About twenty demonstrators gathered in front of Prime Minister François Legault’s office in Montreal to demand the regularization of the status of all undocumented workers in the province. An initiative, which would make it possible to remedy the shortage of manpower in Quebec, estimates the group Solidarité sans frontières.
“A status for all” or “everyone is essential” chanted the demonstrators at the corner of rue Sherbrooke Ouest and avenue McGill College.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
“We are proposing to regularize all these people in order to be able to meet the workforce needs [du Québec] », Says to Press Bouba Kane, spokesperson for Solidarity Across Borders. “These immigrants, for the most part, they work illegally [et] they are exploited by companies, and the state says nothing, ”he adds. Mr. Kane mentions that undocumented workers already work on Quebec soil, and that a permanent resident or worker status would allow them to work under better conditions.
The association which organized the event also denounces the deportations of workers with precarious status. “Instead of giving us the opportunity to stay […] to fill your famous shortage of manpower, you prefer to deport us or to force us to become undocumented, black workers, easy to exploit ”, laments the organization, on the Facebook page of the demonstration.
More details to come.