Kerian Burnett MSI Congratulations

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.

MSI for Migrant Workers

Mr. Speaker, on this Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, I rise to draw attention to the unjust treatment of migrant workers - many of whom are racialized - in Nova Scotia.

In order to access our province’s public healthcare system migrant workers must have a one-year work permit. Unfortunately, contracts under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, or SWAP, are (at the most) eight months per calendar year. This means that all workers under that program have to pay for their healthcare or rely on insurance packages negotiated by their employers.

I draw to the House’s attention Kerian Burnett, an agricultural worker from Jamaica diagnosed with cancer September of 2022 while working on a Nova Scotia strawberry farm. Ms. Burnett was fired after becoming ill and so doesn’t have access to the private health insurance that was tied to her employment. She is accumulating thousands of dollars in medical bills. No One Is Illegal Halifax/Kjipuktuk has created a Go Fund Me to help her.

I join No One is Illegal in calling on the government to extend MSI to all migrant workers.