Resources
Flyer Status for All – Letter
Request for Support – Civil Society Organizations
Request for Support from Environmental & Climate Justice Organizations
Request for Support from Labour Movement
Sharing Petition Information with MRN
Mise en Contexte: La régularisation au Canada
Policy Brief: Regularization in Canada
Social media: Blanca
Social media: Danilo
#StatusforAll – square image
MRN General Poster – letter size
2022 Status for All Petition – legal size
2022 Status for All Petition – letter size
MRN General Poster – 11×17
Snapshot of Migrant Workers Complaints to ESDC and Results 2020 and 2021
Eligibility Requirements for New Short-Term PR Program
Sign the Petition: Vaccines for All
Letter: Migrant Food & Farmworker Priorities 2021
Letter: Implement Policies to Ensure Safe Access to Vaccines for All
Im/Migrant COVID-19 Resource Links
This document is a collection of links and is constantly updated
Multi-Issue
- Immigration, labour, income supports, healthcare backgrounder, Ontario: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R4DZ2rryLJIdqU9DBFD4ar6iMcFilQsZ/view?ts=5e791d69. Contact information in the document.
- RESOURCES FOR NON/PRECARIOUS STATUS PEOPLE DURING THE COVID CRISIS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16j2VouGyXESNaGieSYMzokINZBsfjAbQUneF7Py5MW4/edit. Focus on Toronto and Ontario, with some national information. C
- Labour Rights, Basic COVID-19 information for farmworkers, Fuerza Migrante, British Columbia. https://www.facebook.com/fuerzamigrantx/posts/2694308667348728
- Spanish, Multi-Issue / Farmworkers / BC: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m4h3MRo8eNmXjvua8hQpX-qWJbFFkUb-/view?usp=sharing
- Policing in Ontario, Butterfly (Asian/Migrant Sexworker Support Organization)https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfsvfFCfqwAyGj4H7HNRIrtaHxe2klEJ9vV4DlgXD9s92vJoQ/viewform
Healthcare
- Access to health care for uninsured patients during COVID-19 in Toronto: a brief guide for health care and social service providers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1my-TUUd7E9BexPOivdudz-Sma6kqEiIh/view
- Spanish translation and annotations of British Columbia government’s Temporary measures for MSP, Sanctuary Health: http://sanctuaryhealth.blogspot.com/2020/03/update-current-government-responses-to.html
- Video relaying info from fact sheet produced by Fuerza Migrante (Spanish): http://www.ramaokanagan.org/es/information-about-covid-19/
Income Supports & Worker Rights
- COVID-19 AND YOUR RIGHTS – https://iwc-cti.ca/covid-19-and-your-rights/. Immigrant Workers Centre, Montreal.
- Migrant Workers Centre webinar about income supports federal and BC https://www.facebook.com/MWCBC/videos/149487799802808/
- ISAC: Accessing Income Support in the wake of COVID-19 (Federal + Ontario, incl. French):
http://incomesecurity.org/public-education/accessing-income-support-in-the-wake-of-covid-19-updated-march-26/
Immigration Information
- COVID-19 – Immigration and Refugee: https://stepstojustice.ca/covid-19-immigration-and-refugee (CLEO, Ontario)
Community Supports
- Rent relief by province, CTV: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/rent-relief-what-each-province-is-doing-to-help-residential-tenants-during-the-pandemic-1.4877615
Sex workers
- Sex Work and COVID 19: Guidelines for sex workers , clients and third party (Maggies and Butterfly, Toronto) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ymJ5motdh0zh453-wFs1p4syL3koC2dD/view?fbclid=IwAR3h2H33kPyq5ln6G90cRzIfETsDyQsX7Se7RRcAfPMHE976MyZf5A7YGhA
New Agri-Food Immigration Pilot Program Does Not Meet Migrant Needs During Pandemic
56 Elected Representatives Write to Federal Government for Migrant & Undocumented Workers
Migrants Are the Food Chain – We Sustain the World
Donate for Emergency Supports!
Migrant and Undocumented Workers Deserve Income Support
Release: Essential Undocumented & Migrant Workers Fear For Their Future, Call for Income Supports
Regulatory changes to ensure Canada Emergency Response Benefit is available to migrants and undocumented residents
RE: Guidance for Employers of Temporary Foreign Workers Regarding COVID-19
Income support for migrants in Canada
Sign! Covid19 Response Must Leave No One Behind
After the Election – Final Reality Check
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Right now, it may seem that Canada is polarized and divided. Like you, we have seen electoral maps that show wide sections of the country in blocks of blue or red. With no party winning a majority of the seats, many of the decisions that will be made now will be with an eye on the next election. Political parties will try to score political points rather than implementing the agenda of change that we really need. They will try to exacerbate divisions to lock-in votes.
But divisions are a strategy used by the super rich to keep their power. It is critical that you, continue to speak to your friends, and co-workers about income inequality, climate change, migration, and racism. Become a Migrant Justice Champion, leading conversations and facilitating workshops where you are.
I want to be a Migrant Justice Champion!
We are clear eyed about the challenges: With right wing governments in power and slashing public services in Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario, many of us are facing multiple crises. And while millions turned out to vote in the federal election, in the absence of big material changes in policies and laws soon, and the threat of an even more right wing government averted, it will be easy to become demobilized. In a minority government, with political parties trying to consolidate their votes, it may be difficult to get the voices of migrants, undocumented people, and non-citizens who cannot vote to be heard.
