Canadians — and Liberals — split on giving the undocumented status: immigration minister

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government is continuing to investigate options for giving status to some undocumented people in Canada — but he doesn't see consensus on the issue in the country or in the government caucus.

In an interview airing Saturday on CBC's, Miller spoke positively about the idea but cautioned that the ongoing debate over the prospect prompted him to «reflect» on taking any action.

«I think from a humanitarian perspective it makes sense. From an economic perspective, it makes sense,» he told host Catherine Cullen.

«That said, I don't think there is a consensus in Canada as to whether to do this or not. I would venture even to say that there isn't necessarily a consensus in our caucus. That causes me to pause.»

[AUDIO WILL GO HERE]

The Liberals pledged in late 2021 to «explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.» Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had no timeline for putting this proposal into effect.

«There needs to be either a pathway towards regularization and citizenship, which I know the (immigration) minister is working on. In some cases, we need to accelerate deportation proceedings,» Trudeau said in May of this year.

Miller discussed planning a «broad and comprehensive program» for regularization in an interview with the last December.

In that interview, Miller estimated the number of undocumented people in Canada at somewhere between 300,000 and 600,000. A range of academic sources cited by the government last year provide a range of 20,000 to 500,000.

They're «not Canadians, but for any other purposes, they are Canadians, fully integrated into the society. [They're] not an impact on housing but they're working in