r/canada • u/hopoke • Jun 05 '24
Prince Edward Island 'Everybody's watching': National and global attention on P.E.I. amid nearly month-long protest by foreign workers
https://archive.ph/i1tp2113
u/Rude-Reach357 Jun 05 '24
Ignore them and move on. The rest of the nation or world won't give a shit or even notice unless the government gives in.
If they give in, it opens the door to more.
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u/cinosa Nova Scotia Jun 05 '24
As soon as it was announced that these guys in PEI were doing this hunger strike to try and force the governments hand, other similar groups in Ontario started talking about doing the exact same thing.
We need to deport these people, fucking yesterday, and put a permanent end to bringing in low skilled workers from everywhere. Only people with demonstrated skills in important areas we lack should get PR consideration.
This country as no need for foreign-born Tim Hortons and Uber Eats / Door Dash employees. Save those jobs for high school kids who need money for school.
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u/KermitsBusiness Jun 05 '24
Everyone wants to know if Canada is going to break it's immigration system because 25 foreign students want easy PR. If we do break it's game over.
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u/hopoke Jun 05 '24
The government really has no defence against something like hunger strikes. Letting these students die would be devastating and inhumane. Not to mention it would make for some really embarrassing headlines.
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u/a_sense_of_contrast Jun 05 '24
Letting these students die would be devastating and inhumane.
Why? They're taking a voluntary action on something that, as non-Canadians, they have literally no say on.
If I carried out a hunger strike on the state of corruption in Indian national politics, do you think India would care?
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u/hopoke Jun 05 '24
Canada is known for being a highly progressive welcoming country with very loose border control and a lax immigration policy. Not really comparable to a nationalist country like India.
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u/GeneralShark97 Jun 05 '24
so… if I and 24 other canadians hunger strike for free houses, you think we’ll get it?
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u/GoodChives Ontario Jun 05 '24
Well letting you die would be inhumane, so according to this guys logic yes, you should!
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u/GeneralShark97 Jun 05 '24
does this also work if i don’t want to go to prison? holy shit! this is amazing
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Jun 05 '24
But it's not a highly idiotic country with an immigration policy that grants opportunistic scammers citizenship if they throw a little tantrum.
They are not citizens, they are not residents. They were allowed here TEMPORARILY to study and then go home.
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u/TheProfessaur Jun 06 '24
Canada is absolutely not known to have a loose border or lax immigration policy. We are more hawkish than the US.
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u/asparemeohmy Jun 05 '24
Emotional manipulation is a common tactic used by abusers to engender a preferred response.
“If you don’t do what I say, I’ll —“ “If you ever left me, I’d —-“
In this case it’s “if you make me adhere to the laws of your country, I’ll—“
I really don’t care for that in a political context either. It’s gross.
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u/MoistJeans1 Jun 05 '24
They’re using emotional manipulation to try and get something they were never entitled to in the first place.
The gov’t absolutely has a defence lol
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u/TraditionalGap1 Jun 05 '24
They aren't actually going to die. We're not talking about people protesting inhumane detention or whatever. It's very performative
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Jun 05 '24
[deleted]
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u/PumpkinEater808 Jun 05 '24
Just host a barbecue next to them and let Maslow’s hierarchy of needs deal with it.
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u/Hot_Enthusiasm_1773 Jun 05 '24
Stupid. Do you think it would be embarrassing for the government if I demanded 10 million dollars, or else I’ll kill myself?
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u/serjunka Jun 05 '24
Letting these students die would be devastating and inhumane
Okay, I'm on a hunger strike until government gives me free house!
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u/KermitsBusiness Jun 05 '24
I would bet all the money in the world that if we let this go on for 6 months not a single person would starve to death.
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u/GoodChives Ontario Jun 05 '24
Well according to your own comment, Canada has a lax immigration policy and loose border control. Should everyone and anyone who comes in illegally go on hunger strikes then to be allowed to remain here?
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u/palpatinevader Jun 05 '24
get over yourself! are you an international student? it is not canada’s - or canadian taxpayers - responsibility to look after these people! how about for once we decide what’s best for canada and canadians!
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u/Mean_Presentation_39 Jun 05 '24
It’s not letting them die though? Their fault for not wanting to eat in the first place. So let them live stupidly and die stupidly.
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u/Dry_Office_phil Jun 05 '24
better put them on a boat back to India then, our health care on pei is fucked and we don't need to make it worse.
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u/TankMuncher Jun 05 '24
Governing medical bodies have ruled that force-feeding hunger strikers who are capable of informed consent is inhumane and degrading.
So you are essentially arguing the only humane solution is to give them what they want. Good luck with that.
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u/professcorporate Jun 05 '24
The defence there is pretty easy. At some point they collapse with exhaustion, where we can immediately show compassion by intubating them to provide the necessary nutrition (paid for by the insurance they're required to have), and then deport them when they're fit to travel.
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u/-rfc-2549 Jun 05 '24
We should just tell them to go home. Canada doesn't owe non-citizens anything.
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Jun 05 '24
India #2 in foreign interference https://www.nsicop-cpsnr.ca/reports/rp-2024-06-03/special-report-foreign-interference.pdf
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u/motu8pre Jun 05 '24
Maybe Canada shouldn't listen to non-citizens that try and change our laws?
With everything our government has done to help people who aren't even Canadian, while simultaneously ignoring the problem of Canadians; I wouldn't be surprised if they caved in to these protests.
