The federal government is consulting on how many people should get permanent residency and how many should be temporary residents. The deadline has been extended to June 30, 2026. We need as many people as possible to submit before then.

Working class people across Canada are being squeezed by high rents, low wages, and cuts to services. Instead of addressing these crises, the federal government and the super rich are scapegoating migrants – stoking racism and division to distract from the real causes. Immigration policies are pushing people out at more than 3,000 per day. People who came to Canada, invested years of their lives, separated from their families, and built futures here are being expelled. We must speak up and oppose these policies.

Migrants are not the cause of the housing crisis, the wage crisis, or the underfunding of public services. Those are the results of decades of privatization, corporate power, and government neglect. We are being divided so that the people responsible for this crisis don’t have to answer for it.

Here’s why participating matters: consultations are public record. The findings get published. A large, organized response makes it harder for the government to claim broad support for continued expulsion. It shows migrants, their families, and their allies that they are not alone and not silent.

How to participate – three simple steps

Step 1: Fill out the consultation

Go to the government consultation form here: https://forms-formulaires.alpha.canada.ca/en/id/cmp15luge003i01yt8nzf3jdf

The form has a number of demographic questions, then six open-ended questions. Answer the questions with a focus on calling for greater access to permanent residency for migrants. A few sentences on each question is enough – you don’t have to be detailed, you just have to participate.

Step 2: Use our guide if you want help

We built a full guide with template answers for each question and tips on how to personalize your submission. Download the consultation guide here.

Step 3: Tell us you submitted

Once you’ve submitted, let us know: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/immigrationlevels2026/

Let’s be clear: the Carney government has signaled its direction. Tens of thousands of submissions changes what this consultation means politically and builds the public record we will need heading into our September 20 mobilizations and the November 1 immigration levels announcement.

Share this with everyone you know.

We began the year with 1.2 million permits set to expire – Trudeau’s parting gift. Over 3,000 people losing status every day. By April, a federal election brought Mark Carney to power. His first act? Introducing anti-migrant legislation that would make deportations easier and strip rights faster.

Under the shadow of a tariff war that never really unfolded as it was predicted to – both major political parties competed to scapegoat migrants for the affordability crisis caused by an economy in freefall. Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives demanded an end to the temporary foreign workers program and called for military helicopters at the border. Carney’s Liberals were delighted to oblige.

Throughout the year, migrants were blamed for crises caused by landlords, speculators, and billionaires. Instead of choosing dignity and rights, both parties chose racism.

In the face of this assault, we fought back. Together, the Migrant Rights Network and migrant justice movements defended our communities. We mobilized 70+ cities on September 20. We exposed plans to let bosses steal $1.5 billion from workers. We led the fight against Bill C-12. 

And we did this together – over 500 organizations joined us, and tens of thousands of you signed petitions, made phone calls, and took to the streets.

2025 Highlights

March – April: During the federal election, thousands of us sent emails to every candidate demanding rights, not cuts. We made migrant justice impossible to ignore. 

June – December: From the day Bill C-2 was introduced, we organized against it. Hundreds of organizations signed a statement opposing it. We joined the Stop Bill C-2/C-12 Coalition. When the government renamed Bill C-2 and claimed it was “toned down,” we called the lie. We held press conferences after being shut out of committee hearings. We ran phone banks, email campaigns, and national webinars. We took action in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and beyond. And right now, we are calling on Senators to vote it down, while we prepare to defend ourselves if the law is implemented. 

September 20, 2025: Over 70 cities mobilized for Draw the Line—uniting migrant justice with climate, Indigenous, anti-war, and labour movements against Carney’s agenda of cuts, surveillance, and scapegoating. 

November 2025: Budget 2025 and immigration levels announced together – a first. The budget kept permanent residency at only 380,000 spots for 3 million people on temporary permits or without status. It slashed refugee spots by over 10,000 (on top of 14,000 cut in 2024), cut international student permits in half to 155,000, reduced temporary foreign worker visas by 22,000, and slashed refugee healthcare from $598M to $411M with co-pays added. Meanwhile 57,000 public sector jobs were cut, and $89 billion allocated for war. We joined the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, Council of Canadians, 350.org, and World Beyond War to demand opposition parties reject it.

Fighting for Status and Stopping Exploitation

Care Workers: After decades of organizing, care workers won permanent residency on arrival. We launched resources to protect workers from scams and help them apply. But the program opened capped at 5,500 spots, shutting out over 40,000 workers. We occupied federal offices. We demanded: no caps, regularization for those forced undocumented, clear the backlog.

Exposing “Reforms” That Deepen Abuse: In July, we released “Controls Not Protection”—514 migrant workers who responded to the government’s secret plans:

• Bosses empowered to steal 5-30% of wages ($15,600/year per worker)
• “Tied” permits rebranded but workers still trapped
• Housing guidelines vague and unenforceable
• Healthcare still blocked by employers

This new program has not been implemented yet because of our outcry – and we will continue to monitor it and respond. 

Opposing Lies, Telling Truths

Throughout the year, we spoke up when political parties, particularly the Conservative Party, pushed lies: 

Landlords caused the housing crisis – not migrants. Rent rose 4.5% even as student numbers dropped. We released videos and graphics breaking down the real culprits: speculators, weakened rent controls, and developers building luxury condos instead of affordable housing.

Bill C-2/C-12 is a mass deportation machine – not border security. We led the coalition warning about surveillance expansion, attacks on due process, restrictions on asylum, and powers to cancel permits for entire groups at once.

Migrants didn’t cause youth unemployment. Youth unemployment was 14.6% in 2025 vs. 13.4% average 2009-2025. Temporary foreign workers don’t work in ‘youth jobs’ and have been coming to Canada for over half a century. The real problem: bosses refusing to pay decent wages. 

Trump’s tariff threats are a distraction. While politicians blamed migrants and militarized the border, we pointed to the real issue: billionaires getting richer while working people struggle. We intervened in the “Buy Canadian” debate – demanding that this must include defending migrant workers who grow and process our food.

Responded to polling: This year – we saw a number of polls that focused on how the public believes there are too many migrants. We showed how the people believe what they are being told even as 60% of newcomers are reporting facing racism and exploitation. 

Rights, not numbers. We showed how the focus on the numbers of migrants is a way to distract from the rights of migrants. Without permanent status, migrants face abuse. 

Joined with movements fighting for justice: We joined with climate, Indigenous sovereignty, worker rights, women’s rights, housing justice movement and more. When racism divides the working class, we all lose.

Forward to 2026

Following Carney’s election, we outlined ten demands for a system rooted in rights, dignity, and justice. We are calling for permanent resident status for all migrants — including undocumented people, an end to deportations and detention, and an end to employer-controlled immigration that traps people in abuse. We are fighting for real rights for care workers, farm and food workers, construction workers, and international students; fair wages and full labour protections; family unity; and the defense of refugee rights, including expanded resettlement and an end to the Canada–US Safe Third Country Agreement. Read our demands in full here: https://migrantrights.ca/2025demands/

We will continue to build power alongside labour unions, climate justice organizations, housing justice and anti-war movements to reject austerity politics that blames migrants while funding surveillance and war.

We will:

• Support migrant self-organization
• Do mass public education to counter xenophobia and build solidarity between all workers
• Push for policy changes that protect livelihoods and ensures permanent resident status
• Defend migrants and refugees against wage theft, abuse, deportations and more bad laws. 

Together, Onwards

2025 showed our power. Over 70 cities united on September 20. Care workers occupied federal offices. Hundreds of organizations stood together. Thousands made calls, sent emails, took to the streets.

The line is clear: on one side, billionaires, politicians, corporate power. On the other: all of us.

2026 will demand more. But we’re ready. Onwards.

Bill C-2 threatens the fundamental rights of migrants, refugees across and citizens Canada. We urgently need your organization’s voice to help stop this dangerous legislation. Already, nearly 200 organizations have signed, join them!

TO ENDORSE: Fill out the form on this page. Please note, only the names of organizations will be publicized.

This endorsement is for organizations only, if you are not part of an organization, click here to send an individual message. 

Withdraw Bill C-2

We, the undersigned 174 organizations, urgently call on the federal government to withdraw Bill C-2. We are deeply concerned that Bill C-2:

• Gives the government broad discretion to cancel, suspend or change any individual or groups of immigration applications or documents—including for permanent resident visas and cards, work permits, and study permits.
• Allows the deportation of asylum seekers without a hearing for anyone who came to Canada more than a year ago, which is inconsistent with international refugee law.
• Makes it even more difficult for people who cross into Canada from the US to have their asylum claim heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
• Allows overly broad sharing of personal information of migrants and citizens with federal, provincial and territorial agencies and with foreign entities.
• Allows police and intelligence agencies easier access to the private information of all people in Canada regardless of immigration status.

Together, these measures give sweeping powers to current and future governments to revoke immigration status without individual evaluation, to limit asylum seekers’ right to a hearing and ability to appeal decisions, to share personal information without adequate safeguards, and expand deportations.

Many people already face danger because they can’t access refugee protection due to the Safe Third Country Agreement with the US. Hundreds of thousands of others with temporary status are exposed to exploitation and denied permanent resident status due to Canada’s discriminatory immigration system. Because of recent immigration cuts, 1.2 million people are no longer able to renew their permits and are being forced to leave the country or become undocumented this year. The broad discretionary powers and limitations proposed in Bill C-2 would put more people’s lives at risk, and allow for human rights abuses like what we are seeing in the United States.

We urge you to:

• Withdraw Bill C-2.
• Reject the US-style anti-migrant and anti-refugee agenda.
• Ensure equal rights, fair treatment and non-discriminatory access to permanent resident status for all.
• Stop scapegoating migrants and refugees for the housing and affordability crisis.
• Uphold the Right to Asylum and due process in refugee determination by better resourcing the Immigration and Refugee Board.

See all 176 organizational endorsers 

Bill C-2 is cruel, immoral and dangerous. It must be stopped.

Migrants in Canada grow food, care for our families, heal our sick, and build our homes. Without permanent resident status, they face wage theft, unlivable homes, abuse and mistreatment that threatens their wellbeing and our collective society. Tell PM Carney to do the right thing. Please wait a moment if the email tool isn’t showing – it will load shortly. Click here for a specific anti Bill C-2 petition.

We refuse to accept these changes. We refuse to be blamed. We will continue to fight for permanent resident status for all migrants, including workers, students, and undocumented people.

We are witnessing one of the most significant rollbacks of migrant rights and access in Canadian history. The government is slashing the numbers of migrant workers, international students, and refugees. It is also promising to further reduce the number of permanent residents, after already capping them.

The federal government has announced that at least 2.3 million permits will expire in the next two years. Many more rules are also changing, such that migrants already in the country will be forced to become undocumented and pushed into vulnerable and precarious situations. These changes disproportionately impact working class migrants. 

