SIKLAB Media release

Advocacy group calls for moratorium on deportations of Filipino domestic workers

For immediate release: April 15, 2005

VANCOUVER, B.C. - An advocacy group will launch a campaign this weekend calling for a moratorium on deportations of Filipino domestic workers under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

Many cannot complete their 24 months of live-in work within a three year period as required by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) program and are ordered deported from Canada. SIKLAB (an advocacy group for Filipino migrant workers) under the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) hopes to gather around 100 Filipinos during a day-long gathering this Saturday, April 16, 2005 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave.

Domestic workers, their families and supporters will come together for the historic consultation to share their experiences working in Canada under the exploitative conditions of the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Carrying the theme, "/Halina at sama sama nating itaguyod ang karapatan at kapakanan ng migranteng Pilipino!/" (Come! Join us in upholding our rights and welfare as overseas Filipino workers!), the day-long consultation will provide the rare opportunity for Filipino migrant workers and their families to reflect on their collective experience as a quickly growing immigrant community.

The consultation expects to gather some of the stories of the estimated over 90,000 Filipinos who have come to Canada as domestic workers since the 1980s. Filipinos are the third largest visible minority group in B.C. and the fourth largest in Canada. For the past two decades, Canada has been recruiting temporary foreign workers, a striking 93% from the Philippines, to do the all-around childcare, elderly care and housekeeping of wealthy Canadian families at slave wages.

Many Filipino women endure abuse and exploitation because of the LCP's three pillars of: temporary worker status, being required to live-in their employer's home, and being tied to by contract one employer. The issue of prolonged family separation and reunification will also be brought out through testimonials of spouses and children of Filipino domestic workers.

The consultation marks the tenth year anniversary celebration of SIKLAB, an organization which has consistently been on the vanguard of upholding the struggle of Filipino migrant workers in Canada. This weekend, SIKLAB will launch two important campaigns: calling for a moratorium on deportations of domestic workers who are unable to complete the 24-month LCP requirement within the allowed 3-year period, and in the absence of the moratorium, for the Philippine Consulate to pay the airfare for those ordered deported back to the Philippines.

Members of the media are cordially invited to attend the morning opening program from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. which will include a cultural presentation by SIKLAB depicting the plight of domestic workers in Canada, greetings from the Hon. Libby Davies and the reading of a message from Philippine Congressman Crispin Beltran. - 30 -