Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau Concerning Visas for Latin American and Caribbean Scholars
- Canadian Association of Latin American
and
Caribbean Studies -
Dear Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau,
On behalf of the Canadian Association of Latin American
and
Caribbean Studies (CALACS), we write to express our concern with
the Canadian visa application process for Latin American and
Caribbean scholars who wish to visit Canada for academic meetings
and conferences. Our Association held its 50th annual conference
at York University in Toronto on May 10-12 -- a milestone for
Latin American and Caribbean studies in Canada -- and,
unfortunately, four distinguished Latin American scholars, three
Cuban and one Brazilian, never received their visas allowing them
to travel to Canada, despite having undertaken the process more
than three months in advance and having paid for all their travel
and lodging expenses.
In the case of the Cuban scholars, the treatment they
received
from the Visa Section at the Canadian embassy in Havana was
cavalier and disrespectful. The Canadian government only informed
them that their visas were not going to be processed and that
they would have to reapply outside of Cuba on May 8, just two
days before the start of the conference. This conduct does not
meet the standards we expect and demand from the Canadian public
service.
We acutely felt the absence of these Latin American
scholars
and strongly debated the issue at our conference. At CALACS, we
feel that Canada's failure to deliver their visas interferes with
our mission to foster the ongoing development of a dynamic
Canadian-based, international intellectual community, to support
research and teaching and to provide the infrastructure and
capacity to facilitate knowledge mobilization and engagement
strategies in Canada and abroad.
CALACS reaches out to and
establishes partnerships with
Latin
American and Caribbean communities, NGOs, research institutions,
and international academics. In addition, our Association works
to inform policy makers, and public and private sector
organizations through its events, publications, communications
media and virtual resources. In so doing, we contribute to
developing strong and long-lasting Canadian networks in Latin
America and in the Caribbean and we promote Canada's image and
influence in the region. In this sense, Canada's failure to
provide visas for Latin American and Caribbean scholars in timely
and respectful fashion can only be understood as a failure.
We appeal to you to make sure that Canadian visa
processes
never again stand in the way of scholarly activities, of free
thought and of critical debate. Academic freedom can only promote
and develop Canadian interests at home and abroad and is
critically important for maintaining excellent political,
economic and cultural relations with Latin American and Caribbean
countries.
Respectfully,
The Board of Directors of
the Canadian Association for
Latin
American and Caribbean Studies
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 20 - June 1, 2019
Article Link:
Open Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau Concerning Visas for Latin American and Caribbean Scholars - Canadian Association of Latin American
and
Caribbean Studies
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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