Montreal, March 19, 2026 – In response to Senate adopting the anti-migrant Bill C-12 and the tabling of the new Bill C-22, which will provide the government with new tools to track and monitor undocumented people, Solidarity Across Borders (SAB) and the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) are calling on all levels of government to choose a regularization policy based on human dignity and equality, rather than racism and exploitation.
“Today, hundreds of thousands of people in Canada have already been stripped of all social, economic, and political rights, and the number of people becoming undocumented is increasing by tens of thousands each year. We are here to call on the federal, state, and local governments to make a choice: the choice of justice, the choice of humanity, the choice of regularization,” declared Samira Jasmin of Solidarity Across Borders (SAB).
“We demand permanent status for everyone, and specifically the broad regularization program for undocumented migrants promised by Marc Miller, which we see being implemented in Spain, and as the UN asked countries like Canada to introduce. We demand that Canada withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement. We demand a dignified life without fear,” added Redouane, a SAB activist who will be affected by C-12.
“We are constantly told that migrants threaten the French language, that they endanger our values, that they cost too much, that they are the reason for the housing crisis. For the government, all of its incompetence is the fault of migrants. This rhetoric is not only false: it is dangerous. It divides, it stigmatizes, it weakens Quebec. The truth is that these women and men care for our sick, teach our children, and keep our businesses running. We denounce these policies that close doors, erect walls, and transform the Quebec identity into a political weapon. Because the future is not built by rejecting others, but by welcoming them with dignity and respect,” said Tania Luzolo of SAB.
“We are asking the mayor of Montreal to act now for a true sanctuary city and a permanent solution for all undocumented or precarious status migrants. We demand a city that protects us and treats us as equal human beings,” said SAB activist Amir.
“Instead of addressing the crisis faced by migrants with precarious or no status through a broad, comprehensive and inclusive regularization program for all undocumented migrants, as promised by Marc Miller in 2023, the federal government has slammed the door on migrants. It has fueled racist and xenophobic scapegoating to justify new restrictions on international students, refugees, temporary foreign workers, and those without status, especially with the introduction of Bill C-12. Now more than ever, we need a united front to demand equality and dignity for all migrants. That is why we are mobilizing on March 21st,” said Mostafa Henaway, from the Immigrant Workers Centre.