Migrants that remain will be:

• Forced into Bad Jobs: With less access  to work permits and permanent residency, more people will be forced to rely on employer sponsorships just to stay in Canada. This means more power for bosses and more exploitation .
• Separated from their families: Fewer work permits for family members mean more families will be torn apart.
• Pay more for less: Higher financial requirements, fewer hours of work for study permit holders, new language tests, and requiring workers to renew permits each year means more stress and more costs for workers
• Face racist violence: In just the past month, an Indian student was stabbed to death in Edmonton, a Syrian-run restaurant was set on fire in St. Catharines, a mosque was attacked in Antigonish and a Black Colombian refugee was killed by police in Vancouver. This increasing racist violence is a direct result of the growing anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by political and media rhetoric. These cuts effectively affirm that migrants are responsible for the affordability crisis, which will further xenophobia.

This is an unacceptable betrayal of Liberal promises by way of Conservative-style immigration policy.

At the beginning of this mandate, in December 2021, Prime Minister Trudeau promised to ensure permanent resident status for migrant workers, students, and undocumented people. As recently as May 2024, the Minister of Immigration said the way to shrink the number of temporary residents is to offer them the opportunity to remain permanently.

Instead of keeping their promise, the federal Liberals are enacting Conservative-like immigration policies in the hopes that it will help them in the polls. Elites in government and media have been spreading right-wing rhetoric and anti-immigrant sentiment. Instead of combating it, the federal Liberals are accepting it. Provincial governments responsible for jobs, housing, healthcare, and education are turning to further scapegoating to distract from their own failures – this underinvestment  will continue no matter what immigration levels are. This strategy of slashing immigration  will fail electorally for the Liberals, and abuse and violence against migrants will increase.

Migrants are not responsible for the housing and affordability crisis. Slashing migrant numbers leaves those truly responsible off the hook.

Migrants often live in employer-controlled housing or crowded, substandard units without basic tenant rights. They are not competing for single-family homes. While the population has gone up by 3.9%, housing prices have gone up more than 20%, while hundreds of thousands of rental units sit empty because landlords are rent gouging. Blaming migrants is a distraction.

Food prices have gone up higher than the price of inflation because grocery monopolies have unchecked power. Migrant workers who grow, process, pack, and deliver food face unsafe working conditions and low wages.

These cuts will also hurt all working people.

Blaming migrants is a tool of the ruling elites to distract and divide  workers. These cuts will not address the corporate and policy decisions that have led to low wages, high unemployment, and unaffordable housing.

Canada’s population is aging, people are having fewer children, and the manufacturing sector has not grown. Instead of investing in people and ensuring permanent resident status for immigrants so they can sustain the aging population and the economy for the long run, Liberals and Conservatives have used temporary migration to bring in hundreds of thousands of migrant workers and students to pour money into the economy with no rights in return. In addition to their labour and their resources via high fees, migrants pay into social services like CPP and EI, as well as via federal and provincial taxes, but are denied most of the services. This means that migrants are subsidizing the social safety net. In fact, according to the International Monetary Fund, Canada has avoided two recessions on the backs of migrants in recent years.

These cuts come without any real investment in housing, manufacturing, or healthcare and will result in an economic contraction that will mean lower wages and higher prices for everyone.

Details of the changes announced over the last year

Permanent residency

• Permanent residency has been slashed for 2025 – 2027 limiting opportunities for migrants who are already living and working in Canada to transition to permanent status and increasing their likelihood of becoming undocumented. Particularly low-wage migrants are impacted. Even accepted refugees will be excluded. Questions remain about promised programs such as permanent residency on landing for care workers. 
• Provincial Programs Abruptly Closed: Programs in Yukon, Northwest Territories, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have been abruptly closed, while New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and PEI have changed rules without warning and spaces in these programs have been cut, leaving hundreds of thousands of migrants in limbo. Many of these programs were the only way through which low-waged workers could apply for permanent residency and this door has been effectively closed for 2025-2027. 
• Regularization of undocumented people delayed: In December 2021, Prime Minister Trudeau promised comprehensive regularization, a promise reiterated by multiple Immigration Ministers until June 2024, when the Immigration Minister abruptly about-turned despite proclaiming massive economic and humanitarian benefits of regularization. Minister Miller has since promised a smaller, undefined program that has not been announced. 

International students and graduated students

• No Renewals for Expiring PGWPs: Over 200,000 PGWPs are set to expire by end of 2025, leaving many stranded in Canada, some of whom have already applied for permanent residency, with no other options to stay. Many are being forced to choose between being uprooted and becoming undocumented.
• Ban on Family Reunification: Spouses of undergraduate and college students can no longer receive work permits, and spouses and children of graduate students in programs shorter than 16 months are also barred from being in Canada as of Fall 2024. 
• Study Permit Caps: The government capped study permits for undergraduate and college programs in 2024, with caps on graduate students coming in 2025. Even international students already in Canada will be barred from renewing their permits if the cap is reached.
• Higher Proof of Funds: Since January 2024, international students must show more financial resources—$20,635 per person plus tuition, up from $10,000. These increased requirements effectively shut out lower-income students.
• Work Hour Restrictions: As of November 2024, international students are limited to 24 off-campus work hours. These limits force those needing more income into undocumented work, increasing their risk of exploitation and wage theft.
• Restrictions on PGWP Eligibility: Graduates of private colleges and college students in fields not aligned with specific industries are no longer eligible for PGWPs, which are crucial for those wishing to work and settle permanently in Canada. This restriction does not apply to bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree holders.

Temporary foreign workers

• Cuts to Family Work Permits: Only spouses of workers in managerial jobs will be eligible for work permits. Even high-wage workers, such as chefs and truck drivers, will face family separation. A promised expansion of work permits for family members of low-wage workers has been cancelled, disproportionately affecting women.
• Shorter Work Permits: Low-wage work permits (except for primary agriculture) will be limited to one year. Migrants will be forced to pay high fees to renew their work permits annually.
• No LMIAs in High Unemployment Areas: Starting September 26, 2024, Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) will not be issued in areas with over 6% unemployment, except for certain jobs in caregiving, agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, and education. Those already in Canada will be unable to renew their permits.
• Cap on Low-Wage LMIA Positions: Starting September 26, 2024, employers cannot hire more than 10% of their workforce through low-wage LMIAs, except in some industries like farming – one of the sectors with the most rampant labour violations – and caregiving. Those already in Canada will also be unable to renew their permits.
• End to Work Permits for Visitors: As of August 28, 2024, visitors can no longer transition to temporary work permits without leaving Canada, an option that many relied on to maintain status and income during long government delays in processing applications.

Refugees

• Increased Visa Rejections and Border Refusals: Reports indicate a surge in rejected visitor visa applications, with a higher ratio of refusals compared to approvals this year. Border officers are also turning away an average of 3,727 foreign travelers each month, many of whom may be potential refugees for whom the government has eliminated other options.
• 14,000 places slashed from the humanitarian component of immigration levels: These cuts impact real people fleeing persecution and seeking safety in Canada or struggling in conflict zones around the world facing violence, starvation, and death. The cuts in the humanitarian component particularly fails those already here whom we have committed to protect and their family members abroad, all but ensuring families will remain separated for many years to come.

On March 16 & 17, 2024, in 8 cities, from Charlottetown in PEI to Victoria in BC, we ignited the next stage of our struggle: Migrant Spring. Thousands participated in marches, rallies, community meetings and events. 

Together, we united against migrant scapegoating for the affordability crisis. Together, we demanded regularization for undocumented people without exclusions. With one voice, we called for permanent resident status for international students, careworkers, farmworkers, fishery workers, and other migrant workers. We refused the exclusion of migrants from essential services, and we demanded freedom to work without restriction. 

Watch and share photos and videos of our actions on Facebook | On Twitter | On Instagram

Over a thousand people marched in Toronto last weekend, and hundreds marched in Montreal. More than three hundred people rallied in Vancouver and nearly a hundred people joined in Victoria. Community meetings also took place in Fredericton, and Charlottetown. And social and cultural events took place in Ottawa and St John’s.

Our actions were widely reported in the mainstream media amplifying our voice into people’s homes across the country. A small selection of the coverage includes CP24 and Global News in Toronto; CBC and Global News in Montreal; CBC and City News in Vancouver;  CTV News and Global News in Fredericton, and Chek News in Victoria among many others. Even if you don’t have time to read and watch these, you will boost visibility simply by clicking on the links, as clicks tell media outlets to share stories more widely.

We have a short window ahead of us right now, so actions in the next few weeks are crucial. 

Here’s what to do. 

1. 1. Send an email: Even if you have sent one already, send an email to all Cabinet members by adding your name here: www.StatusforAll.ca
   2. Make calls with others: Join with your friends and other activists online at 8pm EST / 5pm EST on Thursday, March 21, 2024, the International Day for Elimination of Racism, to make calls to PM Trudeau and Cabinet. Organized by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. RSVP now: https://migrantworkersalliance.org/march21/ 
   3. Make calls on your own: Can’t join the phone zap on March 21? Use our tool to call and leave a message for Cabinet members in support of our demands. You will connected to the MP’s office and will have a script you can read: https://migrantrights.ca/callforstatus/ 
   4. Write organizational letters: If you are a leader in an organization, use this template to write an original letter for permanent resident status and against xenophobia and send it to the Prime Minister and the Immigration Minister. This is not a sign-on letter, but a tool to use to draft your own letter. We need to show the federal government that many communities are paying attention. 
   5. Get signatures from faith, labour and community organizations: If you attend, or know of local community, faith, or labour groups in your city where you can get the authorized person to sign a letter, download and print this letter and take it to them and ask them to sign it, and send a copy to us. 

The clock is ticking. Many deadlines are coming up. Taking action is timely and necessary:

• To win comprehensive regularization: Prime Minister Trudeau’s government promised to bring regularization to Cabinet in the Spring. Not only do we need to make sure a program is announced, we need to make sure that the program is inclusive. 
• To stop the deportation of care workers: Thousands of care workers are at risk of deportation due to expiring programs or have already been excluded because of excessive requirements. The program expires on June 17 – we must act now.
• To create fair immigration laws: The federal government has capped permanent immigration. International students and their family permits have been restricted. Visas have been imposed on Mexico. Sudanese and Palestinian refugees face exceptional hurdles unlike Ukrainian refugees. The 20-hour work limit is set to be placed on international students on April 30th. These caps and exclusions mean that bad bosses can exploit migrants more, and racialized migrants are denied rights. We must act now to stop bad laws, and ensure better laws. 
• To #UniteAgainstRacim: Landlords, grocery monopolies, and governments are scapegoating migrants, blaming us for the housing and affordability crisis and perpetuating racism and division. This allows those in power to continue to push bad laws that affect everyone – both migrants and citizens. Winning equal rights for migrants is one of the most effective ways to stop the rise of racism.

