Immigrants take to the streets to protest against the freezing of immigration programmes

Protests against Quebec immigration freeze Quebec students and workers demand a reversal of suspended pathways to permanent residency, citing unfair disruption.

In response to the freeze on immigration programmes announced by Ottawa, an organization that defends the rights of immigrants is organising a demonstration in front of the Montreal office of the Quebec Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration early on Saturday afternoon.

To limit the number of permanent immigrants to Quebec, the CAQ government announced in October that it would freeze the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) graduate stream and the Regular Skilled Worker Program (PRTQ) - which is to become the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) - until next June, by no longer accepting new applications for Certificats de Sélection du Québec (CSQ).

Additionally, the federal government announced the same month that it was lowering its targets for permanent residents, as well as for certain temporary immigrants, namely foreign students and temporary foreign workers.

The organization, Québec c'est nous aussi (LQCNA), argues that the decisions by the two levels of government, and particularly the decision by the provincial government, undermine all the steps taken by migrants already on Quebec soil.

In a press release issued on Saturday morning, LQCNA said that the measures announced would make it “impossible” for thousands of people to renew their work permits and “gain access to permanent residence.”

For migrants, the process of coming to Quebec takes several months, if not years, and is sometimes the equivalent of a lifetime's investment, the organisation points out, warning that “these repeated reversals are also likely to have a lasting chilling effect on anyone wishing to study or work in Quebec in the future,”

“Today's demonstration is really to highlight the impact of the freezes on permanent immigration programmes,” explained Claire Launay, president of LQCNA, outside the ministry's office.

“We understand that the government wants to make cuts in immigration, but what we want to make clear is that there are people already here who are affected by these problems. The news came so suddenly.”

The president, herself an immigrant who has lived in Quebec for nearly 15 years, reports that when her organization spoke with the ministry, they were told that Immigration could not guarantee that the regulations would return to what they were at the end of the freeze.

This is in addition to the freeze on work permits closed in the Montreal area for low-paid jobs.

“There are lots of people who were about to have their work permits expire who now not only can't renew them, but don't even have a path forward,” she lamented.

Federico Benavides, a worker from Spain who has now lived in Quebec for eight years, was present at the demonstration.

The immigrant was already in despair at the length of the local bureaucracy and the difficulty of the immigration procedures.

Now he is forced to make an express entry and is considering moving to Ontario, having patiently learnt French since arriving in Quebec.

He said to the Quebec government: ‘We'll play along, but you have to play by the rules.”

Amir Azad said he has put in a lot of effort and spent a lot of money to immigrate to Quebec.

This young graduate, who studied in English, learned French and passed language tests to be allowed to apply for the CSQ. Previous regulatory changes made him eligible as of Nov. 23.

Azad too is considering moving to another province in order to stay in Canada adding that he does not trust the Quebec government.

All those present criticized the government for failing to take into account people who had already started the immigration process, and for not making its reforms applicable only at a later date and from the first immigration process onwards.

LQCNA is therefore calling on the government to put an end to the freeze on the issuance of closed work permits, the Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ) and the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) for graduates, and to guarantee that these programs will be maintained for the next five years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 30, 2024.