Category: Uncategorized

MEDIA RELEASE

Media Contact: Sarom Rho, 647-858-2854, Migrant Students United; Geneviève Charest, g.charest@cfs-fcee.ca, Canadian Federation of Students 

Ottawa & Toronto, April 30, 2020 – Migrant Students United, a cross-Canada organization of international students, and the Canadian Federation of Students, Canada’s largest and oldest national student organization, are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to expand income supports, including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) to all students, regardless of immigration status or active Social Insurance Number (SIN). Migrant students have taken to social media today calling for emergency supports, using #MigrantStudentsUnited. Follow students speaking out online by clicking here. 

“Approximately 1 in 5 postsecondary students in Canada are migrants and excluding them from the CESB is unfair and puts many of these students at risk of hunger and homelessness. We urge the federal government to extend the CESB and CERB to all migrant students, including those without valid SIN or stuck outside the country, and ensure $500 per week in income supports,” says Sarom Rho, Coordinator of Migrant Students United. 

“Welcoming students into Canada must be paired with the necessary support mechanisms to ensure that their health, safety, and income security are being prioritized; that is the responsible thing to do. Most importantly, migrant students are people, just like anyone else, who feel scared at a time of uncertainty and who are being overlooked by the government,” said Sofia Descalzi, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. 

BACKGROUND

• On average migrant students pay triple in fees over their domestic counterparts with a national average of $29,714 in tuition fees in 2019. The additional barrier on work restrictions, has placed students in a financial situation where many are struggling to pay for their cost of education, rent, groceries, and other bills. 
• Migrant students contributed $15.5 billion to the Canadian economy in 2016, making them vital contributors to Canadian society. 
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has lifted the limitation on working hours for international students in essential industries – but this does not resolve problems. Migrant students in public post-secondary institutions start their summer breaks in April, when the limitation on hours of work already does not apply. Many students are engaged in academic research, which has not been deemed essential. Giving the option to work does not comprehensively address the need of migrant students for income support now, and does not take into account migrant students who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed or are living with people with these conditions. In a decimated job market, it is incredibly hard to find work considering migrant students are not included in the Canada Summer Jobs program. 
• In a global pandemic and economic downturn, many students have families back home that are struggling to make ends meet and financial support they would normally have is no longer available. 

MEDIA RELEASE
MIGRANT STUDENTS UNITED

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

A million students potentially excluded from emergency income support 

Toronto, April 22, 2020 – Migrant Students United is calling on the federal government to expand Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) and Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to migrant students. Already, CERB is inaccessible to migrants without a valid Social Insurance Number, which impacts hundreds of thousands of students who cannot renew their work or study permits because of COVID-19 related delays. Now CESB seems to excludes migrant students on a study permit. Over 7,000 migrant students have signed a petition for income supports, worker protections, healthcare and permanent resident status on arrival. 

“Approximately 1 in 5 postsecondary students in Canada are migrants. Excluding them from emergency income supports is unfair. In a pandemic, it is a public health imperative to ensure everyone can stay at home safely, but if migrant students are left out, they are forced to work or face hunger and homelessness. Migrant students pay incredibly high tuition fees and are in the country without their families – they need more support, not less. Everyone, regardless of immigration status must get income supports!” – Sarom Rho, Organizer, Migrant Students United!

BACKGROUND

• There are nearly 1 million study and post-graduate work permit holders in Canada. Their SIN begins with ‘9’ and expires along with their immigration permits. To renew SIN, immigration permits must be renewed. COVID-19 has created enormous delays in permit processing, and hundreds of thousands of workers are without income supports. 
• Migrant students in public institutions are allowed to only work 20 hours off campus during the school term, private institution students can’t work off campus without a new work permit.
• Migrants students are over-represented in essential industries. They work in construction, cleaning, grocery stores, restaurants, warehouses, domestic work and as truck drivers and delivery workers. 
• Migrant students pay retail tax on purchases, and property taxes through rent as well as income tax, EI and CPP. 
• 42.9% of non-permanent residents are low-income (as compared to 12.5% of non-immigrants, and 17.9% of immigrants). They are therefore extremely vulnerable to economic crises – a single missed paycheque causes irreversible harm to health, safety, and future life possibilities.
• Like other low-wage workers, migrant students spend the majority of their income on rent, basic necessities, food and transportation. As such, they play a critical role in sustaining and growing local economies. When income disappears for the poorest, the effects are amplified across the entire economy. 
• In a global pandemic and economic downturn, many students have families back home that are struggling to make ends meet – migrant students need emergency income, as well as access to lower fees.
• Over 7,000 students have signed a petition calling for healthcare for all, enhanced workers protections, open work permits and permanent resident status for all, an end to detentions and deportations, and community supports for migrant students: www.MigrantRights.ca/MigrantStudents. 

The following is a letter sent to CBC Ombudsperson. You can send a complaint also through: https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/ombudsman/contact

CBC 5th Estate Documentary – Passport babies: The growing shadow industry of birth tourism is inaccurate, unfair, imbalanced and puts migrants at risk

We are writing to you regarding the recent CBC 5th Estate’s documentary titled Passport babies: The growing shadow industry of birth tourism broadcast on January 5, 2020, and accompanying CBC web articles. This letter is co-signed by 30 immigrant rights, labour, research and indigenous rights organizations. 

