HEU members are continuing to push the federal government to reverse its cuts to the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), taking their case to the federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Lena Metlege Diab.
On September 18, Harjinder Kaur, a medical transcriptionist in Vancouver Coastal Health, joined the provincial government’s mission to Ottawa in hopes of speaking to Minister Diab to share how these cuts are impacting the health care system and health care workers in B.C.
The federal government’s sudden cuts to PNP spots allotted to B.C. will cause the province to lose hundreds of health care workers in the coming year, as their work permits expire and their health care jobs no longer provide a path to permanent residency.
Instead of speaking to Minister Diab, Kaur shared her story with top staff at the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. She spoke of how the federal government’s drastic cuts to the PNP program have deeply affected her and other health care workers’ families.
“Both my kids are devastated. They’re about to lose their friends and the communities where they’ve grown up” says Kaur. “My son desperately wants to go to school to study medicine, but has had to pause his studies because my status in Canada is uncertain.”
Kaur added that the health care system in B.C. still desperately needs these workers to stay. These are the workers who clean, feed, and care for patients in hospitals and long-term care homes across the province. Their work is critical to a well-functioning health care system.
“Our health care system relied on their workers to deliver quality care in the past few years when we needed them,” says HEU secretary-business manager, Lynn Bueckert. “They built their lives here with the promise that their jobs would allow them to permanently stay in Canada. If they are good enough to work here, then they should be good enough to stay here.”
“We’re already here, we’re already experienced health care workers, and we just want to stay and keep contributing to the health care system, the way we’ve been doing for the past few years,” says Kaur.
What we’re demanding
HEU is calling on the federal government to:
Fully restore B.C.’s PNP allocation to meet actual labour market needs;
Reverse harmful temporary foreign worker changes that restrict spousal work permits and tie workers to specific employers;
Create a permanent residency pathway for essential non-clinical health care workers — including care aides, clerks, cleaners, and food service staff.
Take action
You can add your name to HEU’s letter to the federal government calling on them to restore PNP spots: https://www.heu.org/restore-pnp-spots