But there is a lot that unites us: Climate action, ending economic inequality and racism, and indigenous sovereignty emerged as priorities for more and more people in the last few months. And so many of us have been taking action on these fronts across the country.
While it may seem difficult to impact what happens inside parliament, we have and we must continue to build our power outside it. Let us coordinate in our workplaces and our communities by talking to people, and winning them over to a shared vision of justice for all, one person at a time, one meeting at a time. And as we come together around issues that matter to each of us the most, we must connect and build links with others here and around the world, towards a common platform of decent work, universal services, permanent status, climate justice, and an end to displacement and discrimination.
The Migrant Rights Network will train people like you to educate your community. We will help you get connected to social justice organizations in your area. And we will support you in joining actions for climate, racial, economic, feminist and Indigenous justice.
Join Migrant Justice champions like you. Get trained and become a popular educator. Sign up now: https://migrantrights.ca/resource/
Affordability, work and wealth – Election Reality Check 9
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
During this election campaign, almost every party has expressed concern for people “struggling to make ends meet” or pledged to make life “more affordable”. Most of the ‘solutions’ on offer, like tax cuts and credits, fail to redistribute wealth and make the economy work for the majority of us. Here are some points you can use to challenge your friends and family members to demand better.
(1) Tax breaks are not enough: When politicians offer us “money in our pockets” through tax breaks, it is hard not to be tempted. But the math on tax cuts – especially when combined with service cuts – rarely adds up. Scheer has promised that an average taxpayer making about $47,000 would get an extra $8 a week; Liberals under Trudeau are promising a tax cut of about $6.50 a week. We need a lot more than a buck a day to address the fact that it is impossible to pay rent while working full time on minimum wage in Canada, or when a 24 pack of water costs $25 in Iqaluit when there is a boil water advisory. No party has committed to the kind of bold action we need to make the wealthy and corporations pay their share. Individual tax cuts are simply not enough to put the wealth we all generate back where it belongs, in universal quality public services, affordable housing and other essential social supports.
More on:
- Employment and Parental Benefits promises
- Party platforms on personal finances
- Report card on poverty and health
(2) Our wages are low because of the bosses: Average hourly and minimum wages, when adjusted for inflation, have not changed since 1975. But productivity has increased – that means our wages are stagnating but only the bosses are profiting. This is no accident. Corporate interests lobby governments aggressively to keep minimum wages low in order to put downward pressure on wages overall. As a result, extreme wealth is concentrating more in the hands of a very few each year. With an average compensation of $10.4 million, the richest CEOs now make about 200 times the average worker’s salary. We don’t have a crisis of affordability, we have a crisis of wealth distribution.
(3) Jobs are increasingly precarious for all of us: At least one in eight workers today in Canada are in a temporary job and get paid hourly average wages 24% lower than permanent workers. In addition, the majority of migrants – over 700,000 new people each year – come to Canada on temporary permits, with few rights. This impacts workers’ ability to assert workplace rights and be paid the wages they have worked for. In a survey of migrant 132 caregivers conducted by the Caregivers’ Action Centre (CAC) in Ontario, 42 percent of caregivers reported working 11 hours a day or more. Of those working overtime, 74 percent did not get overtime pay. When laws and policies prioritize corporate profit over the public good, all workers lose.
(4) Bad jobs and low wages affect all of us, but impact people of color and particularly women more: On average women earn 36% less than men for the same job in average annual earnings. National census data shows that of those considered low-income, 42.9% are non-permanent residents and 31.4% are landed immigrants who have been in the country for less than 5 years. The wage gap for first and second-generation immigrants is real. Over 80% of reserves have a median income that falls below the poverty line. Racism and sexism stratify the labour market, and so we need systemic solutions to fight the forces that keep most of us poor while a few hoard wealth.
(5) We need to build a whole new economy: Temporary and precarious work is growing for all of us, our wages are falling, and racialized poverty is worsening. Meanwhile, the wealth of those at the top continues to explode. This is a crisis and gradual individualized solutions, like personal income tax cuts, will not solve it. We need to retool our economy so that it works for the majority and sustains healthy thriving communities. We need to move away from a drive for profit and growth towards a society that prioritizes care and dignity. We need a minimum wage that people can live on. We need permanent resident status for all. We need universal services – including housing, healthcare, education, public transportation, and more – and an end to displacement.
On Thanksgiving, Thank a Migrant Worker – Election Reality Check 8
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
It’s Thanksgiving weekend. With the election around the corner, politics are bound to come up around the dinner table, and immigration may be high on the agenda. Don’t shy away from hard conversations – talk about the people and the labour behind the food on your table, and about showing thanks for migrant workers through your solidarity. Here are five points to raise:
(1) The food system is reliant on migrant labour: The number of migrant farmworkers in Canada went from 41,878 in 2013 to 55,569 in 2017, a 32% increase. In 2015, temporary migrant farmworkers made up more than 1 in 10 workers in Canada’s agricultural workforce. The majority of these workers return to Canada every year, sometimes for decades on end. These agricultural workers plant, harvest, and package food, and are critical to making Canada the world’s fifth largest agricultural exporter. Farm workers also help sustain the local economies they live in through the goods and services they consume. But the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), which is over 50 years old, and other agricultural worker programs do not let farm workers ever apply for permanent residency. The immigration system keeps farm workers permanently temporary, even though they are central to the Canadian agricultural industry.
