TODAY IS THE DAY
(1) Join an action near you: Search by your postal code in the map below.
(2) Call / Write / Post: Can’t join an action? You can make a difference! Click here to make a phone call to Prime Minister Trudeau, sign and share our petition, and post online with the message #UniteAgainstRacism & #StatusForAll.
Whether its white supremacists mixing in with the “Freedom Convoy”; or Black and people of colour refugees and migrants fleeing Ukraine facing abuse – racism is rising. We know that racism is a strategy to divide us to push an anti-people agenda that hurts our climate and our communities in the interests of the richest few. The 1. 6 million mostly racialized working class migrants who have been at the frontlines of COVID-19 need full and permanent immigration status so that we have the power to protect ourselves against being scapegoated and exploited.
Why Unite Against Racism & Status for All?
Look at the “Freedom Convoy”. Many of its leaders and spokespeople were found to have racist ties. Some protestors brought Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic and racist imagery to the events. And when the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change launched a reporting tool for discrimination, it was over-run with vile and violent messages.
Or look at what’s happening in Ukraine. Black and other racialized migrants fleeing the war have been met with incredible bigotry at the border. Under pressure from refugee groups likes our, Canada has created a two-year visa for Ukrainians with few conditions. This is a crucial step to ensuring access to safety, but racialized refugees already in Ukraine from other countries such as Yemen and Afghanistan are excluded. Such visas are not being grated to people of colour refugees from any other place in the world.
This global rise in racism is happening at the time as massive inflation, and the continued economic crises that emerged during COVID-19. When gas and food prices rise, many of us look around searching for who is responsible.
According to Oxfam, from March 2020 to November 2021, a new billionaire was created every 26 hours, while more than 160 million people were pushed into poverty. The mega-rich want us to turn on each other, and blame our neighbours, migrants and refugees, instead of holding the super rich accountable. Racism is a strategy by them to divide us.
In response, we must Unite Against Racism, speaking to our friends and family members who are being misled, and speaking up against laws and policies that make it difficult for any of us to make ends meet. We must not allow discrimination or violence against Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities anywhere in the world.
And we must fight to ensure that racialized working class migrants have full and permanent immigration status so that we have the power to protect ourselves against being scapegoated and exploited. Just this week, the business lobby group Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) called on Canada to increase Temporary Foreign Workers in “all types of jobs and all sectors”. They want migrants to come and work without the rights that permanent resident status provides access to.
We must act, and act quickly. We must take to the streets, and take action in our neighbourhoods and workplaces with the message to #UniteAgainstRacism and demand #StatusforAll.