Advocates call for changes to Ottawa's 'nanny' program

Last Updated Fri, 25 Mar 2005 20:41:49 EST
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/03/25/nannines050325.html

VANCOUVER - The Department of Immigration and the Philippines Congress are now investigating Canada's Live-in Caregiver Program - which provides thousands of Canadian households with nannies - after claims the program violates those workers' human rights.

In most cases, women who want to emigrate to Canada come as nannies and live with their Canadian employers. Filipino Woman training to be a nanny in the Philippines. Some, like Lettie Capinpin, say they were poorly treated by those employers.

"I worked them for 12 to 13 hours a day, without my overtime pay," she said. Capinpin stayed in the basement of her employers' mansion and cared for their three children six days a week. Even though her employers violated her contract, "I just remain silent. I didn't complain."

The Filipino Women's Centre helps nannies when they need to escape from bad employers. It says the women are supposed to get overtime and a private room. Many don't. "Many report to us that they're sleeping where the furnace is," said Cecilia Diocson of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada.

Diocson says Canada is using Filipina women as cheap labour to solve its childcare shortage. She wants Ottawa to scrap the 'live in' requirement. She says that's what makes workers so vulnerable to abuse. "Deep inside they don't want to be in their employers' home because they feel jailed, or in prison, because they just want to get out after their eight hours of work. But because of the mandatory live in [requirement] they can't. So for me, it's a violation of [their] human rights. They need to have mobility. They want to live where they want to live."

More than 90 per cent of Canada's domestic workers come from the Philippines and there are now 800 caregiver schools in the impoverished country. Temporary workers are the country's biggest export. Most of their earnings are sent home to support their families. But recent complaints about the Live-in Caregiver Program prompted the Philippines Congress to launch its own investigation. Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe has heard an earful of complaints as well.

"Whether the [Live-in Care Program] would stay as it is, or with minor or major considerations, or overhaul it or eliminate the program all together, we haven't come to a final analysis yet," he said. Capinpin, who is now in a position to sponsor her family to come to Canada, wants the program changed so more women don't end up like her.

"I'm still jobless, so I'm wondering what is happening to my children, because I was the only one who supports them." A decision on the future of the Live-in Care Program is expected by the summer.