Review of Actions in Brief

Vancouver and Kelowna

Vancouver, September 18, 2020

On Friday, September 18, organizations of migrant workers and their supporters in Vancouver and Kelowna carried out actions calling for "Full and Permanent Immigration Status For All" as part of the cross Canada campaign, taking a bold stand in defence of the rights of all.

Radical Action with Migrants in Agriculture (RAMA) dropped banners over the railings of the Highway 97 pedestrian overpass in Kelowna during rush hour on September 18.

Kelowna banner drop, September 18, 2020 in preparation for Day of Action.

Spokesperson Robyn Bunn told iNFOnews "All temporary foreign workers deserve status upon arrival [in Canada] in recognition that they are not temporary and are not foreign... temporary status prevents them from accessing their rights and benefits and also is part of the reason conditions on farms are, sometimes, exploitive and abusive because they can be seen as temporary and expendable."

RAMA works extensively with migrant farm workers who are brought to Canada through a program that provides them visas that only allow them to stay a maximum of eight months in Canada and only work for one employer. To call them "temporary" when many have worked in the Okanagan for up to 20 years, is to misrepresent their contribution and significance to the agricultural sector. Bunn also made the point that one cannot really call them "foreign" because many live and work in Canada longer each year than they do in their home countries. Most of the migrant agricultural workers in British Columbia come from Mexico.

A fraction of the 4,500 migrant farm workers who come to BC annually get sponsored for citizenship. The rest are sent home. If they were given permanent immigration status Bunn says this "would mean visas don't have an end date. It means they are treated as permanent residents in all senses, meaning they get health care, they get access to benefits and all those kinds of things that permanent residents get. They can bring their families and they can become part of our community, if they choose to do that."

In Vancouver, on September 18, a banner calling for "Full Immigration Status for All" was displayed at the Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain Station at 7:30 am to meet morning commuters. Copies of Workers' Forum articles demanding permanent status for all and the Open Letter to the Federal Government from Migrant Rights Network were distributed.

Vancouver, September 18, 2020

At another busy traffic location near the Venables viaduct and Main Street, Sanctuary Health held up a huge banner supported by eight people greeting the morning commuters, many of whom honked their horns in support.

This was a vigorous preparation for the September 20 national day of action whose focus once again was that Canada must uphold the rights of all migrants to Canada and grant status immediately to the 1.6 million people living here without permanent resident status. Permanent resident status must be recognized so that all migrants have the basis for a dignified and secure life. As the call out for the previous cross Canada day of action said:

"For too long, those of us without permanent resident status have been unable to get universal services or speak back against bad bosses and power structures. COVID-19 has exacerbated our crisis. We have lost lives and livelihoods. We have been excluded from receiving the support we need. We need a single-tier society where everyone in the country has the same rights and opportunities, and that means full and permanent immigration status for all. No more racism, no more deaths, no more exploitation, Status Now!"