Advocates called on the federal government on International Women’s Day to overhaul rules that are unfair to immigrant care workers in Canada.
The advocacy group Immigrant Workers Alliance for Change on Friday drew attention to two five-year caregiver pilot programs that are set to expire on June 17: the Home Child Care Provider Pilot and the Home Support Worker Pilot. Organized a speaker panel. .
The coalition says the program is specifically aimed at applicants with work experience in long-term care and provides a pathway to permanent residency in Canada.
“These programs are scheduled to end on June 17, 2024, but thousands of long-term care workers are already unable to apply for permanent residency and are at risk of deportation due to unreasonably high language and education requirements,” the group said. “They are exposed,” he said.
Among the language requirements is a Level 5 English test score, which exceeds even the requirements for Canadian citizenship, the group said.
Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and listening in English or French, according to the federal government’s website. They must demonstrate that they have completed a one-year post-secondary education qualification or a foreign equivalent education qualification.
Alliance organizer Joey Duraka said immigrant caregivers are mostly racialized women, many from the Philippines and Indonesia, who come to Canada to care for children, the sick and the elderly. He said he was coming.
She said that for thousands of migrant care workers, obtaining permanent residency is already a demanding task. And the impending end of two pilot programs, both of which began in 2019, will leave even more workers in limbo.
“Together, we are here to call on Prime Minister Trudeau to grant permanent residency to all Canadian immigrant care workers who do not have education or English language requirements,” Duraka said.
Duraka said the organization is calling on the government to regularize all undocumented care workers, provide a path to permanent residency without the need for rigorous language or education requirements, and remove the cap on the number of permanent resident applications that can be processed. He said he is requesting that.
Workers ‘don’t know what’s going to happen next’, advocate says
Arlene Aguilon, a care worker from the Philippines, said she has been working grueling hours caring for her three children and has not been able to receive her education certification.
“My hair started falling out and that led to depression,” she said.
Migrant workers won the right to study in 2023, but the alliance says many are unable to pay high international tuition fees or study while working full-time.
Mary Gellatly, a regional legal officer at Parkdale Regional Legal Services, said many staff “don’t know what’s going to happen next” because of the lack of clarity from the government.
“Many people are living their lives in limbo, worrying about what will happen next,” Geralty said.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not respond to CBC Toronto’s request for comment.
