Hundreds rally for undocumented and migrant worker rights

Hundreds of people rallied Sunday to demand the Canadian government do more to help undocumented people, migrant workers, students, families and refugees.

The rally at Christie Pits was held to mark the International Day for Elimination of Racism and was organized by the Migrant Workers Alliance and the FCJ Refugee Centre. Similar rallies were also held in Vancouver, Montreal and Sudbury.

Jen, who moved to Canada from Uganda in 2017, says it’s been difficult to find an employer who will hire her because of her undocumented status. She says she’s only been able to work the odd job in her chosen field of healthcare.

“I’ve gone through a lot that I can’t even put food on my table,” she tells CityNews. “I can’t work and in the few jobs that I got I was exploited because I don’t have rights to defend myself as a person.”

“I don’t have rights to defend myself as a person. So at work, even my colleagues exploit me because I’m undocumented and don’t have the right to speak.”

Advocates say Jen’s story isn’t unique. They would like the federal government to introduce an uncapped regularization program that grants permanent resident status, saying this could give migrants and refugees the tools to protect themselves against abuse.

“A fair society is one where everybody has equal rights and the only way for that to be possible is for everybody to have equal status and that’s full and permanent immigration status,” said Sarom Rho with the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

Hundreds rallied in Toronto calling for permanent resident status for all migrant and undocumented workers. CITYNEWS

“We all deserve the ability to speak up when employers are abusing us or stealing our wages. We all deserve the ability to go to a bank or to be able to get food at a restaurant without the fear of deportation or fear we will be torn apart from our families. Permanent resident status is the only existing mechanism to do so.”

According to Statistics Canada, in the 2010s immigrant workers accounted for 84 per cent of the growth in the total labour force many of which offset declines in lower-skilled jobs among Canadian-born workers.

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The federal government has said it plans to respond to Canada’s recent labour shortage by increasing immigration over the next three years by issuing work permits to 1.5 million non-Canadians.

“Minister Fraser continues to make progress on his mandate to build on existing pilot programs to further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities,” said Bahoz Dara Aziz, press secretary for the office of of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in a statement.

“With the most recent change being Friday’s annoucement to extend the post graduate work permit for individuals with permits set to expire or have expired in 2023. Changes like these ensure skilled workers can stay in Canada and continue to meaningfully and safely work.”

Advocates say newcomers typically arrive to find low paying yet essential jobs while facing discrimination. They want the federal government to get involved to change that.

“When there is a section of workers and people in society who don’t have the same rights as everybody else what this means is that it’s good for employers or landlords to exploit them, so permanent status for all migrants will ensure prosperity and support for all of us.”