The story was first published on Canada's National Observer.
Climate change is pushing people around the world from their homes, and advocates in Canada want the federal government to help those who are displaced.
In August, Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac), a body of more than 100 environmental groups across the country, sent a letter to the prime minister and immigration minister asking them to grant permanent residency to all 1.7 million migrants in Canada. Climate justice is dependent on the regularization process.
She said that fighting the climate crisis is about how we care for one another.
Syed Hussan, the executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, said that climate change will cause people to migrate to Canada. Climate migrants may not be able to describe their experiences having resulted from climate change.
Many migrants think that climate change causes poverty.
Hussan said that climate change is related to economic decline.
Farmers can be taken for example. Climate change's greatest impacts include soil degradation. Farmers are forced to move to towns and cities to find work because of poor soils. Many fail to find jobs in larger urban centers, leaving them no choice but to leave their home country and look for opportunities in Canada.
The World Bank predicts that water scarcity, poor crops, and rising sea levels will force more than 200 million people to migrate by the year 2050. The estimate doesn't include people in Europe, North America, the Middle East, or small island developing states.
Hussan said, "For many people, the only option is to come here on some kind of temporary permit."
MWAC wants all migrants, including temporary foreign workers, to be granted permanent residency. There is no equal rights for people without permanent residency or citizenship in Canada.
A group of Jamaican migrant farm workers in Ontario wrote an open letter to the Jamaican Labour Minister saying they were experiencing "systematic slavery," with poor working conditions that included crowded housing, exposure to dangerous pesticides, and verbal abuse.
MWAC plans to propose a permanent regularization program to the federal government in the future, but didn't say what it would look like, other than that it would allow for "everyone in the country to have the same immigration status and the same rights."
The new migration pathways are being created.
Climate change is being called a reason for migrants to get permanent residency in Canada. Several options the federal government could take were outlined in a report last year.
Rachel Bryce is an associate lawyer at Landings Law and the cochair of CARL. Canadian law defines refugees as people outside their home country with a well-founded fear of persecution due to their race, religion, social group, or political opinion.
CARL wants Canada to allow climate migrants to be protected from discrimination. If you're already in Canada and don't qualify as a refugee, you can take advantage of this.
If a person can show that their home country is no longer safe due to climate change impacts, they can be added to the protected persons category. The Immigration and Refugee Act could be amended to allow climate migrants to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Brouillette said that Canada has a responsibility to bear for the climate crisis because it is one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases. CAN-Rac wants Canada to take action to reduce emissions.
Brouillette said that Canada is doing its fair share of the global effort to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
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