This is the first time I'm speaking to elected officials in government since March 15, which is when we started writing our letters. We wrote six letters, plus this report, and made multiple requests for meetings. Not a single.... We are the only organization that represents migrants directly. There are lots of lawyers and academics and experts who speak on behalf of people or who have opinions, but there can be nothing about us without us. Frankly, it's very clear that the government is not able in responding to what is a life-and-death situation.
I mean, these three men who are behind me, who I want you to look at and see and remember, are just one part of the series of injustices that are happening. We could tell you stories for weeks about the intense pain and suffering happening to migrants because they don't have CERB, they don't have health care and they don't have jobs. Lives and livelihoods are at stake.