McGill students and others were taught the ropes of a complex network the Feds use to process refugee claimants.

January 31 and February 1, 2006 were the dates when Solidarity Across Borders member Jaggi Singh led a presentation about the refugee claimant process.

The legalistic and discouraging manner that the Feds follow to review, and often reject, requests for recognition of an individual's need for sanctuary were explained to some 35 interested participants from on-campus and off.

Half a dozen members of SAB who are doing active support work in the community and within associations based on national origins explained what they do and the challenges they've faced with refugees who have been refused regularisation of their status in Canada. The second 2-hour session on the second day focussed on hands-on interventions.

Many individuals in the workshop audience had personal experiences as immigrants which they shared.

For some it was the high point of a week on the McGill campus when social action groups presented their interests and activities in a variety of ways.

Although refugees face the Feds case-by-case, the perspective of the activists we met with was to build a united front to pressure Ottawa to regularise across the board the status of people seeking a new life in this country.