Changes to Canada's immigration system are needed to give undocumented foreign workers a chance to regularize themselves within Canada, according to spokesperson for refugees and a union representative.
"What we have to do is open up the possibility for them to apply from within Canada and to demonstrate that they have jobs and that they don't have a criminal record and they are not a security risk," Francisco Rico Martinez of the FCJ Refugee Centre told CTV's Canada AM.
"They are already living with us. I think we have to open up the possibility for them to apply that we don't have now."
Martinez feels that in a global economy it is not logical for workers to return to their native countries to apply for a work permit when they already have jobs in Canada.
"This is not working so we have to modify the system," he said.
Many of these undocumented foreign workers work in the construction industry. Canada's census does not document the number of undocumented skilled workers in the country, but experts have estimated that the numbers are believed to be somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 workers.
Last month, Parliament took some steps to address the issue and passed a motion to put a moratorium on further deportations and to seek solutions to regularize the status of undocumented workers.
Some workers arrive in Canada and stay past the time their visa allows. As a result of being rejected for refugee status, some turn to work in Canada's underground economy. Many undocumented workers are in Canada's booming construction industry which has a labour shortage.
However, many feel that undocumented foreign workers are getting preferential treatment over those who are using the existing framework to gain their immigration status and should not be able to stay.
Carlos Pimentel, of the Carpenter's Union and member of the Committee for Undocumented Workers, said these views are misguided.
"I think that argument is riddled with hypocrisy. Obviously we don't normally ask people when we walk down the street 'Are you here with status or without status?'" Pimentel said.
"We don't normally ask a person that comes to our house to renovate our homes 'Do you have status or not?' But we're willing to pay cash for those services. Not only in the construction industry -- but (also in) the hospitality industry, manufacturing (and) industrial sectors."
Pimentel and Martinez feel that the cost to locate, detain and remove undocumented foreign workers is prohibitive and is not worth it, given that many have skills that are beneficial to the economy.
"These workers are already here with the skills and they are already working," Pimentel said.
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