The Canadian Council for Refugees Youth Network (with whom I am not affiliated) has put out a video on how Canada detains (i.e. essentially jails) children.

With regards to the MV Sun Sea, the ship whose arrival arguably triggered the public unveiling of Bill C-4, the video has this to say: “In 2009-2010, Canada detained 330 minors for immigration purposes [...] Over 40 Tamil children who arrived on BC shores by boat in the summer of 2010 were detained. Over 4 months later, some of them were still in detention.”

The provisions in Bill C-4 run close to my heart, at a principled level because the bill is blatantly inhumane, and more personally because I come from Sri Lanka, so the issue of refugees fleeing that particular war hits close to home for me.

The photograph that you see in this video of children waving behind bars came from the weekly noise demos of Tamil music that No One Is Illegal had outside the jail. You can see more photos of the demos on Flickr, including the huge Tamil signs we made to welcome the children. You can’t, however, hear the Tamil music that we blasted loud enough for them to hear across all that distance and through all that concrete.

And we know that they could hear the music and that they were glad to see us there week after week, because a few of us got a chance to meet those children. It may sound counter-intuitive — and nauseatingly cheesy! — to say that it is possible to find love and gratitude within the walls of jails, but to date, getting to meet those kids was one of the most inspiring and moving moments of my life. I am grateful that I had that chance to make what might otherwise sound like an abstraction of political and legal theory a matter-of-fact and face-to-face consideration of the basic right of children to live lives free of violence.

Going forward, the Conservative government remains committed to passing this Bill and all its human rights violations. So I’m sharing this video and my story as proof of the ongoing, committed, and beautiful work that people are doing despite the machinations playing out in the political arena.