Letter calling for full and permanent immigration #StatusForAll
On November 8, 2022, the Migrant Action Centre sent out a letter to the Minister of Immigration calling for full and permanent immigration status for all. The letter read as follows:
RE: We support Permanent Residence for ALL – no exclusions
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Fraser,
We are reaching out to support the call for full and permanent immigration status for all 1.7 million migrants in Canada without exclusions or delay.
The Migrant Action Centre is a rapidly growing grassroots movement in Newfoundland and Labrador with a membership of migrants, supporters, groups, and organizations organizing for migrant rights and justice. We work on the principle that a problem for one migrant is a problem for every migrant and supporter. The events and spaces we have facilitated have engaged many migrants who come because they have something to say and there exist very few places where they can do so. Our mandate is to build collective power, collective voice, and solidarity among migrants and supporters.
With recent media coverage and actions, our membership continues to grow and the injustices and lack of rights migrants are facing become ever more clear. As a migrant-run movement, we have been working to empower migrants and have continued to hear and share heartbreaking stories of poverty, exploitation, and precarity that migrants, irrespective of status or the lack thereof, continue to face. The temporariness perpetuates this precarity, along with the lack of equal rights that the temporariness or the lack of status carries. We have met with Minister O'Regan in St. John's, and heard agreement on the necessity of this change.
Today, we have a historic opportunity to correct this wrong and give 1.7 million migrants equal rights and status!We are aware that Prime Minister Trudeau's mandate letter for Minister Fraser asks for creating a regularization program and we urge you to have a regularization program created in November. Additionally, we recognize the unanimous parliamentary motion asking the Immigration Minister to create a plan to give permanent residency to workers of all skill levels, and we emphasize the urgency as migrants continue to face exploitation every day we do not have equal rights.
The political choice is between creating an exclusionary program that will give rights to a few and deny them to most, or giving full and permanent immigration status to all 1.7 million migrants, including regularization for all 500,000 undocumented migrants. We strongly urge you to consider the latter, since that is the only way rights, equity, and justice can be worked upon. We are calling for the immediate implementation of a regularization program granting permanent resident status to all undocumented people without exception. In addition, we are also asking for permanent residence for all migrants – irrespective of their jobs or "skill levels."
The Migrant Rights Network has created a set of proposals to guide the development of a regularization program(attached) and the Migrant Action Centre along with the supporting signatories to this letter endorse these principles. We believe that no one should be left behind in having full and permanent immigration status – irrespective of their current status or the lack thereof.
We acknowledge that your government has strongly endorsed liberal values such as upholding values of equality, fighting racism, and welcoming migrants and refugees. Today, without permanent status, migrants get denied healthcare, students pay exorbitant tuition. Many migrants are unable to work, and those who can face restrictions in the industry they can work in, along with a lack of bodily autonomy – faced especially by migrant sex workers. Migrants live with a constant fear of deportation, and as we had seen with Mehdi, a former migrant student in PEI, and many others, migrants continue to face retaliation and the threat of detention and deportation on medical grounds for "excessive demand." While migrants are equally human, we are often looked upon as less than that – as people here to provide temporary cheap labour and work only where citizens and permanent residents would not. We are calling for human rights and dignity – and that can only be guaranteed by status for all!
We hereby invite you to fix a historic injustice by implementing a comprehensive program instead of a partial or exclusionary one – that is by providing full and permanent immigration status to every migrant in the country without delay or exclusions.
Sincerely,
Adi (They/Them) and Mayar (She/Her)
Representatives for the Migrant Action Centre and its membership
Supporting signatories:
The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour – The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL) has a proud history of representing union members and workers since 1936. It is made up of more than 25 affiliated unions, and Labour Councils in NL, representing 70,000 union members and their families that live in every community in NL, and work in every sector of our economy.
The NLFL is dedicated to advancing the cause of working people and promoting a progressive civil society where no one gets left behind. We advocate for improved workplace rights and stronger laws including occupational, health and safety laws as well as workers’ compensation and Employment Insurance programs that are fair and there when people need them.
We fight for better labour laws and strong, accessible public services such as universal health care, education, worker training, elder/home care and child care and early learning.
We stand up for the principles of equality, equity and social justice and we work with our affiliate unions and social partners to build a better world for all citizens.
Workers' Action Network NL – The Workers' Action Network of Newfoundland and Labrador is a network through which workers in low-wage and precarious jobs organize and exercise collective voice in the fight for decent work for all workers.
Grenfell Campus Student Union (GCSU) – A not-for-profit student union organization that advocates for student rights through social justice.
YWCA St. John’s – A non-profit organization that envisions a community where all are safe, supported, and empowered.
St. John's Status of Women Council
Anti-Racism Coalition NL (ARC-NL)
Canadian Federation of Students – Newfoundland and Labrador
Social Justice Co-operative of Newfoundland and Labrador
