blog

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May 15, 2008 | 12:04 PM Comments  0 comments
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Commonly Used LGBTQ Terms & Definitions
Related to country: Canada
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The acronym LGBTQ is commonly used to represent lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning people. Not using other ‘letters’ in the term is not intended to be exclusive of other individuals. This acronym is often used as a ‘general term’ to save space. The list below1 will help the reader understand the many other brief definitions and terms used:

Ally – A person who, irrespective of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, supports and stands up for the human and civil rights of LGBTQ people.

Androgynous: Term for someone presenting not male or female. Quite often a state of someone just prior to going full time.

Bisexual – A person who is attracted physically and emotionally to both males and females.

"Coming out of the closet": (very often shortened to "coming out" in winking reference to the public introduction of debutantes) describes the voluntary public announcement of one's (often homosexual or bisexual) sexual orientation or gender identity. The first person we come out to is ourselves. Coming out is a lifelong process; happens over and over again as one moves into new situations, meets new people, forms new relationships

Gay – A person who is physically and emotionally attracted to someone of the same sex. The word gay can refer to both males and females, but is commonly used to identify males only.

Gender Expression – The way a person publicly shows one’s gender identity through clothing, speech, body language, wearing of make-up and/or accessories and other forms of displaying masculinity or femininity.

Gender Identity – A person’s internal sense of being male or female. Gender expression relates to how a person presents his or her sense of gender to society. Gender identity and gender expression are often closely linked with the terms transgender and trans-identified.

GSA – A school-based gay–straight student alliance found in some high schools in North America.

Heterosexism – The assumption that everyone is heterosexual and that this sexual orientation is superior. Heterosexism is often expressed in more subtle forms than homophobia.

Homophobia – Fear and/or hatred of homosexuality in others, often exhibited by name-calling, bullying, exclusion, prejudice, discrimination, or acts of violence. Anyone who is LGBTQ or assumed to be LGBTQ can be the target of homophobia. Homophobia is: Individual Prejudice/Bigotry: verbal/physical harassment on the part of a person or group of persons. Systemic and Institutional: upheld by governments, laws, police, authorities etc. Cultural and Ideological: permeates the values and norms of a society. "Everyday": having to constantly be aware of surroundings out of fear of harassment. Internalized: we live in a homophobic society, are subjected to, and absorb those values constantly, regardless of sexual orientation. We censor ourselves in order to avoid being targets of homophobia

Lesbian – A female who is attracted physically and emotionally attracted to other females.

LGBTQ – is an acronym meaning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans. It is the currently preferred term to collectively describe people who self-define as one or more of these, although it should be noted that there are many people who "fit" into the LGBTQ community without self-defining as any of "L", "G", "B" or "T", such as those who self-define as "Queer", "Pansexual" or one of many other terms.  The LGBTQ community is very diverse and the term LGBTQ is somewhat controversial in that it encourages the pigeonholing of people into categories with fixed roles, ignoring the wide diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity of people in the LGBTQ community.

Perceived Sexual Orientation – When someone wrongly assumes that you are lesbian, gay, or bisexual without knowing what your true sexual orientation really is (heterosexual).

Queer – Historically, a negative term for homosexuality, but more recently reclaimed by the LGBT movement to refer to itself. Increasingly, the word “queer” is popularly used by LGBT youth as a positive way to refer to themselves.

Questioning– A person who is unsure of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Sexual Orientation – A person’s deep-seated feelings of emotional and sexual attraction to another person. This may be with people of the same gender (lesbian or gay), the other gender (heterosexual/straight) or either gender (bisexual).

Straight/Heterosexual– A person who is sexually and emotionally attracted to someone of the “opposite” sex.

Transgender/Trans-identified – A person whose gender identity, outward appearance, expression and/or anatomy do not fit into conventional expectations of male or female. Often used as an umbrella term to represent a wide range of non-conforming gender identities and behaviours.

Transphobia/Lesbophobia/Biphobia– The irrational fear of people who transgress, challenge or break from stereotypical expressions of male and female gender norms. Trans people/lesbians/bisexuals -is often expressed in subtle and overt ways that may include stereotyping, harassment, discrimination and violence.

Transsexual – A person who experiences intense personal and emotional discomfort with their assigned birth gender. Some transsexuals may undergo treatments (i.e. sex reassignment surgery and/or hormone therapy) to physically alter their body and gender expression to correspond with what they feel their true gender is. This term is most commonly used to refer to a person who is transitioning from one gender to another. For example, M2F represents a person born biologically male who is transitioning to female. F2M represents a person born biologically female who is transitioning to male. Transsexuals may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or straight. Importantly, a person’s gender identity can be different from a person’s sexual orientation.

Two Spirit – Some Aboriginal people identify themselves as two-spirited rather than as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans-identified. Historically, in many Aboriginal cultures two-spirited persons were respected leaders and medicine people. Two-spirited persons were often accorded special status based upon their unique abilities to understand both male and female perspectives.

A Note about Definitions:

It is important to remember that when trying to refer appropriately to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered/transsexual people, that the use of words is constantly changing and depends entirely on context. For example to refer to a lesbian as a "dyke" can be both an insult - if used insultingly - and recognition of that person's way of acknowledging and identifying themselves and their community. As in many communities, LGBTQ people use the same words to often mean different things. This is partially a reflection that language itself is fluid and evolving.

This includes the use of reclaimed language, which means taking back words that have been used in negative and derogatory ways historically and using them in positive and empowering ways.


[1] Expanded definitions and more terms are available on the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity webpage www.teachers.ab.ca , click on Diversity, Equity & Human Rights (under Issues in Education) and follow the links. See Dan’s Blog link at http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/368797 Submit content for this list at http://dantrepanier.tigblog.org/post/368797#postcomments
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May 9, 2008 | 11:57 AM Comments  0 comments


Gay Christians Struggle in Bogota Colombia and ask Toronto Church (MCCT) for Help.
Related to country: Colombia


Hello,
We are a gay couple from Bogota Colombia, both Christians for so many years, maintaining a 3 years committed relationship. As you can imagine, it is so difficult for us to serve in our churches here in Colombia because of church legalism, social and family issues and health status.

We have been praying for a long time and searching for opportunities to make our calling to become a reality. Despite the fact we have been working and studying on our churches, and having Christian families, now it became impossible to go on with our ministries.

Here is a brief of our lives.
When I was young, I became Christian mainly searching for answers and a drastic change from my homosexuality. Jesus Christ has been the reason of my life since then, I've been serving in praise and worship, in teaching young people, studying theology, working in a missionary group in my church, even all my family is Christian now.

But the first reason I entered, years ago, in a church was still unsolved, falling and getting up on and on, when I met Edinson in a very similar situation.

Unfortunately, my sexual orientation and the church's point of view about it, are not compatible, so I had to stop working when I was forced to "go out" to my Pastor and church authorities. I really miss the opportunity of having a ministry and serving The Lord.

I was looking for some information about what we can do when I found MCC Toronto on the internet. We were exited noticing that your Church is open for people like us and there is a place to work and serve others.

We are being sincere. We are asking you for some help. It could be, firstly, the possibility of going there, to Canada, to volunteer with your Church as a Christian couple, and become part of your community (we are not sure what is it depending on, but we are just searching for a way).
Any help you could give us in this aspect (information or direct helping), would be nice. Also, we know there is a possibility of doing this, asking for refuge in Canada due to our sexual orientation and the homophobia and intolerance here in Colombia and in our churches. It is important for us to find what you know about this issue and if you could give us some information.

Right now, as we write this, we are praying to God, asking Him for guide and His approval for our plans. But, we also know this is up to you if you decide to answer back our letter with what you think about our intentions. However, we appreciate the fact that you read this.

Yours in Christ,

Anonymous Author from Colombia (To protect privacy & reproduced with permission)


May 9, 2007 | 4:33 PM Comments  0 comments


REV. DR. BRENT HAWKES AWARDED THE YMCA 2006 Peace Medallion Award.
Related to country: Canada
Translations available in: English (original) | French

The YMCA Peace Medallion Award recognizes individuals who have shown a commitment to peace through personal contributions made within their community. Peace Medallions are awarded in communities across the GTA during YMCA World Peace Week: November 18-25, 2006.

We honour individuals who are peacemakers, working in a volunteer capacity towards peaceful solutions to violence, conflict, discrimination and injustice; who have had a significant impact on the lives of others in their community, but without any special recognition or special resources.

Past recipients come from all walks of life yet they are united in their active commitment to creating a culture of peace.

You are invited to the
YMCA 2006 Peace Medallion
Awards Presentation
Honouring Peacemakers in our Community

Thursday, November 23, 7:30 a.m.
YMCA Charles Street Auditorium
42 Charles St. E. (Yonge and Bloor), Toronto. Canada

RSVP: Veronica Hercules (416) 413-1020 ext 4204
please be sure to indicate ceremony location when responding.

October 27, 2006 | 7:50 PM Comments  0 comments
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GLORIOUSLY FREE is the first documentary to explore the world of gay immigration
Related to country: Canada

GLORIOUSLY FREE is the first documentary to explore the world of gay immigration, and the desperate search of five young men to find welcoming arms outside their countries of birth-where persecution and hatred of alternative lifestyles may lead to torture or death. What they find is Canada, leading the world as the safest haven for persecuted gays and lesbians.

GLORIOUSLY FREE is a powerful profile of gay immigrants to Canada. Among them are Al-Hussein from Jordan; Julian, blackmailed and blacklisted in his homeland of Mexico and a resident of Canada for three years; Bruno, who immigrated from Brazil and now makes his living as a singer; David, a former U.S. Port Captain with a prominent Texas-based drilling company; and Frantz, a graphic artist from Jamaica.

Excluded from the opportunity to live freely in their native countries, these resilient young men tell stories of blackmail and violence.

"Many others have touched on the same-sex marriage theme, but GLORIOUSLY FREE delves deeper into the true issues of human rights and social freedom. It is about the personal journeys of very different gay and lesbian individuals who have sought refuge and comfort in the open arms of Canada," says filmmaker Noemi Weis.

The documentary also looks at Canada's unique and liberal immigration laws and the procedure by which international gays and lesbians can apply for refugee status in a country that is fast becoming the world's unspoken symbol of sexual freedom.

With some of the world's most progressive immigration laws for same-sex couples and gay and lesbian refugees, it is estimated that over 2,500 people of same-sex preference have sought admission to Canada in last three years.

GLORIOUSLY FREE is directed by Ed Sinclair and produced by Noemi Weis; it is a Filmblanc production, in association with OMNI Television.

GLORIOUSLY FREE aired on CBC Monday February 7 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/glorious.html

October 20, 2006 | 12:03 PM Comments  1 comments


When the blindfold came off. WORLD POLITICS / Activist calls Mexico dollar-friendly, not gay-friendly
Related to country: Mexico

Written by Aidan Johnson / Xtra / Thursday, October 12, 2006

How lesbian poet and Mexican human rights activist Emma Beltran came to be in Canada is not a happy story.

