Immigrant workers are the first to experience the shift in the labour market towards an increase in temporary work, and the reduction of permanent jobs with benefits and legally enforceable health, safety and labour standards.  Many immigrant workers obtain temporary jobs through agencies that are unregulated and fly-by-night.  R’s experiences shed light on the difficulties that temporary agency workers in Montreal face, difficulties that create what he described as “a kind of super-stress.”

R came to Canada from Mexico in 2008 and obtained different kinds of jobs through agencies: cleaning trays in a bakery, general cleaning work, jobs clearing snow and ice.  When we asked him about safety conditions on the job he said, “Well, the degree of safety that I’ve had is basically nil.”  He described “clearing snow at a height of three metres on slippery icy roofs…without safety equipment, cleats, cords, harnesses” for the temporary workers. “At the other end, people that were insured, who worked directly for the company, the whole team was provided with helmets, cleats, harnesses, special tools and special clothing for the cold, and meanwhile all we had was rubber boots.”  R left that job but he told us, “One of my buddies fell, fractured his clavicle, and was incapacitated for two or three months.”

R eventually did suffer a serious workplace injury: “The injury that I had was caused by a fall on a production line, on a conveyor belt. We didn’t have access to the controls for the machines, so people had accustomed themselves to jumping the belt. There was no other way, because shutting down the machine would slow things down and cause problems with production. One of the security railings was loose…I fell on my head, and remained unconscious for a few moments. And there, I don’t remember… After what happened, there was no ambulance called. They sent me to the cafeteria. I was in a state of shock. And they continued with the production, which for them was the most important thing.”

The employer took no action whatsoever after this accident.  Under pressure to keep working to meet family expenses, and because he didn’t want any trouble, R continued to work.  Later, as he continued to get headaches and suffer from tinnitus, he went to see a doctor, but didn’t receive proper care because he hadn’t sought it in time.  “I’m still dealing with some gaps, holes in my memory, even to date.”

R told us that he had witnessed other temporary workers sustain terrible injuries on the job: “Well, I remember in one case, there was a station where there were normally supposed to be two people doing packaging, and they only put one person at the station, to try to force her to speed up, but there really should have been two…She slipped and fell and hurt her mouth, opened up her lip. Intense. For another person, it was their hand in one of the conveyor belts, where the trays come out of the oven, got stuck and their skin got ripped off. They had to take them to the emergency room, and the wound was about 10 centimetres long.”

“One of the worst accidents that I saw, a co-worker fell backwards because the floor is always covered in mineral oil, so he slipped and one of the protective railings on the machine that the oil was leaking from wasn’t there, so he fell, lacerated his hand, cutting his tendons and lost the ability to use his hand. Afterwards, this person went to make a demand to the employer, but the employer pointed the finger at him, and then he started to have problems with immigration. I think he was deported.”

Besides the physical dangers, the conditions of work were extremely gruelling.  R had to work night shifts, and found changing his sleep rhythm difficult.  “It starts to produce a lot of stress in your body, and besides that, physically, you have to be constantly alert and focused on what you’re doing. For example they set you to work in places where normally the machine should be able to function on it’s own, but nobody had calibrated it, because they didn’t bother to contract a technician to do it. It’s controlled with a kind of laser beam in order to keep the size of the loaves of bread standard. But we had to do it manually, so you’re watching these laser beams constantly for an eight our shift… some people ended up dizzy or vomiting. So really, you come out of that totally physically drained.”

But even more draining than the physical stress was the constant psychological pressure that supervisors put on workers.  R described this pressure: “They were constantly threatening to fire us…The state of being constantly threatened with dismissal sets off a kind of super-stress, and that can end up also creating psychological problems. I lived through that, and, well, it’s pretty tough. It leaves a mark on you.”

“And the problems then can get transferred through a person to their family, to their wife, their children, neuroses… and a person feels a kind of incompetence towards all kinds of things, their job… being in that kind of situation constantly blocks the kind of consciousness that you need to get out of the vicious cycle.  And having a low wage puts you in a situation where, say, you can’t handle having a whole week without work. And as a result, you can’t leave your job. On a psychological level, that’s really hard to deal with.”

As R explained, employers use threats of dismissal to discourage workers from complaining about their working conditions: “Well, even when you invest yourself in doing the job well, doing it right, that doesn’t get noticed and basically they don’t care about you. But say you arrive five minutes late, then they notice, and that’s a horribly serious mistake for one to make. And all of a sudden it’s like you’re on a kind of blacklist. And so it starts to get complicated, because you can’t even make the tiniest of mistakes, and that to is a pretty serious form of pressure. And just as much, it’s a way to keep a worker submissive. I think that’s one of the basics for the use of psychological pressure as a means of controlling workers.”

R elaborated on the fact that temporary workers form a sort of parallel work force in the same place of employment.  “In a lot of cases there isn’t even a contract. Obviously we don’t have all of the rights that workers have, we’re basically pawns that they plug in to the assembly line until they’re no good anymore, and then they bring someone else in.”

