For thousands of Ontario workers who care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the meaning of emancipation extends beyond its historical roots. Many Caribbean and Black women working in developmental services say they continue to face low wages, unsafe staffing levels and systemic neglect, prompting thousands to take part in the “Worth Fighting For” strike.

The workers provide daily support in group homes, supported living programs and community settings, helping vulnerable people live safely and independently. Yet the developmental services workforce remains among the most undervalued areas of Ontario’s care economy.

Racialized workers, including many with roots in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Guyana and Haiti, are heavily represented in care roles. Their work is physically and emotionally demanding, but advocates say longstanding patterns of racialized labour have contributed to wage suppression, limited career opportunities and widespread burnout.

The impact of Ontario’s Bill 124 has added to those concerns. The wage suppression legislation was struck down as unconstitutional, but developmental services workers have not received the same wage restoration or retroactive compensation provided to workers in other sectors.

OPSEU/SEFPO has pointed to structural problems within developmental services funding, including underfunding, inequitable resource allocation and a lack of transparency. Its Open Books report argues that funding models have contributed to artificially low wages while administrative and executive costs have increased.

The Ontario Ombudsman’s November 2025 report, “Lost in Transition,” also documented systemic failures affecting developmental services. The conditions described have placed additional pressure on frontline workers who continue to manage staffing shortages and underfunded programs while providing essential support.

Those concerns are now being expressed on picket lines across Ontario. Thousands of developmental services workers represented by OPSEU/SEFPO are participating in the “Worth Fighting For” strike, seeking fair compensation, safer staffing levels, respect and greater equity.

For members of the Caribbean community, the dispute carries a broader significance. The history of emancipation is closely connected to struggles against systems that exploited racialized labour while denying workers equal recognition and dignity.

The current fight in Ontario’s care sector reflects that unfinished struggle, supporters say. Direct support professionals perform work that is essential to the wellbeing of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, yet remain excluded from wage remedies granted elsewhere.

For Caribbean workers, the message is straightforward. Emancipation must mean more than freedom from enslavement. It must also include freedom from exploitation, inequity and systemic disregard.

The “Worth Fighting For” campaign has therefore become about more than wages. It is also a demand that racialized care workers be recognized for the essential role they play and treated with the dignity, fairness and respect they deserve.

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