OPINION
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY March 16 - 31, 2018
Tinig Migrante “Landed Status NOW!”
By E. Maestro
“What do we want?” “Landed
Status!” “When do we want it?”
“Now!”
Organized by the Filipino
Canadian
Advocacy
Network
(FILCAN), a huge crowd of caregivers,
including former caregivers, migrant
advocates, lawyers, service providers,
and union allies, with MLA Mable
Elmore of Vancouver Kensington and
MP Don Davies of Vancouver Kingsway
marched, chanted and held their street
action outside the busy Joyce Skytrain
Station. Marchers held high their
coloured signs, distributed leaflets,
and speakers from the caregivers
and other sectors expounded on the
most recent announcement from the
government.
The rallyists came from the
Caregiver Campaign Community
meeting at the BC Federation office
where they discussed the recent
announcements last February from
Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship
Canada (IRCC) and made plans on
future actions for the campaign.
The immediate issue points to
the Caregiver Pathways which was
introduced in 2014 and replaced
the Live-In Caregiver Program. The
Caregiver Pathways Program is set to
expire on Nov 29, 2019.
The IRCC declared that the
Caregiver Pathways was under review.
The letters and statements of alarm,
concern and protest from caregivers
and their advocates prompted the
Minister to issue a response that
“Canada is not shutting down any
caregiver programs” and described
the Caregiver Pathways as a “pilot
project” -- a term that was not at
all used in 2014 but is now used to
describe the Caring for Children
and the Caring for People with High
Medical Needs Pathways.
Caregivers groups and coalitions
across Canada wrote IRCC Minister
Ahmed Hussen and expressed
their concern and alarm about the
announcements and about those
caregivers who arrived a couple of years
ago who may not be able to complete
the Program requirements before
the government deadline. Local
groups in Vancouver signed on
to a joint letter asking for an
in-person consultation with IRCC
Minister Hussen; these were the
FILCAN, Migrante BC, Committee
for Domestic Workers and Caregivers
Rights, the Migrant Workers Centre
and the Victoria Filipino Canadian
Caregivers Association. The growing
public outcry prompted another
announcement from the IRCC Minister
that there will always be a “pathway” to
permanent residency for caregivers.
Lina Vargas of FILCAN and a
former caregiver decried the closed
door “consultations” with select
groups instead of open and genuine
public consultations with the people
most affected by this review, i.e. the
caregivers, and supporters from all
sectors. Joy Torres of Migrante BC
raised the demands for “Landed
Status for caregivers, for open work
permits or sectoral work permits
instead of closed work permits, and
the chance of bringing our children,
partner or spouse with us.” She also
linked the caregivers’ struggles to the
Philippine’s labour export policy which
has pushed women and men to work
abroad and also because of poverty,
lack of decent jobs, and landlessness
back home.
MLA Mable Elmore of Vancouver
Kensington and MP Don Davies of
Vancouver Kingsway reiterated their
strong support for the issues of the
caregivers and raised the slogan of
“Good enough to work, good enough
to stay”, and most especially the call
for landed status upon arrival. Other
speakers included representatives
from the Migrant Workers Centre
(formerly the West Coast Domestic
Workers Association), the Community
Office of MLA Elmore, the Committee
for Domestic Workers and Caregivers
Rights.
Lina Vargas, a former caregiver
and a FILCAN representative added
that, “For a genuine review, a national
consultation is needed to ensure
the views of caregivers are heard.
Already, many are anxious about
the uncertainty surrounding the
announcement
of the end
of the “pilot”
and we fear
the
“review”
may
mean
even
more
restrictions
to permanent
residency.”
The IRCC
does not seem
to ha