Even though temp agency workers often do the same job as permanent workers, they are almost always paid less.  “I was making nine dollars, in contexts where, in the written contracts that I saw with my own eyes, it was stipulated that a person would be making seventeen dollars an hour, for example, in the packing area. In a context where normally they would have two people working there full time, they have one person, making nine dollars an hour…The difference in pay between what we make and somebody who is hired directly by the company, well, that’s profits for the temp agency.”

Some temporary agencies pay workers irregularly, and frequently, temporary employment agencies ‘disappear’ without paying all of their workers’ wages. As R put it, “Once the term of work is over, sometimes it’s easier for the agency to simply leave its workers behind without paying them at all, without granting them their vacation pay or any other kind of severance, then to go and open up a new agency, and avoid having to even pay taxes to the government.”

R ultimately decided to act on his rights, with the help of organizations that exist to help workers.  This involved “going and presenting my complaint and presenting the situations at work, explaining what had happened, and the resulting debts that I had, the fact that I hadn’t gotten my vacation pay, my rights, and also bringing forward other people that were in the same situation, and bringing them right to the Labour Standards Board [in Quebec]. I put in my complaint at Labour Standards, and the person who was my agent looked through the system and found that this agency owed more than a million in income tax. And then they started to follow the agency’s tracks. But the agency had already closed and filed for bankruptcy.”

Eventually, R became a member of the Immigrant Workers Center.  He described how this happened: “Well, I contacted the Centre when I was, let’s say I was already at the end of my line… I didn’t have a job anymore, I couldn’t get access to welfare, I had zero income. I had to reach out to organizations that provided assistance. And I met a person who told me about the existence of the Immigrant Workers Center, and told me that they might be able to help. So I got in touch, and little by little they got me oriented, and at every step they accompanied me in filing complaints, they accompanied me with translators, they provided contact with lawyers, through volunteers in the universities, and basically because of that I was able to file my demands the right way.”

R’s message for other workers was: “Well, I hope that many people won’t have to suffer the same kinds of consequences that I suffered for lack of consciousness, lack of knowledge about my rights, also that they realise that this organization exists, that they can get help at any time, even if they’re not dealing with any problems… For people that are going through a problem, the most important thing is to find calm, so that they don’t get immersed in that super-stress, since they do have rights, and those rights can be demanded.  They need to reach out, that they need to file letters, they need to make their demands, and not stand there with their arms crossed because if that’s what we do, this situation is going to continue, this abuse of workers…”

Montreal’s Immigrant Workers’ Center has just launched a new newspaper, “La Voix des Migrant(e)s”, from which this article is sourced.

R’s message for the federal and provincial authorities was this: “There are gaps in the law, through which all kinds of agencies can grow and thrive.  This is a problem that affects the government itself, because these companies aren’t paying taxes, but also because it damages the image of investment, damages the image of the government.  They have to focus their attention on these gaps in the law so that it’s harder for agencies to dodge the law and leave people in situations like this. They should specify exactly who holds the responsibility for paying medical insurance and taking care of workplace safety. Is it the agency, or the company that hires the agency? It needs to be spelled out clearly so that workers can protect their rights.”

As changes are being considered to the Live-In Caregiver Program that would increase eligibility requirements for participants, decrease the number of applicants accepted, and make it more difficult for participants to obtain permanent residency, it seems timely to reflect on the experiences of caregivers who are presently in the program.

B’s story, gleaned from a face-to-face interview, sheds light on some of the frustrations and challenges that caregivers experience because of restrictions on their mobility, an undervaluing of their prior experience and qualifications, and their vulnerability in their situations of work.

After graduating in the Philippines, B worked as a nurse in the Middle East.  She said that she found working as part of a team in the pediatric care and the infectious diseases units at a hospital extremely rewarding.  Encouraged by her sister, B decided to come to Canada in 2008, even though this meant giving up a career in nursing.  She told herself that she would, after 24 months, be eligible to apply for permanent residence, and be able to find her way back to her original career track.  In fact, the wait for permanent residence dragged on, and when we interviewed her, she had been waiting for nine months after submitting her application.

B said her job – which involved caring for two children and doing household chores – had been a good one, relatively speaking.  This was because her employers did not require her to live in their home, and respected the hours stipulated in her contract, so she was able to work from 9 to 5.  She said that most Filipina caregivers who are part of the LCP work from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. because they are always on call, living as they do at their place of work.  She said this was not only exploitative but also terribly stressful and damaging to their health.

While B was not asked to work extra hours, she found that the specific hours she was asked to work were frequently shifted at the last minute:  “For me, I always wanted a good working relationship with my employer, so I have to give in most of the time, and it’s really hard.”   Also, although she was supposed to work for a single employer, she was expected to work in the households of relatives and friends of her employer: “With the jobs as live-in caregiver, one thing really that I really disagree, but there’s nothing I can do about it, is, like, the employer can just give you to either his friend or their friend, or their parents’, their sister.” She found this difficult as she had to learn the particulars of each household. B said that most live-in caregivers put up with wage-theft, exploitative conditions, and worse, because they tell themselves that after 24 months they will be free to find other jobs.  Here again, they are likely to be frustrated, B noted, because the regulations and processing times keep changing.  And while they wait, they are not able to take academic courses, as B had hoped to do to requalify as a nurse.

