Ibbitson: Canada may need to brace for influx of undocumented immigrants if Trump becomes president

2024/06/21 Leave a comment

Quite astounding that Ibbitson would essentially advocate an open door policy for the American undocumented that would likely seek coming to Canada. Such a wholesale approach, in the context of already excessive levels of permanent and temporary migration, would undermine further any pretence of a managed immigration system, not to mention the increased burden on healthcare, housing and infrastructure.

Since many of the undocumented are lower skilled, such an approach would further weaken Canada’s productivity.

In terms of the academics quoted, Macklin is correct regarding the practical difficulties of effectively expelling over 10 million people but may be discounting that a Trump 2 administration will be more ideological and is actively looking at how to effect such policy.

Somewhat puzzled by Lieu’s comment dismissing the importance of numbers on public confidence. While true that it may depend more on “proper supervision,” rapid growth in numbers becomes a proxy for lack of proper supervision, as Roxham Road and previous irregular arrivals attest, not to mention IRCC’s many issues and challenges in managing current flows.

In any case, Mr. Trump might welcome the departure of undocumented immigrants across the northern border and scrap the agreement himself.

In the event of a Trump victory, Canada should be ready to welcome as many new arrivals from the United States as possible, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status.

They would represent a silver lining to the very dark thundercloud of a second Trump presidency.

Source: Canada may need to brace for influx of undocumented immigrants if Trump becomes president

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Immigration Minister planning ‘broad’ program to create citizenship path for undocumented in Canada 

2023/12/15 Leave a comment

We will see. However, Minister Miller appears more thoughtful and aware than his predecessors in discussing the issues:

Ottawa is preparing to create a path to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of people who have lived and worked in Canada illegally for years, starting with construction workers, Immigration Minister Marc Miller says.

In an interview, Mr. Miller said he is preparing to create a “broad and comprehensive program” that would allow many without valid documents to apply for permanent residency. Among those included would be people who entered the country legally, as temporary workers or international students, and then remained here after their visas expired.

The minister said he plans to present a proposal to cabinet in the spring on allowing undocumented immigrants to “regularize their status.” But he acknowledged the policy may face opposition.

“The conversation on regularizing people that are here, and by my estimation – my belief – should be Canadian, is not one that’s unanimous in the country,” he said. “We have to have a greater conversation as a country about that.”

There are an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people living in the country without valid documents, he added. Many have been working here for decades and have children, but risk deportation because they lack formal status.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has been considering creating a program for undocumented workers since shortly after the last election. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mandate letter to former immigration minister Sean Fraser in 2021 asked him to “further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.”

Mr. Miller suggested that not all those without valid documents would be allowed to apply for permanent residency, including those who have arrived recently in Canada.

But he said he is planning in the near future to roll out a program that would allow construction workers living in Canada without legal status to apply for residency, to help address Canada’s shortage of skilled workers able to build homes.

Creating a path for undocumented construction workers to settle in Canada would be a “good way to test the narrative” of the wider program he is planning to present to cabinet, Mr. Miller said.

But he said he understands how some immigrants who came to Canada legally may feel about people they think “got a pass.”

“These are people that are already here, already contributing and have kids,“ he said of undocumented workers. “People do get worked up about numbers, but the reality is that they are already here.”

He said it “makes absolutely no sense” that people who have been here for decades and have children have not been able to obtain legal status. He added that Canada’s immigration policy needs refining and “tailoring to the reality on the ground.”

Mr. Miller said he is planning further reforms to Canada’s immigration system to bolster its integrity, including changes to temporary foreign worker and international student programs.

The federal government has raised its immigration targets in recent years. It announced last month that it would freeze the number of new permanent residents it hopes to admit each year at 500,000 in 2026. Recent polls have shown public support waning for the scale of new arrivals, and some of those polls have linked the issue to a shortage of affordable housing. But Mr. Miller said the underlying figures suggest there is still broad support for immigration.

“Of all the countries in the world, Canada is seen, in a vast consensus, as having gotten it right,” he said.

“But when we get things wrong, and we get policies wrong, you create fertile ground for people to weaponize the issue.”

A number of countries, including France, Hungary and Germany, have seen an upsurge of support in recent years for hard-right politicians pursuing anti-immigrant policies. Mr. Miller said he does not want to see this repeated in Canada. He noted “the headwinds we’re seeing across the world with countries that have a significant influx of immigrants – a tendency and an ability to weaponize it.”

“I think the last thing we need as a country is a prominent leader to say something idiotic, or weaponize the issue of immigrants and make it into a campaign slogan,” he said. “We see in countries where it happens what it leads to.”

He said he plans to look at “adjusting our public policies to make sure we’re being we’re being smart about the type of people coming to this country, and what they can contribute.”

He added that there was “robust discussion on both ends of the spectrum” in cabinet about whether to freeze the federal immigration targets, reduce them or raise them further.

