Call-out for a telephone, fax and email campaign to the offices of
Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Admit Yasmine to Cegep this semester!

JUSTICE FOR YASMINE! EDUCATION IS A RIGHT FOR ALL!

Call-out for a telephone, fax and email campaign to the offices of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Admit Yasmine to Cegep this semester!

Yasmine Behlouli, 19, is an Algerian refugee who has lived with her family in Quebec for the past nine years. Her family faced deportation and lived without status for many years until they were finally regularized in 2002.
They are still waiting for their permanent residence. Yasmine was active in the Action Committee of Non-Status (CASS) and helped to fight against the deportation of her family and others.

Even after having successfully won the right to stay, Yasmine must still continue to struggle to have her basic rights recognized. She has been trying to attend Cegep (pre-university college in Quebec) for the past two
years. However, because she is still waiting for her permanent residence, the government is determined to consider her as an "international student" and to make her pay fees that run several thousand dollars per semester,
fees that she can obviously not afford to pay.

In September 2004, students and supporters organized a delegation to the offices of Quebec's Ministry of Education to demand an exemption that would let Yasmine attend Cegep for the normal fee. Twice thereafter, the government announced that she would be able to attend school, at Cegep
Ahuntsic, starting January 2005. However, the Quebec Ministry of Education and Immigration Canada changed their minds and decided to make her wait longer.

Even after having received a generous scholarship that would have enabled her to pay the international student fees for as long as she needed to, she was still unable to attend Cegep, since Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has rejected her application for a study permit. Yasmine is
sick of false promises and needs to have the certainty that she will be able to attend Cegep this January. There is no reason that justifies denying her fundamental right to education, a right that prevails for all, and not just for Canadian citizens.

Here is what you can do to support Yasmine Behlouli:

- Call Immigration Canada and demand that they take clear action to admit Yasmine to Cegep for the semester starting January 2005 and that she not pay international student fees.

Call Inland Services Director Louise Gaudreault at 514 283 0243,
Vegreville Alberta Case Processing Center (where study pemits are processed)Director Tony Brothers 780 632 8030, and Minister of Immigration
Judy Sgro 613 992 7774

- Fax a letter and demand that Immigration Canada clear action to admit Yasmine in cegep for January 2005. A letter is posted below.

Fax the letter to (514) 496 2060, (780)632 8101 and / or (613)947 8319

For more information, contact noii...@resist.ca

LETTER TO FAX OR EMAIL

I am writing to ask you to take action regarding the case of Yasmine Behlouli, 19, an Algerian refugee waiting to receive permanent residence.

Yasmine and her family fled civil war in Algeria and came to live in Quebec. They lived for many years without status and faced deportation before being regularized in accordance with the special procedures set up by Quebec City and Ottawa in 2002. But over two years have passed and the family has still not received their permanent residence even though they have been living here for nine years.

Meanwhile, Yasmine Behlouli is being denied her right to an accessible education. She has tried several times to attend Cegep, but she is considered to be an "international student" and thus asked to pay fees that range around $4000 per semester, not counting books and other related fees. Being unable to pay this much money, she is forced to wait for her permanent residence papers, which have been languishing in the Immigration bureaucracy for the past 18 months.

Yasmine and her supporters have put pressure several times on the Ministry of Education, asking that an exception be made so she can study in Cegep while paying the regular fees for Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Twice thereafter, she was told she would be able to attend
Cegep starting January 2005. But they changed their minds both times, thus making her wait even longer. I am writing this letter a couple of weeks before the start of the Winter 2005 semester, and Yasmine still does not know whether or not she will be able to continue her studies at last.

This is a cruel and unjust punishment. Yasmine is highly motivated to pursue her studies here in Montreal. Her family will certainly receive their permanent residence. There is no motive that justifies that she be treated any differently than any of her citizen classmates.

The Quebec Ministry of Education of Quebec is promising to deliver an exception for humanitarian reasons on condition that she obtain a study permit that Immigration Canada refuses to give her. Yasmine even received a generous scholarship that would have covered international student fees, but with no study permit she can not even use it. Immigration Canada is responsible for giving her this permit and letting her, finally, continue her studies.

I demand that Immigration Canada take clear action -- no false promises -- so that Yasmine Behlouli can obtain her study permit as well as any other document that will permit her admittance to Cegep in January 2005.

We also demand that Immigration Canada do the same for all people who are currently in this situation.

Sincerely,

yyy