If you’ve turned on the news recently, you have heard the media repeating the talking points of right-wing politicians. They keep telling us that an untold number of refugees are crossing into Canada, stealing jobs and overburdening social services.
The truth is, more tourists drove into Canada from the US in just 8 hours in one day in 2018 than refugees entered the country on foot in the whole year!
Right wing politicians want us to blame migrants and refugees instead of realizing that it’s big businesses and the super rich who are responsible for low wages and underfunded services. In 2018, the super rich in Canada hit $240 billion dollars in tax havens abroad.
And the federal Liberals are not far behind. They invested one billion dollars into more policing at the borders rather creating a national pharmacare program, a universal child care program or meaningfully addressing climate change.
We must not be fooled. Many of us are concerned about the future, the economy, the well-being of our loved ones and the health of the planet. To get these things we must reject divisiveness and #UniteAgainstRacism. Only when we fight together will we win.
This is where you come in. You can tell politicians that you will not fall for their lies; that you know all of us have a shared desire for a fair future.
On May 1st, find a local event for International Workers Day, and show up with this placard. Then take a photo of yourself with it and share it on social media with #UniteAgainstRacism
On May 1st, you and I can reject the divide between migrant, immigrant, undocumented and citizens and assert that we are all workers. We can reject the divide between those who work and those who cannot. We can reject the divide between paid work and unpaid domestic and care work. Together, we must insist that no worker be left behind. This means:
- DECENT WORK: $15 minimum wage, full labour rights and no employer specific or time limited work permits.
- UNIVERSAL SERVICES: Full access to quality public services including healthcare, education, income security, childcare, pensions, and more for all residents.
- STATUS FOR ALL, STATUS NOW: Permanent resident status and family unity for all migrants and refugees here, and landed status on arrival for those that arrive in the future. No detentions, no deportations!
- JUST SOCIETY: Indigenous self-determination, gender justice, and an end to racism, particularly anti-Black racism and Islamophobia.
- NO DISPLACEMENT: An end to practices that force people to migrate including climate change, wars, corporate impunity, dirty mining and economic exploitation.
Why not get started right now? Take a selfie and share it with #UniteAgainstRacism. Share it on facebook and twitter. Start getting the word out! Go to https://migrantrights.ca/may1/ to get all the details.