* Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal cabinet is split over whether to provide a pathway to citizenship – a targeted amnesty – for hundreds of thousands of “undocumented workers” living in Canada.
* **But ministers are debating the wrong issue.** **Ottawa must first address the flaws in the immigration system that made it possible for those hundreds of thousands of migrants to remain in Canada illegally in the first place.** Only when those flaws have been fixed can there be a discussion about a circumscribed amnesty. Without significant reform, it will only be a matter of time before other migrants choose to live in Canada without status or documentation, rather than leave.
* **Locating and removing undocumented residents is difficult and expensive. But that does not mean the government should simply give up enforcing immigration laws. Public confidence in Canada’s immigration system is already weakening.**
* A recent Leger poll showed negative attitudes to immigration among many millennial and Gen Z citizens. An amnesty program, even if limited, without stepped-up enforcement would further erode confidence.
* **Let’s be clear: Undocumented residents are in Canada illegally.** They may have come to this country on a student visa and then failed to depart when the visa expired. They may have sought asylum, had their application rejected, and then failed to return to their country of origin.
* As the Liberal government increased the number of permanent residents, temporary foreign workers and international students entering Canada, the number of undocumented migrants appears to have increased as well. Although no one knows for sure: **Ottawa does not keep track of when people voluntarily leave the country.**
* **The agency is not able to say whether those people – who should have departed Canada nearly a decade ago, or longer – had left on their own, or had remained here illegally.** That’s just one facet of a yawning data gap that needs to be closed so the government can enforce Canada’s immigration laws.
Superb-Home2647 on
My guess is ‘amnesty’ is being talked about now because immigrants are wising up to the liberal bait and switch scheme to juice GDP.
Hicalibre on
Didn’t they have a pro-immigration article earlier?
Miller won’t fix a thing. Guy is third top clown.
blackmoose on
Shhh, hear that? Is that the sound of reason?
Dry-Membership8141 on
It’s genuinely shocking how tone deaf the federal Cabinet would have to be to endorse an amnesty program at this stage in the game. The only reason I can think of that they would do so is because they know they’re going to need a whole new constituency after how badly they’ve fucked up over the last decade, and they expect that granting millions of people a path to citizenship will provide it for them. Presumably the debate is over whether doing so will permanently lose them more voters than it will gain them.
PineBNorth85 on
Amnesty should never be considered either way.
Trying_Redemption on
Just stop fucking taking people from everywhere else in the world. We are now a dumping ground. Guess what we’re gonna be in 30 years…
7 Comments
[Paywall Bypass](https://archive.ph/YKDp7#selection-2739.0-2755.579)
Highlights:
* Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal cabinet is split over whether to provide a pathway to citizenship – a targeted amnesty – for hundreds of thousands of “undocumented workers” living in Canada.
* **But ministers are debating the wrong issue.** **Ottawa must first address the flaws in the immigration system that made it possible for those hundreds of thousands of migrants to remain in Canada illegally in the first place.** Only when those flaws have been fixed can there be a discussion about a circumscribed amnesty. Without significant reform, it will only be a matter of time before other migrants choose to live in Canada without status or documentation, rather than leave.
* **Locating and removing undocumented residents is difficult and expensive. But that does not mean the government should simply give up enforcing immigration laws. Public confidence in Canada’s immigration system is already weakening.**
* A recent Leger poll showed negative attitudes to immigration among many millennial and Gen Z citizens. An amnesty program, even if limited, without stepped-up enforcement would further erode confidence.
* **Let’s be clear: Undocumented residents are in Canada illegally.** They may have come to this country on a student visa and then failed to depart when the visa expired. They may have sought asylum, had their application rejected, and then failed to return to their country of origin.
* As the Liberal government increased the number of permanent residents, temporary foreign workers and international students entering Canada, the number of undocumented migrants appears to have increased as well. Although no one knows for sure: **Ottawa does not keep track of when people voluntarily leave the country.**
* **The agency is not able to say whether those people – who should have departed Canada nearly a decade ago, or longer – had left on their own, or had remained here illegally.** That’s just one facet of a yawning data gap that needs to be closed so the government can enforce Canada’s immigration laws.
My guess is ‘amnesty’ is being talked about now because immigrants are wising up to the liberal bait and switch scheme to juice GDP.
Didn’t they have a pro-immigration article earlier?
Miller won’t fix a thing. Guy is third top clown.
Shhh, hear that? Is that the sound of reason?
It’s genuinely shocking how tone deaf the federal Cabinet would have to be to endorse an amnesty program at this stage in the game. The only reason I can think of that they would do so is because they know they’re going to need a whole new constituency after how badly they’ve fucked up over the last decade, and they expect that granting millions of people a path to citizenship will provide it for them. Presumably the debate is over whether doing so will permanently lose them more voters than it will gain them.
Amnesty should never be considered either way.
Just stop fucking taking people from everywhere else in the world. We are now a dumping ground. Guess what we’re gonna be in 30 years…