NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons, in Ottawa, on May 8.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party’s MPs joined unions and community groups Monday to ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to introduce a broad program that would let thousands of migrants living in Canada without valid documents remain in the country.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller is preparing a plan to discuss with the cabinet, which meets Tuesday and again before Parliament breaks for the summer in June. It would propose that people living in Canada without legal status – including former international students whose study permits have expired – be given a chance to regularize their status and gain permanent residence.
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and academics estimate there could be between 20,000 and 500,000 undocumented migrants in Canada.
Depending on the number of people who apply, the government may consider staggering the granting of permanent residence to undocumented migrants over several years to avoid a sudden surge by granting them work permits first.
The NDP urged the government not to cap the number on who could apply.
In a letter, Mr. Singh and the NDP caucus urge Mr. Trudeau to adopt “a broad, comprehensive and uncapped regularization initiative without delay, so that undocumented workers in Canada have a clear and accessible pathway to permanent residency.”
A regularization plan would fulfill the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to former immigration minister Sean Fraser in 2021, which asked him to “further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.”
A number of countries have introduced plans to allow migrants to regularize their status.
In Ireland, a program launched in 2022 ran for six months and gave people who had lived there for four years the chance to apply for official permission to remain.
More than 20 labour organizations, including the Canadian Labour Congress, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, joined faith organizations such as the Anglican Church of Canada and community groups to call for a federal regularization program, according to a statement from the Migrant Workers Alliance.
At a news conference in Ottawa, Siobhan Vipond, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, called for a “broad regularization program so that undocumented people can contribute to their fullest potential to Canada’s economic and social future.”
She said undocumented people are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation because they don’t have status, adding that allowing them to stay could permit them to “leave bad jobs and punish bad actors, levelling the playing field and improving working conditions for everyone.”
The NDP letter says undocumented migrants face restricted access to health care, education and legal protection because of their precarious status, which can lead to exploitation and mistreatment – abuses they may not report out of fear of deportation.
“Migrants come to Canada with the expectation that they will be treated fairly as they contribute to Canada’s economic, educational, social and cultural fabric. They work hard and they pay their taxes. Yet far too many migrant workers work in low wage and precarious jobs, are subjected to poor working conditions and are vulnerable to exploitation owing to their temporary status,” the letter says.
Jane Kirabira, an undocumented lesbian woman from Uganda, which has outlawed same-sex relationships, made an impassioned plea at the news conference to allow undocumented migrants to gain permanent residency.
She said her asylum claim has been rejected and if she goes back to Uganda she faces life in prison or even execution.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni last year signed a law permitting the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality,” which sparked an international outcry.
Last year, Ottawa froze the number of permanent residents it aims to welcome to Canada for 2026 at 500,000 in the face of shrinking public support for immigration.
The federal government has also stuck with its targets of 485,000 permanent residents for 2024 and 500,000 for 2025.
Polls have shown a sharp drop in public support for immigration as Canadians increasingly associate a lack of affordable housing with an influx of newcomers.