Author facilitator, and speaker Moji Taiwo reviews the immigrant experience in 2020. Taiwo highlights the major challenges for immigrants in 2020, any progress made, hopeful projections for 2021, and what’s coming up in 2021, including her TV Show on Diversity TV.
The year 2020 and COVID19 pandemic was difficult for all, especially for the immigrant population.
Immigrants were faced with challenges in education, employment, childcare, accommodation, in business and in every day living.
Because most immigrants are considered essential, frontline workers – working in care homes, hospitals, hospitality, grocery stores, food processing plants, on the farms etc. They were exposed to contracting the virus at the onset of the pandemic. Getting infected on the job at an alarming rate, exposing their roommates and extended family to the virus.
They could not afford to take sick days because of their enormous responsibilities to their immediate and extended families back home. They could not work from home because of the nature of their jobs, yet, they must attempt to home school their children and desperately search for childcare services.
And then, they (shamelessly) got blamed by the mainstream for tracking the virus into care homes.
The government eventually responded by increasing their wages, which was often minimum wages; limit the number of homes any caregiver could work at by providing stability for the immigrant workers, instead of working two, three jobs, in order to make a decent living. Sick leave pay was also extended to encourage anyone sick to remain at home or in a hotel recently provided for family isolation.
In the new year, I hope to bring more indept attention to causes related to and affecting the immigrant population in Alberta and beyond.
Stay tune!
Wishing you a very happy, healthy, and Safe 2021.
Cheers!!!
Moji Taiwo – Coach/Speaker/Author (I Give because I’m Blessed)
