In May 2023, Spring reported on the Healthcare for All campaign in Nova Scotia, which asked the government to grant access to Medical Services Insurance for all migrant workers. The demand has similarly been echoed by other migrant rights organisations, such as No One is Illegal.

The article notes that migrant workers on the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in Canada are vulnerable due to their exploitative working conditions, including a lack of safe and suitable living conditions, surveillance from employers, a lack of company grievance mechanisms, and dismissal for those who do speak up. The article notes that workers on the scheme are particularly at risk of abuse due to the fact their right to remain in the country is tied to their employment. Those who wish to change job must therefore prove abuse from their employer, with limited support for the transfer process, or become undocumented. The workers’ freedom of movement is therefore curtailed.

In particular, the article notes that while migrant workers are meant to receive health insurance from their employer, they are often not informed what their insurance covers, and many workers fear raising health concerns to their employer due to the risk of dismissal. The article outlines a number of cases where workers were returned home after failing ill.

A later article, published by Global News in August 2023, highlights similar issues. The article outlines the story of a Jamaican migrant worker who was dismissed from her job at a strawberry farm in Colchester County after falling ill. She was then forced to navigate a cancer diagnosis without medical coverage.