(Montreal) Members of the Immigrant Workers Center (CTI) gathered in the Villeray–Parc-Extension borough on Saturday to demand the establishment of a regularization program for young immigrants without status and their families by the Quebec government.
Québec solidaire, present at the rally, aims to regularize 10,000 people during the first year of the program, whose eligibility criteria would be established with the federal government.
This measure would contribute to significantly improving the living conditions of immigrant children and adolescents by allowing them, among other things, to complete their schooling in Québec. Currently, young people who have a precarious status – that is to say who do not have refugee status or permanent residence – cannot enroll in CEGEP or university.
They speak French, they have completed their secondary education here, they are on sports teams, they are successful. […] These young people are Canadians, they are Quebeckers. They must be given residence [permanente] as soon as possible so that they can focus on their development and their future.
Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, new solidarity MP for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne and immigration lawyer
For Andrés Fontecilla, the solidarity deputy in Laurier-Dorion, the situation is “extremely worrying”.
“There is a two-speed society that is being created right now: people who have rights and status, and all those who live in darkness and invisibility. […] We need a political solution that comes from the federal government, but which is also accepted by the CAQ government,” he said in an interview.
Young immigrants also testified at the event, expressing their fear of possible deportation.
“I love school, my colleagues and my life here. I am an athlete and I have won competitions in Quebec. But now I’m finishing high school and I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue my studies and go to CEGEP. I’m afraid that my family and I will be deported, while my whole life is here,” said 19-year-old Hardeep (not his real name).