A report back for current and former Caregivers
Care Workers in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Montreal came together on Sunday, November 18, 2018, to tell the government to give us our rights. We spoke to the media and released a report with personal stories calling on Canada to treat Care Work with respect and dignity. We are not alone, 14 Care Worker organizations have come together to work in preparation for this campaign. We call ourselves “Landed Status Now: Care Workers Organize!” We will be doing several actions as Care Workers to get the government to do what we need them to do.
Below is how we got here – you can be part of this movement! Click here to share your information with us and we will contact you!.
10 things you need to know about the Landed Status Now! Campaign
1. Why are we calling ourselves Care Workers, not Caregivers? Care Workers have been coming to Canada over a century. We want Care Workers to be recognized for the work and the skills that we do. We are workers, not givers. Landed Status Now! Calls on the government of Canada to make better laws for migrant Care Workers. We want to come with Permanent Residency together with our families, just like everybody else. We want changes to workers already in Canada. See the Care Worker Fact Sheet here to see what we are asking for.
2. This ask is nothing new. Care Workers have been calling on the government for Landed Status since the 70s. When we started in the 70s, we had no path to PR. By asking for Landed Status – we were able to get a path. We have to ask for what we really want, always. Care Workers in the past have pushed for this demand and led the way for us to be here right now. They have fought for us, now is our time to fight for all of us now and for the Care Workers to come. Together we can make this possible.
Here’s a photo of Care Workers from 1981 calling for Landed Status Now! – just like us.
3. Why now? The Caregiver program introduced in 2014 is expiring soon! There has been no replacement announced and we want to know what is going to happen to us, Care Workers. We deserve fairness. A lot of Care Workers are in the backlog and in the LCP, who have not gotten our papers – we too need our rights. We want the government to change the rules so that all of us get permanent residency and can call Canada our home. We believe no one should be left behind! Read here what we are asking for. We, Care Workers, are the leaders of this movement. This is our campaign.
4. How did we get here? Even though the ask has been around since the 1980s, Care Worker groups across Canada re-started our work in late 2017. First, we had meetings of Care Workers. Here’s a photo from one in February in Toronto – discussing what we want. A lot of issues came up and together we discussed that the only solution is Permanent Residency on Arrival together with our families.
Care Unity Meeting in Toronto, February 2018
5. Then we met with the government and told them what we wanted. These meetings took place across the country. We also gave the government a detailed policy report. Report link
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- Before Care Workers went in for IRCC consultation
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- Care Workers calling on Minister of Immigration to end Medical Inadmissibility Regime
6. We had more meetings. Care Workers reached out to other Care Workers in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and other places. We decided to do outreach in parks, churches, community centres and invited them to meetings and gatherings, where Care Workers ourselves shared our experiences in the program and how the new rules made it harder for us to stay in Canada. We did Mothers’ Day celebrations – here’s us in the media (Vancouver, Toronto )
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- Flash mob in Toronto for Mother’s Day
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- Flash mob in Vancouver for Mother’s Day
7. We did a survey to workers to decide together what we wanted. From the survey, we heard that Care Workers across Canada wanted Landed Status Now.
8. We wrote a report – that report is here. We released that report with personal stories in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Montreal came together on Sunday, November 18, 2018, to tell the government to give us our rights. Now the government is paying attention – look at Trudeau being asked to respond.
9. Creating a new permanent program with Landed Status on arrival is necessary for ensuring decent work, fairness and equality in the laws and policies of the country. Most people have the ability to change jobs, when they have a bad employer, or celebrate their children’s birthday, or sit by their parent’s bedside when they are ill. These are basic human rights and that’s all Care Workers are asking for. We deserve landed status now and be united with our families. We are not doing it just for ourselves – we provide care! And giving us our rights means better healthcare for everyone.
We are not doing this just for ourselves. We believe ALL migrants, including refugees, agricultural workers, students, and undocumented people should have landed status. We are stronger together!
10. What’s next? We are just getting started. The fight is not over until we get the rights we deserve. We encourage everyone to join or connect with a local organization to plan together on how to win our rights.
If you are a current or former care worker:
- Sign the petition at www.LandedStatusNow.ca
- Tell your friends and let them sign the petition
- Regular meetings are being held in all the major cities– If you sign the petition, we will get in touch with you tell you where the next one closest to you is.
- If you are in Toronto, come on Dec. 15, 2018 to 720 Spadina Ave., Suite 202 – email info@caregiversactioncentre.org to RSVP. Event link
More than 1000 people have already joined Migrant Care Workers’ Call for #LandedStatusNow
PLEASE SHARE on social media! And tag #LandedStatusNow and encourage people to sign the petition at www.LandedStatusNow.ca
