MONTREAL — Thousands joined rallies and demonstrations in eight cities across Quebec Feb. 7 protesting the provincial government’s abolition of its Quebec Experience Program (PEQ). Under the program thousands of workers from abroad were brought to work in Quebec, providing a route to permanent residency, and down the road, Canadian citizenship. Thousands of immigrant workers and their families in Quebec now face a completely uncertain future.
Abderrahmane Mahmoudi, a pastry chef and electrical engineer, told this Militant worker-correspondent at the rally here how he had sold his two bakeries in Algeria to come to Quebec along with his wife and two children. The PEQ was abolished two months before he would have become eligible to apply for permanent residency.
The actions were organized by a coalition called “Quebec is us too.” More than 1,000 people took part in the Montreal rally.
What was striking about this day of action was the increased presence of union banners and contingents, much more so than in earlier actions. Quebec’s three largest union federations and several other unions called on their members to turn out. Student and community groups also took part.
The Montreal Metropolitan Area Central Council of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) said it stands “with all people who see their work permits not renewed even though they belong here. It is unthinkable that in the Quebec we love, where we keep our word, such injustice is accepted.”
This growing social movement in defense of the rights of immigrants in Quebec and across Canada comes as the Liberal government in Ottawa is significantly tightening immigration and stepping up deportations. In 2025 over 19,000 people were deported, a record number.
Mamadou Saidou Bah, a 27-year-old Guinean, told the Militant he came to Canada as an accounting student. He said, “I preferred to come to Quebec because people speak French.” He just got a factory job, with a start date in two days, and now he doesn’t know what the future holds for him.
“I was inspired by the movement against deportations in the United States,” Daniel Caron, a retired social worker, told the Militant. “We need a real social movement both in the U.S. and Canada.”
“We’re still here. We’re going to continue to fight until we’re going to win,” Nadir Belaid, a spokesperson for “Quebec is us too,” told the Montreal rally.