Undocumented woman wins human-rights award
Filipina worker reported workplace abuse and fought health-care inequality
A woman who spoke out about onthe-job abuse while working as a temporary foreign worker was honoured with a human-rights award Sunday.
Lynn, a 38-year-old Filipina woman who came to Canada in 2010, was named a human-rights champion by the John Humphrey Centre during a ceremony at the CKUA Radio building, 9804 Jasper Ave.
She also played a role advocating for health-care coverage for Canadian-born children of undocumented workers after her daughter was born without access to Canadian health care.
Lynn agreed to be interviewed by Postmedia on the condition she use a pseudonym because she is currently undocumented. She is applying for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds.
“Some temporary foreign workers are still afraid to speak out, to speak up, because they are afraid to be sent back,” she said. “They are here to work, to work for their families. They are here because they know Canada is a good opportunity.”
Lynn was one of four Edmontonians honoured at the awards, along with poet Ahmed Knowmadic Ali, Somali community organizer Mahamad Accord and refugee advocate Greg Lopez.
Lynn came to Canada in 2010 to work as a restaurant and bakery manager for a company in Cobourg, Ont.
She was initially hired to work in food service but was forced to, among other things, cut trees on the business owner’s farm during winter with insufficient equipment.
When she complained to the agency that brought her to Canada, word got back to the owner, who fired her.
She then came to Edmonton and worked at restaurants where she said she was also treated unfairly — including being yelled at and subjected to sexual harassment.
One employer started regularly scheduling her for graveyard shifts which ended early in the morning when no buses were running, forcing her to spend her limited income on taxis.
While she was pregnant with her daughter, her work permit application was denied, leaving her undocumented.
Her daughter is now three years old.
Lynn was part of a campaign by Migrante Alberta, a Filipino migrant-advocacy organization, to get access to medicare for children born in Canada to undocumented workers.
“My baby is a Canadian, but because of my status, she was tied with me,” she said. “She could not get anything the Canadian children get. She can’t get medical or child benefit.”
A member of Migrante nominated her for the John Humphrey Centre’s annual human-rights award.
“In spite of Lynn being in a difficult situation, she was still volunteering to help out the other members (of the community) who were calling our Migrante phone line to ask for help with their situation,” said Migrante’s Cynthia Palmaria.