Filipino Nurses Suppot Group
International Nurses' Day Statement

Celebrating nurses week is part of continuing the struggle of foreign-trained nurses

May 12, 2005

Warm greetings of solidarity from the Filipino Nurses Support Group as we raise high our struggle to practice our nursing profession in Canada today, during National Nursing Week and on International Nurses Day.

This week marks the "nursing profession's opportunity to recognize and honour the contributions nurses make to the health system and in improving population health". Yet we stand here today in protest against our continued forced underdevelopment in Canada, against our segregation as sources of cheap labour in the middle of an intensifying nursing shortage.

We also stand here today as part of continuing the history of resistance against unjust policies and practices of Canada that further push us into the margins of Canadian society. The severe economic crisis being experienced by the world's people exposes the failure of imperialist globalization to end worldwide exploitation and oppression.

Currently, the Philippines is the number one migrant nation in the world. Nearly 3,000 Filipinos leave everyday to work abroad and to escape the social, economic, and political crises in our country. Prices of basic necessities keep rising, while wages are being pushed down.

Currently, over eight million Filipino migrant workers are scattered in over 186 countries worldwide, representing 10% of the country's population. Filipinos are commodified on the global market as highly skilled, but cheap labour. Many Filipinos migrate to countries like Canada in search of a better life, only to experience hardship, isolation, and exploitation from federal programs like the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

The LCP recruits nurses and other trained professionals from the Philippines to work as domestic workers in Canada, oftentimes for less than minimum wage, since they are required to live in their employers' homes and are "on call" 24 hours a day. This can amount to as little as $2.00 per hour since they must live in their employer's home and can be expected to work anytime during the day and night.

Despite the critical nursing shortage only predicted to worsen in the coming years, nurses from the Philippines continue to be recruited by Canada to do domestic work - systemically des-skilled to do the cooking, cleaning, and all-around caregiving and childcare for Canadian families, at minimal wages. Many perform unregulated nursing duties for the elderly, sick, and people with disabilities of Canadian families who can afford to pay for private, around-the-clock health care and housekeeping.

These foreign-trained nurses are also faced with costly and irrelevant accreditation barriers to successfully becoming registered as nurses here. These are stark examples of systemic racism that pushes Filipino nurses into modern-day slavery.

The exploited situation of Filipino nurses in Canada today is in sharp contrast to the many nurses from the Philippines who were directly recruited by Canada to work as nurses in the 1960s and 70s. These nurses were able to practice nursing upon their arrival under reciprocity agreements. This shows that Canada will not hesitate to recognize and accredit skills and education of a certain profession if there is a labour need. While still educated and professionally qualified as nurses, the majority of Filipino nurses coming to Canada today are doing so as domestic workers and 24-hour home support workers under the Live-in Caregiver Program.

The Canadian government's Live-in Caregiver Program allows upper and middle-class Canadian women to play at being liberated at the expense of Filipino nurses' cheap labour. The Live-in Caregiver Program further privatizes Canada's health care system, providing a cheap substitute to affordable and accessible health care for all.

We join the ranks of progressive people and organizations in the struggle to uphold the right of migrant and immigrant communities to live in a society free from systemic racism and discrimination, and we believe these communities should also benefit from needed social services.

The granting of full accreditation and reciprocity to Filipino and other foreign-trained nurses can immediately help alleviate the nursing shortage thereby helping to ensure quality health care for all. For ten years, the Filipino Nurses Support Group has been part of continuing the history of people's resistance. Despite the lack of any concrete support from the Canadian government or public institutions, we vow to continue to educate and empower our Filipino community towards our genuine equality and development.

Scrap the Live-in Caregiver Program!
Recognize Filipino nurses now!
No to the privatization of health care!
Affordable and accessible health care for all!
Down with imperialism!

-