By MIGRANTE Canada

There is a petition that we want to share with all of you. It is a petition created by Migrante Canada for worker leader Danilo de Leon to stay in Canada. Please find the petition at change.org under Let Danilo de Leon Stay in Canada. Or visit the  FaceBook Page of Migrante Canada .

Worker leader Danilo de Leon is one of an estimated 500,000 undocumented people in Canada,  a big pool of  available workers that can help fix the labour shortage in Canada. These undocumented migrant workers do contribute to the Canadian economy and help keep our communities running. Their status renders them “invisible” which makes them  easy to treat as “disposable.” They deserve to have status, to stay here as permanent residents. The case of Danilo de Leon is also linked to the  regularization program promised by the Trudeau government. We need to point to the contradiction that – as the government seeks to fix the problem of loss of status for migrants who have lived, worked, and contributed to Canada with regularization, it must also stop the continued detentions and deportations of those the planned regularization program is supposed to help. The petition is reprinted below.

Petition states:

We call on Immigration Minister Sean Fraser and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to stop the deportation of worker leader DANILO DE LEON and to allow him to stay. We call on the Canadian government to deliver its promise of a fair and just regularization program for all undocumented workers like Danilo de Leon.

In 2009, Danilo came to Canada as a temporary foreign worker. Like thousands of temporary foreign workers, he helped to fill Canada’s labour shortages and continues to contribute to the Canadian economy. Danilo is one of thousands of migrant workers who fell through the cracks of Canada’s immigration system and thus lost his immigration status.

Danilo de Leon continues to be a strong advocate for the rights of all migrants, especially those who have no status, in his role as the chairperson of Migrante Canada and as a migrant organizer. Danilo de Leon is also an essential and frontline worker who continues to work as a delivery driver under the ongoing pandemic.

The Canadian government shows bad faith when it still has to deliver its promise of a fair and just regularization program for all undocumented workers but continues to deport and detain undocumented migrant workers. Deportations and detentions have to stop.

Thank you for signing the petition to Let Danilo de Leon Stay in Canada. For more information,  you can contact Migrante Canada at [email protected].