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415Migrant
Health in a Time of Pandemic: Fallacies of Us-Versus-Them
for COVID-19.31 Public interest organizations have warned of the
possibility of such information being shared and used beyond its
intended purposes.32 Even if this threat does not ultimately material-
ize, the worry that seeking health care could make them known to law
enforcement and jeopardize their ability to stay in the country serves
as a strong deterrent in and of itself for undocumented migrants con-
sidering health care utilization.
In short, Canadaâs health care policies in response to COVID-19
have largely maintained the fault line between citizens and migrants,
as us and them. Most jurisdictions in the country have not broadened
their health care programs to help protect all migrantsâ health. To the
extent that certain provinces have bucked the trend, the insistence of
some to only cover the cost of COVID-19-related services insidiously
links migrantsâ health care deservingness to the perceived threat they
pose to our well-being. Meanwhile, ongoing immigration enforcement
not only deters migrants from accessing health care, but also accentu-
ates migrantsâ standing as outsiders.
The same dynamics of us-versus-them pervade the federal
governmentâs approach to emergency income assistance during the
pandemic as well. While numerous migrant workers have contin-
ued to perform essential services following the COVID-19 outbreak,
many have been laid off or become unable to work because they are
ill or quarantined.33 The consequent loss of income has caused many
migrantsâ already-precarious financial situation to worsen. And yet,
not all migrant workers who otherwise meet the eligibility criteria
will qualify for Employment Insurance (EI). Undocumented migrants
and seasonal agricultural workers, for example, are excluded by rea-
son of their legal status, although many have paid into the EI pro-
gram.34 Some of these migrants again fell through the cracks when
the Canada Emergency Response Benefit was introduced by the
31. Betsy Powell, âCOVID-19 Database âExtraordinaryâ Privacy Invasion: Civil
Liberties Groupâ, Toronto Star (24 April 2020), online: <thestar.com/news/
gta/2020/04/24/covid-19-database-extraordinary-privacy-invasion-civil-liber-
ties-group.html>.
32. Ibid.
33. Carl Meyer, âMigrant and Undocumented Workers Plead for Help During COVID-
19â, National Observer (17 April 2020), online: <nationalobserver.com/2020/04/17/
news/migrant-and-undocumented-workers-plead-help-during-covid-19>.
34. See generally United Food and Commercial Workers Canada & the Agricultural
Workersâ Alliance, âThe Great Canadian Rip-Off! An Economic Case for
Restoring Full EI Special Benefits Access to SAWP Workersâ (2014) at 6, online
(pdf): UFCW Canada <ufcw.ca/templates/ufcwcanada/images/directions14/
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International