Canada urgently needs an equitable immigration system

The activist view, with little awareness of the practicalities:

…It is time to embrace a new vision of immigration. Rather than viewing it as a strategy to meet short-term labour market or demographic needs, we must recognize its key role in building a more equitable world, grounded in shared well-being. The 2021 mandate letter on regularization offers a stepping stone to develop a progressive immigration system. 

Canada has implemented regularization and permanent residency fast-tracking programs a number of times in the past. However, these have been limited in scope with many conditions. The success of broad regularization programs in Italy, Spain, and Germany highlight that inclusive large-scale regularization—including at a scale of 500,000 people or more—is not just feasible, but offers long-term benefits to migrant families and the host countries. Canada needs to expand on this success.  

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (GCM) led by the United Nations Network on Migration can serve as a guidepost for an inclusive human rights-based immigration framework. The GCM calls on member states to ensure the “protection and fulfillment of the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their migration status, across all stages of the migration cycle.” It also emphasizes the need to expand pathways for safe and regular migration, especially for vulnerable migrants. In 2020, Canada signed on to become a “champion” country to implement the GCM. 

We urge the Canadian government to honour the GCM commitment and its mandate on regularization. We call on the immigration minister to urgently enact comprehensive regularization so that no undocumented person is left behind. It is important that we prioritize and support undocumented people from marginalized backgrounds through the regularization process instead of excluding them with unfair requirements that they are barred from engaging in. At the same time, we need to build accessible pathways to permanent residency for temporary migrants; and irrespective of whether they apply for permanent residency or not, it is crucial that all temporary migrants are supported with equitable rights, protections, and services. 

This is what migrant justice organizations, settlement agencies, labour unions, and advocates across Canada have been calling for. This is the necessary path that Canada needs to take to become a global champion for legislating an equitable and just immigration system. 

Yogendra Shakya is a research and policy analyst focused on immigrant issues. Axelle Janczur is the executive director of Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services. 

Source: Canada urgently needs an equitable immigration system