A demonstration Sunday morning and further events this week are pressing for status for undocumented migrants. People work on the black market and, over the last year, also put themselves in risky situations vis-à-vis Covid, but their lives and futures are precarious, and it’s a bad situation for Canada to allow to continue. We can’t have an underclass: this has to be fixed.
Updates from July, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Many of my commenters are longtime participants, although times I rummage back through older posts I’m reminded of people who used to comment here often, and no longer do. This kind of drift happens, often for no particular reason, and doesn’t usually concern me.
But does anyone know Michael Black and how he’s doing? He commented here often for awhile, there was no incident of offence that I recall, but he sometimes made reference to serious health problems. Made me wonder how he is.
dhomas
I don’t know Michael Black personally. However, he always had an anecdote or a story to share, especially when there was an article about indigenous people. There have been a lot of those articles recently, and I kinda wondered when he might comment. I hope he’s ok.
mblack
Me too – we are not related, so I have no info. I find his comments enrich the conversation here and hope he is doing well.
MarcG
I had the same thought a few weeks ago. Kate, don’t you have his email address from the posting form?
Kate
MarcG, I have an address for him, but he has never responded to an email from me. I don’t send a lot of private communications to commenters, but it comes up now and then, and he’s never replied. Nor has he this time.
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Kate
Denis Coderre presented several candidates Sunday. Two are new, and Mary Deros and Josue Corvil already represent Ensemble in Park Ex and St‑Michel.
Global offers an inside look at third party Mouvement MTL and leader Balarama Holness. A regular reader has told me privately he has every intention to vote for Holness and his candidates.
Update: On Twitter, Ted Rutland quotes new Coderre candidate Suzanne De Larochellière, who used to be with the SQ, saying “The population rises up easily. It’s important to support our police so they can do their job in complete freedom.”
David744
Just to be clear, I am not the regular reader who intends to vote for Balarama.
Kate
Nobody said you were, David.
dwgs
Just to be clear, I too am not the regular reader who intends to vote for Balarama. Reading the article piqued my interest though and I will look into them further, they seem like an interesting option.
David644
(I think we all know that it’s either Qatzelok or Walker P.)
Daniel D
Global offers an inside look at third party Mouvement MTL and leader Balarama Holness. A regular reader has told me privately he has every intention to vote for Holness and his candidates.
I’ll be interested to see how / if this splits the vote between the two candidates, and whether it favours one or the other.
Kate
Some voters disappointed by Projet but not keen on Coderre might turn to Holness as a third option, but with municipal elections, disenchanted voters often simply stay home.
qatzelok
It’s not me.
Numbered Davis seems to be hiding something… Denying a bit too hard.
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Kate
Some east-end residents are still hoping to act against the elevated REM route that will deface their community, but we all know it’s a lost cause. CDPQ‑Infra owns Montreal like the Sulpicians used to, and can do what they like with it.
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Kate
The page teaser for this CTV piece reads “Here’s how to sign up for Quebec’s $2 million vaccine lottery.” The text says you can sign up on the Clic‑Santé portal from July 25. There’s nothing on the Clic‑Santé page about the lottery, but if you click around and read all the menus you eventually find this page explaining it will soon be able to tell you how to participate.
EmilyG
I find that many things Quebec-health-related have had me going around in circles looking for information on this or that website, and ending up on the site where I started.
I did look for the vaccine lottery info, and found nothing about it other than mentions in news articles and nothing on Clic-Sante, so thank you for finding the page about the contest.David744
We don’t need to do this. Like, they’re doing it in America because they’ve hit a wall. We’re more vaccinated than any state or major US city.
Mark Côté
I never understand this line of reasoning. Because we’re ahead we should stop? The more people vaccinated the better, full stop. And $2 million is a drop in the bucket compared to what this pandemic has cost society.
CE
I’m very excited about the (very small) possibility of paying off my student loans just by doing something I would have done even without the lottery.
mare
A back-of-the-envelope calculation I made yielded to a sum of $2M to $3M *per day* just running the vaccination and testing sites in Quebec. (It probably is much higher.)
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Kate
Brief CBC piece tells about a new counter at Jean-Talon market featuring a changing lineup of Black and Indigenous chefs.