Beltran says she was kidnapped at gunpoint by four men on a busy street in Mexico City on the night of Mar 23, 2001 and for seven days was subjected to a waking nightmare of physical and psychological torture at the hands of the Mexican National Army, and thus the Mexican government.

"I was blindfolded the whole time, but I knew that the place was in the countryside," says Beltran, who came to Canada in 2002 and was granted refugee status in 2005. "It was quiet, and the air was fresh. Not like the city at all. I heard crickets when they moved me from the van to the building."

At the time, Beltran, 32, was a writer-activist deeply involved in the national student and indigenous-rights movements in Mexico. She says that her kidnappers made it plain that her politics, including her open lesbianism, were the reasons for the torture.

Her new life in Toronto has her continuing her literary career and working for the rights of queer refugees to Canada, including writing a resource guide and practical advice book aimed at queer refugee status claimants.

"Gay and trans refugees face incredible barriers when they claim sexual orientation as the basis for their refugee status," says Beltran. "They're often just not believed. Or the immigration court insists that homophobia or transphobia in the home country can't be that bad, because the country has some sort of official policy saying [gaybashing is] illegal. But the judge doesn't know anything about the lives of gay people or trans people in that country, of course."

Beltran speaks of a queer reality in Mexico that belies the reputation the country has among many gay tourists who visit the country's apparently queer-friendly resorts.

"The resorts aren't gay-friendly, they're dollar-friendly," Beltran says. "The people who run the resorts are all smiles for gay tourists with money to spend there. But they'd spit on the poor gay Mexican who lives near the resort, because he's gay."

Beltran knows of Mexican trans people punched in the face on subways for being trans. The antiqueer aspect of her own persecution was more extreme.

"During the seven days of my torture, I was repeatedly gang-raped. The men said that they knew I was a lesbian, that this would make me not a lesbian," she says. "The blindfold only ever came off when they took photographs of me with a blinding flash, so I couldn't see anything. But I know I would recognize those men today, by their voices."

Beltran says that her own refugee status is based on her persecution as a political activist, rather than her persecution as a lesbian specifically.

She says that her persecution was triggered by work she had done as a journalist and broadcaster with the radical student radio station at the National Autonomous University Of Mexico in Mexico City, offering news and commentary on the national student strike that shaped the Mexican political scene in 1999 and 2000.

Beltran had earned a reputation for political radicalism as a writer and activist working in Chiapas, the southern Mexican state best known as the home base of the Zapatista Army Of National Liberation, the social justice movement for and by the marginalized of Mexico, particularly indigenous people.

From 1994 to 2000, she split her time between Mexico City and Chiapas coordinating political poetry-writing groups, journalism and theater workshops, and Spanish literature classes for indigenous activists.

"The indigenous people and the Zapatistan movement are queer-positive," she says.

Today, Beltran is a member of the Writers In Exile Network Of PEN Canada, the organization for writers imprisoned and exiled by government regimes, and for freedom of expression. The Canadian PEN chapter is presently chair of the international network, and arranged for Beltran to work at the University Of Windsor in spring 2006 as exiled writer-in-residence.

Beltran's English- and Spanish-language poetry has been published in the US, Canada, Mexico and Russia. While much of her work is on explicitly political themes, Beltran also writes flowing and lyric verse that suggests Romantic poetry of nature and love. Her poetry suggests that Beltran has a power to see beyond her immediate, pressing circumstances as one political refugee.

She hopes to eventually find a way to pursue her case back in Mexico through legal channels, and find justice.

"I'm not interested in justice for me, not at all," she says. "I'm interested in justice for all of the victims of torture and political imprisonment in Mexico. If I could somehow use my case so that the UN condemns Mexico for its crimes, so that justice comes for the activists who have suffered there, that would be the ideal. That's what I want."

Beltran's guide for queer refugee claimants is available at the 519 Community Centre (519 Church St). http://www.the519.org/

Written by Aidan Johnson / Xtra / Thursday, October 12, 2006
http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=3&STORY_ID=2194&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2

October 17, 2006 | 7:07 PM Comments  0 comments
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Gay refugees find safe place
Related to country: Canada

The 519 organization offers peer support and acceptance
Many from countries where it's dangerous to `come out' Oct. 6, 2006.THULASI SRIKANTHAN Toronto Star, STAFF REPORTER
The 519
For years, Ugandan-born Shafiq Mawji kept his sexual orientation to himself, terrified of the consequences.

Today, Mawji — who came out of the closet two years ago — is helping other refugees at The 519, a Toronto organization that is open to everyone but focuses on programming for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities.

"It's the Mecca for gay refugees from outside of Canada," said Mawji, who joined shortly after arriving here in March 2004. He insisted on using a pseudonym, for fear of affecting his ongoing refugee case.

Refugees from all over the world — including Eastern Europe, Africa and South and Central America — come out for the "refugee peer support group," one of the key programs The 519 offers.

The 519 is supported by the United Way of Greater Toronto and located on Church St. in the heart of Toronto's gay community. It offers a variety of programs that include a legal advice clinic, anti-violence programs, income-tax clinics, gay parenting programs and community counselling.

"We noticed many people coming to 519 to make contact with the (gay community) once they arrived from countries where it is not safe to identify themselves," said Alison Kemper, executive director.

"I think coming out for some people is way too dangerous because in some countries, there is the death penalty. Once inside the group, they are willing to identify themselves."

For many refugees, coming to a welcoming space is a transforming experience, she said.
"For many, it's an overwhelming experience to be in a gay- and lesbian-positive environment," Kemper said. "It's something that doesn't exist in many places around the world.

"For many, it's their first experience with a place that is safe, secure and accepting."
Many refugees come to the group facing several challenges, said Geoff MacDonald, volunteer co-ordinator of the refugee peer support group.

"There is certainly racism, they are alienated, and there is difficulty navigating the system," MacDonald said, referring to the struggles of many to find status in Canada.

"A lot of people are also nervous. They are not sure what we do."
But it hasn't stopped people from coming, he said. The program has been popular, drawing about 100 people in the past two years. And for those like Mawji, it's a place he can't imagine doing without. "I came from a troubled childhood. I never had support," he said.

"This was like coming to a new family. It's a refuge." Mawji, who has lived in Pakistan and the United States, says the support group has helped him in his attempts to get refugee status in Canada, and to deal with the emotional fallout from his family shunning him and having his credentials not recognized in his new country.

"I was a basket case," he said. Now, he says, he's feeling a bit better because "they help you find your way through the maze."

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the United Way of Greater Toronto.

The target for the 2006 fundraising campaign is $100 million to support 200 health and social services agencies serving more than one million people in Toronto.

To donate, go to http://www.unitedwaytoronto.com or call 416-777-2001.519 artic

October 16, 2006 | 12:38 PM Comments  0 comments


Our Struggles as a Gay Couple In Bangladesh or Mexico
Related to country: Bangladesh

Excerpts from an email sent to Dan Trepanier in Toronto.

I'm hope that our story might be able to inspire other people to realize how lucky they are to be Gay or Lesbian in Canada! I hope people out there reach out and fight for other Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters to accomplish, and one day become at least "happy".

Well, I'm counting the day for me to arrive in Canada, but I cannot help the feeling of leaving my partner behind in Bangladesh. It’s been a nightmare going through all of this. I cannot imagine how hard it is to survive just because we have different sexual orientations. It’s becoming something surreal. We are actually living with one of my partner’s friends. He is the only one that is being there for us. We have nothing, we lost everything, and still we feel persecuted by the fact that we are gay (in Mexico where I come from and Bangladesh where we are living now).

Nobody knows where we are staying, because this would mean harm to our lives. I'm only counting the days to find a little bit of peace, but lots of things are going through my mind. As I have mentioned before, my partner cannot join me because of financial issues. I don't know what's going to happen to him (my love) once I'm gone.

I'm extremely worried about our situation. Why is this happening? I want to help him; I don't want to leave him. I'm willing to find a job as soon as I get to a safe place like Canada. I will be worried sick every day. I want to thank you Dan for being there on the other side of the computer screen (in Toronto) reading this note. It’s amazing we mean nothing to our families anymore, I can't believe it.

I have feelings about something that I want you to know because it’s hard to find someone in the country I come from (Mexico). Things have not been easy, and I can not just focus on the negative feelings within myself because I believe in second opportunities, and the ability to demonstrate one's humanity.

I've been deprived from the ability to complete my goals and dreams in my country. I look forward to finding the chance and realize these dreams one day; I guess that's the reason why I keep on writing to you – because you give me hope! I know you are a busy person, but your e-mails Dan, and your support make me feel like there is hope!

Its amazing how people from two different worlds can meet and become what me and my partner are -"one". I know my partner is made just for me; I don't want to bore you with corny stuff, but leaving him behind, leaves my heart too. Dan we have been fighting to be with each other, he is my best friend, he understands, and he inspires me to fight for him every day. I hope people who are free and have the chance to be with whoever they want to be, realize how lucky they are. Fighting is not an option anymore, but waking up next to him and see him breathe just makes my day. Pray for us, pray for him. I hope this can help and more than anything I hope we can make a difference.

I read all the things your LGBT Support group in Toronto has accomplished and the programs you created and I realize that because of you many people are now happy and able to achieve their dreams.

I ask for you to make a difference in ours; I know it’s not an easy task, but all we have is hope. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you one day!

Thanks once more.
I hope to hear from you soon and may God bless your life and day! Take care

Anonymous Author (To protect privacy & reproduced with permission)

September 28, 2006 | 5:55 PM Comments  1 comments


Amnesty: Situations Worsens For Gays In Uganda
Related to country: Uganda

(New York City) Amnesty International says the situation in Uganda is increasingly worsening for the country's LGBT population - particularly in the past week.

In at least three cases, Amnesty says, people named as gay by a Ugandan magazine, the Red Pepper, suffered harassment and were ostracized by colleagues and families.

The human rights group says that is concerned that those outed by the publication risk arrest on the basis of their alleged sexual orientation and could face humiliating and degrading treatment in custody.

Gay sex is illegal in Uganda - punishable by prison terms. Those convicted report prolonged beatings and other abuses while incarcerated.

Last year the government made it a criminal offense for a same-sex couple to marry, anyone performing a gay marriage could be imprisoned, and foreign nationals would not be exempt from the law even if they were in country without their spouse, including international aid workers.

The government also promotes abstinence rather than condoms in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Condoms are reportedly in short supply in stores with AIDS activists suggesting it is part of a government plan.

Amnesty in a statement Tuesday called on the government to respect the human rights provisions of its own constitution and to abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors states’ implementation of the ICCPR, has urged states not only to repeal laws criminalizing homosexuality but also to enshrine the prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation into their constitutions or other fundamental laws.

The Ugandan government has not responded to Amnesty's call.

