NOTEBOOK: Caregiver Campaign Realpolitik
NOTEBOOK: Caregiver Campaign Realpolitik
NOW that the campaign for changes in the Live-in Caregiver Program has reached a higher level, the caregivers, their advocates, the community and their allies need to assess what are the correct strategies to adopt in order to win the substantial gains they want.
First, they need to solidify their ranks to strongly support the major call for permanent resident (PR) status for caregivers upon landing in Canada.
I say this because judging from the one-hour roundtable consultation with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney last Sunday, April 26, three major speakers from the side of the advocates separately dwelt on three areas of concern: 1) the major recommendation for immediate landed status; 2) the settlement challenges of caregivers, with emphasis on a project proposal; 3) recommendations that are considered “doables” or “winnables”.
This is a fragmented approach in presenting recommendations on a government program that affects the lives of tens of thousands of caregivers. This is practically a three-pronged approach, intentional or not, that actually weakens the main recommendation of immediate permanent residence status.
But to be fair to those heard by the Minister, of the 17 or so who attended from the Filipino community, about nine emphasized or supported strongly the immediate PR recommendation.
One emphasized the “doables” and another focused on settlement problems and drew attention to a project proposal separate from changes in the Live-in Caregiver Program.
The rest, about six, merely expressed gratitude to the Minister for lending his ear to the community. Only one caregiver was given the chance to speak and she batted for the main PR recommendation.
The bone of contention in the talks, undoubtedly, is the immediate permanent status. And Minister Kenney unmistakably showed he understood this when he said at the outset that in offering recommendations, the individuals representing various groups in the one-hour consultation should be aware that there could be “unintended consequences” and that there should be “balance” by considering the interests of other affected sectors like the employers.
Kenney made it clear that in his view, the LCP is a good program but that there are aspects that need to be fixed. He was not for eliminating it because it is helping Canadian families and helping caregivers attain permanent resident status faster than if they were to go through the point system for skilled professionals.
He set the tone of the talks and gave strong hints where the boundaries are. In fact, when he heard the items on the “doables” he thanked the speaker profusely and said that before when he had talks with the Filipino community, the latter had no specific proposals to offer. Now, there are these specific items and these will help him and his staff do their work.
These are the seven items in the position of the Grassroots Hub. Not that they would not help caregivers if these are implemented.
They would, for sure. Some of them are: moratorium on deportations, making the work permit work- specific rather than employer-specific, making the three-year window adjustable, removing the second medical, making availavle a federal health plan, EI, etc.
Still, emphasizing these has the effect of de-emphasizing the demand to do away with temporary resident status, which, as described succinctly by Pura Velasco of the Caregiver Support Services, is the heart of the problem. She argued that even if the provincial government enforced the implementation of the Employment and Standards Act in the caregivers’ workplace which is the employers’ homes, the caregivers would still be vulnerable to abuse because of their temporary status.
Proof of this is the now very common story of caregivers that they are threatened with deportation by employers and recruitment agencies or with reporting them to authorities for deportation whenever they resist unreasonable demands at work or for failing to pay on time the exorbitant agency fees.
Even if temporary foreign workers are assured on paper that they have rights and benefits, being not on equal footing with landed immigrants and citizens basically puts them in a very disadvantageous and precarious position.
In the position paper “Respect and Dignity for Caregivers” authored by the Coalition for the Protection of Caregivers’ Rights, presented to Kenney last year by CASJ and during the recent consultation, the emphasis is on the immediate permanent status.
Read the stories of caregivers Maribel Beato and Catherine Manuel on pages 12 and 13 and you will have a taste of how it is to be exploited by agencies and employers. These experiences are repeated hundreds or maybe thousands of times in Canada. MPP Mike Colle calls it Canada’s dirty secret.
Which brings me to my second point: the caregiver campaign leaders and advocates should disabuse their minds of the notion that if they are nice and not try to rock the boat, the politicians will listen to them.
This is an illusion, to say the least. Just like any campaign or movement for changing the status quo, the caregiver campaign is up against great odds. There exists the employers’ lobby group which, for all we know, may have developed relationships with political parties and politicians of all stripes. For sure, it has a clout that the caregiver campaign groups don’t have.
Check the Canadian Caregivers Association, run by employers of caregivers, which believes that agencies’ fees charged to caregivers should be capped rather than abolished because employers could not afford paying these fees.
The caregiver campaign cannot match the employers lobby group’s resources and connections with politicians. It cannot make political contributions. But although it cannot play this game, its strength is in mobilizing people, organizations, communities and public opinion to show the justness of its cause and exert pressure. Look at the Toronto Star expose which became possible due to the courage of the caregivers who came into the open with their stories of abuse and exploitation. They readily won public opinion and that’s when politicians took notice. First the federal and Ontario politicians played the blame game until it became untenable to not produce solutions to the caregiver problems.
Add to that the persistent organizing and public forum activities of the caregiver support groups and other organizations. Juana Tejada’s case became a rallying symbol. Cancer stricken caregivers surfaced: Celia Mansibang, Madonna Galinato, Precy Limpiado. More caregivers were emboldened to come out to tell their horror stories.
Then the Bill 160, MPP Mike Colle’s private member’s bill, which mainly wanted to ban agency fees on caregivers and set up a registry of these agencies. Then Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca raised the bar and announced he would introduce a bill at Queens Park to stop the abuse and exploitation of caregivers in Ontario. He said it’s a federal program and needs fixing at the federal level.
Enter Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who gladly lent his ear on April 26 and collected position papers for study. No specific commitments but he listened obligingly enough even for only one hour. Which brings the movement of immigration issues of the LCP in a standstill.
Advocates and caregivers should bear in mind that the LCP is an integral part of the immigration policy of Canada. The LCP is touted as an easier means of entry for immigrant aspirants yet numerous nanny stories have exposed its fundamental flaws due mainly to the temporary status and horrible labor conditions.
For these flaws to be removed, the campaign should align itself with other forces that work for fundamental changes in Canada’s immigration policies.
But internally within the Filipino community, a strong mass movement must be built that should include both the traditional groups and the traditionally militant formations that were hardly present in the Kenney consultation.
The LCP battle must be waged by the larger part of this community. It is a great opportunity to empower this community.
Yet before we can achieve this we have to open our eyes to the realpolitik of the caregiver campaign. The politicians need votes, resources and need to look good to stay in power. The community, if it builds a strong movement, cannot be ignored by politicians who thrive in crisis. Some even help build a nation and shape history if they truly serve their people.
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