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Kate
The Journal features a profile of Édouard-Zotique Massicotte (1867-1947), the archivist best known today for his Albums de rues, online at the BAnQ, that preserves a vast selection of images of Montreal buildings and scenes from various print media of his time.
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Kate
Metro has the saga of a disabled man in Petite-Patrie who tried to get a permit to build a mobility lift on his front porch but was denied, partly because of architectural heritage, and partly because of a technicality to do with time limits at the Human Rights Tribunal. But he’s determined to make another attempt.
EmilyG
This is only one of many examples of how Montreal is a very disability-unfriendly city. It’s something that able-bodied people often don’t realize.
Joey
Cowardice and cruelty up and down the line here. The elected officials, bureaucrats and CCU members should be ashamed of themselves.
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Kate
La Presse asks are tourists back? and replies oui et non. They went out and found that most of the people visiting and staying downtown are from elsewhere in Canada.
Blork
That still makes them tourists, doesn’t it?
Tim S.
But not world-class tourists.
David744 00:23 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
It’s true, there should be no underclass. Illegal immigration must be stopped completely.
dhomas 05:18 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
They’re only “illegals” because we classify them this way. Guess what, though. Those laws can be changed by the very same governing bodies that rendered them illegal in the first place
@David*: Your comment very much echoes the leading quote of the article: “We’re facing a steamroller that has no feelings for migrants, or for human beings in general.”
They are people, after all, just like most of us, trying to make a living for themselves and their families. They are human beings, not “illegal migrants”.
Kate 09:09 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
We have industries that rely on your “illegal” immigrants, David, but we turn our backs on them when they need health care or the other guarantees that come with immigration status. That’s no way to run a country.
JaneyB 09:57 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
Also, some businesses in immigrant communities bring in / help / exploit members of their own group from the home country. This is huge in the GTA eg lots of undocumented Indians working ‘cash jobs’ within their community. (I have interviewed a number of them personally and there have been various exposés of this in the Toronto Star). That is not the only group either and it’s not new. It’s very easy to come to Canada for a visit and be absorbed by the black market. These folks are absolutely betting that they won’t need the services of the government. The women in particular are vulnerable. A huge problem that various governments are not fixing or even watching carefully.
David644 11:30 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
I don’t buy that ‘no one is illegal’ bullshit.
For better or worse, Canada has the West’s most open immigration system, we let in over 1% of our total population each year. Those people are vetted carefully, and the process is fair, clear, and time consuming.
When people illegally jump the queue, they’re avoiding that scrutiny, cheating other immigrants, and making a mockery of our already ultra liberal rules-based system. It’s not fair
That’s all to one side of their downward pressure on the wages of other immigrants, and the compounding lawlessness that an illegal lifestyle requires.
Nicholas 11:33 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
Soon politicians and in turn the media will stop calling them “undocumented” and start calling them “unvaccinated”. Will we be as empathetic then?
dhomas 14:25 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
@Nicholas: the vaccination centres will administer a vaccine whether or not you have access to RAMQ (i.e. they’ll give you a dose even without a Medicare card). So, there is no need for someone who is undocumented to be unvaccinated.
Hamza 16:34 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
Hey david , where’s your/your ancestors legal documents?
…yeah.
david255 17:30 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
I mean, if the point is that my ancestors built this country instead of moving here, I don’t see how that supports people illegally jumping in front of immigrants who play by the rules.
If your idea is just that anyone who wants to move to Canada should be allowed, then you’re just out to lunch.
JP 19:31 on 2021-07-19 Permalink
And, who’d they displace/move/kill to build?
dhomas 07:55 on 2021-07-20 Permalink
I don’t buy that “my ancestors built this country” bullshit. Do you know that for sure? Maybe your ancestors were lazy and didn’t contribute anything to society. Meanwhile, we see that many of these “illegals” are working jobs that are at the foundation of our society. If that’s not a continuation of building our nation, I don’t know what is.
Mark Côté 11:39 on 2021-07-20 Permalink
“if the point is that my ancestors built this country instead of moving here”
Wow there’s a lot to unpack there.