A hundred people gathered on Saturday in a restaurant in the Montreal district of Parc-Extension to demand the regularization of the status of young immigrants and their families.
“I finished high school and I’m afraid I won’t be able to continue my studies and go to college. I fear my family will be deported, while my life is here,” said Hardeep (not his real name), who does not want to name himself due to his precarious immigration status. Aged 19, the young athlete, who is finishing high school, says he has “opportunities here”.
“It’s stressful,” added Sandeep. In India there is not too much value [accordée à] the French language, and the education we receive here in Canada” is not recognized, deplores the young student. Aged 14, she would like to stay in Quebec and become a police officer.
“These are young people who are educated here, who have learned French and who will contribute greatly to Quebec society, declared the solidarity deputy for Laurier-Dorion, Andrés Fontecilla. “They deserve to stay here. It is a question of human rights, which is in Quebec’s territory. »
“The children go to school here, they have learned French, they have forgotten how to write in their native language. Some do not speak their native language very well so would be subject to enormous prejudice [lors de leur] back,” added the deputy for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard.
It is “very important to regularize their status”, and that of their parents, “as quickly as possible” so that young people can “focus 100% on their development rather than always being afraid of losing their status and returning in their home country,” said the newly elected MP.
Québec solidaire and the Center for Immigrant Workers (CTI), which organized the event, are demanding that the Legault government put in place a “broad regularization program”.
“Children who arrived at the age of 4 or 5, who have spent most of their lives here, and not in the country where they were born, don’t they have the right to stay? says Mostafa Henaway, CTI community organizer.
More details will follow…