Today, International Migrants Day, is the 5 anniversary of the founding of Migrant Rights Network. Today marks half a decade of historic organizing, mobilizing and winning migrant justice across these lands. 

Just days ago, Immigration Minister Marc Miller reiterated the federal government’s commitment to creating a path for permanent resident status for undocumented people, promising “broad and comprehensive” regularization. His announcement came shortly after we exposed Prime Minister Trudeau overseeing 39 deportations a day, costing at least $50 million annually since he pledged the program in December 2021. He has re-made a promise, and we will make sure he keeps it. 

Today, we look back at our struggles and our victories over the last five years. 

Year 1, 2019: Uniting Against Racism and Winning Rights for Care Workers

We launched on December 18, 2018, with a campaign of relationship building and political education called “Unite Against Racism.” Throughout our first year, we forged ties with labor unions, training hundreds of rank-and-file activists to conduct political education at their workplaces. We collaborated with climate justice movements, hosting dozens of events to deepen ties and build connections. In the lead-up to the October 2019 elections, with concerns about a Trump-styled campaign of xenophobia from the Conservatives, we built a cross-country united front to defeat those ideas.

We achieved significant wins: a special permanent residency program for migrant care workers facing deportation due to unfair requirements; the first permanent residency program for migrant agricultural workers (although it is an exclusionary program that shuts out the majority of workers deemed seasonal), and the first open work permit program for migrant workers facing exploitation.

See more here. 

Year 2, 2020: COVID-19 and Launch of Status for All Campaign

2020 was a human rights catastrophe for migrants. We were the front line of the COVID crisis, doing the lowest paid and most dangerous jobs growing and delivering food, cleaning buildings, and taking care of children and the elderly. At the same time, many migrants were excluded from basic healthcare and income support in a pandemic. We grieved as our families around the world suffered the impacts of the coronavirus, exacerbated by vaccine hoarding by countries like Canada.

In 2020, we launched the Status for All campaign, refusing to fight solely for COVID income support, testing, vaccines or emergency changes. Instead, we targeted the root of exploitation: the denial of permanent resident status. While many people “worked from home,” we took to the streets, mobilizing almost every month in massive demonstrations. 

See more here. 

Year 3, 2021: Winning Permanent Resident Status for Working Class Migrants

In 2021, we won a one-time program for permanent residency for almost 90,000 people, some in low-wage sectors. We refocused on family unity, advocating for migrants to have their families join them. Migrant student workers won a one-time renewal to their post-graduate work permits, preventing the deportation of 52,000 people. We organized a mass march on Ottawa, with thousands traveling from across the country to call for permanent resident status for all. In the lead-up to the 2021 elections, we educated voters on issues and persistently followed Liberal MPs on the campaign trail, demanding immigration justice. Shortly after winning the election, on December 16, 2021, less than 18 months after we had launched our Status for All campaign, Prime Minister Trudeau made a mandate letter commitment to ensure permanent resident status for migrant students, workers, and undocumented people.

Read more about 2021 here. 

Year 4, 2022: Regularize Everyone! 

In June 2022, we launched the Regularize Everyone campaign, garnering support from over 500 organizations representing 8 million members to our call for a broad and comprehensive regularization program. The Toronto Star editorial endorsed our position. Following massive demonstrations across the country in the fall, a contingent of over 150 undocumented members from across the country met with then-Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. This historic gathering saw migrants, who live in daily fear of deportation, speaking directly to the Minister, unmasked and unafraid. In April 2022, migrant student workers won another renewal of post-graduate work permits, and in April 2022, they won a temporary end to the 20-hour work limit. Jamaican farm workers spoke up about systematic slavery-like conditions on farms, prompting a fact-finding mission from Jamaica to Canada, the first such visit in over 50 years.

Year 5, 2023: Reuniting Families, Accessing Education, Gaining Ground on Regularization

In 2023, we secured the right for migrants to study without a study permit and the right for some migrant workers to have their families join them. However, the promised expansion of the program to all low-wage workers never materialized. We also won another extension to post-graduate work permits and an extension of waiving the 20-hour work limit for international student workers. The United Nations rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery came to Canada and reiterated our call for permanent resident status for all. We witnessed a new wave of anti-immigrant hysteria flooding the country, with immigrants being blamed for the housing crisis despite housing prices rising even when Canada closed the border to all migrants and immigrants in 2020. We conducted broad public education pushing back against these lies. As climate change-induced fires struck BC, we supported farmworkers in getting emergency support when all other levels of government failed them.

Other 2023 highlights:

• We organized a massive demonstration at the winter cabinet retreat in Hamilton in January 2023, on March 18 and 19 we organized demonstrations in 7 cities, as Parliament returned in the Fall, we took to the streets in 15 cities as well as UK, France and Spain on September 18 and 19.
• Supreme Court rules that Canada owes a “moral debt” to migrants
• MRN Member Migrant Workers Alliance for Change launched ‘The Secret Menu‘ a guerilla sticker campaign to expose migrant farmworker exploitation

Send a hand-written letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this holiday season to demand permanent resident status for all undocumented people, migrant students and workers. Make sure to send us a photo, too!

Why a hand-written letter: 

• Hand-written letters are personal and, therefore, more compelling.
• Many people write letters and postcards during the holidays. 

What should the letter say:

• Migrants: How will permanent resident status for all change your life?
• Ally or a supporter: How will permanent resident status for all make life better for everyone in Canada? Learn more here. 
• Remind the Prime Minister that he promised regularization on December 16, 2021 – almost two years ago! Every day of delay means migrants are abused at work, denied healthcare, and separated from families.

How to send your letter:

• First, take a photo and send it to letters@migrantrights.ca
  • If you are a migrant, you can also send your letter photo via WhatsApp, get phone numbers here.
• Then, put it in an envelope and address it to the Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2. It’s free – you don’t need to attach a stamp! 

Intense fires are ravaging the country. Thousands have been forced out of their homes. Indigenous communities are particularly impacted.

Similar to the floods in BC in 2021, migrant workers, especially those in the agricultural sector, are once again facing exclusion and exploitation.

Migrant farmworkers without income; forced to work during fires

In the Okanagan Valley of BC, over 600 migrant farmworkers have been displaced. Despite their devastating losses, some employers are refusing to provide income support, leaving these workers dependent on migrant-led organizations such as Sanctuary Health and RAMA for assistance.

Worse still – some of the workers in the fire-affected communities were moved to nearby farms. Their new employers are forcing them to work, even as the air is thick with smoke and temperatures are soaring.

No real protections exist for migrant workers during extreme weather events. Where there are some rules, workers are unable to speak up because employers can fire them, evict them, kick them out of the country and bar them from returning.

This is why you need to join or organize an action on September 16 & 17, 2023 for #StatusForAll

Fired for speaking out

Jamaican farm workers were recently sent home two months early as retaliation from their Ontario employer after a one-day strike protesting appalling housing conditions. These workers had released footage of overflowing bathrooms and their employer berating them.

And just this week in New Brunswick, 25 migrant fishery workers were coerced into signing “resignation letters” two months before their contract will end after organizing a meeting to address insufficient work and income. Please take two minutes and send a message to support them right now!

Climate change is not just fires and extreme weather events

The crisis caused by climate change extends beyond fires and extreme weather. As weather patterns become unpredictable, many migrant workers in food and other seasonal industries are working fewer hours than usual.

The minimum wage they earn in Canada is worth less because the prices of everything have gone up around the world. This year, migrant organizations are distributing emergency aid and food boxes to migrant workers even more than we did during the pandemic.

Rather than ensuring equal rights and permanent residency for all migrants, the federal government has made it even easier for employers to hire more workers on a precarious basis.

We need justice and status for all

This open season for exploitation is a response from the federal government to the employer push for more precarious workers to fill what they insist is a labour shortage. But we know the real issue is lack of worker rights, not a lack of workers. Even as employers and bosses are pushing for more precarious workers, they are also blaming immigrants for the increase in housing prices.

Over the last few weeks, big business supporting voice in the media have been loudly complaining about too many immigrants causing the housing crunch. Their main argument is that there are too many newcomers, and so Canada needs to build new homes and/or reduce the number of people. But focusing on housing supply, instead of investor profiteering, is just a way for those who are making the big bucks from construction and development to continue to do so.

The facts reveal a different story. In 2020, immigration in Canada fell as the borders were closed. But housing prices still skyrocketed! [9]

Help us push back against misinformation blaming immigrants for the housing crisis.

Share this graphic of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and download and share with your friends.

Some amazing news: Organizing and speaking up works!

Migrant farmworker Kerian Burnett won temporary access to healthcare after she joined with No One Is Illegal Halifax. Migrante Canada chairperson Danilo De Leon won a stop to his deportation and will likely get permanent resident status!

Actions across the country to win regularization and Status for All

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his 38 Cabinet Ministers will be discussing regularization sometime before the session ends on June 23rd (not June 9). They can either make a decision immediately, or continue to delay. They can create a small and exclusionary program for just a few or ensure permanent resident status for all undocumented people.

Together, let’s make sure they do the right thing and ensure status for all. 

(1)  Visit MP & Cabinet offices
(2) Call the Cabinet Ministers everyday
(3) Send emails, write letters and deliver petitions to Cabinet Ministers.

Over the next few weeks, we must push as hard as we can, get as loud as we can to make sure that Cabinet Ministers create a program to ensure permanent resident status for all undocumented people. But if they choose to delay, we won’t stop, let’s keep up the pressure over the summer and beyond to win. 

(1) Visit MP and Cabinet Offices

Print and display these impactful posters at your nearest MP’s office. Let’s ensure our message cannot be ignored. Find your local MP and their office [here], and download our posters [here]. Email photos of posters to info@migrantrights.ca or post on social media with #StatusForAll.

If you’re near a Cabinet Minister, deliver a letter and our brief. Here’s how:

Step 1: Find the closest constituency office near you.

Step 2: Check online using Google to see when they are open. Constituency offices are usually open to the public between 10am to 4pm, Monday – Thursday, but make sure to confirm. Pick a time that you can go and invite friends to come with you if you can. Let us know when you are going so we can encourage those nearby to join you, email us at info@migrantrights.ca. 

Step 3: Print out these three documents:

• Personalize this letter and print it out
• Regularization Policy brief
• Cabinet Minister posters (to take photos with and put on the doors outside) 

Step 4: Go to the Constituency Office. When you arrive, tell them you are a local resident and there to speak about regularization. Ask the staff to pass on the message to the Cabinet Minister that local residents and voters support an inclusive regularization program that grants permanent resident status to all undocumented people. Ask for the contact information of the person you spoke to, and tell them you will be calling to ask what the Minister said. If you don’t feel comfortable talking, you can also just give them the letter and the policy brief. Make sure to put up some posters outside. Watch a simple video tutorial [here].

