Activists Call Out the Legault Government on Restrictive "Special Program"
More than 200
people responded to the call Stand Up For Dignity at Peace Park, in
front of the Quebec government's Ministry of Immigration, Francization
and Integration offices in Montreal on August 22. They were there to
tell the Legault government that its newly announced "special program"
for asylum seekers is extremely restrictive and unacceptable, as it
excludes thousands upon thousands of essential workers without status
who risked their lives and those of their families. The
"special program" announced by both the federal and Quebec governments
on August 14 includes only designated occupations, such as orderlies,
nurses, nurses' aides and patient service associates, assistant
orderlies and certain home support workers.  Élise
Dubé of Extinction Rebellion said, "As a racialized person
living in Quebec, I find myself once again in conflict with the
appalling decisions of the Quebec government. What kind of example is
this giving to us youth? What kind of values is this teaching us,
whereby essential workers who made all kinds of sacrifice are being
treated as disposable, are being abandoned and deprived of status? This
mentality of exclusion is instilled in our society, in this racist and
colonialist Quebec system. The message being conveyed is that those who
worked during the pandemic at the risk of their own lives and those of
their families, must now live in uncertainty as to their own future. We
youth are not interested in building that kind of society."
Claire
Launay of Quebec Is Us Too, an organization fighting for just and
inclusive immigration in Quebec, pointed to the glaring contradiction
where Premier Legault thanked all of Quebec's essential workers during
the pandemic, "yet there's an attempt to thank as few workers as
possible by way of a status in Canada." Adding that those who enabled
Quebec to continue to function are left without proper access to health
care themselves, she asked: "What image of Quebec is Mr. Legault
attempting to present to the rest of Canada?" Addressing herself
directly to the Premier and his Immigration Minister, she told them:
"It is your responsibility to keep us safe, to respect and recognize
our human rights. I am ashamed of my government!" Launay concluded that
in the second wave of the coronavirus, "these workers will still be
there, as they cannot afford not to...work." "Is it
really imaginable that the society can function without grocery clerks,
without people getting up every day at 5:00 am to go to work at Olymel,
or without those who prepare meals for our seniors?" asked Olivier
Lachance of Socialist Alternative. He pointed to the need to "build
upon the power struggle so that status is obtained for all, along with
improved working and living conditions." Eve
Torres, a social activist, stressed that the movement's demand of
status for all is what all human beings require to live in dignity,
equality and security. "Why is it that immigrants must risk their
lives?" she asked and encouraged everyone to speak out in support of
these vulnerable workers. She concluded, that Quebec belongs to "all
those who are building it, who are contributing to it. We are all
essential." Guillaume Cliche-Rivard of the Quebec
Immigration Lawyers Association (AQAADI) noted that this was not his
organization's first fight with the Legault government. He then
referred back to the Legault government's Quebec Experience Program
reform, recalling that the government had been forced to revise it
twice because of public outcry, and that although its final version was
"far from perfect," it was a lot better than the original. "The
government is listening," he commented, "and if the pressure mounts
from all sectors of the society, as we are seeing today, there can and
will be results. So, don't stop fighting, don't stop the struggle,
demand regularization, you deserve it and we will be there with you
during the entire endeavour." Wilner Cayo,
President of Stand Up For Dignity, described the fight being waged as a
"struggle for dignity, for real change and the granting of permanent
residence for all essential workers."  He noted that
Quebec's "guardian angels" have many faces. He said that they are not
only orderlies, they are also maintenance workers, security guards,
they're in the warehouses, they're drivers, they make deliveries. In
short, he said, "they are all the workers who were there every day
during the pandemic."
Addressing the Premier, he
said that the heart of the Quebec people is not properly appreciated.
He noted that Quebec "is a society with high ideals, with values of
justice, respect, equity, values of human dignity." He said the
Premier's "position in this file is one of the most fractious" and he
has imposed "an improvised, mean, unjust" program, creating division
among essential workers who were unified in the face of the
coronavirus. "Your government is determined to cover up that precious
contribution made by a good number of workers.... Your government has
delivered a program devoid of humanity, poorly put together and
disconnected from reality. Your evaluation of essential workers on a
case-by-case basis defies all logic." "Can our
seniors survive through care alone?" he asked. "Why eliminate food
sector workers? It was they who allowed us to eat, thereby proving
their essential role." "Mr. Legault and
[Immigration Minister] Ms. Girault, how can you say that they were not
at risk ..." he asked, "when dozens of employees contracted the virus
at their workplace during their shift? Need we remind you that meat
cutting and meat processing have nothing to do with tele-working."
He further noted that most of these essential workers without
status "have been carrying on within conditions akin to modern
slavery," which he said "is why many Quebeckers born here are not
willing to accept to do what these people are consenting to do for
their families. However, they are also doing it for their extended
Quebec family."  Cayo pointed to
the "ever-growing profound suffering and deception of these workers,"
in the face of government indifference. These workers, he said,
continue to be treated as "second class citizens, despite their huge
contribution." Society, he continued, "is being eroded through the
exploitation of these people by agencies and their ill treatment at the
workplace."
Addressing himself to the government,
he added, "The disgraceful treatment of these workers and the fact that
their congested neighbourhoods have been turned into precarious
breeding grounds for the disease is your doing, as they were not even
provided with masks." "The attitude of our
governments," Cayo stated, "which continue to delay the regularization
of these workers, does not reflect our society's profound values. We
must go into action until such time as things progress and there is a
satisfactory program in place for the granting of permanent residence
for all essential workers." He
concluded, "In order to negotiate, a relationship of power is needed.
We must unite, as our strength lies in our number."
 
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 32 - August 29, 2020
Article Link:
Activists Call Out the Legault Government on Restrictive "Special Program"
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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