THIS ARTICLE WRITTEN by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff August 29, 2006 - 9:00 pm ET
Link to Article http://365gay.com/Newscon06/08/082906uganda.htm

September 26, 2006 | 12:37 PM Comments  1 comments


HIV patients in search of a home
Related to country: Canada

About 160 AIDS-conference delegates await chance to make refugee claims
MARINA JIMÉNEZ IMMIGRATION REPORTER The Globe and Mail Sat Sept 9th, 2006

It was hardly a surprise when 160 HIV-positive foreigners in Toronto for the recent AIDS conference decided to make refugee claims.

The non-governmental organizations that lobbied for their visas were so worried they would defect, many dispatched minders to ensure the delegates showed up for their return flights.

Joaquin Ramirez, a 36-year-old clothing seller from El Salvador, was one conference delegate who gave his minder the slip.

"To be gay isn't against the law in El Salvador," said Mr. Ramirez, a soft-spoken, slim, gay man, in the first interview he has given about his claim. "But you are beaten and raped for it. Growing up I was raped by two [male] relatives and I never told anyone about it. It was a terrible experience. One burned me with a cigarette on my back."
The country where Mr. Ramirez recently became infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS has a vicious culture of homophobia and the second-highest homicide rate in the Americas.

He was also raped by three police officers who, he said, refused to use his proffered condom even when he disclosed his HIV status. When they later contracted HIV, one of the officers threatened to hunt him down and kill him.

Mr. Ramirez, who is receiving medical care and antiretroviral drugs while he awaits a hearing date, is amazed at the acceptance of homosexuality in Canada, where gay couples can marry.

His case, and those of the South Africans, Ugandans, Eritreans, Peruvians and others who made refugee claims after arriving here for last month's AIDS conference, have put the issue of HIV-positive refugee claimants in the spotlight.

Canada assesses the health needs of prospective immigrants who are living with HIV and rejects those who would place an excessive burden on the health-care system. No refugee claimant is disqualified from making a claim in Canada just because of their HIV-positive status.

And there is no automatic right to asylum for people with HIV who cannot access antiretroviral drugs in their own country.

"Simply being sick and from a country too poor to provide you with drugs isn't enough to qualify under the refugee definition," says Audrey Macklin, a University of Toronto law professor and former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Claimants must establish they were persecuted and that, if deported to their country of origin, they would suffer "cruel and unusual treatment." The inability of the country to provide adequate medical care doesn't count.

As Mr. Ramirez's case illustrates, however, many HIV-positive refugee claimants have multiple reasons for seeking protection. He has access to antiretroviral drugs, like about 60 per cent of the reported 36,000 Salvadorans with HIV or AIDS. (The real number of infected is likely higher due to underreporting.)

Instead, his claim is based on the persecution he said he has suffered at the hands of security officials who regularly beat and rape homosexuals and transvestites in the country of 6.7 million.

Although Salvadoran law prohibits discrimination on the basis of HIV status and sexual orientation, a 2005 U.S. Department of State country report found that in practice it is widespread. Protection of human rights is undermined by "widespread impunity, corruption among the security forces . . . and gang violence."

One night last year, three off-duty police officers followed Mr. Ramirez out of a café in Aguilares, a town 45 minutes outside of San Salvador. They took him to a sugar plantation and raped him, he said. "I said 'I'm HIV-positive, don't do this,' and they accused me of lying," he said. "They raped me and left me there, stealing my address book. Obviously, I was too frightened to go to the police."

A few months later, one of the officers called his sister and threatened to kill him because he had infected the policemen with HIV. Terrified, Mr. Ramirez took refuge in the YMCA, he said.

As a volunteer with an organization helping people living with HIV, he applied for a visa to attend the AIDS conference in Toronto last year. His request was rejected. He reapplied, this time supported by Fundasida El Salvador, a non-governmental organization.

A delegate with Fundasida came to Toronto with him, and kept tabs on Mr. Ramirez. "When I didn't turn up at the conference one day, he cancelled my hotel and took my luggage and put it in his room. Later, he threatened me that I had to return to El Salvador," he said.

Since defecting, officials have contacted his sister, warning that his decision reflects poorly on Fundasida. "But I am too scared to go back. The police are still out there and could track me down," he said.

Another refugee claimant is Amanuel Tesfamichael, founder of Eritrea's 60,000-member association for people living with AIDS.

He was allowed to travel to the AIDS conference only on the condition he surrender his passport to two government minders (who were also delegates). He sprinted to a waiting car at Pearson International Airport to escape them.

"It's not just 'I'm HIV-positive, give me medicine,' " said Francisco Rico-Martinez, a Salvadoran native and the co-founder of FCJ Refugee Centre, which has assisted some of the claimants. "In the case of Joaquin, it's a long life of discrimination and persecution because you are gay. It is hard for Canadians to contemplate the level of violence that permeates El Salvador."

Adds Prof. Macklin: "These cases are often more about persecution arising out of being stigmatized for being HIV-positive as well as gay or lesbian, and politically active."

In 2005, 180 Salvadorans sought asylum in Canada; the acceptance rate was 32 per cent.

Article Source
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060916.PROFILEAIDS18/TPStory/National

September 15, 2006 | 11:10 AM Comments  0 comments


Up to 150 delegates to last month's T.O. conference have filed refugee claims
Related to country: Canada

A top Eritrean AIDS activist is among some 150 delegates of last month's international AIDS conference in Toronto who stayed behind and filed refugee claims in a bid to remain in Canada, immigration officials confirm.

Amanuel Tesfamichael, 32, had to sprint to a waiting car at Pearson airport to escape Eritrean agents as he arrived for the AIDS 2006 conference.

Most of the claimants have the deadly disease and include a large group of women from hardest-hit South Africa and citizens of El Salvador, Eritrea, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

"It feels good to be free," said Tesfamichael, who has the disease. "I like Canada and the people here."

The activist, who is founder of Eritrea's 6,000-member association for people living with AIDS, was allowed to travel to Canada on the condition he surrender his passport to two government minders, who were also delegates.

Tesfamichael said he was given his passport for processing on landing at Pearson and managed to bolt to a pre-determined meeting with men who spirited him to a waiting car.

"I was only allowed to leave my homeland for 10 days," he said. "The government didn't want me to leave the country."
Many of the claimants are staying at Toronto hostels awaiting hearing dates before an immigration board, officials said.

24,000 PARTICIPANTS
Canadian immigration spokesman Karen Shadd-Evelyn confirmed yesterday that up to 150 claims were received from the 24,000 participants at the Aug. 13-18 conference.
"We can't talk about specific claims," Shadd-Evelyn said. "We cannot release their country of origins or other information."

Francisco Rico-Martinez, of the FCJ Refugee Centre in Toronto, said three of the claimants -- Tesfamichael, a man from El Salvador and a woman from Zimbabwe -- were referred to his "gender-friendly" hostel.

"Both of the men have AIDS," Rico-Martinez said yesterday. "They face persecution and discrimination at home."

He said Tesfamichael faces persecution or jail if he returns to Eritrea for violating the 10-day permit.
Rico-Martinez said the claimants are treated in their native countries as outcasts, or have little or no medicine. He said some are discriminated against by doctors, who don't want to treat them.

Joan Anderson, a senior adviser of AIDS 2006, said 14,000 of the delegates were from outside North America.
Melissa Anderson, of the Immigration and Refugee Board, said it'll take about a year before the claimants find out if they're accepted in Canada. About 48% of all claimants are accepted in Canada as refugees.

Article Quote: It "It feels good to be free" and in Canada, says activist Amanuel Tesfamichael, who bolted from his Eritrean government handlers at Pearson airport after arriving for last month's international AIDS conference. (Alex Urosevic/Sun)

Article Written By TOM GODFREY, TORONTO SUN Fri, September 1, 2006

Link to original article http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2006/09/01/1792238-sun.html

September 6, 2006 | 9:38 AM Comments  0 comments
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Constables to Wed, as Canada Blog's Gay Wedding!
Related to country: Canada

by SALISON AULD --Canadian Press
HALIFAX — A day before Canada marks its 139th birthday, a young couple will wed in a ceremony that is sure to cast one of the country's most iconic symbols in a whole new light.

Dressed in the RCMP's distinctive scarlet coats, Constable Jason Tree and Constable David Connors will exchange vows before a justice of the peace and a troop of other Mounties also clad in the famous red serge.

Reaction to the wedding — the first between two male RCMP officers — has befuddled the couple, who have been overwhelmed by interview requests from reporters and congratulations from well-wishers they've never met.
“We don't see our wedding as anything different or special,” Constable Tree, 27, said in an interview from his detachment in Meteghan on Nova Scotia's southwest coast. “Our goal was to get married, not have an international media story.

“I fail to see the big deal.”

Constable Tree, who has been an RCMP officer for six years, said he has received about 60 letters from strangers congratulating him on the big event and praising the couple for publicly proclaiming their love — and doing so in uniform.

He's heard the jokes that refer to the couple as the Brokeback Mounties, while headlines blurt out that this Mountie has gotten his man.

Blogs, too, are full of opinions.

“What!!! Neither is wearing white? Who has the garter belt and bouquet? As long as they can catch the bad guys, I don't care who they snuggle down with at night,” a blogger wrote recently.

The pair decided in January to set a date for the ceremony, which will be held in a hall in Yarmouth, a town of 8,000 in western Nova Scotia that is best known for its lobster industry. They will recite their own vows before about 100 family members and friends.

Constable Tree said that he and Constable Connors, who works in nearby Yarmouth, never intended to make a political statement.

“I don't think there's any difference between us and anyone else who wants to get married,” said Constable Tree, who met Constable Connors more than eight years ago at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
“I'm interested in getting married with David, and I guess I'm not interested in engaging in a political debate or anything like that.”

Like it or not, the couple's nuptials will be held in advance of another heated political debate over the fate of same-sex marriage in Canada, which was recognized by Parliament a year ago.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged to hold a free vote in the House of Commons this fall to determine whether the issue should be revisited.

The move infuriated gay-rights activists, who seized on the Mountie marriage as a public rebuke of the Tories' agenda.
“I think these Mounties are sending a message to the government that we are not going to let Harper dictate the natural progression of our relationships,” Gemma Hickey, president of Egale Canada, said from St. John's.

“It flies in the face of every negative stereotype about gay men.”

Environics Research released a poll last week that suggested a majority of Canadians accept gay marriage and oppose reopening the issue in the House of Commons.
The survey, conducted on behalf of Canadians for Equal Marriage, said 62 per cent of respondents felt that the same-sex marriage question had been settled. Only 27 per cent said they wanted it reopened.

Meanwhile, Mr. Harper has issued a gag order to his MPs, instructing them not to comment on the Mounties' marriage in a bid to avoid controversy.

However, Constable Tree said that the RCMP have been supportive of his relationship since he joined the force.
Sergeant Frank Skidmore, a spokesman for the force in Halifax, said the organization is trying to reflect a broader spectrum of the Canadian community.

