A few dozen people gathered in Montreal on Saturday to demand better working conditions for immigrant workers, as well as the regularization of their status and better access to public services.
Posted at 5:08 p.m.
The Center for Immigrant Workers (CTI) is calling for an increase in the minimum wage to $18 an hour. It will only reach $14.25 an hour in Quebec on Monday, which is “not enough at all,” according to Cheolki Yoon, a CTI volunteer who is also a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University.
Activists and workers met in the afternoon in front of the Parc metro station, in Parc-Extension, displaying slogans such as “regularization for all” or “sexual harassment, never again”.
“It is unacceptable that you are the victim because you have experienced sexual harassment, that you are the victim because you have worked and we do not want to pay you”, declared Bénédicte Carole Ze, a beneficiary attendant met. on site who is involved in the women’s committee of the CTI.
Many immigrant workers are made vulnerable by their status, forcing them to “accept unacceptable conditions and exposing them to abuse by employers,” reads a statement from the Center. Access to public services is limited to them, and it is often difficult for them to assert their rights, further denounces the CTI.
“It’s abnormal when it is you who contribute enormously to the economy of Canada”, got carried away Mme Ze, citing the agricultural, manufacturing, construction and healthcare industries, which employ many immigrant workers.
In addition to an increase in the minimum wage and “reasonable” working conditions free from harassment, the CTI calls for the regularization of everyone’s immigration status and access to public services, including health care and employment insurance, for all. .
“The most important thing is access to permanent residence”, which is “virtually blocked” in Quebec at the moment, according to Mr. Yoon.
The CTI also calls for the abolition of “discriminatory elements” in the immigration system, such as “the type of work permit associated with a single employer, the exclusion of low-skilled jobs […] in the PEQ [le Programme de l’expérience québécoise] and the unrealistic level of French required to obtain the CSQ [Certificat de sélection du Québec] “.
Called to react to these demands, neither the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI), nor the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity (MTESS) had responded to the matters of The Press at the time of publishing this article.