Immigrant Rights are Workers Rights CONTINGENT
Anti-Capitalist Mayday Demonstration
Sunday, May 1st, 2011 2:30 pm
corner of Berri and Ste-Catherine (parc Emilie-Gamelin, metro Berri-UQAM)
For decades, immigrant workers have taken the streets on May 1st to demand justice and equality. For example, in 2006, in the US, millions of migrants organized mass mobilizations in defense of their rights and for justice and dignity.
This year, we take the streets in the context of increasing attacks against migrant workers and against immigrant communities.
WHY WE MARCH
BECAUSE deportations from Canada have increased 14% since 2009
BECAUSE Harper and the Canadian government are moving increasingly towards temporary worker programs that exploit and use workers without ever giving them a meaningful chance of obtaining permanent status in Canada; last year, more people came to Canada as temporary workers than as permanent residents
BECAUSE temporary workers programs create a disposable workforce where people do not have access to basic labor standards and where workers can be sent back if they are injured, unable to work or stand up for their rights; the non-status workers who work in restaurants, hotels, factories and picking fruit are also part of this disposable workforce in which people work under extremely exploitative conditions, sometimes for less than minimum wage and with the constant fear of detention and deportation
BECAUSE Family sponsorships now take up to 14 years and refugee acceptance rates have been cut by 56%
BECAUSE the unemployment rate in immigrant communities is double the Quebec average
BECAUSE every day non-status migrants walk into clinics, food banks, schools only to be denied access because of their immigration status
BECAUSE Racist immigration policies are creating conditions of modern day slavery
BECAUSE the Canadian state continues to resist indigenous sovereignty and liberation
BECAUSE while capital can move freely across borders, families continue to be separated; when migrants try to cross borders, they face fences, armed border guards and the security apparatus of Fortress North America
BECAUSE “You cannot have capitalism without racism”(- Malcolm X)
Solidarity Across Borders, No One Is Illegal Montreal, JOC-Montreal, the Immigrant Workers Center and Dignidad Migrante are organizing a “Migrant Rights are Workers Rights” contingent in the May 1st anti-capitalist demonstration.
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!
WORKERS CONTROL NOT BORDER CONTROLS!