Nova Scotia migrant farmworker with cancer gets public health care

News of Canada’s decision to continue to deny health care to irregular migrants is breaking as Kerian Burnett, a migrant farmworker from Jamaica battling cancer, wins public health care coverage from Nova Scotia after almost a two-year struggle.

Kerian’s advocate Stacey Gomez with No One Is Illegal Nova Scotia shared her story at the Canadian Health Coalition webinar on the release of the Citizens for Public Justice report, “Work, Study, Pay Taxes, But Don’t Get Sick: Barriers to Health Care Based on Immigration in Canada,” on December 7, 2022.

Diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in 2022 while working on a Nova Scotia strawberry farm, Kerian lost not only her job, but also her employer-provided private health insurance and housing. A Nova Scotia physician advised Kerian to remain in Canada for treatment. After two surgeries, she faced $81,000 in medical bills.

No One Is Illegal Nova Scotia and other organizations supported Kerian with crowdfunding and gaining access to the Interim Federal Health Program, which granted her public health care coverage until January 2024, when her temporary resident permit was set to expire.

In January, Kerian’s temporary resident permit was renewed and she obtained a one-year work permit that then made her eligible for Nova Scotia’s public health care insurance.

On March 14, 2024, Kerian received her Nova Scotia Health Card and can now access public health care.

“I’m overwhelmed with this news,” Kerian told CBC. “I felt the envelope and I could tell there was a card in it, so I just ripped it open and there it was.”

“We come here to Nova Scotia year after year to do work and we are part of your community and we pay taxes so we should get the same services as anybody else,” added Kerian.

Canada gives its citizens and permanent residents more rights and access to services, such as health care. Temporary foreign workers and migrants with irregular status (e.g., the undocumented) or those seeking asylum have fewer rights and less access to essential services. They live with the threat of being removed from Canada at any time, which is why the Canadian Health Coalition supports Migrant Rights Network’s calls for Status for All.

Last weekend, March 16-17, Migrant Spring #statusforall actions were held in eight cities, demanding the regularization of all the undocumented in the country. Immigration Minister Marc Miller has promised to bring regularization to the Cabinet this spring.

No One Is Illegal Nova Scotia, the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre in New Brunswick and groups across the country are calling on the provincial governments to provide temporary foreign workers with public health care coverage on arrival, as is the case for migrant farmworkers in Québec.

Tracy Glynn is the National Director of Projects and Operations for the Canadian Health Coalition.