U.S. President Donald Trump has signed several Executive Orders targeting the rights and safety of refugees in the United States.
Canada’s ‘Safe Third Country Agreement’ means that most refugees who arrive in the US cannot make claims in Canada.
The United States is failing to protect refugees. We must rescind the “Safe Third Country Agreement.”
Dawn Michael and Johann Cooper get set to welcome guests for AmnesTEA
Group 63 members decided to try an AmnesTEA on the Victoria Day weekend. Johann booked the gym at Trinity St Paul’s church in Toronto and made sure the congregation were invited to drop by after the church service.
Johann, Dawn and Marilyn baked treats, put the coffee and kettle on, and laid out petitions, postcards and baskets for donations. Success! About 63 people signed a postcard demanding a fair trial for Huseyin Celil - a Canadian detained in China. The group also added their names to another action urging Canada to abolish the Designated Country of Origin list to allow refugee claimants a hearing based on their unique circumstance. We left with about $63 in donations and an invitation to make this a more regular event!
By: Ishaan Chandok
On April 22nd, 2017, a day accompanied with beautiful weather, the group One Fire invited Amnesty activists from the Business & Human Rights/Indigenous Rights Team to join them for a concert at Christie Pits Park in Toronto. Under the message “We Are One”, artists came together in this collective movement to deliver music based on topics such as peace, love, and freedom. The focus of the event was Earth Day 2017, and between musical guests, Amnesty International volunteers were given time at the mic to speak to the audience.
By Jackie Hansen, Major Campaigns and Women's Rights Campaigner, Amnesty Internatioanl Canada
Amnesty yellow mingled with the Women’s March on Washington’s signature pink toques at solidarity marches from St. John's to Victoria on Saturday, January 21. Amnesty supporters were amongst the 3+ million march participants worldwide. We marched against fear, hate, and in support of love, equality and justice. We marched for women’s rights and for LGBTI rights.
On inauguration day, many women and LGBTI people felt invisible in the president’s speech, erased from the White House’s list of policy priorities, and concerned about the potential impacts of new policies on civil liberties, the shrinking space for civil society, women’s rights, and LGBTI rights.
Every year on December 10th, Amnesty International celebrates Human Rights Day with the world’s largest grassroots human rights event. Activists in more the 140 countries around the world come together to write letters calling for the protection and promotion of human rights.
Your hand-written letters, combined with millions from around the world, can change a life. Last year, 30,000 participants in Canada contributed more than 35,000 letters to the worldwide total. Write for Rights is the power of one multiplied many thousand times over to make a difference.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
REGISTER NOW whether you're writing at home or planning a public event, register on our website to be a part of the day.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE to learn about this year's cases and to help plan your event.
The Canadian government is launching dozens of consultations over the coming months. Among these are election promises and issues with significant human rights dimensions. Now is the time for Amnesty International supporters to make their voices heard.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
A number of Canadian mining, oil and gas companies that operate overseas have been accused of having a role in the killing of protesters, forced eviction of communities, rape of local women, contamination of water, and failure to respect Indigenous land rights.
International law requires that victims of human rights abuses have a “right to remedy”. It is extremely difficult, however, for victims to obtain remedy if the perpetrator is a very powerful company headquartered in another country.
Amnesty International is working hard to ensure that people who have been harmed by Canadian companies in other countries have “access to remedy” in Canada. Together with a coalition of 30 Canadian civil society organizations we are urging the Government of Canada to create an Extractive Sector Ombudsperson who would be empowered to receive complaints about human rights abuses involving Canadian mining, oil and gas companies, launch an investigation, report on its findings and make recommendations.
Amnesty is undertaking an extensive project focused on the human rights of Indigenous peoples in northeast British Columbia’s Peace River Valley. In August, we released “The Point of No Return,” a report outlining how the human rights of Indigenous peoples are threatened by the Site C hydroelectric dam. We are calling on you once again to support our action calling for a halt to the Site C dam. Please use the report and Site C action in your campaigning this season. The Site C action will be featured in December’s Write for Rights events. The report, action, and much more is available at www.amnesty.ca/SiteC.
The next phase of the project is the release on November 3 of “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” a full report on the Peace River Valley project, which provides an overview of how the economic development model being employed in northeast BC violates Indigenous land rights, threatens Indigenous cultures, and heightens the risk that Indigenous women and girls will experience violence. Information about the report release and accompanying actions will be circulated in advance of November 3.
