Immigration Raids Targets Migrant Workers

J4MW Demands An End to the Criminalization of Undocumented Workers.

For Immediate Release

(Toronto)- Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW), an advocacy group for the rights of migrant workers, expresses its outrage over the arrest and detention of eleven migrant agricultural workers. They were arrested on the morning of Tuesday August 31, 2010 during an immigration raid conducted in the Chatham-Kent area. All eleven arrested were migrant agricultural workers employed on local farms. The workers are currently being held in detention at the Windsor Jail.

“J4MW and countless community, legal and labour organizations have expressed their consistent opposition to the mistreatment faced by current and former temporary foreign workers” says Tzazna Miranda Leal "Over the last year there have been petitions, deputations and delegations made to Federal and Provincial Politicians to no avail. When will we prioritize the rights of migrant workers over their persecution?” continues Miranda-Leal

The detained migrants are all former participants of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, a Federal Government Migrant Scheme that ties workers to an employer with no ability to apply for permanent residency. There have been ongoing concerns over abuses that are inherent in the TFW program including: exorbitant recruitment fees, charges for services not provided and sometimes not available, no labour mobility, threats of repatriation, employment abuses and precarious immigration status.

Recently the Federal Government announced changes to the Pilot Project for Occupations Requiring Lower levels of Formal Training (NOC C and D) the ‘low skilled’ stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This includes banning workers from Canada for a minimum of four years after working in Canada for a maximum of four years, and denying migrant workers entry into Canada if they are not in possession of a work permit that is not deemed to be ‘genuine’. Thousands of workers across Ontario will be impacted by these changes.

Migrant workers under the ‘low skill stream’ have described paying over $10 000 plus interest to come to Canada on contracts that do not provided what was promised in their home country. These workers face ongoing threats of deportation, pay exorbitant fees for work permits and other fees associated with work. They are paid less than what was agreed before arriving and do not make the money as promised. With no possibility of paying off their debts if they return to their home country, these migrants are corralled into precarious conditions because Canadian laws do not adequately reflect the realities that migrant workers face on a daily basis.

Justicia for Migrant Workers proposes that the Federal Government repeal the proposed regulations in favour of an immigration reform that emphasizes fair and compassion treatment for migrant workers. J4MW proposes the following steps: status upon arrival for all temporary foreign workers, an end to recruitment and placement fees for all workers, an end to repatriations and deportations, access to benefits and entitlements (EI, Healthcare etc) and reforming labour laws to reflect the realities faced by migrant workers.

In 2009 there were over 282, 194 temporary foreign workers employed across Canada an increase of nearly 200,000 temporary foreign workers since 1990.

For more information please contact
Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW)
http://justicia4migrantworkers.org/index.htm
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