Council of Canadians organizers and allies protest “four and four” rule outside Conservative MP Joe Oliver’s office in Toronto.
A program of mass deportations from Canada is set to begin.
Today the Harper government will begin implementing its new “four and four” rule for temporary foreign workers (in so-called low-skilled industries such as retail, food and manufacturing) and live-In caregivers. This rule says that migrant workers who have been employed in Canada for more than four years must leave the country and that they cannot return for another four years. It has been estimated that this rule could apply to as many as 70,000 people across the country.
The Council of Canadians opposes this.
This action by the Harper government does not increase the low wages paid to migrant workers. It doesn’t address the difficult and often dangerous working conditions faced by many temporary workers. Nor does it improve the monitoring of the businesses that employ migrant workers. And it doesn’t facilitate a process for temporary workers to become permanent citizens. Instead, this rule creates a revolving door with exploited workers being replaced every four years by another group of exploited workers.
On Monday (March 30), the Council of Canadians South Niagara chapter protested the four and four rule outside Conservative MP Rick Dykstra’s constituency office in St. Catharines. On March 5, Ontario-Quebec organizers Mark Calzavara and Ailish Morgan-Welden protested outside Conservative MP Joe Oliver’s office in Toronto.
We’ve also been encouraging our supporters to sign this petition to stop the implementation of the rule.
The Council of Canadians will continue to work with the Campaign Against the 4 Year Limit on Migrant Workers who say, “These friends and community members deserve permanent residency, not deportation.” For more information on their campaign, please click here.
Further reading
Council of Canadians opposes Harper’s “four and four” rule for migrant workers (February 2015 blog)
Council of Canadians endorses Transportation not Deportation campaign (January 2015 blog)
Toronto declares itself a sanctuary city, rejects Harper agenda (February 2013 blog)
