Canada Permanent Residency: Labour Unions Defend Migrant Workers

The Labour unions are making a case for migrant workers to be considered for Canada permanent residency as a way bridging manpower gaps in the country.

Marking the International Migrants Day, the Canada Labour Congress  said the government should make available, pathways to permanent residency and citizenship for migrant workers, unlike the current situation in which migrant workers are made vulnerable to exploitation and precarity

The congress led by Bea Bruske said employers have pushed for the creation and expansion of migrant worker programs with closed work permits, designed to prioritise their own interests over those of workers.

“These streams bind low-wage migrant workers to specific employers, offering no pathway to permanent residency.

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“This stark power imbalance leaves migrant workers highly vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse, with little to no recourse”, the congress said.

According to it, rather than being accorded Canada Permanent Residency, it said migrant workers were  under the constant threat of deportation.

It said workers were often unable to leave their jobs or challenge unfair and unsafe labour practices, but often endure poor and dangerous working conditions, racism, discrimination, wage theft, and are denied fundamental human and labour rights, trapping them in involuntary servitude.

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“Canada’s unions urge the government to take concrete steps to increase the protections afforded to migrant workers as it relates to the low-wage Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) streams by replacing employer-specific work permits with open work permits; providing permanent residency opportunities for low-wage workers; and providing permanent residency opportunities for former low-wage workers who are undocumented.

“Further, as we witness a rise in anti-immigrant, newcomer, and migrant sentiment and rhetoric, Canada’s unions also call on all Canadians to reject nativism, xenophobia, and racism in all their forms.

“The scapegoating and stereotyping of immigrants, migrants, and newcomers—particularly racialized and working-class individuals—as being responsible for rising costs, a housing crisis, and failing public services creates division among workers and distracts from addressing the deep systemic issues and policy failures that are the real root causes of these problems”.

The congress had tended to use divisive tendencies within interested quarters, concerning the Canada permanent residency issue, adding:

“We must strongly resist these cynical and dangerous ploys to divide us,” said Larry Rousseau, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

“This International Migrants Days, Canada’s unions remain steadfast in our solidarity with migrant workers, and in advocating for their human and labour rights while striving to dismantle the barriers that limit their full participation and opportunities in this country, regardless of their immigration status”, the unions stated.