Please enter your information to add your name to this sign-on letter.
Only your name, title, and your organizational affiliation will be listed in the letter when sent.

The Honourable Lena Diab
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
365 Laurier Avenue West Ottawa, ON K1A 1L1

RE: URGENT DEMAND FOR EMERGENCY ACTION ON HCWIP CLOSURE

Dear Minister Diab,

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are writing to you in solidarity with migrant care workers and calling for immediate action.

The Home Care Worker Immigration Pilots (HCWIP) allow careworkers to apply for permanent residency after completing work requirements in Canada. On December 19, 2025, the Friday before Christmas, the federal government unilaterally paused this program “until March 30, 2030, unless earlier repealed by the Minister”.

Canada is breaking its promise to care workers. For decades, our government promised migrant care workers permanent residency in exchange for providing essential care to our most vulnerable. Thousands of predominantly racialized women sold homes, depleted savings, and left their own children behind based on this promise.

Migrant care workers are the backbone of our communities. They care for our aging parents and raise our children. They enable parents to work outside the home and elderly Canadians to age with dignity. They are on the front lines at long-term care facilities, performing the undervalued care work that sustains our economy. They are our friends, our colleagues, our clients. After years of this essential work, Canada is abandoning them.

The crisis is urgent and affects tens of thousands of care workers. As of December 31, 2024, there were 4,495 employer-restricted caregiver work permit holders in Canada. Many employers are refusing to navigate the burdensome annual Labour Market Impact Assessment process, leaving permits to expire. Without the PR program, thousands will become undocumented in 2026 through no fault of their own. The crisis extends far beyond this group—when the program opened in 2025, over 40,000 people attempted to apply, including those on open work permits (many also expiring) and undocumented workers. There are thousands of migrant care workers in institutional settings who were barred from applying who also need permanent residency.  

The program pause means families will be permanently torn apart. Children age out of eligibility at 22, meaning they can no longer be included on their parent's application. Families who have already endured years of separation are now facing the devastating reality that they may never be reunited.

The pause also traps care workers in exploitative conditions. To maintain their status, workers must remain with their employers even in unsafe or abusive workplaces, including situations involving human rights violations and sexual exploitation. With their immigration status on the line, care workers are spending thousands of dollars on lawyers and consultants, desperately seeking pathways to permanency that continue to be put out of reach.

WE ARE CALLING ON YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING:

These reforms are urgent, achievable, and necessary to prevent a humanitarian crisis while ensuring Canada has the care workers our aging population desperately needs.

1: Ensure Permanent Residency for All Migrant Care Workers

• Reopen the HCWIP

• Remove all caps and application windows

• Eliminate employer-dependent requirements (support letters, job offer, forms, etc)

• Remove language and credential barriers that exclude capable, experienced workers

• Accept diverse proof of work (statutory declarations, witness statements)

• Allow paper applications without restrictions

• Expand eligibility to all care workers, including undocumented care workers, refugees and those working in institutional settings.

• Issue Bridging Open Work Permits during PR processing to allow workers to change jobs and have stability while awaiting a decision

• Increase processing capacity

2: Emergency Measures

• Issue emergency open work permits to all care workers (including those with expired/expiring permits)

• Suspend age limits on child sponsorship to prevent family separation

This pause is part of a broader pattern of suddenly changing immigration rules. At least 1.2 million temporary residents were denied permit renewals in 2025, with another 1.1 million facing the same in 2026. People who arrived under one set of rules keep watching those rules change. The immigration system has become a bait-and-switch.

Migrant workers kept their end of the bargain. It is time for Canada to keep its word. We call on you to work with care worker organizations, including the Migrant Rights Network to end this crisis.

Sincerely,

[Names of organizations as of February 18, 2026 - please note that all names are being verified so there will be a delay in posting here]

