The Decibel - What it’s like to be an undocumented migrant in Canada

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

The population of undocumented migrants living and working in Canada is substantial. And while most of them initially entered the country legally, on visas or work permits, many migrants feel that it is worth it to stay in Canada after their status expires, even if they are not legally allowed to work or live in Canada and risk being deported.Globe journalist Sarah Efron, and freelance photographer Yader Guzman, spent months meeting people from Canada’s undocumented migrant community. Today, Sarah and Yader share what they learned about why people choose to stay despite the often dismal conditions they face in employment, health and housing, and how the federal government is responding.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail]

It's an experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. That's Rayon Barrett. He's describing what it was like to be an undocumented migrant, which means he was not legally allowed to work or live in Canada. I never had the status of a student or anything protecting me. I was just a visitor. And then the moment that a few months expired, then that was it for me.

There was no going back. Rayon had come to Canada as a young man. He had left his family and a job at a bank back in Jamaica, but he wanted to make a new life in Canada. He arrived on a six-month tourist visa. And when it expired, he didn't have a work permit. You know, I mean, coming to Canada, it was completely my choice. So I knew coming here, I knew coming here, there were going to be difficulties and challenges and all that

stuff. So when you experience certain things, you only have yourself to blame in particular, but you know there are going to be struggles. But the level at which you're experiencing it or when you're in it is just indescribable, you know? Rayyan's story is more common than you might think. Canada has a substantial undocumented population, and they live precariously.

One of the worst things about not having your status here is you're not entitled to health care and the unavailability of getting jobs. I remember being injured twice and I showed up at the hospital with my face swollen like a melon. And when I went to the receptionist, the receptionist was going to let me know that in order to see the doctor, I have to pay $1,000 because I don't have a health card. Globe journalist Sarah Efron and freelance photographer Yadur Guzman spent months meeting people

from Canada's undocumented migrant community. Today, Sarah and Yadur share what they learned about why people choose to stay even when they have no legal status, and what the federal government is doing about it. I'm Maynika Raman-Wilms and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Sarah, Yadar, thank you both so much for being here. Thanks for having us. Thank you.

So to begin, Sarah, let's just get a sense of the scope of the situation. How many people are actually living in Canada as an undocumented migrant? Well nobody really knows. There's no census. These people aren't counted or tracked. The government often just assumes if you came in here on a temporary work permit and it's done you're gone. But we know that is not the case. I think academic estimates range, but I tend to stick to the one that the federal government

used when they were looking at a regularization program that was half a million people. So a lot of the experts looking at it think that that's going to be rising. What you have is now three million temporary workers or people with temporary status in the country. The government is looking to reduce numbers of new immigrants. It's looking to reduce numbers of students, foreign students, and people on temporary permits. So some of these people, the lucky ones, they'll be able to like find a way through for permanent residency. The other ones will face a pretty difficult choice. Are they going to go home or are they going to stay here with the hopes

that there'll be some new program opening up? People are looking for a pathway, but I think when you look at the situation we're in now, I think it's pretty likely the numbers will rise. – And when you say we are expecting this kind of rise of undocumented people, I just wonder about the political situation in the States. Is that expected to have any impact on the number of people that are in Canada undocumented? This is an interesting question. This is one of the things going in. I thought, OK, this is probably something that could be happening.

As of now, we're not seeing evidence of it, but we certainly see the political climate in the United States and the way that undocumented migrants are being treated, detained, deported, is definitely puts a chill on people who are here. A lot of people here who are undocumented might have relatives who are also, you know, Mexican or Colombians or in the United States. people here who are undocumented might have relatives who are also, you know, Mexican

or Colombians or in the United States. So there is definitely a chill for everybody who is undocumented in both countries. So you've just finished some work on this, Sarah and Yadar. I guess I just I want to know what prompted you to look into Canada's undocumented migrant community. Well, initially, it just became more visible to me. I live in North York where a lot of this is going on. Also my background, I'm from Latin America so I'm always kind of looking for stories with the Latin American community.

