I gave the following members statement in the Nova Scotia Legislature on March 22, 2024:
Speaker, Kerian Burnett, a migrant worker from Jamaica, got very good news recently. She finally got her MSI card in the mail. This was the result of a multi-year fight to get health coverage in the wake of her 2022 cervical cancer diagnosis. As a migrant worker in the strawberry fields, Kerian was not eligible for MSI, and her two surgeries cost $81,000. In 2023, Kerian was approved for the Interim Federal Health Program. In January of this year, she was granted a work permit through to July 2025. That work permit made her eligible for MSI. Though Kerian now has medical coverage, many migrant workers do not, as their work permits are not long enough to qualify. Kerian and No One is Illegal, Halifax/Kjipuktuk, which has supported her through her treatment and fight for coverage, are calling on the provincial government to immediately provide migrant workers with MSI coverage when they arrive in Nova Scotia. I congratulate Kerian on receiving her MSI card. I wish her good health, and I stand in solidarity with No One is Illegal and migrant workers, and their call for MSI for all.