(2) Migrant farm work is indentured labour: A recent Toronto Star investigation documented 5,386 complaints by farmworkers from Mexico in a 9 year period. Workers from Mexico make up 50% of farm workers. Farm workers in many provinces are exempt from basic employment rights such as minimum wage, overtime, breaks and hours of rest between work shifts. Farm workers’ permits are tied to a specific employer. This means workers cannot leave bad jobs, and that the risk of getting fired – and subsequently becoming homeless and facing deportation – makes asserting their rights at work virtually impossible. In many provinces, farm workers are barred from the right to unionize.
As one farm worker leader said, “The country wants our labour but it does not want us.”
(3) Working conditions are unhealthy and dangerous: Migrant workers have inadequate health and safety training and very limited or no protective equipment. There are insufficient bathrooms in the fields. Reproductive health services are almost non-existent, and supports when facing sexual abuse are absent. When migrant workers like Sheldon Mckenzie fall sick or are injured, they are sent home. During 2001-2011, 787 workers in the SAWP were sent home for medical reasons, including for surgeries and poisoning from exposure to toxic chemicals. Seasonal migrant workers are excluded from healthcare in many provinces. Workers’ compensation is almost impossible to access. Rural communities where migrant workers live and work have limited transportation infrastructure – just this past summer in Ontario, two workers died in Norwich and Niagara from traffic accidents. Separation from families causes enormous psychological stress.
(4) Migrant worker housing is employer-controlled and substandard: Migrant farm workers mostly live in overcrowded conditions, cooking and bathroom facilities are inadequate. Heating and cooling is rarely up to par given the weather conditions and demanding physical labour on farms. Travel from housing to local shops or nearby communities is also employer-controlled. Visitors are controlled and surveilled, there are curfews, and monitored or non-existent internet access.
(5) We need an overhaul of our food systems: A common refrain we hear is that these are jobs Canadians don’t want to do. All work should be decent, not just work which we give high social status. That means all workers deserve decent wages and working conditions, dignity and respect at work, safety and security, and the ability to assert their workplace rights. But we must also demand more. We must build communities that prioritize the needs and humanity of migrant farm workers as centrally as our communities rely on their labour. From clean drinking water to safe housing, accessible public transportation, healthcare, full and equal labour and immigration rights, we must build communities in which migrant farm workers and their families can thrive. We all deserve universal access to quality public services, justice, an end to discrimination and displacement.
Quebec’s Law 21 Explained – Election Reality Check 7
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
Since the beginning of this election campaign, much has been said about Quebec’s Law 21. It will feature heavily in today’s leaders’ debate in French.
Under the guise of secularism, Quebec’s Law 21 is whipping up anti-immigrant sentiment and Islamophobia. But this strategy is not unique to Quebec; it is part of a broader attack on migrants through provincial and federal laws and policies across the country. There is widespread resistance to Law 21 in Quebec. We must amplify that resistance and reject all forms of racism that serve to distract and divide us. Here are 7 things you need to know:
(1) Law 21 attacks workers: Law 21 bans people who wear religious symbols like hijabs, turbans or yarmulkes from working in various public service jobs. As an example, many hijab or turban-wearing graduates from teachers’ college can no longer apply for jobs or were denied employment. Some recently hired teachers have made the difficult decision to remove their religious attire to hold onto their jobs. Teachers already employed prior to the introduction of the law can keep their jobs, but are not allowed to transfer schools or be promoted.
(2) Law 21 is part of a broader racist anti-immigrant agenda: Law 21 was introduced along with Law 9, which cancelled 20% of permanent residency immigration applications managed by Quebec, affecting approximately 50,000 people. At the same time, the provincial government increased temporary work permits – which means fewer rights – by 21%. Taken together, Law 21 and Law 9 represent a pandering to far-right, anti-immigrant sentiment.
(3) Debates about ‘values’ are used to exclude migrants and racialized people: While secularism is important to many inside and outside Quebec, Law 21 exploits that principle to target certain communities. A recent poll showed that the majority of support for Law 21 comes from anti-Muslim sentiment. Law 21 is a clear violation of the basic civil and labour rights of the people it affects. By invoking the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the text of the law itself, Law 21 excludes people directly affected from the right to challenge it. There is a long history in Canada of politicians invoking ‘Canadian values’ to justify more exclusionary and discriminatory policies against migrants – from Harper’s “barbaric cultural practices hotline” to proposals for “values tests” in this current election campaign.
(4) Anti-immigrant and racist laws and policies are not unique to Quebec: In Ontario, the Conservative government recently cut all legal aid funding for immigration services. Most public services shut out migrants. Racialized poverty is instituted in law. Police harassment and over incarceration of Black and Indigenous people has been documented across the country.
(5) Politicians using anti-immigrant sentiment in Quebec are just like politicians who work for the rich everywhere: Law 21 was passed in June 2019 by the new Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government. While the debate on Law 21 was underway, the CAQ gave themselves and their wealthiest friends a massive tax break by cutting school board property taxes in wealthy districts. The billionaire Desmarais family alone received a $111,000/year tax break through this scheme.
(6) Communities across Quebec are fighting Law 21: Despite the barriers to legal challenges built into Law 21, it is being challenged in the courts. Mass protests are taking place regularly, led by migrant and racialized communities, bringing thousands of people into the streets. New organizations have been formed to challenge racism and xenophobia and build inclusive communities, and public education campaigns are underway.
