WHO: Draw the Line Coalition

MEDIA CONTACT: Gur Tsabar and Alicia Parker, [email protected]

 

Toronto, ON - Yesterday’s ‘Canada First Patriot Rally’ at Christie Pits Park in Toronto came as a response to the rising chorus of politicians from Pierre Poilievre to Prime Minister Mark Carney blaming immigrants for Canada’s affordability and housing crises. These rallies and soundbites are a result of a politics of fear that distracts from the real culprits: failed government policies, corporate landlords, and underfunded public services.

Canada’s housing crisis, food insecurity, and health care shortages are the result of decades of deregulation, financial speculation and government neglect — not migrants. Yet instead of addressing these root causes, leaders are scapegoating migrants and immigrants, refusing to renew 1.2 million study and work permits this year. Carney’s first proposed law, Bill C-2, will make it harder for refugees to seek safety, and allow the government to cancel any immigration permit or application, including permanent residency en masse.

“We will not allow politicians to turn neighbour against neighbour while letting corporate landlords and monopolies profit off fundamentals like housing and food. Full and permanent immigration status for all is not optional, it’s the only path to justice,” said Sarom Rho of the Migrant Rights Network, a member of the Draw the Line coalition.

We demand that governments and politicians stop blaming migrants; grant permanent resident status to everyone, without exception; end deportations and detentions that tear communities apart; and withdraw Bill C-2. Bill C-2 expands the state’s deportation and surveillance powers, restricts access to refugee protection, and makes immigration status more precarious — turning systemic policy failures into grounds for punishing migrants.

On September 20, tens of thousands will take to the streets in over 60 cities to demand justice — for migrants, for workers, for all of us. We will not let fear win. Full details of all the actions can be found at drawtheline.world/dtl-canada-s11.

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The Draw the Line mobilizations in Canada are organized by Seniors for Climate, Migrant Rights Network, Indigenous Climate Action, Sacred Earth Solar, Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac), 350.org, World Beyond War Canada, For Our Kids, Climate Reality Project Canada, Climate Emergency Unit, Greenpeace Canada, Council of Canadians, Music Declares Emergency, and Palestine Solidarity Network, and endorsed by over 200 organizations representing millions of Canadians. From rallies to strikes, marches to gatherings, this September 20th, communities will mobilize across the country and demand that Prime Minister Carney and the Canadian government pick a side: injustice, violence, and climate destruction- or a just and safe future for all of us.

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