Fraser Valley health care workers rally to demand restoration of immigration pathways
FRASER VALLEY — Health care workers and their supporters rallied outside Surrey Memorial Hospital Thursday (Apr. 17) to seek justice for migrant health care workers facing deportation due to federal allocation cuts to the provincial nominee program.
According to a news release from the over 60,000-member strong Hospital Employees Union of B.C., the rally featured powerful testimony from affected HEU members and union leaders.
“Let’s be clear, these workers are not ‘temporary’ – they are essential,” says HEU secretary-business manager Lynn Bueckert. “They are trained, committed, and doing the difficult, often invisible work that keeps our health care system going. These HEU members are Canadian in every way that matters – except on paper. And we are demanding that Canada’s next national government restore their pathway to stay in the country and continue their work in health care.”
HEU says the federal government’s decision to reduce the number of PNP spots allocated to B.C. has left more than 500 health care workers in the Fraser and Coastal regions at risk of deportation this year when their visas expire. Many had accepted critical health care jobs under the belief that work with a health authority would lead to permanent residency.
