By Mata Press Service

Jeya Prasad has been in Canada for almost 15 years now after fleeing his Sri Lankan homeland where he was detained, tortured and bullied for being a Gay man.

Shortly after he landed in Toronto in 2008, Prasad’s refugee claim was accepted and the now 35-year-old vocational college graduate was on his way to building a new life in Canada.

When his mother fell ill a few years later, Prasad went home for a few months to help her.

That trip 12 years ago constituted a technical violation of his status in Canada and his permanent residency card was revoked.

Since then and after numerous appeals against removal, Prasad remains in Canada as an undocumented person. Government efforts to remove him have failed because Sri Lanka has not provided Canada with the necessary travel documents.

“My life has been in limbo for more than a decade now not knowing when someone will come knocking on my door and take me to the airport,” Prasad said.

“The same people I fled are now in back in power and the country is in a crisis…I don’t have any proper documents to build my life…I am already here, working and living as a Canadian for the last 15 years…but I remain an undocumented personal because of a technicality.”

Prasad is not alone say migrant advocates who launched a campaign this week to remind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of his promise to implement a regularization program for undocumented workers and to "expand pathways to permanent residence for international students and temporary foreign workers."

“We believe that there are at least 500,000 non-status immigrants,” said the Migrant Rights Network, which has members across the country.

Almost all undocumented immigrants in Canada were previously on a temporary authorization (work, study, refugee claimant permit), the group said.

Every migrant-led organization in Canada, as well as more than 480 civil society organizations, are now jointly calling for the implementation of a comprehensive regularization program for all 500,000 undocumented people in Canada along with their families, and permanent resident status for all 1.2 million people on temporary work, study or refugee permits in Canada that are issued each year.

In 2007, the RCMP estimated that there were between 200,000 to 500,000 undocumented people in Canada. No new analysis has been done in the 15 years since, but the number of temporary work and study permit issues in Canada have increased at least 4-fold, with a likely corresponding increase in the number of undocumented people, said the Migrant Rights Network.

Meanwhile, nearly a thousand health workers across Canada are ‘prescribing’ permanent resident status for all to save lives, in a detailed open letter, signed by the Decent Work and Health Network and released by Health for All Network.

Ontario family physician, Dr. Vanessa Redditt, one of the signatories says, “Without secure immigration status, many migrants are denied basic rights and essential services, with extremely damaging impacts on their health and well-being. We need to see immediate action from the federal government to fulfill their promise to ensure permanent residency for the 1.7 million migrants living and working in Canada with precarious, temporary, or no immigration status.”

The letter, also signed by organizations including Canadian Doctors for Medicare, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, National Union of Public and General Employees as well as the Manitoba, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and British Columbia Health Coalitions urges Prime Minister Trudeau to “consider the negative health impacts of precarious immigration status and ensure that no one is left behind. Ensuring equal rights and access for all migrants is critical for closing systemic gaps in health inequities.”

Yasmin Beydoun, a speech-language pathologist in Toronto, shares, “I have had patients with significant swallowing impairments leave the hospital without community follow-up because they had no status and therefore no health coverage. This is a huge health risk, if they can’t safely eat and drink, they are at a higher risk for choking, lung infections, and even malnutrition. These patients do not get the same access to care as citizens. Saving lives means ensuring permanent residency for all migrants, including undocumented people.”

Not only are migrants patients of health providers, but they are also healthcare workers themselves. Akinwumi Yemi is an undocumented immigrant from Nigeria and a member of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, who has been working in the long-term care department of a public hospital near Kahnawake since 2018.

He says, “I have been committed and dedicated since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, taking care of the elderly in Canada and putting the lives of my own family and loved ones at risk. I have no access to good quality medical care and other opportunities because I am an undocumented immigrant. We are asking for equal rights and permanent residence for all without exception.”

A recent review of existing research in Canada confirmed that immigration status is a foundational determinant of health for people without status in Canada.

Dr. Monika Dutt, a public health physician in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador says, "Health providers are asking Prime Minister Trudeau to fix a historic wrong by delivering a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program.”

“Our patients cannot afford any more delays. Prime Minister Trudeau needs to move fast and ensure full and permanent immigration status for all migrants,” adds Dr. Dutt.