Alberta welcomed migrant workers. Now, it wants to restrict their rights

Ortiz, who works with the non-profit Asociación de Mexicanos en Calgary, worries mounting skepticism towards migrant workers will push workers into the shadows and make them more vulnerable to labor exploitation.

“I can’t imagine the scale of the harm that a policy like this might create,” she said, noting that thousands of farm workers in the province don’t receive healthcare.

Ortiz has seen views shift on immigration in recent years and says the results of the referendum reflect a population that is “squeezed” economically.

“Scapegoating non-permanent residents is not going to lower the cost of living. That’s not going to fix our classrooms. They keep essential services open. In many cases, they are frontline workers. And now they’re being treated as disposable.”

For some residents, the proposals represent a sharp reversal from Alberta’s earlier efforts to attract newcomers. The UCP government invested in recruitment and expanded its provincial immigration nomination targets to address labour shortages. But as a growing number of Albertans sour on immigration, the government position has shifted.

Ximena González, a Calgary-based writer, said when the provincial government began its campaign to bring in more people, it “wanted more workers to exploit”, noting that most workers come from abroad on temporary permits.

“Now, the message feels more out in the open: ‘We wanted you to come, to exploit you. And now, we don’t need you any more – so we will punish you.”

The provincial government has claimed that temporary residents, who make up almost 6% of Alberta’s total population, contribute roughly $150m in tax revenues but cost the province more than $1bn annually in health, education and other social services.

But González argues that there is no data to back that claim.

Economist Gillian Petit notes that temporary residents also remit taxes to the federal government, which helps fund Alberta’s healthcare, meaning those residents probably contribute far more than the province acknowledges. If they contribute less in total tax dollars than other Albertans, it is because they earn less than the median resident. They are also less likely to use healthcare and education resources than the average Albertan.

“In all honesty, if I were a temporary resident and had to choose whether or not to stay, I wouldn’t,” said González, who came to Canada 16 year ago as an international student. “I would not feel wanted, and I don’t want to be treated like a third-class citizen.”

She says that media fixation on Alberta’s fringe independence movement meant the other questions in the referendum received little scrutiny and left voters uninformed.

“The media failed to help people to make an educated vote – instead of just voting based on racism.”

Economist Jim Stanford said hundreds of thousands of residents skipped over those questions on immigration, choosing to only answer the one on separation.

“This cannot remotely be interpreted as a mandate for the government to crack down on immigration,” he said, adding the province didn’t have the power to “unilaterally” act on these proposals. “This was a symbolic ideological exercise and gives a cast of legitimacy to some of these very rightwing nativist sentiments that are bubbling in the far right of Alberta politics.”

During a series of town halls over the years led by the government, more extreme views on immigration were clear. One resident received cheers after suggesting a policy of mass deportations and another said immigrants “harm” children and suggested she might seek asylum in the US.

For Ortiz, the government’s about-face reflects a “betrayal” of the workers who have helped build the province.

“We’re asking people if we should remove the right to access healthcare and education from taxpayers who are, quite literally, building our communities,” she said. “But I also worry that what gets lost in this debate is these people. They are not just labour. They work, study and raise their children here. They need to know they deserve the chance to build a life with dignity and with respect to feel safe and to feel welcome.”

Kaynak: The Guardian · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.