(7) We must oppose racist laws and policies wherever we are: The election debate has focused on whether the next federal government will intervene to challenge Law 21. But it is up to us to stop the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in our communities. Racism is a tool to divide us and weaken our ability to achieve our common goals. Join racial and economic justice organizations, prevent racists from getting a platform, and challenge racist myths and false news. Let us ensure decent work, universal services, justice and status for all.
Compiled as always by Karen and Hussan from the Migrant Rights Network, with incredible support and assistance from Jaggi Singh
What they say vs What they mean on Immigration Policy – Election Reality Check 6
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
During this election you’ll hear many statements and promises about immigration. Some will be explicitly racist, most will be based on half-truths, and all will fall short of what we really need. We are part of one struggle for decent work, universal services, justice for all, and permanent resident status. We all want a world without discrimination and displacement. So no matter who wins, tonight or on October 21, we must unite against racism and organize to win what we all deserve.
Below are some common refrains you will hear, and some points you can use to understand and challenge them.
❓ – What they say: “The immigration system is broken, we need to restore ‘order’.”
✖️ – What they mean: We want to make it harder for refugees or immigrants to get rights in Canada.
✅ – What we need: Permanent resident status on arrival for everyone, including refugees.
Canada has a two-tier immigration system. Over 700,000 people are denied permanent residence and, therefore, rights each year. There is no ‘mass immigration’. There has been a lot of focus on refugees who come from the US on foot. They are forced to do this because of an agreement between Canada and the US, called the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). These migrants are not ‘queue jumpers’ – these are legally sanctioned ways to seek asylum in Canada and they have no impact on migrants who come through other streams. The STCA is a small part of the problem, getting rid of it is important but not enough. Very few refugees get rights in Canada, regardless of how they come. The system is not broken, it is designed to work this way, and it must be overhauled.
❓ – What they say: “We want to welcome refugees.”
✖️ – What they mean: We want more privately sponsored refugees.
✅ – What we need: Canada must increase government assisted refugees.
Private refugee sponsorship has been a growing trend over the last 5 years. It costs the government nothing, and depends on individuals to shoulder the responsibility of resettlement. This is a privatization of Canada’s responsibility to refugees who are being displaced by its policies and corporations around the world. Canada does not do its share to help the world’s refugee population.
❓ – What they say: “Immigration needs to meet labour market needs”
✖️ – What they mean: We will increase employer control over immigrants, increase temporary migration OR we will shut down all temporary migration.
✅ – What we need: Permanent resident status on arrival for all migrants, including in low-waged work, and a just transition for migrants in to secure jobs.
The current immigration system is largely organized around the interests of employers, but migrants are not commodities. 70% of migrants to Canada come on a temporary basis with little or no access to permanent residency, full rights or full labour protections. This is what leads to exploitation and abuse. The labour needs that migrant workers fill are permanent, not temporary – these programs have been in place for over half a century. But the solution is also not to simply close the few doors migrants have to access work in Canada – that would be a de facto deportation order for the thousands of migrant workers who depend on working here to support their families.
❓ – What they say: “We will provide pathways to permanent residency”
✖️ – What they mean: We will continue to have temporary programs.
✅ – What we need: We need permanent resident status for all, now.
These are not pathways, they are minefields. ‘Pathways’ means working in exploitative or abusive conditions, prohibitive medical or educational requirements, and other unfair and racist hoops through which migrants are forced to jump. Most migrants in a ‘pathway’ program endure abuse with the hope of eventually getting permanent residency or rights, only to be denied.
❓ – What they say: “We will fund language, resettlement, integration and credential accreditation services”
✖️ – What they mean: We won’t change very much
✅ – What we need: Better funding for settlement services, but also access to all services for all migrants, and free accreditation on arrival.
Settlement services provide important supports to migrants. But they are inadequately funded and come with strings attached, excluding most migrants and preventing service providers from advocating for or supporting migrant self-organizing. Many essential services like income and employment supports are not available to migrants. Immigrants get permanent residency because of their qualifications, but then cannot work in their field because their education and work experience is deemed unworthy. These barriers are created by professional associations and industry regulators, and give employers access to overqualified workers for lower pay. The federal government currently has little control over recognition credentials.
Tracte: Ensemble Contre le Racisme (Français)
Immigration Detention – Election Reality Check 5
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
While politicians and the media use anti-immigrant racism to divide us, the truth is many migrants live in daily fear of being imprisoned without charges or trial, often indefinitely. The threat of detention and deportation keeps migrants from asserting basic rights. Canada’s immigration detention system is unjust, deadly and growing.
Here are seven key messages about immigration imprisonment that you can use to talk to your family members and colleagues. On October 3rd, there are protests against detentions across the country. Keep reading to find the one nearest you.
(1) Over 32,000 people have been jailed in immigration prisons under the current government: That totals 538,000 days in detention, or 1,474 years. Canada is one of the few countries without a limit on the length of detention. Nearly 130 people have been jailed for over 99 days this year alone. As a result of detainee organizing, long term detention has gone down but the rate of removals increased this year. And there are still people languishing in jail, like Herman Emmanuel Fankem, who has been detained for over 6 years. Immigration detention is imprisonment without charge, appearance before a judge, or trial. Immigration detainees took the government to the Supreme Court for the right not to be jailed unfairly, a right recognized in law for centuries, called Habeas Corpus.
(2) Canada jails children, too: Between 2014 and 2019, Canadia jailed about 180 children per year. Last year, 48% of them were under 5 years old. Many are citizens like Alpha Anawa, who was born in immigration detention and marked his first three birthdays in prison. Parents of children born in detention are given the ‘choice’ to keep their kids with them as ‘visitors’ or have them taken into government care. Plans for the new immigration prison in Laval include a ‘playground’.
