|
Permanent Resident Status For All Now! "Exclusion, Disappointment, Chaos and Exploitation" -- Migrant Rights Network Report
On May 4, just days before the Trudeau Liberal government's May 6 launch of its "new pathway" to permanent residence, the Migrant Rights Network released a report entitled "Exclusion, Disappointment, Chaos and Exploitation." The report is based on a survey it conducted with 3,000 of its migrant members over a two-week period following the government's April 14 announcement about the new short-term immigration pilot program "for over 90,000 essential workers and international graduates" presently residing in Canada. The focus of the "new pathway" is on temporary workers employed in hospitals and long-term care homes and on the frontlines of other essential sectors, as well as international graduates of Canadian educational institutions. Eligibility requirements include having at least one year of Canadian work experience in a health care profession or another "pre-approved essential occupation." International graduates "must have completed an eligible Canadian post-secondary program within the last four years, and no earlier than January 2017." Besides the pathway being closed to the "1.18 million undocumented residents, refugees, students and migrants in Quebec," another "45.4 per cent of migrant workers" and "34.5 per cent of international graduates" who completed the survey are also excluded from the new program. An additional "48.27 per cent of international graduates and 45.4 per cent of migrant workers do not have the language test results required to apply for this first-come, first-served program." The Migrant Rights Network is calling on Prime Minister Trudeau "to ensure permanent resident status for all migrant and undocumented people in the country, and ensure that all working class migrants that arrive in the future do so with permanent resident status." It is also demanding that the current program be expanded "to include everyone without permanent status," that "all caps and the six-month window" be removed, and that "residents of Quebec" be allowed to apply. It also wants the "requirements for an English language test, educational credentials, current employment, and valid immigration status" removed. "Any other inadmissibility requirements must also be removed," it states, "and the application fees waived for low-wage workers." To read the complete report, click here.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
