{"id":9742,"date":"2024-09-06T12:37:42","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T16:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/?p=9742"},"modified":"2024-09-06T12:37:42","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T16:37:42","slug":"unhoused-unemployed-undocumented-call-for-solidarity-and-support-for-moussa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/unhoused-unemployed-undocumented-call-for-solidarity-and-support-for-moussa","title":{"rendered":"Unhoused, Unemployed, Undocumented: Call for Solidarity and Support for Moussa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Unhoused, Unemployed, Undocumented: Call for Solidarity and Support for Moussa<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moussa, an undocumented migrant active in Solidarity Across Borders, was frauded out of nearly $1200 by a man who claimed to have a room to rent. The government\u2019s failure to take meaningful action to control rent increases creates an opportunity for fraudsters to exploit people\u2019s desperation for affordable housing; just as Miller and Trudeau\u2019s failure to regularise undocumented migrants leaves them vulnerable to many kinds of exploitation. Undocumented migrants are on the frontlines of the housing crisis.<\/p>\n

Read an investigative report on this in Le Devoir<\/a> and see information on how to donate below.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Exploited at Work, Frauded in Housing<\/em><\/p>\n

Unable to find work or pay rent in Montreal, Moussa left the city earlier this year to work as a receptionist at a hotel east of Quebec City. After working there for several months, it became clear that the hotel had no intention of paying Moussa or the other employees their full salary. Afraid of trouble with immigration, Moussa felt he could not make a complaint. With the help of Solidarity Across Borders, Moussa returned to Montreal – with no money, no work, and no place to live. He found an ad on Kijiji for a room. The supposed owner, \u201cJay\u201d, demanded two months rent in advance, in cash. Desperate, Moussa handed over $1185 he had collected from friends and solidarity networks. He was told that he could move in by the end of the week. However, on Thursday, the date was pushed back until the following Tuesday. On Tuesday, he was told that there would be another delay.<\/p>\n

Realizing that something was wrong, Moussa went to the apartment. As he continued to knock, refusing to leave without his money, \u201cJay\u201d called the SPVM. The SPVM advised Moussa to open a file at the rental board (TAL), then found a Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) issued arrest warrant for Moussa, arrested him, and turned him over to the CBSA. Very fortunately, he was released with conditions immediately, pending deportation. In the past, after an arrest warrant was lifted, migrants in Moussa\u2019s situation would have been able to obtain a work permit. But, due to recent changes to immigration policies, he still can\u2019t get a work permit. <\/p>\n

With the sleuthing help of a community organisation, Moussa now has a name that could be that of the person who frauded him. However, even if he wanted to make a police complaint or, after a costly and lengthy process, won at the TAL, these steps would probably not result in his actually getting the money back – and certainly not in time to pay September rent.<\/p>\n

Undocumented migrants are among the worst affected by the housing crisis. With no access to social housing, social assistance, or work permits, many struggle to pay rent or have already lost their homes. As Trudeau and Miller retreat from their promises to create a broad regularisation programme, people like Moussa \u2013 who has lived in Canada for 13 years \u2013 face a bleak future.<\/p>\n

Your Support<\/em>
\nDonate to help Moussa <\/strong>pay August and September rent. The goal is 1300 $ (any surplus will go towards legal costs for an immigration application to regularise his status): by etransfer to solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com<\/a> (with \u201cMoussa\u201d in the message); by credit card through the paypal link at www.solidarityacrossborders.org; or by cheque<\/a> to Solidarit\u00e9 sans fronti\u00e8res (with Moussa in the subject line). <\/p>\n

Participate<\/strong> in actions calling for Status for All le 14-15 September<\/a><\/p>\n

Participate<\/strong> in actions for housing<\/a> le 14-15 septembre <\/p>\n

Housing and Status for All!<\/strong>
\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unhoused, Unemployed, Undocumented: Call for Solidarity and Support for Moussa Moussa, an undocumented migrant active in Solidarity Across Borders, was frauded out of nearly $1200 by a man who claimed to have a room to rent. The government\u2019s failure to…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9748,"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9742\/revisions\/9748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solidarityacrossborders.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}