Page - 411 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
Image of the Page - 411 -
Text of the Page - 411 -
411Migrant
Health in a Time of Pandemic: Fallacies of Us-Versus-Them
the problem is the acute power imbalance between many migrant
workers and their employers. Migrants with precarious legal status
are often fearful of deportation, and they depend heavily on employ-
ers to help them maintain and renew their immigration authoriza-
tion.13 Even for migrants whose legal status is more secure, many
find themselves trapped in their existing jobs because the prospects
of obtaining alternative employment are hampered by their limited
official language proficiency and formal education.14 Such a power
differential, coupled with the necessity to make ends meet, exerts con-
siderable pressure on migrants to accept unsafe working conditions,
including the need to keep working while ill, and it deters migrants
from speaking out against employers’ non-compliance with public
health directives.15
Employment-related risk factors aside, migrants’ vulnerability
to contracting COVID-19 is exacerbated by their relative economic
insecurity. Migrants, especially those who have been in the country
for less than five years, are much more likely than their Canadian-
born counterparts to live in poverty.16 In 2010, nearly one in three
newcomers to Canada struggled with low income.17 Such financial
insecurity causes many migrants to resort to living in overcrowded,
substandard housing, which is known to facilitate the transmission of
pathogens.18 One refugee shelter in Toronto, for example, was home
to a COVID-19 outbreak involving 88 of its residents.19 Additionally,
low income puts migrants in peril of experiencing malnutrition and
13. Sarah Marsden, “Silence Means Yes Here in Canada: Precarious Migrants, Work
and the Law” (2014) 18 CLELJ 1.
14. Mosleh, supra note 9.
15. Max Martin, “Outbreak Puts Migrant Farm Workers in Spotlight”, Brantford
Expositor (29 April 2020) A5; Lorian Hardcastle, “COVID-19 Lays Bare Poor
Conditions in Long-Term Care Homes”, Edmonton Journal (24 April 2020), online:
<edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-covid-19-lays-bare-poor-
conditions-in-long-term-care-homes/>.
16. Garnett Picot & Feng Hou, “Immigration, Poverty and Income Inequality in
Canada” in David A Green, W Craig Riddell & France St-Hilaire, eds, Income
Inequality: The Canadian Story, (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy,
2016) 175.
17. Ibid.
18. Ian Wanyeki et al, “Dwellings, Crowding, and Tuberculosis in Montreal” (2006)
63:2 Social Science & Medicine 501.
19. Liam Casey, “COVID-19 Outbreak Surges Among Homeless in Toronto with
135 Cases”, CTV News (25 April 2020), online: <toronto.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-out-
break-surges-among-homeless-in-toronto-with-135-cases-1.4911670?cache=esoj
ovbbggirjp>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International