On July 25, more
than 3,000 people marched through the streets of Ottawa demanding that
the Canadian government grant full and permanent status to all
migrants. Migrants and supporters came to Ottawa from many parts of the
country, including Toronto and Montreal. The demonstration marched past
the U.S. Embassy, through the Bytown Market and made a stop at the
Prime Minister's Office on its way to Parliament Hill. As one of the
speakers at the rally emphasized, "Migrants are essential to our
society, essential to our communities. We work here. We live here. But
we are denied equal treatment. We are treated like second class
citizens. We are fighting for our rights!"
The
march in Ottawa was the culmination of a week of militant actions by
migrant workers, their defence organizations and their supporters to
advance their campaign for Status for All!
Throughout the week, activists held actions in various neighbourhoods
in Montreal to promote the campaign and to mobilize for the march in
Ottawa.
The
week of action kicked off with a mass action in Montreal on July 18.
Over 200 people gathered at 11 am at Hector-Toe-Blake Park near Atwater
Metro. For over an hour and a half, participants marched through
downtown Montreal, ending at the offices of Quebec Premier
François Legault on McGill College Avenue.
Montreal march July 18,
2021, kicks off a week of actions leading up to Ottawa march
Participants were informed that Canada has rejected double the
number of applications for permanent residence based on Humanitarian
and Compassionate grounds, increasing from 35 per cent in 2019 to
nearly 70 per cent in the first quarter of 2021. The conclusion: a real
regularization program for all is needed. Many undocumented workers
spoke about their situation. Mostafa Heneway, a community organizer
with the Immigrant Workers Centre, underscored that "status for all is
simply a necessity. [...] It will allow people to live with basic
dignity, people who have already contributed, already suffered and
people who also aren't going to beg anymore. This is why this movement
is so critical, because status for all [...] is going to happen because
migrants are organizing themselves and we're here to support them. Un
status pour tous! We'll see it if we support those who are
already struggling."
Conditions of
Undocumented and Migrant Workers
Worsen Under Pandemic
The dire conditions and negation of rights
facing migrant workers has worsened during the pandemic and must be
taken up for solution by all working people.
The Migrant Rights
Network explains the aim of its Status For All!
campaign as follows:
"Across the
country migrants have been organizing for full and permanent
immigration status for all. Massive wins have been secured, but there
is still a crucial final step. We will not stop until everyone has full
and permanent immigration status, with no exceptions. We will leave no
one behind."
It explained in its call for the march
on Ottawa:
"At least 14 farmworkers have died in
Canada this year. Another half a dozen international students have died
by suicide. Migrants have always been in crisis but this crisis has
worsened during COVID-19. Migrants have lost work and wages during the
crisis but many have been shut out of emergency supports. Those already
without wages have been abandoned. They cannot pay rent, have faced
starvation, lost life savings and are sacrificing essential health care.
"Others have been forced to keep working or return to work in
dangerous conditions. Migrants on farms, in greenhouses, meat and food
processing plants and factories have been hit with massive COVID-19
outbreaks. Migrant care workers remain trapped in the homes of their
employers, facing greater surveillance, abuse and violence. Migrant
students, working in low-wage jobs in warehouses and as delivery
drivers, have had their tuition fees hiked to subsidize Canadian
universities and colleges.
"In 2020, Canada closed
its borders even to refugees. But in the same year more people were
deported by the federal government than in any of the previous five
years. Even life-saving health care, including vaccines, are being
denied to many migrants.
"Today, 1.6
million people in Canada, 1 in 23 residents, are without permanent
resident status. Many are excluded from health care and social services
and cannot unite with their families. Lack of permanent resident status
makes it difficult, and often impossible, for migrants to speak up for
their rights or access services, including those they may be eligible
for, because of a well-founded fear of reprisals, termination, eviction
and deportation.
"Bad employers and institutions
use immigration status as a tool to divide and pit workers against each
other -- citizens against non-citizens -- to keep wages low and profits
high. Full immigration status for all is an essential step towards
eliminating inequalities in the workplace and necessary for a
transition to a just and sustainable economy of care."
This article was published in
August 2, 2021 - No.
64
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08641.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
