FNSG Open Letter

March 1, 2005

Open letter to BC Nurses Union president, Debra McPherson, on the occasion of BCNU's annual convention

Dear Ms. Debra McPherson,

On this occasion of the BCNU's annual convention under the theme "Building for a Safe and Healthy Future", in principle, we support your efforts in ensuring health care as a key vote issue.

As you unveil the expectations of BC Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses from government and the Nurses' Agenda for the election campaign, we urge you to consider the issues faced by Philippine-trained nurses in BC. We know you are well aware of the plight of Philippine-trained nurses in BC.

Your presence at the Filipino Nurses Support Group's Dinner Forum last year was much appreciated as you had the opportunity to hear the testimonies of the Filipino nurses under the Live-in Caregiver Program; and FNSG had the opportunity to hear from you your understanding of the Filipino nurses' live experiences and your solidarity with them.

As you know, Canada continues to entice Filipino nurses to come here to do live-in "childcare" or "elder-care" under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) that is managed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Human Resource and Development Canada. Canada Immigration continues to grant the nursing profession too few points to qualify as landed immigrants.

As a result, CIC leaves little option for foreign-trained nurses but to choose the LCP, despite the nursing shortage plaguing our profession now. The fundamental pillars of the Live-in Caregiver Program: · mandatory two-year, live-in requirement · temporary immigration status · employer-specific requirement (bound to one specific contract at any time and prior to coming to Canada) perpetuate the exploitation and oppression of Filipino nurses under the LCP. They earn as little as $1.75 per hour for domestic and 24-hour home support work. Essentially, Filipino nurses under the LCP are segregated as an underclass of cheap labour, a class of modern-day slaves.

Glaringly, the situation of the Filipino nurses under the LCP is not an ethno-specific issue. It is an ever urgent Canadian issue. First, the LCP is a Canadian program where non-coincidently 93% of live-in caregivers are from the Philippines. Second, the LCP has created a pool of cheap labour for privatized child-care and for privatized health-care that only benefit those who can afford these privatized services. Specifically to the nursing profession, the presence of Filipino nurses doing cheap domestic and 24-hour home support work cheapen the nursing profession as their presence drive down the wages of unionized nurses and weaken unionized nurses' demands for higher wages.

Therefore, we urge you and BCNU members to:

· genuinely examine and critique the Live-in Caregiver Program
· advocate for the early termination of the LCP contract of Filipino and other foreign-trained nurses who are already registered and ready to work as nurses
· evaluate the efficacy of the Provincial Nominee Program
· urge government to provide concrete support for community organizations, like FNSG, that have proven successful in implementing and sustaining programs. FNSG, for example, has helped supply the nursing profession with highly educated and skilled nurses
· urge government to invest in comprehensive orientation and training programs in acute care and specialty areas where foreign-trained nurses would benefit

We wish you luck and success with the Convention.

Sincerely,
Leah Diana RN and BCNU member writing in behalf of the Filipino Nurses Support Group