Addressed to the Hon. Premier of Quebec Mr. Legault, and Mr. Jolin-Barrette
I am writing you this email as the President of the Iranian Canadian Congress, a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious organization advocating for the interests of the Iranian-Canadian community.
This letter expresses our concerns about the recent reforms proposed by your government onto the (PEQ), an immigration program that offers international students and temporary foreign workers already in Quebec a pathway to Canadian permanent residency.
We want to express our opposition to the announced reforms to the PEQ which has been proposed by your Immigration, Francisation and Integration minister, Mr. Simon Jolin-Barrette, for the following reasons.
We believe, by enforcing the mandatory criteria of eligibility for applying to PFQ to 12 months of full-time work experience, and by limiting the eligible occupations, your government puts forward unnecessary barriers for acquiring permanent residency status in Quebec. This not only weakens Quebec’s economy, but also discriminates especially against part-time employees and those who are attempting to contribute and integrate into Quebec society.
We believe that by instituting these reforms, which fail to include any kind of protection for international students and workers already in Quebec, the Quebec government discourages many students and workers whom moved to the province under the assumption of the present accessibility of the PEQ, and makes the lives of many of its residents extremely unstable, especially now that we are in the midst of a public health and economic emergency. Given the present circumstances, one wonders how making Quebec-residency unattractive for international students and workers could possibly be justified, economically or otherwise.
From a humanitarian standpoint, it is also evident that these reforms indicate total disregard for the lives and livelihoods of the many international students who are paying extremely high tuition fees, and all temporary foreign workers, especially those who are working under the occupational levels C and D whose labour is directly related to Quebec’s economic stability.
In short, we believe that the proposed reforms exact more undue pressure on international workers and students, while discouraging immigration to Quebec for want of a productive future in the province.
Thus, we would like you to stop these reforms entirely and institute reforms making it easier, rather than harder, for international students and international workers to obtain Quebec residency.
Soudeh Ghasemi
President