RAMA Writes Open Letter to Central Okanagan School Board, Urges Sanctuary School Policy

Dear School Board Trustees, School District 23:

I write to urge School District 23 School Board to implement a Sanctuary School policy so that all children residing in the district, regardless of their immigration status, can access education without fear of apprehension or deportation by immigration officials. We have been closely following School Board trustees from SD 40 and their efforts to introduce a sanctuary school policy around BC. We were incredibly heartened to learn this motion passed at the BC School Trustees Association general meeting this spring.

I reach out to you in my role as a community organizer and co-founder of RAMA Okanagan, a not-for-profit organization that has operated in the Okanagan Valley since 2013. RAMA works with migrant farmworkers and other precarious migrant groups in their struggle for rights, protections, and justice in Canada. While farmworkers who arrive in the region on one of the federal temporary foreign worker programs are not able to bring their children with them, many other migrant groups can. While concrete numbers of individuals with precarious status or no status in Canada are hard to come by, the Government of Canada estimates that there are at least half a million undocumented people living across Canada, though many believe this number is much higher. In the nine years since RAMA began supporting new migrants to the valley, we have seen a sharp increase in the number of individuals and families who arrive in our region with precarious immigration status or no status and who approach our organization for support.

Over the past several years, we have supported families with precarious status who want to enroll their children in public school but worry about the consequences if they were to be on the radar of any government bodies (including public schools). Other families with precarious status have enrolled their children in school, but live in constant fear of being discovered and apprehended by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) should the school share data with immigration officials. In November of last year, a mother with precarious status was detained by CBSA outside of her child’s school in New Westminster, an act that instilled terror in other families with precarious statuses, and made many reconsider sending their children to school. We believe that there are many families in school district 23 in similar situations who we have yet to have contact with.

Education should be a right for every child regardless of their immigration status or the immigration status of their families, and a sanctuary school policy would be an important step the school district could take towards ensuring all children living within the SD 23 catchment could access this right.

We urge the members of the school board to implement a sanctuary school policy as soon as possible so that all children can access education without fear.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or want any further information.

Best,

Amy Cohen

Volunteer Organizer, RAMA Okanagan