Step 5: A few days later, call the office to ask if they passed on your message to the Minister.

Step 6: Email us and let us know what happened – info@migrantrights.ca

(2) Call the Cabinet Ministers everyday

Call as many of the Cabinet Ministers as you can, starting with Prime Minister Trudeau, and then Ministers in the province you are in. Two ways to call: 

Call Directly From Your Phone:  Click here for their phone numbers and a script. 

Call Using Our Automated Caller: Enter your information below and click Make the Call. Our system will dial a Cabinet Minister. You can leave message for one Minister or stay on the line, and the system will move to the next Minister when you’re done. A phone script will appear on the next page. 

(3) Send emails, write letters, and deliver petitions to Cabinet Ministers.

Every time you or a friend adds their name here: www.StatusForAll.ca; an email is automatically sent to all Cabinet Ministers. The more emails they receive, the more they know this is an issue they need to act on.

You can also gather paper petition signatures. Download them from here, print, and take them to your community events, when you go for religious service, or a picnic, or outside a local transit hub. You can do it on your own or with friends, simply take a clipboard and pen.

• Download and print legal sized petition
• Download and print regular 8.5 x 11 sized petition
• Once you’ve gathered signatures, click here to share them with us.

If you would like to send an email yourself, use the template email here, and get their contact email addresses here. Letters can be individual or organizational. Even if you’ve written an organizational letter, please send another one. 

A sudden extension: Without any warning, at 12:01am on March 24th, the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) was extended to cover the entire 9,000 kilometer border between the US and Canada.

Deportation without any process: Under the STCA, any migrant caught crossing on foot or via waterway without a visa can be deported without any processing. Those who were coming via Roxham Road in Quebec are now being deported.

Refugee applicants caught within 14 days can be deported: Any refugee claimant in Canada who arrived from the US must now prove that they were in Canada for 14 consecutive days to be eligible to apply. If they can’t, they will be deported without processing. There are a few exceptions.

Migrants are in crisis now on the US side of the border: Migrants coming over to Canada on foot are now being arrested, and those that don’t meet the exceptions are being handed over to US border officials who either jail them or are dropping them off in Plattsburgh New York. Most have nowhere to go to, having spent all their savings to come to the border. Despite sub-zero weather, many don’t even have winter clothes.

While the extension is new, the STCA is not: The STCA was created in December 2004. Until this weekend, it only applied to “official” crossings, which meant that refugees that walked across the border from any other area could still apply for refugee status. The most common route in recent years was Roxham Road in Quebec.

The US is not safe for refugees: The STCA was created under the premise that refugees arriving in Canada or the US should apply for refugee status in the first “safe country” they arrive in. Except, the US is also not safe for all refugees. In 2022, the acceptance rate for Haitian refugees in the US was 8%; and for Mexico was 5%. Refugees are routinely criminalized, children jailed, and it takes years to get a decision.

Migrants were already dying: Because of the STCA, many people were already taking dangerous journeys in both directions. In the last few months, two migrants, Fritznel Richard and Jose Leos Cervantes died crossing into the US on foot from Canada. 

This extension of STCA means more suffering: Now with the STCA extended to the entire border, migrants will choose even more remote and difficult terrain to cross to avoid detection. As a result, many more will die. The 14 day rule means that refugee claimants that do cross over will go into hiding for two weeks, during which time they will likely be exploited and abused. 

Prime Minister Trudeau caved to racism: Even though it was announced on Friday, the STCA extension was negotiated in secret over a year ago. It came as a response to increased anti-refugee demands from racist politicians. Depending on which government source you believe, there were between 20,000 and 40,000 refugees, almost all of whom were racialized, who crossed on foot into Canada from the US in 2022. In that time period, over half a million Ukranians, almost all white, were issued permits to come to Canada without any of the backlash. 

Migrants are not the crisis, the super rich are: Migrants including refugees are being blamed for using healthcare services and taking up housing to distract us all from the big businesses who are jacking up prices, pushing to privatize healthcare and gambling with housing prices.

But it’s not over yet. The Supreme Court of Canada will soon to issue its decision on whether the STCA is legal. Even if they do vote in favour of it, migrants and refugees will continue to take whatever steps they need to travel for safety and dignity. And as migrant movements, we will do everything in our power to support them. We must continue to oppose war, climate inaction, and economic oppression in the Global South that Canada profits from, and which forces people to migrate.

We must continue to fight for Status For All: We need to continue to take action for rights and dignity for all migrants, and to demand permanent resident status for all because it is the only way to access rights and power. Right now, we are taking action for:

• Undocumented migrants to be regularized without exception. We want an uncapped program that grants permanent resident status to all undocumented people without exception. We need to commit to doing whatever is necessary to make sure no one is left out.
• Migrant workers including care workers, farmworkers, fishery workers to be granted permanent resident status, and be united with their families without unfair education accreditation and language testing requirements. All migrant workers must have permanent resident status, rights at work and at housing, without exception including seasonal workers. 
• Migrant student workers to get fairness at school, at work, and to be able to get permanent resident status without exclusions.

Take action on March 18 and 19, 2023 across the country.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Quebec Premier Legault are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to close Roxham Road. Refugees are being shipped out of Quebec. Over in Niagara Falls, the Mayor is complaining about refugee children taking up space in school. Many people are talking about refugees taking up services and jobs. 

This is strategic racism and it must be understood and opposed as such. 

Join or organize actions across the country on March 18 & 19. 

Say it loud, say clear: Refugees Welcome! Status for All Now! 

Politics of Hate, Fear and Division

Because of our collective action, permanent resident status for over half a million undocumented people is concretely possible. Federal pharmacare, childcare and dental care programs are on the horizon. Where workers are fighting collectively, wages are increasing. At the same time, many of us are angry because corporations are getting rich while the rest of us are struggling to pay the bills. In times like these, racism and anti-immigrant hysteria is a strategy of the rich to distract us and divide us, and it has deadly consequences. Once again, we must act firmly, and unite against racism. 

Nothing exceptional about refugees crossing at Roxham Road 

Refugees are making the dangerous crossing from the US on foot, primarily near Roxham Road in Quebec because Canada and the United States have closed regular border crossings to refugees through the Safe Third Country Agreement. As soon as they enter Canada, they are registered, and apply for refugee status. A hearing is scheduled where a Board Member (not a judge or a lawyer) decides whether to grant them refugee status. 60% of the asylum seekers who crossed via Roxham Road and have had a hearing were granted refugee status. That is the exact same acceptance rate as applicants who come through other ways. 

We cross the border for safety 

The US refugee determination system is in some ways even worse than Canada’s. 73% of refugee applicants were rejected in the USA under President Trump. Under President Biden, 63% are being rejected. As in Canada, refugees in the US are abused, separated from children, mistreated, denied services, imprisoned and deported. When the US is not safe, people cross over to Canada for asylum. Similarly, when Canada is not safe, they cross into the US.

39,000 refugee claimants is not a crisis

Only 39,171 refugee claimants crossed into Quebec from the US in 2022. That’s about 3% of the 1.2 million temporary residents that came into Canada the same year; or 0.09% of Canada’s total population. Compare 39,000 to 559,868 refugees from Ukraine over the last year who get many of the same services, without any of the demands by politicians to close the border to them. The call to close Roxham Road is a cynical attempt by politicans to distract us from our low-wages and exploitation. Just like their Trump counterparts in the United States.

Refugees are dying crossing the border

Fritznel Richard froze to death leaving Canada on foot to reunite with his family for Christmas. The entire Patel family froze to death going to the US. If Roxham Road is entirely closed, migrants will continue to try to travel, through even more unsafe ways, and even more will die. We need to create more safe paths for refugees, not less. 

Underfunding of healthcare, schools and services are to blame 

12 billion dollars were cut from schools in Ontario under Ford, it’s not refugee children who are taking up spaces. The crisis in healthcare is a result of under-funding, lack of support for healthcare workers and a push towards privatization. A few thousand refugee claimants are not overrunning the system. Rather refugees use less healthcare and social services than citizens. 

Home prices are artificially inflated, food prices are rising, wages stay the same

Over 235,000 people go without shelter in Canada each year. But billionaire developers are creating housing for investments and profit, not people. Up to 40% of housing is now controlled by investors. Food prices have been increased astronomically by large grocery stores but wages lag far behind inflation. We are all struggling to find housing, and it’s certainly not because of those of us who are refugees or immigrants. 

Unite Against Racism and Bosses and Win Status For All!

The most effective opposition to racist division is to push forward a pro-immigrant united agenda. The struggle for status for all is a struggle against exploitation of all workers by wealthy bosses. More than ever, now is the time to call for permanent resident status for all migrants, including undocumented people, all refused refugees, and temporary workers. Reject racist tricks to divide and silence us in our just demands. 

Now is the time to speak to your friends and family members and invite them to join in the struggle by asking them to sign on at www.StatusForAll.ca and come out on 18 & 19 March, 2023. 

14 federal Ministers in the Cabinet Committee on Economy, Inclusion and Climate “B” are set to debate regularization – permanent resident status for undocumented people – sometime in December. They will decide who and how many people will be included, before sending their proposal to all Ministers (the whole of Cabinet) early next year.

We need these 14 Ministers – and especially Prime Minister Trudeau – to support an uncapped program through which all undocumented people and their families can apply for permanent residency immediately. We need them to oppose any exclusions, or a program that gives just temporary status.  And we need them to support permanent resident status for all 1.7 million migrants. 

We can do this! Here’s how:

(1) Send emails: Nearly 22,000 people have already sent messages to Cabinet Ministers. Please keep signing and sharing: www.StatusForAll.ca. We have heard from many Ministers that they are paying attention.

(2) Put up posters:  Go and put up a poster on their windows and around the offices. Addresses are listed below.
>> Download posters here
>> Make sure to take a photo when you put it up and send it to use either tagging @MigrantRightsCA on social media or via email to info@migrantrights.ca

(3) Send organizational letters: f you are part of a group or organization, use this template to send a letter to all Cabinet Ministers. Click here for template letter

(4) Leave a phone message: Use this tool to leave a phone message to as many of the 14 Ministers as you can. 

(5) Take Action on December 16-19: Actions are taking place in Toronto, Montreal, Shediac, Vancouver and Alberta. Click here for details.

