Migrants made scapegoats by Quebec and Canadian immigration policies

PRESS RELEASE

Migrants made scapegoats by Quebec and Canadian immigration policies

Montreal, November 2, 2023. – The Quebec and Canadian governments have announced their immigration plans, specifying immigration thresholds for the coming years. Putting the thresholds on hold, while ignoring the hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers, asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants already in the country, is tantamount to pointing the finger of blame at them for our social, economic and cultural dysfunction. The Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrant speaks out against this headlong rush to turn migrants and immigrants into scapegoats.

A shared agenda: using temporary workers as an adjustment variable

Both governments have announced a cap on the number of people admitted annually as permanent residents: in Quebec, 50,000 as well as those admitted under the Graduates component of the Quebec Experience Program (2024-2025), and in Canada, 500,000 (2025-2026). On the other hand, no plan to improve the protection of the rights of people entering or already here with temporary or non-status immigration status has been presented, even though their numbers are constantly growing. Nor was there any announcement of the abolition of the closed permit, a demand made by a number of community and trade union organizations. And nothing on the regularization of undocumented immigrants, despite Justin Trudeau’s promise to do so twenty-three months ago. These people are the lifeblood of an entire part of the economy, yet they are not recognized as having the same fundamental rights as any other citizen.

This is particularly true in Quebec, where the growth of migrant workers in the TFWP over the past eight years is the highest in Canada – 234% in Quebec, compared with 80.06% in Canada as a whole, according to IRCC data. Yet recruitment is encouraged and even subsidized by the Quebec government. While Minister Christine Fréchette is astonished by such growth, she is passing the buck to these workers by restricting their access to permanent residency and the conditions for renewing their work permits beyond three years.

Finally, while the federal government continues to show a willingness to respect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers to be welcomed, the Quebec government in contrast has nothing to say on the subject, and leaves small quotas for access to permanent residency for these types of immigration channels and for family reunification, meaning years and years of waiting and painful family separations.

Prioritizing french language as a pretext for discriminatory policies

In Quebec, where the public consultation highlighted civil society’s unanimous criticism of the closed permit, the Legault government and its Minister Mme Fréchette are heading for the false alternative of a sectoral or regional permit that will solve nothing.

In addition, people admitted under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) will now be required to prove their level of French if they want to see their temporary permit renewed beyond three years. Although many of them would like to obtain permanent residency, this is unattainable for the majority of those working in less-skilled jobs – over 80% of those admitted to the TFWP – because the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ) excludes them outright, and the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés (PSTQ) imposes stringent criteria.

Under the new plan, employers will be required to free up time for these workers to take francization courses. It is doubtful that this objective will be achieved, given that many of these workers are already being abused and exploited, without Quebec having the means to check that employers are respecting minimum rights.

This situation, which entrenches a multi-speed immigration system, is said to be justified on the grounds that migrants and immigrants are responsible for the decline of French in Quebec. Several factors come into play, such as the fact that English is the dominant language in the world, and that more and more French-speaking students want to study in English. By pointing the finger at migrants and immigrants as being responsible for a decline in the French language, the Legault government wants to give the impression that it is acting to preserve the French language, but it is following a dangerous, xenophobic path.

At the federal level, a conservative policy to avoid scaring off the electorate… of the Conservatives?

Minister Marc Miller’s announcement is in fact based on a disturbing rhetoric: maintaining the announced targets is justified by the need to take into account the country’s reception capacity. This is tantamount to giving credence to all those who point the finger at migrants and immigrants as being responsible for the housing crisis, and so on. It’s hardly surprising, then, that a survey shows that the proportion of Canadians who think there is “too much immigration” has risen. However, real estate speculation, inflation and growing inequality are the main reasons for the post-pandemic difficulties of middle-class and lower-income Canadians.

What’s more, this scapegoating policy overlooks the situation of the 1.8 million people living in Canada with temporary status, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. All of them live and work in Canada, with no adverse effects on our reception structures. On the other hand, because they lack the rights of permanent residency, many are vulnerable to abuse, psychological and sexual harassment, and work in the worst possible conditions.

The announcements made by both levels of government continue, by their wording and their silences, to allow the use of migrant labour as a tool to adjust to market needs, while limiting their equal access to fundamental rights.

Enough abuse and exploitation. Migrant, immigrant and undocumented workers are entitled to respect for their fundamental rights.

Information Cheolki Yoon, info@iwc-cti.ca