Migrant workers call for income support

Essential undocumented and migrant workers from across Canada last week called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fill the gaps that exclude them from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Migrant Rights Network, Canada’s only migrant-led national body, released a letter outlining solutions to ensure income for 1.8 million migrants in the country .

Laura Lopez, a mother of two from Vancouver and a member of Sanctuary Health, is one of over half a million people in Canada who are undocumented. She’s calling for CERB to be accessible to people without Social Insurance Numbers (SINs).

“My biggest fear is that we are going to end up on the street, us and our two kids,” she said. “People like us, working in construction or cleaning, we are essential workers. Help in this crisis must be universal.”

Laura’s story is echoed across the country. Lisa Cheun, a member of Butterfly, is a refugee claimant without a work permit in Toronto who worked at a massage parlour until businesses were shut down this month.

“I paid more than CAD$4,000 in income taxes just in March, but I cannot get the government funding support because I have not obtained my work permit this year. But I have lost my job and have no income. What can I do now?” she asked.

The Social Insurance Numbers (SINs) of temporary residents expire alongside their work and study permits. A valid SIN is necessary to access the CERB programme. Alina Przybyl is a Polish student at Toronto’s George Brown College in the Assaulted Women and Children’s Counselling programme and a member of Migrant Students United. She applied for a renewal of her study permit three months ago and is still waiting for it. SIN renewal will take another three months.

“In a time of a global crisis, we keep hearing that ‘we are in this together’, but many of us are still facing barriers. We are all affected, and we should all be supported, regardless of our immigration status,” added the former restaurant worker, who recently lost her jobs both on and off campus because of COVID-19.