Quebecers across several cities protest end of PEQ immigration program

Concerned about their future in Quebec, hundreds of people gathered in Montreal on Saturday afternoon to ask the Legault government to reverse its decision to abolish the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ).

Gathered in front of the offices of the Ministry of Immigration, the participants had a single message: grant grandfathering rights to people who met the PEQ criteria and have already built their lives in Quebec.

Since 2010, Quebec’s PEQ program was considered the best fast-track route to permanent residency in the province for temporary workers and foreign students.

That’s until Legault’s CAQ government announced in November that they were cancelling the program. Since then, critics have come together to voice their concerns, which they did again in Montreal and several other Quebec cities on Saturday, to protest the abolition of PEQ.

Saturday’s protests come after Immigration Minister Jean-Francois Roberge vowed on Thursday that the 6,300 health workers who could be affected by the abolition of the PEQ will be selected under their new Skilled Worker Selection Program, known PSTQ.

Protesters denounce ‘rules that change’

But groups like “Le Québec c’est nous aussi” – who defend the rights and living conditions of immigrants in Quebec and who organized Saturday’s protests say the PSTQ program prioritizes applicants who settle outside Montreal and Laval, drastically affecting those already settled in the regions through the PEQ.

“We’re still here, we’re still going to continue to fight until we’re going to win,” said Nadir Belaid, spokesperson for Le Québec c’est nous aussi.

“Today will be the first eight or seventh protest to demonstrate that people are not shut. And then we are here to make our voices heard to finally show that people that are impacted by the closure of PEQ and the replacement of PSTQ are here standing to make their voices loud and clear that we are not going to give up,” Belaid added.

Former PEQ beneficiary and international student Aram Musco, who participated in the protest, said he was just getting started building his network and career when the CAQ government decided to end it.

“I’m pursuing my studies also a master’s program, so at the end of 2027, I already (will) have two diplomas from Quebec,” Musco said. “I was already starting to talk with my part-time employer, (about) possibly getting a full-time job with them afterwards.”

Belaid said the PEQ program was a guarantee to many like Musco in helping them get a permanent residency after graduation. However, that was not the case with PSTQ, he said.

“You’ve done your life in Quebec good, you can become permanent resident. That’s a good news. Now it’s over. It’s replaced by a program that’s very discretionary, depending on where you live, depending on where you work, depending on your age,” Belaid said.

Protesters also questioned the government’s motives behind the immigration cuts.

“They explain that the reason is because French is in decline in Montreal. I’m a native French speaker. I’m from France. I did all my studies in French. So it’s quite hard for us to understand that logic,” Musco said.

Musco added that people like himself who are fully integrated in Quebec will keep protesting.

“I have friends, I have work colleagues, relationships,” Musco said. “We’re just people like them trying to build our lives here and trying to have something that we can have a foreseeable future and not rules that change every so often.”

Vitality of regions at risk

In an open letter on Saturday morning, the president of the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ), Guillaume Tremblay, appealed to the federal and provincial governments, calling for a grandfather clause to protect people who are already in the country.

Guillaume Tremblay appealed to the federal and provincial governments, calling for a grandfather clause to protect people who are already in the country.

“There are citizens who we brought in from outside the country to fill job shortages we had here in our sector,” he explained over the phone. Then, in the middle of it all, we changed the rules of the game. For us, it makes no sense.”

Tremblay, who is also mayor of Mascouche, cited the case of one of his citizens, a prison guard in the Montreal area who was recruited a few years ago to address a shortage.

“Unfortunately, he was told, ‘You have to go back to your country with your children. It’s nonsense,’” he said.

He also believes that PSTQ does not reflect the reality on the ground.

According to the UMQ president, it is also a question of “the vitality of our regions.”

“If, tomorrow morning, we take away all these jobs, we are putting Quebec’s regions at risk,” he insisted.

The day before, Jacques Demers, president of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities, made an impassioned plea to the Legault government and the “new generation of political leaders.”

He stressed that Quebec’s regions need immigrants, otherwise they are doomed to “demographic decline” and “impoverishment.”

These statements come as protests are planned in several Quebec cities on Saturday afternoon to protest the abolition of the PEQ.

These demonstrations are supported by the CSN, CSQ, and FTQ labor unions and elected officials from Québec solidaire and the Quebec Liberal Party, who have announced their participation. The rallies are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Chicoutimi in Saguenay, Gatineau, and Rimouski.