http://migrantrights.ca/en/migrant-worker-voices-must-be-central-to-review-of-foreign-worker-program/

Open work permits, family reunification and permanent immigration status on landing for Seasonal Agricultural Workers, Caregivers and Temporary Foreign Workers remain priorities.

Canada, February 18, 2016 – The Coalition for Migrant Worker Rights Canada (CMWRC), the representative alliance of migrant worker groups across the country, is responding to Minister Mihychuk’s statements in the mainstream media about forthcoming review of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program by calling for further details, including timelines, migrant worker involvement and scope of the review. Migrant worker advocates have been calling for Mobility, Voice and Equality for Migrant Workers, including open work permits; an end to discriminatory Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) regulations like the 4 in and 4 out rule; and permanent immigration status on landing.

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by Robert Fife

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/temporary-foreign-workers-program-faces-federal-review/article28792323/
The Liberal government plans to launch a full-scale review of the controversial temporary foreign workers program.

MaryAnn Mihychuk, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, told The Globe and Mail she will ask a parliamentary committee for proposals to fix the program.
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by Travis Lupick on December 16th, 2015

http://www.straight.com/news/598146/undocumented-immigrants-raise-alarm-border-cops-appear-enforcement-towards-years-end

A sizable community of Metro Vancouver residents is on alert this holiday season, fearing raids by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).

In a telephone interview, Harsha Walia, an organizer with No One Is Illegal (NOII), reported that the organization has seen a sharp spike in calls from undocumented immigrants asking for assistance.

“We usually get three to five calls a week, and the last month we got probably close to double,” she said. “We are getting more calls from people who are in detention, more calls from people who had just been visited at their homes or workplaces with deportation orders.”

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During the week of July 20, 2015, several news sources, including Castanet Media, the CBC, HuffingtonPost, Vancouver Sun, and KelownaNow, published stories about four Mexican farmworkers who had not been seen since late June 2015.

We, the undersigned, are outraged at the sensational and overtly racist coverage of this ‘story’, which reinforces and perpetuates negative stereotypes of Mexicans as criminals. The inclusion of mug-shot like photos of two of the men in select articles, the emphasis on the men’s temporary and foreign statuses, as well as the statement that both Canadian Border Services Agency and U.S.Department of Homeland Security had been alerted (Castanet) to the situation “to track” (VancouverSun) the group, actively frame Mexican migrants as constituting security threats and public menaces to both Canada and the United States. Ultimately, the suggestion that these men may do something illegal, particularly when no criminal act hasbeen committed, reflects the racist biases of these news outlets.
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IMMIGRATION CHANGES:

It’s official – second class citizenship goes into effect

Last Friday, part of Bill C-24 went into effect, officially creating a two-tier citizenship system. As a result of this new law, dual citizens and people who have immigrated to Canada can have their citizenship taken away while other Canadians cannot. The government’s press release last week tried to justify this discriminatory law by raising the threat of “jihadi terrorism,” but Bill C-24 could easily be used against non-terrorists—for example, a journalist who is convicted of a “terrorism offence” in another country for reporting on human rights violations by the government.

Read more: https://bccla.org/2015/06/its-official-second-class-citizenship-goes-into-effect/

Hundreds make final bids to stay in Canada after deportation hold lifted

Mr. Lafleur is one of 3,500 people in Canada – 3,200 Haitians and 300 Zimbabweans – who were affected when the federal government lifted a hold on deportations to their home countries in December, deeming the situation in Haiti and Zimbabwe to be stable. Those without status were given six months to apply for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hundreds-make-final-bids-to-stay-in-canada-after-deportation-hold-lifted/article24728764/

New Tory legislation will force deportation of foreign criminals and strip them of refugee protection

The government’s plans is to change several acts to make it easier and faster to remove non-Canadian criminals out of Canada, including some who have already been accorded refugee protection and permanent residency status, he said.

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/new-tory-legislation-will-force-deportation-of-foreign-criminals-and-strip-them-of-refugee-protection

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