In recent months, mobilizations to demand the regularization of people without status in Canada have intensified. The various groups and coalitions mobilized, such as Solidarity Across Borders, the Center for Immigrant Workers, the League for Rights and Freedoms, Doctors of the World and the Migrant Rights Network, are calling for the implementation of an inclusive regularization program , clear and transparent nationwide.
These demonstrations aim to put pressure on the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser, who was responsible last January for setting up such a program. The latter is eagerly awaited in a context where the precariousness of living situations has come to light during the COVID-19 pandemic, a reality created for years by the very nature and shortcomings of our immigration and reception of refugees. […]
These people are of all genders, of all ages, including children, and come from all parts of the world. Without status, it is impossible for them to reside and work legally in Canada, just as it is very difficult for them to have access to health services, social services, education and justice. […]
Regularize, a common practice
The establishment of a national regularization program would allow people living without status to have access to basic rights and protections. […] Canada has already implemented regularization programs: the adjustment program for Chinese nationals (1960-1972), Operation Mon pays (1973), the special regularization program for Haitians living in Quebec (1981) and the regularization procedure for Algerians living in Quebec (2002), in addition to ad hoc change programs. But overall, since the 1990s, it has inexplicably been slow to renew the experience […].
Moreover, Canadian regularization programs always come with restrictive conditions. In the past, applicants have been excluded for health reasons, because they did not meet specific program criteria (e.g. length of residency) or because they were unable to pay the required fees. […]
Unfortunately, the federal and provincial governments (also involved in the file) continue to consider regularization with very restrictive conditions, while taking into account the alleged “contribution” of individuals to society. This conditionality, which is a reflection of the highly utilitarian approach of the country’s immigration programs, limits accessibility to regularization programs in addition to reifying the idea that people must earn respect for their fundamental rights, whereas nothing like that is expected of people born in Canada.
The “regularization” program for “guardian angels” who worked in the health sector during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic is a recent example of this trend. On the one hand, it was not really a regularization program for people without status, since it targeted asylum seekers (who have temporary legal status); on the other hand, it rewarded people who had provided direct care by excluding those who had performed other important tasks, such as maintenance. […]
End conditionality
These experiences and trends should serve as a starting point for thinking about the design and deployment of a new regularization program for all of Canada. […] Since people without status fear revealing themselves to the authorities and being deported or imprisoned while their case is being processed or following a rejection, the mobilized organizations recommend that the government suspend deportations and the detention of people for the duration from the program. […]
From a practical point of view, it is important that the regularization program be flexible in terms of the procedures for filing files and with regard to the types of documents accepted, by allowing, among other things, third parties (lawyers, organizations) to represent people without status. Importantly, these organizations also claim that the program does not include conditions that make non-status people dependent on spouses, employers or sponsors, and that it is not subject to the central ineligibility conditions of the immigration to Canada, in particular with regard to the criminal record and the state of health of individuals. […]
Regularization is a simple way to combat systemic vulnerabilities and forms of exploitation created by immigration policies and global inequalities in mobility […]. The establishment of a regularization program ultimately represents an opportunity to question the normative bases guiding the distribution of rights and dignity in our migratory systems.
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