The Conservatives hate refugees, immigrants and migrant workers
Migrant Workers Alliance denounces Tory policy to pay migrant workers less than Canadian citizens
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an alliance of migrant workers, labour unions and community organizations denounces the latest Tory “jobs-strategy”, paying migrant workers 15% less than Canadian citizens.“In April of 2010, Canada was shocked to hear of the death of 11 migrant workers that died in a car crash when a car driver after working an 11 hour day could no longer pay attention to the road and crashed. Migrant workers allies hoped that this tragedy would force the Conservative government to change its path,” says Kay Manuel, a Live-In Caregiver and member of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “Instead, the government has further concertized the race to the bottom by legislating lower wages for migrant workers that are already being exploited by employers and third parties.”
“Paying some people lower wages simply on the basis of their citizenship is fundamentally against human rights and legitimizes further abuse against migrant workers,” says Chris Ramsaroop from Justice for Migrant Workers and a member of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “These strategies result in creating a second class tier of workers with few rights and lower wages and go against the Federal Government’s own 2006 Labour Standards Review that called for equal pay for equal work. Have we not learned from our history lessons of how Chinese workers were treated in this country and the resulting trauma it caused?”
“The Conservative decision to legalize exploitation of migrant workers comes in a week of major changes in immigration policy all calculated to force immigrants in to more and more precarious work,” adds Chris Sorio from Migrante, a member of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “Bill C-31, cuts to refugee healthcare, changes to the spousal sponsorship and parents and grandparents sponsorship are all part of a strategy to keep immigrants in precarious job, with low wages that benefit no one but employers and corporations.”
Ottawa to cut health care for some refugees
Ottawa will strip thousands of refugees of health-care coverage starting in July unless their conditions pose a threat to public health. Critics called the move “mean-spirited” and warned that denial of health care could lead to unnecessary deaths. “If this is what they are doing, there is no question that the application of this will result in people dying,” said lawyer Rick Goldman of the Canadian Council for Refugees. Currently, all refugees are covered by the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP), which provides basic health coverage, sometimes with supplementary services such as pharmaceutical care, dentistry, vision care and devices such as walkers and wheelchairs, if required.
This winter, Jason Kenney introduced Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, in Parliament. We have been watching the debate around this bill with some concern. It seems that Kenney believes the system needs protection from migrants. We, on the other hand, believe migrants, particularly refugees, need protection from his bill. We are a group of primary care physicians who support our patients, many of whom are refugees, to live proactively healthy lives. This approach is good medical practice, and yes, it even reduces health-care costs. We also recognize that people’s health status is dependent on their social and political realities. We therefore advocate for policies that support healthy living and condemn those that cause harm.
I think there was no need for another thread about immigration when I started a new one just yesterday in the same forum. Or is this a way of ignoring my post? Since you are a moderator, shouldn`t you be more careful about this kind of stuff?
Catchfire,
I should also say that the headline is full of hate. What are we trying to do here? To plant the seeds of hate? To divide the country like the cons do? What do you think you will gain by writing a headline like yours?
Hi VFA, I was not ignoring your post--I thought it was specifically about the NDP and their party immigration policy. This one is about the Conservative party's poisonous legislation. I think there is plenty of room to discuss both topics.
ETA. Sorry to hear you disapprove of my thread title. Me, I disapprove of hateful, divisive and spiteful legislation which causes real harm and violence.
With regard to the thread title, you should go back to the thread you started entitled "Rhetorical Fallacies; an illustrated guide" and look at the fallacy of "Composition"...
Oh Sven, you're just sore at me because I interrupted your evening troll. Don't get all angsty on me.
Actually, no. I saw that thread title and thought, "Oh, com'on. What a silly generalization. And then, I saw it was posted by you, the one who posted that (very useful) "rhetorical fallacies" summary!
I'm not feeling well today so can't take on much but I feel compelled to point out that complaining about a headline and new thread on this topic is pretty sad given how serious this is.
For the record I think there is a fair bit of evidence to say the series of legislation on immigration is hateful. Also a party-specific thread on the NDP would touch on but not be expected to cover all that is going on now.
Settlement monies are being removed as well. Canada's reputation with respect to immigration is taking a hit and I suspect this is purposeful to discourage people from coming here.
I hope people will actually discuss what this thread is about rather than continue to ponder its style and existence.
Quite right, Sean. Thank you.
Well, they don't hate all of them:
Ottawa Approves Conrad Black's Request To Live In Canada
Protesters to target planned cuts to refugee health care
excerpt:
Health care workers are planning to hold demonstrations across the country today to protests planned cuts to medical services currently provided to refugees.
The workers are angry that the federal government is planning to end free dental, vision and prescription drugs offered to most refugee claimants through the Interim Federal Health (IFH), Canada's health insurance program for refugees.
With less than two weeks to go until the federal cuts kick in, the health workers are planning protests outside federal government offices in 10 Canadian cities Monday, from St. John's to Vancouver.
Ottawa has said it can save about $20 million a year with the cuts. But health groups and refugee advocates, such as Ottawa's Dr. Alison Eyre, say the move is unfair and hurts refugees when they need help the most.
Comment: Have to pay for the F35s somehow.
