National Filipino workers advocacy group pushes for increased visibility and end to exploitative Live-in Caregiver Program; celebrates three-year anniversary

For immediate release: October 7, 2008

TORONTO, ON – With a federal election only a few days away, members of the local progressive Filipino community will gather this Saturday, October 11, 2008 to push for increased visibility in Canadian society and an end to exploitative labour programs like the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). The event to be held at the University of Toronto will also mark the three-year anniversary of the group’s advocacy and organizing work amongst Filipino migrant workers across Canada.

The dinner and forum will take place this Saturday, October 11, 2008 in the OISE building, University of Toronto, Room 2211 at 6:00 pm.

Organized by SIKLAB-Canada (Advance the Rights and Welfare of Filipino Overseas Workers) the event entitled, “Sulong Migranteng Pinoy! Struggle towards equality, genuine development and human rights,” expects to gather migrant workers, women and youth to discuss urgent issues facing the community, including the lack of visibility in Canadian society and Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

Since the early 1908’s nearly 100,000 Filipino women and their families have come to Canada under the LCP and its predecessor the Foreign Domestic Movement (FDM). Filipino women make up 96% of workers under the LCP.

“Despite our large numbers, Filipinos in Canada are virtually invisible in the larger society,” says Roderick Carreon, Chairperson of SIKLAB-Canada. “Through our organizing work we hope to increase our visibility and participation in Canadian society,” he said.

Filipinos are the third largest visible minority group in Canada, numbering over 500,000. The largest concentration of Filipinos in an urban area is in Toronto, with over 250,000 of them in Greater Toronto Area alone.

“As live-in caregivers in Canada, we exist in the shadows of the Canadian society,” says Kelly Botengan, SIKLAB-Ontario spokesperson, who came to Canada under the LCP. “Although our labour contributes greatly to the Canadian economy, our temporary status has ultimately silenced us.” According to Botengan, under the program, caregivers must fulfill the 24 month within 36 months of live-in work requirement before they can apply for their permanent residency status.

“Many restrictive conditions of the LCP leave many live-in caregivers with no choice but to stay in their employers houses and suffer from exploitative working conditions,” states Botengan.

“We are calling for the scrapping of the LCP because of the legacy of the negative impact this program has had on our women and our community,” said Carreon.

SIKLAB identifies that aside from the LCP, the lack of professional accreditation is a major cause of the chronic poverty the community suffers from.

According to Statistics Canada, Filipinos are twice as more likely to have a university degree than the rest of the Canadian population, but generally have lower incomes than the national average.

“Our nurses work as live-in caregivers and our professionals are segregated to low-paying jobs,” says Jean-Marc Daga, member of the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario (FCYA-ON).

Organizers say the event will commemorate the three years of educating, organizing and mobilizing work of SIKLAB across Canada. With chapters in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, the migrant workers group holds workshops, carries out political campaigns and is involved in various public policy engagement activities. Together with other progressive national organizations such as the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada and Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance – Canada, SIKLAB seeks to end this cycle of poverty and strives to work towards the genuine settlement and integration of the Filipino community in the larger Canadian society and supports the movement for national democracy in the Philippines.

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