All Out to Uphold the Rights of
Temporary Foreign Workers and Asylum Seekers!
Oppose Unconscionable Government Attempts to Criminalize Asylum Seekers and Justify Immoral Crimes Against Them
- Diane Johnston -
 
Many organizations in Quebec and across Canada
are working together to uphold the rights of
asylum seekers and temporary foreign workers who
are on the front line of fighting COVID-19.
Besides rescuing them from the abhorrent
situations in which unjust government treatment
has placed them, these organizations are
upholding the just demand that the Quebec and
federal governments need to create a special
program that would regularize the status of
these workers in this country.
On March 18, when asked by a journalist about
asylum seekers entering irregularly into Canada,
Quebec Premier François Legault responded, "It's
unacceptable. We cannot permit people to enter
illegally without at least placing them in
quarantine. I have therefore already discussed
this issue on a number of occasions with the
federal government." The very next day, Prime
Minister Trudeau, as part of his decision to
close the Canada-U.S. border, announced that his
government would no longer allow asylum seekers
to enter Canada irregularly through such
crossings as Roxham Road, in Quebec's Eastern
Townships.
People seeking safety in Canada cross the
border irregularly in order to avoid being sent
back to the U.S. under the Safe Third Country
Agreement, which closes Canada's door to most
refugee claimants at the official points of
entry. In closing such crossings, it is Canada
which is acting "irregularly" in violation of
the very essence of conventions which establish
how and why countries are duty-bound to welcome
refugees and the standard of treatment they must
receive.
 The utter lack of
humanity shown asylum seekers by the likes of
the federal government, the Quebec government
and the Conservative Party reveals not only
their contempt for asylum seekers but also for
the rule of law. Their contemptible treatment of
asylum seekers is carried out in the name of the
rule of law. In fact, they rule in our name and
they do these things in our name. It must not
pass!
For Premier Legault and others to declare that
asylum seekers enter Canada illegally is
unfounded. It promotes the same notion of
criminality that the Trudeau Liberal government
attempted to introduce in July 2018 when the
Prime Minister appointed former Toronto police
chief Bill Blair to the newly created position,
Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime
Reduction. Through sleight of hand, the Liberal
government found a way to link vulnerable
migrants with border security and organized
crime. By making the irregular crossing of
asylum seekers through Roxham Road and elsewhere
in Canada an issue of law and order, asylum
seekers have been turned into a criminal
category, all in the name of upholding fair
treatment and the rule of law. This is
unconscionable. It shows they are not fit to
govern and that Canadians must uphold the basic
principle that might does not make right.
More recently, on May 8, during the federal
ministers' and health officials' update on
COVID-19, a Quebec journalist commented that
although many Haitian asylum seekers who entered
Canada in 2017 are working in Montreal
residential and long-term care centres and
seniors' residences at the risk of their lives,
their refugee claims have been refused.
"Regarding the issue of asylum seekers, as you
know very well, Canada has a system, a just
system, a very well-regulated system, to
determine who has the right to asylum in
Canada," responded Deputy Prime Minister
Chrystia Freeland with all the
self-righteousness and arrogance she could
muster. "And it's important that as a country
where there is rule of law, that we continue
[...] to be that," she said.
This typical neo-liberal evasive bluster shows
the utter contempt of the Liberals and their
government for rule of law. Canada's system is
not just nor does it uphold the principles of
international refugee law and it is inhumane.
The Liberals are past masters at doublespeak
which ensures the essence of every matter is
left in the shade or discarded altogether. Their
responses to valid questions of concern to the
polity and the people is unconscionable. It
shows that it is up to Canadians to stand up for
asylum seekers, refugees, migrant workers,
temporary foreign workers and all others who are
particularly vulnerable to neo-liberal
governments who treat them as "easy prey." All
power to the organizations across the country
who spare no efforts to uphold the rights of the
most vulnerable people in our society.
Condemn the arrogance of those rulers who
commit crimes against human persons in the name
of rights, justice and law.
Our Security Lies in the Fight
for the Rights of All!
This article was published in
Number 36 - May 26, 2020
Article Link:
All Out to Uphold the Rights of
: Oppose Unconscionable Government Attempts to Criminalize Asylum Seekers and Justify Immoral Crimes Against Them - Diane Johnston
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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