(Montreal) Organizations calling for regularized status for all undocumented immigrants in Canada spent all night from Saturday to Sunday in front of the Guy-Favreau Complex in Montreal to urge the federal government to act quickly on this file.
As Ottawa continues its work on implementing a regularization program, these organizations argue that with each passing day, undocumented immigrants continue to suffer discrimination and exclusion across the country.
In a press briefing, they insisted that a status for all is necessary to guarantee truly equitable access to housing, employment and the health system, among other things.
According to them, the federal government’s regularization program should include all people without status, without exception.
These organizations were not at their first mobilization. Last summer, a march to Ottawa was organized, while in the fall, a bus toured the offices of federal MPs in the Montreal region to spread their message.
Led by Solidarité sans frontières, these groups have chosen to brave the cold and the snow, Saturday evening and Sunday morning, since they believe that spending a night outside illustrates the extent to which certain people without status have to live in difficult situations. .
In the wake of the public and political debate on Roxham Road, this unofficial entry point located in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, in Montérégie, they recalled that migrants do not represent a “crisis” in themselves, and that, on the contrary, they can have a positive impact on certain needs in society, particularly with regard to the labor shortage.