In her time in Montreal, B has appreciated the support of the Filipina women’s organization PINAY, which she says really helps live-in caregivers.  She is proud to be a member of PINAY.

 At 77 years old, most people are concerned with spending time with their family and having enough money for their retirement.

 In July, 2013, the Canadian government gave Djaber Kalibi and his family something worse.  Upon returning from a trip to France, the Canadian government confiscated his passport and gave him a deportation order.

 “I’ve been here 9 years. How is this possible?” asks Kalibi.

 Kalibi and his wife and two daughters moved to Canada from France in 2005. He applied for permanent residence, but all he received was a work permit.

Kalibi, who has a PhD in political science from a German university, was able to find work at a private college in Montreal, where his family settled.

 But now, Kalibi and his family’s lives are up in the air. All their belongings are packed in boxes, as they are in the process of moving from their family home in Montreal.

 When I asked him where they are moving, he is silent. “I don’t know… it depends on what happens,” says Kalibi.

 It is a cruel fate for a man who has fought for justice and freedom all his life.

 As a student studying in Germany in the 1970s, he joined the worldwide Confederation of Iranian Students and began to speak out about the abuses of the Shah in Iran. He returned to Iran during the 1979 revolution and participated in the massive protests that ousted the Shah.

 However the broad-based grassroots movement to overthrow the Shah was subverted by Islamic groups led by Ayatollah Khomeini. Kalibi continued to work as a professor in Iran until 1982, when he fled to France as a refugee. By this time, the new Islamic regime had already executed thousands of Iranians during the first few years in power.

 In France, Kalibi continued to be concerned with the welfare of those back home.  He was troubled that the violent Khomeini-led contingent had been able to co-opt much of the people’s movement and install a theocratic regime. Here, In France, he met with other refugees to discuss what had gone wrong in the movement to overthrow the Shah, and organized educational and political actions to resist the newly established Islamic Republic that was oppressing critical and dissenting voices within its population.

 At a time when France was attempting to normalize its relations with Iran, Kalibi’s outspokenness against the Islamic Republic of Iran began to attract the attention of the French government. In 1986, the political police in France arrested Kalibi and four others. They were interrogated for four days straight and he was initially charged with terrorism, but the charges were subsequently reduced to a misdemeanour.

 Despite the surveillance of both France and Iran, Kalibi continued to organize solidarity for those seeking change in Iran.  In 1990, the Interior Minister of France tried to have several Iranians deported to silence their activism against the Iranian government. The judge at the Supreme Court declared that the deportation order was unconstitutional and that Kalibi posed no threat to France.

 Prison sentences and threats of deportation have not deterred Kalibi from speaking out. For over 30 years, Kalibi has denounced the Iranian government for their numerous human rights violations (including torture, unlawful imprisonment, mass execution of prisoners, and legally entrenched gender inequality) along with their treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.

 Despite the repressive regime, Kalibi does not support an invasion of the country by Western powers seeking regime change and instead believes that the Iranian people can bring about social and political change in their country.

In 2013, during the lead up to Iran’s presidential election, John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Minister, spoke out about the abuses of the Iranian regime.

Baird said that: “the Iranian people will not forever tolerate the hypocrisy and corruption of the regime; the wanton waste of its resources; and the transformation of a proud nation into a pariah.”

Baird also spoke about supporting Iranian activists both inside and outside of Iran.

“We stand with the courageous activists inside Iran…with the dedicated Canadian diaspora outside Iran …and with freedom-loving people everywhere who want a brighter future for your country,” said Baird.

In May 2013, Canada’s Foreign Minister spoke about supporting Iranians in their desire for a country free from Khamenei’s regime, and yet in July 2013, the Canadian government begins the process of deporting one such activist.

Baird’s words seemed to have spoken directly to Kalibi’s situation.

“Under the burden of escalating repression, the regime is forcing activists to leave. As they do, others take their place, subjected to the full force of this regime’s anger… They can take comfort, knowing that Iran’s democratic voices have begun the hard, patient work of bringing about a free and open society in Iran,” said Baird.

Baird even spoke about engaging activists by standing with “human rights defenders who take such tremendous personal risks in trying to protect others.”

But instead, Kalibi, a long time activist, is told that Canada does not support him. Kalibi received his deportation order shortly after the election of the new Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, in June 2013.

On June 12, Kalibi expects to hear whether his deportation order to France will be overturned.  

The Canadian government is using the same materials from the French case nearly 30 years ago to argue that he is a threat to the “national interests” of Canada.

Twenty-eight years ago, the highest court in France “la cour de cassation” (the Supreme Court of France) dismissed the case against Kalibi. But this time, there is no court to judge whether he or not he is a threat. Instead, his case rests in the hands of a commission and specifically those of the Minister of Public Safety, Steven Blaney.

Kalibi believes that the only way to overturn the order will be to generate public pressure to have him stay. To this end, he has worked with Solidarity Across Borders in Montreal to raise awareness and they have managed to get thousands of signatures.

Today, it appears easier for wealthy Iranian officials, supporters and beneficiaries of the brutal hand of the Islamic Republic, to enter Canada than it does for those Iranian dissenters, thinkers, and artists who are critical of the regime.

