Media statement
National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC)

For immediate release: March 24, 2005

With number of visible minorities increasing, government should ensure full integration of foreign-trained nurses, says Filipino women's advocacy group

A new study by Statistics Canada reveals that by 2017, British Columbia (B.C.) will have the largest proportion of visible minorities of all provinces in the country.

This means that one in three people in B.C. will be from a visible minority group. A national alliance of Filipino women advocacy groups hopes that these study results urge the country's policy makers to review their programs to end the marginalization of their community.

The report explains that Canada's economy will become increasingly dependent on immigrants and visible minorities to replace aging and retiring baby boomers over the coming decade. What it fails to mention however, is that the country has already been largely dependent on highly-skilled, but cheap immigrant labour for childcare and elderly care for well over a decade.

This occurs mainly through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), a program of the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

While these departments are responsible for "providing all Canadians with the tools they need to thrive and prosper in the workplace and community" and the admission of immigrants "who enhance Canada's social and economic growth", the LCP does the exact opposite.

"The program relegates domestic and 24-hour home support workers, 93% of whom are from the Philippines, to harsh living and working conditions of long hours, discrimination, abuse, de-skilling, and isolation in their employers' homes," explains Leah Diana, a Registered Nurse in B.C. and member of the Filipino Nurses Support Group (FNSG) a member organization of the NAPWC. "They are legislated into poverty and debt, growing numbers of them are Filipino nurses, despite Canada's worsening nursing shortage and health care crisis," she continues.

According to FNSG, Filipino nurses are unable to meet CIC's required number of points to qualify as landed immigrants. They are forced to migrate to Canada under the LCP as domestic and 24-hour home support workers earning as little as $1.75 per hour. These nurses are required to live-in their employers' homes and are therefore practically on call to their demands around the clock - a stark example of modern-day slavery.

Commenting on the demographic change, experts emphasized that the country's labour force and economy should change and adapt as employers move to recognize the accreditation and credentials of immigrants.

FNSG asserts that for Filipino nurses recruited under the LCP and already here in Canada, their education and skills should be immediately recognized instead of merely relying on, "immigrants and visible minorities to replace aging and retiring baby boomers over the coming decade".

"Government and policy makers do not have to wait until 2017 to address the urgent issues of growing immigrant communities in Canada," states Diana. "With the nursing shortage predicted to reach 78,000 by 2011 and 113,000 by 2016, Canada and nursing institutions should stop wasting the much needed human resources Filipino and other foreign-trained nurses have to offer," she explains.

"Outdated policies and practices of these public institutions only perpetuate the systemic racism that prevent the full development and participation of Filipino nurses in Canada and feeds the false illusion that nurses trained in the Philippines are not at par with the skills and education of Canadian nurses," describes Cecilia Diocson, Chairperson of the NAPWC.

The Philippines has consistently been the number one source country of nurses for B.C., outside of Canada, based on membership data from the Registered Nurses Association of B.C. from 1995 to 2002. "With the expected increase of immigrants and visible minorities to Canada, coupled with the escalating nursing shortage, the government should immediately address the issues of Filipino and other foreign-trained nurses to show they take the Statistics Canada study results seriously and ensure immigrant communities' full participation in Canadian society," concludes Diocson.

For more information, contact: Cecilia Diocson, Chairperson, National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada