Immigration Minister Jason Kenney recently offered to the press an uncharacteristic opinion about Canada's temporary foreign worker program. He commented that he would like to give temporary foreign workers "a more realistic choice of staying here as permanent residents."

As a group of lawyers, legal workers and law students, this caught us off guard. After all, the Conservative government has actively increased the temporary foreign worker program since it took power, and, along with it, the potential for exploitative and dangerous working conditions. The vast majority of these migrant labourers, hailing from such places as Latin America and the Caribbean, are denied access to permanent residency altogether.

Thanks to the People's Commission Network, a Montreal organization opposed to the national security agenda, there is a workshop guide that not only includes a facilitation guide at the back based on group size and orientation (allies etc) - but each page doubles as a handout!

You can customize the workshop to suit any outline provided in the guide to be instructive, discussion based or to just host an extremely informative talk.

The workshop breaks down:

In a stunning move, the Canadian Border Services Agency issued a national policy late Friday afternoon ordering its officers to enter and wait outside anti-violence against women spaces to detain and deport women survivors of violence. Immigration Enforcement has also been given instructions to follow women survivors of violence on their way to and from spaces where they may seek support.