Cabinet Committee on Economy, Inclusion and Climate “B” 

Ontario
>> Hon. Ahmed Hussen – 613-995-0777 – Ahmed.Hussen@parl.gc.ca – 48 Rosemount Avenue, Unit B, York, Ontario, M9N 3B3
>> Hon. Carolyn Bennett – 613-995-9666 – carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca – 103-40 Holly Street, Toronto, Ontario M4S 3C3
>> Hon. Mark Holland – 613-995-8042 – mark.holland@parl.gc.ca – 100 Old Kingston Road, Ajax, Ontario, L1T 2Z9
>> Hon.Mary Ng – 613-996-3374 – Mary.Ng@parl.gc.ca – 16 Esna Park Drive, Markham, Ontario L3R 5X1

Quebec
>> Hon. Diane-Lebouthillier – 613-992-6188 – Diane.Lebouthillier@parl.gc.ca – 153 La Grande Allée East, Suite 104, Grande-Rivière, Quebec, G0C 1V0
>> Hon. François-Philippe Champagne – 613-995-4895 – Francois-Philippe.Champagne@parl.gc.ca – 632 Grand-Mère Avenue, Suite 1, Shawinigan, Quebec, G9T 2H5
>> Hon. Marc Miller – 613-995-6403 – Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca – 3175 Saint-Jacques Street, Montréal, Quebec H4C 1G7
>> Hon. Pascale St-Onge – 613-947-8185 – pascale.st-onge@parl.gc.ca – 301-145 Rue de Sherbrooke, Cowansville, Quebec, J2K 5E7
>> Hon. Steven Guilbeault – 613-992-6779 – Steven.Guilbeault@parl.gc.ca – 800 Boul de Maisonneuve E, Suite 1010, Montréal, Quebec, H2L 4L8

British Columbia
>> Hon. Joyce Murray – 613-992-2430 – joyce.murray@parl.gc.ca  – 2112, West Broadway, Suite 206, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6K 2C8

Alberta
>> Hon.Randy Boissonnault – 613-992-4524 – randy.boissonnault@parl.gc.ca – 202-10235, 124 St NW, Edmonton, Alberta, T5N 1P9

Atlantic Canada
>> Hon. Dominic LeBlanc –  613-992-1020  – dominic.leblanc@parl.gc.ca – 328 Main Street, Suite I, Shediac, New Brunswick, E4P 2E3
>> Hon. Gudie-Hutchings – 613-996-5511 – gudie.hutchings@parl.gc.ca – 49-51 Park Street, Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, A2H 2X1
>> Hon. Sean Fraser – 613-992-6022 – minister@cic.gc.ca – 2A – 115 MacLean Street, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, B2H 4M5

Message to send to your email lists

Because of migrant organizing, Prime Minister Trudeau instructed the federal Minister of Immigration to create a “regularization program”, which means giving permanent resident status to undocumented migrants (people without a valid permit to live in Canada). He also promised to ensure permanent resident status for migrant students and workers. 

We now have a historic opportunity to push for equality for all migrants, including undocumented people. The details of the final program are being debated in a federal Cabinet sub-committee right now, and will be sent to the whole of Cabinet soon after. This is the time to speak up and to make sure that no one is left behind.

Collective action has brought us this far. We are at the brink of winning equal rights for over a half million racialized working class people and their families. However, there are many forces, including big business lobbyists, pushing to make these programs as small and exclusionary as possible so that they can continue to profit from migrant worker precarity. 

Send a message to everyone in Cabinet letting them know that you believe in equality, rights, dignity and justice for all: www.StatusforAll.ca 

On October 16th, it will be 10 months since Prime Minister Trudeau promised a regularization program! Join us to call on Ministers across Canada to move swiftly to ensure regularization for undocumented migrants and permanent resident status for all.

Over 5,000 people rallied, marched, and met in 13 cities. Many of us braved heavy rain and lightning knowing that our collective action was essential to achieve status for all. 

Even with the almost blanket media coverage of a funeral in England, we captured media attention. Dozens of outlets, including radio, TV and print, carried our message of full immigration status for all undocumented people, as well as all other migrant workers, student and families to millions of households. 

This action is not a one-off. We must keep moving.  

Step 1: Get the news out wider this week

Parliament is back, and our efforts must now kick into high gear. Many politicians have not been around over the summer, and now is the time to get their attention. There are a few ways to do this. 

First is to share photos and videos from September 18. 

Share photos on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

The second is sharing news articles. Nowadays, the more a news story link is clicked, the more it is shown to other readers. So, click each of these links and share as many as you can: Canadian Press, CBC National News Network, Le Devoir, La Presse, CTV Vancouver, CBC Toronto, Radio Canada Vancouver, Omni Filipino – Ottawa. 

We have also created a playlist of all the TV coverage here. Watch and listen to hear migrants explain directly what they are facing.

Step 2: New this week: Understanding the response to M-44

Back in May, Parliament unanimously passed a symbolic motion (M-44) asking Immigration Minister Fraser to share a plan to ensure permanent resident status for workers of all skill levels. Yesterday, the immigration department submitted a 40-page report in response. 

This report focuses on possible changes for farmworkers, care workers, migrant students and other migrant workers – but there are no details. It is separate from the regularization program that Minister Fraser is already in the process of developing for undocumented migrants (people who have already lost their status), which is moving ahead more quickly and we must keep up the pressure.

The M-44 report does two things: It re-announces changes already made, and it says that the government is reviewing the immigration system and may potentially make other changes in the future. 

The lack of real change is frustrating. At the same time, it is our collective action that has forced the government to review the immigration system and it is up to us to make sure that we win status for all.

If you are a migrant, and are not already part of an organization, email us at info@migrantrights.ca and we will connect you to others like you.  

Step 3: The fight ahead

In the weeks and months ahead, we will continue to share updates about the fight for the rights of temporary migrant workers and students. 

Right now we need to continue to fight for permanent residency for half a million undocumented people. Here’s what will happen next:

[A] Government Action: Soon the Minister of Immigration (elected) and the Department of Immigration (the bureaucrats) will write a “Memo to Cabinet” (MC). In it they will propose which and how many undocumented people should be given PR
Our Response: RIGHT NOW: We must sign petitions, make phone calls, and ask organizations to write letters to ensure that there is no delay, and that everyone is included. Educators: Add your name here; Healthcare workers: Add your name here. 

[B] Government Action: Once the MC is finalized, it is submitted to one of the Cabinet Sub-Committees for review.  
Our Response: Once we know which Cabinet Committee will receive the proposal, we will make sure that those Ministers hear from us. 

[C] Government Action: The Cabinet Sub-Committee will send the proposal to the whole Cabinet.
Our Response: We will organize visits, rallies and calls to all members of the Cabinet. 

[D] Government Action: Once Cabinet decides, the Immigration Department will create the application forms and other guides.
Our Response: We will keep up the pressure to make sure there is no delay

[E] Government Action: Once the Immigration Department has finalized its plan, the program will finally be announced.
Our Response: We will celebrate, and demand changes if anyone is left out

[F] Government Action: The program will be launched
Our Response: We will together make sure that all undocumented people can apply while campaigning to expand the program if it is exclusionary.

As you can see, we don’t have timelines listed. We have learned from COVID-19, and the war in Ukraine that when the government wants to move quickly, it will. Our actions will determine how quickly we can win status for all.

September 18 Endorsers / Appuyé par les organisations suivantes : 350.org Canada, Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, Apatrides anonymes, Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (ARSN), Black Lives Matter – Canada, Canada Without Poverty, Broadbent Institute, Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario, Canadian Federation of Students – National, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence Ltd., Canadian Refugee Health Network, Canadian Women’s Foundation, Centre d’aide aux familles latino américaines (CAFLA), Centre des femmes de Laval, Centre international de solidarité ouvrière (CISO), Citizens for Public Justice, Climate Action Network – CAN-RAC, Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES), ClimateFast, Collectif Bienvenue // Welcome Collective, Community Solidarity Ottawa, Council of Canadians, Le Conseil Des Canadiens, CUPE Local 3902, CUPE Ontario, Davenport Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre, David Suzuki Foundation, Earth Education League, ETFO / PETL, Fédération des femmes du Québec, FoodShare Toronto, Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) Foyer du Monde, Global Peace Alliance Society, Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team (HAMSMaRT), HIV Legal Network,  Hogan’s Alley Society, Hospital Employees’ Union, Indigenous Climate Action, Inter Pares, Italian-Canadians for Black Lives, Jasper Employment & Education Centre, Jesuit Refugee Service Canada, Justice For All Canada, Justice for Workers, KAIROS Toronto West, Leadnow, Legal Clinic of Guelph & Wellington County, Mary Ward Centre – Toronto, Médecins du Monde / Doctors of the World, Migrant Action Centre, Migrant Worker Community Program, La Ligue des droits et libertés, Médecins du monde Mouvement contre le viol et l’inceste, National Union of Public and General Employees, Neighbourhood Legal Services, Niagara Community Legal Clinic, Oasis Dufferin Community Centre, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP), Ontario Federation of Labour, Ontario Nurses’ Association, Ontario Parent Action Network, Ontario Nurses’ Association, OPIRG Carleton, Ottawa and District Labour Council, Our Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin,  Community, Oxfam Canada, Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre, Romero House, SEIU – Local 2, Showing up for Racial Justice – Toronto, Social Justice Co-op NL, Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre, SWAN Vancouver, SURJ XYE, The Caring for Social Justice Collective-Le Collectif Soignons la justice sociale, Toronto350, The Neighbourhood Group, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada), Vancouver and District Labour Council, Water Watchers, Workers Solidarity Network, West Coast LEAF, YWCA, YWCA Toronto. Please endorse this action/Veuillez SVP endosser cette action.

One day before Parliament returns – we are taking actions across the country. Find an action near you or join in.

Major organizations across the country are writing letters to Prime Minister Trudeau and Immigration Minister Sean Fraser supporting regularization and Status for All.

If you haven’t yet, please do so using our template letters for Environmental organizations, Labour organizations and all other civil society organizations.

Educators can sign this letter and Healthcare workers can sign this letter too.

