Dear residents and friends of Hastings-Sunrise and East Van:

On August 19, 2019, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) conducted an early morning raid on some of our neighbours.

Many of us don’t see or appreciate their work and time in community, as they are neighbours who rise

before break of day to shovel out stalls, groom and care for horses, and work difficult hours at the

Hastings Racecourse stables.

Kiwassa has had a relationship with backstretch employees and their families for three decades. These

neighbours are seasonal workers who have different immigration stories and status – permanent,

temporary, visitors, lapsed or precarious. They are married, single, parents, and children. They have

long had an important place and connection to our community. Many of these people have returned to

work here for years, and the only reputation they’ve established with us is for hard work, acts of

generosity, and resiliency.

In a declared Access without Fear City, in a neighbourhood that prides itself on welcoming everyone, at

the start of one of our longest standing celebrations of community, the CBSA decided to arrive early at

the stables to identify and arrest racialized, Spanish-speaking workers who were doing their jobs, caring

for horses, cleaning stalls in preparation for the day ahead. In our view, the raid was not about

defending public safety, but rather a dehumanizing exercise that serves only to generate fear and

reduce community safety.

Kiwassa Neighbourhood House is proud to embrace Sanctuary City policy and principles, and ensure that

our spaces and services can be accessed without fear by anyone, regardless of their immigration status.

We call on our Federal Government to release detainees, and examine how its performance and

approach to working with people and communities can be done in a way that does not violate human

rights, undermine community trust and safety, nor profile people who are racialized and speak English

as an additional language.

Sincerely,

Mark Gifford

Executive Director

Cc:

Kiwassa Neighbourhood House, Board of Directors

board@kiwassa.ca

Hon. Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction

Bill.Blair@parl.gc.ca

Hon. Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

ralph.goodale@parl.gc.ca

Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament, Vancouver East

Jenny.Kwan@parl.gc.ca

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca

Hon. Shane Simpson, MLA, Vancouver-Hastings

shane.simpson.MLA@leg.bc.ca

Mayor Kennedy Stewart, City of Vancouver

Kennedy.stewart@vancouver.ca

