Montreal protest calls for migrants to be granted status

“We are a part of society, we are part of this country,” said protester Mohamed Barry.

Demonstrators joined in a march on Sunday in Montreal to demand status for all undocumented migrants.

Protesters say more needs to be done.

“The real problem for migrants is they don’t have any access to health care and a lot of the mare exploited and you got some violence against women and you cant bring it out because they’re afraid of being deported or detained,” said Hady Anne, spokesperson for Solidarity Across Borders.

“They were in the hospitals, they were everywhere. In the grocery stores, in the manufacturers, doing all the work that we needed to make sure we were missing nothing during the pandemic. I think it’s time for us to do something for them. They work so hard for us, I think it’s the very least we can do,” said candidate for Quebec Solidaire Guillaume Cliche-Rivard.

“We are asking them for all non-status anybody who doesn’t have a paper and asylum seekers to be welcomed as citizens,” said Frantz André spokesperson for the Non-Status Action Committee.

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Federal immigration minister Sean Fraser said he plans on moving forward with his mandate to develop a regularization program for undocumented migrants.

Montrealers here want to remind the government that the program needs to be for everyone, including those with undocumented status – enough with the political games they say.

“Everyone is trying to play games with the lives of immigrants and we think we need to stop this,” said Anne.

“We don’t have access to education, and we don’t have access to the health system. A lot of migrants are dying here because they just can’t have the proper access,” said Barry.

Barry is a migrant from Guinea-Conakry, better known as Guinea – he waited for nine years before getting permanent residency.

“It was really really hard for me to live here,” he said.

“When I see my rights I see no I am not part of this country I am not part of this society because I am not like everyone else.”

Magda Samayoa is an immigrant from Guatemala – she says she experienced a lot of racism when she arrived in Canada a few years back and understands what migrants are going through.

“I too went through all of this I came here to support people without status to let them know they are not alone in their fight,” said Samayoa.

“The planet belongs to everyone and frontiers were created because of man’s ego,” another protester said in Spanish.

“We are all humans and we are all one and equal.”