Migrant care workers — especially racialized women — have experienced precarious status and unclear futures in Canada for decades. Permanent residency upon arrival has long been a demand by care worker activists and advocates.
The Migrant Care Worker Precarity Project, convened by Cenen Bagon, co-founder of the Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights (CDWCR), investigates Canada’s changing migrant care worker programs, including the implementation of the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker Pilots by IRCC in 2019. As the 5-year term of these pilot programs ended in June 2024, the project seeks to understand care workers’ experiences under these programs and how previous and upcoming policy changes shape their futures. It aims to influence positive changes for care workers including amplifying the long-standing call for status for all.