On behalf of the migrant justice steering committee, I would like to thank the standing committee for this opportunity to express our concerns regarding temporary and undocumented workers. These concerns are grounded in the day-to-day experience of working with migrant workers across the country. Specifically, we raise issues concerning seasonal agricultural workers, live-in caregivers, and undocumented workers.
The goals of my presentation will be to introduce KAIROS--the Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives--and the migrant justice steering committee, and to set the context.
KAIROS, a social organization of 11 Canadian churches and church agencies, works for human rights and economic justice in Canada and around the globe. The KAIROS refugee and migration program promotes the human rights of both refugees and migrants in the context of the human rights of all uprooted people. In our migrant justice, KAIROS focuses its education and advocacy work on three particularly vulnerable groups of migrants: live-in caregivers, seasonal agricultural workers, and non-status persons. The program seeks to expose a hidden workforce whose role is invaluable to Canada, but who are rendered invisible and excluded from the basic justice provided for Canadian citizens.