Sudbury rally calls for permanent resident status for undocumented people
On Monday, there was another rally in downtown Sudbury calling to support equal status for everyone.
The Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre held the event outside Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe's office on Cedar Street to highlight the challenges facing people who are not permanent residents of Canada.
The rally was to call for equal status for people when they arrive in Canada, including international students, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented people.
Shensi Zhang emigrated from China three years ago and recently became a permanent resident of Canada.
Zhang told CTV News she came here as an international student and has faced many challenges.
"For example, for international students, we are eligible to work for 20 hours per week, but not other people, like local people, when we are here paying three or four times more tuition fees," she said.
Scott Florence, the executive director of the Sudbury Workers Education & Advocacy Centre, said there is a push to create a regularization program and the only answer is to give everyone in Canada residency status.
"Without status for all, we have people here in Canada who are treated differently and unequally and it's a human rights violation. People are treated differently based on their country of origin," Florence said.
Another organizer of the rally, TT Scott, said the challenges newcomers face are troubling.
"Things like living in fear of deportation, fear of being exploited by their work, by their employers, fear of not being able to make ends meet. Simple things like not being able to access healthcare, not being able to access education," said Scott, the centre's communications officer.
"They are not given the proper supports and resources that they actually need to move along."
Lapointe vows to bring the issues to the House of Commons.
"I will be advocating for them when I am in Ottawa. I continue to for advocate them. Immigration is very important. They have provided such tremendous service to our community and we certainly want to keep them here," the MP said.
The Sudbury Workers Education & Advocacy Centre is urging people to sign the Equal Rights For 1.7 Million People petition, which has more than 6,400 signatures at the time of publication.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.