Something incredible happened on June 3rd. The federal government announced that migrant care workers who come to Canada will be able to get permanent resident status on arrival.
This means that migrants, primarily racialized women, who take care of children, sick and the elderly will be able to come as permanent residents and not as temporary foreign workers.
For decades, migrant workers have been told that our demand for a single tier system with permanent resident status on arrival for all is impossible. But through struggle and perseverance, migrants have won against all odds.
We won even more:
- Since 2014, care workers have been calling for an end to the requirement that they have their one-year post-secondary education accredited. Now, care workers will only have to get high school accreditation.
- Care workers have been fighting to get rid of language scoring requirements. Now care workers will only need a language benchmark score of 4 (instead of 5).
As a result, thousands of care workers in Canada may become eligible for permanent residency.
But concerns remain.
- thousands of care workers, like other migrant workers, students and refugees have become undocumented because of unfair rules. This is why we must continue to demand regularization of all undocumented people.
- The program has not been finalized and launched yet. It’s not clear when it will be – the Minister has said somewhere between Fall 2024 and early 2025. While we wait, more care workers will continue to face exploitation or become undocumented.
Now is a moment to reflect on a decade of struggle. Here are snapshots of care worker action since 2014 when the education and language requirements were first put into place.
Snapshots of a decade of struggle
October 31, 2014: Then Conservative Immigration Minister Chris Alexander ended the permanent caregiver program and replaced it with two 5-year long pilot programs, which continue until 2019. This new program increased language testing scores needed to qualify and added a requirement for one year post-secondary education. Care workers sprang into action organizing mass demonstrations across Canada including in Toronto. Read more here.
October 28, 2015: Care workers joined with farmworkers, and other migrant workers to create the Coalition for Migrant Worker Rights – Canada (CMWRC). CMWRC was the first migrant-led cross-Canada platform for all migrant workers to take action together and was formed just as a new Liberal government was elected in the same month.
May 2016: We forced a Parliamentary study on migrant exploitation. Migrant care worker “Teta Bayan” was scheduled to speak. She was bumped off the committee and wrote an open letter calling on PM Trudeau to deliver on his promise of change. Read here. Care worker groups submitted a detailed proposal to Parliament calling for changes to the same study, read here.
September 2016: Care workers took on organizing against medical inadmissibility. Medical inadmissibility are rules that ban migrants from getting permanent residency because the government believed that they were too sick. Care workers told their stories in the media, visited politicians and gathered petitions. Read here. We finally won changes in 2018.
2017: Throughout 2017, migrant care workers organized across the country, hosting workshops and public events, doing outreach in communities and identifying concerns. Vancouver Committee for Domestic Worker and Caregiver Rights hosted this workshop.
December 18, 2018:The Migrant Rights Network launched and replaced CMWRC. This newly formed coalition would now be the home of all migrant-led organizing in Canada, and carried forward the Landed Status Now campaign.
February 23, 2019: Under massive pressure from care workers – Canada announced an interim pathway! Care workers in Canada were able to apply for permanent residency without the high education requirements, but the language requirements were kept in place. The interim program ran from March to June – just three months. Unbelievably, the government also replaced the 2014-2019 pilots with new pilots that had the same unfair language and education requirements. Care workers were pre-assessed for permanent residency and would have to complete two years of work before they could apply again to get it.
May & June 2019: Care workers organized actions across Canada demanding changes to the new pilots and extensions to the interim program. See here. Thousands of people signed petitions and took action. Under pressure the federal government extended the Interim Pathway by another three months, until the end of October.
March 2020: The COVID-19 outbreak threw migrant care workers into crisis. Many were working longer hours, unable to leave; while others were laid off as their employers worked from home. Caregivers spoke up about being banned by their employers from leaving the house, to buy groceries or send money home. Those who were laid off had nowhere to go, many would become undocumented.
October 2020: Care workers across the country released a report documenting the increased abuse and exploitation that they were facing behind closed doors. The report consisted of hundreds of interviews and surveys and made national headlines. Read about it in the Toronto Star here and CBC here. The report included video interviews, watch them here.
April 14, 2021: Under pressure from migrant organizing – Canada created the ‘Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident’ pathway for over 90,000 migrant workers. Among other changes, this pathway removed requirements for education, reduced the language and work requirement (from 24 months to 12 months) – but the program was time-limited and difficult to apply for. Some care workers were able to apply; while many remained excluded. The program ran for six months. Read our report on it here. At the same time, the federal government promised to clear the backlog of applicants – with thousands still waiting for years to hear about their permanent residency application, see here.
December 16, 2021: Following the 2021 federal elections, Prime Minister Trudeau returned to power at the head of a minority government. He issued a mandate letter to the Minister of Immigration that promised regularization and rights for migrants.
May 29, 2022: Migrant care workers delivered over 3,000 petitions to MPs across the country calling for an end to education and language requirements, an end to the processing backlog and permanent resident status on arrival.
2022 – 2023: Across the country, care workers prepared for the expiry of the pilot, gathering thousands of petition signatures, coordinating with allies, meeting with elected officials and Ministry staff, and sharing stories on social media. In monthly actions – care workers raised their demands across the country.
February 10, 2023: Care workers won a major victory – the work experience required to gain permanent residency was reduced by half – from 24 months to 12 months. Care workers were one more step close to permanent resident status on landing.
March 8, 2024: On International Women’s Day – migrant care workers organized a press conference calling for an end to education and language requirements and permanent resident status on arrival. Read more here.
June 3, 2024: Canada announced new pilot programs lowering the education and language requirement and promising permanent resident status on arrival.