Our Security Lies in the Fight for the Rights of All

Coalition of Migrant Care Worker Groups and Allies Continue the Landed Status Now! Campaign

- Peggy Morton -

A Coalition of Migrant Care Worker groups and allies and the Landed Status Now! Campaign issued a joint press release on February 25. The release is a direct response to new government pilot projects announced two days before by the federal government.[1] The press release points out that the government projects are in direct response to the determined campaign for Landed Status Now! for all migrant care workers (www.LandedStatusNow.ca).

The press release explains that the government has responded to the campaign and given certain concessions but significant issues have not been addressed. The press release notes that the government announcement does include workers in Quebec who remain caught in a web of exploitation and denial of rights.

Through the Landed Status Now! campaign, care workers have spoken out with pride about the essential work they perform, which is necessary for society to function. They speak with social love about the children, the frail elderly and the people with special needs whom they care for. They also speak about the pain of leaving their own families behind, and the precarious conditions of their work because of Canada's anti-social immigration system and labour laws.

The release notes that as a result of the campaign's persistent struggle for the rights of care workers, the government's announcement includes some immediate concessions. Care workers will now be able to bring their families with them to Canada; occupational-specific work permits will no longer be tied to one employer; and, workers who came under the 2014 pilot project can apply for permanent residency with modified conditions during a three-month window this year.

However, the government has failed to meet the most important demand of the care workers and other migrant workers for Landed Status Now! Care workers' temporary status in Canada without guaranteed rights makes them vulnerable to abuse and super-exploitation. This must be ended!

Caring for Children and Caring for People with
High Medical Needs Pilot Projects

Forced family separation of care workers is a stain on Canada, a barbaric form of indentured slavery. The majority of care workers are women; they come to Canada to care for children and frail seniors yet must leave their own families behind. This abuse must stop.

This photo posted on social media on Family Day highlights the forced separation of caregivers from their families.

The government has promised that the new program will end family separation and allow care workers to bring their families. Spouses will have open work permits and children will receive study permits. However, these changes remain as unspecified policy objectives and ministerial orders, not something concrete that guarantees the rights of care workers.

The Coalition of Migrant Care Workers points out that the government must make the changes a reality for all. If children are to receive "study permits," does this mean they will be treated as "international students" with crippling tuition fees? Care workers provide care for people with disabilities and high medical needs yet they are barred from bringing their entire family if one member has a disability. This is unconscionable and must end.

Further, the temporary status of care work, the continued pay inequality between women and men, and low wages for traditionally female occupations mean that many care workers will still have to leave their children behind because of the significantly higher cost of living in Canada.

Ending the devastating human impact of separation of families also requires that provincial governments enforce their labour laws. Despite the laws "on the books" that overtime be paid for work over 40 hours a week, many care workers cannot afford to live away from their employer's residence because of their low pay and long work hours, with no time off or overtime pay.

Care workers will now have an occupation-specific work permit instead of a work permit tied to one employer. This is a positive achievement of the fight care workers have waged for years. Work permits tied to one employer make migrant workers very vulnerable to abuse and have been used by many employers to withhold pay and benefits due to them according to contracts and employment standards, for example working long hours without pay.

Under the new pilot projects, applicants will be assessed for permanent residence criteria before they begin working in Canada. Once caregivers have their work permit and two years of work experience, they can apply for permanent residency. However the requirement for education equivalent to one year of post-secondary education in Canada and more stringent English fluency requirements introduced in 2014 have not been withdrawn.

Interim Pathway for Caregivers

Federal Minister Ahmed Hussen announced the Interim Pathway for Caregivers, which will be open from March 4 to June 4, 2019. Many care workers who came to Canada after 2014 found out that after they completed 24 months of work they could still not apply for permanent residency because they did not meet English fluency or educational equivalencies. Many care workers were left with huge debts paid to human traffickers who masquerade as "immigration consultants" and "recruiters." These human traffickers extort large sums to arrange employment in Canada, only to leave many workers with no hope of becoming permanent residents and Canadian citizens.

The Trudeau government says that it understands the plight of care workers and will assess the situation of those care workers who came after 2014 under the old criteria. During the three-month window this year, workers can apply for permanent residency after 12 months of work instead of 24, and post-secondary education will not be required. The government has also committed to expedited processing within the small three-month window. Migrant worker organizations point out however that many care workers may not even find out about the "window" until it has been closed. Also, workers who have become undocumented have not been included. This failure must be immediately corrected and the right to permanent residency extended to all migrant workers now working and living in Canada.

The government has taken no action to end the extortion of workers by human traffickers, whether in Canada or abroad. No public authority has been established to replace the human traffickers so that the rights of migrants are upheld during the recruitment process for work and after their acceptance, or to provide compensation for the countries involved that have trained their members to become productive and valuable workers.

Further, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will only accept a maximum of 2,750 principal applicants (not including family members) each year under the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilot projects. This reduction in applicants was introduced despite the growing demand for workers in the High Medical Needs Program, and within a national day care program for children and a modern, humane, public seniors care program.

Landed Status Now!

Minister Hussen speaks of the new pilot projects as "immigration projects" when they are nothing of the kind. The decades-long fight for landed status on arrival for all migrant workers cannot be obscured by calling the situation an "immigration project." The pathway to the guarantee of rights for all is still strewn with obstacles and dangers along the way. Care workers and others are not temporary workers and neither should their status be temporary.

The government claims that it understands the importance of permanent residency. Announcing its Public Policy to Provide an Interim Pathway for Caregivers, the government said, "The Department also heard that migrant caregivers face unique challenges, which are made worse by their temporary status. Examples include the often gendered and isolated nature of caregiving occupations; the high incidence of live-in work arrangements, despite the removal of the formal live-in requirement in 2014; and caregivers' dependence on their employers to obtain and provide proof of the Canadian work experience needed to qualify for permanent residence.... [In 2014] the program criteria were changed to more closely align with the Government's approach of selecting economic immigrants on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada." It further says it has established criteria for the caregivers' program consistent with this policy.

These programs and policy objectives have been put in place through a ministerial order and are even called temporary pilot projects. This or another Minister can change them with the stroke of a pen or let them expire. This is what is known as the "rule of law" and what the ruling elite consider "legal" and even "constitutional." In this way the government facilitates human trafficking and the denial of rights on a large scale.

Congratulations are due to the care workers, their organizations and all who have stood firmly to defend the rights of all. Through their courage to speak out and organize despite their precarious situation, they have forced the government to make certain concessions. The situation requires working people and their allies to provide full support to continue the fight for Landed Status Now!

Note

1. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Minister Ahmed Hussen announced on February 23, two new 5-year pilot projects to replace the Caring for Children and Caring for People with High Medical Needs. The original projects were introduced in 2014 and end in November 2019. Hussen announced the new projects as "caregiver immigration pilots" to "allow caregivers to come to Canada together with their family and provide a pathway to permanent residence."

This article was published in

Number 8 - March 7, 2019

Article Link:
Our Security Lies in the Fight for the Rights of All: Coalition of Migrant Care Worker Groups and Allies Continue the Landed Status Now! Campaign - Peggy Morton