WEBVTT 00:00:00.338 --> 00:00:03.714 Yeah, I mean, what we have was a number of immigration enforcement raids, 00:00:03.714 --> 00:00:05.408 um, on a number of construction worksites, 00:00:05.408 --> 00:00:10.085 and undocumented workers, or workers who um y'know currently don't have legal work permits in canada 00:00:10.085 --> 00:00:12.284 but are otherwise going through the immigration process, 00:00:12.284 --> 00:00:14.890 were picked up, arrested, detained. 00:00:14.890 --> 00:00:19.694 Uh, this was at the Victoria (Drive) site, was done, at the behest of a reality tv show, 00:00:19.694 --> 00:00:24.228 which is incredibly alarming, the fact that there is a reality tv company that is making money, 00:00:24.228 --> 00:00:26.932 including a vancouver-based entertainment production company, 00:00:26.932 --> 00:00:31.135 that is profiting off the fact that people are going through, yknow, being arrested, being interrogated, 00:00:31.135 --> 00:00:35.106 and being violently shackled as they're being detained and deported. 00:00:35.106 --> 00:00:37.841 And so the fact that this immigration style raid happened 00:00:37.841 --> 00:00:40.414 is yknow really reminiscent again of U.S. style enforcement. 00:00:40.414 --> 00:00:42.750 A lot of enforcement was present 00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:45.581 and then coupled with the fact that there's a reality tv show 00:00:45.581 --> 00:00:47.685 i think both together are really quite alarming. 00:00:47.685 --> 00:00:53.258 [ interviewer ] And what's the problem with the tv show um showing what border agents do day in and day out? 00:00:53.258 --> 00:00:55.867 Well I think the premise of it is what's disturbing, right? 00:00:55.867 --> 00:00:58.967 Which is the fact that um tv sells sensationalism, 00:00:58.967 --> 00:01:03.284 so the fact that border service agencies are gonna be --I would argue-- 00:01:03.284 --> 00:01:07.505 are going to be more kind of forced to make their raids more sensationalist. 00:01:07.505 --> 00:01:10.808 They're gonna be treating people in, yknow like what we saw, 00:01:10.808 --> 00:01:14.645 where they had a massive team of enforcement officers kind of come down on people, 00:01:14.645 --> 00:01:17.285 and also the fact that its a basic violation of people's rights. 00:01:17.285 --> 00:01:19.317 So today I talked to some of the workers at the jail, 00:01:19.317 --> 00:01:23.388 and yknow, so Force 4 is not confirming or denying that they were filming, 00:01:23.388 --> 00:01:26.891 but the workers said that, yknow, in the jail, while they're being detained, 00:01:26.891 --> 00:01:30.462 guards and officers are telling them that they have to sign a consent form. 00:01:30.462 --> 00:01:31.879 So there's absolutely no consent, 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:33.831 and if there's consent it's under conditions of duress. 00:01:33.831 --> 00:01:36.878 So I think it's really disturbing that we're, um, yknow, 00:01:36.878 --> 00:01:40.071 allowing entertainment to be made and profited off of 00:01:40.071 --> 00:01:42.609 that's basically at the expense of people. 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:44.334 Again and I think it's yknow it's disturbing. 00:01:44.334 --> 00:01:47.794 It's like all these American reality tv shows like the cops shows, right? 00:01:47.794 --> 00:01:49.581 Where you see these violent take-downs, 00:01:49.581 --> 00:01:52.617 and brutal, again, violations of people's privacy, 00:01:52.617 --> 00:01:55.384 and, again, it glorifies what border service agencies do, 00:01:55.384 --> 00:01:58.523 without looking at the fact that these are family members who are being ripped apart. 00:01:58.523 --> 00:02:01.092 Without looking at the impacts of what they're actually doing, right? 00:02:01.092 --> 00:02:03.807 It's completely one-sided, it's like embedded journalism. 00:02:03.807 --> 00:02:06.630 There's no talking to these people about their lived reality, 00:02:06.630 --> 00:02:11.402 it's just trying to yknow show these border services agencies as glorified police officers. 00:02:11.402 --> 00:02:12.975 They're in different legal situations. 00:02:12.975 --> 00:02:14.943 So some of them are on expired visas 00:02:14.943 --> 00:02:17.742 some of them are actually currently going through different immigration processes. 00:02:17.742 --> 00:02:20.379 Some of them are currently making sponsorship applications. 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:22.481 Some of them have gone through the refugee process. 00:02:22.481 --> 00:02:27.651 So there's actually a range of, um, of legal statuses in terms of the workers. 00:02:27.651 --> 00:02:29.153 Yeah, they're trying to do their job, 00:02:29.153 --> 00:02:32.423 and I think the question is yknow what does it mean to have massive-style enforcement raids 00:02:32.423 --> 00:02:35.906 where workers have been working for years and years and years 00:02:35.906 --> 00:02:38.429 many of them are currently going through the immigration processes, 00:02:38.429 --> 00:02:41.263 there's also the oxymoron of the immigration system, 00:02:41.263 --> 00:02:43.270 which is that a lot of people aren't actually given work permits, 00:02:43.270 --> 00:02:45.773 but are somehow expected to take care of themselves and their families, 00:02:45.773 --> 00:02:49.371 so they end up in situations where they're working despite not being given a work permit. 00:02:49.371 --> 00:02:52.731 And so I do think there's a question of yknow why are we seeing this level of enforcement? 00:02:52.731 --> 00:02:54.611 And why aren't we instead talking about 00:02:54.611 --> 00:02:58.113 why is there are greater number of workers who are not able to work legally in this country? 00:02:58.113 --> 00:02:59.928 And that is, I think, the main question.