Declaration for the Rights of Non-Status Immigrants in Canada
As workers, community service providers, unionists, human rights advocates, faith-based organizations, ethno-racial and other community groups, we, the undersigned, believe that the time is right for the Canadian Government to again regularize non-status immigrants (both documented and undocumented) in this country. Those of us who lack status are silently making vital contributions to Canadian society through our often-exploited labour. With or without status, we are workers and volunteers who care for our families and our communities. We are all taxpayers. Yet among us are those who are denied basic social and health services for lack of documentation. Many of us are parents with children - Canadian-born and otherwise. But some of our children are denied the right to schooling and access to healthcare, either because they lack status or are fearful of being deported from the only country they know. As non-status and status immigrants, refugees and citizens, many of us have been compelled to leave our countries of origin under a variety of circumstances. Some of us have fled social problems or political persecution and unrest. Others of us have come to Canada in order to be reunited with our extended families. Still others have been forced to escape economic dislocation in our home country brought about by an ever-changing global economy. While we all live in Canada, not all of us are accorded legal recognition by an increasingly restrictive Canadian immigration policy, which screens out all but a select few. The Canadian Government, as a champion for the free trade of goods and capital - but not people - must bear some of the responsibility for creating this under class of non-status immigrants. In the past, when the Canadian immigration system has undergone a substantial change, the Government has allowed those of us caught up in the existing system to receive landed immigrant status. As our Government is moving forward with a complete overhaul of the current immigration system, there could be no better time than now to redress this systemic inequity. We believe that the most just and humane solution would be to allow all non-status immigrants the opportunity to regularize their status in order to become permanent residents in Canada. Signed by:
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