Surrey health care workers demand immigration justice

Health-care workers will hold a rally in Surrey on Thursday to protest federal cuts to an immigration policy that threaten their path to permanent residency.

On Tuesday, the B.C. government said the odds of new applications from immigrants looking to be accepted into its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) this year have dropped to near zero for anyone other than health workers or entrepreneurs after the federal government slashed the number of available slots.

A bulletin from the province says it was only allotted 4,000 nominations this year, about half of what it had last year and substantially less than the 11,000 it wanted.

It says the program, which helps immigrants already living in Canada gain permanent residency if they fill key jobs, will accept 1,100 new applications this year, mainly for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals, as well as entrepreneurs. 

Thursday’s protest aims to pressure the government on restoring PNP spots for housekeepers, dietary aides, relational security officers, and many more health-care workers—people who rely on the immigration policy for a permanent, fair pathway to permanent residency.

The Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) argues that B.C. can not afford to lose these essential health-care workers since the province is already struggling with health-care staffing shortages.

The union also stresses that the people affected by the PNP cuts are essential health-care workers with hard-to-fill jobs.

B.C.’s Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, Anne Kang, has addressed the concerns of the health-care workers and said that the province remains “committed to advocating for the federal government to restore the BC PNP’s nomination allocation to previous levels so that B.C. can continue to attract and retain the professionals it needs most.”

“Our primary focus is to process the majority of the current application inventory while accepting approximately 1,100 new applications. These will mainly be targeted at roles contributing directly to the delivery of health-care services, including doctors and nurses,” said Kang.

HEU, which has more than 60,000 members in the province, says the protest will be held at King George Boulevard and will not disrupt hospital operations.

The rally is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Thursday.