Towards a Solidarity City! Yes to Regularization! No to Racist Attacks against Migrants!
Saturday, March 7 at 2 p.m.
Montreal City Hall, 275 Notre-Dame Street East (Champ-de-Mars metro station)
fb: https://www.facebook.com/events/26066587162995319
* Family-friendly: bring your kids!
* Everyone is welcome at our demonstrations, especially people with precarious immigration status or undocumented community members. We are aware of the fear and risks faced by undocumented migrants and we try to organize our demonstrations to be as safe as possible for everyone. If you are hesitating to come because of your status, please contact us.
Join us on March 7 to ask Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez to make Montreal a Sanctuary City for migrants, and to fully support the fight for regularization of undocumented migrants and permanent status for all.
Making Montreal a sanctuary city means ensuring that all members of our communities feel protected, regardless of their status. It means ensuring that everyone has access to housing, employment, healthcare, education, food banks, social assistance and unemployment support, and all forms of social and economic protection, regardless of their immigration status.
A sanctuary city also means protecting members of our communities from arrest and deportation. While the media exposes us to the spectacular violence inflicted upon migrants, we demand an end to all communication between the SPVM and CBSA (the border agency equivalent to ICE).
The City of Montreal must also make its voice heard and demand the federal government to regularize undocumented immigrants and grant permanent status to all migrants with precarious status.
Denis Coderre declared Montreal a sanctuary city in response to Trump’s first term. While Valérie Plante initially rejected this idea, her administration gradually realized the extent to which a large portion of Montrealers were deprived of their social, political, and economic rights, risking arrest and deportation at any moment.
Soraya is the first racialized woman from an immigrant background to serve as mayor of Montreal. We have high expectations of her. Faced with the violence of Trump and his administration, faced with the persecution and criminalization of migrants by Canada and Quebec, we demand a strong and exemplary stance from the representatives of the cities where we live, study, and work. Talking about immigrants to ease your conscience and improve your political image is not enough; you must act to protect the most vulnerable. Beyond those affected by the PEQ, solidarity must extend to all migrants with precarious status, and most importantly to undocumented migrants who receive no support or meaningful regularization procedure, even though they are part of our lives, our communities, and the city as a whole.
Soraya, this 7 March, the eve of International Women’s Day, we remind you that you represent ALL Montrealers, which includes the invisibilized and undocumented community members who keep the restaurants, factories, hospitals, and construction running; who make Montreal what it is every day, despite situations of sometimes extreme exploitation and without ever being able to enjoy the security and comfort that other citizens do.
We all, and you, Mayor of Montreal, must act now for a true sanctuary city and a permanent solution for undocumented and precarious migrants. We want a continuing, full regularization program and permanent status for everyone. We demand a city that protects us, supports us, listens to us, and gives us access to safety, housing, education, work, and healthcare.
We reject violent attacks and unite to demand permanent status for all. Join the struggle for freedom to exist, move, return and stay in full equality and dignité!