Undocumented health workers want access to permanent resident program
Global News
Refugee claimants and undocumented health-care workers are demanding they be allowed to apply for a government program that would grant them permanent status in Canada.
Refugee claimants and undocumented health-care workers are demanding they be allowed to apply for a government program that would grant them permanent status in Canada.
The temporary resident to permanent resident pathway program was announced in April as a way to keep skilled essential workers in the country, with a focus on retaining 20,000 hospital and long-term care workers.
While the government has already received the maximum number of applications for recent university graduates and other essential workers, there have been few applicants accepted to the health-care stream.
The program is set to close on Nov. 5 and has so far accepted only 5,421 applications.
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change says that’s because refugees with pending claims and undocumented people are barred from applying and many health-care occupations are excluded.
“I felt humiliated when the eligibility requirement excluded me,” said Fasanya Kolade, a Nigerian refugee and developmental support worker in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Kolade works primarily with seniors and adults with physical, developmental and intellectual disabilities, and said he pulled 65-hour weeks throughout the pandemic to care for his patients.
Despite meeting most of the criteria, he could not apply.