And We Are Still Walking … When a Protest Walk Becomes a Step Towards Research on the Move

Abstract

In June 2005, we joined about one hundred other participants in the No One Is Illegal March on Ottawa. This 200-kilometer march was organized by Solidarity Across Borders and non-status immigrants living in Canada. This paper tells the story of this march and of the people who participated in the week-long event, which was part of a movement to defend the rights of non-status immigrants in Canada. Our desire to tell this story stems from the fact that we are still actively participating in this march in many different ways. We would like to trace some of the connections between what is really two stories: one that relates the actual march, and another that describes a documentary we made and a research project we are conducting on the march. Finally, this paper gives us an opportunity to experiment with a style of writing and publication that allows us to use both images and text in order to bring seldom-heard voices—those of non-status immigrants—into the public sphere. In so doing, we wish to present not only some of our work, but also some of the people who were involved in the march and whose thoughts and actions inspired our work. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0802293