(Montreal) Members of the Immigrant Workers Center (CTI) rallied in the Villeray-Parc-Extension district on Saturday to demand the establishment by the Quebec government of a regularization program for young undocumented immigrants and their families.
Posted at 5:26pm
Elo Gauthier Lamothe The Canadian Press
Québec solidaire, present at the rally, aims to legalize 10,000 people in the first year of the program, whose eligibility criteria will be determined with the federal government.
This measure would help to significantly improve the living conditions of children and young people with a migration background by, among other things, enabling them to complete their school education in Québec. Currently, young people with precarious status – i.e. without refugee status or permanent residence – cannot enroll at CEGEP or university.
They speak French, they completed their secondary education here, they are in sports clubs, they are successful. […] These young people are Canadians, they are Quebeckers. You must be granted a residence permit [permanente] as soon as possible so that they can focus on their development and their future.
Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, new Solidarity MP for Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne and advocate for immigration issues
For Andrés Fontecilla, the solidarity officer in Laurier-Dorion, the situation is “extremely worrying”.
“There is a two-speed society that is being created: people who have rights and status, and all those who live in darkness and invisibility. […] We need a political solution that comes from the federal government but is also accepted by the CAQ government,” he said in an interview.
Young immigrants also testified at the event, expressing their fear of possible deportation.
“I love the school, my colleagues and my life here. I am an athlete and I have won competitions in Quebec. But now I’m finishing high school and I’m afraid I can’t continue my studies and go to CEGEP. I’m scared that my family and I will be deported while I’ve been here all my life,” said Hardeep (not her real name), 19.