A migrant worker diagnosed with cervical cancer shortly after arriving in Nova Scotia has been granted health insurance under a federal program, but advocates continue to call on the province to expand health coverage to people without permanent residency.

Kerian Burnett arrived from Jamaica in April 2022 to work on a Colchester County strawberry farm. She told a news conference in Halifax on Monday that after falling ill, she was fired and forced to navigate a cancer diagnosis without medical coverage.

Other provinces provide migrant workers with public health coverage, but migrants in Nova Scotia must have a one-year work permit to be eligible for care, said Buchert, who is with the Halifax Refugee Clinic.

… Fighting for coverage while receiving treatment for cancer has been a long, challenging road, she said, describing the “humiliation” of being turned away from hospitals and paying out of pocket for prescriptions…

“We regularly see migrant workers who are injured or who are severely ill, who are repatriated back to their home country without getting proper medical attention,” [Stacey Gomez, with migrant advocacy group No One Is Illegal] said, adding that workers often don’t speak out over fears of being fired, sent back to their home countries and barred from working again in Canada…