Sept 17, 2024 | by Barry Weisleder
Over a thousand people marched from Toronto City Hall to the famous intersection of Bloor and Yonge to demand that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau keep his promise to “regularize” undocumented immigrants in Canada. It would mean that individuals can obtain a hearing to apply for permanent residency.
Without permanent resident status, migrants — including refugees, temporary foreign workers, current and former international students and undocumented people — face mistreatment at work, exploitation by landlords, separation from their families, and are denied rights and protections afforded to others in Canada. Increasing anti-immigrant sentiment is leading to more hate-motivated attacks and abuses.
Instead of ensuring rights for migrants, the federal government has capped study permits, barred most study permit holders from bringing their families, limited permanent residency, slashed work permits, refused to renew permits for graduated international students, imposed visas on Mexico, and increased via denials. There are potentially 500,000 undocumented migrants in the country now.
At the call of the Migrant Workers’ Alliance, people marched on September 15 in nine cities across the country, from B.C. to P.E.I. They insisted that the choice is regularization or racism. The root problem is wealthy corporations, giant landlords and huge grocery chains that foster inequality and poverty, not immigrants. “Status for All!”
