Migrant Rights Network Rallies at BC Legislature

The Migrant Rights Network held a rally at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, which attracted about 50 people at peak attendance, to demand “Status for all!”, or in other words granting legal status and rights to all undocumented immigrants across the country.

The organisers held to account Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for failing to honour his promise to regularise the status of all migrants back in 2021. While Trudeau’s platform includes welcoming a massive influx of immigrants, it proves far less friendly to those migrants that already made it to the country by irregular means.

Speakers emphasised the strong link between migrant rights and worker rights. The Worker Solidarity Network, among other invited speakers, denounced the exploitation of undocumented migrants by unscrupulous workers. More would take the mic to clamour for better health care coverage, the right to protest, and an end to prejudice toward people often forced to flee their homelands under threat of persecution only to be subjected to the same threats here.

Like the fossil fuels rally two days ago, however, this event struggled to stay on message. One of the speakers spoke on behalf of Save Old Growth activist Zain Haq, who faced deportation to Pakistan for engaging in civil disobedience, and while the speech was interesting, the link with migrant regularisation was tenuous at best. Another was the Vancouver Island Peace Coalition, a group I had outright blacklisted for peddling Russian propaganda, and indeed its speech had nothing to do with the event’s core message.

While I often suggest rally organisers diversify their message and approach other groups with overlapping agendas, the flip side is that it may dilute the message; in fact, one that isn’t cautious even risks discredit by allying with toxic ones. I would like to make a link with an early WeUnify rally I covered last year, as a warning to those unwary of overly inclusive alliances and platforms because this is how I felt like when I left the Legislature precincts today.