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CTV News
a day ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Montrealers protest against border security Bill C-2
Canadian border services officers walk past customs booths at the Highway 55 port of entry in Stanstead, Quebec, on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press) Protesters gathered in Montreal on Sunday to voice their opposition to federal Bill C-2, which aims to strengthen border security. The bill includes several immigration measures that have raised concerns among organizations. About 80 people gathered in front of the offices of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada downtown for the protest organized by Solidarity Across Borders. They chanted: 'Status for all,' and 'Solidarity with refugees.' 'Bill C-2 was a real shock to us. Just a few years ago, the Liberal Party promised a mass regularization program. Instead, we are now faced with a bill that will greatly affect the situation of undocumented people in Canada and those with precarious status, and which will also increase the number of undocumented people in Canada,' said Mary Foster, a Solidarity Across Borders activist at the protest. For Foster, the bill that claims to ensure border security will not guarantee the safety of communities. 'It will be even more difficult to cross the border in a safe and healthy manner. We will have more people dying at the borders. We know that people will continue to cross the borders,' she said. The activist also deplores the ideas behind the bill, which she says portrays refugees and immigrants as a threat to Canadians. 'We are all human beings, we are all equal, we are all supposed to have the right to freedom of movement, liberty and security,' said Foster. Instead of Bill C-2, Solidarity Across Borders is calling for a mass program to regularize the status of immigrants. The organization is also asking that immigrant workers be granted permanent residence as soon as they are accepted into Canada, Foster said. Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree tabled the bill, which includes a section dedicated to immigration, last Tuesday. Bill C-2 includes provisions that would give the government the power, 'if it considers it to be in the public interest,' to 'cancel or amend permanent or temporary resident visas, work permits, study permits, temporary resident permits, electronic travel authorizations, permanent resident cards or any other immigration document.' If the bill is passed, asylum claims filed more than one year after a potential refugee has entered Canada will be deemed inadmissible for referral to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, which is normally responsible for assessing such claims. The same would apply to asylum claims made 14 days after a person arrived irregularly in Canada by land. This bill comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring Ottawa for months to take action to stem the flow of immigrants to the south. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French June 8, 2025. Coralie Laplante, The Canadian Press - With information from Émilie Bergeron in Ottawa
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Carolina book ban debate continues in Beaufort County
BEAUFORT, S.C. (WSAV) — The book banning debate started in Beaufort County more than two years ago, but now the state school board is involved, and more books are being taken off school shelves. The state school board voted to ban four books from all school libraries in the state, declaring them inappropriate for all students, even in high school. However, several teachers, parents, and librarians raised concerns about the decision now being out of the hands of local school districts and instead in the hands of the board. 'Our community worked really hard to review the 97 books that were challenged, and those review committees made decisions and recommendations that were supported by the majority of our board,' said Mary Foster, a preschool teacher in Beaufort County and a member of Families Against Book Bans. '91 of those books were returned. And now the state has created a regulation that allows them to undo all of that.' The books being questioned in the meeting were just four out of 97 books brought to Beaufort County School District in 2022. Foster said the 91 books that had been saved would now have a chance to be brought back into the spotlight and potentially banned at the state level. 'The policy Regulation 43-170 was written by Ellen Weaver's team, and it doesn't take into account anything like literary value or the educational merits of a book,' explained Paul Bowers from the American Civil Liberties Union. Bowers pointed out that, instead, the state superintendent's regulation allowed the board to make the ban based on small excerpts that contained 'sexual conduct.' But he emphasized that the board didn't even have to read the books to make the decision to ban them. Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, expressed her concern, saying she fears that the next step in the ban will go farther than 'sexual conduct'. 'We do feel like they're going down this road of any character, any lifestyle, someone who doesn't agree with,' said East. 'They don't think anybody has a right to read about it, which is concerning.' Beaufort County School District wasn't available to give a comment, but they shared that they were following the decision from the state board. They will be communicating with all schools in the county to remove the books this week, placing them in a secure location. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