“The general consensus was to stabilize it and to have a look over the next year as to what that looks like and the pressures that we continue to face,” he said.

Mr. Miller said in areas such as construction and health care, immigrants are indispensable. “But again, we just have to be a little more careful in how we are in our tailoring these policies to the reality on the ground,” he said.

Last week, he doubled the amount of money international students need to prove they have in order to qualify for study permits. The reform is expected to significantly cut the number arriving here.

Mr. Miller said he is concerned about exploitation of international students by agents, who charge thousands of dollars to help them apply to schools, in some cases sub-standard colleges that he has said churn out graduates like “puppy mills.”

Some students have faced deportation after it emerged that they had entered Canada with forged college acceptance letters provided by agents. Mr. Miller said fraud is only one aspect of the abuse that occurs, but is widespread. “It occurs in source countries, it occurs in Canada. And it’s one where it’s gone unchecked for way too long.”

Source: Immigration Minister planning ‘broad’ program to create citizenship path for undocumented in Canada 

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What’s behind the rise in undocumented Indian immigrants crossing U.S. borders on foot – NBC News

2023/11/16 Leave a comment

Of interest:

From October 2022 to this September, the 2023 fiscal year, there were 96,917 Indians encountered — apprehended, expelled or denied entry — having entered the U.S. without papers. It marks a fivefold increase from the same period from 2019 to 2020, when there were just 19,883.

Immigration experts say several factors are at play, including an overall growth in global migration since the pandemic, oppression of minority communities in India, smugglers’ use of increasingly sophisticated and in-demand methods of getting people to America, and extreme visa backlogs.

The number of undocumented Indians in the U.S. has been climbing since borders opened post-Covid, with 30,662 encountered in the 2021 fiscal year and 63,927 in the 2022 fiscal year.

Out of the nearly 97,000 encounters this year, 30,010 were at the Canadian border and 41,770 at the Southern border.

“The Southern border has just become a staging ground for migrants from all parts of the world to come to the U.S. most quickly,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a lawyer and the director of non-partisan research group Migration Policy Institute’s New York office. “Why would you wait for a visitor visa in Delhi if you can make it faster to the Southern border?”

The Canadian border, on the other hand, has large stretches that are virtually unguarded at times, said Gaurav Khanna, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California at San Diego, whose research concentrates on immigration.

While not all routes look the same, a journey from India to the U.S. might take migrants on several legs, all while being passed among various facilitators.

“People will get you to, let’s say, the Middle East, or people will get you to Europe,” Chishti said. “The next journey from there would be to Africa. If not Africa, maybe then to South America. Then the next person will get you from South America to the south of Mexico. Then from the south of Mexico to the northern cities of Mexico, and then the next person will get you over to the U.S.”

Long, treacherous journeys often land migrants in limbo, facing overwhelmed immigration systems, he said. CBP told NBC News that families coming to the U.S. illegally will face removal.

“No one should believe the lies of smugglers through these travel agencies. The fact is that individuals and families without a legal basis to remain in the United States will be removed,” a CBP spokesperson said.

But when those migrants are coming from across an ocean, experts say, the reality is far more complicated.

“You can easily turn people back to Mexico — that’s their country, ‘make a U-turn,’” Chishti said. “But you can’t deport people to faraway places that easily. Mexico won’t take them. Why would Mexico take an Indian?”

….

Source: What’s behind the rise in undocumented Indian immigrants crossing U.S. borders on foot – NBC News

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Ottawa n’aurait aucune idée du nombre de sans-papiers au Canada

2023/06/15 Leave a comment

Longstanding issue. USA manages to count visa overstays (the majority of cases) and unclear why Canada has been such a laggard. As a result, advocates are free to throw around large numbers without substantiation:

Ottawa naviguerait sans boussole dans sa volonté de régulariser massivement le statut des sans-papiers sur son territoire.

La lettre de mandat remise au ministre fédéral de l’Immigration, Sean Fraser, par le premier ministre Justin Trudeau, au moment de sa nomination en décembre 2021, lui enjoint de « poursuivre l’exploration de moyens de régulariser le statut des travailleurs sans papiers qui contribuent aux communautés canadiennes ».

Selon Radio-Canada, le gouvernement fédéral souhaiterait amorcer une démarche de régularisation massive dès cet été, mais au Québec, une telle décision doit recevoir l’aval du gouvernement Legault, qui a le dernier mot sur l’accueil de nouveaux arrivants en vertu de ses pouvoirs en immigration.

Or, si la ministre québécoise de l’Immigration, Christine Fréchette, répète qu’elle est ouverte à aller de l’avant, elle continue de réclamer des chiffres qui, semble-t-il, n’existent pas.

