Access to Social Rights for Undocumented Migrants Jill Hanley McGill School of Social Work

Research basis  Hanley. “Organizing for the Rights of Undocumented Migrants: Brussels & Montreal.” FQRSC,  Hanley. “Access to Social Rights for TFWs.” FQRSC,  Hanley, Gravel, Lippel & Shragge. “The Right to Health for Precarious Status Migrants.” SSHRC,  Ricard-Guay & Hanley. “Services for Victims of Human Trafficking.” Justice Canada,  Rousseau, Meloni, Ricard-Guay, Hanley & Montgomery. “Access to Pre & Postnatal Care for Undocumented Mothers.” CIHR,  Walsh, Hanley, Ives & Este. “Uncovering invisibilities: homelessness and immigration across the spectrum.” HRSDC, &

Undocumented Migrants  Canadian context  View of this population: advocates, public, state  Access to social rights:  Housing, healthcare, labour  Organizing among undocumented migrants  What way forward?

Canadian context  Who are undocumented migrants in Canada?  How many people are we talking about?  Contributing factors:  Changes to the refugee determination system  Changes to the TFW program  Backlogs in processing permanent residency applications

Limited sympathy  Advocates:  Surprisingly wide range of positions  Fear of serving unfunded population  General public:  Resentment of having “broken the rules”  Using public services “without paying taxes”  Government:  Shift post 9/11 to security concern  Detention and rapid deportation

Access to housing Vulnerability to homelessness, crowded conditions, unaffordable & insecure housing  Limited access to emergency shelters  No access to subsidized housing  Covered by tenant rights  Risk in the private housing market  Threats of reporting to immigration  Exploitation by “friends” and relatives  Frequent moves

Access to health Common issues: acute and chronic health problems, pregnancy, dentistry, mental health  No official access to public health care  Reliance on social networks to access private care  Limited initiatives from community sector  Risk of denunciation from healthcare professionals

Labour rights Population that tends to work, problems of wage theft, workplace accidents  Ambiguous (but little) coverage by labour protections: labour standards, workers’ compensation  No technical barriers to unionization  No access to labour-related benefits: EI, parental leave, pensions  Very few community groups will defend (requires extralegal approach)

Organizing for Undocumented Migrant Rights  Few organizations have the rights of the undocumented as a central focus  Challenges to organizing: criminalization, risk of deportation, lack of public or state sympathy  Campaigns have taken different approaches:  Regularization of immigration status  Healthcare for All  Sanctuary City  Labour examples elsewhere

Where to now?  Numbers expected to grow  Relatively new phenomenon for Canada  Government and community sector has not adjusted to this new reality  What can we learn from other countries?  What would be a useful response?