Trudeau Government Must Grant Status to Asylum Seekers and Migrant Health Care Workers
  
In a video posted online on May 6, Prime
Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau saluted the
Haitian community, saying "throughout Quebec,
doctors, nurses, orderlies and many other health
care workers of Haitian origin are standing up,
day and night, bravely fighting the COVID-19
pandemic.... We are working to protect you, just
as you are working to protect us."
On May 7, Haitian Dialogue for Migrants (CHPM)
and the organization Stand Up for Dignity sent two
open letters to the Trudeau government in which
they stress that the first thing that is needed to
protect these workers is to regularize the status
of many of them. It is well known that many people
of Haitian origin, along with others, work as care
attendants in very difficult conditions. Moreover,
the fact that many of them are refugees makes them
more vulnerable to blackmail and threats. "These
people bring us their skills, dedication and
dignity in exceptional conditions to help us fight
this pandemic while risking their own health and
that of their families. Many of them have been
near death and have lost colleagues. It is hard to
imagine that our guardian angels could be deported
from the country as soon as the battle is won,"
says the CHPM, adding that a special immigration
program could be set up to regularize the status
of these workers and their families.
Stand Up for Dignity notes, "These refugees are
a gold mine for rapacious employment agencies.
They are the cannon fodder for our health care
system in this pandemic context. ...Why should
they continue to live with the uncertainty of
their precarious status? Why should their children
continue to be excluded from subsidized child
care? Why can they not have the same protections
as other workers when they are injured on the
job?"
On May 9, the organization posted an online
petition in support of migrants and refugees
working in the health care field, calling on the
Trudeau government "to end their torment by
granting them permanent residency as they respond
with their presence and their heart to this call
for humanity for COVID-19 patients. We call on the
Prime Minister to show humanity towards these
humanitarian workers by concretely recognizing
their contribution by regularizing their migratory
status, which will facilitate their de facto
inclusion and integration."
The petition can be signed here.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 17 - May 16, 2020
Article Link:
Trudeau Government Must Grant Status to Asylum Seekers and Migrant Health Care Workers
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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