« C’est une des choses pour lesquelles on attend des informations. Les seuls chiffres qu’on nous a donnés au fédéral, c’est que ça concernerait entre 20 000 et 500 000 personnes [à l’échelle canadienne]. Alors entre ça et ne pas avoir d’estimé, c’est la même chose », a-t-elle laissé tomber en mêlée de presse à l’issue d’une annonce en francisation à Montréal, mardi.

Les voies de communication sont tout de même ouvertes. « Il y a eu des premiers contacts, des premiers échanges », a-t-elle précisé.

Mme Fréchette reconnaît qu’il n’est guère simple d’avoir des données précises dans le cas des sans-papiers.

« On parle de gens pour qui on n’a pas une connaissance fine de la réalité parce que ce sont des gens qui oeuvrent d’une manière un peu souterraine, mais on attend quand même d’avoir un estimé plus précis en ce qui a trait au Québec. »

En d’autres termes, le gouvernement fédéral n’a pas plus de précisions à offrir à l’échelle provinciale qu’il n’en a à l’échelle pancanadienne et, en l’absence d’un ordre de grandeur, la décision de Québec devient difficile à prendre.

Un actif pour la société

Il n’y a cependant pas de réticence à accueillir ces éventuels nouveaux citoyens, particulièrement dans un contexte de pénurie de main-d’oeuvre, s’empresse de préciser la ministre Fréchette.

« Ces gens-là sont déjà ici, ils sont actifs dans une variété de secteurs économiques, donc ça va faire partie des réflexions de savoir un peu plus qui ils sont, de qui il s’agit », mais pour ça, répète-t-elle, il faut savoir « combien sont au Québec ».

La plupart des personnes désignées comme étant des sans-papiers sont des personnes entrées légalement au Canada, mais qui ont perdu leur statut, soit par l’expiration d’un permis de travail ou d’un visa. Cette catégorie comprend également les demandeurs de statut de réfugié qui ont essuyé un refus, mais qui se trouvent toujours au Canada pour diverses raisons. Dans tous les cas, ce sont des personnes qui n’ont pas l’autorisation de résider ou de travailler au Canada, ce qui exclut les travailleurs temporaires et les demandeurs d’asile dont le dossier est toujours à l’étude.

Source: Ottawa n’aurait aucune idée du nombre de sans-papiers au Canada

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Yalnizyan: Allowing undocumented immigrants to stay and work in Canada — permanently — would benefit us all

2023/04/13 Leave a comment

Rather than another piecemeal change to immigration policy, the government needs to move from the narrow Permanent Residents focus of annual planning and expand that to include targets (i.e., caps) on temporary workers and students and align a global permanent and temporary resident immigration plan with housing, healthcare and infrastructure capacity.

Not convinced that the economic benefits will be as strong as Armine suggests and we would be largely increasing the numbers of lower-paid and lower-skilled, rather than the higher-skilled needed to improve productivity.

It would also be helpful to have more accurate numbers on the number of undocumented, including visa overstays as the US regularly does as the figures cited by advocates have never been rigorously substantiated (CBSA should be able to collect information on visa overstays):

Want higher pay? A bigger economy with more household purchasing power? More revenues for public programs? Less exploitation of people at work and in society?

It’s all possible. Everyone can win, but the argument is counterintuitive, and may challenge your notions about fairness, process, and who gets to be Canadian. Stay with me on this.

The problem

Canada has long issued permits for people to temporarily come work and study in Canada, but the recent growth in this practice is staggering. By the end of 2022, in the name of fast-tracking solutions to labour shortages for business, the number of temporary foreign workers increased by 50 per cent compared to 2021, to almost 800,000 people.

In less than a generation, there has been an 8.5-fold increase in the numbers we permit to temporarily come work and study here, to 1.6 million in 2022 from 189,000 such residents in 2000. There was no public debate if this was good policy.

Colleges and universities now rely on the high fees they can charge international students, and we now take for granted the endless army of permanently temporary workers who chop and clean in restaurant kitchens, erect and renovate buildings, clean at night and care for your loved ones during the day.

We don’t know what share of temporary residents come here hoping to stay, but the complex maze of rules and conditions — requiring multiple applications and precise timing — guarantees some people will find no pathways to permanence, and others will run out of time trying.

Some leave, some are deported, and some live among us without official status. That opens the door to all sorts of bad economic outcomes. In 2007, the RCMP said between 200,000 and 500,000 were undocumented. It’s surely higher today, given how we’re expanding the inflows. That’s bad for them, and it’s bad for us. 

The fix

The solution is a regularization program for those who have simply overstayed time-stamps on their authorized entries, or whose official authorization is about to run out, with either no path to permanence or a tortured one, at best.

We need them, and they want to be here. Let them stay. Permanently.

Let me show you what this could mean for just one person.

Meet Sam

Sam (I have changed his name to protect his identity), came to Canada from India in the spring of 2019 as a bright and hopeful 17-year-old international student, legally permitted to study and work here.

