Thank you.
Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee.
Some of my colleagues today are going to be making submissions arguing for a moratorium on deportation or for regularization programs for people without immigration status. I support these positions, but my comments today cover other aspects of the issue. I want to talk about terminology, about how people end up with various forms of precarious status, about the role of policy in creating precarious status, and about some of the implications for Canadians.
Let me start with terminology. The term “undocumented” has gained currency because of the large number of people entering and living without state authorization in the United States, Europe, and other regions. It's also a response to such terms as “illegal alien”, which have the effect of dehumanizing and criminalizing people.
The main way that people become undocumented in the U.S. is through unauthorized border crossing. The term “undocumented” makes sense in this context, because there is no record of entry. The U.S. undocumented population is currently estimated to be approximately 12 million people.
In Canada the situation is quite different, as I think we all know, and this calls for different terminology. Undocumented entry is not the main pathway to living or working without authorization. On the contrary, many people enter with some form of documentation and then fall out of status. Thus, people whom we might be tempted to call undocumented are often documented in that they are known to authorities, having entered with some form of legal immigration status.
I argue that precarious immigration status is a better way of describing the situation of people often referred to as undocumented. The reason for this becomes clearer if we consider pathways to precarious immigration status. There are many, but let me just highlight four.
One is through sponsorship breakdown. When people enter as sponsored relatives and so forth, and there's a breakdown in the relationship, there's also a breakdown in the sponsorship. This is particularly problematic for affected spouses and children. A second pathway is through rejected refugee and asylum claims. A third pathway is through the overstaying of temporary visas, whether they're foreign worker visas or student visas. A fourth way is through unauthorized entry.
In the first three of these cases, people arrive with some form of documentation, and then, through various processes, end with precarious status of one form or another. There may be movement between different forms of precarious status. Thus, “precarious status” covers a range of situations.
With this in mind, I'd like to turn to the question of how immigration policy and other related policies are related to precarious status. One way policy contributes to the creation of precarious status is through the reduction in admissions for permanent residence. As opportunities for permanent entry and settlement decrease, people may search for other avenues to enter Canada.
A second way is through humanitarian or refugee policy and the refugee determination system. Difficulties in filling IRB positions, together with the enormous refugee backlog, mean that many people are caught in a lengthy limbo-like situation. They may have authorization to work, they may have authorization to reside--maybe not both--and they may have access to some services, but their situation is less than secure or stable.
A third mechanism is through the expansion of the temporary worker program; we heard about this from the previous speaker. The number of temporary workers in Canada, or the stock of temporary foreign workers, grew by four times between 1980 and 2006, starting at around 39,000 in 1980 and growing to about 172,000 in 2006.
The expansion of the temporary worker and guest worker programs in other countries suggests that temporariness can become permanent, and it appears that the same thing is happening in Canada. Temporary workers come year after year after year. They spend eight to ten months of the year here. This becomes permanent for them and for the employers who fill jobs through these kinds of programs.
Another way in which policy contributes to precarious status is through periodic deportations. Deportations assure the public that something is being done about the problem. But there aren't enough resources, and this is not an effective means to solve the problem completely. It does more to criminalize.
A fifth way is through limited recourse. There are limited options for regaining or gaining secure immigration status in the event of falling out of status.
Now, let's think about some of the implications here. We know from case studies and anecdotal evidence that people with precarious immigration status are disadvantaged in many ways: lower pay for comparable work, fear of reporting problems associated with dangerous work, lack of payment, poor housing conditions, and so forth. As a result, people may not report criminal activity, violation of labour standards, illnesses, and so forth.
If we want people with precarious status to come out of the shadows, we need to fully implement “Don't ask, don't tell” policies so that people are not afraid to report abuse at work, not afraid to report criminal activity, so that they can enrol their children in school and seek medical care, and so that they can live with less fear. We also need to begin a debate around regularization and conduct research on a variety of aspects of precarious status.
I could go on about research needs, but I think there's a deeper question that needs to be addressed, and that has to do with what kind of a Canada we want.
We stand at a moment when we have to make decisions such as whether we want to build a nation in which people with precarious status continue to live in the shadows and in fear. In this model, citizens and permanent residents occupy the top tier of society, while those with precarious immigration status occupy the bottom tier. Even if there are pathways to permanent residence and citizenship, the presence of a segment of people with precarious status raises questions about the value and scope of citizenship and democracy in Canada. Are these to be enjoyed by one segment of society? In this model, immigration status becomes a legitimate basis for discrimination, and communities become divided through fear.
Alternatively, do we want to live in a society that addresses these issues by bringing precarious immigration status out of the shadows and into public discussions through debate, research, and advocacy? In this model, the presence of a segment of society with most of the rights that the rest of us take for granted is considered a problem. The question becomes how to reduce the insecurities of precarious status while also reducing the number of people in situations of precarious status through positive policies, rather than criminalization.
In order to begin to develop meaningful responses, and build healthier communities that are not divided by fear, we need to conduct informed debates.
Thank you.