Letters of Support for Regularization and #StatusForAll

• 350 Canada
• Access Alliance Multicultural Health & Community Services
• Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights 
• ACTRA
• Alchemy Pickle Company
• Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers
• Canada Without Poverty
• Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture
• Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario
• Canadian Health Coalition
• Canadian Initiative on Workplace Violence
• Canadian Labour Congress
• Canadian Union of Postal Workers
• Canadian Union of Public Employees
• Canadian Union of Public Employees – Manitoba
• Canadian Union of Public Employees – Nova Scotia
• Canadian Women’s Foundation
• Citizens for Public Justice
• Climate Action Network + Blue Green + Canada Canadian Interfaith Fast For the Climate + Canadian Voice of Women for Peace + Citizens for Public Justice + Environmental Defence + Foire ÉCOSPHÈRE + Fondation David Suzuki + Greenpeace Canada + Leadnow + MiningWatch + Travailleuses et Travailleurs pour la Justice Climatique + West Coast Environmental Law Association + Others
• Climate Justice Toronto
• Community & Legal Aid Services Program
• CUPE 3902
• CUPE Ontario
• Decent Work and Health Network
• Family Service Toronto and Campaign 2000
• Fédération du travail de l’Ontario | Ontario Federation of Labour
• Food Secure Canada
• FoodShare
• Hamilton Community Legal Clinic
• HIV Legal Network
• Inter Clinic Immigration Working Group
• Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition
• Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Centre
• La Passerelle-I.D.E
• Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre
• Manitoba Federation of Labour
• Médecins du Monde
• National Farmers Foundation
• National Union of Public and General Employees
• Neighbourhood Legal Services
• Occupational Health Centre – Manitoba
• Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
• Ontario Nurses’ Association
• Ontario Parent Action Network
• Ontario Public Services Employees Union
• Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
• Oxfam Canada & Oxfam Quebec
• Resource Movement
• SEIU Local 2
• South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
• Sudbury Workers Education & Advocacy Centre
• SURJ YXE
• The 519
• UNIFOR
• United Church of Canada
• Welcome Collective
• Wilderness Committee
• Worker Solidarity Network

On July 17, 2022, over a thousand people marched in the streets of Montreal; migrant families held meetings in Vancouver, and postering, leafletting and flyering actions took place in Edmonton, Toronto and St Catharines.

Migrant Caregivers: Join our online Mother’s Day rally to talk about the long years of family separation, difficulties that we face while working in Canada, challenges in applying for permanent residency and the impact of the backlog.

Fill out this short survey to share your experiences and priorities.

1.6 for 1.6 million excluded migrants – On your own, or in groups, march for 1.6 km, go for a 1.6 km bike ride, post a video of you dancing for 1.6 minutes, make a 1.6 feet drawing or get even more creative. 

Welcome! Scroll below to stream the online rally!

1. CLICK HERE: Sign up to put up posters at MP offices and in your neighbourhood!
2. CLICK HERE: Make a call for Status for All to Prime Minister Trudeau and your Member of Parliament

Prime Minister Trudeau and all federal Ministers are meeting in Hamilton from January 23rd to 25th to plan out their priorities for the year. If you act now, we can win historic immigration changes. If all the Ministers at the meeting support regularization, then Cabinet can schedule a meeting soon after to create an uncapped program through which all undocumented people and their families can apply for permanent residence as early as February. If the Ministers aren’t in full support next week then they will schedule more meetings for discussion. Delays mean exploitation, deportation and even death. Two migrants died this Christmas – an undocumented migrant in immigration prison in BC, and Fritznel Richard, a Haitian refugee crossing into the US after being unable to get a work permit in Montreal. Let’s win #StatusForAll and an end to detentions and deportations. 

Week of Action – Now to January 25, 2023:

(1) Send emails: Over 23,000 people have already sent messages to all Cabinet Ministers. Please keep signing and sharing: www.StatusForAll.ca. We have heard from many Ministers that they are paying attention.

(2) Put up posters:  If you are near a Cabinet Minister’s office, please put up a poster on their windows and around the offices. Addresses are in the map below.
>> Download posters here
>> Make sure to take a photo when you put it up and send it to use either tagging @MigrantRightsCA on social media or via email to info@migrantrights.ca

(3) Leave a phone message: Use the phone numbers to call and leave this message: “Dear Minister, please support regularization for all undocumented people and permanent resident status for all migrants at the winter cabinet retreat.  We need an uncapped program that leaves no one behind. A fair society means equal rights, and that’s only possible with permanent resident status for all, no deportations, no exclusions.” 

(4) Join us in Hamilton at 12pm on Monday, January 23rd at the Winter Cabinet Retreat: Buses are leaving from Toronto. RSVP now!

Call a Federal Cabinet Minister nearest to you and ask them to Regularize Everyone, and Ensure #StatusForAll

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – 613–992–4211
• Randy Boissonnault – Minister of Tourism – 613 – 992 – 4524 – Edmonton – Alberta
• Carla Qualtrough – Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion – 613 – 992 – 2957 – Delta – British Columbia
• Harjit S. Sajjan – Minister of International Development – 613 – 995 – 7052 – Vancouver – British Columbia
• Jonathan Wilkinson – Minister of Natural Resources – 613 – 995 – 1225 – North Vancouver – British Columbia
• Joyce Murray – Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard – 613 – 992 – 2430 – Vancouver – British Columbia
• Dan Vandal – Minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada – 613 – 995 – 0579 – Winnipeg – Manitoba
• Dominic LeBlanc – Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities – 613 – 992 – 1020 – Shediac – New Brunswick
• Ginette Petitpas Taylor – Minister of Official Languages – 613 – 992 – 8072 – Moncton – New Brunswick
• Gudie Hutchings – Minister of Rural Economic Development – 613 – 996 – 5511 – Corner Brook – Newfoundland and Labrador
• Seamus O’Regan – Minister of Labour – 613 – 992 – 0927 – St. John’s,  – Newfoundland and Labrador
• Sean Fraser – Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship – 613 – 992 – 6022 – New Glasgow – Nova Scotia
• Ahmed Hussen – Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion – 613 – 995 – 0777 – York – Ontario
• Anita Anand – Minister of National Defence – 613 – 995 – 4014 – Oakville – Ontario
• Bill Blair – President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada – 613 – 995 – 0284 – Scarborough – Ontario
• Carolyn Bennett – Minister of Mental Health and Addictions – 613 – 995 – 9666 – Toronto – Ontario
• Chrystia Freeland – Minister of Finance – 613 – 992 – 5234 – Toronto – Ontario
• Filomena Tassi – Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario – 613 – 992 – 1034 – Hamilton – Ontario
• Helena Jaczek – Minister of Public Services and Procurement – 613 – 992 – 3640 – Markham – Ontario
• Kamal Khera – Minister of Seniors – 613 – 992 – 0778 – Brampton – Ontario
• Karina Gould – Minister of Families, Children and Social Development – 613 – 995 – 0881 – Burlington – Ontario
• Marci Ien – Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth – 613 – 992 – 1377 – Toronto – Ontario
• Mark Holland – Leader of the Government in the House of Commons – 613 – 995 – 8042 – Kingston – Ontario
• Mary Ng – Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development – 613 – 996 – 3374 – Markham – Ontario
• Mona Fortier – President of the Treasury Board – 613 – 992 – 4766 – Vanier – Ontario
• Omar Alghabra – Minister of Transport – 613 – 992 – 1301 – Mississauga – Ontario
• Patty Hajdu – Minister of Indigenous Services – 613 – 996 – 4792 – Thunderbay – Ontario
• Marco Mendicino – Minister of Public Safety – 613 – 992 – 6361 – Toronto – Ontario
• Lawrence MacAulay – Minister of Veterans Affairs – 613 – 995 – 9325 – Montague – Prince Edward Island
• David Lametti – Minister of Justice – 613 – 943 – 6636 – Montréal – Quebec
• Diane Lebouthillier – Minister of National Revenue – 613 – 992 – 6188 – Grande – Rivière – Quebec
• François – Philippe Champagne – Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry – 613 – 995 – 4895 – Shawinigan – Quebec
• Jean – Yves Duclos – Minister of Health – 613 – 992 – 8865 – Québec – Quebec

This morning, students, teachers and migrants will rally at an elementary school in New Westminster, BC, where immigration enforcement stalked and arrested an undocumented mother after she dropped her daughter there.

Today is International Migrants Day, and this action shines a light on the injustices here in Canada and the courage and resilience of migrants.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants do not have basic rights to education, healthcare and labour protections. For many of us, accessing the few rights we do have can mean detention and deportation.

Yet despite this injustice, every morning, we wake up and go to school, go to work, care for our loved ones, and are active in our communities.

And so on this International Migrants Day, we reiterate our commitment to survive and thrive, no matter what the odds.

PM Trudeau just released a letter outlining his priorities for the immigration system. These priorities include the possibility of more access to permanent residency for low-wage and racialized migrants, and a continued expansion of temporariness and precariousness for many.

We are the ones that know what changes are needed. Promises have been made and broken before, so in 2022, Migrant Rights Network members will continue to organize migrants, and unite with allies to win fairness, equal rights and justice for all. We will win Status for All!

When migrants organize, and join with our supporters, we win. In 2021:

• Migrants fought for safe and dignified access to vaccines, and province by province together we changed the rules that were shutting us out;
• Many migrant farm workers died in quarantine, and faced on-going violations of their rights at work, but they spoke up, reminding us that they feed us and demanding decent housing, equal rights, and justice. Hear from farm workers directly here;
• Migrant care workers organized against the backlog in processing PR applications and won a commitment to have it cleared; 
• Immigration detainees organized hunger strikes and fought for their release;
• Migrant student workers won a one-time renewal to the work permit program and stopped the deportation of 52,000 people;
• Because migrants organized, the government created a temporary program to give 90,000 workers in some low-wage sectors access to permanent residency, recognizing that only PR can give migrants access to equal rights. But still this policy leaves too many people out; 
• On June 20th, in actions across the country, we demanded families unity and all migrants be welcomed;
• In July, a thousand of us marched through Ottawa to the Prime Minister’s office and Parliament Hill to insist that #StatusForAll is necessary, urgent, and possible;
• In the lead up to the September federal election, migrants spoke to voters to explain why it was so important to vote for #StatusForAll;
• When the floods displaced migrant farmworkers in BC, hundreds of you donated thousands of dollars to support them; 
• And to close out the year, migrants visited MP offices across the country in December to tell the new Trudeau government that we live here and the crisis we are facing demands action now.

Our demand for full and permanent immigration status for all is not just about accessing rights here in Canada – it is about challenging the idea that people can be exploited and pitted against each other. It is a call for unity, here and everywhere.

We have done so much together. And in 2022, we must do more. Join us.

Last weekend, migrants and supporters delivered our message to MPs & officials across Canada. From BC to Newfoundland, we insisted that We Live Here, and our Crisis is Now.

What you can do

1. Call your MP: Leave a message for your new Member of Parliament telling them that they must ensure permanent resident status for all: https://migrantrights.ca/callforstatus/

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P., Prime Minister of Canada, Ottawa
The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion
The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health
The Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety

Cc: Members of Canada’s Federal Cabinet; Leaders of Opposition Parties

29 October, 2021

Dear Sir/Madam,

We would like to welcome you to your new Cabinet positions by outlining key issues that are shaping Canada’s recovery and on which you must take swift action in your new mandate.  

