Communique of National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada

Canada's House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration Hears Filipino Community's Urgent Issues and Recommendations

April 15, 2005

Vancouver, BC - Members of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) and the Filipino Nurses Support Group (FNSG), a member organization of NAPWC, recently presented to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration as part of the committee's public hearing in Vancouver.

Part of the cross-Canada hearings in 14 major cities, these Filipino advocacy organizations brought forward a broad range of issues affecting the daily lives of Filipinos in Canada. Filipinos comprise the fourth largest immigrant group in Canada and third largest in British Columbia (B.C.). They have one of the highest levels of education among immigrants but are among the country's lowest income earners.

For Filipino domestic workers and their families, who comprise a large group of Filipinos in Canada, they remain severely subordinated in Canadian society with their equality rights and human rights often ignored or blatantly violated. Tackling the issues of "family reunification" and "recognition of the international experience and credentials of immigrants", NAPWC and FNSG highlighted that most of the concerns related to these issues can be directly attributed to the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

In response to issues brought forward by NAPWC and FNSG, Bill Siksay, Member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas, BC commended the two organizations for their comprehensive analysis and critique of the LCP and called it "an embarrassment" that such pressing issues and exploitative working conditions have lasted this long without change for the better.

The Honourable Hedy Fry, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration with special emphasis on Foreign Credentials, promised to further raise issues discussed by FNSG to other Members of Parliament, as well as continue to work with FNSG to ensure the full participation of Filipino nurses in Canada, especially those trapped under the LCP.

In light of these public hearings, the organization expressed the critical need for Canada through its Citizenship and Immigration department (CIC) to seriously examine and acknowledge the work of migrant and immigrant communities towards their genuine development.

The organizations believe that this community work is an effective model of the "best practices" in settlement and integration work that Canada states it wishes to promote. For example, FNSG has supported 160 Filipino nurses to become accredited in B.C.; whereas only 5 Filipino nurses did so through the joint government mechanism of the Provincial Nominee Program.

Moreover, the organizations raised the ongoing concern about CIC's practices about consulting with the communities affected by immigration policies and practices. In Canada's multicultural society, these communities have a right to full participation in the democratic process. The organizations stated that there is a need for CIC to critically examine its own "best practices" to achieve genuine consultation, transparency and accountability.

For example, NAPWC noted that CIC has not yet followed-up on the outcome of a January 2005 roundtable on the LCP. With such pressing issues affecting Filipinos in Canada, NAPWC and FNSG urge CIC to take the results of the public hearings seriously and continue to dialogue with community-based organizations to improve the collective situation of immigrant communities. ##

Please refer to the website link www.kalayaancentre.net for complete copies of the two briefs submitted to CIC on behalf of NAPWC and FNSG.