International Workers’ Day Statement by No One Is Illegal Toronto and No One Is Illegal Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory

Last Thursday, Jason Kenney announced a moratorium on new and pending permits of migrant workers in the fast food and restaurant sector. This is a mass deportation order.

Though exact numbers are as yet unknown, there were 44,000 Labour Market Opinions in the food and accommodation sector issued in 2012. Thus, approximately that many migrants will be shut out this year. Migrants abroad with pending applications have also likely paid recruiters thousands of dollars to come to Canada. To do so, many have gone into immense debt that they will not be able to get out of. Workers already here will be unable to change jobs and apply for new LMOs in the sector, leaving them tied to potentially abusive employers.

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West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund has published a new position paper on women living without legal immigration status in Canada. We believe that current laws put women without status at risk. The focus of the paper is on women who are dependent on their spouse for sponsorship in order to gain status in Canada, and who fear losing their status or have lost their status because they have fled an abusive relationship with their sponsor.

Click here for full position paper

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Rahila Gupta, Guardian UK, May 26 2011

Given the magnitude of the job of changing public opinion, Lush’s week-long campaign on immigration in its 90 UK stores, which began on Monday, might seem inadequate. However, it is a brave stand, and any initiative that argues for the rationality and humanity of open borders is a welcome counter to the short-sighted, rightwing response to refugees fleeing Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, which is threatening to tear up the Schengen agreement for passport-free travel in mainland Europe.

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By TIM MCSORLEY, Montreal Media Co-op, May 26 2011

See pictures from the demo here

This Saturday, Montrealers are taking to the pavement to strengthen the foundations of their own Solidarity City. At noon, the third annual Status for All march in support of undocumented migrants and immigrants to Canada facing precarious living conditions will kick off at the corner of Jean Talon and Boyer.

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By Jamilah King, Colorlines, May 25 2011

Watch the video here

Over at New America Media’s Youth Outlook, Josue Rojas and Ann Bassette bring us the tale of 67 Sueños, a youth-led collective based in Oakland that strives to tell the stories of everyday young people who are often left out of the national narrative on immigration reform.

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