PEQ Castigated in Quebec: Controversy Across the Province

“Catastrophe”, “inhumane decision”, “betrayal”: demonstrators loudly proclaimed Saturday in seven cities in Quebec their opposition to the end of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ), which leaves many temporary immigrants in fear of having to pack up.

It’s unfortunate, desperate, and I feel betrayed by this governmentsays Alae Amarouch, 46 years old, bus driver who has immigrated to Quebec for more than two years now.

Mr. Amarouch was one of the thousands of demonstrators who gathered Saturday afternoon in Montreal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Chicoutimi, Gatineau and Rimouski to denounce the end of the PEQ without the assurance from François Legault’s government that all the orphans in the program will be able to stay in Quebec.

Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge has declared the end of this path to predictable permanent residency by the end of 2026. The program will then be replaced by its new Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ).

However, the removal of PEQ is devoid of any acquired rights clause allowing people already admitted to remain in the old program. Mr. Roberge also closed the door to the idea of resurrecting the PEQ for these workers.

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Since then, thousands of temporary foreign workers have lived with the anxiety of possibly having to leave the province.

What we want is a grandfather clauseinsists in Quebec Maxime Gress, of the collective Le Québec c’est nous aussi, the organization defending the rights of immigrants, who launched the call for mobilization.

We left everything, so we want [une clause] for everyone, not just for health, education or construction. What do we do with all these people who are not in these fields?

Even if the minister invites orphans of PEQ to register for the new program, it is not certain that they will be admitted, which has provoked an outcry among opposition parties, unions, municipalities and chambers of commerce.

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The Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ) also positioned itself on Saturday against the end of PEQ, joining its voice to those of multiple civil society organizations, political parties and workers who are calling for an acquired rights clause.

Its president, Guillaume Tremblay, believes that recruiting workers abroad to meet employment needs in certain sectors, then change the rules of the game constitutes a nonsense.

Same story with the Confederation of National Unions (CSN), which supported the organization of the demonstrations with the FTQ and the CSQ.

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Its president, Caroline Senneville, believes that Quebec has broken its promise: We don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. We can decide on new rules for the future, but we can’t go back on a given word.

On the side of the CSQits third vice-president, Pascal Côté, affirms that Quebec must provide an acquired rights clause, not a convoluted program only for the health sector.

All sectors are affected, not just healthindicated the union leader, referring to Mr. Roberge’s declared intention to prioritize the processing of requests from health workers, a sector which fears the hemorrhage of its personnel.

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An inhumane decision

Delegations from Québec solidaire and the Quebec Liberal Party also joined the demonstrators.

The co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Ruba Ghazal, participated in the gathering at the Place des Citoyens de Chicoutimi, surrounded by several dozen people, including orphans from the program.

It’s a disaster for the Saguenay region here.deplores Ms. Ghazal. It is an inhumane decision and we are here to ask for the only thing that is necessary: to give an acquired right to people eligible for PEQ.

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When the unions are on the same side as the employers’ councils and the chambers of commerce, that means that everyone agrees, it’s a consensusadvances his partner to the solidarity spokesperson, Sol Zanetti, in Quebec.

The government urgently needs to listen. Between now and the next elections, we cannot wait: there are people who will have to leave if we do not act.

In Gatineau, Liberal André Fortin, MP for Pontiac, also deplores that François Legault’s government used the program to hold out the promise of access to citizenship, before breaking it along the way.

We went to their home, to their country. We spent thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars to hold fairs to attract them, to tell them: “Come to Quebec, we need you, your talents, and we will help you eventually have permanent residence, to become a citizen.” Then, today, we deny this promisehe said in a speech in front of an audience of around ten demonstrators.

In Trois-Rivières, the mayor of the city, Jean-François Aubin, said that he was receiving calls every day at city hallboth businesses and concerned workers.

This is not acceptable […] I think our ministers, our deputies must understand thishe said.

With information from Aimée Lemieux and the Canadian Press