In this particular case I came across a YouTube video where there was a man that showed up to this corner, was handing out sandwiches and interviewing these people and it just seemed to me, I mean, I was surprised by the scene. It was something that I personally associate more with maybe the US situation with migrants and day laborers. You know, as the news cycle last year, a lot turned discussion in Canada around immigration, undocumented being a massive issue in the US, the US election, and since Trump administration came in, I just thought this might be a really interesting moment to look into what's happening here in Canada. Yeah. So generally speaking, Sarah, how do people wind up undocumented in Canada? How

does that happen? Yeah, it's a different situation than in the US where a lot of people have illegally crossed the border. It does happen here, but that's not the norm. Almost everyone here, they came in legally, either on a tourist visa or as a tourist, a student permit, a temporary work permit, or they were a refugee claimant and they had their claim rejected. So the bulk of them came here legally and were trying to get a new permit

after or a permanent residency, something that would lead to citizenship. The goal generally being to permanently settle here. And then for one reason or another, they were not able to get that next step of getting the next permit. So this is an important point because unlike the situation in the States, as you mentioned, Sarah, like a lot of people who are undocumented in Canada actually came here legally then. So this is something that happens over time where they become undocumented. And it might be a temporary thing. So somebody comes in, they have legal status, they become undocumented, some of them are

able to then reestablish status, applying to a new program, getting a new permit. So it's not these people are undocumented always, they're illegal, they've always been illegal. Usually there's some shade of gray. Our immigration system is very complicated. They really want to be legal. They want to find their way through. They often have limited legal resources. The programs are changing all the time.

Permit runs out. And then what? Then they might find themselves unexpectedly in this category of people where they can't legally work, they can't access health care, legal resources, and they're really pushed into the shadows. Yeah, so you were very careful, it sounds like, with making sure that these individuals

do remain anonymous, because as we said, they are in a precarious situation. And so when we talk about people here we're going to be using their middle names then. Exactly, yeah. And I think they just want to be heard. They want to tell their story. And a lot of it is I believe they think that telling their story can lead to some change that will help their situations. So Sarah, from the group of undocumented migrants that you spoke to, can you just give us a general picture of who they were, you know, in terms of like age, race, gender? Who are these individuals? I think there's a lot of kind of working age male. There was a certain period of time where you didn't even need a visa as a tourist.

So there's a lot of people working in construction industry from Mexico and other Latin American countries. A lot of migrants from the Philippines that we met, a range of ages, both men and women who were coming, some of them working in home care, cleaning, garbage sorting, whatever they could find. And then people from the Caribbean. We met some even seniors who were here. There were families with children.

Yeah, a lot of working age people as well. Yeah, this is interesting because I think a lot of people assume that, you know, undocumented workers are here, right, working age individuals, but you also spoke to families, it sounds like. Yadar, can you tell me about some of the people you met there? So we met a young couple from Colombia

who were calling Wilbur and Fernanda. They left Colombia after being targeted by criminal organizations there. They initially fled to Mexico, and they found that that criminal organization knew that they were there. So they continued north to the states, to Mexico and they found that that criminal organization knew that they were there. So they continued north to the States and then finally ended up in Toronto and Canada.

When we met them, they had just, I guess, no-show their deportation flight, maybe like a week prior. So they right now are literally in hiding. They've left their jobs, they've left their school, they're studying English, they pulled their child from daycare and they moved houses. They explained to me that they pay everything in cash, when they pull money from an ATM they kind of leave the area. So they're really living in fear that immigration police will show up at any moment. And Sarah, could you tell us a little bit more about why they're choosing to stay here?