When I asked Kalibi whether he has any regrets, he says: “It is a choice. It is a legitimate struggle and I don’t step back. I am fighting for a world without the misery we see around us. And I am in solidarity with those who struggle for a better world.” 

Djaber Kalibi
Photo : Pedro Ruiz – Le Devoir

Sureté du Québec Lt. Guy Lapointe shows tobacco seized by the Quebec police force at a news conference, April 30, 2014 in Montreal. Photo credit: Ryan Remiorz , THE CANADIAN PRESS.

by M. Cooke

“You don’t have to go to Kahnawake to combat crime. The government is trying to make us [indigenous people] look worse in the eyes of their public,” says John Kane, host of radio program “Let’s Talk Native” on WWKB 1520 out of New York.

The Mohawk radio personality believes that the police raids around Montreal, earlier yesterday, are more about public relations than targeting criminal organizations. He says that by criminalizing the trade and manufacturing of tobacco, the Canadian government is violating Mohawks’ rights to develop their own economies.

The April 30th police raids were the largest raids involving contraband tobacco in North American history. Over 400 officers were deployed in what was the culmination of an 18-month operation.  According to details acquired by the Two Row Times, 35 warrants were issued and 28 people were arrested, which included eight people from the Mohawk territories of Kahnawake and Akwesasne.

The timing on the raids couldn’t be better for the federal government as they are just a few days away from the third reading of the Bill C-10, the Tackling Contraband Tobacco Act.  This Act will criminalize all those involved in “contraband tobacco”, tobacco that does not comply with federal and provincial statutes, which means tobacco produced independently by native producers in their own territories.

Much of the media has emphasized the involvement of the mob in the transportation of the tobacco from the U.S. to Akwesasne. Kane says that those reports are helping justify the further regulation of the Native tobacco enterprises.

Also known as Bill C-10, if the Act passes its third reading, it will introduce mandatory minimums for those found with more than 50 cartons of contraband tobacco. The Act will also force First Nations police to work with provincial and municipal police to enforce the act.

Kane says that proposed laws like Bill C-10 are in violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

“The declaration states that we have the right to free, prior and informed consent. In addition, we have the right to develop our own economies. Both of which, the Canadian government is violating,” says Kane.

“The manufacturing and selling of cigarettes is an enterprise. It is the same thing they [multinational cigarette companies] are doing,” says Kane.

“When you criminalize our enterprises, it brings in nefarious characters. It forces your hand,” says Kane.

Kane ties the Canadian governments raids and legislation targeting Native tobacco enterprises to an ongoing history of colonialism.

“The Canadian and US governments have been trying to either assimilate or eliminate us. They don’t allow us to develop our own economies. They want us to remain in a ward-custodian relation,” says Kane.

By targeting Native enterprises, Kane says that the government is preventing the development of an independent economy and is instead forcing indigenous people onto welfare.

“They are trying to keep us on welfare and band council money. But most of us will never accept that scenario. We are going to continue to trade between our territories,” says Kane.

First appearing at Montreal Serai and reproduced with permission

Illustration by Oleg Dergachov. Oleg Dergachov is a Ukrainian painter, graphic artist, cartoonist and sculptor who works and teaches in his cozy Westmount studio in Montreal.

Montreal | One of the biggest challenges of migrating to another country is leaving your family behind. In most cases the reason is economics. If you are from a developing country, it becomes inevitable for at least one person in the family to go abroad to generate enough income to send kids to school, pay hospital bills, pay loans or land mortgages, be able to build one’s own house, or even just to be able to feed one’s family.

Being away, a migrant learns to cope with everything on his own. During times when a migrant faces dilemmas and prejudices, the love for the family gives him/her strength. When the strong typhoon Haiyan hit the province of Leyte in the Philippines, many of the migrants here in Montreal felt very anxious and worried about their families and friends back home. I felt heavy-hearted seeing photos and videos in the news of the devastation caused by such a catastrophe in my homeland. I was dismayed that the government had not done enough to protect the communities affected by the typhoon.

Also, when you migrate to another country, you bring some aspects of your culture and tradition that are as important to you as  your family. However, what if these cultural values are suppressed in the new country where you have chosen to work or live? If wearing or displaying religious symbols, such as hijabs and turbans, are restricted, will you feel that you are being respected?

As a migrant, your ethnicity is usually considered by other people as coming from an inferior root – the smell of the food you eat, your hygienic practices, the accent as you speak, or when you communicate with a compatriot in your own language. Worse, you feel deprived of your rights to access basic services if only one language is used in social institutions such as hospitals, police stations and other public offices. How else can you seek help when abused by your employer or during an emergency if you cannot speak the prescribed language in the province where you live and cannot be accommodated in any other language?

More so, a migrant from a developing country does not have equal opportunities because his/her educational and professional experiences are mistrusted. For instance, even after having completed two-year contracts as domestic caregivers, migrants are often unable to practice their professions because their college diplomas are not recognized, despite the fact that they have worked as nurses or teachers in their native lands. Generally, most Canadian companies prefer employees with training certificates from Canada.

Meanwhile, many women migrant workers settle for jobs that are largely considered unskilled or low-status such as domestic care work. They are poorly-paid and compelled to endure exploitative working conditions. It is even more emotional for migrant mothers who leave their own children to look after those of their employers. Since domestic care work is not even considered a “real job” caretakers are excluded from benefits such as CSST [La Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail] and coverage and maternity benefits.

