‘Migrant Spring’ calls for freedom

Santiago Helou Quintero: Senior Reporter

Migrants marched in Toronto demanding “Status for All” for migrants and for the government to deliver on their pledge to regularize undocumented workers.

The march was one of a series of actions across several provinces over the weekend as part of what organizers are calling “Migrant Spring.”

Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change said Status For All helps protect migrants from exploitation.

“When people are denied permanent resident status, employers can pay them less, landlords can charge them more, health-care institutions can charge them fees, post-secondary institutions can charge them fees,” Hussan said. “It’s really about the profit of the richest few and Prime Minister Trudeau needs to choose. Is he on the side of the richest few or is he onside of the people?”

Hussan said migrants are being scapegoated for the housing crisis to distract from government failures.

“We live here, we work here, we feed families, we take care of communities, we actually build the homes and it is not our responsibility,” he said.

“It is the speculators, the developers, the landlords and governments whose failure has created a housing crisis. Migrants live in some of the worst housing conditions under constant fear of abuse and exploitation and it is not migrants who are responsible.”

Rose is a healthcare worker who came to Canada as a refugee and is fighting to renew her expired work permit.

Rose declined to give her last name because she is an undocumented worker.

“It’s very important to me because I’ve gone through hell,” said Rose.

“I was a teacher in my country. I have a dream of becoming a teacher here, but I cannot because I don’t have permanent residency.”

“I came as a refugee here because I needed some protection,” she said. When I came I had high hopes, but now I’m discouraged because I’m feeling like I’m being discriminated and it’s breaking my heart.”

Rose said that her situation has left her isolated from friends and taken a toll on her mental health. She wants the government to bring an immediate stop to all deportations.

“I’m a health-care worker,” she said. “We are feeding the residents. Some of them, when we are feeding them, they die. You see them die. We are washing them, we are dressing them, we are supporting them with their medication. I really don’t want to stop helping them.”

One group that faces precarious status is international students.

Upon graduation, many struggle to accumulate the full-time hours needed to meet the point requirements for permanent residency.

Humber College has one of the highest numbers of international students among Ontario colleges.

A 2023 report found that international students were outpacing the Ontario government in funding colleges.

“You come here. You work here for a few years. You also pay massive tuition, and eventually they can’t live here until they’re forced to leave the country,” said Hussan. “This is a system of abuse and exploitation.”

International students are restricted to 20 hours of work a week, a restriction that was temporarily lifted after migrant advocacy.

However, that measure is set to expire April 30.

More than 1.7 million people in Canada are without permanent status, including more than 500,000 who have no status at all.

Also, Canada hosted more than 800,000 international students last year, a number which continues to grow.