Montreal Pinoy community organizes vs LCP changes

Montreal Pinoy community organizes vs LCP changes

MONTREAL–Members of the Montreal Filipino community at large met last week to discuss the proposed changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) that were recently revealed by Employment Minister Jason Kenney and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander to several Filipino organizations in Toronto earlier this year. Recently, the comments made by Minister Kenney, as reported by the National Post, in which he referred to the LCP as having “mutated” into a “family reunification program,” have sparked outrage in many Filipino communities across Canada.

Present at the meeting, representatives of PINAY, Migrante Quebec, Filipino Association of Montreal and Suburbs (FAMAS), We Care-Givers, Cordillera Peoples Support Group (CPSG), and the Filipino Parents Association of Quebec spoke to the community to announce and express their position on the proposed changes. The atmosphere was one of disbelief and discontent, as community members and representatives discussed the potential impacts to future caregivers, and what kind of message they wanted to send back to the government.

After the overhaul of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) in June of 2014, government officials have stated that the next reforms made would probably be to the LIC program. In fact, the proposed changes, if implemented, essentially rewrite the program altogether. For example, one significant modification is to include caregiving as an eligible profession under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program. Generally, the CEC is for foreign professionals who have the educational or professional background and the economic means to establish themselves in Canada. The addition of caregivers to this immigration category is vexing, as in the Live-in Caregiver program as is, caregivers are paid minimum wage, have an employer specific work permit, and only requires either six months training, or one year of previous experience in the domain. If made part of the CEC program, caregivers would receive a two year work permit, in lieu of the current four year work permit, and also have more rigorous conditions to be eligible, such as passing the Canadian Language Benchmark Level of five in either English of French, and having 72 units (2 years) of education at the university level. Reforms such as this would not only create new obstacles for future caregiver applicants but also make it more difficult for Canadian employers who wish to hire a caregiver.

Despite the fact that there is no retroactive measures for any of the proposed changes, they are still deeply concerning for current and former caregivers, in that they reflect how different the government’s perspective is on the needed revisions of the program.

“Once again, they (Canadian gov’t) are blaming the victim,” says Fiel Salazar, the president of PINAY, a Filipino Women’s Organization in Quebec. “Caregiving is a permanent need and a job that Canadians are not willing to do,” she states. “We need to organize to help future caregivers because things will be much more difficult for them.”

Aside from discussing the proposed changes, the meeting objective was to solidify consensus on the content of a campaign that suggests alternative solutions to problems with the LCP. As the immigration process differs in Quebec for all immigrants, it was crucial to consider these differences, though the campaign content largely matches those of other Filipino groups throughout Canada. The meeting addressed three principal demands. First, that the ‘live-in’ component of the program be optional instead of a requirement. This would mean that both the employer and employee would have an equal say in if the caregiver would live with the employer, making both parties more confortable with the working arrangements. Secondly, that permanent residence status be given upon arrival. This demand is based on the fact that caregiving is a permanent need and that many care-givers face significant problems because of their employer specific work permit and temporary status. Or alternatively, if no permanent residence status was given, it is suggested that caregivers be given an employment specific work permit so that they are able to change and choose employers much more easily. Lastly, families or individuals looking for a caregiver should be part of a centralized registry, making finding credible employment better. Exploitation, abuse, and harassment are unfortunately not uncommon in the domestic workplace, as well as fraudulent employment. Having to register as an employer, but also having a registry to look for new employers, would be a means to reduce problems and equalize the workplace.

The meeting concluded with discussions of how to proceed, highlighting a related and existing incentive by Canadians for an Inclusive Canada, where a petition is circulating. Mobilizing members of all these groups, and networking with other organizations outside of Quebec are part of the strategy to organize a single and strongly unified voice in support of community driven initiatives and against the government’s preliminary proposed changes.

(PRESS RELEASE/By Leah Evangelista Woolner, on behalf of PINAY)