Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 21 | Page 11

November 1 - 15, 2018
BUSINESS NEWS
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
11
Opioid Overdose Intervention Project update
Surrey, BC – In an ongoing
effort to stem the opioid overdose
public health crisis, the City of
Surrey has been a principal partner
in the multi-faceted Opioid Project.
The preliminary data released by
Statistics Canada show that Surrey
has proportionally the same
characteristics for opioid overdoes
as the rest of the province. The
results generated by this work are
fundamental to identifying the
risk factors to help inform and
implement precision policy and
programs to combat this crisis.
“As the first city to deploy real
time overdose cluster reporting and
one of the first fire departments in
the province to be equippedwith
lifesaving Naloxone, the City of
Surrey has been proactive in
battling the opioid crisis,” said
Mayor Doug McCallum. “The
preliminary information that has
been released today on the Opioid
Project is another example of the
leading role Surrey is taking to
develop meaningful strategies that
will ultimately save more lives.”
“The preliminary data is
integral to the City of Surrey’s
ongoing battle of this public health
crisis,” said Chief Len Garis, Surrey
Fire Service. “We will continue
to be an active participant in this
project as we continue to work
together to gather more data in an
effort to get an upper hand on the
opioid overdose epidemic.”
Launched in the autumn of
2017, the project brings together
all levels of government with the
goal of sharing data that will result
in a better understanding of the
factors that lead to opioid use and
how better to develop effective
interventions.
The Opioid Project is a
partnership between the City of
Surrey, Statistics Canada, Surrey
Fire Services, the Surrey RCMP,
Fraser Health Authority,British
Columbia Coroners Service, British
Columbia Stats, British Columbia
Centre for Disease Control, British
Columbia Ministry of Health and
Public Safety Canada .The data
generated by the project identifies
the primary risk factors and create
a better understanding of the
characteristics of those individuals
most at risk of opioid use or
overdose – including those using
and dying in their residence.
PNT Foreign Exchange
$1.00 Cdn = P 40.04 Php
$1.00 US = P 53.03
Migrant Care Workers ...
work in the home is the backbone of
Canada’s labour market and social
support systems. Without care work,
the economy doesn’t work. Canada
must create a national care strategy
to ensure quality care for children, the
elderly and people with disabilities.
This is about a healthy population and
human rights for all. Decent work and
permanent landed status on entry for
the workers providing that care labour
must be the foundation.
CARE WORKER PROPOSAL
(1) Federal Care Worker
Program
To replace the Caregiver “pilot
project”, the government should
create a new Federal Workers Program
for Care Workers that provides landed
status upon entry for Care Workers
and our families.
Care Workers should be able to
seek employment in Canada through
the national job bank. Employers
seeking Care Workers can use the job
bank to find Care Workers employees.
This would take away the need for
third-party recruiters / job agencies
and the thousands of dollars they
charge us to get a job.
(2) Immediate reforms
Care Workers - like us - who are
already in Canada and those workers
that will continue to arrive until the
new Federal Care Worker Program is
put in place also need changes:
Care Workers should able to
apply for Permanent Residency (PR)
after 1 year of work ( or 1,950 hours):
Currently we have to work 2 years while
1 year is the standard for most other
permanent immigration programs in
Canada;
All Care Workers must get open
work permits and labour mobility:
Care Workers currently can only work
for the employer listed on our permits,
which makes it extremely difficult
to leave bad bosses or, in the case
of elder care, when employers pass
€1.00 EUR = P 59.95
away;
The
new
educational
requirements should be removed:
Care Workers are required under
the current pilot program to have
completed 1-year of Canadian post-
secondary equivalent education to
apply for PR - but we are not allowed
to or able to study while working;
The English language test
prior to permanent residency should
be removed: New English language
requirements were introduced in the
pilot program, but no free English
classes exist;
The new caps that allow only
2,750 PR applications each year
in each caregiving stream should
be removed: There are over 5,500
Care Workers coming to Canada in
the childcare stream each year, the
discretionary caps on PR applications
means that at least half of us will not
be able to apply even after completing
all the requirements;
The
permanent
residency
backlog
should
be
resolved:
Thousands of Care Workers have been
waiting for up to 10 years to reunite
with their families because no one’s
looking at their application;
Spouses and children should
be allowed to join us with open work
and study permits of their own: This
is the norm for many other temporary
immigration programs and it results
in improved health and stronger
families rather than years of forced
separation;
Remove the second medical
that is required when applying for
permanent residency. This change
was sneaked in the pilot project and
adds unnecessary financial barriers
and delays; and
Section 38(1)(c) of the IRPA
(“Medical Inadmissibility” rules) should
be repealed because it denies PR to
an entire family if even one member
of the family has a disability.
D1.00 BHD= P 140.61
R1.00 SAR = P 14.13
¥1.00 JPY= P 0.47
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