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Demonstrations inside Canada to defend undocumented immigrants

Demonstrations inside Canada to defend undocumented immigrants

By Mohamed nasar

Published: March 17, 2024

Groups defending migrants organized yesterday  Saturday in many  Canadian cities protests demanding the regularization of the status of all undocumented migrants without exception.

Gatherings and marches were organized in cities such as Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa, Fredericton, St. John's, and Charlottetown.

Supervising this campaign is the ’’Migrant Rights Network‘‘ (Migrant Rights Network), a coalition of human rights organizations defending undocumented migrants.

In Montreal, the organization ’’Solidarity Without Borders‘‘ (Solidarité sans frontières) supervised the organization of a gathering followed by a march in the streets of the ’’Park Extension neighborhood‘‘ in Montreal.

Other organizations also participated, such as the ’’Immigrant Worker Centre‘‘ (Immigrant Worker Centre - IWC), the ’’Welcome Collective‘‘ (Collectif bienvenue), and the ’’Parc-EX in the street‘‘ organization (Parc-EX dans la rue).

Mustafa Hanawi, a community organizer at the Immigrant Worker Centre, clarified that organizing these protests aims to provide a legal status for all undocumented migrants regardless of their situation (asylum seekers, students, visitors, temporary workers, or others).

We are here to demand from [the Canadian Prime Minister] Justin a program that regularizes the status of all undocumented migrants. 

Last December, the Minister of Immigration Mark Miller announced that Canada is preparing a ’’major program‘‘ to regularize the status of hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants who live and work illegally in the country.

In an interview with the daily English-language newspaper ’’Globe and Mail‘‘, the minister announced that he intends to present a plan on this matter during the coming spring.

He confirmed that the discussion about regularizing the status of people who are here and who, in his opinion, do not enjoy consensus in the country,  we need to have a bigger discussion on this subject as a country.

Mark Miller, the Minister of Immigration, said during the interview that between 300,000 and 600,000 people live illegally in Canada, often for years. They face the risk of deportation at any time.

The new program will also include people who entered the country legally, as temporary workers or international students, and stayed here after their visas expired, according to the Globe and Mail.

In recent months, the government has held numerous meetings with associations defending undocumented migrants and social organizations to develop this plan, which will be the largest in Canada's history.

Canada, which has a population of 40 million, witnessed a record population growth in 2022 due to the influx of migrants. Ottawa plans to receive 500,000 migrants annually by 2025.

Isabelle Dubois, the ministry spokesperson, said that the ministry ’’is studying available opportunities to regularize the status of undocumented migrants who contribute to Canadian communities.‘‘

She added that the government ’’is in contact with academic experts and stakeholders to support this work. During our work, we will continue to listen to experts as well as the undocumented individuals themselves‘‘.

Last December, the current Minister of Immigration Mark Miller mentioned that a regularization program would be announced in the spring of 2024.

’’This announcement is another glimmer of hope for each of us. We expect it to be without exclusion‘‘, she said.

We deserve to have legal status because we are dignified human beings. We must be treated equally with anyone else in society.

Samira Yasmin, a volunteer at Solidarity Without Borders, added that in reality, ’’undocumented migrants are not treated equally due to their status. They are subject to exploitation and intimidation. They work hard and for low wages.‘‘

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