“It's the law in this country, so it's accepted by the RCMP,” he said. “The RCMP welcomes a work force that is representative of Canadian society. People look at Canadian icons with their own eyes and if it changes it for them then so be it.

“But it certainly doesn't change anything for us. The RCMP's proud of its ability to be flexible and adaptive to shifting priorities.”

In Yarmouth, where Constable Connors has patrolled the streets for the past three years, local residents don't seem to be making much of a fuss over the wedding.
Brian Smith, warden of the area, said he hasn't heard much in the coffee shops or on the streets since the story first broke in May.

“It isn't a subject that's brought up daily here,” he said. “It's just not a topic around here.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060630.wmounties30/EmailBNStory/National/home


July 20, 2006 | 9:33 AM Comments  0 comments


The YMCA as a "peace builder!
Related to country: Canada

July 12th, 2007 news of the bomb blast in Mumbai reminds us all that our world is not safe and peaceful for many.

It also reminds us that our world is becoming smaller and more interconnected.

Living in Toronto, Canada is indeed a privilege and a responsibility.

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has 100,000’s of residents who at one time called Mumbai their home and is still home to their family and friends. I am certain that many people are anxious for news of their loved ones and their well-being. Our thoughts and wishes for peace are with them today.

Events like this bring awareness to global issues and insecurities but also raise tensions and conflict. Events like these are a reminder to us all that the work of the YMCA of Greater Toronto is as a “peace builder” among individuals, groups, communities and globally. It is important work.

I am proud to say that a number of YMCA representatives from across Canada are participating in the YMCA World Alliance meeting in Durban, South Africa. Increasingly, our partner YMCA’s are working to alleviate and bring constructive solutions to violence, HIV/AIDS and other issues of global importance. Through YMCA international we are helping in these efforts.

July 17, 2006 | 10:58 AM Comments  1 comments
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Mexico now Canada's largest source of refugee claimants
Related to country: Canada

OTTAWA (CP) - Over 3,500 Mexicans asked Canada for political asylum last year, for the first time making the NAFTA partner the largest source for refugee claimants.

Written by Celeste Mackenzie, Canadian Press Published: Tuesday, July 11, 2006

But Canadian officials didn't buy the claims of persecution and harrassment of 81 per cent of the applicants. There were more approvals for refugees from Colombia and China.

A sample of Immigration and Refugee Board decisions on Mexicans describes claims of domestic abuse, state failure to ensure protection, persecution due to sexual preference, and threats from security forces and organized crime.

No statistics are kept on why claims are accepted or rejected, but many are believed to be simply seeking better working and living conditions.

"Many do apply, often at the suggestion of unscrupulous immigration consultants who, depending on the price, will concoct a whole story and documentation for them," said refugee advocate Francisco Rico, co-director of the FCJ Refugee Centre in Toronto.

Rico says that because these sorts of cases largely fail, they bring suspicion on Mexicans who really need asylum.

"Canadian authorities judge Mexicans much harsher than claimants from other countries and put a greater onus on them to produce more thorough documentation," he said.

Both Amnesty International and the U.S. State department noted no overall improvement in human rights protection during Vicente Fox's presidency that began in 2000.

The U.S. report noted a marked increase in violence related to narcotics trafficking and said violence against women is a nationwide problem. Police torture was noted in both reports, and Amnesty said the judicial system failed to protect the rights of victims of crime and suspects. Attacks and harassment of homosexuals were also reported.

The cases are notably different from what was going on pre-2000, says Peter Showler of the University of Ottawa's Human Rights Research and Education Centre.

Showler said there were a lot more claims of political persecution when the PRI party held an iron grip on power for more than 70 years.

"Now the claims tend to refer to the state's failure to protect-often in cases of criminality and organized crime, when someone for example, has somehow come into disfavour with authorities and criminals," Showler said.

Benjamin Santamaria is familiar with that scenario.

The Toronto author and former Mexican human-rights ombudsman was granted refugee status after receiving death threats related to a case he was investigating. The accused were friends of state officials, and involved in drug trafficking.

He bemoans the "false refugees" who make up stories, such as being gay and under threat, simply to gain entry for economic reasons.

"This is a pure lie. Homosexuals are discriminated against, harassed and even robbed, but that their lives are in danger and the only solution to leave the country is a farce," Santamaria said.
Those who really need protection in Mexico and Latin America in general, often have no idea about asylum, and how to request it, much less the money needed to buy a plane ticket to Canada."

Implementation of the U.S.-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement last year meant 58-per-cent fewer Colombians were eligible to claim asylum. The agreement makes it difficult for people who have already been in the U.S. to seek refugee status across the border in Canada.

Mexicans, meanwhile, can fly directly to Canada without a visa.

Rico of the refugee centre says about 30 newly arrived Mexicans come to his centre a month.

"About five years ago, it started becoming known in Mexico that no visa was needed."

© The Canadian Press 2006 Link to article http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=a549c877-bf71-4a44-a772-89a5e76bbeac&k=55161&p=1

July 14, 2006 | 12:14 PM Comments  0 comments


Lawyer alleges refugee official biased
Related to country: Canada

Had motive to deny claim, court told
MARINA JIMÉNEZ the Globe and Mail

Immigration and Refugee Board member Shamshuddin Alidina was motivated to reject the asylum bids of a gay Mexican couple to extend his time on the board, according to a document filed in Federal Court last month.

Mr. Alidina heard the claim on Jan. 27, the day his four-year term on the board expired, and petitioned for extra time to decide the case. Immigration lawyer Michael Battista alleges that Mr. Alidina was biased against the two claimants, who are both HIV-positive.

"There was an unexplained three-hour delay in the commencement of the hearing . . . the applicants believe that during this lengthy delay, board member Alidina was seeking approval to write negative reasons in their case, prior to hearing the applicants' oral testimony," Mr. Battista said in his application for judicial review of the decision.

Board members are paid between $104,600 and $107,300 a year, and are usually appointed to terms of two to five years. They may request extra time to finish writing decisions after their term is up, and Access to Information documents show Mr. Alidina was granted 16.5 extra days to finish work on 32 cases. He was recently re-appointed to a three-year term.

The board allocates a full day for a complex written decision, and while negative decisions require written reasons, positive decisions are usually delivered orally.

Some lawyers don't like this discretionary policy, said Raoul Boulakia, head of the Refugee Lawyers Association.

"The policy does encourage board members to delay making decisions and gives greater financial reward to complex decisions, which are in practise negative ones."

Mr. Battista said that with a drastically reduced work load, there is no justification for any board member to hear a case on his or her final day. Last year, 20,753 people filed refugee claims, compared with a high of 43,000 in 2001.

Melissa Anderson, a board spokesperson, would not comment on the case. But she said the board's guidelines allowing members an additional eight weeks after their terms have ended are not uncommon for administrative tribunals dealing with thousands of cases.

"This practice provides us with the flexibility we need when facing times of operational pressure. In recent months, as government was in transition, some delays were inevitable in member appointments or reappointments," Ms. Anderson said.

In his 14-page decision, Mr. Alidina found that there was adequate state protection for the two claimants, who claimed persecution on the basis of membership in the particular social group of HIV-positive, gay Mexican males.
State authorities in Mexico are making serious efforts to train police and to discipline them for misconduct, his March 22, 2006 ruling noted. Mexico has a national anti-discrimination law that includes protection for sexual preference, and the government subsidizes the cost of AIDS medication, he said.

In his request for judicial review, Mr. Battista argued that the board member failed to deal with the claimants' fear of returning to Mexico. Mexican society remains highly prejudiced against HIV-positive individuals, he said, and there is no protection against the stigma and discrimination they face, which constitutes persecution.

Mr. Alidina, an engineer with a degree from the University of East Africa, also served as chief minister at the Ismaili Willowdale Jamatkhana and is a member of the Aga Khan's conciliation and arbitration board in Ontario, according to his biography.

Mr. Boulakia said he could not comment on Mr. Battista's complaint but that "in my experience Mr. Alidina is a fair member with a good work ethic."

Link to original article http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060705.IMMIGRATION05/TPStory/?query=gay+refugees
Posted on May 7, 06

July 11, 2006 | 4:01 PM Comments  0 comments


Gay Muslims focus of exhibit
Related to country: Canada

Photos highlight inner struggle `We need to be more visible'
PRITHI YELAJA Toronto Satar STAFF REPORTER http://www.thestar.com

Slipping on the ridah, a pastel-coloured hijab, makes Farzana feel like she's in drag.

As a Bora Muslim who also happens to be a lesbian, she wears the head-to-toe covering about once a year when she goes to mosque, along with a pendant that belonged to her late mother inscribed with an Arabic phrase praising Ali, a descendant of the prophet Mohammed.

"It's familiar and foreign at the same time," says Farzana, 35, of the ridah, explaining the drag reference. Although she says she has received death threats because of her orientation, she agreed to be photographed wearing both items for Conflicted, a photo exhibit at the Toronto Free Gallery on Queen St. E. that focuses on portraits of gay Muslims. It runs until the end of June.

All of the elegant, mostly black-and-white photos in the Pride Week exhibit — bound to be controversial despite the absence of couples or nudity — feature subjects pictured with symbols of Islam. There is Asif Kamal, for example, with the name of Allah tattooed on his back. (Tattoos of any kind are forbidden in Islam.)

"These are not props. This is who they are. Coming to terms with their sexuality and faith has been a painful process," says self-taught photographer Asad Rahman, 35, who immigrated to Toronto from Bangladesh in 2001 and belongs to Salaam, a Toronto-based support and advocacy group for self-described "queer Muslims."

The exhibit's title refers to the inner and outer struggle that gay Muslims face, says Rahman. "Through my art, the message is it's not just okay to be gay and Muslim. It's fabulous."

However, he adds, "I already got some hate mail. They said, `You should keep your filth covered.'"

Farzana, a social worker who asked that her full name not be used, took the risk to make a point.

"If my generation doesn't come out to their families and the community, we're not moving ahead. As people of colour living in a white majority society we're automatically thrust in the role of teacher," she says.

"Certainly, among more traditional and fundamental Muslims, we are being sinful just by existing."

In most Muslim countries, homosexuality is a crime punishable by imprisonment or death. Canada has a history of accepting refugees, including Rahman, who face persecution in their homelands because of their sexual orientation.

As a gay Muslim man, El-Farouk Khaki says he has had to come out of the closet twice — once to declare his sexuality and a second time, in the furor after 9/11, to reclaim his faith in the face of conservative Muslims who would speak on behalf of Islam and condemn his existence.

"It's like a double outing," says Khaki, a 42-year-old immigration lawyer who came to Canada from Tanzania via England at age 10. Before 9/11, he was an "Eid Muslim," one who rarely went to mosque except on special occasions.