His parents borrowed the first instalment of $8,500 for his $25,000-a-year, two-year business degree at a southern Ontario college. He worked part-time at a gas station, where he made $900 a month, covering his rent ($550), food and bus fare, but not much else. He, too, had to borrow money to cover the costs of education. 

When COVID hit, he was worried he’d fail because online learning was such a disorganized disaster, so his boss suggested he switch immigration status from international student to temporary foreign worker. The boss introduced him to an immigration “specialist” who charged $3,500 to prepare a Labour Market Impact Assessment, $2,500 for a work permit, and a $1,000 fee.

The specialist bungled the application process, leaving Sam in legal limbo after almost a year of waiting. Meanwhile, he was working 50 hours a week, for cash. It was half the minimum wage. He knew what his rights were, but could not enforce them.

Desperate to avoid deportation, he applied for a temporary work permit through the International Mobility Program. Another year, another negative result because of filing mistakes, another $3,000.

Sam was exploited by everyone: the post-secondary system, his employer, the immigration specialist. He is terrified of staying. He’s terrified of going.

As an undocumented worker, he can only find cash jobs that are dirty, dangerous and difficult. Returning to India would mean he would never earn enough to repay his loans.

I met Sam through the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, whose ambitious and strategic advocacy on this issue has built pressure on the federal government to make good on its promise to deal with a problem of its own making. A move is expected soon.

That could mean a lot of things. All involve better economic outcomes. How much better? 

By the numbers

According to a 2021 study by the Center for American Progress, regularizing the undocumented in the United States could add $1.7 trillion in GDP over the next 10 years and 439,000 jobs over and above the work done under the table by the roughly five million undocumented workers in the U.S.

(Canada is a country more reliant on newcomers than the U.S.; and while I was unable to find such analysis here, similar dynamics apply, on a smaller scale.)

It is estimated these workers would see about $4,000 more a year in the first five years after becoming a permanent resident (a 10 per cent increase), and $14,000 more annually in the next five years (a 32 per cent increase).

That’s because regularization permits workers to find better jobs, better opportunities, and the chance to openly use their skills. Status also gives people access to education and health care, and protection by labour standards lessens workplace injuries and illness.

Then there’s the payoff: better-paid workers and those no longer in the underground cash economy pay more sales taxes, property taxes (embedded in rents), and income taxes, supporting more public goods.

Regularization = better jobs + stronger public services + more economic resilience. It’s beautiful math. 

Win-win-win … when?

Regularization is a common practice in Europe, but it hasn’t happened in Canada since 1973. 

When Pierre Trudeau regularized almost 40,000 people, 60 per cent were undocumented residents, but 40 per cent were those seeking transition from temporary to permanent status, mostly international students and visitors.

It was a legacy move, securing decades of newcomer support for Liberals, but it was not an obvious thing to do. In 1973, unemployment was rising due to the first global oil price shock.

David Moffette, professor of immigration policy at the University of Ottawa, underscored a surprising fact: “Nobody politicized the issue. Nobody said, ‘Don’t let these people in.’ There was no trace of opposition to the program.” The reality was that these people were already living and working here. Nobody wanted a growing population of the undocumented in Canada. We’re at a similar moment.

Locking the doors isn’t enough

The recent closing of Roxham Road and all unauthorized entry points to Canada locks the back door; but unauthorized entries (roughly 40,000 people in 2022) have never been the main source of undocumented populations. The vast majority become undocumented by overstaying time-stamps on authorized entries.

The federal government is aware.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s mandate letter requires he build on pilot projects his government created in 2021-22 to regularize the status of some undocumented workers in critical sectors like health care and construction.

The take-up has been underwhelming, with these projects welcoming fewer than 10,000 people into the Canadian family, largely due to highly restrictive rules. Therein lies the clue for what comes next, and it looks a lot like the program of 1973: accept those who are already here — working, studying and contributing to communities across Canada — who want to build their lives here.

As the economy slows, providing permanent resident status to the undocumented and those holding temporary permits would maximize their economic and fiscal contributions.

That’s the business case. 

The humane case is an even easier one to make.

Instead of creating impossible Catch-22 situations for Sam and hundreds of thousands of people just like him, we could unlock his future — and in so doing, ours.

Source: Allowing undocumented immigrants to stay and work in Canada — permanently — would benefit us all

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Soucy: Cohérence médicale pour les migrantes enceintes

2023/02/22 Leave a comment

Soucy makes a valuable distinction between birth tourists and vulnerable and precarious migrant women, some 2,000 according to RAMQ. Will be interesting to see whether Quebec provides a waiver to the non-resident medical surcharge or not:

Les enfants ne naissent pas d’une fleur : la santé de la mère est intimement liée à celle de l’enfant. La jolie formule utilisée par Médecins du monde résume bien l’incohérence de refuser aux mères ce qu’on a bien voulu accorder à leurs petits à venir, soit une couverture de santé bétonnée par un accès sans condition (sinon celle d’être présents sur le territoire plus de six mois) aux régimes d’assurance maladie et d’assurance médicaments, peu importe leur lieu de naissance ou le statut migratoire de leurs parents.

