The office of Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland received migrants who have been separated from their families for decades because they are denied permanent residence status, here on Family Day.
Carrying photographs of nearly 200 other families that have been separated from their loved ones, migrant farmworkers, child and elderly care workers spoke about the crisis of family separation created by Canada’s immigration laws.
“We love our families and we miss them, we live here, we take care of communities but we are missing birthdays, funerals and anniversaries because we are denied immediate permanent resident status,” explained Jhoey Cruz, an organizer with Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and a former live-in caregiver. “Families belong together, and that’s only possible if all of us, including our families, have permanent residency, without exclusions or waiting periods.”