Wilbur and Fernanda, sounds like they've been on quite a journey. Why do they choose to stay in Canada? Well, in this case, their refugee claim failed. The refugee board felt, you know, they could have settled in Mexico or elsewhere. They felt that there was a very real risk to them still that this gang that had pursued them, an extortion case who had killed one of their family members, had known where they were in Mexico, had been following them in Colombia, you know, this gunman had been pursuing them. So, you know, their determination different than the refugee board.

They felt that they would be physically at risk. I think in the most part, it was more of an economic situation for most of the people I spoke with. Even though life is extremely difficult here, being undocumented and all of the stresses and worries that they face, going home would seem to them like a defeat where they were struggling to survive before. Now they're here,

even if they're treated poorly by Canadian standards. They are scraping together a living, in most cases, able to send a few dollars home. And they feel this is their life here. This is their life now. And they don't want to go back. What they really want is to get legal status.

We'll be right back. We'll be right back. So Sarah, let's talk a little bit more about, you know, once a migrant decides to stay in Canada after their legal status ends, what their life is actually like in this country. What have you heard from people? I think it's very difficult, a lot more difficult than people are expecting. People here, depending on their pathway here, you know, they've made it to Canada and you've made it and life is going to be great and so much easier than back home. But work is very challenging.

Not many places will hire you without a SIN number and all that stuff. So a lot of exploitation happens. Salaries are low, paid below minimum wage. They might work a week as a roofer doing some very difficult, dangerous work and then, oh sorry, we don't have money to pay you. And they have very little recourse. Health is one of the things that came up over and over again of migrants getting injured, going to the hospital and not being able to have the money to pay for treatment. Okay, so work is an issue, health, I imagine housing is also a challenge. Yadar, what did you hear from people on that?

This was one of the kind of the issues that led me to look into this wider issue. I heard through a community contact that there were situations where landlords were renting out rooms or just like mats on the floor where there was 10 or 20 people to a room or to a house. So these situations where these vulnerable people are being taken advantage of, of course, and we heard more of that throughout our work in this story. Yeah, I think that's another issue for sure that comes up of people being precariously housed. You may or may not be able to rent a place on your own

without papers. You probably can't afford it. So often there'll be like other immigrants who are landlords and yeah, filling up the house with various people. Sometimes you can't even, you know, if you want to make a sandwich in the kitchen, you better get up really early because there's like so many people there, people tripping over each other, conflicts in the house. So

I think that's another thing that these migrants are facing. And as you mentioned, a lot of people are here to work. I just want to spend a moment on the situation of working without legal status. Is there anyone you talked to who kind of told you about the dangers of being in that situation? Yeah, I spoke with one woman, Santos, from the Philippines, a single mom looking for money to send back to take care of both her parents and her children who came here legally on a work permit. The company turned out not to have

any and she ended up working under the table for an individual in Ontario who owned a business. She would spend all day cleaning at his company and mornings and nights feeding his family, getting the kids ready for school, 10, 12 hours a day. And it's like two jobs. She's working at the office and then also at his home then yeah and the employer said he would get her papers and he was not unable to do so fortunately this individual was able to get help from a migration agency called Magrante that helped her and she is now does have an open work permit but But yeah, the exploitation is very real. Yeah, from the people that you've been talking to, generally how long have they

been able to live here without status? Like I'm just wondering how long someone can survive without, you know, the legal protections as a worker or even access to health care? What did you hear from people? There was quite a range of situations from the people that we spoke to. One that stood out to me and surprised me, frankly, was the story of Marco. He's been here for 15 years, going on 15 years, I think he said. He arrived on a tourist visa, I believe, and, you know, he's been working ever since. Yeah, he explained to me that, you know, he works as a cleaner at a condominium in Toronto.

