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.
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- 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
- 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/
- 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/
- 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.
- 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.