Members from the community offer their personal testimonals as migrant and immigrant Filipnos in Canada.

SIKLAB Press Communique

SIKLAB celebrates 10 year anniversary, renews commitment to the Filipino community's struggle for social justice in Canada

April 21, 2005

Over 80 members of the Filipino community and their supporters celebrated the 10^th anniversary of SIKLAB with a day-long consultation, sharing their experiences as overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and their families.

Under 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), participants celebrated the decade-long history of educating, organizing and mobilizing work unique to SIKLAB as an Overseas Filipino workers organization; while also taking a critical look at the challenges and experiences Filipinos face in Canada.

The day began with inspiring cultural performances created by SIKLAB members depicting the daily experiences that migrant workers face working under Citizenship and Immigration Canada's (CIC) Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) to the tune of popular Filipino songs. Philippine Congressman Crispin Beltran sent his greetings to SIKLAB and shared the current situation in the Philippines, highlighting the role of Philippine President Arroyo with the increasing human rights violations against progressive activists and groups and the cuts to workers salaries.

The Honourable Libby Davies, the day's guest speaker, opened to participants that she wanted to bring the performances to Ottawa so that policymakers could really understand the impacts of LCP on the Filipino community. This is especially significant since 93% of domestic workers entering Canada under the LCP come from the Philippines. The consultation participants heard from a panel of community members who shared testimonies of their personal experiences as migrants and immigrants to Canada.

Vivien Oropel, a member of the Filipino Nurses Support Group, shared how she used her nursing skills doing 24-hour domestic work instead of practicing her nursing profession because of the barriers to accreditation. She also shared the pain of family separation as she left her husband and two young sons in the Philippines in order to help her family survive.

Raul Alfonso, a member of B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, shared how his family was torn apart by the LCP and the struggles he continues to experience finding decent work as a new immigrant. He tearfully shared how devastated he felt after his son, who sacrificed going to school in order to help support the family by working, gave him $20 from his very first paycheck.

Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance member Albert Lopez shared his experiences with racism in the Vancouver school system and his family struggles upon being reunited in Canada with his mother, who worked under the LCP. Lopez told the participants that he would barely see his mother when he arrived in Canada, as she struggled to support the family by working around the clock.

SIKLAB member Leticia Capinpin shared her over 10 years of migrant work spanning from Taiwan, Dubai, and Canada. Her experiences of abuse and exploitation affected the participants, especially her sharings of the time she spent being unjustly imprisoned without charges in Dubai. She also painfully shared how the years of separation from her family has took its toll on her marriage.

Art Estillore, a SIKLAB member, shared how he was exploited by various employers under the LCP. His experiences ranged from doing the dirty jobs outside of the house to acting as a butler at the beck and call of his employer.

All of the testimonial presenters attributed their consciousness-raising and empowerment from their community involvement in their respective organizations highlighting the importance of challenging the system that supports their exploitation and oppression in Canadian society.

The participants had the opportunity to each share their personal experiences of migration during small group discussions where a broad spectrum of issues were shared such as working conditions under the LCP, family separation and reunification, excessive fees paid to employment agencies, lack of services offered by the Philippine consulate, threat of deportation, and racism.

SIKLAB also launched two petition campaigns aimed at protecting the rights and welfare of OFWs working in Canada. The first campaign is calling for a moratorium on deportations of Filipino domestic workers under the LCP as 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.

The second campaign calls for in the absence of the moratorium, for the Philippine Consulate to pay the airfare for those ordered deported back to the Philippines. The day-long event was capped off with an energetic and inspiring solidarity night where members of the Filipino community and their supporters joined SIKLAB in celebrating 10th anniversary.# -30-

Honourable Libby Davies provided greetings to the gathering.

SIKLAB performs a cultural number depicting the struggles of migrant workers in Canada to open the celebration.

Guests enjoy SIKLAB's cultural performance while learning about the daily struggles of Filipino women under the LCP.