Global Navigation
Top Navigation
Left Navigation
Content
(April 13, 2007)
Issam Al Yamani (a Palestinian refugee fighting deportation from Canada for 20 years) has just been informed by his lawyer Barbara Jackman that he has won his final appeal to stay his deportation. It is now in the hands of Stockwell Day (Federal Minister of Public Safety) to grant him Ministerial Relief. The appeal was that Stockwell Day did not give reasons when he denied him Ministerial Relief. The ruling is he has to give reasons. We want to urge him to change his decision and grant Issam Ministerial Relief. Time is critical. Please write to Stockwell Day right now requesting he grant Issam Al Yamani Ministerial Relief. We are including our letter to him as a sample as well as a call out that was issued last April which gives background to the case. Issam has been a board member at Palestine House in Mississauga and is well known and respected by activists here in Mississauga. Please take the time to write on his behalf. Please forward to all your contacts.
P.S. Issam suggests we start the letter " in light of the federal court judgement..." and send a hard copy. Stockwell Day's addresses are at the end of this. No postage necessary for Ottawa address.
Dear Mr. Stockwell Day:
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
In light of the recent federal court judgement, I am writing to you to request you provide Ministerial Relief to Issam Al-Yamani. Issam Al-Yamani is a stateless Palestinian refugee, long time Palestinian and human rights activist and deeply-respected member of the Palestinian and Arab community in Canada.
He has lived peacefully in Canada for over 20 years and has two Canadian born children currently in school and university. As a Palestinian, his deportation would cause a great and unwarranted hardship on him and his family. I am asking for your compassion in this case and to reflect on both his lack of a criminal record, his contribution to life here in Mississauga and his own safety and the well being of his family.
Please grant Issam Al-Yamani Ministerial Relief.
Call out from April 2006:
Act Now to Stop the Deportation of Issam Al-Yamani!
Canadian authorities have issued a deportation order for Thursday, April 20, 2006 for Issam Al-Yamani, a stateless Palestinian refugee, longtime Palestinian and human rights activist and deeply-respected member of the Palestinian and Arab community in Canada.
The deportation of Issam Al-Yamani is the most recent example of attempts to silence and deport Palestinian refugees in Canada. Issam has lived peacefully in Canada for over 20 years. All those who know him attest to his tireless efforts on behalf of the Palestinian and Arab community in Mississauga and Toronto. He has two Canadian-born children currently attending high school and university.
Issam was issued an immigrant visa by visa officials in Amman, Jordan on March 21, 1984. He was subsequently granted permanent resident status at Lester B. Pearson airport on April 27, 1985. He applied for Canadian citizenship on May 17, 1988. Since that time, Canadian authorities have been attempting to deport Issam due to his previous political affiliations with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). His father was one of the founding members of the PFLP. He grew up in a community committed to self-determination for Palestinians and because of his father, came to know many persons in the Palestinian leadership. Issam had previously been a member of the political wing of the PFLP but severed all ties in 1991. He has never engaged in or been in any way involved with acts of violence.
A LETTER FROM LAWYERS AGAINST THE WAR IN B.C., CANADA:
Dear Stockwell Day,
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada. We are writing to you to request you provide Ministerial Relief to Issam Al-Yamani. Issam Al-Yamani is a stateless Palestinian refugee, long time Palestinian and human rights activist and deeply-respected member of the Palestinian and Arab community in Canada. He has never been charged or convicted of any crime either here in Canada nor abroad. From our contact with residents in Mississauga we understand that this man has contributed in a positive way to the cultural life of Mississauga for decades. Far from posing any threat to Canada or any of its residents, he has worked tirelessly for the rights and well being of all. He is an asset to our community in Mississauga and by extension the country as a whole. He has lived peacefully in Canada for over 20 years and has two Canadian born children currently in school and university. As a Palestinian, his deportation would cause a great and unwarranted and unnecessary hardship on him and his family. Therefore we are asking for your compassion and empathy in this case. We ask you to reflect and consider the fact that he does not have a criminal record and has and will continue to contribute to the community and Canada's. We also ask you to take into consideration the safety and the well being of this man and his family. Please grant Issam Al-Yamani Ministerial Relief. In Universal Kinship and Loving Peace, On behalf of the Boundary Peace Initiative (member of the B.C. Southern Interior Peace Coalition, the Canadian Peace Alliance, Abolition 2000,
Lawyers Against the War and affiliate of the Fellowship of Reconciliation)
Laura Savinkoff
Box 2572,
Grand Forks, B.C.,
V0H 1H0