Pandemic complicates life for refugees - Italian

TV - OMNI 1 TV 8:00 PM Italian News - Toronto, 23/05/2020 - FEATURE, Italian

Summary Translation: Valeria Lorenzetti - The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the situation for asylum seekers in Canada. A lot of asylum seekers work as front-line workers in Quebec. According to the Maison d'Haiti, at least 1,000 of the 5,000 Haitian asylum seekers who crossed at Roxham Road work in seniors' long-term care homes. One Nigerian lady who crossed at Roxham Road in 2018 with her husband and three children works in a long-term care home seven days a week. She has contracted COVID-19 due to a lack of personal protective equipment. She had wanted to leave the job because they were not given proper protective equipment, but she changed her mind because of the impact that would have on the seniors. Now that she is COVID-positive, she is home without any income and her employer does not return her calls. Refugee advocates including the Maison d'Haiti have presented a petition to the federal government to give status to asylum applicants who are front-line workers. Maison d'Haiti Director General Marjorie Villefranche said you are not going to say to all those people on the front line during this terrible situation, "Thank you very much, now go back to your country." Premier Legault's CAQ was the only party in Quebec to vote against a motion to ask the federal government to give preferential treatment to front-line workers who are asylum claimants.