"Many of us were in the closet as Muslims because we felt alienated from the fundamentalist Islamic leaders. What 9/11 did was force us to assert our identity as Muslims. They (fundamentalists) don't represent me. Islam is just as much a part of me, so why should they (fundamentalists) usurp the narrative?"

Khaki appears in the exhibit wearing a skin-tight chiffon shirt that makes it appear that his whole upper body is covered in colourful tattoos. "I actually have some tattoos, but not that many," he says with a laugh.

Gay Muslims who have grappled with these issues have a responsibility to speak out, says Suhail Abualsameed, 34, a youth worker who emigrated from Jordan in 2001 and appears in the exhibit wearing a kuffeyeh scarf.

"Being gay and Muslim is not a contradiction. We need to be more visible so others know they're not alone."

Coming out as a lesbian to family and friends, who became supportive, has been easier than dealing with the larger Muslim community, says Farzana. "Although there are traditional notions about how we're supposed to live as Muslims," she says, "in our culture there's also a strong value placed on family — and maybe that overrides everything else."

June 23, 2006 | 9:47 AM Comments  0 comments


Canada Sends an Open 'Wedding Invitation' to Gay and Lesbian Couples
Related to country: Canada

Canadian Tourism Commission Launches New Integrated Marketing Program

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Canadian Tourism Commission launched a new gay and lesbian advertising campaign on May 15 with a destination wedding invitation for U.S. same-sex couples. The country is one of few in the world to extend full marriage equality to all people. The ad first appeared in the May issue of Passport magazine, as part of a gay and lesbian integrated marketing program that will also include sponsorship of LGBT film festivals, the Human Rights Campaign and special events in select markets across the U.S.

Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver are among the favorite destinations for gay and lesbian travelers. The provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia all legalized same-sex marriage prior to federal extension of marriage equality, with a significant percentage of all marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples going to Americans. In fact, in some cases Americans have outnumbered Canadians seeking licenses. The latest campaign recognizes that marriage is just one more reason to visit Canada, whether travelers plan to wed or not.

"There are so many reasons to visit Canada. All travelers are welcome and any traveler can tailor a travel experience that is just right for them," said Susan Iris, Vice President, U.S. for the Canadian Tourism Commission. "We have great cities that offer everything from European charm to a modern fusion of culture, and all that is reflected in our food, shopping and atmosphere. We believe that is why so many people are choosing to come see Canada."

Canada has established a reputation as one of the most gay-friendly countries in the world. Marriage is a significant indicator of the hospitality in store for gay and lesbian visitors whether they are drawn to the country by wedding bells, fine dining, some of the biggest parties and festivals in the world, or world-class skiing and outdoor experiences.

Industry led, market driven and research based, the Canadian Tourism Commission is a Crown corporation that works in partnership with the private and public tourism sectors to market Canada as a four-season destination. To access research and information focused on and for the tourism industry, please visit www.canadatourism.com. To contact the Canadian Tourism Commission or to plan a visit, log on to www.canada.travel/gay.

Media contact: Valerie Edmonds
Weber Shandwick
212-445-8140
vedmonds@webershandwick.com

June 22, 2006 | 11:43 AM Comments  0 comments


Who's your daddy?
Related to country: Canada

Jun. 17, 2006. 01:00 AM
KEVIN LITTLE
GUEST COLUMN The Toronto Star

It can be confusing to be a father these days. What is expected of us? The stereotype says we are the source of discipline, rough housing and barbecues. It is silly, but these old assumptions remain with us. My dad offered his three boys patience, unconditional love, and presence, but there were other role models for me as well.

A close friend of mine has adopted three daughters from India. Mark lives in Springfield, Mo., where he is a regional director with Habitat for Humanity. Mark recalls taking his daughters to the local grocery store where he was confronted by an irate mother.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," she declared, without having ever met Mark before.

It was obvious that none of Mark's daughters was a biological sister to the others. This woman assumed that Mark was the kind of man who spread his seed around.

"Imagine, three different women, three different mothers. Have you no sense of decency?" she demanded.

With a deadpan only Mark could muster, he replied, "Yes, and it's much worse. All of them have different fathers as well."

Mark's family is hardly conventional, but neither are others I have come to admire. I take my daughter swimming every Saturday. While we were in the pool I saw Lucy chatting with a friend. When she dog-paddled over to me I overheard her friend tell one of his dads, "Lucy has a mommy."

In my daughter's world some of her friends have two daddies, some have two mommies, some have one parent, and some are raised by grandparents. But all are families.

In my denomination, the word "inclusive" is as overused as "giving 110 per cent" is by NHL players. Not all families are models of the kind of relationship I seek to build with my daughter. I want her to know she is loved, unconditionally, but I also want her to know this love is abundant and best expressed by loving others. That's why my partner Kimberley reminds Lucy at every turn about consideration. It's why I remind Lucy about the newcomer in her classroom, and the volunteering we Christians do to build the New Jerusalem.

On the second Sunday of January every year, I preach on baptism. On that occasion, I remind the congregation that through the rite of baptism we become a new family, a certain kind of family. Jesus himself saw this. You will recall his retort to his biological parents when they found him busy in the temple, "I am about my parent's (father's) business."

Or when told that Mary and his brothers were outside calling his name, he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers? Those that do the work of the movement are my family."

Kimberley becomes furious with the news media in Canada when they refer to our Governor General and her "adopted" daughter. It is not necessary to use the word "adopted" but I know the reason we do. The natural tug of loving our own is all-consuming. I see it everywhere. People will give their last dime to a son who has the stewardship sense of a baby boomer with a credit card in Vegas.

But that same family will begrudge money to welfare recipients and want an accounting of every last cent. Churches that can't raise money for an outreach ministry can accumulate big bucks to replace a beloved stain glass window faster than you can say "social club."

Through the sacrament of baptism we are adopted as God's own, given a new set of lenses so that we might see the world as Jesus did.

What does all of this have to do with Father's Day? In the Maritimes, people often ask, "Who's your father?" In our culture, this strong sense of being connected through your father lineage is key to your identity as a person. What if we could change that with this new set of lenses, so that our sense of family had less to do with a biological father and more to do with a commitment to be present to all of creation?

The real test of my fatherhood lies not in my affection, loyalty or generosity to Lucy but in how my love for her is equally demonstrated in the way I treat the refugee in Sudan, the woman in the halfway house in my neighbourhood, the gay men in my church who want to be married and adopt children.

When Kimberley and I were going through the adoption process, one of the red flags raised about me was the amount of time I spent volunteering in the community for my church, on local non-profits, working for food banks and advocating for the homeless.

The social worker wondered what kind of message this would send my daughter. I think in this country, where children grow up thinking "it's all about me," watching and participating with a daddy who sees the family in more places than his backyard is a good thing. In fact, I think it is a spiritual thing.

Perhaps we fathers who see the world as our family ought to start a new tradition of fatherhood. Take our barbecues out of our enclosed backyards and put them on the street in front of our houses. Invite everyone!

To all those fathers making a difference in their communities, Happy Father's Day!

Kevin Little is a United Church minister serving a Toronto congregation.

June 19, 2006 | 10:15 AM Comments  0 comments


PROCLIMATION: Toronto Pride Week June 19 - 25, 2006
Related to country: Canada

WHEREAS Toronto's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Two Spirited and Transsexual Pride Week is one of Toronto's largest and most important cultural events - in this, our year to celebrate culture - playing an important part in our City's economic vitality by attracting thousands of visitors for the parades and a week of celebration.

Toronto has a strong, vibrant and proud queer community - the third largest in North America - which plays an important part in the rich fabric of our diversity.Toronto Gay Pride Toronto City Council and the people of Toronto are in the forefront of efforts to establish a caring, compassionate society based on the inherent dignity of all its members. We are taking a leadership role aimed at eliminating discrimination and disadvantage and by recognizing that a fundamental strength of our community lies in our unique racial and ethno-cultural diversity.

Pride Week celebrations contribute to reducing discrimination and other barriers faced by this community with respect to employment, housing, public safety, policing, health care, education and recognition of family relationships.

NOW THEREFORE, I, Mayor David Miller, on behalf of Toronto City Council, do hereby proclaim June 19 - 25, 2006 as "Pride Week" in the City of Toronto and encourage everyone to join in this 26th celebration of achievement, equality and fabulousness.


Mayor David Miller

June 16, 2006 | 12:44 PM Comments  0 comments


Whats the Big Deal!
Related to country: Canada

The decision by the provincial government to include a Grade 12 elective course that looks at social issues, including gay issues, will certainly raise some controversy.

The not-so tolerant in our society will immediately condemn this—“Why is the government teachin’ our kids how to be homos?”

So what’s the big deal? What the government is proposing is a Grade 12 elective course. (“Elective,” by the way, means a course that students have the option to take.) The course will focus on social justice issues, including sexual orientation, family structure, gender and race.

Get ready for the hue and cry. “My church says homosexuality is a sin.” “Homosexuality is a crime where I come from.” Well, this is Canada, folks, a land full of people of different races and backgrounds who are learning to live together.

The fact is there are homosexuals in the world. What’s so wrong about discussing the issues with 17-year-olds? Isn’t it better to show students that the world is made up of different people? Isn’t it better to teach our children to be tolerant and accepting of diversity as opposed to growing up and becoming narrow-minded bigots?

BLAME PEOPLE, NOT RELIGION FOR TERROR

The arrest of 17 people in Ontario accused of planning terrorist attacks on Canadian targets underscores the fact that Canadians need to be vigilant, while at the same time not taking such vigilance to the levels of paranoia seen in the United States.

As Spanish and English commuters and vacationers in Bali have found out, terrorism is a very real threat and Canada is not immune from such attacks. Increased security measures, such as tighter restrictions at airports and potential targets, are warranted.

However, violating human rights and raising hysteria through terror alerts are not helpful in fighting terrorism. Nor is the predictable reaction to immigrants and members of the Muslim community.

It’s true that Canada needs to screen refugee claimants better, but that is a criticism that can be applied to all western countries, including the United States.

And the fact that the 17 people charged are Muslims does not mean that members of the Islamic community deserve a backlash. There are many Catholics, Protestants and Jews who ignore “Thou shalt not kill” to suit their own purposes. Don’t blame the religion for violence, blame the people.

EDITORIAL posted on the Richmond Review Jun 08 2006

June 9, 2006 | 9:13 AM Comments  0 comments


Mounties Set for Force's First Same-Sex Wedding
Related to country: Canada

TORONTO -- It promises to be a grand June wedding, two scarlet-coated officers of the famed Royal Canadian Mounted Police standing before a justice of the peace with an escort of similarly spiffy Mounties observing the nuptials on the eve of Canada Day, a national holiday.

When the two constables become the first male Mounties to marry each other, the grumpiest witness-from-afar might well be Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The planned union of Jason Tree and David Connors in Nova Scotia on June 30 has cast a spotlight on Harper's pledge to his conservative backers to try to roll back same-sex marriage laws.