And subsidies for the oil patch. 
Assuming that many of these people will in the end be residents with a right to health care the elimination of preventative and primary health care services is not a savings it is a massive cost that will be born a little later by our health care system.
This policy is about meanness and to discourage the people of the world from wanting to come to Canada not about saving money which it absolutely will not do.
People have argued that this will damage the reputation of Canada abroad. I have concluded after all this time that in fact that is not a cost but an intention of the bill. the government wants to tank the reputation of Canada in order to discourage people form coming here. And I understand it is working. Canada's reputation as a friendly nation to come to is being damaged. The decision to scrap files in progress again is not about saving money or clearing the backlog (there are other means to do that). The purpose as well was to destroy the integrity and reputation of Canada as a place for immigrants/refugees would want to go. This is the purpose of this government.
It is important that this be discussed because as long as people fail to understand this they will make arguments like the cost to Canada's reputation which of course is the desired purpose of these measures not a side effect. The government will not be persuaded by arguments that merely restate its intentions. People have to build the case to be able to say that there will be a political cost for this to the Conservatives and an economic cost to business -- really the government won't care about anything else. The point of discussing the other effects is to build opposition but that is different from trying to point out that an intended purpose will turn out exactly as planned.
I am deeply concerned about the racist comments of Jason Kenney concerning Roma refugees. The following July 16th article only increases my concerns about the plight of the Roma.
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/744422--the-roma-of-hamilton
Landlords don’t want to rent them apartments, employers don’t want to give them jobs and people openly “treat them like garbage.” Why? Because they are Roma, claims Tibor Lukacs, founder of the United Roma of Hamilton. He said there has been a palpable shift in attitude in the past couple of years as a Hungarian Roma human trafficking ring case with Hamilton ties made headlines. Lukacs feels he has to constantly “prove he’s a good Roma.” He and other advocates say the government has exploited the case in a bid to push through an anti-Roma immigration and refugee agenda. “We smelled the propaganda a long time ago,” Lukacs said. “Since this case, we are totally doomed.” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has repeatedly criticized many refugee claims from Eastern European countries as “bogus.” Anecdotally, it’s understood most of the claimants are Roma.
Kenney is playing the race to appeal to the part of the Con base that is racist and to increase his power as Immigration Minister by offering this as proof that he needs more power to combat these 'bogus refugees" (in other words, acting as a mini-Harper). There are no pure races anywhere and this certainly applys to the Roma after more than 500 years living in Europe. Kenney as an Irish Catholic should know how meaningless racial distinctions are. The Irish were often described as a separate race by the English elite despite the fact that they were basically formed of the same groups ethnically (Celt-Iberians, Anglo-Saxons, Normans, and Vikings). Signs for rental accomodation in England often read "No dogs, No Irish" right into the 1960s when they were finally outlawed - my mother often encountered them when she lived there for ten years. Such racial stereotypes have existed with most immigrant groups to Canada since at least the arrival of the Irish during the Irish Famine in the 1840s. While things have improved for more recent immigrants, unless there is a stronger backlash against Kenney's comments, Canada may have found itself a new racially permissable whipping boy. How can we organize against this?
Here is further evidence from the same article of the political motives behind this attack on the Roma.
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/744422--the-roma-of-hamilton
Ivanyi, who is Hungarian, but not Roma, believes members of the immigration and refugee board are “trying to save their jobs” or “toe the party line” by rejecting Roma refugee claimants. The actions by the government and in particular the comments from Kenney have had a cooling affect on Roma cases before the refugee board, said immigration lawyer Peter Ivanyi. More than 95 per cent of his clients are Roma. For instance, several years ago more than 80 per cent of Roma refugee claimants from the Czech Republic who had a hearing were being accepted, he said. That suddenly dropped in the past few years. Lifting all visa requirements for travellers from EU countries would be good for trade, but would also likely cause a spike in Roma refugee claims, he said. So Canada is trying to be an unwelcome home. Ivanyi said he believes the shift is “politically motivated.” Widespread racism against Roma goes unchallenged in many European countries, and Ivanyi’s challenge is to prove that the state can’t protect them or that they are being persecuted by the state.
Most Roma cases are rejected because the claimant is deemed “not credible” or because the country “is doing its best,” Ivanyi said.
In his opinion, “anyone physically harmed on account of their ethnicity is deserving of a well-founded refugee claim.”
I plan on emailing my MP, Finn Donnelly, Don Davies (Immigration critic) and Tom Mulcair to ask them to voice more criticism of Kenney's policies on this.
Haven't seen anything on the news yet, but I've been outside gardening all day. Anyone?
Bill C-31: Empowering Jason Kenney, endangering refugeesRefugee health cuts protest cuts off Oliver announcement
Kudos to these doctors and activists. But this onslaught of neoliberal hacking and chopping is relentless and overwhelming. These spotfires such as the above are everywhere, some opposed some not, mostly not. Unless there is a sudden upsurge of energetic organization and resistance, such as we see in Quebec we will continue to see this 'death by a thousand cuts'. And judging by the performance of the NDP in Ontario there is no reason for optimism that bourgeois politics will save us either. Very depressing...
They also hate public servants!