P.E.I. hunger strikers hopeful after small meals and government meeting
![P.E.I. legislature The Prince Edward Island legislature in Charlottetown on Sept. 25, 2003. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2024/5/9/legislature-1-6880565-1715337452636.jpg)
Protestors ended a 10-day long hunger strike outside the Prince Edward Island legislature Friday, but said they wouldn't halt their demonstration until the provincial government met their immigration demands.
Jaspreet Singh is among the roughly 25 people who have camped out by the building since May 23, challenging the Progressive Conservative government's decision to slow the Island's population growth by reducing the number of immigrants who will be granted permanent residency.
Singh said Saturday he was hopeful after officials finally met with the protesters, though his voice was small and hollow after the ordeal he'd put this body through in an effort to get their attention.
"I had a different life in my mind when I chose Canada as a land of immigration," he said in an interview. "But I saw a very different side coming here. It has been hard on me since I faced all these unfair changes."
When Singh arrived in P.E.I. in January 2023, the Island's immigration rules were much different than they are now. Under the old rules, he had a path to permanent residency if he worked for a set probationary permit and had a job lined up when his work permit expires, he said.
But the new regime introduced in February cuts the number of foreign workers it will nominate for permanent residency, with a particularly tight limit on those who entered the province on permits to work in the sales and service industry.
Applicants will also be assigned numerical points based on factors including their age and education, and they will have to meet a minimum score to be successful, he said.
Singh, 23, works in technical sales at a call centre. He came to the Island with a dream of starting his own business some day after obtaining his permanent residency. Now his work permit is ending and he doesn't know if he'll be able to stay.
He and his fellow demonstrators are asking to be grandfathered under the old regime.
"What we are demanding is our rights," he said. "We came here with the hope of a better future, we came here with the old policies to permanent residency pathways, and they changed the rules overnight. And it's totally unfair and unjust."
Singh said he lost about 15 pounds during the strike and had begun passing out, particularly after the group stopped drinking water on Tuesday. The hunger strike was a last resort, he said; they felt there was no other way to make people listen.
He said when government officials met with the protestors on Friday, they took the demonstrators list of all the foreign workers they knew in the province whose immigration plans have been upended by the policy changes. The officials asked at the meeting that the protestors end their hunger strike.
Singh ate a small meal of roti on Friday, taking it slow as his body readjusted to being fed.
But though the hunger strike is over, Singh said he and the people around him at the legislature on Saturday wouldn't be leaving until they got what they asked for
"It has been enough time now, we have been played around enough," he said. "There is hope in all of our minds that something will be done."
Premier Dennis King's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2024.
For more Prince Edward Island news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6947618.1719864087!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Flash flooding in B.C. Interior affects at least 20 homes, emergency officials say
At least 20 homes have been affected by flash flooding in the British Columbia Interior following heavy rains that forced the overnight closure of the Trans-Canada Highway near Kamloops.
Fire at gas metering station sparks grass fire that shut Alberta highway
Yellowhead County in west-central Alberta says a fire that prompted the closure of a major highway west of Edmonton involved a gas metering station.
These ultraprocessed foods may shorten your life, study says
Eating higher levels of ultraprocessed food may shorten lifespans by more than 10 per cent, according to a new, unpublished study of over 500,000 people whom researchers followed for nearly three decades.
Eddie Murphy is still stung by that David Spade joke on 'Saturday Night Live'
Eddie Murphy is reflecting on some of the “cheap shots” he feels he’s taken over the years.
If you qualify for this tax credit, you can expect a payment in your bank account this week
The next quarterly GST/HST tax credit payment is expected to go out this week, according to the Canada Revenue Agency.
Judge calls Jeffrey Epstein 'most infamous pedophile in American history' as he releases transcripts
A Florida judge released Monday afternoon the transcripts of a 2006 grand jury investigation that looked into sex trafficking and rape allegations made against the late millionaire and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
The U.S. Supreme Court found on Monday that Donald Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but can for private acts, in a landmark ruling recognizing for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.
This 12-year-old memorized the periodic table at age two. He's heading to NYU after finishing high school in just two years
Recent high school graduate Suborno Isaac Bari, 12, plans to start studying math and physics at New York University in the fall, but he’s already got his ambitious sights set on beginning a doctoral program.
Possible indecent gesture at Euro 2024 game under investigation
England star Jude Bellingham is being investigated by UEFA over a potentially offensive gesture made during a European Championship win against Slovakia.