Press Statement
Filipino Nurses Support Group

Emergency Room Crisis: Filipino nurses in BC can help

April 28, 2006

For several years, a Vancouver-based Filipino nurses
organization have been in dialogue with government,
policy makers, and the public about the intensifying
health care crisis - the critical staffing shortage
being one major cause. The recent revelations of the
Emergency Room doctors of Vancouver General Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital, and Lions Gate Hospital further confirms this imploding crisis on the verge of collapse.

The Filipino Nurses Support Group (FNSG), a
community-based advocacy group of Philippine-trained
nurses, maintains that there are hundreds of Filipino
nurses already in the province but face systemic
barriers to practice nursing. “We want our nursing
skills and education recognized and put to use. We
are ready and willing to work as nurses to help this
crisis. But, right now, our potential is just going
to waste,” asserts Sharon Lardizabal, a
Philippine-trained nurse working as a domestic worker
in BC and member of the FNSG.

FNSG explains that discriminatory immigration policies
deskill hundreds of Filipino nurses and other
foreign-trained nurses in BC, numbering to the
thousands across Canada. Foreign-trained nurses
cannot immigrate to Canada as permanent residents
because Canada immigration grants too few points to
the nursing profession. In other words, Canada
Immigration deems the nursing profession not a labour
need in Canada.

The majority of Filipino nurses arriving to Canada in
the last decade have entered through the Live-in
Caregiver Program (LCP), a federal program of
Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Under the strict terms of the LCP, Filipino nurses hold only temporary status for a minimum of two years, and work as live-in domestic and 24-hour home support workers oftentimes earning only $2 an hour. FNSG regards the LCP as racist and anti-woman and is purposely segregating highly skilled and highly educated nurses and other professionals into a pool of cheap labour.

Some provincial jurisdictions, BC included, recognize
the nursing shortage and have implemented Provincial
Nominee Programs (PNP) that fast-track the employment and immigration process for foreign-trained nurses.

However, Filipino nurses in BC, especially those under
the LCP, have yet to benefit from the BC PNP. In
2004, the BC PNP instituted a hefty $500 application
fee, the only provincial jurisdiction charging a fee,
making the BC PNP even farther out of reach for
Filipino nurses under the LCP.

Accreditation barriers also contribute to the stalled
development of Filipino nurses. “The accreditation
process of the College of Registered Nurses of BC
(CRNBC) is one of the most exclusionary in Canada,”
asserts Leah Diana, registered nurse and member of the
Filipino Nurses Support Group. CRNBC charges one of
the highest assessment fees in the country and, unlike
any other province, CRNBC requires foreign-trained
nurses to submit a reference from a Canadian employer
for whom they have worked for at least eight weeks.
With the exception of PEI, BC has the fewest number of
options for English examinations. In contrast, the
nursing regulatory body in Ontario waives the English
examination for foreign-trained nurses coming from one
of 35 countries.

FNSG has contact with over 600 Philippine-trained
nurses, many of who remain under the LCP or are
struggling to overcome the hurdles of the
accreditation process.

“The large numbers of Filipino nurses in BC, whether
they are here under the LCP or are permanent
residents, can be used as a positive strategy to help
alleviate the staffing crisis in particular, and the
health crisis in general,” states Diana.

FNSG demands for the return of reciprocity agreements
between the Philippines and Canada similar to the
reciprocity agreements during the 1960s and 1970s.

“Reciprocity agreements will facilitate Filipino
nurses to rightfully return to their profession,
promote their personal and professional development,
and aid in resolving the health crisis,” continues
Diana.

Like the Emergency Doctors, FNSG recognizes the
urgency of resolving the health care crisis and dire
nursing shortage. Provincial and federal government,
health institutions, including regulatory bodies are
aware of the presence of Filipino nurses not working
as nurses in Canada. Yet these institutions all
remain slow to act on this urgent issue that demands
immediate attention.

For more information contact 604-255-6870 or fnsg@kalayaancentre.net