And because his employer knows that he's undocumented, his wages get dropped. He isolates himself quite a bit. He has a really small circle of friends, if any. And he also explained to me the ways that he's able to get by. When he first arrived, other migrants would help him figure out the Canadian

system how to get IDs, how to seek medical help, things like this. So I mean, he's been here for 15 years. Wow. So let's talk about what governments are doing about undocumented migrants. I know in the US we're hearing a lot about, you know, the ramping up of deportations. Is there a similar political effort underway here? Yeah, I mean, the Liberal government for many years had it in the mandate letter of the immigration minister to create some kind of regularization program that would provide a pathway to legal status for these individuals. There was some serious work done consulting. I think this was a wish of the previous minister was quite serious about it.

But you know, as migration became more controversial, as the number of temporary foreign workers in this country soared and the mood changed, the liberals could never get even internal agreement on it. And that didn't move forward. So in terms of deportations, I mean, we all hear about these ICE raids in the US. Things like that, they can happen here. There are raids here. I don't think it's to the scale of what is happening in the US.

It hasn't been sort of politicized in the same way here as of now. But I think the number last year, 15,000 or 16,000 removals as the CBSA calls it, which is the agency that enforces that. And they've said they're going to increase by 25% this year. There are some numbers showing that the majority of people who've received deportation letters are still here. So I think there is an awareness that there is a gap. And I think this is kind of an area to watch going forward. And you mentioned, Sarah, a regularization program.

Is that to help people regain their legal status then in Canada? Yeah, regularization. They've done some small trials in certain sectors, like, you know, a few hundred healthcare workers or construction workers. Basically, you join the program and there's some kind of pathway for you to get, you know, a temporary permit that would lead to permanent residence, that would lead to citizenship, with the thinking being, well, we need these workers. They're actually already here.

A lot of them are already doing the job, yet they're not legal. That's not really helping anyone. These are people we do want to keep and retain. And is the government doing anything about bad actors in the system? I think about that employer we talked about earlier with that woman Santos from the Philippines. Are they doing anything to crack down

on people who take advantage of these laborers? Yeah there are some instances of agencies that you know say they can help these migrants get them a job and they ask for fees which is illegal. Most of the migrants are not aware of that. They'll often set up like two separate agencies one is like a migration and one is employment so they can kind of get around some of those rules. I think there's a real frustration amongst the part of some of the advocates

that there is not enough being done, that these agencies should be shut down as they're really taking advantage of some extremely vulnerable people. So just lastly here, Yadar, from the people that you spoke with, what do they tell you about their hopes really for the future? Mostly, I think they just want a pathway to legalize their situation. We've heard over and over again that they just want a way out of this kind of puzzle

of jumping from one temporary perimeter situation to the next, to the next, to the next. They just want the right to work and to raise their families and above all else, I guess, just to have a normal life in Canada. And Sarah, we heard from Rayan Barrett at the start of this episode. What ended up happening to him?

Well, he was one of the more positive stories. And believe me, there was a lot of tears when we were listening to all of these stories of these migrants. And he was one of the happy ones. He ended up getting married to a permanent resident. And that is another pathway. Permanent residents can sponsor another person for Permanent Residency. He said that was the happiest day in Canada was when he got his PR. But then it was still not easy for him. He had seven years undocumented, nothing on his resume. Of course, he was working during that time. He did a lot of factory work, manual labor type work, but he can't really put that on his resume

given the situation. So he's decided to go back to school and upskill so he can have more opportunities in the future. He's hopeful he'll be able to get citizenship soon and really establish himself here properly. Sarah, Yadr, thank you both for your work on this and for being here today. Thank you.

Thank you for having us. Now that the federal election campaign is officially underway, we want to hear from you. Throughout the campaign, we'll be answering your questions about the leaders, the stories, and the issues. If you have a question for us, send us an email or a voice note to thedecibel at globeandmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Okay, that's it for today.

I'm Maynika Ramon-Wilms. This episode was produced by our intern, Amber Ransom. Our producers are Madeleine White, Michal Stein, and Allie Graham. David Crosby edits the show. Adrian Cheung is our senior producer, and Matt Frainer is our managing editor. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.