Québec must revise its immigration law and programs to put an end to the systemic discrimination of migrant workers

Québec must revise its immigration law and programs to put an end to the systemic discrimination of migrant workers, says the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse

The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse is urging the Québec government to change its immigration law and programs to put an end to the systemic discrimination of migrant workers.

In an opinion released today, the Commission concludes that live-in caregivers, seasonal agricultural workers and other foreign temporary low-skilled workers are victims of systemic discrimination on the basis of their ethnic or national origin, race, social condition, language and in the case of live-in caregivers, their sex.

“Our opinion clearly demonstrates the severe vulnerability in which migrant workers find themselves,” said Gaétan Cousineau, president of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. “They are entitled to the protection of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms just as permanent residents and citizens. Migrant workers are part of our social fabric and contribute to the economic life of Québec,” he added.

Source: newswire.ca

In 2010, almost 7,000 low-skilled migrant workers, most of them from Guatemala, Mexico and the Caribbean were employed primarily in Québec’s agricultural sector. Among these, about 400 live-in caregivers, mostly from the Philippines, worked in Quebec families as nannies or domestic workers.

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