Undocumented Workers Time to Fix the System
As an immigrant, I came to this country with my parents, seeking a better life and fleeing a dictatorship in Greece. I am very proud of my roots and of what Canada has offered me.
Lately, Canada's Immigration system has not reflected the needs and wants of this country when it comes to employment and filling employment opportunities with qualified people who can carry their skills to Canada.
In the mid-1990's, Canada's immigration system was changed to ensure that we brought to this country highly-qualified people with degrees and proficient language skills. By the late 1990's, the failure of this policy caused the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to increase the number of points immigrants required to enter Canada in order to do away with the backlog of immigration cases. This change in policy, when challenged in court, created an even further backlog.
Successive Ministers of Citizenship and Immigration, both Liberal and Conservative, have tried to fix the system. However, in my view, they failed miserably. Perhaps through no fault of their own or perhaps because they did not comprehend the Department's complexities, they relied on an archaic bureaucracy that it is too entrenched and did not want to see changes.
A high-level bureaucrat once commented that there was a moat around the Department offices in Ottawa and that high-level bureaucrats did not see the real world.
Canada has a shortage of qualified workers in the skilled trades. Undocumented Workers are filling this shortfall and are working in the skilled trades that industries need. This situation is forcing employers to hire illegal immigrants in order to keep up with the demands of countless job sites. Trade unions are concerned that these workers may be exploited by unscrupulous employers.
The previous Liberal Caucus called on several Liberal Ministers of Citizenship and Immigration to regularize these workers and bring forth a resolution to this problem. At the end of 2004, a consensus was reached and working with the trade unions, community groups and other stakeholders, we moved to implement changes so that Undocumented Workers could be landed in Canada, allowing them to continue the lives that they had established here.
An agreement and a system were ready to be implemented. Then, the inexcusable happened - the Conservatives came to power and, wanting to satisfy their Reform base, they started deporting Undocumented Workers and their families.
They ripped children out of classes, forcing parents to come forward to board planes to leave Canada. Instead of landing people, resources from the Department of Citizenship and Immigration were diverted to deporting people. This has created an even greater need for qualified skilled trades people in the workforce.
One might ask "If these people are so qualified, why can they not go through the immigration application process?" The answer is simple - they would not qualify under the present day rules and regulations of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, which encourages a different type of immigrant.
I am proud to say that I presented a Motion to the Standing Committee of Citizenship and Immigration asking for community groups, trade unions and stakeholders to testify, as to what must be done in order to keep these Undocumented Workers in Canada. This Motion was passed by the Committee.
The Committee also passed my Motion which called for a moratorium on the deportation of Undocumented Workers until the Committee had finalized its report and had presented it to the House of Commons.
Last week, I asked for unanimous consent to have this moratorium brought to the House of Commons and it almost passed. The Conservatives were asleep at the switch. Unfortunately, the NDP opposed granting unanimous consent to this Motion. A subsequent Motion to concur in the 4th Report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration did pass the House of Commons. The Report included a call for a moratorium on the deportation of Undocumented Workers.
I am looking forward to the work the Committee will do in the fall. I hereby challenge the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Minister of Public Security to respect the wishes of the House of Commons and stop deporting Undocumented Workers.
We need to alter our present immigration system in order to respond to the immediate needs of the Canadian market and to allow immigrants into Canada who are qualified to fill the trade jobs which are in such high demand.
When my father arrived in Canada, he spoke very little English. However, as a skilled tradesman - a shoemaker - he started work within 2 days of his arrival.
Some people will say "Those were different times." I say, those times are here again and we need a skilled workforce to better meet the needs of our job market.
I would rather be a shoemaker who has a job, than a highly-qualified engineer who is driving a taxi.
For the record, I am an engineer turned politician.
It is high time that we seriously tackle this issue to ensure that the highly-qualified, skilled trades people, already in Canada, can work in Canada without the fear of exploitation or deportation.
Let's land these people and land them now.
Hon. Jim Karygiannis, P.C., M.P.
Scarborough-Agincourt
