Honduran Migrants Week

Last week, the National Forum for Honduran Migrants (FONAMIH) celebrated Honduran Migrants Rights Week. We consider the subject of capital importance, due to the significant number of our fellow citizens living abroad, many of whom have suffered repeated abuses and a pattern of human rights violations, and victims of poverty and indifference.

We consider that promoting respect and defending basic human rights by governments might radically improve the plight of our migrant population and their relatives. It’s a matter that should be discussed widely, in and out of Honduras, and governments around the world need to consider legislation to protect their immigrant population appropriately.

When people choose to migrate, they are in search of a better life. It is ironic that because of their migratory status, they are targeted for violence, exclusion and even greater poverty. Governments need to protect immigrants on their journey, when they arrive and when they leave, whether that be by choice or deportation. Basic human rights are the least they can expect and deserve. Migrant rights have weakened and therefore migrants have become more vulnerable.

When families are torn apart because of overly aggressive deportation laws, those laws need to be re-examined. Many migrants flee their country of origin because they are persecuted and are seeking asylum or refuge in a new country that they perceive to be a safer alternative. It’s time to take a long, hard look when those seeking a better life are subjected to something worse than that from which they run.

To define all migrants the same does that population a serious injustice. Like any large demographic, there are good migrants, bad migrants and everything in between. While it might take more time to see them and treat them on a case-by-case basis, is abusing them and violating their basic human rights a compassionate alternative?

The phenomenon of migration isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, in today’s rapidly expanding ‘global economy’ and the lure of a better life seemingly stronger than ever, it will absolutely increase as time goes on. It is incumbent upon all of us and our respective governments to take a more humanistic approach to how we view and treat migrants and immigrants.

And, like it or not, the age of the average migrant is lowering. If there was a way to prevent those without the maturity level from making the premature decision to migrate, that would be ideal. It is, unfortunately, unrealistic. This new group of younger immigrants is even more vulnerable. By the time they arrive in their destination, it is too late to preach to them about the dangers of migrating at such a young age. At that point, they need compassion and guidance. And yes, if they blatantly break the law, they need to be dealt with accordingly. But instant deportation, which in turn increases their chances of being abused, is not the answer either.

Migrant rights are a complex issue that requires a complex solution. It will likely never be resolved to everyone’s liking. But first and foremost, they are people. People who are worthy of basic human decency and respect. While Honduran Migrants Week has come and gone, the issue goes on. While migrants absolutely need to adhere to the laws in their new destination, they also need to be seen as exactly what they are: vulnerable people who need compassion and understanding.

HTW received this response to the article about Honduran Fredy Villanueva being killed in Montreal (HTW, Aug. 23, 2008):

Fredy Villanueva Honduran boy died a martyr because of Québécois racism
An 18-year old Honduran boy named Fredy Villanueva of Montreal North became a martyr the moment the two Métis police officers of the Communauté Urbain de Montréal shot him in cold blood without any reason. No, the police officers were not White as some have assumed but were québécois or Métis from Quebec who style usually themselves as canadien-français, which they are certainly not.

Will the death of Fredy Villanueva be investigated honestly and brought to a closure, it’s very unlikely, because one has to take into account the people involved in it. The only way to have had an honest and fair investigation into Fredy Villanueva’s death would have been to call in an outside neutral party.
But in Quebec that would be quite impossible as RACISM is part of the québécois psyche. It’s almost like a Jew in Nazi Germany asking the Nazi German authorities to investigate the GESTAPO.

Just consider the situation in Montréal-Nord which is a heavily ethnic community consisting mainly of Hispanic non-québécois. When a CUM Police Officer enters the area he/she is there to show these immigrants just how the québécois dislike immigrants, and not to uphold he law as we should expect. So, what the two CUM Officers did was to show those damned immigrants that the québécois are in charge. And that is what the two Officers concerned did by shooting and killing in cold blood the 18-year old Honduran boy named Fredy Villanueva. To expect that Lieutenant François Doré of the Sûreté du Québec Police will investigate the murder of Fredy Villanueva honestly is to expect a miracle and that I am afraid will not happen in Quebec any time soon.

This whole issue is based on ethnicity, but that is only because Quebec is an ethnocentric based society.

The whole issue therefore hinges upon the uncontrolled racism that is the very base of québécois society today. As Marie-Célie Agnant a Haitian born author so clearly pointed out this issue is RACISM being passed of as normal, and that is why any investigation will end up being swept under the carpet as usual.
In Quebec RACIAL PROFILING is the norm and not the exception to expect otherwise is to dream in colour. And that is why there have been long-standing tensions between the police and the people in the Montreal-North neighbourhood. What is happening in Montreal-North and other areas of Quebec today is reminiscent of the days of JIM CROW in the U.S., except here there is the Métis or québécois versus the immigrant. There is no way out of this impasse because it is fostered by québécois society which is RACIST to its very core.

But, as I was made to understand by a former Canadien army officer from Quebec, that these immigrants make the québécois very angry when they speak SPANISH or ENGLISH, so its normal that that hatred will surface among CUM Police Officers that patrol this Montreal-North neighbourhood where immigrant are in the majority. Thus the shooting death of Fredy Villanueva was also tied up to the fact that he spoke SPANISH and ENGLISH not JOUAL (French patois) the Official Language of QUEBEC.

On the very staff of the Montreal Gazette is a journalist name Josée Legault who is very much against English-speaking and ethnic people and who has also shown it in public, by referring to non-québécois as les autres (those others).
Now that would explain why the public in Montreal-North do not expect the investigation to go very far. The two CUM Officers involved in the shooting of Fredy Villanueva are as good as scot free, and there will be no charges laid against them.

Besides this, almost all québécois politicians are bigots and despise people who speak ENGLISH, SPANISH or any other language. So even here an investigated would be at best useless to pursue.

If the death of 18-year old Fredy Villanueva was not enough to open the eyes of the world to the outright RACISM that pervades every inch of québécois society then the story below should be an eye-opener.

Kenneth T. Tellis
Ontario, Canada
Via e-mail

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