Il n’est pas inutile de rappeler que le projet de loi 83, qui a permis cette avancée, a été adopté à l’unanimité à l’Assemblée nationale en juin 2021. Guidés par des objectifs « d’équité et de solidarité », les partis n’avaient alors pas manqué de réclamer la même chose pour les mères en devenir. Il est bien documenté que l’absence de suivi de grossesse vient avec des risques accrus notamment de fausse couche et de césarienne, mais aussi de prématurité, de détresse foetale et de petits poids chez les nouveau-nés.

Outre leurs effets délétères sur les humains concernés, ces éléments pèsent lourd sur notre système de santé engorgé, en plus de nous coûter collectivement plus cher à long terme. Sensible à tous ces arguments tant éthiques et sanitaires qu’économiques, le ministre de la Santé, Christian Dubé, avait immédiatement mandaté la Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) afin qu’elle évalue les options qui s’offrent pour combler cette brèche.

Déposé en juin dernier, son rapport présente quatre solutions, dont le statu quo, qui va contre la volonté parlementaire. Au vu et au su des cas déchirants rapportés par les médias ces derniers mois, et dont le nombre grandit à vue d’oeil, il est clair que cette option n’en est pas une. Au Québec, un accouchement sans complications après un suivi de grossesse normal aura coûté entre un peu moins de 10 000 $ et jusqu’à près de 20 000 $ à qui n’a pas d’assurance maladie. Pour nombre de femmes enceintes à statut précaire, une facture de cette ampleur agit non seulement comme un frein, mais aussi comme un accélérateur de paupérisation terrible.

Ceux qui agitent l’épouvantail du tourisme médical dans ce dossier n’ont pas complètement tort. Ce phénomène existe bel et bien au Canada, nourri notamment par ce qu’on pourrait appeler une double citoyenneté de complaisance. Le Québec n’y échappe pas, lui qui a un fructueux historique en matière de tourisme obstétrique, rappelle la RAMQ. Mais ce n’est pas de cela qu’il s’agit ici.

Ce dont il est question, c’est d’une couverture d’assurance maladie pour les soins de santé sexuelle et reproductive accessible à toutes les femmes qui vivent au Québec (et non pas celles qui y transitent pour en soutirer le meilleur avant de repartir avec leur petit bonheur sous le bras), indépendamment de leur statut migratoire. Plusieurs pays offrent déjà ce genre de formules, comme la France, la Belgique, l’Allemagne et même quelques États du voisin américain, pourtant peu réputé pour sa générosité en matière de soins de santé.

Le Québec peut en faire autant pour les quelque 2000 femmes concernées par année, selon l’évaluation de la RAMQ. Celle-ci a retenu trois formules qui pourraient avoir des bienfaits notables dans la trajectoire de ces femmes et de leurs enfants à naître. Cela va de l’élimination de la surcharge de 200 % des coûts engagés imposée actuellement à la gratuité pour toutes, en passant par la gratuité pour les femmes migrantes qui répondent à des critères de vulnérabilité (comme la pauvreté et la sous-scolarisation).

Le ministre Dubé dit attendre les conclusions du groupe de travail censé soupeser ces options et en évaluer la faisabilité pour trancher. L’affaire n’est pas simple : il faudra être équitable tout en empêchant tous les abus possibles afin de garder une saine gestion du régime. Souhaitons, surtout, qu’il ne tarde pas.

À force de se déchirer sur le chemin Roxham, on a fini par perdre de vue une valeur cardinale chère aux Québécois, celle de prendre soin de notre monde. Indépendamment du nombre d’immigrants que le Québec veut ou peut accueillir — et qu’il faudra bien définir un jour —, des femmes sans statut vivent leur grossesse ici, maintenant. C’est fâcheux, mais une grossesse ne se met pas sur la glace.

Source: Cohérence médicale pour les migrantes enceintes

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Canada expands immigration program for undocumented construction workers in GTA

2023/01/24 Leave a comment

Of note:

To help address Canada’s housing crisis, the federal government is expanding a small-scale pilot project that offers permanent residence for out-of-status construction workers who are already working underground in the sector here.

On Friday, the government said it is doubling the annual number of available spots in the program from 500 workers — plus their family members — to 1,000, as part of its plan to ease the labour shortage in skilled trades.

Potential applicants are required to first identify themselves to the Canadian Labour Congress, which pre-screens and refers qualified candidates for final assessment by the immigration department. Eligible candidates have until Jan. 2, 2024, to apply.

