Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Marc Miller & Federal Decision Makers:

You can add over $28 billion to the economy, lift half a million people out of poverty and invest in equality and fairness for generations to come. How? By implementing a broad and comprehensive regularization program like you promised which would give permanent resident status to undocumented people in Canada. 

With Parliament set to rise at the beginning of June, there is no time to lose. 

Undocumented people are our neighbours, friends, co-workers and families. They are not not new arrivals. They have jobs, families, and roots in our communities. But they have been forced to live in the margins for decades, facing the lowest wages, excluded from essential services, fearing imprisonment and deportation. Women, queer and trans people, and the most vulnerable, have been the worst off. For far too long, successive governments have chosen racism and exclusion, refusing to address this crucial issue and do what the majority of people in Canada want – ensure fairness and equality and end discrimination and abuse. 

Until Prime Minister Trudeau made a mandate letter committment to regularization  in December 2021, a promise repeated by Minister Miller many times. Now is the time to boldly follow through, to live up to your promise of sunny ways.

We are the Migrant Rights Network – Canada’s largest migrant-led coalition – and our thousands of migrant and undocumented members urge you to implement a comprehensive regularization program. Our position is supported far beyond the immigrant and refugee sector. Hundreds of organizations have spoken up, writing individual letters in support of our priorities on regularization and permanent resident status for migrants. A small sampling of these include:

• National labour organizations including the Canadian Labour Congress, UNIFOR, CUPE, CUPW, NUPGE, SEIU as well as the Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island,and Manitoba Federations of Labour.
• Major health bodies including Canadian Health Coalition, Access Alliance, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, and Médecins du Monde.
• Anti-poverty and housing organizations including Campaign 2000, United Way Centraide Canada, BC Poverty, Reduction Coalition, Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain – FRAPRU, Canada Without Poverty, and Food Secure Canada.
• Legal organizations including Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, Inter-Clinic Immigration Working Group, HIV Legal Network, La Clinique pour la justice migrante, and Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund,
• Major faith organizations including KAIROS, United Church, Sisters of St Joseph, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Anglican Church of Canada.
• Major climate organizations including 350 Canada, Greenpeace,  Foire ÉCOSPHÈRE, Mining Watch, Climate Action Network, Leadnow, and David Suzuki Foundation.
• Other major Quebec organizations including Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ), Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), Centrale des syndicats démocratiques (CSD), Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté, Ligue des droits et libertés (LDL), Amnistie internationale Canada francophone and Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ)
• As well as groups such as Oxfam Canada, Council of Canadians and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. See letters sent just in the last month here. 

In addition,

• The Toronto Star has written editorials in support of regularization;
• The Mayors of Toronto and Montreal have written letters in support; and
• Over 40,000 people have sent emails in support of equal rights and permanent resident status for all migrants, including undocumented people.

There is mass support for regularization because it just makes sense. A comprehensive regularization program will:

• Build a historic legacy: There are between 200,000 – 500,000 undocumented people in Canada who, along with their children and children’s children, will become voting citizens and be able to participate in the democratic process.
• Combat poverty and grow the economy: Undocumented people work in cash-based jobs or are underemployed. Regularized migrants will be able to work where they want, in jobs they are skilled for, and earn more income. A recent report on regularization in France showed that, when applied to Canada, regularization would increase economic activity by at least $28 billion each year – 1% of the GDP.
• Fund public services while application costs will be cost-neutral: Most undocumented people pay taxes, but their employers, many of whom operate very profitable businesses, do not pay remittances. Regularizing 500,000 undocumented people will increase employer CPP and EI contributions by at least $5.6 billion, just in the first year. Meanwhile, the cost of application processing will be met with existing funding and application fees.
• Increase worker rights: Bad employers of undocumented workers steal wages and threaten them with deportation to stop them from asserting their rights. This abuse results in the overall worsening of working conditions in the labour market for migrants and citizens alike. Regularization will give workers more labour mobility,  improving working conditions for everyone and ensuring that good employers have a level playing field.
• Improve public health: Migrants do not access healthcare until it is absolutely necessary due to high fees. By the time they do, their health conditions are much worse, and the impact on the healthcare system is much higher. Regularization is good for the healthcare system and everyone’s health.
• Counter racism, ensure women and queer rights: Undocumented people are mostly racialized, low-waged people, often women, queer and trans. Regularization will give them the power to defend themselves against systemic exploitation, from the workplace to intimate partnerships
• Reflects best practices around the world: 24 of the 27 EU Member States implemented regularization programs, and some several times regularizing an estimated 5.5 to 6 million people. Ireland implemented a regularization program in 2022.  

Regularization is a bold investment in the future and only you can make it happen. Time is running out. We urge you to seize this historic opportunity.

Migrant Rights Network