Thank you.
Our deputation is going to address predominantly the issue of undocumented workers, but we're going to make a few references to temporary foreign workers as well.
I'm here on behalf of Status Now! Campaign in Defense of Undocumented Immigrants. Our campaign includes various national, regional, and local immigrant refugee organizations, trade unions, and agencies.
We strongly believe an immediate moratorium on deportation of all non-status people living in Canada must be implemented. Until then, we ask that a full, inclusive, and acceptable regularization program be put into place.
I would like to begin by making a couple of references to the motion for a moratorium on deportations for undocumented workers under family, which was discussed in June 2007. The success of the motion spoke to the growing support for a national regularization program in Canada. In fact, the motion itself was a response to significant demonstrations and public protests demanding an end to the unjust deportations that an increasing number of Canadians see as cruel and unnecessary.
We're encouraged that such a motion has recently been debated and supported by members of our Parliament. Regularization programs have been a significant part of Canada's history. In fact, the first regularization or amnesty program was introduced by MP Douglas Jung about 50 years ago.
Many such programs have followed, including the administrative review program and many others. I won't waste your time reading through those.
While the previous motion put forward by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration for a moratorium on deportation was a tremendous step forward, we believe that in the future a more comprehensive strategy needs to be set forth. We're speaking in particular to the wording around non-status workers and their families.
While we support the spirit of the motion, in order for the moratorium to adequately address the multiple barriers faced by the individuals without status, we ask that this category be expanded to include all members of non-status communities, not only those who are working. In this way we can ensure that individuals are not lost in the translation of such terms as “family”.
When examining the definition of “family”, we want to guarantee that definitions used take into account the various formations of families, which could include multiple types of extended families and same-sex couples.
We're making a lot of references to the previous motion because we're optimistic that you will include such recommendations.
In addition, limiting regularization to those who are working is problematic, as individuals without status or with precarious immigration status face many barriers while attempting to hold stable and continuous employment. Establishing proof of such employment is difficult, as many employers are unwilling to provide proof of employment to individuals without work permits.
Oftentimes workers without status are forced to accept precarious terms of employment and precarious jobs with no guarantee that their position will be available the next working day, week, or month. These workers have no recourse if they are not paid or if employment standards are violated.
Workers without immigration documentation are often forced to move from one job to the next, with inevitable lags between employment. These realities must be addressed in any future initiative.
The reality is that while regularization programs are designed and implemented, the hundreds and thousands of people without status will continue to live in deplorable conditions with little to no access to basic services. Individuals initially arrive in Canada able and willing to participate fully in Canadian society; however, many newcomers fall out of immigration status or enter various forms of less-than-full status.
Unfortunately, precarious immigration status also means a lack of access to medical care, the legal system, education, employment, and housing. Currently we have a two-tiered system in which individuals without status struggle to access the basic resources needed to ensure full membership in Canadian society.
This has serious negative consequences on their mental and physical health and on family stability. This also reinforces the emerging two-tiered society, a model of society that most Canadians would consider unjust and undesirable.
As we wait for a positive decision on a moratorium on deportation and an inclusive regularization program, we need to ensure that these vulnerable populations are extended access to the most essential services and are offered the same employment standards and recourse to justice that other Canadians rely on.
We also believe universal access to health care is essential amongst these services for the overall health of all of our communities. This is a public health issue. We live in communities where our schools, hospitals, workplaces, public transit systems, and community centres are all interconnected. It is crucial that all members living in these communities and participating in these systems have good health through access to public primary health care.
Although illness is a normal life event that can be addressed through access to health care and social benefits, individuals without status are greatly penalized if they become sick. Non-status individuals are uninsured and cannot access comprehensive medical care. They are forced to pay for medicine, doctors' visits, and hospital stays; however, they are not eligible for disability or sick benefits.
The impact of illness results in a severe crisis, as individuals without status will simultaneously lose their employment, shelter, and health. In addition, illness presents a profound barrier to regularization because of the medical inadmissibility category. The medical inadmissibility category unfairly targets individuals with disabilities and fails to acknowledge that society is composed of individuals with varying abilities.
Canadian immigration policies that exclude individuals with disabilities from obtaining permanent resident status actively contribute to systematic discrimination and contradict the Human Rights Act.