All these prejudices do not give relief and comfort to the worrisome migrants whose main intention is to provide a better life for their families.

The discriminating migration policies, such as the temporary foreign worker program in Canada, deny migrant workers their right to family life. Migrants should have a right to family life and to be reunited with their children. However, in this policy, temporary workers that Canada hires for specific work are sent back home to their country after four years. They have small chance to apply for permanent residency, and later on sponsor family members, because the selection requirements are stiff. The temporary foreign worker program is set up to bring cheap labor in to Canada where these workers are hired for low wages and no benefits. Because of their temporary work permits, they are often threatened and mistreated by their employers.

The number of temporary foreign workers has been steadily increasing in the past few years. In 2011, there were over 300,000 temporary foreign workers in Canada, and in fact, more temporary foreign workers were accepted into the country than immigrants.

During the launch of the Temporary Foreign Workers Association (Association des Travailleuses et Travailleurs Etrangers Temporaires) in Montreal (November 2013), there were several stories that were shared of what is happening throughout Quebec and Canada. An article by BASICS Community News Service mentioned that an employer of one group of farm workers paid them an average of two hours of wages per day for over six years. Several workers complained about being tied to a single employer. One worker, whose company had laid him off for three months, explained that his work permit restrictions did not allow him to apply for other jobs, or for employment insurance.  A group of workers also shared stories about their employer forcing them to rent apartments in his building or else be fired. Workers also shared stories of being told to apply on “single” status despite being married and having children back home placing their future plans to apply as permanent residents in jeopardy. Other workers shared stories about language barriers. They could not take French courses, nor could they access translation services within hospitals or some unions. These workers came from a range of occupations, and were employed across different cities in Quebec as farm workers, butchers, machinists, welders, translators, and lab technicians.

The need for genuine development in our homeland

In dire need of money to send back home to their families, many migrant workers succumb to multiple discriminations and precarious employment. They become vulnerable to unfair labor practices simply to ensure that they have enough money to meet their financial goals.

According to IBON International, remittance inflows to developing countries in 2012 were estimated to have reached US$401 billion. Top recipients of recorded remittance inflows were India ($69 billion), China ($60 billion), the Philippines ($24 billion) and Mexico ($23 billion).

In the Philippines, the overseas Filipino workers are dubbed as modern day economic heroes because their remittances save the local economy.

Whereas, in fact, the increasing diaspora of workers is a reflection of poor economic condition of the labor exporting country where migration is often touted as a catalyst for development. While migrant remittances can improve the local economy, it deprives the country from benefitting from the skills of its own labourers and professionals. The increasing exodus of labor weakens domestic economic foundations leaving very few opportunities for the people to improve the living conditions in their own country (IBON International, October 2013).

Migration becomes a global trend because of the increasing demand for cheap labor. Migrant workers are treated as cheap commodities with human rights being often violated because oppressive labor laws are tolerated by both governments of the sending and receiving countries.

While a migrant worker can give temporary relief to the economic situation of a family, in the long run this does not address a genuine development of the country because family members who are left behind continue to be dependent on remittances, or on other family members who, in the future would also migration to another land.

In the home country, there is a need to ensure sustainable employment and livelihood opportunities for everybody through national industrialization and genuine agrarian reform. Every family member should have free access to education, health care and other social services to ensure that the family is not placed in financial distress.

At the international level, governments must ensure to protect the human rights of all migrant workers, including their rights to safety, to express their own beliefs, to practice cultural traditions, and to access basic services amidst language barriers. Because, in the end, while migration can be a tool for development, one can question the kind of development it brings where labor exporting countries become increasingly poorer, and where migrants continue to face greater exploitation.

Joyce Valbuena is the coordinator of the Centre d’appui aux Philippines/Centre for Philippine Concerns, a Montreal-based solidarity group of Filipinos and non-Filipinos in Quebec who are concerned to end the situation of repression and exploitation in the Philippines. Joyce is a graduate student of Public Relations at McGill University.

References:

M. Cooke. November  2013.  Basics Community Service. Temporary foreign workers in QC launch their own association.

IBON International. October 2013. Migration and Development: A matter of seeking justice.

Declaration of the fourth International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR). October 4, 2013. New York, NY, USA.

Remembering Fredy (Photo-BASICS Community News Service)

“I hated that part, blaming the citizens. If the police hadn’t intervened, Fredy would still be alive” said Will Prosper, a community organizer in Montreal Nord, about the coroner’s report in the death of Fredy Villanueva.

The inquest by Quebec Court Judge Andre Perrault investigated the events of August 9, 2008, that led up to a Montreal police officer firing on three unarmed youths and killing Villanueva.

The coroner’s report states that what likely took place on the day Fredy was killed was a simple police intervention and a series of unfortunate events.

“The police officers saw a group of youth playing dice. Without being certain of who’s doing what, officer Lapointe infers that all the individuals were playing dice, including Dany Villanueva [Fredy’s brother]. He decides to intervene to apply a municipal law, which allows him to identify each of the individuals,” states the report.