We are the Migrant Rights Network – Canada’s largest cross-country migrant-led coalition. Our membership is composed of people without permanent resident status – workers, students, undocumented people, refugees and families. Being rooted in migrant communities makes us experts on the impacts of existing policies and programs and the changes necessary to ensure fairness and dignity. As we outline below, initiatives under the previous Liberal mandates have failed to adequately address the real needs of migrants both within and outside Canada, and have not lived up to public promises or statements. Therefore, it is absolutely urgent to chart a new course in this new mandate, informed by the realities and failures of the past.

We call on you to immediately ensure Permanent Resident status for every resident in the country today, and to ensure that all future migrants arrive with Permanent Resident status. Canada has shifted to a system of permanent temporariness: there were at least 1,146,008 migrants on temporary permits on December 30, 2020, and at least an additional 500,000 undocumented people, as compared to only 184,000 new permanent residents in the same year. Over 1.6 million migrants in the country – 1 in 23 residents – face exclusions and exploitation every day. In order to build a fair society and ensure a genuine recovery from the pandemic, migrants must have permanent residency so that they have the same rights and protections as other residents. In order to enable this, the following steps must be taken:

• First, the federal government must meet with migrant organizations like ours to establish an immigration system that works for everyone and prioritizes the best interests of migrants;
• Second, a comprehensive regularization process must be created for all migrants in the country to get permanent resident status or citizenship, without any exclusions on the basis of work history, previous immigration status, health status, previous access to social assistance, criminality, or any other language or educational requirements. As an immediate measure, all migrants in Canada should get immediate and open work authorization and full access to basic entitlements;
• Third, a moratorium on detentions and deportations must be instituted to ensure undocumented people applying for status are protected; and
• Fourth, all working class migrants arriving to Canada in the future should arrive with Permanent Resident status if they so choose.

In addition, there are several concrete and immediate policy changes that must be instituted in order to protect the health, well-being and safety of migrant and undocumented people, and to prevent the reversal of some important measures put in place during COVID-19. We call on you to make the following changes in the first 100 days of your terms as Ministers in your new portfolio. 

Ensure Safe and Dignified Access to Vaccination and Documentation for All Migrants

• Vaccine access for all: Many migrants without health coverage, including undocumented people, students, workers and refugees, are still without their first or second dose of the COVID vaccine. We urge you to work with provinces to ensure vaccines are made immediately accessible for all. 
• Special measures for migrant workers crossing borders: With new rules barring air travel for those without vaccines, many migrant workers, particularly seasonal agricultural workers, risk not being able to board flights to their home countries at the end of the season. Accessible vaccines and special exemptions must be created to ensure that those who wish to travel are able to do so. 
• Access to vaccine passports: Migrants without ID or health cards who were able to get vaccinated do not have access to vaccine verification systems or passports, and are therefore being denied access to many services and gathering spaces. We call on you to work with us to create specific, accessible and secure documentation systems for those without permanent resident status. Without such mechanisms, vaccine passports must not be instituted.  

Fix the Permanent Residency Pathway System

Our primary demand is ensuring permanent resident status for all, but interim changes to the existing economic immigration regimes can be made, including:

• Fix the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Program: This first-come first-served program, with its arbitrary caps and unfair eligibility requirements, has caused chaos as workers have scrambled to apply. The International Graduates stream closed within 27 hours of opening, the Essential Workers stream closed in ten weeks, and the Healthcare stream has been virtually unused, with nearly 15,000 spots available, but closes November 5th. For the remaining spots available in the program, all eligibility requirements must be waived, including the requirement for temporary resident status so that refugee claimants, those whose applications have been denied and are awaiting appeal or are on a PRRA, and all undocumented people can apply.
• Transform the Agri-food Immigration Pilot: Only 343 applications have been made in the program as of August 31st from the 2,750 allotted spots. It is clear that the eligibility requirements exclude most agricultural workers. The program must allow Seasonal Agricultural Workers to apply, the education and language requirements must be removed, and workers must be allowed to apply without a job offer from an employer – this requirement only gives employers unchecked power to exploit workers with the promise of permanent residency.
• Transform the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilot programs: As a result of changes in 2019, almost no migrants have been able to apply for this program from outside the country. 1 in 3 migrant care workers lost their jobs during COVID-19, and are therefore unable to meet the work requirement necessary to apply. The Home Child Care Provider stream has been closed for the rest of the year because the arbitrary cap of 2,750 was reached. Those inside Canada are unable to apply because it is impossible to meet educational and language criteria. We urge you to remove the cap, remove the unfair education and language requirements, and remove the requirement of 24 months of work experience. 
• Change the work requirements in the Canadian Experience Class and lower the CRS score: Currently most migrants in gig work, low-waged work, or part-time work, as well as those with work experience gathered while on a study permit or applying for refugee and humanitarian considerations, are excluded from applying. The requirement for one year of high-waged (so-called ‘high skilled’) work experience excludes racialized, poor and working people, even as those same workers have been essential to ensuring our society continues to function during a pandemic. We urge you to allow all migrants with any work experience in Canada to apply. 
• Ensure Bridging Open Work Permits (BOWP) for permanent residency applicants: Migrants who applied through the Live-In Caregiver Program or the Interim Pathway for Caregivers, as well as other permanent residency streams, have been waiting months, some for over a year to get BOWPs. Some migrants have applied for PR but were unable to apply for BOWPs before their permit expired and have visitor status or become undocumented,  which means they are unable to work. For the TR to PR program, BOWPs are only being issued if an applicant’s permit expires within 4 months but some migrants who are on employer-tied permits that are still valid are unable to change jobs. We urge you to issue BOWPs to all permanent residency applicants regardless of stream or length of current permit. 
• Allow migrants to fix errors in permanent residency applications: Currently many applications are returned or turned down for minor errors like missing a single signature by hand, document or translation. Instead migrants should be given the opportunity to remedy errors or provide missing documents. Note that IRCC has often said documents are missing when in fact they were attached with the application. This can delay application processing for years, during which time migrants lose status or income, or their children age out of the family sponsorship age restrictions. The immigration system must be reformed to support migrants to apply rather than punishing them for minor errors. 
• Clear the backlog: Over 12,000 care workers have PR applications stuck in a processing backlog, in some cases for over 5 years. In addition, processing of permanent resident applications during COVID-19, including those that were initially approved, are stuck in a further backlog. The government promised before the election, to partially clear the backlog this year, and clear the remainder the following year, but the backlog remains. Meanwhile, workers are struggling to get permits, risk losing access to health care, and remain in limbo about their futures, separated from their families. We urge the immediate clearing of the backlog.

Fix the Humanitarian System

• Transform the in-land refugee processing system: Only 18,500 people – less than a third of the previous year’s total of 58,378 – were able to apply for refugee status in 2020 because of the high costs and evidentiary requirements that were impossible to meet during COVID-19, and compounded by border closures. The numbers in 2021 are worse: only 8,624 asylum claims have been referred in the first six months of the year. There are currently 63,420 people in the refugee backlog. Hearings for inland refugee claims are decided by a board member in an “inquisitorial process” where the board member acts as judge and prosecutor. We urge you to fix the in-land refugee system with direction from refugee organizations focusing on supporting refugee claimants to access refugee status rather than an adversarial system.
• Transform the Government Assisted refugee resettlement system: Canada accepts only a small number of overseas refugees (39,500 in 2019), and processing can take years while the refugee claimant is stuck living, usually without status, in a third country. Refugee resettlement is at an all-time low due to COVID-19, with only 7,885 refugees referred by the UN to Canada as of September 2021. As has become clear with Canada’s response to the situation in Afghanistan, even targeted and responsive programs have missed the mark and point to much larger problems in Canada’s refugee resettlement system, which is woefully inadequate at meeting the challenges at hand. We urge you to expedite and expand the refugee resettlement process, particularly expanding the government assisted refugee program, resettle refugees beyond those determined by the UNHCR and accept refugees who are still in their country of origin.
• Transform the Humanitarian and Compassionate (H&C) application system: H&C rejections in Canada doubled in the last two years, from 35% in 2019 to nearly 70% in the first quarter of 2021. Many were turned down for not having “compelling reasons” which is not the test set by the Supreme Court. H&C applications take an average of three years to process, during which time the applicant can be deported and their claim abandoned. We urge you to grant permanent residency to H&C applicants including those that have been denied. Deportations must not take place while an H&C application is being processed. The H&C process must be overhauled focusing on supporting migrants to gain permanent residency on humanitarian grounds rather than an adversarial process.
• Ensure access to permanent residency and family reunification: Currently, once accepted as refugees, the processing times for permanent resident status is almost two years. Family reunification for people accepted as Convention refugees in Canada reportedly takes about 39 months. We urge you to provide permanent residency immediately to all refugees and ensure family reunification. 

Fix Work Permit Rules and Ensure Decent Work 

• Restrictions on work create a fundamental “power imbalance”, as Minister Qualtrough acknowledged in June 2020. Migrants are unable to assert their rights because doing so can mean homelessness, deportation, inability to return to work in Canada, or losing a chance at permanent residency.  We urge you to provide work authorizations to all migrants in the country and remove all restrictions on work including employer specific work permits, restrictions on hours of work for study permit holders, and the exclusion of work in “businesses related to sex trade”. 
• Do not bend to employer calls for more temporary foreign workers: Many business lobby groups are currently appealing to the government to meet labour shortage needs by bringing in more workers on employer restricted permits, which have proven to engender exploitation. We urge you to choose stability and equality over temporariness and exploitation. 
• Extend the restoration period: For most of COVID-19, migrants who were not able to renew their work permits were given an extended period, until August 31 2021, to restore their status. However, LMIA processing remains slow, and many migrants continue to be unable to get jobs. The restoration period must be extended until the World Health Organization declares an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Make post graduate work permits renewable: Many migrant student workers have not been able to gain the work experience required to apply for PR within the limited duration of the 1 – 3 year work permits they were granted. The permit was made renewable once but the window closed on July 27th, leaving many excluded. 
• Expand the public policy to allow employers to hire migrants on visitor status: Migrants on visitor status who have been able to secure a job should be granted work authorization without the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). Tying workers to employers because of their status enables employer abuse. 
• Fix the Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers (OWP-VW): Currently it is impossible for a migrant worker to apply for this permit without support from legal case workers, which is untenable for most. The burden of evidence is such that most workers are unable to apply. The permit is non-renewable with no access to permanent residency, meaning that migrants have no choice but to return to the exploitative jobs and employer restricted work permits they were fleeing in the first place. Furthermore, most employers are unwilling to apply for LMIAs for workers who have spoken up against abuse. The OWP-VW system must be streamlined to allow migrants to apply on their own, and in their own language; workers must be provided transition support by way of income and housing while applying; the permits must be renewable; and migrants on other work and study permits in a vulnerable situation must be allowed to apply.
• Implement enforceable national housing standards for migrant workers as recommended in our November 2020 submissions to the consultation on migrant worker housing standards. 
• Work with provinces and territories to increase wages and ensure proactive employment standards enforcement: Migrant workers do not have direct enforceable rights under existing federal rules. There is no legislation that governs enforcement and no court or legal process workers can turn to to denounce violations of their rights. Neither is there any meaningful mechanism for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to ensure workers receive remedies for violations of their rights. All that exists is a tip-line but by law ESDC is barred from sharing the fact of inspections, and results of inspections, with workers that made complaints.
  

