[9][10][11] In addition to providing direct support for refugees and migrants facing detention and deportation, NOII campaigns for full legal status and access to social services for all people and works in solidarity with Indigenous self-determination, “anti-occupation”, and grassroots anti-oppression movements.

[18] In January 2014, Walia and NOII-Vancouver demanded an inquest into the death of Lucia Vega Jimenez, an undocumented Mexican refugee who lived and worked in Vancouver, who died in Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) custody four weeks after being detained.

[21] Other migrant justice and civil liberties groups and more than 7,500 petition signers also called for an inquest,[21] which was announced by BC Coroners Service in February 2014[22] and led to several jury recommendations and an overhaul of CBSA detention practices.

[26] After Donald Trump's election and signing of Executive Order 13769 on January 27, 2017, to establish "extreme vetting" procedures for refugees and immigrants attempting to enter the United States, Walia reported a greater volume of incoming calls to NOII from undocumented migrants in the US seeking to claim asylum in Canada.

[30][31] For over a decade, Walia has worked with the February 14th Women's Memorial March Committee,[32] founded in 1992 following the murder of a woman on Powell Street in Vancouver.

[36] With their film, Walia and Zuluaga seek to "debunk the sensationalism surrounding a neighbourhood deeply misunderstood, and celebrate the complex and diverse realities of women organizing for justice.

[40] POW is upheld by leadership and involvement of women most affected by systemic injustice, particularly homelessness, abuse, and child apprehension; the group's work, Walia says, is therefore "rooted in the experiences and voices of residents of the DTES.

[47] The actions were in response to growing homelessness rates of low-income residents in the DTES and cuts to social programs due to urban gentrification in the build-up to the games.

[50] With the support of DTES elders, residents, activists, and organizations, including the Power of Women group, the site served as a community shelter and gathering place from which BC Housing was pressured to provide safe and affordable homes for those in the village.

[50][51] Following an anti-Olympic demonstration on February 13, 2010, during which black bloc tactics were employed and windows of the Hudson's Bay Company (an Olympic sponsor) in Downtown Vancouver were smashed, Walia defended the protestors, stating that several of them are “devoted activists who support marginalized communities” and adopt “a range of tactics to do so.”[52] She also expressed that wearing masks during protests “is a reasonable precaution in light of mass surveillance practices” and that black bloc tactics can “increase the effectiveness of less direct actions such as the February 14th Women's Memorial March.”[52] An active member within Vancouver's South Asian community, with whom she aims to "lift up the reality of what’s going on in South Asia in terms of the global landscape of geopolitical warfare," Walia is on the board of the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy.

[53][32] She has been involved in Anti-Capitalist Convergence and the Northwest Anti-Authoritarian People of Colour Network, sits on the board of Shit Harper Did, and is a youth mentor for Check Your Head.

[60] In 2023 Walia received criticism for comments made at a rally supporting Palestine where she said: "how beautiful is the spirit to get free that Palestinians literally learned how to fly on hang gliders.

[62] The book features a foreword by Andrea Smith and contributions by over 30 activists and cultural producers, including Carmen Aguirre, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Melanie Cervantes.

[67][68] The report was part of an "innovative" and collaborative multimedia project by NOII-Vancouver and Shit Harper Did, which included a series of refugee and migrant stories in video form and "put a human face on the impact of the drastic changes made by the Conservative government" with regard to citizenship, temporary foreign workers, family reunification, detention, refugees, deportation, security measures, and funding.

"Centrists like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have proven they too are 'tough on immigration' by securing the border against people, while commodities and capital move freely.