Manitoba’s new labour, immigration minister spells out priority legislation

Manitoba’s new labour, immigration minister spells out priority legislation

MLA MALAYA MARCELINO
(Photo by: yourmanitoba.ca/notre_dame)

Filipino-Canadian MLA Malaya Marcelino

By Mila Astorga-Garcia

The Philippine Reporter

FILIPINO-CANADIAN Malaya Marcelino, who was re-elected as MLA for Notre Dame during the October 3 provincial elections in Manitoba, was sworn in October 18, 2023  as Minister for Labour and Immigration in Manitoba, by Lt. Governor Anita Neville.

At the official ceremonies held at the Leaf in Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park, Neville also swore in the new Manitoba Premier, Wab Kinew – the first-ever First Nation premier of a Canadian province – along with the members of the Cabinet of his NDP majority party.

The NDP garnered 34 of the 57 seats of the legislature. Taking one of those 34 seats is another Filipino-Canadian, 23-year old Jelynne de la Cruz, who won her first political post as MLA for Radisson.

Marcelino was first elected as MLA in Sept 2019 in elections won by the Progressive Conservatives, with the NDP as the Official Opposition.  She was assigned the critic portfolio for Labour and Immigration, and the Responsibility for Status of Women.

In a brief phone interview with Marcelino on the  first day of her new job,  she told The Philippine Reporter that her  role “has not settled in with me yet” as she finds it so new being addressed as Minister.

When asked what her thoughts were on finding herself in such a position, she said, with a tinge of humility, that “it is in a way a dream come true not for me but for a community to have this level of representation, to have somebody on the ground with them… to have a seat at the highest level of decision making in the province.”

Marcelino then mentions the many people she says she has grown up with, worked with,  including racialized women, immigrant women, migrant workers, the unrecognised internationally educated, the undocumented, the care workers.

She says having worked with the marginalised and having the chance to be the opposition critic in two priority sectors:immigration and labour, and status of women, has helped her this early to define her focus at this new job as provincial minister.

Marcelino stated that her three priorities are:

1. To introduce legislation toward equal pay for equal work.

She cites as an example that in Manitoba, racialized women get paid significantly less than others, as much as15 percent to 40 percent less than non-racialized women. She tried to introduce a bill but this was twice rejected by the Conservatives.

2. To remove barriers to accreditation for internationally trained professionals.

Marcelino says she is going to pursue this, as she has already made effort with the burses, prompted by the need for them during the COVID months. She says that Manitoba was the most difficult place for getting accreditation for nurses because of the systemic barriers in place such nurses preferred to acquire their licences elsewhere.  On this issue which she wants to cover all professions, she intends to work with all stakeholders: regulatory colleges, non-profits, and the community non-credentialed professionals, as well as to review the present regulations.

3. To improve the working conditions, pay and benefits for the care sectors, mostly done by racialized women.

This may be done through unionisation, strengthening of workplace safety conditions, and other measures.

Even before she became a Minister, from the time she became an MLA in 2019, Marcelino is known in her riding and province to be a fierce and for better quality labour conditions, fairer work conditions for racialized women, better health care and safer communities.

Marcelino lives in Winnipeg’s West End with her husband and two young children.