Protesters picket PM's office in Montreal, demand status for undocumented migrants
Protesters in favour of regularization for undocumented migrants held a nation-wide demonstration Sunday as groups visited prime minister and cabinet offices across the country demanding status for all.
“In the next week, [or] in the next month, cabinet ministers will be faced with a decision on criteria for a regularization program for undocumented migrants in Canada,” said Mary Foster, a member of migrant advocacy group Solidarity Across Borders.
Montreal protesters demonstrated at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office and marched to others occupied by high-ranking members.
Protesters called on Ottawa to swiftly implement an inclusive regularization program for undocumented migrants -- a long-standing demand that advocates say appears closer than ever to becoming a reality based on recent moves by the federal Liberal government
A mandate letter from December 2021 asked Trudeau's immigration and citizenship minister to “build on existing pilot programs to further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.”
The expectation is that a new program would grant permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of people living in Canada who are considered non-status, and Montreal protesters hope there won't be a limit on how many people can be regularized.
“Being non-status gives you a wall of limitation between you and everything else that is around you,” said protest organizer Aboubacar Kane.
But not everyone is on board. Immigration lawyer Neil Drabkin, a former advisor to the Harper and Mulroney governments, says that if a program was implemented according to protesters’ demands, it would undermine Canada’s current immigration system.
“I believe it is patently unfair to provide a permanent residence status to those who have been in this country illegally, in many cases, for years and years,” he said.
“What were effectively doing is putting these people to the front of the cue by saying ‘you’ve been here for a number of years without status and now we’re going to reward you’.”
Others say Canada ought to up its immigration intake, and that the other option is continuing to wade through an ongoing worker shortage.
“We have businesses closing because they cannot get labour, they cannot find people to work,” he said. “We have people here already who deserve to be part of Canada."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Stamp prices rise for the third time in five years amid financial woes for Canada Post
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
BREAKING Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, claims he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers for Jeremy Skibicki have told the court the accused unlawfully caused the death of four women, but argue he is not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.
WATCH Avian flu: Risk to humans grows as outbreaks spread, warns expert
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Italy's white-collar mafia is making a business killing
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Trump fined US$1,000 for gag order violation in hush money case as judge warns of possible jail time
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him US$1,000 on Monday for violating his gag order once again and sternly warned the former president that additional violations could result in jail time.
An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Holocaust researchers use AI to search for unnamed victims
Researchers in Israel are turning to artificial intelligence to comb through piles of records to try to identify hundreds of thousands of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust whose names are missing from official memorials.
Russia warns Britain and plans nuclear drills over the West's possible deepening role in Ukraine
Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with the West are deepening.