The report ignores larger issues of racial profiling and police brutality. Nowhere is the seemingly benign municipal law against gambling in parks questioned. The law provides a justification to harass and intimidate youth, particularly in the racialized working-class community of Montreal Nord.

The report goes on to recommend a handful of relatively weak changes to the police force and other government institutions.

Astoundingly, it recommends that youth should be trained in schools on how to behave when they are being questioned for a criminal infraction and informed about the consequences of not providing an officer with identification when under arrest.

Will Prosper speaking to a rally and march on October 11, 2008 through Montreal Nord (Photo-BASICS Community News Service)

“Sure, youth should be taught what their rights are,” says Prosper in an interview with BASICS. “But even if they act within their rights, oftentimes the police will provoke them.”

Disarming the police, or just slowing down how quickly they shoot?

The coroner’s report recommends that police officers be equipped with firearms that fire rounds at a slower pace.

However, Prosper believes that it’s essential to remove firearms from the hands of police officers.

“We never talk about taking away firearms from the police, but I think it’s something we need to talk about,” Prosper told BASICS.

Prosper went on to say that “the police are too fast on the trigger. They are using their guns more often and faster. Their first response in situations is to use their guns, instead of taking the time and talking.”

In “Enquête sur la police”, Stephen Berthomet, an ex-police officer and technical adviser with the union of police officers, states that between 2000 and 2013, 189 people have been killed or severely injured by police officers in Quebec. And 106 of those people were either killed or severely injured by police firearms.

A Special Investigation Unit in Quebec

Since 1999, there have been 416 coroner’s inquests in Quebec. To date, only three officers have been indicted, and not a single one has been convicted.

Community groups have been putting pressure on the government to address this lack of justice. In response, the Parti Quebecois (PQ) is proposing to establish a  ‘Bureau des enquêtes independantes,’ something similar to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) that exists in Ontario.

Prosper is skeptical of the PQ’s proposed changes.  He says that whether you have police officers or ex-police officers investigating police killings, “it’s the same mentality. You need citizens.”

Prosper isn’t the only one who thinks the SIU isn’t working in Ontario. The Ombudsman of Ontario came out with a report critical of the SIU. The Ombudsman reported that “[the SIU’s] credibility as an independent investigative agency is further undermined by the predominant presence and continuing police links of former police officials within the SIU.”

The Ombudsman’s report continued: “the SIU has not only become complacent about ensuring that police officials follow the rules, it has bought into the fallacious argument that SIU investigations aren’t like other criminal cases, and that it is acceptable to treat police witnesses differently from civilians.”

New mayor pays lip service to addressing root causes

Denis Coderre, the new mayor of Montreal, was quoted as saying that Montreal Nord has changed a lot since Fredy’s death. He says that as mayor, he hopes to reduce the poverty and marginalization in that area.

But Coderre has been in Montreal Nord all along. He was the federal representative of the Bourassa district, which is in Montreal Nord, from 1997 to 2013.

“What has Coderre done? He’s talked a lot. He’s on twitter, but he hasn’t done anything concrete that helps people in Montreal North,” Prosper told BASICS.

“There have been cosmetic changes, such as new soccer fields, but nothing that addresses the root of the problem. The unemployment rate for youth is steadily increasing,” he adds.

“To fight poverty, it takes political leadership,” says Prosper. “Hopefully, the population will organize themselves. If we can work on these issues, we could make a difference, but if we wait for politicians, nothing will change.”

5 Years Later, Noé Arteaga Is Still Without Justice (STÉFANIE CLERMONT, Coop Média de Montréal)

by Alessandro Drago

Montreal | “For temporary foreign workers there are a lot of injustices,” Noé Arteaga told a room of supporters and journalists. “We want justice, not just for me… but for everyone”.

Arteaga had organized a press conference at the Immigrant Workers Centre on December 17 to draw attention to his struggle for justice. Five years ago, he was unjustly fired after organizing a work stoppage to protest the maltreatment of a fellow employee.  Arteaga is in the process of filing a complaint against his former employer.

Arteaga first came to Canada through the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program. He was hired to work for an agricultural company in Shawinigan, Quebec.

One day, a co-worker of Arteaga’s was tasked with using pesticides despite never having being trained on the use of pesticides. That day the worker was exposed to the pesticides and required medical attention. However, the employer refused to take him to the hospital. The employer claimed that the worker’s symptoms were pre-existing.  To make things worse, the employer forced the sick employee to keep working.

The employer came up with excuses as to why they would not take him to the hospital. After a few weeks of preventing the worker from seeking medical attention, Arteaga and his fellow co-workers decided on a work stoppage to force the employer to take the sick worker to the hospital.

For his role in this work stoppage, Arteaga was fired and then deported to Guatemala.

But Arteaga did not accept this injustice and he returned to Canada shortly after his deportation to file a complaint against his employer.  His complaint is currently in its fifth year. He is seeking several weeks of severance pay (which he is owed by the employer) and payment for the airplane ticket (which the employer is contractually obliged to pay).

