Minister Ahmed Hussen: No to landed status upon arrival; 2 years work as caregivers needed

Minister Ahmed Hussen: No to landed status upon arrival; 2 years work as caregivers needed

AHMED HUSSEN

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to caregivers:

By Mila Astorga-Garcia
The Philippine Reporter

TORONTO–For several years now, caregivers have campaigned for landed status upon arrival. They maintain this is the only way they can be treated just like other immigrant workers in Canadian society – with rights and privileges to lessen their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation, and allow them to bring their families with them.

The Liberal Party of Canada has introduced new programs to allow caregivers to reunite with their families, and to simplify and speed up the process of attaining permanent resident status, but it is not in favor of granting them landed status upon arrival, says Ahmed Hussen, Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship during a phone interview with The Philippine Reporter, Tuesday, October 9, 2019.

“The Liberal Party of Canada is not in favor of that,” Hussen said.

“We have simplified the process, we have speeded up the process, but at the same time, we do need those individuals to work as caregivers for a minimum period of two years. After that, they apply for Permanent Residence, they get PR and they are free to do what they want,” the Minister added.

“The fact is our economy and our communities need caregivers, and so we are recruiting these individuals to become caregivers until the minimum period. I think the balanced position is to enable family reunification, fast track processing, remove LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment), but at the end of the day we do need caregivers and that is precisely why they are coming and to ensure that they provide caregiving minimum of two years – that is the situation,” Hussen explained.

Hussen takes pride in the changes the ruling Liberal Party has introduced to the caregiver program, which he said contrasts with what the Conservative government had before them.

“In the past we used to have something called the live in caregiver program. That program was stopped by the Conservatives but there was a big backlog. And the people in that program were also waiting for their family members to come…[the process] took from between seven to eight years.

Hussen said he met the caregiver community December of 2018 and was told about the backlog problem. “I promised them that by the end of 2018 we will clear the backlog by 80%…We cleared it by 94 percent…We surpassed the goal,” he claimed.
As some caregivers were reunited with their families, there were some others who were caught in limbo, so for them, the interim pathway was introduced, Hussen said.

The Liberal government likewise introduced the two pilots: one for caregivers with families; the other for caregivers with people with high medical needs, he said. While the interim pathway applications were terminated last October 8, the two pilot programs will be in effect for a number of years to see how effective they are. Then the Liberal government will make an assessment as to whether or not the pilot projects will continue, Hussen said.

Hussen emphasized that the two important changes introduced by the Liberal government was getting rid of the LMIA or employer specific work permits, and the ability of families to accompany workers.

“We got rid of LMIA and the big one is there is no family separation. (Caregivers) can bring their spouse and children. The spouse will have an open work permit and the children will receive study permits,” he said.
“That is big deal because they used to be separated from their family,” he reiterated.

Caregivers from the start have welcomed the changes, but they consider them a result of the decades-long fight for their rights, as Kara Manso of the Landed Status Now Campaign, former Care Worker Coordinator of the Caregivers Action Centre, had maintained when the changes were first announced in June. They believe the victory falls short of what they have always asked for: permanent residence status upon arrival that is necessary for them to be treated the same as others through the immigration system.

They also said questions and concerns still remain about the implementation of the changes.

When asked as to whether caregivers’ children will study here on domestic rates or fees, and not be treated as international students, which is one of the questions raised by caregivers, Hussen was unsure about his response and asked the reporter to verify this.

“That is the detail that you will have to verify with the Ministry. I am not actually clear on that point,” he said.

When asked if the children will be allowed to work just like the spouse, should domestic rates for studies not apply to them, Hussen said that the caregiver’s spouse can work and the children will be subject to some limitations on the number of hours they can work.

“You have to remember that these children are financially dependent on the two parents to begin with. One of the parents will work as the caregiver, which she has to, as a condition to come under the caregiver program, and the second spouse is allowed to work with an open work permit. That should be very adequate for the family,” he said, adding that the Liberal government always looks at ways to improve the system, when there is a need to do so.

“You have to understand…the spouse is being given an open work permit. That is a huge progress. They can bring their families. In the past, they could not even do that; so that’s progress,” Hussen emphasizes.

Asked again about the children who are of working age but who may not be able to deal with the financial requirements of education if they do not yet have the same status as immigrants here, Hussen said:

“Let me make it clear: in the same way that the Liberal party in government…in same way that we engage the community and we found out about the challenges, and we fixed them. Realistically the Liberal government will continue to have this conversation and if there is room for improvement, we can always be open and get the feedback from the community,” he stressed.

Asked about another concern raised by caregivers: the issue of requiring only one medical examination for caregivers as stipulated in the Juana Tejada Law, Hussen stated:

“The processing will only take six months or less so the medical exam will not expire. So they will only have one…The practical speed of the processing time will ensure that it is no longer an issue. Because you have to remember, it used to be between seven to eight years to process for the whole family; now we will be doing it for six months or less, maximum 6 months. That means that the medical exam will only have to be done once. It’s not gonna be an issue,” he said.

“But what is important is after two years of working as a caregiver they will have the opportunity to apply for PR and that process… they will be processed for PR in only six months. Now this is really important because a lot of people were saying that the new programs will not give them access to PR. And I promised that we will always give them a pathway for PR. We promised and the Liberal Party has kept that promise,” he said.

Asked if he had a message to give to the Filipino community at this time, he gives his electoral spiel:

“The Liberal Party of Canada listened and engaged the Filipino Canadian community specially the community of caregivers. We listened, we sympathized with their situation. It is the Conservatives who put them in that situation… Ten years under the Conservatives, caregivers and their families were ignored. Seven to eight years to reunite with families. We took care of the backlog. We reunited families. We put in place new programs that ensure caregivers respect and dignity that they deserve. So I encourage the members of the caregiver community to remember that and to know that a re-elected Liberal government will always listen.”