(3) People are being jailed for paperwork: 70% of migrants come to Canada with temporary status. Many are unable to renew their permits because the government rules are stacked against them. Once people lose status and remain in the country, they can be detained and deported. 81.6% of detentions in the last fiscal year were because an officer arbitrarily decided that a person would be ‘unlikely to appear’ for their deportation. Rates of release vary between decision makers and regions – you are three times less likely to be released in Ontario than anywhere else. The first ever audit of detentions took place in 2018. It identified so many concerns that it recommended a complete overhaul of all policies and a review of all long-term detention cases. To date, the recommendations have not been implemented.
(4) Immigration detention is deadly: Five of the 17 recorded deaths in immigration jails since 2000 have happened under the current government: Melkioro Gahungu (March 7, 2016), Francisco Javier Romero Astorga (March 13, 2016), Name unknown (May 14, 2016), Theresa Marie Gratton (October 30, 2017), and Bolanle Alo (August 7, 2018). Immigration detainees routinely do not get access to the medical care or mental health supports they need. The CBSA has not released the names or causes of death of almost half of the people who have died in their custody. The government does not assist grieving families with the cost of repatriating their loved ones’ bodies. Coroner’s inquests have only happened in a few cases, and usually as a result of organized public pressure.
(5) Immigration detention is part of the unjust prison system: Racial profiling, overincarceration and systemic exclusions of Black and Brown communities mean that racialized migrants are disproportionately and unfairly convicted of crimes. Those who do not have citizenship can lose their immigration status after serving their sentences and face deportation – this is double punishment, and it largely targets Black communities. Take the cases of Abdoul Abdi and Abdilahi Elmi. They came to Canada as refugees and were taken into state care. Government authorities never applied for their immigration papers. When Abdoul and Abdilahi were later convicted of crimes, Canada tried to deport them.
(6) Immigration detention is growing, and corporations are profiting: In 2013 and 2016, immigration detainees in Ontario went on hunger strike to call for an end to detention. In response to these demands and a spate of deaths in detention, the federal government launched the ‘National Immigration Detention Framework’ (NIDF). The NIDF increases electronic surveillance and expands prisons. Much of the $138 million allocated has been put into building a new immigration prison in Laval, Quebec, and expanding the immigration prison in Toronto. Immigration detention costs $320/day and much of that goes to private prison contractors like Tisseur, which has gone to court to silence criticism of how it profits off migrant detention. See prison profiteers in Laval Quebec here.
(7) We need to end immigration detention and deportation. Immigration detention and deportations are the final assault in an immigration system that forces migrants into instability and insecurity. This is why we need an entirely new approach that prioritizes status now, justice for all, an end to displacement, and decent work and universal public services for all.
Communities across Canada are taking action against migrant detention on October 3rd. Find an action near you and raise your voice for for status for all, status now, and an end to detentions and deportations.
One last thing, we are halfway through the election campaign so we wanted to know how these Election Reality Checks are working? Please give us feedback here: https://forms.gle/CssHJLTrpewAykLZ8
Climate Crisis, Racism & Migration – Election Reality Check 4
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
It is no coincidence that the politicians refusing to act on climate change are the same ones drumming up hatred against migrants. Those who have brought us to the brink of climate catastrophe want to evade their responsibility by selling us ineffective individualistic solutions and put the blame elsewhere. To win action on climate, we must reject the politics of division and racism.
Climate justice, racism and migration are not separate concerns. The economic system that has brought us to climate crisis also produced the racialized wage gap and a two-tiered immigration system that gives migrants few rights. Climate change is global, but it disproportionately impacts the poorest people of colour in the world, causing greater insecurity and displacement. And yet those responsible – super rich corporations and their CEOs who receive massive government handouts – are getting let off the hook by politicians who try to distract us by blaming immigration for our problems. But Indigenous and racialized people are at the forefront of creating climate solutions.
Here are 4 key talking points you can raise with your co-workers, friends and families this week:
(1) Human-made climate change is real, and corporations are responsible: Science and Indigenous knowledge tell us that carbon emissions are pushing us towards global temperature rises that are deadly. Just 100 companies produce fossil fuels that account for 71 per cent of global emissions. But instead of paying up, oil and gas companies in Canada are pocketing more than $3.3 billion a year in government subsidies. In 2018, the Canadian government put taxpayers on the hook for up to an additional $15 billion in support for the fossil fuel industry. The Federal Carbon Tax is not a solution – it excludes nearly 80% of big oil and gas carbon emitters. Individual action is not enough. We must reject the idea that migrants abuse government handouts or that population increases are to blame for climate change. We must focus on corporate accountability instead.
(2) Climate change affects all of us, but not in the same way – and racism has everything to do with it: Climate change has caused a 25 per cent increase in economic inequality between the richest countries (which are historically the worst emitters) and the poorest (who produce the least emissions). Canada emits the most greenhouse gas emissions by population than any other country on the planet, but is the least threatened by the consequences of climate change. In 2015, it was estimated that Canada’s debt to poorer countries for its role in causing climate change was at roughly $400 billion – and that doesn’t account for the ravages caused by Canadian companies operating destructive projects in poor countries. Even inside Canada, racialized people, particularly Indigenous nations, face the worst environmental impacts – see for example this new film about Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities.
