Sign this petition insisting that migrant care workers deserve fairness and immigration rights.
Prime Minister Trudeau, Immigration Minister Mendicino, and my Member of Parliament,
Care work is the important work done to take care of children, sick and elderly in the home, often done by migrant workers. This care work is the backbone of Canada’s labour market and social support systems. Without care work, the economy doesn’t work. Canada must create a national care strategy to ensure quality care for children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Decent work and landed status now for the workers providing that care labour must be the foundation of Canada’s care economy.
Many care workers are paid low wages, work long hours and live in difficult conditions for years to have the chance to apply for permanent residency. They are tied to their employers and face exploitation as a result. Others face immense difficulty getting other jobs, particularly during COVID19. Many are unable to get PR because of language tests and educational accreditation requirements that are expensive, time consuming, and unnecessary. Migrant care workers live and work here already, requiring further proof of education or language skills is discriminatory. Many have become undocumented because of unfair rules. Care workers that have applied for permanent residency have been waiting for years to hear a decision on their application.
We call on you to act quickly to ensure fairness for all care workers. This means:
- Landed status now for all care workers in the country
- No more waiting for PR processing
- No English language requirements
- No education accreditation requirement
- No more tied work permits
- Reunite families
Granting landed status to care workers should be accompanied by granting full and permanent immigration status to all migrant and undocumented people in Canada now, and permanent resident status on arrival to all migrants in the future. Finally, we call on Canada to sign the ILO Convention C189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
Landed Status Now: Care Workers Organize! Members: Alberta Careworkers Association (Edmonton), Caregivers Action Centre (Toronto), CCESO – Careworker Connections and Educational Support Organization (Toronto), Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights (Vancouver), Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (Ontario), Migrante Alberta, Migrante Canada, Migrante Ottawa, PINAY Quebec (Montreal). Endorsed by: Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (ADDPD-ARHW).
Watch this video of care workers speaking up and read our latest reports.