By Carole Yerochewski
In an interview with CBC and Reuters, Marc Miller announced some distressing news in the middle of summer, when it’s hard to mobilize large numbers to protest: the Liberal government is backing down in the face of rising anti-immigrant rhetoric, and is expected to examine a minimal regularization program, which will only concern workers in the health and construction sectors.
We’ll have to wait for Marc Miller’s proposal to the Council of Ministers to find out how these sectors of activity are defined, and whether, for example, care work in private homes is included – which is the case when you work for the parapublic Health and Social Services sector and visit people’s homes. We’ll also see how eligible workers are limited; for example, will it be necessary to bring proof issued by an employer? Or will self-certification suffice?
Much remains unknown. It would still be a good idea for these workers to have access to permanent residency – it’s true that labor shortages in these sectors are here to stay, and that this is one of the main reasons for launching a regularization program, instead of taking the path of respecting the fundamental rights of people living in Canada, as this country has a duty to do under international laws and conventions.
In an open letter addressed to Justin Trudeau and his Immigration Minister Marc Miller, and published in Le Devoir and the seven regional dailies of the Coop de l’info on May 8, 2024, the Quebec Campaign for the Regularization of Non-Status Migrants recalled that the objective of a regularization program “cannot be reduced to filling short-term labor shortages. It is about putting an immediate end to the conditions of misery, harassment and overexploitation in which many undocumented migrants find themselves. The program must ensure a decent life for these hundreds of thousands of people who are integrated into society and who aspire to contribute fully to it as citizens free to exercise their rights.”
And at the press conference held on May 25, 2024, a few days before that disastrous Council of Federal Ministers meeting that saw some of them reject a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program, Imene, from CTTI’s Women’s Committee, stressed: “Not regularizing these people who have lost their status most often because of flaws in immigration policies, or sorting out among them those who will be regularized, will only drive them deeper into fear and abuse. We cannot tolerate this.
Even if we cannot simply refuse the limited program that is likely to be proposed, it is clear that our mobilization will continue, with all the many allies that this campaign for the rights of migrants and immigrants continues to attract a large number of people. This is all the more necessary given the rise of racism and xenophobia, and the scapegoating of asylum seekers and temporary workers for the crisis in access to social and affordable housing, and quality public services. Barely two years after the end of the pandemic, migrant and immigrant workers are being singled out, when far from being the cause of any crisis, they are among the main victims, and are as “essential” as ever to keep these services and many sectors of activity running. We’re right to be angry!
We’ll be back on September 14 for the weekend of mobilization organized by FRAPRU to denounce the confusion between the housing crisis and immigration. Throughout the autumn, we’ll be conducting a wide-ranging awareness and mobilization campaign to broaden the draft regularization program due to be announced, and to combat racism and xenophobia in all their forms. And above all, to make it clear that the rights of migrants and immigrants are non-negotiable in a society of social justice!
Stay tuned for further initiatives to be announced.
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