(3) Climate change is forcing millions out of their homes – migrants need permanent resident status and full rights: The biggest impact of climate change is increased food insecurity and greater poverty, the brunt of it faced by women. Most people migrating because of climate change – an anticipated 143 million by 2050 in just 3 regions – remain within national borders. People migrate for many reasons, most often in search of work and safety, and not just to escape climate related disasters. And yet over 70% of migrants to Canada have no choice but to come on temporary permits, forced into low-waged work with high rates of abuse. Addressing climate change must include a complete overhaul of our immigration system, starting with permanent resident status for all on arrival for temporary migrants.
(4) Action on Climate Change means ensuring justice for all: We need a holistic response to climate change that addresses historical injustices and leaves no one behind. We need system change that centers Indigenous self-determination, stops fossil fuel extraction, holds big corporate polluters responsible, ends border imperialism and moves beyond historic social oppressions. We must ensure decent work, universal services, permanent resident status, feminist and Indigenous justice, and an end to displacement.
Millions of people around the world are taking actions this week as part of #GlobalClimateStrike, including across Canada. Find the nearest action near you and participate: https://climatestrikecanada.org/september. Print out these signs and carry them, and take these flyers to distribute.
Climate Strike
Find a climate strike near you and join in: https://climatestrikecanada.org/september
You can print these signs and materials to take with you and distribute
- Unite Against Racism signs for Climate Strike actions in Canada: Download here
- Unite Against Racism Immigration Factsheet for Climate Strike actions in Canada: Download here
Make sure to read our full election reality check with speaking points here.
Talking About Blackface – Election Reality Check 3
This update is from our Election Reality Check series, read them all here.
Take action now! Tell politicians, you will not let them use racism to divide us: www.MigrantRights.ca
Sep 20, 2019 Update: These are talking points to arm you with facts and value statements to help you have conversations with people you have relationships of trust with. While speaking about racism right now, we urge you to focus us on how this is about systematic laws, policies and culture that underwrite Canada, and how they must change. You can – and we all must – put forward a broad anti-racist agenda that lifts us all up, so that no party or politician can distract us from demanding the change we really need.
(1) Blackface is racist.
There is a very specific history of Blackface where white people dressed up in “make up” to create caricatures of Black people, starting in the 1820s. These caricatures and lies form the basis of popular culture about Black people that continue today, and create the conditions for racism, violence and exclusions. Remember Calixa Lavallee, who composed O Canada, started his career as a blackface minstrel. Learn more about Blackface in Canada: read here, here, and listen to a podcast here.
Racialized people, particularly children, are hurt when they see the Prime Minister in Blackface. These images are reminders of all the ways in which they are seen as inferior, been excluded, or tormented. But this is about a lot more than feelings of hurt, this is about systematic laws, policies and culture that underwrite Canada, and how they must change.
(2) Trudeau’s actions were normalized, and that matters.
Trudeau was 29. More importantly, he was a teacher at an expensive private school. This private school distributed photos of him in Blackface in their newsletter. Hundreds of copies exist in the homes of rich families across the country. While Trudeau was dressing up as Aladdin in the Spring of 2001, media reports were full of stories about Muslim men like Mohammad Mahjoub were being jailed indefinitely without trial or charge under so-called security certificates. But Trudeau did it, and the school distributed it without question because racism is so deeply embedded in the culture of the country.
(3) It’s not just this incident, it’s about laws and policies.
Trudeau passed a law under which refugees who have applied in the UK, US, Australia or New Zealand will no longer be able to apply for status here. The federal government has repeatedly ignored human rights tribunal rulings to pay compensation to First Nations children on reserves and in the Yukon who were unnecessarily taken into care. Ottawa has in fact taken First Nations children back to court. Trudeau continues to sell weapons to Saudia Arabia that are employed in the mass killing of Yemenis. Read this article for more on institutional racism.
(4) We need to take a hard look at all the political parties and put forward an anti-racist agenda.
Andrew Scheer wants to make it impossible for refugees to come over from the United States, and won’t accept the findings of genocide by the the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Maxime Bernier wants to slash immigration in half and push through pipelines on Indigenous territories. NDP candidates left their party and moved to the Green Party, because they believed that Jagmeet Singh, who wears a turban, would not be elected.
We must put forward an anti-racist agenda beyond apologies and responses to hate crimes that focuses on decent work, universal services, permanent resident status and full rights on arrival. Its must center Indigenous self-determination, and an end to discrimination and global displacement.
Are you hearing other questions that you are having difficulty responding to? Email us at info@migrantrights.ca and we will update this page and get back to you.
Refugees Explained – Election Reality Check 2
This post is part of our Election Reality Checks. To receive these as emails, sign up at www.migrantrights.ca. To see all of them, click here.
Yesterday, well known anti-immigrant leader Maxime Bernier was invited to the Federal Leaders’ debate. Soon his racist views will be televised across the country. Already, we saw Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer use a well-worn lie about refugees in the first leaders debate on Thursday. Many of our friends and family members are listening and might find these untruths convincing.
Here’s what you need to know when you talk to them:
1. Refugees aren’t responsible for cuts to services or low-wages, the super rich are – Many people are feeling like they don’t have enough to take care of their families, or save for retirement. We are being convinced that there is not enough for everyone. In this climate, arguments that blame refugees for taking services are gaining traction. This is why we must remind our friends and family members that while refugees take very little the super rich in Canada have stashed $353 Billion in offshore tax havens, and nearly 27% of corporate taxes went unpaid according to the CRA.