“This pilot program is a significant step forward in addressing critical labour shortages for the Greater Toronto Area by supporting stability in the construction industry and bringing workers out of the underground economy,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement.

“By providing regular pathways for out-of-status migrants, we are not only protecting workers and their families, but also safeguarding Canada’s labour market and ensuring that we can retain the skilled workers we need to grow our economy and build our communities.”

In Ontario, the construction sector had 28,360 jobs waiting to be filled in the second quarter of last year, up from 20,895 over the same period in 2021.

Last November, Fraser raised eyebrows when he unveiled Canada’s multi-year immigration plan to bring in 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, as well as 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025 despite concerns over a looming recession.

While the majority of Canadians welcome a higher immigration level, some worry about whether the country will be able to accommodate so many more people amid a tight rental and housing market, fearing the measures could drive up housing costs further.

“We’re pushing people to regions that have more capacity to absorb newcomers. It’s not a coincidence that we’re talking about establishing stronger regional pathways,” Fraser said then, referring to immigration programs that offer incentives for newcomers to settle in smaller, rural communities.

“We’re not going to solve this problem if we don’t build more housing. Realistically, we need to leverage the new flexibilities that will kick in in 2023 to do targeted (immigration) draws for people who have the skills to build more houses.”

There are as many as 500,000 undocumented residents estimated to be in Canada. Many work precarious and often exploitative jobs in construction, cleaning, caregiving, food processing and agriculture.

The vast majority of undocumented residents came to Canada legally, only to later lose status because of issues with student visas, temporary work permits or asylum claims, advocates say.

Those issues are born out of an increasingly temporary immigration system, where many residents struggle to extend short-term permits and gain permanent residency.

One of Fraser’s mandated priorities from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was to explore more ways to regularize undocumented residents.

The immigration department has completed research and consultation for a broader regularization program based on the construction worker pilot. Cabinet is currently weighing different options for a final plan, the Star has learned.

“Out-of-status workers are vulnerable to employer exploitation and abuse, and they and their families live with limited access to education, health and social programs,” noted Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, in a news release.

“The extension of the out-of-status construction workers in the GTA initiative for 2023 will help more vulnerable workers and their families during these uncertain times.”

Under the construction worker pilot program, only undocumented construction workers who live in Toronto, Durham, Halton, Peel and York regions qualify.

Source: Canada expands immigration program for undocumented construction workers in GTA

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Dutrisac: Régulariser les sans-papiers

2022/11/16 Leave a comment

Of note:

En décembre 2021, le premier ministre Justin Trudeau demandait au ministre de l’Immigration, des Réfugiés et de la Citoyenneté, Sean Fraser, de « poursuivre l’exploration de moyens » afin de régulariser le statut des travailleurs migrants sans papiers. Dix mois plus tard, le ministre n’a toujours pas annoncé quoi que ce soit.

Il y a un peu plus d’une semaine, une centaine de personnes ont manifesté à Montréal pour réclamer un programme massif de régularisation de ces travailleurs.

Selon le Comité permanent de la citoyenneté et de l’immigration de la Chambre des communes, le Canada compte entre 20 000 et 500 000 migrants non documentés. Quand on voit de tels chiffres, et un tel écart dans les évaluations, c’est qu’on ne sait pas vraiment combien on dénombre de ces personnes qui subsistent dans cette clandestinité pitoyable mais tolérée.

Parmi ces travailleurs qui ont préféré prendre la clé des champs au lieu de retourner dans leurs pays d’origine, on trouve plusieurs cas d’espèce. Il y a des détenteurs de visa de touristes qui sont restés illégalement au pays, des travailleurs dont le permis de travail n’a pas été renouvelé, parfois à cause d’employeurs négligents ou de la complexité administrative des programmes d’Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC), des étudiants étrangers au terme de leurs études et des demandeurs d’asile qui se sont vu refuser le statut de réfugié et font l’objet d’un avis d’expulsion.

S’il est vrai que des centaines de milliers de travailleurs, voire un demi-million, comme certains l’estiment, travaillent au noir au Canada, on ne peut continuer à ignorer le problème. Ces travailleurs ne jouissent d’aucune protection sociale ; ils n’ont pas accès aux services de santé gratuits, ni à la protection contre les accidents du travail, à l’assurance-emploi évidemment et à l’aide de dernier recours. Leur quotidien est fait de petits boulots mal payés. Ils sont dépendants d’employeurs qui peuvent les exploiter. Parfois, ils ne parlent que leur langue natale et sont ainsi souvent confinés dans leur communauté ethnique, ce qui est cependant conforme au dogme multiculturaliste.

