Thanks for inviting us here.
It is difficult to establish an accurate figure on the number of non-status immigrants residing in Canada. Based on anecdotal information provided by service providers, employers, and unions, estimates range from 20,000 to well over 300,000, with a majority of them living in Toronto.
Their length of residency in Canada without documentation is also known to range from a few months to over twenty years.
For many, the act of staying is in effect an act of survival and the need to seek refuge from deteriorating conditions in their own country through poverty, military conflict, hunger, or to escape domestic violence, physical and psychological abuse, or state persecution.
Non-status immigrants live in constant fear of arrest, detention, and deportation and are most likely to live in extreme poverty and under exploitative conditions. Their situation is further marginalized by their lack of access to social programs and services. The irony is that not only have non-status immigrants directly contributed to the Canadian economy, but through the taxes they pay, they help to fund the very programs they are ineligible to receive and the institutions that will not accept them.
Non-status people endure many hardships and sacrifice their rights and safety in Canada for fear that things would be much worse if they were to be sent back to their home country. For these reasons we believe that a full and inclusive regularization program is required to give all non-status people living in Canada the opportunity to acquire permanent residency. Without such a program in place, non-status people will continue to be vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
While not explicitly recognized, regularization programs are a part of Canadian immigration policy. These programs have been favoured and adopted by governments and parties of all political stripes in response to the failures of immigration policies and the realities of residents without status.
This has occurred consistently over time. Since 1960, federal governments have introduced regularization programs that have granted over 230,000 non-status immigrants permanent residency status. One of the most successful regularization programs was the administrative review and the backlog clearance program that took place in the 1980s. This inclusive program resulted in approximately 160,000 applicants accepted. Any future regularization program that is created must be inclusive and accessible for all non-status people for it to make a true difference.
A regularization program also makes good economic sense. The financial and human resources required to apprehend, detain, and deport the thousands of non-status people currently living in Canada would cost much more in the long run than to establish an inclusive regularization program.
With many industries currently experiencing chronic labour shortages, the supply of available workers would help to alleviate this need.
Recognizing the critical role that non-status workers play, the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association and the construction recruitment for external workers services submitted regularization proposals to the federal government in 2003.
Just last year Parliament showed its support for non-status immigrants by passing a motion calling for a moratorium on all deportations for non-status people until immigration policies are revamped. However, the federal government, dismissing the will of Parliament, has failed to take any action on the motion.
In conjunction with regularization, we urge the federal government to act on this motion by introducing a moratorium on deportation until immigration policies are reformed.
In addition to a regularization program, other important related policy changes are needed. At present, the point system excludes many applicants despite the recognized need for their labour in Canada. Instead of revamping the point system to be more inclusive, the federal government in recent years has turned to an increased reliance on temporary migrant worker programs.
Between 2000 and 2006, the demand for temporary migrant workers has increased 110%, from 79,000 to 166,000. These programs give disproportionate powers to employers, offer workers little or no protection under Canadian labour laws, and for many provide no access to permanent residency.
We are also concerned with the impact of the proposed changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act contained in the current federal budget, Bill C-50, and urge members of the committee to reject this recent move.
The backlog of immigration cases is best addressed, as it has often been in the past, through a transparent regularization program rather than the individual decisions of a single member of Parliament.
In closing, we thank the committee for hearing our submission. We urge you to take action on regularization, as so many of your predecessors have done in the past. It is time for a new regularization program in Canada.
Thank you.