SIKLAB – B.C. (Advance and Uphold the Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers)
Philippine Women Centre of B.C.
Grassroots Women – B.C.
West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association

Member of Parliament and groups to expose Canada ’s secret deportations of Filipino live-in caregivers or “airport-to-airport” deportations

July 8, 2009

 
Local women’s organizations and live-in caregiver advocacy groups and Member of Parliament Libby Davies will hold a joint news conference to denounce Canada ’s practice of secretly removing Filipino live-in caregivers from the airport upon their arrival in Canada .  Groups term this arbitrary and unjust policy of Canada as “airport-to-airport” deportations.  The news conference features the story of one Filipino live-in caregiver who was sent back to Dubai on July 6, 2009.  The news conference will be held tomorrow, Thursday, July 9 at 10 a.m. at the Grassroots Women office at 1115B East Hastings Street (entrance on Glen Drive .)

Ligaya Villacrusis, a Filipino nurse, arrived at the Vancouver International Airport on July 4, 2009 with the understanding that she had a job waiting for her in Canada .  Before coming to Canada , Villacrusis was issued a Canadian visa after immigration officials spent months assessing her credentials and verifying that she had a genuine offer to work as a live-in caregiver.  When Villacrusis arrived at the Vancouver International Airport , Canadian border officials told her that her employment as a live-in caregiver could not be verified.  She was later told that she would be admitted to Canada but that she would need to find a new employer who was willing to hire her.  Canadian officials later reneged on that latter agreement and sent Villacrusis back to Dubai .

“I am so angry at the Canadian government for treating my friend this way.  She is a hard-working single mom who came to Canada willing to work so that she can send money back to the Philippines to support her family,” says Letty Malaggay of SIKLAB – BC.  “She even paid an employment agency in Vancouver thousands of dollars to find an employer for her,” added Malaggay, who along with friends and advocates spent hours at the airport on July 5 and 6 pleading Villacrusis’ case to Canadian officials.  The groups say that the Canadian government is trying to cover-up the secret deportations as they were repeatedly told by border agents not to bring the story to the media.

“This is an extremely alarming trend in the implementation of Canada ’s immigration policies,” says Deanna Okun-Nachoff of the West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association.  “Instead of treating these women as workers and as women with full human rights, Canada turns them away at the airport or the border without due process.  This is clearly criminalizing women who are coming to Canada with the genuine intent to work under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).”

The groups say the deportations are a result of Canada ’s policy shift that prioritizes enforcement and removal, rather than achieving the supposed labour and humanitarian goals of Canada ’s immigration policy. Suzanne Baustad of Grassroots Women – BC adds that, “These women should not be detained or deported.  Their rights have already been violated by recruiters, agencies, and a long list of others quick who make a buck off their desperation.  CBSA officers should be trained to recognize the violation of migrant’s rights and to act on Canada ’s international obligations to protect victims of trafficking.  Instead, when these workers are intimidated into ‘voluntary departure’, enforcement officers are further violating the rights of women who have come here in good faith and at much personal sacrifice to care for our children and seniors.  This is just another immigration practice that encourages the labour trafficking of Filipino women under the LCP.”

Additionally, the groups say Filipino live-in caregivers are caught in the bureaucratic fragmentation of the responsibility for delivering the LCP between Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

Dinah Estigoy of the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. declared, “I am a former live-in caregiver who is now an advocate for other Filipino live-in caregivers.  It is time for us to speak out about these secret deportations.  Canada is known as a just and humane country in the Philippines , but it is time to shatter that myth as we see more and more women being secretly deported.”  Estigoy noted that the “airport-to-airport” deportations are occurring right across the country and are part of the reason that her group feels the LCP should be scrapped in favour of an immigration program that allows Filipino women to enter Canada as permanent residents with their families.

Libby Davies, Member of Parliament for Vancouver East will also be add her voice to these important concerns.

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For more information about the news conference, please call Dinah at 604-682-4451 or e-mail pwc@kalayaancentre.net or grassrootswomen@telus.net.

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