Dans la commande qu’il a passée à son ministre, Justin Trudeau lui demande de s’appuyer sur les programmes pilotes existants. Depuis deux ans à Toronto, il existe un tel projet pilote dans l’industrie de la construction. Il est très limité : le programme vise la régularisation de 500 travailleurs seulement, et il semble que ce modeste objectif n’ait même pas été atteint. L’an dernier, IRCC a aboli une des conditions qui faisait obstacle : avoir une connaissance des plus minimales d’une des langues officielles, en l’occurrence l’anglais évidemment. Ottawa octroie la résidence permanente à des immigrants qui ne parlent aucune des langues officielles. Ce n’est pas un empêchement.

Le phénomène des travailleurs sans papiers est une conséquence du régime d’immigration qui s’est imposé ces dernières années. La grande majorité des candidats à l’immigration ne font plus leur demande de l’étranger : ils sont déjà au pays à titre de travailleurs temporaires, d’étudiants et de demandeurs d’asile.

Ces étrangers sont confrontés au double langage des autorités fédérales : d’une part, on leur dit que la voie privilégiée pour être admis comme immigrant, c’est d’être déjà au Canada grâce à un statut temporaire, d’autre part, on exige d’eux qu’ils s’engagent à quitter le pays une fois leurs contrats ou leurs études terminés.

Dans le cas des demandeurs d’asile qui passent par le chemin Roxham, il peut s’écouler des années avant que leur sort ne soit tranché par les autorités. Entre-temps, nombre d’entre eux ont pu se trouver un emploi stable, apprendre la langue commune, voire fonder un foyer. Bref, ils se sont intégrés.

L’inconvénient de la régularisation, c’est qu’elle concède un avantage à des personnes qui enfreignent les règles au détriment de ceux qui s’y conforment. Mieux vaut mieux entrer par le chemin Roxham que d’emprunter la voie régulière et passer les postes-frontières.

L’autre enjeu, c’est l’état de dysfonctionnement d’IRCC qui n’arrive pas, à l’heure actuelle, à assumer correctement ses responsabilités. À titre d’exemple, les demandeurs d’asile qui arrivent au Québec attendent maintenant dix mois avant qu’Ottawa officialise leur requête pour leur statut de réfugié, une étape qui leur permet d’obtenir un permis de travail. Forcés à ne rien faire, ils en sont réduits à recevoir de l’aide de dernier recours.

Devant l’incurie fédérale, le gouvernement Legault a le devoir d’exercer tous les pouvoirs dont il dispose, notamment en matière de permis de travail et d’études, afin de remédier aux aberrations d’un système défaillant. Mais à terme, c’est l’ensemble de l’oeuvre qu’il lui faudra revoir.

Source: Régulariser les sans-papiers

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Ottawa working on program to regularize status of 500,000 immigrants

2022/10/08 Leave a comment

Hopefully, the government is not only consulting with advocacy groups (CBA is the only one quoted with some concerns):

The federal government is aiming to create a program that will provide a path to permanent residency for up to 500,000 immigrants who are working in Canada but do not have official standing.

The program would have unprecedented scope and apply to people whose visa or work permits had expired, and to those whose refugee applications may have been denied or blocked due to a moratorium on deportations to their country, according to Radio-Canada.

“We’re looking into ways to regularize people who live in Canada with a precarious status,” a government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Radio-Canada.

Up to 500,000 people could be eligible, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

In his mandate letter to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser late last year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Fraser to “further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.”

Immigration Ministry spokesperson Rémi Larivière confirmed that work to complete that mandate “is underway,” and that the ministry is consulting with university researchers, experts and industry advocates.

Ministry officers have approached several advocacy groups in recent weeks and over the summer to consult them on the program, Larivière said. Potential criteria and a launch date are still unknown.

“We’re hoping for an inclusive program that will help many people, but it’s still vague,” said Hady Anne, a spokesperson for the Montreal-based Solidarity Without Borders.

While there have been programs to regularize the status of immigrant groups before, none have included so many people, says Rivka Augenfeld, a lifelong refugee advocate and the former president the Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes, a working table of Quebec immigration organizations

“It’s never been seen,” Augenfeld said of the forthcoming program’s expected scope. But she warned that for it to be effective, the program will need “the will of a good minister as well as the prime minister’s support.”

Temporary workers and asylum seekers would not be able to apply — including the thousands who have crossed at Roxham Road in Lacolle, Que., an unofficial crossing point increasingly popular among migrants entering Canada from the United States.

There is a large backlog in processing asylum applications, meaning many people wait years before even having a chance to tell their story before an Immigration and Refugee Board judge.

Lisa Middlemiss, the president of the Canadian Bar Association, says that while the new program would be a positive step for people with precarious status who’ve lived and worked in the country for years, it could appear unfair to migrants who have temporary status in Canada without the possibility of obtaining permanent residency.

“It’s ambitious and interesting, but it could generate a lot of frustrations,” Middlemiss said.

Larivière, the ministry spokesperson, said Ottawa would “continue to support inclusive immigration programs that meet Canada’s economic needs and fuel our growth.”

