Hundreds of people demonstrated on Sunday in Montreal to demand the regularization of the status of undocumented immigrants living in Canada. After promising to address this problem, the Canadian government is under pressure to act on it.
Almost a year ago, Ottawa said it was considering regularizing the status of these people, who number around 500,000 in the country.
On Sunday, during the demonstration outside Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s Montreal office, the frustration was palpable. The federal government takes a long time to create a regularization program. It’s been almost a year and a half since he promised to implement such a program and we are starting to see the consequences of this lack of action, here in Parc-Ex (a Montreal neighborhood with a high proportion of newcomers).
said Amy Darwish, coordinator of the Parc-Extension Action Committee, a community organization that offers help to newcomers.
There are many tenants who cannot defend their rights, many people who find themselves in precarious work situations, who cannot access services
she added.
These undocumented people are also especially affected by eviction proceedings, since, due to their lack of official status, they cannot go to court. These people are also said to fear possible reprisals if they file a complaint.
However, many of these 500,000 people without status arrived legally in Canada, either to study or as temporary workers, before their permit expired.
Already last March, several aid organizations stated that the Trudeau Government wanted to quickly resolve this problem, possibly before the summer. It is clear that a solution is still awaited.