Stop Detentions and Deportations

• COVID-19 saw a reduction in immigration detention in some regions with no negative impact on communities, demonstrating that detention is unnecessary, unfair and arbitrary. We urge you to end detentions, without resorting to in-community detention practices like electronic monitoring bracelets or voice recognition check-ins. 
• 2020 saw more deportations than the previous five years, even as many countries around the world are still facing serious COVID-19 crises. We urge you to immediately halt all removals. 

Unite Families

• Being with our loved ones is a fundamental human right and we urge you to make changes so that migrants are able to have their families stay with them and visit them if they so choose. 
• Ensure access to open work permits, study permits and universal healthcare for spouses, children, parents and grandparents on super visas. Many of them are working, but forced to do so without labour protections and therefore face greater exploitation.
• Expand family reunification to include extended and adopted family members, including adult siblings and cousins. We urge you to allow migrants to determine who their family members are.

Reinstate CRB for all migrants, fix Employment Insurance and ensure access to federal supports

• The Canada Recovery Benefit ended on October 23, 2021, despite the on-going COVID-19 economic downturn. Most migrants, including those without Social Insurance Numbers, were unable to apply in the first place. We urge you to extend benefits until the pandemic is officially declared over by the World Health Organization, restore the minimum weekly benefit rate of $500 for all recipients, and ensure all residents have access regardless of immigration status.
• We urge you to amend the Employment Insurance Act to ensure that all work in Canada is “insurable” for the purposes of accessing EI, regardless of SIN. Canada should pursue employers who fail to submit EI contributions, rather than punishing workers. In order to end disentitlement due to administrative error, Service Canada must immediately issue instructions to Service Canada agents to ensure the EI application process is accessible to all by providing interpretation services, clear information that the Record of Employment is not needed to submit an application, and alternatives to online applications and communications. The government must end discriminatory disentitlement to special benefits for workers outside of the country or with expired SINs, and take all steps necessary to ensure that information workers submit to EI is not shared with immigration officials.
• Ensure that the Canada Child Benefit is available to all families regardless of the immigration status of the parents or the child.
• Ensure that all migrants, regardless of immigration status, are able to access the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and any other federal benefits and entitlements. 
• Work with provinces and territories to ensure that healthcare, primary and post-secondary education, public housing, social assistance and all other entitlements are accessible to migrants regardless of immigration status.  

We look forward to discussing these pragmatic steps towards ensuring full and permanent immigration status for all, and rebuilding a more equitable society. Please contact us at info@migrantrights.ca to continue the conversation. 

Sincerely,
Migrant Rights Network

Download PDF: Letter to Cabinet – Migrant Rights Network October 2021

Please wait for the petition to load. Scroll below to read why we have a small window to act and win big, starting with you sending this message.

After the elections

The Liberal Party of Canada has again won a minority government. Though Parliament looks very similar to what it did before the election was called, there are both opportunities and dangers that we must all respond to.

Already, Canada’s lobby group for rich corporations (Canadian Chamber of Commerce) is calling for more money for the rich, and more temporary immigrants for bosses to exploit. In the next few weeks, Canada’s political parties can choose to focus on cutting back spending and public services, and allow racism to continue to grow, or they can support a more just recovery from COVID-19 that includes everyone, particularly Indigenous people, working class people, women, racialized people, migrants, poor, queer and disabled communities. 

What they do is up to us.

Send a message right now calling for Parliament to focus on a recovery from COVID-19 that ensures justice for all of us.

The challenges

None of the political parties got what they wanted in this election. The Liberal party was not able to get a majority of seats, and the Conservatives, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party expected a much better result than they got. There is a danger that political parties may choose to focus on internal problems, like changing party leaders, instead of on fixing the problems the majority of us are facing right now. Politicians may choose to do little to play it safe. 

The Conservative Party gained more votes (though they didn’t win the most seats), and the right-wing populist People’s Party of Canada also doubled its vote count. The Liberal Party and the NDP might think that this means they should abandon their more progressive ideas and push more conservative ones instead, so that they can win back some of those votes in the future. 

Our job right now therefore is to insist on courageous and transformative action rather than allow political parties to either do nothing or to slash supports and rights for working class people.

There is no time to lose. In a matter of weeks, many emergency income supports created during COVID will be cut off. Politicians will start to sound the alarm about deficits and COVID spending, demanding cuts everywhere. Low-waged people will have nowhere to turn, even as a fourth wave of COVID-19 rages on, particularly in Alberta. The clock is ticking on climate change and Canada is lagging behind. This election has also seen the coming together of those opposing vaccines and violent racists, who now feel more bold. A Punjabi migrant student was murdered in Nova Scotia just two weeks ago. This racism must be confronted. 

The opportunity

Liberal minority governments have historically meant more progressive action can be pushed through Parliament. With the New Democratic Party’s support, the Liberal Party has enough votes to pass any law. Liberal promises are a mixed bag – some good, some bad. But a strong public push on the streets, and raising our voices on social and mainstream media, can push the NDP and the Liberals to do the right thing. 

Most political parties promised a “path to permanence” during the elections. This is a response to migrants organizing to show that without permanent resident status it is not possible to have basic rights. But this solution is wrong. Pathways means people come, live, and work in Canada in dangerous and difficult conditions, with an uncertain hope of ever getting equal rights through citizenship. A “path to permanence” is continued exploitation. We instead demand full and permanent status immediately.   

Parties also promised a $15 federal minimum wage, 10 paid sick days, $10 a day childcare, pharmacare and action on Indigenous concerns, racism, housing, climate and global justice. The Migrant Rights Network calls for immediate implementation of these measures in a way that includes all migrants and under the leadership of movements who are fighting on these issues. 

We win what we have the power to win.

Migrants win when we unite with others like us and take brave action for justice. The Migrant Rights Network will support migrants to get organized – get in touch with us! Migrants also win when we unite with others struggling for justice – Indigenous people, labour and student unions, gender justice and queer movements, anti-poverty and disability rights movements, and climate justice organizations. The Migrant Rights Network calls on all such movements to unite and push for better. 

Take the next step – scroll up to send an email. 

On July 25, 2021, almost 1000 of us – undocumented, migrant worker, refugee, student worker – took over the streets of Ottawa to demand full and permanent immigration status for all now from the Trudeau government. We came on buses, cars, trains and bikes from around the country.

Our historic march was covered on the CBC, Capital Current, Radio Canada, Journal de Montréal, Le Droit, La Presse, TVA Nouvelles, and Ming Pao.  Scroll below to watch this Global TV coverage featuring the voices of migrants from across Ontario and Quebec.

See more images from the historic march on Ottawa.

Over the last few months, the Trudeau government has announced a number of short-term, partial programs that will give access to permanent residency for some migrants. But too many have been left behind by these programs, shut out by unfair language and work requirements and high fees. Meanwhile, the same government accepted far fewer refugees and rejected far more humanitarian applications for status by undocumented people already living in Canada.

Now, with an election around the corner, the government wants to show off its exclusionary programs and say it has fixed the immigration system.

But we went to Ottawa to demand more. To say that there is no equality without status for all. To say we will leave no one behind.

Permanent resident status is about equal rights and protections. It is not a gift or a privilege, it is the only existing mechanism for migrants to access the same rights and security as any other residents. Today, over 1.6 million people are excluded from this equality in various ways through their immigration status, with the greatest exploitation faced by those that are low-income, racialized and undocumented.

One year ago today, at 12:01am on March 18, 2020, Canada closed its borders. Today, they remain closed for many including refugees, migrant workers, families and international students. 

On March 16, 2020, as the COVID crisis was first hitting, we at the Migrant Rights Network called for healthcare, worker rights, income support, access to social services, and immigration status for migrant and undocumented people. 

12 months later, we look back and we look ahead. With you, we vow to keep organizing and fighting for full and permanent immigration status for all. 

(1) HEALTHCARE FOR ALL: As COVID-19 raged through 2020, migrants won policies in many provinces to ensure access to healthcare and COVID testing. But in many places these policies are not being implemented and migrants continue to be turned away or charged high fees for life-saving care. Today, we are calling on all provinces and the federal government to put in place concrete measures to ensure safe and dignified access without fear to COVID19 vaccinations.

(2) WORKER PROTECTIONS & INCOME SUPPORTS: As a result of our work, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) was extended to migrants, a valid Social Insurance Number was made mandatory part way through 2020 to qualify for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB). Now with tax season approaching, many migrants are scared of a clawback they cannot afford. We demand a CERB/CRB amnesty. Without income support, migrant people either faced starvation and eviction, or were forced to work in dangerous and sometimes deadly conditions. Farmworkers, care workers, delivery workers, cleaners and other low-wage workers are called ‘essential’ even as we are excluded from essential rights and protections. But we take care of us: Migrants fundraised, set up mutual aid networks and stepped in when governments failed us. Migrants stood up against bad bosses, organized strikes and raised our voices. We will continue to organize for justice and equality.

(3) STATUS FOR ALL: Fundamentally, a fair society with equal rights for all requires that everyone have the same immigration status. This is why migrants organized over 30 rallies, protests and marches calling for Full & Permanent Immigration Status for All. In early 2020, the federal government announced a moratorium on deportations because of the pandemic. But the callous practice of deportation continues: by the end of 2020, Canada had deported more people in 2020 than in the previous 5 years. Just this week, a man who contracted COVID while in immigrartion detention was deported despite showing symptoms. Throughout, migrants organized in detention centers, and in Quebec, many secured their own release. Migrant student workers denounced government policies that punished them for the pandemic by letting their permits run out. They won new work permits, a one-time stopgap to the deportation of 52,000 people. But immigration rules continue to exclude low-waged working class people, particularly undocumented workers and those on employer controlled indentureship permits.

(4) SOCIAL SUPPORTS: While some federal, provincial and municipal supports went towards emergency food boxes, it was primarily donations from people like you that allowed migrant groups to feed communities without work. Poor and working class migrants were only able to ward off evictions, get healthcare, childcare or social supports when we united with our neighbors and co-workers to offer real solidarity in the face of deadly policies.

A year into this pandemic, let us re-commit to building a different future together. Talk to your neighbours, friends and co-workers. Raise your voice. Echo and amplify the demands of migrant and undocumented people. Let us build a just world for all of us.