Joining Arteaga at the press conference were 3 former TFWs who spoke about their experiences in Canada. Arteaga was also joined by groups such as Mexicans United for Regularization, Solidarity Across Borders, PINAY (Filipino Women’s Organization in Quebec) and several others who were there to show solidarity and support for Arteaga.  Kathy Pescador of PINAY stated that the solidarity of multiple groups for Arteaga is beneficial as “the more we unite… the stronger our voice.”

Some of the other TFWs spoke of their experiences and work conditions which included working long hours, sometimes without overtime pay, being insulted by their managers, being threatened with deportation and general exploitation as many workers have to pay expenses that in reality the employer must cover.  Racism is another hardship that TFWs face. For instance, Arteaga and his coworkers were forbidden to speak Spanish while working.

“Most workers remain in silence because of their vulnerability” explained Carmelo Monge of Mexicans for Regularization, who was referencing Arteaga’s strength for pursuing his complaint.

Mohammed Ali Ben Dellej, a former TFW himself and a member of the Temporary Foreign Workers Association, spoke about how most such workers do not have enough courage or are too scared to speak out against their bosses out of fear of punishment or losing their jobs.

The number of TFWs in Canada has increased to nearly 300,000 and the conditions they face have not improved. As Mostafa Henaway explained, “Noé’s case… sort of exemplifies a situation that no longer are these people are on the fringe… but that they have become the unfortunate norm.”

The discrimination faced by TFW is codified in Canadian law.  Henaway further expressed, “If we want justice for Noé… then there has to be fundamental changes to the labour and immigration policy of Canada.”

As International Migrants’ Day was celebrated December 18th, it serves as a reminder of the continuing struggle and hardships faced by temporary foreign workers all over the world. Their increased vulnerability often leads to maltreatment and it is also difficult for them to seek justice afterwards.

Arteaga’s case is important as an example to all temporary foreign workers that there are ways to fight back against injustice.

Dozens of foreign temporary workers met to form the Temporary Foreign Workers Association (TFWA).

by M. Cooke

MONTREAL – “We are foreign temporary workers, any day we could be expelled. That’s why we need a strong and flexible association” said Enrique Llanes, a temporary foreign worker from Spain

Enrique was speaking to a group of over 50 temporary foreign workers who had gathered in Montreal this past Saturday to launch the Temporary Foreign Workers Association (TFWA).

They had gathered not only to fight for their rights, but also for the over 300,000 temporary foreign workers currently in Canada and those who will come in future years.

Mohamed and Helena, temporary foreign workers from Tunisia and Spain, welcomed the workers at the start of the day.

“I would particularly like to thank you for your dedication despite the cold and the distance” said Mohamed.

The workers had come from throughout Quebec: the Laurentians, the Eastern Townships, Chicoutimi, Quebec City, Montreal. These workers came from a range of industries including working as farmers, butchers, machinists, welders, translators, lab technicians among others.

Helena continued the introduction saying: “The obstacles temporary foreign workers face are infinite. The system is created to keep us misinformed and isolated”.

Shortly after, one after another, the workers introduced themselves and shared their experiences of working in Quebec.

One group of farm workers talked about recently discovering that their employer had withheld an average of 2 hours of wages per day for over 6 years.

Several workers complained about being tied to a single employer. One worker explained that the company had laid him off for 3 months, and due to his work permit he could not apply to other jobs, nor could he apply for employment insurance. He was forced to work under the table to survive.

In the legal workshop held earlier in the day, groups of workers shared stories about their employer forcing them to rent his apartments or else being fired.

Workers also shared stories of being told to apply as “single” despite being married and having children back home, putting their future plans to apply as permanent residents in jeopardy.

Other workers shared stories about language barriers. They were not allowed to take French courses and they could not access translation services at hospitals nor within some unions.

But these are only a few of the stories of what is happening throughout Quebec and Canada.

The number of temporary foreign workers has been steadily increasing in the past few years. In 2011, there were over 300 000 temporary foreign workers in Canada.

There has been a shift in the Canadian immigration system says Manon Perron, a union leader with the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN).

“Last week, I was in meetings with a top immigration bureaucrat and he told me that they are looking for workers, not citizens” said Manon Perron to the group of workers.

The temporary foreign worker programs are set up to bring cheap labour in to Canada. The workers work here for low wages and no benefits and once they are no longer needed, they are sent back to their countries.

In 2011 there were more temporary foreign workers than immigrants accepted into the country.

The launch of the Temporary Foreign Workers Association is a big step in challenging a program that is set-up to, as Helena said “keep [workers] misinformed and isolated”.

The association will provide workers with access to legal aid clinics, workshops on labour rights, as well as translation services.

In addition, the association will fight to address the policies that lead to the issues faced by foreign temporary workers. The association hopes to win access to employment insurance and health care, open work permits, easier access to apply for permanent residency, as well as the right to unionize.

Despite the obstacles the workers face, there was something electric about having workers from throughout the province meet with each other and begin building an association that would break the isolation and fight for their rights.

Katrina Kozarek speaks in Montreal, outlining the process of building communal power (SANTIAGO ESCOBAR)

By the Hugo Chavez People’s Defense Front

As Venezuela faces yet another attempt by the Right-wing opposition to create political, economic and social turmoil in the wake of the upcoming municipal electoral process, the Hugo Chávez People’s Defense Front of Canada, organized a 5 City speaking tour with Katrina Kozarek from the Comuna Socialista Ataroa in Lara, Venezuela. According to organizers, the purpose of this tour was not only to bring attention to the renewed destabilization campaign against Venezuela, but also to show exactly what this process of building peoples power in Venezuela looks like from the ground.

