'I just need a chance to live again': Jamaican migrant worker with cancer begs to stay in N.S.
CBC
A seasonal farm worker from Jamaica is fighting to stay in Nova Scotia for cancer treatment, saying it would be a death sentence for her to go home.
Kerian Burnett, 42, was hired by a Colchester County farm through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) in April. She picked strawberries for about two months before she began experiencing severe pain. By June, the pain was so extreme that she stopped working and was ultimately diagnosed with cervical cancer in mid-September.
"I just need a chance to live again," said Burnett, in tears, in an interview with CBC News. "I feel excessive pain ... I take more than 20 painkillers per day."
Her SAWP contract expires on Dec. 15, legally requiring her to leave Canada.
Burnett has no idea how she will pay the medical bills she's already racked up after two surgeries, totalling about $81,000. The treatment is not covered under Nova Scotia's Medical Services Insurance (MSI) Program because she's a temporary worker. She did have health insurance through her work — which provides up to $100,000 worth of coverage — but she's not sure it's available because her employer stated in a letter that she was terminated months before her cancer diagnosis.
The insurance company hasn't yet explained how her case will be handled, she said, and the cancer has already spread to her glands.
She said doctors have told her she still needs chemotherapy to complete her treatment and she worries that will take her past the deadline to leave Canada.
"If I have to sleep on the streets, I will, but I won't go back," she said. "Jamaican health care is very, very, very bad."
She has six children, a fiancé, and two grandchildren in Jamaica.
She said she wants to live for them.
Although Burnett didn't work for four months from June to October, her employer, Balamore Farm Ltd. near Truro, allowed her to stay in staff housing at no charge.
On Oct. 6, she received a notice of termination from Balamore Farm saying her employment ended months before, on June 21, because of her health issues. The letter says she was provided a plane ticket to go home along with other foreign workers in her group.
"We have allowed her to remain in our housing until Oct. 12, 2022, but the job required of this group of temporary foreign workers of this location is complete, and they will all be returning to [Jamaica]," reads a letter from the owner of the farm, Joe Cooper.
Burnett didn't get on the flight home.
An Auditor General of Canada report has found that B.C. saw drastically fewer international students than was forecast ever since wide-ranging federal immigration cuts began in 2024.
Six years after e-learning became a mandatory requirement to get an Ontario high school diploma, students don't appear to be taking online school to diversify their course selection as the province had intended, according to a CBC News analysis of provincial enrolment data.
Sarnia City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday morning to respond to social media comments made by Coun. Bill Dennis, who criticized city spending on a new mural by Indigenous artist Kennady Osborne as “virtue signalling by woke politicians” — then made a series of comments in response to a reply from Aamjiwnaang Chief Janelle Nahmabin that some have characterized as unprofessional and aggressive.
While many Albertans continue to feel the pinch at the pump, Premier Danielle Smith says the government is not considering any fuel tax breaks, as it does not believe it will make much of a difference.
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details about gruesome deaths and sexual abuse.
Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) says they will take part in the federal government's buyback program for assault-style rifles this year, but a local member of parliament says she "can't get behind this decision."
The use of American contracts and services is down by nearly half on Prince Edward Island following tariffs and shaky trade relations under the Donald Trump administration.
The first set of deadlines included in the energy and climate deal struck between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are not expected to be met, showing early challenges with the agreement that includes pursuing a new export pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast.
Mayoral-hopeful Coun. Brad Bradford is calling for a host of safety measures across Toronto’s subway system, including a specific focus on platform edge doors, with a motion before city council this week.
When the one-star reviews first began to appear on his restaurant's Google page, owner Damon Ataei swung into action, trying to contact each reviewer.
The Mounties called it the "Native extremism program." Today, it sounds like a spy novel.
A judge is expected to rule in June on a proposed settlement for a class-action lawsuit involving a crash landing of an Air Canada flight in Halifax more than a decade ago.
An inmate who was on the loose after escaping a jail in Shediac has been caught, New Brunswick RCMP said in a press release late Monday afternoon.