2. Canada doesn’t take its fair share of refugees – Of the over 70 million people globally forced out of their homes, Canada will let in less than 50,000 in 2019. That’s 0.07% of displaced people, despite Canada making up 1.36% of total global wealth (GDP). In Lebanon on the other hand, which has the world’s third highest debt, 1 in 4 people are refugees.
3. Canadian corporations profit from displacement – People become refugees because of war and conflict, “development projects”, persecution and climate change. Canadian corporations profit from processes that displace people. Canada ranks as one of the top 15 exporters of deadly weapons, hosts many of the worst mining companies and is home to the world’s worst industrial polluting projects – the oil sands. No conversation about refugees is possible without accounting Canadian complicity in displacement
4. Government assisted resettlement is being lowered – Canada has two refugee systems, from outside and inside the country. It’s always been a few from abroad, but now more of them are privately sponsored. The federal government has taken a massive step back under Trudeau from government assisted refugees. The Conservative Party has promised to increase this trend. Privately sponsored refugees receive no government support.
5. Refugee decisions are arbitrary, few are accepted – When refugees apply from inside Canada, they come up against an extremely arbitrary decision system, with some decision makers accepting 97% of the claims they hear, and others only accepting 10%. Getting approved is so difficult, and it takes so long (on average 21 months to have a hearing) that many people drop off before they get a decision. As a result, only 1 in 3 initial asylum seekers get accepted.
6. Refugees were gravely attacked this year – Snuck into the most recent budget bill was a change to the refugee act so that refugee claimants who have made claims in the US, UK, Australia or New Zealand before cannot apply for refugee protection in Canada. Arbitrarily excluding people from claiming refugee status at all is one of the most fundamental attacks on refugee rights in the last decade, and flies against the constitutionally protected right to a hearing.
7. Border crossers from the US is overhyped – Over the last 3 years, just over 45,000 people crossed into Canada from the US and applied for refugee protection. That’s a very small number when compared to total refugee applicants (138,000) or other temporary migrants (over 2 million) in that same time period. For those concerned about security, it’s important to remember that Canada lets in over 24 million tourists each year from the US through the same borders and does the same security checks. Focussing just on people of colour and their security is more about racism.
8. Refugees don’t get too many services – In-country refugee applicants (which includes border crossers) only receive provincial social assistance if they are eligible. Out of country applicants that are privately sponsored – which is many of them – get no assistance. Government assisted refugees receive support for a year – but some of it they have to pay back, in some cases with interest. Watch this video by CBC.
9. We need a whole new approach to Refugee laws – Refugee laws are deeply connected to foreign policies and corporate practices that result in displacement in the first place. Canada’s refugee laws see refugees as economic participants, focusing on refugees’ ability to work, pay taxes and access services. And as refugees build a life, they become residents like everyone else. We need a totally different economic and social system where people are not forced to leave their homes, and those that arrive here, get full rights, permanent status and services on arrival. At the same time, we need decent work, universal services and an end to discrimination for everyone.
Lets Get Louder: Election Reality Check 1
Wendy confronted Maxime Bernier of the People’s Party yesterday in London, Ontario.
His response was shocking: “We cannot be racist when we are Canadian.” This from a man who believes immigration numbers should be cut by half, whose face was on billboards saying “Stop Mass Immigration”.
Today, Justin Trudeau launched his election campaign by attacking Conservatives who say they are for the people while cutting taxes for the rich and cutting services for everyone else. While that’s true, it’s a bit much coming from a man who just made it harder for refugees to claim asylum in Canada and spent $4.5 billion in public money to buy a destructive failing pipeline. And for months, Andrew Scheer has been stoking panic about immigration while saying there is no room for racists in his party.
For the next 40 days, we will be hearing more lies, half-truths and empty promises from politicians.
This is why for the next 40 days, we will be sending you regular Election Reality Checks to help you cut through the noise. These Reality Checks will be full of facts and talking points you can use to respond to politicians who will try to make us blame migrants for low wages, inadequate services and the high cost of living.
To get the Election Reality Check, pledge to #UniteAgainstRacism at www.migrantrights.ca
These Reality Checks are tools. We are asking you to join us in using them. Because it’s not just about who wins on October 21st. It’s about ensuring that we #UniteAgainstRacism to win a better future for all of us.
We cannot afford to be quiet. For the next 40 days, let’s get louder.
PS: Our regular Election Reality Checks will be posted on our website, and a version of them available on facebook, twitter, instagram – but the full version will only be sent to pledge signatories. So sign the the pledge here: www.MigrantRights.ca
Materials for events
You can help build up anti-racist, migrant justice struggles in your community. Here’s how:
- If you are organizing an event of any kind already, make our materials available at a desk; or
- Gather a few friends and organize your own event (canvassing at a transit stop, a community event, participating in an existing event whether election related or not) and distribute materials.
Here’s what you will need:
- We will not let politicians use racism to divide us pledge: Use this pledge to gather signatures from people interested in receiving tools to have conversations about anti-immigrant racism in their communities. Send us the scanned sheets and we will communicate with them.
- Truths and Lies about Immigration: This is a simple fact-sheet for people who have questions about migration and racism in the current moment.
- We must Unite Against Racism pamphlet: A simple pamphlet that makes the case for why we must Unite Against Racism.
- Speaking points: This document will give you some simple speaking points you can use while distributing materials.
