Jenny Kwan, the NDP immigration critic, said she is thrilled that the government is finally honouring caregivers and treating them with the respect and dignity they deserve by granting them permanent residence status on arrival.
“This is a significant victory for the caregiver community. It means that they will no longer be subject to exploitation and abuse. It means they can have their rights protected as they contribute to Canada's economic, social and cultural fabric,” Kwan posted on Facebook.
The Vancouver East MP said there are 9,000 caregiver PR applications in the backlog. The average processing time is 3 years.
“The government must ensure adequate resources and immigration levels numbers are allocated to process these applications expeditiously so that they do not further languish in the backlog,” she said.
According to Statistics Canada in 2022, 13.4 million Canadians aged 15 years and older (42%)—over two in five people in this age group—provided unpaid care in the previous 12 months to children younger than 15 years old or to youth aged 15 years and older and adults with a long-term condition or disability.
Of these unpaid caregivers, 13% provided care to both of these care-dependent groups, meaning that 1.8 million Canadians older than 15 years were "sandwiched" between multiple care responsibilities, said a report from McGill University.
