In the News June 28
Stop the Deportations! Status For All!
Self-Serving Justification for Imposing Civil Death on Undocumented Workers
The Mandate Letter issued to Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the IRCC in December 2021, includes the following, “Undocumented workers: Build on existing pilot programs to identify how to regularize status for undocumented workers in Canada.” However, no mention is made of regularization in Motion No. 44 recently passed in the House of Commons, Permanent Residency for Temporary Foreign Workers.
In announcing several “temporary to permanent residence pathways” in 2021, the Canadian government provided its justification for the exclusion of out of status and undocumented people from applying for any program for permanent residency. Speaking about some minor and extremely limited pilot projects for “pathways to permanent residency,” it stated:
“This pathway seeks to help accelerate permanent residence for temporary foreign workers working in essential positions and international graduates already living and working in Canada.
“For this reason, only those with valid temporary resident status can be eligible to obtain permanent resident status pursuant to this temporary pathway. Out of status and undocumented foreign nationals, including asylum claimants, are ineligible. It is anticipated that there are sufficiently high numbers of eligible applicants in Canada with valid temporary resident status to meet and exceed the established intake caps.
“Opening this pathway up to those without status could be a draw for new undocumented workers to enter Canada with the hopes of a similar pathway in the future. This would increase their vulnerability and jeopardize the managed migration model that Canada relies upon.”[1]
The announcement further states that, “It is difficult to know the exact figure; however, limited data suggests there are up to 500,000 undocumented workers in Canada with half living in the Greater Toronto Area.” It then goes on to announce a one-time pilot project to allow up to 500 undocumented construction workers in the GTA to apply for permanent residency.
By its own admission, the government is well aware of the large number of undocumented and out of status people working in Canada, imposing a form of civil death on half a million Canadian workers. Undocumented workers provide a reservoir of workers with no rights, subject to super-exploitation by employers even beyond that experienced by those with valid work permits. The large number of undocumented workers is actually a component part of the so-called “managed migration model.” There are more than 1.6 million migrants (residents without permanent resident status) living and working in Canada, one in 23 residents. Most are excluded from access to health care and other necessities of life, and are separated from their families. It is clear that the government’s concern is to satisfy the demand of employers for “cheap labour” and a vulnerable work force, not the well-being of the working people.
What appear as random deportations carried out by Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) serve to push out of status workers further into the shadows, with the threat of deportation always present. Despite this, undocumented workers are courageously speaking in their own name, using their voices and encouraging others to do the same.
This deliberate policy of civil death must change! Workers’ Forum calls on everyone to go all out to support migrant workers fighting for their rights and for status for all workers, migrants and refugees, making sure that no one is illegal. Our security truly lies in the fight for the rights of all.
Note
1. Temporary to permanent residence pathways – June 2, 2021, Government of Canada..
Workers’ Forum, posted June 28, 2022.
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