Harper has not spoken publicly about the upcoming wedding and has ordered his party members to shut up about the matter, an attempt to silence lawmakers that has served to draw more attention to the issue while sparking complaints about the prime minister's heavy-handedness.

"I think it's great if we change the public perception," said Tree, 27, who patrols a stretch of rural fishing communities along the Bay of Fundy. "If the public sees the RCMP as representing the diversity of the community, that is good."

About 25 miles away, Connors, 28, helps to police Yarmouth, a town of 8,000. The two men met in college eight years ago and have been partners since.

Tree said he had been open about their relationship since he joined the force six years ago, and "from the outset, I have never had a single problem." The force has assigned the two men close together, as it does with other couples, and fellow officers "have all been great," Tree said from their home in Meteghan, southwest of Halifax.

"There does exist that social stereotype of a kind of straight, masculine image of police," he added. "We say you can be in the force and be gay."

Tree and Connors decided to join thousands of other same-sex couples getting married in Canada. In 2003, Ontario's highest court ruled that same-sex couples could not be denied marriage. Courts in other provinces followed. Last July, Canada's Parliament bowed to the judicial momentum and narrowly approved same-sex marriages throughout the country.

But the Liberal-led government was replaced in February by Harper's Conservative Party, which includes staunch opponents of gay marriage. The party platform included a pledge to ask Parliament to reopen the issue. But Harper has been in no hurry; he said Friday he would introduce the resolution sometime in the fall.

"I think he realizes it is not a popular debate for him, not one that would win him votes," said Kaj Hasselriis of Canadians for Equal Marriage, an Ottawa-based gay rights organization. "The majority of Canadians think this issue is settled and don't want to reopen it."

But the marriage of Tree and Connors has clashed head-on with the foremost icon of Canada's national image of virile, outdoorsy strength -- the square-jawed Mountie of popular lore.

"This busts some stereotypes," Hasselriis said. "We talk about the Mounties getting their man, but I don't think a lot of people thought about getting their man this way."

The image of the 22,561-member RCMP has already evolved. Women joined in 1974; they now make up 17 percent of the police officers. In 1990, Sikh Mounties were permitted to trade the flat-brimmed Mountie hat for their traditional turban. But Tree and Connors's uniformed matrimony goes too far for some.

"This does nothing to strengthen the family," said Dave Bylsma, president of the Ontario Council of the Christian Heritage Party. "Personally, it doesn't matter to me if they are RCMP or dogcatchers or garbagemen. But they are obviously using the fact that they are Mounties to rub our nose in it."

When Harper last month ordered his Conservative caucus members not to speak about the matter, he further soured relations with Canadian reporters over what they call his unprecedented attempts to control the news. The public safety minister, Stockwell Day, ostensibly the government's only authorized spokesman on the matter, has declined comment.

"If they speak about gay rights, same-sex marriage, abortion, the risk is the Conservative Party will be portrayed as extremist," said David Rayside, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto and director of the Center for Sexual Diversity Studies. "In the United States, they would not pass as extremists. But in Canada, they would. There is a gap between Canadian and American attitudes."

The U.S. military, for example, does not officially permit gay relationships. In Canada, two servicemen were married on an air force base last June, and the RCMP says it has no objection to the upcoming ceremony.

"There's a law in this country, and this ought to be considered a regular event," said Sgt. Frank Skidmore, a spokesman for the Nova Scotia RCMP detachments.

"Just look at the last 10 years to see how far we have come in Canada," said Tree. "I'm hoping some day soon that this will die down."

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 6, 2006; Page A11

Link to article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/05/AR2006060501178.html

June 7, 2006 | 9:46 AM Comments  0 comments


Immigrant Rights Movement Lands in Canada
Related to country: Canada

A group of Filipino would-be immigrants to Canada attend an orientation seminar to familiarize themselves with Canadian culture and weather.

Canadian organizations are hoping to capitalize on the momentum of the immigrant rights movement that has swept the U.S. in recent months to raise the profile of the plight of undocumented workers in Canada.

On May 27, rallies similar to those held in the U.S. all spring were held in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Fredericton to protest an apparent recent rise in illegal worker deportations. Activists also seek to press the new Conservative government to give legal recognition to the country's non-status labour force.

Since taking power in January, the Conservative government has taken a hard line on illegal immigration, stepping up efforts to deport transgressors. Immigrant rights activists say that as a result, the Canada Border Services Agency has become much stricter with its application of the law.
"Examples have been going to schools and using children as bait to get to their parents, going to malls and asking people for identification…These are tactics that we had never heard of before, but in the last three or four months we're hearing more and more that the CBSA are using these tactics to get to undocumented people and to deport people," says Sonja Nerad, Community Health Program Manager with Access Alliance.

Craig Fortier, an organizer with No One Is Illegal Toronto, calls these methods "U.S.-style enforcement" giving rise to a "climate of fear" in non-status communities where people are afraid to leave their homes to get vital medical care or are keeping their children back from school.

"The decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly. The CBSA has an obligation to remove any person that has been issued a removal order… as soon as possible," says CBSA spokesperson Cara Prest.

Despite some parallels with the U.S. situation, Liberal Member of Parliament Mario Silva, Associate Critic for Canadian Heritage, thinks that in terms of magnitude, there's little comparison between the two countries. Canadian estimates for non-status workers are anywhere between one quarter to half a million people, compared to approximately 11 million in the U.S. "So it's a totally different scale," says Silva, who attended the May 27 march near his Toronto riding.

Another difference is that Canada does not have an issue of porous borders as is the case between the U.S. and Mexico. Many undocumented workers in Canada arrive legally, as visitors, temporary workers or students, and then overstay their visas.

Many of the illegal labourers in Canada are here for years, enrolling their children in schools and becoming part of mainstream society.

"Most of these people are really well integrated, they have families, they really contribute to society. So Canada needs them," says Silva.

This is particularly true of the construction industry, says Silva, which is a primary beneficiary of
non-status labour. Canada is currently experiencing a construction boom and there is a serious shortage of skilled workers to fill the need.

"The average age of construction workers now is 50 years old, and we're going to have a huge crisis in another 10 years," notes Silva.

In British Columbia alone, 20,000 additional construction workers will be needed over the next three years to prepare for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. There's a huge labour crunch in Ontario, and in Winnipeg they are scrambling for factory workers. Help wanted signs are ubiquitous in Alberta, where immigrant workers are also in high demand to work in the oil sands.

The Liberal government was planning to increase immigration targets by roughly 40,000 people per year – a plan which the Conservatives have now scrapped – to meet shortfalls in the labour market.

"I think it's a contraction – many are these industries are crying out about labour shortages," says Deena Ladd, Workers Action Centre Coordinator. Ladd says that, similar to the situation in the U.S., most non-status workers are doing jobs considered undesirable by many Canadians, such as construction, cleaning, delivery, kitchen work, care-giving etc.

One way the shortages could be solved, Ladd argues, is by regularizing non-status labourers. "These workers are all surviving – they're working, they aren't accessing benefits. They are making huge contributions to the economy and aren't being recognised for it."

In an interview with CTV News, Immigration Minister Monte Solberg defended the government's stance against recognizing non-status immigrants.

"We have an obligation to the hundreds of thousands of people waiting to get into this country to make sure we don't reward those who don't play by the rules," he said.
But supporters of regularization—granting legal recognition to people already working in Canada—argue that the queue-jumping argument doesn't make sense because there is no queue for working class jobs.

"There is no queue for working people in this country. There is definitely a queue for professionals and people who have the money to buy their way into Canada, but there's no queue for working people. You can't get into Canada using the points system," says Fortier.

Canada's point system for determining immigrant eligibility strongly favours high levels of education, strong language abilities and experience in certain highly-skilled categories of employment. Low scores in any two of those categories guarantees exclusion through normal channels. The point system has been criticized for creating an immigrant population packed with engineers and other professionals, while failing to attract enough of the trades people and labourers who are so sorely needed.
But while the Conservative are taking a tough stance on non-status immigrant, the government has also taken measures to make it easier for some newcomers to work. For example, new regulations allow foreign students to take off-campus jobs, immigration landing fees have been cut in half, and steps have been taken to streamline the citizenship process.

This article written by Cindy Drukier and Joan Delaney, Epoch Times Toronto and Victoria Staff, May 31, 2006

Copyright 2000 - 2005 Epoch Times International

June 6, 2006 | 9:13 AM Comments  0 comments


17 May, the International Day Against Homophobia
Related to country: Canada

On 17 May 1990, the General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders.

The fight for the recognition of equal rights for lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender people did not end there though.

Today around 80 countries in the world still criminalize homosexuality and condemn consensual same sex acts with imprisonment, of these 9 (Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen) still have the death penalty. Discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation and gender identity is still not recognized formally by the member states of the United Nations (even though human rights mechanisms such as the Human Rights Committee have repeatedly condemned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity).

ILGA has been fighting against discrimination and for the recognition of equal rights of lesbian, gays, bisexual and transgender people since its creation in 1978. That is why ILGA is strongly committed to celebrating this second International Day Against Homophobia, launched one year ago by the International Day Against Homophobia Committee (IDAHO).

Visit and Support The ILGA

In 2005 IDAHO was celebrated in more than 40 countries, from France to Hong Kong. A large variety of initiatives were taken and they were widely covered by the Media. In Iran, in spite of the government brutal homophobia, IDAHO was talked about on numerous blogs and in thousands of emails. In Kiev, Ukraina, a huge balloon with ‘Say no to Homophobia” was let loose.

Help us to make this second International Day Against Homophobia a reality on the ground by organizing a party, a protest, or any other initiative that would raise the visibility of IDAHO in your communities.

ILGA was offered the unique chance to produce a TV spot for this special day in English, French and Dutch. Watch ILGA's spot against Homophobia.

In every country of the world, please pass the message: 17 May is the International Day Against Homophobia, it is of homophobia that you should be fearful, not homos!

Many thanks to DDB Belgium

Link to this Article on ILGA

May 24, 2006 | 10:13 AM Comments  0 comments


Stephen Lewis for the 2007 Nobel peace prize.

This is a petition asking the Nobel committee, to consider Canadian Stephen Lewis for the 2007 Nobel peace prize.

Support The Stephen Lewis Foundation

Stephen Lewis is the U.N.Secretary General's special envoy for H.I.V/ A.I.D.S. in Africa. He is working to obtain drugs for the treatment and prevention of this devastating disease and for financial assistance for those that are left to care for the children. He has visited & wept with the adults & those children that have been orphaned, by H.I.V./ A.I.D.S.He has consoled and supported the grandmothers ,that are attempting to rear those children. Stephen Lewis constantly advocates for womens rights, and the rights of sex trade workers;many of whom, are little more than children themselves.He seeks to provide condoms and cheap medications for their treatment.When parents have died, young women seek a means to earn enough money to support their siblings.The sex trade is the most lucrative way for an unskilled women to earn money.The sad result ,is that the young women also contract A.I.D.S. thereby leaving the very young without any support at all.Stephen Lewis advocates constantly with tenderness, intelligence and a saintly zeal, that is profoundly moving.Stephen Lewis needs recognition, not for himself, but for his cause. We would ask the committee to seriously consider Stephen Lewis for the 2007 Nobel Peace prize. As such, Africa would be put in the media spotlight, giving further credence to his campaign for change, in the lives of the poor and marginalised on the continent of Africa.