Do you have materials you want to share with others? Did you have a good or bad experience while distributing these materials? Tell us! info@migrantrights.ca
4 steps guide to talking about racism
Immigration Truth & Lies
Open Letter: Labour Council Presidents Across Canada #UniteAgainstRacism
Green New Deal & #UniteAgainstRacism
Across the country, hundreds of town-halls are being organized to discuss a vision for a Green New Deal in Canada in May (find the one nearest you here). A speaking tour is taking place in June (find one near you here – if you need free tickets, email info@migrantrights.ca). It is imperative that anti-racist, migrant justice and social movement activists attend these gatherings to put forward the broadest vision possible for a Green New Deal in Canada.
Download this flyer, print it, go with a few friends and distribute it at these gatherings.
We must all make the case to our neighbours that Green New Deal in Canada must include:
- DECENT WORK: $15 minimum wage, full labour rights and no employer specific or time limited work permits
- UNIVERSAL SERVICES: Quality public services including healthcare, education, income security, childcare, settlement services, pensions, and more for all residents
- STATUS FOR ALL, STATUS NOW: Permanent resident status for all migrants and refugees here, and landed status on arrival for those that arrive in the future. No detentions, no deportations!
- JUST SOCIETY: Indigenous self-determination, gender justice, and an end to racism, particularly anti-Black racism and Islamophobia.
- NO DISPLACEMENT: An end to practices of displacement and persecution that force people to migrate including climate change, wars, corporate impunity, negligent mining and economic exploitation.
WE MUST REMIND OUR COMMUNITIES THAT THOSE OPPOSED TO CLIMATE ACTION ARE THE SAME ONES SPREADING RACISM
We are all worried about our children’s future, the fate of the planet, the rising cost of living and retirement. All levels of government are imposing an austerity agenda upon us, while corporate profits go untaxed and climate crisis worsens. At the same time, two obscenely rich men own more wealth today, than 11 million Canadians.
We need system change for climate justice. And for that we need a massive people’s movement. Those in power today know that the easiest way to stop us is by dividing us. They want us fighting each other for scraps, while they continue to profit from climate catastrophe. To change everything, we need everyone.
WE MUST #UNITEAGAINSTRACISM TO WIN THE GREEN NEW DEAL WE NEED.
Short Film – Unite Against Racism
This video is a tool to help communities educate themselves about immigration, racism, and the importance of uniting to fight the rise of the right.
Before screening this film:
- Take two minutes to register your video screening (scroll below the video for the registration form) so that we can keep track of where it is being shown, and offer you any support you might need!
- Download and review this guide to help make your video screening a success. This guide offers a short and longer format for screening the video, plus tips, talking points, discussion questions, and useful facts about immigration and racism to help you have productive conversations.
- We offer training for facilitators who want to screen this popular video. Please email karen@migrantworkersalliance.org to request training.
Migrant Rights Network General Flyer
Racialized wage gap
Indigenous people are over imprisoned
Hate crimes and white supremacist groups are growing
Sample resolution to pass at Union Locals
Developed by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change for the Migrant Rights Network. Please email info@migrantrights.ca if you have passed one.
- Whereas an injury to one is an injury to all; and
- Whereas employers are using different immigration categories to pit workers against each other and we refuse to be divided; and
- Whereas migrants and refugees do not steal jobs, drive down wages or devalue work. Rather it is provincial and federal policies and laws that give power to employers to exploit migrants and refugees; and
- Whereas respect for human and labour rights, permanent resident status and full access to services for migrant will ensure increased rights for all workers; and
- Whereas women and racialized people’s work is systematically being devalued, and it’s primarily those migrant workers who are denied the most rights; and
- Whereas migrant women and racialized workers are those most likely to be at risk of abuse, harassment and exploitation at the hands of employers and have their rights denied and work devalued; and
- Whereas anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, and other racist nationalist groups are organizing in our communities and spreading hatred and fear against racialized people and migrant workers; and
- Whereas many people have been forced to migrate in order to escape poverty, climate change, war, persecution and economic exploitation.
Therefore be it resolved that UNION NAME will lobby the federal government of Canada and all federal political parties to:
- Grant all migrants (international students, refugees, temporary foreign workers, undocumented) permanent residency status and grant permanent residency on arrival to those that come in the future and end detentions and deportations;
- Ensure migrants, and all workers, have full access to social entitlements (EI, CPP, healthcare, settlement services, etc); and ensure genuine enforcement of labour standards and basic human rights;
- Ensure decent work, fair wages, all labour protections including open and non time-limited work permits for all workers, including migrants and refugees;
- End discrimination against and criminalization of migrants, refugees and racialized people (particularly anti-Black racisms and Islamophobia), and ensure gender justice and Indigenous self-determination; and
- Actively stop Canadian involvement in climate change, war, economic exploitation, mining injustice and social oppressions abroad that force people to migrate.
Be it further resolved that UNION NAME commits to:
- Organize educational events on anti-racism, immigrant rights and migrant solidarity for its members by assigning members to be trained as trainers by Migrant Rights Network;
- Develop or distributing anti-racist and solidarity materials to members;
- Participate in or organize anti-racist and migrant justice activities on March 21, May 1 and June 16;
- Contacting local Labour Council and requesting that #UniteAgainstRacism, anti-racist solidarity, immigrant rights and migrant justice be key themes for Labour Day 2019 (September 2) activities;
- Build relations with and politically and financially support migrant led campaigns coordinated through the Migrant Rights Network and [local migrant rights organization]
Immigrants and Refugees Welcome – Just Seeds poster
If you have the resources, please buy the poster from Justseeds here.