• 350.org - Atiya Jaffar, Canada Campaigns Manager
• AGIR Montréal: Action LGBTQ+ avec les immigrantEs et les réfugiéEs - Margot Arias, Co-Directeur Général par Intérim
• Asian Canadian Labour Alliance in BC - Coly Chau, Core Committee Member
• Association for the Rights of Household and Farm Workers - Hannah Deegan, Legal and advocacy counsel
• Association of United Ukrainian Canadians (Winnipeg Branch) - Emily Halldorson, Vice President
• BC Employment Standards Coalition - Pamela Charron, co-chair
• BC Federation of Labour - Sussanne Skidmore, President
• BC Policy Solutions - Amanda Adams, Co-Executive Director
• BC Poverty Reduction Coalition - Chantelle Spicer Sacia Burton, Co-Provincial Directors
• BCGEU - PAUL FINCH, PRESIDENT
• Bridges Not Borders - Créons des ponts - Wendy Ayotte, Member
• Bruce R. Allen Paralegal - Bruce Allen, Owner
• Butterfly- Asian and Migrant Sex Worker Support Network - Butterfly SW, Co-Executive Director
• Calgary Social Workers for Social Justice - Marian Donly, Communications Director
• Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) - Gauri Sreenivasan, Co Executive Director
• Canadian Drug Policy Coalition - Shane Calder, Coordinator Mobilization and Outreach
• Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions - Linda Silas, President
• Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action - Shelagh Day, Chair Human Rights Committee
• Canadian Health Coalition - Jason MacLean, Chair
• Canadian Labour Congress - Elizabeth Kwan, Senior Researcher
• Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union - Annette Toth, President
• Canadian Union of Labour Employees - Steve Khan, President
• Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) - Kelti Cameron, International Solidarity
• Child Care Now - Morna Ballantyne, Executive Director
• Christie Refugee Welcome Centre - Manny Wong, Executive Director
• Climate Justice Toronto - Siddharth Shah, Secretary
• ClimateFast - Lyn Adamson, Co-Chair
• Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC - Rita Chudnovsky, Vice-Chair
• Common Frontiers - Caren Weisbart, National Coalition Coordinator
• Cowichan Intercultural Society - Alejandra Lara, Employment Coordinator
• Department of Imaginary Affairs - Jennifer Chan, CEO
• DIGNIDAD MIGRANTE Society (La DIGNIDAD) - Raul Gatica, Board of directors assistant
• Durham Region Labour Council - Katy Brennan, Support Staff
• Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) - David Mastin, President
• Finding Order in Disorder Foundation - Ishaa Vinod Chopra, Founder & Executive Director
• Fine Arts Student Alliance - Jonah Doniewski, General/Mobilization Coordinator
• Francophonie Canadienne Plurielle Société - Alphonse Ndem Ahola, executive director
• Friends of Medicare - Chris Gallaway, Executive Director
• Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women Canada - Alison Clancey, National Director
• Guelph Community Acupuncture - Lisa Baird, Owner & Operator
• Healthcare For All - Jessica Chan, Member - coordinating committee
• HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO) - Ryan Peck, Executive Director
• HIV Legal Network - Sandra Ka Hon CHU, Co-Executive Director
• Hospital Employees' Union - Caelie Frampton, Coordinator of Policy and Planning
• I/CAN - Cathy Murphy, Executive Director
• IAVGO legal clinic - Belia Berrocal, Community Legal Worker
• Immigrant Workers Centre - Cheolki Yoon, President of the board of directors
• Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC) - Victoria Peter, Community Organizer
• Jafari Law - Pantea Jafari, Founder and manager
• KAIROS Halifax - Linda Scherzinger, Corresponding Secretary/Coordinator
• Leadnow - Maggie Chao, Campaigns Director
• Legal Assistance of Windsor - Shelley Marie Shelley Gilbert (LAW), Executive Director
• Ligue des droits et libertés - Laurence Guénette, Coordinator
• Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre - Tracy Glynn, Board member
• Member of Parliament for Vancouver East - Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament for Vancouver East
• Migrant Action Centre - Adi Khaitan, Organizer
• Migrant Workers Alliance for Change - Syed Hussan, Executive Director
• Migrant Workers Centre - Ingrid Mendez, Executive Director
• Migrant Workers Centre and BC Employment Standards Coalition - David Fairey, Board of Directors Member
• MOSAIC - Hugo Velazquez, Director of Family and Settlement Programs
• Multi-Agency Partnership of BC - Katya Avalos, Community Engagement Director
• OCASI - Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants - Debbie Douglas, Executive Director
• Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care - Carolyn Ferns, Carolyn Ferns, Policy Coordinator, Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care
• Oxfam Canada - Diana Sarosi, Director, Policy, Campaigns and Communications
• Oxfam-Québec - Céline Füri, Policy and Campaigns Director
• Parkdale Community Legal Services - Luisa Ortiz-Garza, Migrant Rights Organizer
• REACH Community Health Centre - Barbara Wood, President
• Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) - Dr. Doris Grinspun, Chief Executive Officer
• Romero House - Francesca Allodi-Ross, Executive Director
• Science for the People Ottawa - Sumer H, Chapter coordinator
• Social Planning Toronto - Jin Huh, Executive Director
• South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario - Shalini Konanur, ED/Lawyer
• South Asian Womens Centre - kripa sekhar, Executive Director
• South Vancouver Neighbourhood House - Mimi Rennie, Executive Director
• Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre - Scott Florence, Executive Director
• The Labour Studies Program, Simon Fraser University - Kendra Strauss, Director
• The Shift - Leilani Farha, Global Director
• Toronto Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) - Quaker Committee for Refugees (QRC) - Joyeuse Senga, Co-Clerk
• TSSU (Teaching Support Staff Union, Simon Fraser University) - Daphne Nounesi, Chair
• Umbrella Multicultural Health Co-op - Mei-ling Wiedmeyer, Clinical Lead
• Unifor Local 2002 - Suzanne Fairley, Pacific Rep. Retired Workers
• Vancouver and District Labour Council - Stephen Von Sychowski, President
• Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights - Cenen Bagon, Steering Committee Member
• Vancouver Food Justice Coalition - Ian Marcuse, Coordinator
• Vivimos Juntos, Comemos Juntxs - Diana Da Silva, Co-founder
• Waterloo Region Community Legal Services (WRCLS) - Imtenan Abd-El-Razik, Immigration Lawyer
• West Coast LEAF - Humera Jabir, Staff Lawyer
• WILPF - Ellen Woodsworth, Co President
• Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Nanaimo branch - Diane Brown, co-president
• Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) - Ruth Goba, Executive Director
• Workers' Action Centre - Deena Ladd, ED
• Working Women Community Centre - Vanda Henriques, Executive Director
• World Beyond War - Rachel Small, Canada Organizer