Further information on Stephen Lewis can be found at http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org

www.stephenlewisfoundation.org He also has a book, entitled "Race against Time,"a compilation of his Massey lectures.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE ONLINE NOMINATION FORM http://www.petitiononline.com/Jambo/petition.html

May 19, 2006 | 3:59 PM Comments  1 comments
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U.S. Immigration Law Inhumane to Same-Sex Couples
Related to country: United States

New Immigration Reforms Must End Discrimination against Lesbians, Gays Human Rights Watch http://hrw.org/doc/?t=lgbt

Washington, D.C., May 2, 2006) – Thousands of U.S. citizens and their foreign same-sex partners face enormous hardships, separation and even exile because discriminatory U.S. immigration policies deprive these couples of the basic right to be together, Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality said in a report released today.

As Congress debates immigration reforms, it must end the discrimination that lesbian and gay Americans and their foreign partners endure under U.S. immigration law. The 2000 U.S. Census estimated that in the United States there were almost 40,000 lesbian and gay couples in which one partner is a U.S. citizen (or permanent resident), and the other a foreign national. This figure does not include the many thousands of binational couples who have to hide the fact they are partners, are forced to live apart, or who have been forced to leave the United States. Under discriminatory U.S. statutes, these couples have no recognition under the law.

Support Human Rights Watch
“Discriminatory U.S. immigration laws turn the American dream into a heartless nightmare for countless U.S. citizens and their foreign partners,” said Scott Long, co-author of the report and director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program of Human Rights Watch. “As Congress debates immigration reforms, it should end discrimination against lesbian and gay immigrants as well as their U.S. partners.”

The first-ever comprehensive report on the issue, “Family, Unvalued: Discrimination, Denial and the Fate of Binational Same-Sex Couples under U.S. Law,” documents how U.S immigration law and federal policy discriminate against binational same-sex couples. The 191-page report documents the consequences of this discrimination and shows how it can separate not only loving partners from one another, but also parents from children. It also shows how this policy has destroyed careers, livelihoods and lives.

“Our immigration laws are undermining the traditional American values of fairness and family,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality. “U.S. immigration policy is designed to keep families together. But the current law targets an entire class of American families and tears them apart.”

For more than 50 years, family reunification has been a stated and central goal of U.S. immigration policy. Immigration law places a priority on allowing citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their spouses and close relatives for entry into the U.S. Although the system remains imperfect, riddled with delays that rising anti-immigrant sentiment only intensifies, U.S. citizens and their foreign heterosexual partners can easily claim spousal status and the immigration rights that it brings.

U.S. citizens with foreign lesbian or gay partners, however, find that their relationship is considered non-existent under federal law. The so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” passed in 1996, declared that for all purposes of the federal government, marriage would mean “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Since lesbian and gay couples are excluded from the definition of “spouse,” U.S. citizens receive no legal recognition of their same-sex partners for purposes of immigration.

Based on interviews and surveys with dozens of binational same-sex couples across the United States and around the world, the report documents the pressures and ordeals that lack of legal recognition imposes on lesbian and gay families. Couples described abuse and harassment by immigration officials. Some partners told stories of being deported from the United States and separated from their partners. Many couples, forced to live in different countries or continents, endure financial as well as emotional strain in keeping their relationships together.

“No family should be forced apart, no matter what the sex is. This is how immigration laws have affected us,” a woman in North Carolina said, describing how her Hungarian partner and their children were forced to leave the United States. “We are separated and without each other.... We just want to be together, that’s all.”

Many U.S. citizens are forced into exile in countries where their relationships are recognized. At least 19 nations worldwide provide some form of immigration benefits to the same-sex partners of citizens and permanent residents, while the U.S. still refuses. These include Canada as well as 13 European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). On other continents, this list includes Brazil, Israel, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Notably, the report details how current U.S. exclusionary policies are rooted in a long history of anti-immigrant sentiment, in which fears of sexuality have played a steady part. From the McCarthy era until 1990, U.S. law barred foreign-born lesbians and gays from entering the country. The United States is also one of the few industrialized countries that imposes a blanket ban on entry by HIV-positive individuals, a bar that reinforces irrational fears and stigma but does nothing to protect public health.

Congress should immediately pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), Human Rights Watch and Immigration Equality said. The bill, sponsored by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would offer binational same-sex couples’ relationships the same recognition and treatment afforded to binational married couples.

The proposed law would add the term “permanent partner” to sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act where “spouse” now appears. Thus, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident could sponsor their permanent partner for immigration to the country, just as they can now sponsor such family members as siblings, children or husbands and wives. The bill was introduced in the current Congress on June 21, 2005; it has a total of 104 cosponsors from both houses.

In addition to repealing the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, Congress should enact reforms to U.S. immigration law to guarantee respect for the human rights and labor rights of non-citizens. These reforms should include measures that end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive individuals.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, which is the largest U.S.-based human rights organization, advocates against abuses based on sexual orientation or gender identity worldwide. Immigration Equality is a national organization that fights for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive individuals.

Direct Link to Article
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/05/02/usdom13290.htm

May 11, 2006 | 9:40 AM Comments  0 comments


The Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program
Related to country: Canada

The Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program http://youth.gc.ca/yip-psj/ -a program to provide unemployed or underemployed youth with work experience through internships in federal organizations

Congratulations to my YMCA colleagues across Canada involved in the Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program FPSYIP.
Each person involved in the program worked hard to make 2005-2006 such a successful year for FPSYIP. It has been a year of transition, and the YMCA has responded and demonstrated continued success in program delivery and in developing youth in our country as we build strong kids, strong families and strong communities.

Regards,
Dan Trepanier
Manager, National Programs
Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Program

Support Amnesty International

About the Program
Funded by the Human Resources Social Development Canada (HRSDC), and administered on behalf of YMCA Canada by the YMCA of Greater Toronto as the Lead Association, this program offers 6-9 month internship opportunities in Federal Government Departments, Ministries and Agencies. The program targets young Canadians between 15 and 30 years of age, who are unemployed or underemployed and need help breaking the cycle of “no experience, no job / no job, no experience”. Internship opportunities are available across Canada, and are targeted at 3 main groups of youth: youth who have not graduated from high school (50% of total internships), high school graduates (30%) and post-secondary graduates (20%). All interns are matched with a suitable internship, and a mentor who coaches and supports them throughout their work experiences.

The program has provided internship opportunities to more than 8000 youth since its beginning in 1997, and aims to provide internship opportunities to over 800 youth each year. Every year young Canadians received valuable work experiences through this program. Over 18 YMCAs across the country have been actively involved in the recruitment and delivery of this program in their communities, offering services that include assessment, provision of training, ongoing guidance and support, as well as job-search and career pathing services.

As the National Office for the Federal Public Sector Youth Internship Programs Unit provides a myriad of services, including: payroll and employer services (following provincial and national legislation), finance and accounting, marketing and promotion, program administration, monitoring of quality and compliance on a national level, administration of Host agreements, provision of support to YMCAs, Host Departments, and Participants in both Official languages, data collection and reporting, and human resources and risk management.

Some significant highlights for 2005-2006:
• 813 interns served
• 50.7% were non grads, 29.4% were high school grads and 19.9% were post secondary (how close can you get to the goal 50/30/20!).
• We served more disabled than ever before.
• Thanks to BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario we served 6.6% Aboriginal interns, twice as many as the census population would call for.
• We served 16.9% visible minorities compared to the census goal of 13.4% and our numbers are increasing slightly year over year.
• 19.9% were French speaking, thank you Montreal YMCA.
• Our completion rate which is our overall success standard is now at 78.8%, best ever!
• 72.2% of our interns found employment, were hired by their host or returned to school.

May 5, 2006 | 11:45 AM Comments  0 comments


Canadian Federal Budget: HIGHLIGHTS
Related to country: Canada

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered the Canadian Federal Budget on Tuesday May 2, 2006.

The budget contains 29 separate taxation reduction measures covering all areas where the federal government collects funds, it also features additional restrained funding, provides for a national discourse on the nature of the Federation, and calls for an Expenditure Management Review to find $1billion in “savings” per year for 2 years to be completed by this fall.

Under the proposed Expenditure Management Review, programs must demonstrate their cost effectiveness and results; be in a defined area of federal jurisdiction; and meet their original mandate. Reductions to spending will be included in the fall’s supplementary estimates.

There is significant detail on the proposed make-up of the new child care arrangement and the elimination of the capital gains tax on charitable donations, available if desired.

The full text of the Budget and Budget Speech: Focussing on Priorities, and a “principle-based framework on fiscal arrangements”, outlined in the companion document Restoring Fiscal Balance in Canada, are available at http://www.fin.gc.ca. Inter-governmental, Parliamentary, and Public consultations on Restoring Fiscal Balance in Canada are expected to begin within months.

Since there are 29 separate taxation reduction measures in Budget 2006, here are SOME highlights focussing on tax incentives that either directly affect the orgnization I work for. (The YMCA or its main constituency):

Immigration:

 Reduction of the Right of Permanent Residence Fee from $975 to $490, effective immediately.

 Increase immigration settlement and integration (i.e. language training and employment-related supports) funding by $307million over two years, over and above investments already made in previous budgets. This funding is to enhance programs and services in all provinces and territories (except Quebec who have a separate immigration funding arrangement).

 $18million over two years to begin “taking steps towards” the establishment of a Canadian Agency for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Credentials. This is to be achieved through the furthering of consultations already underway with the Provinces, Territories and other stakeholders on the mandate, structure and governance of the proposed Agency under the direction of the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development.

General taxation measures:

 Exempting donations of publicly listed securities to public charities from capital gains tax, effective immediately. (more information available in Annex 3 of the Budget Plan)

 The goods and services tax (GST) will be reduced by 1 percentage point as of July 1, 2006.

 The new Canada Employment Credit—a tax credit on employment income of up to $500, effective July 1, 2006, to help working Canadians. The eligible amount will double to $1,000 as of January 1, 2007.

 Increases in the basic personal amount—the amount that all Canadians can earn without paying federal income tax—to $10,000 by 2009.

 A public transit tax credit effective July 1, 2006 - benefits to approximately 2 million Canadians who make a sustained commitment to use this environmentally friendly mode of transportation. An individual who purchases passes costing $80 per month throughout the year will receive up to about $150 in federal tax relief for the year. All transit users, including commuters, students and seniors, will qualify.

 In line with the promotion of health and wellness, the budget proposes to increase tobacco and alcohol excise duties to offset the impact of the GST rate reduction effective July 1, 2006.

