Mr. Speaker, on this Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I rise to draw attention to the unjust treatment of migrant workers - many of whom are racialized - in Nova Scotia.
In order to access our province’s public healthcare system migrant workers must have a one-year work permit. Unfortunately, contracts under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, or SWAP, are (at the most) eight months per calendar year. This means that all workers under that program have to pay for their healthcare or rely on insurance packages negotiated by their employers.
I draw to the House’s attention Kerian Burnett, an agricultural worker from Jamaica diagnosed with cancer September of 2022 while working on a Nova Scotia strawberry farm. Ms. Burnett was fired after becoming ill and so doesn’t have access to the private health insurance that was tied to her employment. She is accumulating thousands of dollars in medical bills. No One Is Illegal Halifax/Kjipuktuk has created a Go Fund Me to help her.
I join No One is Illegal in calling on the government to extend MSI to all migrant workers.