Older people in Canada are increasingly reliant on (im)migrant home care workers to help them “age in place” (at home or in their communities). Despite this reliance, federal and provincial policies tend to ignore the unique experiences and contributions of these workers and they are often treated as temporary and disposable workers. Moreover, there are dwindling public resources allocated to support the expanding demand for home care provision. These challenges are exacerbated the COVID-19 crisis. Policy makers and migrant rights advocates need timely data and analysis to guide organized efforts to improve care for older people and working conditions for the immigrants who care for them, especially during a pandemic.
Taking Manitoba as a case study, this project collaborates with migrant justice organization, Migrante Manitoba, to achieve three objectives: (1) Document the experiences and working conditions of (im)migrant home care worker caring for older people during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) Review relevant and influential policy and legislation around (im)migrant home care workers working with older clients; and (3) Bring these workers’ stories to community forums and sites of policy development to support efforts to improve formal care provision for older people and the working conditions for the (im)migrant care workers who take care of them.
Recent Publications
- Hande, M.J. “Im/migrant home care workers in Manitoba during the pandemic: Exploitation, precarity, and resistance.” Invited presentation for the MFL’s Occupational Health Centre, Winnipeg, September 20.
- Hande, M.J., Nicholson, L., Yavuz, M., Marcelino, D. and Rodriguez, S. (2022). Migrant home care workers in Manitoba: An invisible and critically underserved pillar of Manitoba’s pandemic response. Carework Network Responds.
- Hande, M.J., Marcelino, D., Rodriguez, S., and Yavuz, M. (2021). Migrant care work and the geopolitics of ‘aging in place.’ Ethnorama News Winnipeg. 3(9): 14-15.