On tax incentives supporting the skilled trades:

 A new tax credit of up to $2,000 for employers who hire apprentices.

 A new $1,000 grant for first- and second-year apprentices.

 A new $500 tax deduction for trades people for costs in excess of $1,000 for tools they must acquire as a condition of employment. Also, the $200 limit on the cost of tools eligible for the 100-per-cent capital cost allowance will be increased to $500.

On healthy, active living for children and youth:
 A children’s fitness tax credit for up to $500 in eligible fees for physical fitness programs for each child under age 16 effective January 1, 2007

 The credit will be provided on up to $500 of eligible fees for programs of physical activity for each child under age 16. In the coming months, the Government will establish a small group of experts in health and physical fitness to provide advice on the programs of physical activity that should be eligible for the credit.

Specific Budget measures relevant to the work of the YMCA of Greater Toronto:

Child care:

 $3.7billion over 2 years for the “Universal Child Care benefit (UCCB) which will provide all families with $100/month per child under the age of 6. The UCCB will not affect federal income-tested benefits and will be provided as of July 1, 2006.

 $250million to support the creation of 25,000 new child care spaces per year rising to a total of 125,000 over 5 years

A copy of the details of the government plan for child care have been put into a separate document accompanying this summary piece for those wishing additional information.


Affordable Housing:

 Additional $800 million to provinces and territories to address immediate pressures in affordable housing in cities and communities.

 “The Government is providing this one-time payment, to be paid into a third-party trust, contingent on sufficient funds from the 2005–06 surplus in excess of $2 billion (to be determined in the fall) paid notionally over 3 years. The Affordable Housing Trust will support investments to increase the supply of affordable housing, including transitional and supportive housing.
Early media reports state the City of Toronto is slated to receive the majority of this funding, providing for the construction of an estimated 1000 new units once the money is transferred.

Youth at risk:
 $20 million over two years for communities to prevent youth crime with a focus on guns, gangs and drugs. Additional information to be forwarded “shortly” following “consultations”.

Emergency Preparedness:
 $460 million ($1 billion over five years) to further improve Canada’s pandemic preparedness.

Foreign Aid
 Up to $320 million in 2005–06 to fight polio, tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS and to help low-income countries cope with natural disasters or sharp rises in commodity prices. (a breakdown is available if interested)

Aboriginal Communities
 $450 million for improving water supply and housing on reserve, education outcomes, and socio-economic conditions for Aboriginal women, children and families. The budget also confirms up to $300 million to provinces to address immediate pressures in off-reserve Aboriginal housing, and up to $300 million to territories for affordable housing in the North.

May 3, 2006 | 2:12 PM Comments  0 comments


Refugee Claims Based on Sexual Orientation
Related to country: Canada

Written by Rob Hughes June 3, 2002

The President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, announced on September 27, 1999 at a workshop for Members of Parliament from countries in east and southern Africa that all homosexuals would be arrested and charged by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). I and the other board members went into hiding on October 29th when we learned about the President’s order...On October 6 at about 10:00 p.m. just after we finished our dinner and were discussing the situation, about eight armed soldiers raided the house...The doors of the main house were open since we knew the gate was locked and we were not expecting a raid. We later learned that there was a government informant in our group. The soldiers used a ladder to go over the high fence that surrounded the house, and they unbolted the gate. The soldiers handcuffed me, covered my face with a black piece of cloth and led me to a Landrover 110 parked outside the gate. I did not know what happened to the others. About 30 minutes later we arrived at our destination and they removed the black cloth, my shoes and my watch. I guessed that I was in the notorious headquarters for the Directorate of Military Intelligence on Kitante road near Fairway Hotel. For over six hours I was interrogated about my sexuality, the organization I led, who my donors are, and who my contacts are both inside and outside the country. A major conducted the interrogation in the presence of two soldiers.

I was slapped twice by the major who thought I was not telling him enough of what he wanted to hear from me. Later that morning around five I was driven in a minibus to Mbuya Military Barracks. When the other inmates learned that I was not a soldier but a gay activist, they tortured me until I bled from my nose since that jail was meant for only soldiers or cases investigated by the army...1

Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Refugees and has an obligation to provide asylum to those with a well-founded fear of persecution. The Convention lists five grounds for claiming refugee status. These are incorporated into the Immigration Act. While sexual orientation is not specifically listed, the fifth ground of ‘membership in a particular social group’ is an open-ended category. Early refugee cases rejected sexual orientation as a basis for making a refugee claim.

The first recorded successful refugee claim based on sexual orientation was the 1992 Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) decision of Jorge Inaudi that found that sexual orientation could constitute membership in a particular social group. The total number of refugee claims based on sexual orientation or gender identity is unknown. The IRB only maintains statistics on the number of claims determined based on membership in a particular social group. Since sexual orientation is not a distinctive ground recognized in either the Convention or the Immigration Act, Queer refugee claims are included in the open-ended category of “membership in a particular social group”. Another impediment to obtaining information is that while the IRB must provide written reasons for negative refugee decisions, the IRB does not have to do so for positive decisions unless requested by the claimant or counsel.

In the absence of statistics, I can only speak from my own experience in my law practice and from speaking with other Canadian lawyers who represent Queer refugee claimants. Although Queer refugee claims form a small proportion of the total number of refugee claims made in Canada, I would estimate several hundred Queers have claimed refugee status over the last decade. I have observed a significant and steady increase in claims over the last five years.

The source countries for Queer refugee claims in Canada are based on the general knowledge claimants have about the ability to claim refugee status in Canada because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on sexual orientation and their ability to get to Canada. Queers come from all walks of life and do not share the same level of sophistication. Generally, educated Queers with access to the Internet are more aware of the possibility of making a refugee claim in Canada.

Two factors determine the ability of claimants to get to Canada. Firstly, visa restrictions to Canada and secondly, the common border with the USA. Canada imposes visa requirements that prevent many refugees from getting into Canada to make a refugee claim. Visa officers are trained to screen visa applications from potential refugee claimants. Secondly, presently Queer refugee who is in the USA can show up at a border post with Canada without a visitor visa to Canada and would be eligible to claim refugee status in Canada regardless of what their immigration status is in the USA. Citizens from many Latin American and other countries who are without status in the USA have made refugee claims in Canada. This ability will be severely impacted by the implementation of the Safe Third Country Agreement signed between Canada and the US.

The significance of these factors in determining the source countries of Queer refugee claimants can be illustrated by comparing the number of Queer refugee claimants from Mexico with those from the Peoples Republic of China. Despite the much greater population of the PRC, the much publicized cases of “Chinese boat people” making refugee claims, and the fact that more citizens of the PRC immigrate to Canada than Mexico, the country that I see the largest number of Queer refugee claims originating from is Mexico, while there has only been a handful of claims over the past decade from the PRC. There is documentary evidence about the persecution of Queers in both countries. In my opinion, the disparity in number can be explained by the fact that there have been articles in major daily newspapers and magazines about Queers claiming refugee status in Mexico and a citizen of Mexico does not require a visa to enter into Canada but a citizen of the People’s Republic of China does.

A refugee claimant does not have to have been out as gay or lesbian in their own country or to have previously experienced persecution in order to claim refugee status. The test is forward looking, that is, what would happen on return to one's country. Persecution does not have to be imprisonment, torture, or death. Systematic harassment, if sufficiently serious, could amount to persecution. It is unnecessary to establish government involvement in persecution if the claimant is unable to obtain the protection of the government. If measures of discrimination lead to consequences of a substantially prejudicial nature, such as serious restrictions on the right to earn a livelihood or access to normally available educational facilities, this could amount to persecution.

I have always found it ironic those Queer refugee claimants who flee persecution in their own countries and frequently have spent all of their lives trying to hide and deny their sexual orientation must suddenly prove they are Queer in the refugee determination process. While there may be isolated cases of claimants fabricating their sexual orientation in a refugee claim, in my opinion this is uncommon. In fact, I have found the opposite to be more common. Even when in a country such as Canada that provides human rights protection on the basis of sexual orientation, Queer refugee claimants who fear removal to their country can be so closeted they often do not disclose their sexual orientation until long after they arrive in Canada. I have seen situations where Queer refugee claimants chose to rely on a weaker claim on some other grounds such as persecution on the basis of political opinion and have not disclosed their sexual orientation until late in the refugee determination process. If one is going to make up a story, why not claim membership in some dissident political faction than with a minority as universally marginalized and despised as gays and lesbians?

Visibility is frequently a major issue in Queer refugee claims. While Queer activists, transvestites and transsexuals generally have little difficulty in establishing they are identifiable as Queer, the closeted gay or lesbian has typically faced more of a struggle in convincing the IRB that they face a serious risk of persecution. Perversely, this has the effect of implicitly condoning the marginalization of Queers and implies they should stay in the closet in their own countries and not be open about their sexual orientation. A different standard is often applied to Queers than to members of religious minorities who are not expected to have to hide their identity.

There are IRB decisions rejecting the evidence of claimants as to the treatment of gays and lesbians in their country as "self serving" because it was provided by a gay or lesbian organization such as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Until recently, mainstream human rights organizations such as Amnesty International refused to document sexual orientation persecution. Information on the treatment of lesbians and gays in some countries that do not have Queer activist organizations is difficult to obtain. Another problem is the IRB’s lack of understanding about the dynamics of sexual abuse of gay male claimants by the police and the function that meeting places such as bars or cruising areas have in societies where there is no other way to meet other Queers.

Ironically, the leading case on whether sexual orientation constitutes “membership in a particular social group” is found in a 1993 Supreme Court of Canada decision where the claimant did not claim to be Queer. In Ward2, the claimant was a former member of the Irish National Liberation Army who alleged he was unable to obtain protection from British authorities. The court analysed what constitutes “membership in a particular social group”. It reviewed earlier Federal Court and international jurisprudence to define what constitutes “membership in a particular social group”.

It noted:

The meaning assigned to “particular social group” in the Act should take into account the general underlying themes of the defence of human rights and anti-discrimination that form the basis for the international refugee protection initiative.* They identify three possible categories:

groups defined by an innate or unchangeable characteristic;

groups whose members voluntarily associate for reasons so fundamental to their human dignity that they should not be forced to forsake the association, and

groups associated by a former voluntary status, unalterable due to its historical permanence.
...the first category would embrace individuals fearing persecution on such bases as gender, linguistic background and sexual orientation, while the second would encompass, for example, human rights activist. The third branch is included more for historical intentions, although it is also relevant to the anti-discrimination influences, in one’s past as an immutable part of the person.

*The tests proposed in Mayers, supra, Cheung, supra, and Matter of Acosta, supra, provide a good working rule to achieve this result.

The Federal Court Trial Division has since applied Ward in a 1994 case where it concluded that the tribunal erred in concluding the applicant’s sexual orientation could not constitute membership in a particular social group.3 The Ward decision has not