PINAY demands for an immediate investigation and intervention
PINAY demands for an immediate investigation and intervention
PINAY, the Filipino women’s organization in Quebec whose members are mostly in the Live-in Caregiver Program, demands the Canadian Government to immediately investigate and intervene appropriately to the allegations by two Filipina caregivers of exploitation and violation of their rights as workers and as individuals allegedly committed by Dr. Ruby Dhalla, a Member of the Parliament for Brampton-Springdale. It is an ironic turn of event that the allegations came out as the government presented a report that chronicles the ill treatment of temporary foreign workers, including those in the federal Live-In Caregiver Program – and the example of the alleged lawbreaker is a lawmaker.
These litanies of maltreatments such as the case of two caregivers, Magdalene Gordo and Richlyn Tongson are only an addition to the shameless long list of violations of labour standard and immigration regulation suffered by majority of workers in the live-in caregiver program. They perform jobs that are not covered in the signed contract, unpaid overtime and working in several places etc. The only difference this time is that the alleged violator is a rising star and well-known member of the Parliament of Canada. This report would not have attracted the attention of the media and would have been completely ignored by politicians if not for the courageous testimonies of these Filipinas.
Many of these violations committed by many employers of live-in caregiver programs are well-documented. Several complaints have been lodged in different provincial employment standard offices across Canada for many years. About 60% of the workers in this program had been through these abuses but not all had the courage to file complaints and expose these abuses because of the fear that they will not be able to complete the 24/36 months eligibility requirement for permanent resident status.
Many of the live-in caregivers compare their status to a two-year jail sentence with the right to apply for parole if good behavior has been deemed justified. And their only offence is simply being a migrant worker?
Evelyn Calugay, the chairperson of PINAY, said that this latest scandal only proves that “the policy has been designed to exploit and discriminate the migrants for profit. The Filipino women workers have been continuously going through this vicious circle of discrimination, exploitation and oppression in our country of origin and now to a country where we are giving our labour…”
PINAY calls on the Canadian government to address the root causes of these abuses and act on the short term and long term demands already submitted to various government bodies, which largely have been ignored.
PINAY demands that the Government review, restructure and implement new immigration policies; grant permanent status upon arrival to live-in caregivers and all migrant workers, work permit should not be employer specific and live in requirement should be optional.
PINAY calls on all Canadian workers to link arms and unite with us in this struggle. Your struggle is our struggle!
(PRESS RELEASE)
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