Migrant workers in Canada deserve access to permanent residency and citizenship

Canada’s unions are marking International Migrants Day by continuing to call on the government to ensure pathways to permanent residency and citizenship for migrant workers. 

Currently, Canada’s migrant worker streams create and reinforce a system in which migrant workers are made vulnerable to exploitation and precarity. Employers have pushed for the creation and expansion of migrant worker programs with closed work permits, designed to prioritize their own interests over those of workers. These streams bind low-wage migrant workers to specific employers, offering no pathway to permanent residency. This stark power imbalance leaves migrant workers highly vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse, with little to no recourse.  

Under the constant threat of deportation, workers are often unable to leave their jobs or challenge unfair and unsafe labour practices. They often endure poor and dangerous working conditions, racism, discrimination, wage theft, and are denied fundamental human and labour rights, trapping them in involuntary servitude. 

Canada’s unions urge the government to take concrete steps to increase the protections afforded to migrant workers as it relates to the low-wage Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) streams by replacing employer-specific work permits with open work permits; providing permanent residency opportunities for low-wage workers; and providing permanent residency opportunities for former low-wage workers who are undocumented. 

Further, as we witness a rise in anti-immigrant, newcomer, and migrant sentiment and rhetoric, Canada’s unions also call on all Canadians to reject nativism, xenophobia, and racism in all their forms. 

“The scapegoating and stereotyping of immigrants, migrants, and newcomers—particularly racialized and working-class individuals—as being responsible for rising costs, a housing crisis, and failing public services creates division among workers and distracts from addressing the deep systemic issues and policy failures that are the real root causes of these problems. We must strongly resist these cynical and dangerous ploys to divide us,” said Larry Rousseau, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress. 

This International Migrants Days, Canada’s unions remain steadfast in our solidarity with migrant workers, and in advocating for their human and labour rights while striving to dismantle the barriers that limit their full participation and opportunities in this country, regardless of their immigration status. 

Join us and show solidarity with all workers by getting involved in our Workers Together campaign.