Indigenous women and girls in Canada experience higher rates of violence than other women and girls in Canada. Our activism and solidarity with Indigenous activists over many years has helped to raise the profile of this issue, and we hope this raised profile will lead to concrete and lasting change. One way we hope change will be created is through the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which commenced its work on September 1. Throughout the two-year National Inquiry, our solidarity with Indigenous women, families and communities is needed more than ever.
On October 4th, people across Canada showed their solidarity by attending vigils to honour the lives of indigenous women and girls whose lives have been lost to violence. Amnesty International will continue to stand in solidarity with Indigenous women and families throughout the process of the inquiry.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
LEARN MORE on our campaign website.
This September, Apple launched its latest gadget, the iPhone 7. Thousands of people scrambled to buy it as soon as it was released. Others will wait until the winter holiday shopping season to purchase it for loved ones. But beyond its new features, how many consumers think about the working conditions of those who mined the minerals that go into their new phones, along with our tablets and laptops?
Child miners work long hours in hazardous conditions in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The cobalt is used to make batteries for electronics devices.
Amnesty International is urging Apple to investigate its supply chain to ensure that it does not use child labour.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
GATHER SIGNATURES on our petition to Apple.
GATHER SIGNATURES on our petition to Samsung.
ON SOCIAL MEDIA use the hashtag #notinmyphone and tweet @Apple.
We share our world, and we share responsibility for making it the kind of place we want to live in. This includes responsibility for protecting each other’s human rights and freedom. Right now, record numbers of people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes. But instead of protecting refugees, many countries are slamming their doors shut. The solution to the global refugee crisis starts with each and every one of us making one simple, personal commitment to help – simply by saying: “I welcome refugees”.
This September Amnesty launched “I Welcome”, a two year refugee campaign which demands that States strengthen their commitment to protect refugees. This includes that countries cooperate with one another and commit to resettle more refugees; asylum systems be strengthened in key countries; refugees and migrants are protected as they move between countries; and that we always communicate that refugees are welcome.
Everyday across the globe, men, women and youth speak out in defence of the land and environment. They defend our planet and thanks to their work, we have clean air to breathe and water to drink.
But in countries such as Guatemala and Honduras, territory, land and environmental rights defenders (TLERDs) are killed and imprisoned because their activism challenges the politicians and companies that want to control the use of their lands and resources.
This September, Amnesty launched “We defend the land with our blood; Territory, Land and Environmental Rights Defenders Under Attack in Honduras and Guatemala”. This report is in advance of a new global campaign on Human Rights Defenders launching in March 2017. The report calls on the governments of Guatemala and Honduras to provide protection for defenders so they can carry out their important work, investigate crimes against them and prosecute those responsible, and publicly state their support for the work of TLERDs.
By Catherine Brunelle, Write for Rights Support Team
Have you ever wanted to make a difference, but then felt totally overwhelmed by that massive idea? We all have the potential to impact our world for good, often by simply supporting a cause already in motion.
Amnesty International is inviting you to help change lives on December 10, International Human Rights Day, with the world's biggest grassroots event for human rights: Write for Rights! Last year we sent 3.2 million letters and messages for human rights from 143 countries. Here's a list of 10 ways you can get involved:
1. Start with the simple stuff
Combine a 3° temperature, a dose of sun, a course at Lake Ontario’s shoreline and 26,000 runners. There you have it: the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Scattered among them on October 18 were 12 individuals running for rights. Together, we had contacted many friends and relatives to sponsor our efforts. They contributed close to $7,000 for Amnesty’s work!
“I had never run more than 10 km, but I decided to tackle the marathon as a personal goal,” said Johann Cooper. “Before I knew it, I was on the Amnesty team, wearing I'm running to support Amnesty International on my back.”
By HyunGu Kang, Amnesty International Canada Youth Leader
On a sunny Sunday in late September, Amnesty Toronto’s Youth Leadership Council hosted our first public event in Toronto’s popular Kensington Market.
On the one hand, we were terrified. This was the first time we’d be representing Amnesty to non-members, and we were eager to do a good job. On the other, we were resolved.
It was one year since 43 students “disappeared” after being taken away by police in Mexico – one year in which authorities did far too little to find the missing students and seemed intent, instead, on a shameful cover-up. We knew this was unacceptable, and we wanted the public to know it, too.
Join the global movement for human rights.