The documentary and the accompanying articles fail to meet even the most minimal standards for fairness and accuracy in reporting. The program provides a biased version of events, and does not include any immigration rights expert voices. In the current climate of rising xenophobia and racism, this kind of misinformation only increases the  risk of violence and hatred toward migrants and their families.

(1) Accuracy

The program repeatedly reiterates that there are 5,000 non-resident births per year in Canada, and directly links that number to births by tourists. This number has only been cited in one report by Policy Options from November 22, 2018. However, in that study, the report author Mr. Griffith highlights that the 5,000 figure includes all migrants in Canada that do not have health coverage – not just tourists. This fact is not mentioned in the 5th Estate’s report at all. Over 780,000 temporary permits were issued during the period of Mr. Griffith’s study. In addition, there are an estimated  500,000 undocumented residents in Canada. Births by any migrants who did not have medical coverage are counted in the 5,000 figure. Thus, births by tourists are likely dramatically lower than what 5th Estate states them to be.

(2) Fairness

The 5th Estate episode, as well as the accompanying CBC piece titled ‘All about the money’: How women travelling to Canada to give birth could strain the health-care system, posit that lack of fee payment by tourist mothers is hurting the integrity of the healthcare system. The statistics provided, as outlined above, are not limited to tourists but include all non-payment of health fees by migrants. Many migrants are excluded from health coverage because of their temporary permits. Many are unable to pay up front the high fees necessary for life-saving care, putting their lives at risk. In July of 2019, the United Nations urged Canada to change legislation to ensure access to healthcare to all residents. This is critical context about the systemic denial of healthcare to migrants which, when left out, negatively biases viewers towards the reality of healthcare access for migrants. 

The show highlights that hospitals and doctors are collecting high fees from patients – $18 million invoiced, and only $2 million not paid. Considering non-payment of fees here includes all migrants, it is important to clarify that 42.9% of non-permanent residents in Canada are low-income, and thus are unable to afford such high fees. And yet the CBC reports the numbers as if they are simply rich tourists accessing services and refusing to pay. 

At the same time, front line nurses in the show itself point out how increased profit by hospitals is not resulting in increased staffing. But the production and editing of the show, including corresponding questions to hospital authorities and government officials, lays the blame for the strains on the health care system on fee non-payment by migrants, instead of inadequate staffing support and low government funding for front line workers, particularly nurses. 

(3) Balance

The show features several voices, including US President Donald Trump and Canadian parliamentarians, all speaking out against “birth tourism”. No immigration rights organizations, experts or lawyers are featured that could provide nuance or alternative interpretations of the statistics cited, , or shed light on the impact that high healthcare fees have on migrants, or to outline policy alternatives  developed by migration policy experts, for example, on the regulation of international recruiters – a subject of extensive policy and legislative work by immigrant rights organizations. 

(4) Impact on migrants

Police-reported hate crimes in Canada have been surging, a fact highlighted in the accompanying 5th Estate documentary aired on the same date. This rise in hate crimes is a direct result of growing anti-immigrant sentiment, analyses and rhetoric. In such an environment, producing inaccurate, unfair, and unbalanced media reports serves only to fan these flames of xenophobia and racism by redirecting concerns about lack of funding for healthcare towards immigrants.  This is dog-whistle politics, and it has a direct and harmful effect on hundreds of thousands individuals and families, and biases policy makers. 

We urge you to investigate the documentary, and accompanying web-stories closely, and to issue retractions and clarifications, and to ensure such inaccurate and biased reports on immigration policy are not aired in the future. 

On behalf of:

1. Migrant Workers Alliance for Change*
2. OCASI-Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
3. Idle No More
4. Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers (ADDPD-ARHW)
5. Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network
6. BC Health Coalition
7. Caregiver Connections Education and Support Organization
8. Caring for Social Justice collective
9. Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter
10. Collaborative Network to End Exploitation
11. CUPE 1571
12. Durham Region Labour Council 
13. Faraday Law
14. Idle No More Ontario
15. Institut universitaire SHERPA: migration, diversité, santé
16. Migrant Worker Solidarity Network, Manitoba
17. Migrant Workers Centre – BC
18. Migrante Alberta
19. Migrante BC
20. Montréal Antifasciste
21. No One is Illegal – Halifax: K’jipuktuk
22. No One Is Illegal Toronto
23. No One Is Illegal – Fredericton
24. Northumberland Labour Council
25. Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
26. Sanctuary Health
27. Toronto Seed Library
28. Unifor Local 222
29. Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights (CDWCR)
30. Workers Action Centre
    

* The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) includes individuals as well as Asian Community Aids Services, Butterfly (Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support), Caregiver Connections Education and Support Organization, Caregivers Action Centre, Chinese Canadian National Council – Toronto, Durham Region Migrant Solidarity Network, FCJ Refugee House, GABRIELA Ontario, IAVGO Community Legal Clinic, Income Security Advocacy Centre, Migrante Ontario, No One Is Illegal – Toronto, Northumberland Community Legal Centre, OCASI – Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, OHIP For All, PCLS Community Legal Clinic, SALCO Community Legal Clinic, Students Against Migrant Exploitation, UFCW, UNIFOR, Workers’ Action Centre and Workers United.