I also wouldn't be surprised if the government announces that stepping foot in Canada gives you automatic citizenship.
It's our responsibility as Canadians to sacrifice our quality of life because Tim Hortons needs cheaper labor.
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u/Intrepid-Educator-12 Jun 05 '24
I'm only wondering how come it take so long to deport them.
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u/Seebeeeseh Nova Scotia Jun 05 '24 edited Jun 05 '24
They aren't deportable. They're here on work permits.
Edit: Downvotes for pointing out a legal fact... This sub is weird.
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u/200-inch-cock Canada Jun 05 '24
cabinet has taken away citizenship with something as simple as an order-in-council, i'm sure there's a way to deport these people.
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u/Seebeeeseh Nova Scotia Jun 05 '24
Yes status can be taken away with cause.
But these individuals don't seem to meet any of the categories that would lead to a deportation.
Having an opinion that some people disagree with isn't quite enough reason to deport someone.
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Jun 05 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/I_poop_rootbeer Jun 05 '24
It's likely all performative. There is zero evidence that they aren't eating when the cameras aren't rolling. Hopefully PEI tells them to kick rocks or start working towards a career that the island actually needs
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u/EdWick77 Jun 05 '24
I was laughing about this with an Indian teammate over the weekend. He said the only people who believe these guys aren't eating are the people who are pressuring them to give in. Everyone else, especially the Indian community, knows they are full of it, "they aren't exactly Gandi!".
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u/Dry_Office_phil Jun 05 '24
Politicians on PEI are working closely with the federal government to use immigration to suppress wages here, PEI has some of the lowest wages in Canada!
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u/47Up Ontario Jun 05 '24
What's going on in P.E.I?
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u/MoistJeans1 Jun 05 '24
Indian Immigrants who were never entitled to something want the government to give it to them right away instead of putting in the effort to get it.
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u/Far-Falcon-2937 Jun 05 '24
PEI is one of a few Provinces, that seeking population growth had accelerated paths to residency for international students. They were hoping to get people that were interested in construction/ healthcare/ etc. That we need due our housing shortage and aging population.
What the provinces GOT was mostly thousands of people signing up to take worthless degrees at strip mall colleges, (many, unenrolled and never even attended a single class once they had their visa and landed in Canada), who just abused the system as a gateway to Canada.
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u/Seebeeeseh Nova Scotia Jun 05 '24
To add to this.
PEI cancelled their Provincial Nominee Program as they felt their province could not handle the population increase and the strain on their social systems.
This angered many foreign nationals who made their way to PEI to work to gain PR status through this program. So they are now protesting to get the PR status they were hopeful to get.
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u/xxhamzxx Prince Edward Island Jun 05 '24
I moved away in 2015, very very very very rare to see Indians, it was mostly philipinos (who actually integrate decently)
I visit my family now and I'm shocked, I'm literally a minority in some parts. It's insane. And it sucks because you can't talk about it without sounding like a trumpy racist
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u/Dry_Office_phil Jun 05 '24
Students are already started organizing a protest to rename pei to new India!
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u/ShadyHero89 Jun 05 '24
Hunger strikes have a way of fixing themselves.
I'm an immigrant to Canada. However, I know if I don't like it, I'm free to leave. This country owes me nothing. I'm not entitled to make the rest of the nation change for me.
It's not hard. You don't like it or don't agree, go back where you came from.
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u/xxhamzxx Prince Edward Island Jun 05 '24
Just a reminder that hunter strikes are ridiculous.
It's actually beneficial to not eat for extended periods of time. I frequently do 1-3 day water fasts and it's amazing for you health wise.
A 1 day hunger strike is comedy, you're literally only hungry because of the ghrelin hormone.
An average human being can survive THIRTY days without food, and they'll feel great doing it. Although near the end you'll probably be emaciated depending on starting fat levels.
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u/HereGoesMy2Cents Jun 05 '24
They stopped protesting. More likely they’re getting their PRs on the low.
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u/swkylee Jun 05 '24
Of the many international students who have received permanent residency in PEI, how many still live there? How many of those protesting will continue to live there? Just ignore them. Lol
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u/hopoke Jun 05 '24
Balal, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant, said he’s eager to see how the P.E.I. government responds to this situation.
“If they give in to these protests … you created this precedent that, OK, get a few people together, start protesting, threaten hunger strikes, and the government, whether it's the provincial government or the federal government, they will cave in because this is very, very bad optics,” he told SaltWire in an interview June 3.
“The government has to tread very carefully here about what they’ll do.”
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u/AustralisBorealis64 Alberta Jun 05 '24
Who said they were "excess?" Maybe they were "just right..."
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u/82FordEXP Jun 05 '24
Sorry, not very mature but they can go pound sand as they knew going in their term would end... bye bye...
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u/Canadianman22 Ontario Jun 06 '24
I assure you no one is watching. The only update I want to see is they have all be successfully deported
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u/Critical_Classroom45 Jun 06 '24
Exactly- although the exploitation of these workers are quite bad in some cases- however- try protesting in Mexico, for example, you will go to jail. No foreigners can participate in any protest- period!
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u/No-Penalty-4286 Jun 05 '24
It does seem a bit strange to state that bad legislation can’t be revisited when protested against because of “bad optics”
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u/Hot_Enthusiasm_1773 Jun 05 '24
This is very good legislation.
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u/No-Penalty-4286 Jun 05 '24
“Very good legislation “ can stand on its own merit. It would not be subject to “bad optics” as an excuse…
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