A coalition of civil society organizations is asking Quebec not to put obstacles in the way of the eventual federal program to regularize people without status and to align itself with the criteria that will be established by this program.
Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser is preparing such a program to regularize the status of those who are already in Canada but have found themselves without status. This program will target people who entered the country with immigration status, but who subsequently lost it.
These may include, in particular, asylum or refugee claimants who have been refused, foreign workers or students whose work permit or study visa has expired, but who have remained in Canada. . In some more extreme cases, it may be people who held a work permit with a single employer and fled abusive conditions from the employer in question.
Do not repeat the “guardian angels”
However, the experience with the “guardian angels” program in Quebec raises major concerns within the coalition, which does not want to see the Legault government repeat the same approach. They recalled, Tuesday at a press conference in Montreal, that this program voluntarily excluded the majority of people who should have had access to it and who had contributed to the effort to fight the pandemic, not only in the health sector. , but also in many other essential services.
“We were enthusiastic when we saw the opening of the federal government and we obviously hope that there will be no exclusions as there have been or restrictions, affirms Katia Lelièvre, vice-president at the CSN. Today we are calling on the provincial government also because we have seen the guardian angel program, which has been so restricted that almost no workers have been able to benefit from it. »
At the same time, the organizations are asking Ottawa to be as inclusive as possible in establishing its criteria by minimizing requirements and simplifying procedures. The number of non-status is unknown. It is estimated at half a million across Canada, but no credible figure is known for Quebec.
No newcomers
“You have to be aware that these are people who are already in Canada. We are not talking about new arrivals who will arrive in the coming months, ”said Stephan Reichhold, of the Round Table of Organizations Serving Refugees and Immigrants.
“It is a fairly common practice in European countries to regularize the status of people who have no status or a precarious status,” he added.
These people without status have sometimes been on Canadian territory for several years, but they have no rights, no access to health care, childcare services or justice. They often work on the black market and, above all, live almost clandestinely, for fear of possibly being deported.
“The daily life of a person without status is sometimes difficult to imagine,” said Samira Jasmin, from Solidarité sans frontières.
“To be without status is to live in constant insecurity, because it is difficult to provide for basic needs; to feed, to lodge, to move. Being without status means doing everything to avoid getting sick, because you don’t have access to basic health care. To be non-status is to be continually exploited at work without any protection or respect for minimum labor standards. Being without status often means finding yourself without the possibility of enrolling your children in school or daycare, ”she said.
Katia Lelièvre, for her part, relayed the information received by the CSN: “Our members, in all regions and in all workplaces, now report to us the cases of workers who, for lack of permanent resident status in good standing, are separated from their families for several years, do not have access to decent housing, have to work undeclared without protection, without social benefits, get injured or infected at work without being compensated, see themselves overloaded with hours well into beyond the limits imposed by law and who have no means of using their experience to requalify in another job or obtain employment insurance. »
The organizations, including all the major labor groups and representatives of the community working with refugees and immigrants, and the academic community, argue that this denial of rights places Quebec – and Canada – in violation of the international.
“Quebec, like Canada, has an obligation to protect the rights of all persons present on its territory. Regularizing immigration status is an effective way to do this,” said Marisa Berry Mendez, campaign manager for French-speaking Canada at Amnesty International.
“Quebec must stop turning a blind eye to its human rights obligations and the needs of our society,” she insisted.