Elizabeth Kwan

Elizabeth Kwan is a senior researcher for the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Canada’s largest central labour body that speaks on issues of national importance for three million unionized workers across the country. As the CLC policy lead on health, immigration, and migration, she is very active in parliamentary and government engagements for labour. Elizabeth champions justice and equity in immigration and health, working with the intersectionality of inequalities and social-economic factors including racism and hate, low-income, gender, ableism, immigrant status, and food (in)security.

She brings considerable knowledge and experience working on permanent and temporary immigration issues affecting migrant workers and caregivers, undocumented workers, newcomers, and refugees. Last fall, she was invited as an expert witness to present before the Senate Standing Committee studying Canada’s Temporary and Migrant Labour Force. In 2023, she had the opportunity to present on migrant workers to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. Elizabeth is very engaged in the current issues of health care and the care economy including health human resources, health funding, universal public pharmacare, long-term care, homecare, and mental health. Currently, she is actively engaged in key CLC care-based campaigns: Forward Together, Universal Public Pharmacare and the Care Campaign.

She represents the CLC on three SSHRC research projects: Policy and practice in return to work after work injury; Gender Migration Carework; and Liberating Migrant Labour? International Mobility Programs in Settler Colonial Contexts.