Category: Uncategorized

Care Workers

Migrant Care Workers are speaking out from behind closed doors!

Racialized migrant care workers from across Canada are speaking out about the exploitation they have faced during COVID-19, and calling on the federal government to ensure FULL and PERMANENT immigration status for all.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Sign our petition for Status for All! 

Watch the video and then scroll below to read the report! 

Behind Closed Doors: Exposing Migrant Care Worker Exploitation During COVID-19

This shocking new report, which compiles hundreds of surveys filled out by migrant care workers during COVID-19, tells a story of entrapment, long hours, and thousands of dollars in stolen wages. It shows the enormous power employers have to abuse and exploit, and the ways in which migrant women are refusing to be silent.

Read the press release with key highlights of the report here.

Authored by Caregivers Action Centre, Vancouver Committee for Domestic Worker and Caregiver Rights, Caregiver Connection Education and Support Organization and Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, the report is endorsed by the Alberta Careworkers Association, PINAY Quebec, Migrante Canada, Migrante Alberta, and Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (ADDPD/ARHW).

Click here to download the report

Care Workers

Care Worker Rights’ During #COVID19: Minimum Wage Increase

If I am a Care Worker receiving minimum wage, should my wages go up? Yes! On October 1, 2020, the minimum wage in Ontario increased to $14.25. This means that your employer is required by law to pay you $14.25 per hour. Read below for more information!

✊ SHARE this post with your friends and other Care Workers!

✊ SIGN: https://www.caregiversactioncentre.org/statusforall

If you are a Care Worker with questions about your rights, call, text or WhatsApp the Caregivers’ Action Centre at (647) 782-6633. 📞📞

Care Workers

Over 280+ organizations demand FULL & PERMANENT Status For All!

Over 280 organizations – which includes 8 million people! – jointly released a letter just now supporting our call for FULL and PERMANENT immigration #StatusForAll!

Read the letter, see the massive support we have and add your name! 

Today, just as the Federal Liberal Party starts their Cabinet retreat to finalize plans for recovery from COVID-19, hundreds of groups across the country and from all sectors are making sure that political parties know what is expected of them: Nothing less than FULL and PERMANENT immigration status for all migrants, undocumented people, students or workers immediately, and permanent resident status on arrival for all migrants in the future. 

For the last six months, thousands of migrants have marched on the streets, signed petitions, made calls to the Prime Minister, and shown up at online events. Today’s letter proves that WE ARE NOT ALONE. A massive number of people across the country are with us. 

A fair society is one with equal rights, and equal rights are not possible without full and permanent immigration #StatusForAll.

Sign and share this letter on facebook, twitter and instagram!

With decisions about our future being made in Ottawa right now, we have no time to lose. We need thousands of people and organizations to read and sign this letter today to make our voice even louder: www.StatusforAll.ca. 

“Migrants, refugees, and undocumented people want to take care of their families and be active members of their communities. But federal immigration rules tip the scales against them. We call for a single-tier immigration system, where everyone in the country has the same rights.”

Today, let’s make sure that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and all other political parties hear our LOUD VOICES! Read our letter and sign on here!

Advisory: International Students Left Out in the Cold As Schools Reopen & Unemployment Remains High

Migrant Students United
Media Advisory

International Students Left Out in the Cold As Schools Reopen & Unemployment Remains High

Thousands face deportation, high fees, and lack of healthcare

Toronto and Mississauga, September 10, 2020 — Current and former international students are organizing a weekend of demonstrations in Toronto (Sep 12) and Mississauga (Sep 13) to call for changes to immigration rules to recover from COVID-19. International student tuition fees have increased dramatically during COVID-19 even as students and their families have lost work and wages, and classes have shifted online. Many international graduates on time-restricted work permits are required to complete 12-24 months of continuous high waged work to qualify for permanent resident status. However, with unemployment for racialized workers at 17%, most graduates do not have access to these jobs. Work permits remain non-renewable despite the impact of COVID-19 on the job market, meaning that thousands face deportation in the near future because they cannot fulfill requirements. Delays in permit processing has resulted in thousands without active Social Insurance Numbers. Access to healthcare for former students, even during COVID-19, is tied to having a full-time job, and most students cannot access emergency supports. Over 14,000 people have signed two petitions calling for changes in immigration policy now.

TORONTO – Saturday, September 12, 2:45pm
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s office, 344 Bloor Street West

MISSISSAUGA – Sunday, September 13, 2pm 
Westwood Square Mall, 7205 Goreway Drive

BACKGROUND
There were 572,000 new study permits and 98,470 new post graduate work permits issued in 2019. Many of these permit holders remain in Canada for several years. Over 17,000 one or two-year work permits were issued between September 2019 and June 2020.

Migrant students are calling on the federal and provincial government to:

  • FIX RULES AROUND WORK: Make post-graduate work permits renewable so former students can complete requirements for Permanent Residency (PR) in the COVID-19 job market; Remove time-limits and industry restrictions on work;
  • GIVE REAL ACCESS TO PR: Lower points requirements for PR (CRS); Count work that is part-time, in-school, in any occupation, including with gaps towards PR; and Ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants;
  • LOWER TUITION & ENSURE FULL SERVICES: Ensure migrant students pay domestic tuition; Full access to all services including healthcare, housing, jobs, scholarships, pandemic emergency benefits, and in-school support; Immediate access to Social Insurance Numbers
  • UNITE FAMILIES: Allow families to travel, ensure work permits for family members

Media Liaison: Sarom Rho, 647-858-2854, sarom@migrantworkersalliance.org, Migrant Students United