Living without status is marked by instability and uncertainty. Individuals and families without status or with mixed status live with the fear that the lives they have worked so hard to build can be ruptured and dissolved at any time through deportation. Working and surviving without social benefits is an additional stressor. Anxiety, worry, and mental exhaustion accompany the non-status experience. This is a population that is at risk for depression. This clearly has a negative impact on an individual's mental health as well as the health of the overall community. A regularization program could play a critical role in responding to the significant mental health problem.
Access to education is another barrier faced by non-status families in communities. Although the right to education is guaranteed under Canadian immigration laws as well as under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Canada is a signatory, many barriers continue to deny non-status children unrestricted access. Parents without status attempting to enrol their children in Canadian schools continue to be confronted with staff who are not familiar with the rights of all children to education. As a result, Canadian-born children of parents without status may also encounter barriers to education. School boards across the country still disseminate registration information and registration forms that demand information regarding children's immigration status and immigration documents.
To compound the situation, in the past few years we have witnessed multiple cases where CBSA enforcement agents have used schools as a place to arrest families without status. In one case, children were used as bait to entrap their mother.
When it comes to access to post-secondary education, there are no options for non-status students. Students who have been raised in Canada and have received the bulk of their primary and secondary schooling in Canadian schools have the right to continue to college and university. As such, students without status are treated as a second-class population and relegated to the same precarious areas of employment as their parents.
Access to emergency services for the non-status community is also a public safety issue. We see this clearly in domestic violence situations in which women are afraid to call the police because of the lack of immigration status. We have seen unfortunate cases of undocumented women reporting incidents of rape, only to end up in detention and facing deportation without ever having their day in court. Similarly, witnesses of crimes continue to be afraid to report to the police services across the country, as their immigration status or that of their family members may be revealed.
No one should be afraid to call the police for immigration reasons. There needs to be a strict division of duties between police services and immigration enforcement. The police need to serve and protect our communities and not act as attachés of the CBSA, enforcing immigration policies.
We have had some progress with the Toronto Police Services Board in adopting an “access without fear” policy that provides limited protection for victims and witnesses of a crime. A great deal more work has to be done across the country to ensure safe communities.
Any regularization program implemented must not include any requirements regarding criminal records or backgrounds.
The use of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act as a clumsy tool for punishment of crime makes for a situation of double jeopardy for non-status people and immigrants, a system where they are doubly punished for the same crime, which stands against the very principles of our criminal justice system. It also creates a two-tiered criminal justice system, one where citizens are punished once and all others twice.
As we work towards implementing a regularization program that meets the multiple needs of non-status people, families, and communities working and living in Canada, it is important to work closely with affected communities, agencies, as well as academics to ensure that the implementation of this program is relevant and effective.
Academic research and advocacy has identified barriers to accessing services without fear. It has also outlined some of the negative effects of living without status on individuals, on public health, on mental health, and on the well-being of women, families, and children.
Finally, the solution to the crisis of undocumented workers cannot be an expansion of temporary work programs, the increase of temporary work permits, and work visas. Canadian immigration cannot become a glorified temporary work agency where immigrants are treated as cheap and exploitable commodities.
In the past month we have seen the government pushing through changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in the House of Commons, via the Budget Implementation Act. Despite the government's insistent denials, these drastic changes will give vast powers for the minister to decide which categories of immigrant applications will be processed, ignored, or discarded. It will also limit several kinds of applicants, based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds that sponsors can use to bring their relatives into Canada.
If the current amendments are implemented, the minister will have the power to refuse to examine agency applications filed for refugees and immigrants outside of Canada. The government has oftentimes pointed to the agency application as the recourse for the gaps in our immigration laws. With these amendments in place, this recourse will no longer be available.
We close by noting that in order for regularization to be effective, it must be inclusive in terms of who qualifies and also with regard to cost. While we are not opposed to cost recovery, we also know that high fees could pose a barrier, particularly to families in general, single parent families, and youth. Mounting a regularization program is an investment that must be planned in order to maximize its reach so that as many qualified applicants apply as possible.
Thank you. And I'm sorry for the length of my presentation, but many organizations are part of our campaign.