Would Quebec buy in?

Advocates such as Augenfeld and Anne fear Quebec’s government could intervene to limit the program within the province.

During the pandemic, when the federal government created a program allowing asylum seekers working in health care to apply for permanent residency, Premier François Legault’s government objected to expanding the criteria to workers who did not directly care for patients, such as cooking staff and cleaners.

The move excluded thousands and was strongly condemned by immigration advocates.

In the spring of 2021, Legault also declined to participate in another federal program offering essential workers and graduates a new pathway to permanent residency.

Legault was re-elected on Monday with a resounding majority of 90 out of 125 seats in the National Assembly.

He came under fire leading up to the election after he associated immigration with violence and extremism and later said it would a “bit suicidal” for Quebec to increase its immigration levels, insisting that accepting more immigrants entails a threat to the French language.

“We’re worried Quebec will complicate things,” said Anne of Solidarity Against Borders.

Augenfeld also raised the possibility that Quebec could “throw a wrench” into the plan for immigrants in the province.

Because the program is expected to include people from countries for which Canada has moratoriums on deportations, Haitian nationals, largely based in Quebec, could qualify.

Frantz André, who has helped hundreds of Haitians apply for asylum in the province, hopes Legault will be more open this time around.

“We’re hoping he’ll be more generous,” André said. “These people have been living in system that is broken for too long. They’ve demonstrated that they are real citizens.”

Reached by Radio-Canada, the Quebec premier’s office declined to answer questions on the topic.

“We’ve had no information from the federal government on the subject,” a spokesperson said.

Source: Ottawa working on program to regularize status of 500,000 immigrants

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Block: A huge upside to recognizing rights for migrants living in Canada

2022/09/26 Leave a comment

More advocacy than balanced analysis on the pros and cons.

The argument that this will increase Canadian productivity is more wishful thinking as no studies that I am aware of demonstrate that (nor for the overall large and increasing numbers of immigrants):

“Papers, please.”

In Hollywood movies, these two words never fail to inject fear, tension and high stakes into any scene. A character whose documents are not “in order” faces serious consequences, from job loss to family separation to arrest to deportation.

For some 500,000 people in Canada, this scenario is no movie scene — it’s real life. For various reasons, they have no legal status in this country. Another 1.2 million people are here on permits that allow them to work or study, for now, but with no right to stay permanently. They have limited access to the benefits most citizens take for granted.

For these residents, this lack of status is a source of constant worry. Life without status means life without health care. It means working without the workplace protections that all workers deserve. It means no rights to minimum standards like the minimum wage, or overtime pay, or statutory holiday pay.

Undocumented workers are more likely to face wage theft, injury and sexual exploitation.

Further, the existence of a large pool of workers with few rights gives employers a ready source of cheap labour — one that is unlikely to complain for fear of job loss or worse. There are no minimum standards for workers without rights. This has a negative impact on the labour market as a whole, dragging down wages and working conditions for low-wage workers generally.

So it is good news that the federal government is looking at ways to “regularize” more migrants and undocumented workers to bring them into the mainstream of Canadian society. It is hard to overestimate the benefits of doing so.

The humanitarian benefits to individuals, families, and communities are obvious. The economic benefits to the country as a whole should not be overlooked.

First of all, Canada needs workers: we are currently facing a historic labour shortage. The number of job vacancies hit a record 997,000 in the second quarter of 2022, with significant worker shortages in health care, construction, manufacturing, retail, and other sectors. We need to increase the productive capacity of our economy, and there is no time to waste.

Canada’s population was aging long before COVID-19 came along, and if we do not take action the number of unfilled jobs can only increase as the share of the population over age 65 continues to grow. We need to increase the current and future working-age population, including the number of children and youth. A tidal wave of retirements is coming — indeed, it has already begun. As our nurses, teachers, construction workers and others leave the workforce, we need people to replace them.

Without an increase in the working age population, we will see a sharp drop-off in the productive capacity of our economy. While regularization alone will not solve this problem, it can be part of the solution.

Regularization holds the potential to provide a rapid upgrade to overall skill levels in the Canadian workforce and a corresponding boost in overall productivity. That’s because undocumented workers often have no choice but to work in jobs that use only a fraction of their skills, knowledge and abilities.

Without the threat of deportation hanging over them, undocumented workers will have the capacity to work more, to work more productively, and to participate more fully in the labour market and economy. This can only be good for all of us.

Regularization will also benefit the public purse. Undocumented workers already pay various taxes (sales taxes, for example), but with regularization they will contribute more, and so will their employers. More money for public services and infrastructure will be essential if we hope to meet current and future challenges.

Our country faces many urgent problems these days, but having too many people is not one of them. Regularization of the rights of migrants is a win for them and a win for Canada.

Let’s make sure everyone’s papers are in order.

Source: A huge upside to recognizing rights for migrants living in Canada

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