National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada – Statement

As progressive Filipino-Canadian women, the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) once again calls for the scrapping of the racist and anti-woman Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).  We hold the federal government, through its Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister Jason Kenney, accountable for maintaining modern-day slavery in Canada and in perpetuating racism and violence against women.

For a country that basks in the reputation as a champion of human rights and women’s equality, Canada clearly fails to uphold the fundamental human rights of live-in caregivers and instead facilitates state violence against these women and the Filipino-Canadian community.  While Canada continues to recruit live-in caregivers, 96% from the Philippines, to provide care for children, people with disabilities and the elderly of middle and upper-class Canadian families, Canada is unwilling to provide necessary protection to this group of women and turns a blind eye to the numerous and worsening cases of abuse and neglect perpetuated by this program.

At the height of the series of exposes on the abuses under the federal government’s live-in caregiver program (LCP), Minister Kenney denies the structural violence that is inherent in this program and justified it to be a “valuable program” in a radio interview with CBC’s “The Current” last May 8, 2009.

While the Minister is quick in stating that the LCP “allows a pathway to permanent residency and ultimately Canadian citizenship,” CIC neglects the fact that an increasing number of Filipino live-in caregivers have been deported and continue to face deportation because they are unable to complete the stringent requirements of the program.

The deportation of Lilebeth Agoncillo and her Canadian-born baby last December, 2008, Acier Gomez and many others over the years who have been ordered to leave Canada immediately for not meeting the 24 months of live-in work within three years is a testament of the cruelty and unjust treatment of live-in caregivers under this program.

In an effort to further justify the LCP, Minister Kenney even had the gall to use our slogan of “End it, don’t mend it!” but changed it saying “Mend it, don’t end it!” While he says that a small number in the community support the scrapping of the LCP call, our member organizations across Canada are reporting that more and more Filipino women under the LCP, and others in the Filipino and broader Canadian society are also supporting the call to eliminate this program as a stain on Canada’s human rights record.

Furthermore, Minister Kenney’s statement that the consequence of shutting the program would “close the door to Canada for a large number of people who don’t have the advance education [to get in]” is a clear testament of the racism that is embedded in Canadian immigration policies. As the third largest visible minority group in Canada, the Filipino community is one of the most highly-skilled, highly-educated immigrant groups in Canada. We are appalled at Minister Kenney’s racist and offensive statement and call on the Minister to stop the degradation of the Filipino community, particularly of the Filipino women under the LCP.

For nearly twenty years, we have been in the forefront of exposing the exploitation and oppression of Filipino women in Canada.  We have presented numerous briefs to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration and to the Ministry of the Status of Women on the inhumane and violent treatment endured by thousands of Filipino women under the LCP, but government after government has refused to critically review and assess this program and its impacts on the larger Filipino community.

In light of the current Parliamentary inquiry on the LCP, we are adamant that without the removal of the mandatory live-in requirement, the requirement to work 24 months within a three year period, temporary immigration status and the employer-specific contract under the LCP, the situation of Filipino live-in caregivers will never improve.  The fundamental pillars of the LCP provide the systemic context for their abuse and vulnerability, and while these remain intact, unregulated work conditions and cases of abuse and exploitation of foreign live-in caregivers will intensify. The criminalization of live-in caregivers, rape, death, de-skilling and forced prostitution are just some of the harsh impacts of the program to the women, their families, and the community.

The NAPWC maintains that the LCP is a program created not for the sole purpose of giving an opportunity for women from the Third World to migrate to Canada.  The offer of getting permanent residency status upon completion of the program is merely a “hook” for live-in caregivers to stay in the LCP because it is a job that no other Canadians would take.  The LCP is also the expression of the hypocrisy of Canada, as an industrialized country, it is not providing national universal childcare and promotes the further privatization of the Canadian healthcare system.

End it, don’t ‘mend’ it! Scrap the Live-in Caregiver Program!
End state violence against Filipino women!

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For more information, contact:
Joy C. Sioson, 416-519-2553, pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org

Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) Member of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC)