Regularize All Undocumented People and Ensure Permanent Resident Status for All Migrants

BY MAIL AND EMAIL

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Miller,

CUPW represents more than 55,000 workers across the country, the majority of which work for Canada Post as letter carriers, rural and suburban mail carriers, postal clerks, mail handlers and despatchers, technicians, mechanics, and electricians. We also represent couriers, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, cleaners, emergency medical dispatchers and other private sector workers.

We are concerned that the Migrant Care Worker Program expires on June 17, 2024, putting thousands into jeopardy as they become undocumented. This legal quagmire will add to the stressors that everyone faces living in Canada, whether they are a postal worker or an immigrant care worker. The time for the Liberal Government to act is now.

The Liberals have made promises to create a regularization program and CUPW calls on the Federal Government to provide a clear path for permanent residency status for interested migrant workers and their families. A failure to act on this issue in a timely manner will be a gift to the xenophobic forces in our society who are trying to place issues such as the rising cost of housing at the feet of the most vulnerable.

The Government of Canada must create a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program that allows all undocumented people to apply for permanent resident status immediately. This program must not include caps, restrictions by industry of work, or geography. It must not include a two-step immigration, which only gives temporary work permits.

In addition, the Government must create an interim program for migrant caregivers in Canada to apply for permanent resident status without educational accreditation and language test score requirements. It must also stop migrant exploitation by ending tied work permits and hours of work limits for international students; and ensure permanent resident status for all working-class people in Canada today.

We believe the proposals put forward by the Migrant Rights Network on regularization and migrant care workers are excellent and that the government should implement them as soon as possible.

As trade unionists, we know what it's like to have our rights threatened. Keeping these workers in this tenuous position creates downward pressure on the entire labour market. Also, our Union has identified the climate crisis as a key issue for the working class and we are aware of how that crisis impacts some people on our planet more than others. While we must do everything we can to mitigate the worst impacts of the crisis, justice demands that we allow migrants to find a home in our country and contribute to the solutions to this crisis.

We urge you to take the correct action, and quickly, to build justice for these workers.

Sincerely,

Jan Simpson
CUPW National President

Cc :     

• National Executive Committee
• Regional Executive Committees
• National Union Representatives
• Regional Union Representatives
• Specialists
• Migrant Rights Network