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House Hansard - 163

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 17, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 163 - Feb/17/23
Mr. Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, NDP)
  • Feb/17/23 11:15:26 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for years now, a secret world has existed right alongside ours, without our noticing. Without these thousands of men and women, there would be no agricultural production, no abattoirs, no food processing. There would be fewer security guards, fewer cooks, fewer maintenance workers and fewer people to care for our seniors. These individuals are indispensable, but invisible. With no legal status and living in precarious situations, they are sometimes even exploited. They do hard but essential work, and yet are regarded as disposable. Without the rights and protections that we take for granted, they live on the margins, far from their families, often prisoners of closed work permits that make them vulnerable. I am talking about temporary migrant workers. Quebec has welcomed three times more of these workers since 2015, totalling tens of thousands of people every year. The NDP is proposing that they be granted permanent residency. This would give them proper recognition and provide some hope. In October, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said he was working on a comprehensive program to regularize non-status people. This initiative is critical. If we do not want to live in a society that has a second class of workers, it is the right thing to do.
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