According to Santiago Escobar, of Barrio Nuevo and the Hugo Chavez People’s Defense Front, the speaking tour had the intention “to promote the accomplishments of the Bolivarian revolution, especially the socialist communes, which are concrete experiences of popular power from below and to the left, also with the intention of creating a network for educational and information interchange as an alternative to the information created by mass corporate media”.

Since 2006 Venezuela has begun to create a new ‘geometry of power’ in an effort to deepen and fortify the Bolivarian Revolution. This has meant the application of direct democracy through participation in economic, social and political planning and decision making from the grassroots, local organizations building towards a ‘communal state’.

At the neighbourhood level, laws were passed providing guidelines for the people to organize themselves into communal councils comprising of up to 400 families in a defined geographic area. Once formed through a democratic process that invites and includes all people living in this area, the communal council decides the identity of the area (including the name), elects spokespeople and defines the neighbourhood priorities. Importantly, it can also obtain funds in order to meet its assessed needs. Since the passing of the Law of Communal Councils in 2006, over 33 000 communal councils have been registered and over $2 Billion transferred from the central government directly to these communities for projects ranging from repairing of stairs and roads, to neighbourhood sports facilities, to cooperatives producing shoes and bricks.

In 2010, the Law of Communes was passed, which outlined the process for neighbouring communal councils to come together to take greater control over their area. Over 1100 communes have been registered to date.

Kozarek, who is part of the Ataroa Socialist Commune which comprises a territory which includes roughly 30 000 families, describes the communes “as the primary defense strategy of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela that promises to bring the country to the point of no return towards a truly democratic, and socialist future, creating an infrastructure for direct participation from a grassroots level, as well as promoting local and national production and self-sustainability.”

Kozarek acknowledged the fact that this process is still in construction and that capacity of Venezuela to resist the economic and other forms of sabotage is extremely important for the future of Venezuela and all of the countries and popular movements that have come together under the platform of the Bolivarian Alternative of Our America (ALBA) to resist imperialism in the region and build a model that moves away from neoliberalism.

The tour started off in the University of Toronto on the 7th of November, passing through Guelph University, Centro Hispano de York, Kitchener, Ottawa and finishing off in Montreal. The diversity of organizations, individuals and groups that participated in the events, joined in the call to participate in a solidarity social network created by community media and social movements of ALBA in Venezuela, called the Cayapa Communicacional, to share information and counter-act the opinions and information disseminated by the opposition and their supporters on an international level.

Workers protesting outside the Ministry of Labour in Quebec (M.Cooke)

by M. Cooke

“People walk over us, they do what they want” said Boniface as he stood on the front steps of the office tower that houses the Quebec Ministry of Labour.

Boniface and several other immigrant workers had braved the cold autumn rain to demand that the Quebec government create a bill to improve the work conditions for precarious workers.

“We are holding this action on the International Day of Decent Work to reiterate our demands for a more inclusive and just regulation of the labour market, as well as an immigration and social service system that fairly reflects the needs and rights of precarious and migrant workers” said Noé Artega, who works at the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC).

Jasmin de la Calzada, an organizer with Pinay, a Filipino Women’s Organization of Quebec,spoke next. “Pinay, and its membership of live-in caregivers, has been struggling for over 20 years to keep the women workers free from abuse and exploitation from their employers, scrupleless recruitment agencies, and the unjust trappings embedded in the live-in caregiver program itself.”

A recent report by the Quebec ministry of Labour indicated that over 450,000 workers in Quebec have precarious jobs. These are jobs that: pay low wages, have no or few benefits, have few regulatory protections, and have no security.

The report also found that nearly 1.3 million workers in Quebec experience job and employment insecurity.

These are workers who have been unemployed in the last two years and regularly have to find new work.

“Precarious jobs are becoming central to the economy” says Mostafa Henaway, who works at the IWC.

“Agency work used to just be to find white collar workers. Now you see big agencies being used as a normal way of employing blue collar workers.”

Henaway says that he meets a lot of people working for placement agencies. The smaller placement agencies are often fly-by-night operations. They make money by hiring out workers to other companies and then they close down shortly afterwards. The owners of the agencies make their money and often close without having paid their workers.

While these fly-by-night operations are the most egregious, the larger placement agencies also trample on workers’ rights.

Henaway says that placement agencies “help create a permanently precarious workforce.”

“People are living on the edge. People are working six days a week, but they don’t know when they will have work again.”

The IWC and community organizations are demanding: a living wage, universal access to health services regardless of migrant status, access to accident insurance for domestic workers, and regulation of placement and recruitment agencies.

The groups met with the Ministry of Labour in May, but Henaway says the consultation “resulted in nothing.”

He says that the Parti Quebecois “actually doesn’t want to do anything because just like the Liberal party, they want to appease the interests of business. Which means not actually giving protections to precarious workers.”

“Now we realize that we need to put pressure in a public way.”