Vol. 72/No. 23 June 9, 2008
On May 6 police from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) raided SDR Distribution Services, a warehouse facility in Mississauga, just west of Toronto. Many of those arrested have since been released on bail.
No One Is Illegal (NOII), an immigrant rights organization, has called the protest action. According to Craig Fortier from NOII, many of those arrested are women who work as nannies under the Canadian government’s “Live-in Caregiver Program.” This program allows people to hire foreign workers as caregivers for children, elderly, and disabled people. The workers are only allowed to work for the person who sponsored them as caregivers and must live in the employer’s home. As temporary workers, they are not covered under the general terms of Canada’s Labour Protection Act.
Fortier explained that many of these temporary workers are from the Philippines. Many of those arrested are being charged with violating these provisions by taking second jobs at SDR.
The day of the raid, the Canadian minister of public safety, Stockwell Day, released a statement lauding the roundup. “This large-scale operation protects the integrity of our immigration program and reinforces the security and prosperity of Canada,” he said.
According to the Toronto Star, the warehouse had been under surveillance since February. The raid was timed to coincide with the release of a report by Canada’s auditor general, Sheila Fraser. The report criticized the CBSA for losing the whereabouts of 41,000 people currently facing deportation warrants. Many of these are said to be workers who come to Canada under temporary worker programs and stay when their contracts end. Ottawa issued 106,750 temporary foreign worker permits in 2006 and 103,000 in the first nine months of 2007.
Related articles:
297 Iowa meat packers are railroaded to jail
Convicted on ‘identity theft’ charges
Chicago students protest anti-immigrant Minutemen
San Diego students protest immigration raids
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