Twenty-eight Quebec community organizations and unions have joined forces to call for the rapid implementation of a truly inclusive regularization program for undocumented migrants, as have hundreds of organizations supporting this cause across Canada. The signatory organizations particularly deplore the delay in implementing the program, at a time when immigration policies are keeping more and more migrants in precarious situations. They also call for an immediate freeze on deportations and detentions.
Unacceptable Delay
Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s letter, asking the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) to develop a regularization program, was released in December 2021, a year and a half has passed and the parliamentary session will end on June 23, 2023. During this period, no timetable for the implementation of the program has been announced by the government, and its content remains unknown, preventing a dialogue to establish a truly inclusive and easy-to-access program.
“In the midst of this uncertainty, undocumented migrants like myself and those with precarious status live in fear and anxiety every day. What’s more, in recent weeks we’ve seen an increase in the issuance of deportation letters and deportations of people who have lost their migratory status; a practice that runs contrary to the will to regularize undocumented people,” says Aboubacar Kane, a spokesperson for Solidarity Across Borders.
“I arrived in 2018. Because I don’t have my permanent residence, I can’t continue my studies; I’d like to start my own business but it’s not possible; I play soccer and basketball, I’d like to do many things, but it’s not possible,” laments young Shivani Sachdeva.
“We have already waited too long. Many non-status people around me are losing hope and are desperate. The program should be put in place as soon as possible,” says Cheney Cortes of Migrante Québec.
“At the MJC, we receive many requests and cannot respond to them all. People seem desperate, and representation is difficult, if not almost impossible, when the remedies available to them require such assistance. A regularization program, as accessible as possible, would provide a dignified response to the situation,” added Annick Legault, an immigration lawyer of the Migrant Justice Clinic (MJC).
Immigration Policy at the Root of Multiple Human Rights Violations
Since 2008, the number of migrants entering each year with temporary status has been higher than that of those obtaining permanent residency, and this gap is widening in both Canada and Quebec. From 2015 to 2022, annual entries of people with temporary status, whether as asylum seekers, international students or migrant workers, almost tripled, from 484,335 to 1,249,145 in Canada, and from 74,135 to 211,395 just in Quebec. However, the number of permanent residences issued per year has not even doubled, rising from 271,840 to 437,500 in Canada, and from 49,015 to 68,705 in Quebec, according to IRCC data.
In this context, more and more people already in Canada and Quebec have less chance of obtaining permanent status and remain in a precarious situation, with many losing their migratory status every year.
“Precarious immigration status makes people vulnerable to exploitation and gives rise to numerous human rights violations, particularly with regard to the rights to work, health, education, justice and sometimes even the right to life. Regularization is therefore a question of human rights. Granting permanent resident status to non-status people will enable Canada to respect its human rights commitments, both nationally and internationally,” points out Marisa Berry Méndez of Amnesty International Canada francophone.
Truly Inclusive Regularization Program, Immediate Halt to Deportation and Detention
To remedy flawed migration policies, which generate precariousness and leave undocumented migrants in a state of vulnerability and fear, the twenty-eight organizations are calling for a regularization program that is truly inclusive, in other words, with no limit on the number of people eligible, and no work-related criteria that would risk excluding particularly marginalized people such as, for example, women working in private homes or people who are not in paid employment for various reasons, or the elderly or those with precarious health.
“We need to review the overall immigration policies that confine more and more people to precariousness. In this process, we need to include the voices of migrants themselves, who are directly affected by the system, as well as civil society organizations working in the field,” says Magali Picard, President of the FTQ.
On November 14, 2022, Minister Sean Fraser pledged, in front of around a hundred undocumented leaders fighting for regularization, to freeze deportations during the implementation of the program.
“We do not want to see, as has happened in other countries, particularly in Europe, a massive wave of deportations just before the implementation of a regularization program. We reiterate our call for the immediate suspension of deportations and detentions of people for not having an immigration status. They lost it because of flaws in the immigration system, and they deserve to have a permanent status that will enable them to live decently,” stresses Nina Gonzalez of the Immigrant Workers Centre.
About
Press conference is supported by:
1. Action Réfugiés Montréal
2. Amnesty International Canada francophone
3. Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (DTMF-RHFW)
4. Centre des syndicats démocratiques (CSD)
5. Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ)
6. Immigrant Workers Centre (CTTI-IWC)
7. Centre justice et foi
8. Migrant Justice Clinic (CJM-MJC)
9. Comité d’action Parc-Extension (CAPE)
10. Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN)
11. Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain-CSN (CCMM-CSN)
12. Conseil régional FTQ Montréal métropolitain (CRFTQMM)
13. L’Écho des femmes de la Petite Patrie
14. Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ)
15. Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ)
16. Illusion-Emploi de l’Estrie
17. Le Collectif Bienvenue – Welcome Collective
18. Le Québec c’est nous aussi
19. Ligue des droits et liberté (LDL)
20. Doctors of the World Canada
21. Migrante Québec
22. Montreal City Mission
23. PINAY
24. Réseau d’aide aux travailleuses et travailleurs migrants agricoles du Québec (RATTMAQ)
25. Service jésuite des réfugiés/Jesuit Refugee Service – Canada
26. Solidarité populaire Estrie
27. Solidarity Across Borders (SSF/SAB)
28. Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI
Info
Carole Yerochewski, CTTI, 438 507 2566, info@iwc-cti.ca
Rima Chaaban, FTQ, 514 806-9162, rchaaban@ftq.qc.ca
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