Allied Campaign

2:00pm - 4:30pm

Nelson Mandela Park Plamondon Metro Victoria, Avenue, Montreal, Quebec

This is an allied campaign for the annual Status For All demonstration, in partner with Solidarity Across Borders and friends. Since 2004, they have marched annually in the streets of Montreal. This year, we will be marching in Côte-des-Neiges, to demand an end to deportations, detentions and double punishment, and to support a full, comprehensive and ongoing regularization program (ie. Status for All!). We support open borders and the free movement of people seeking justice and dignity, meaning freedom to move, freedom to return, and the freedom to stay.

This demonstration takes on particular meaning as we march in support of a Solidarity City. Recently, the Montreal City Council misleadingly declared itself a Sanctuary City, falsely giving the impression that Montreal no longer cooperates with the Canadian Border Services Agency. In past months we have seen the increasing normalization of the far right, attacks on migrants and the explicit fortification of borders; in response, symbolic gestures like Montreal’s deeply misleading “sanctuary city” announcement have done little to challenge border violence.

In this context, the struggles of migrants and their allies have become more critical than ever. In spite of tremendous obstacles people the world over continue to exert their right to move, to stay, and to return, traversing conditions ranging from deadly seas, scorching desert to freezing snow in the search of safety, peace or opportunity. Thousands of them live undocumented in Montreal and across the country, forced into precarious and exploitative work, without access to healthcare, education, or other essential services, and under constant threat of deportation. These are our neighbors, our friends and family. Join us in lending our voices to these struggles — struggles of daily resilience, of quiet resistance, of perseverance. Let’s come together to make Montreal a true Solidarity and Sanctuary City, from the ground up. Let Montreal’s streets ring as we chant “Status for all! Open the borders!”