Migranteng Pinoy; Mura na, Pang-export pa!

Migranteng Pinoy; Mura na, Pang-export pa!

By Danielle Bisnar
Philippine Women Centre-Ontario

On October 23, Filipino migrant workers and representatives from Filipino migrant and immigrant organizations from across Canada will meet in a historic gathering at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Entitled “Our History, Situation and Resistance. A gathering of Filipino migrant workers in Canada,” this will bring together migrant workers and activists to coordinate their struggles for just immigration and labour policies in Canada and the Philippines.

Ms. Lualhati Roque of the International Migrant Resource Centre and MIGRANTE International will be part of a panel of discussants that includes representatives of Filipino migrant workers’ groups; Denise Hammond, President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Local 1281); and Tanya Chute Molina, Program Coordinator for Refugees and Migrants of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. A representative from Citizenship and Immigration Canada has also been invited.

Ms. Roque is here in Toronto to participate in the 10th International Metropolis Conference from October 17-21. This year’s theme is Our Diverse Cities: Migration, Diversity and Change. She is currentl;y Executive Director and member of the Board of Trustees of the International Migrant Resource Centre (IMRC). She served as Chief of Staff and Project Officer to Party List representatives of BAYAN MUNA (Rep. Crispin Beltran and Rep. Liza Maza), 12TH Congress, House of Representatives, Republic of the Philippines from 2001 – 2004.

Economic crisis in the Philippines

Filipinos in Canada are among over 8 million Filipinos living and working outside the Philippines. With 10% of its people living overseas, the Philippines is one of the largest migrant nations in the world. Overseas Filipinos annually remit around US$8 billion to the Philippines, propping up a crisis-laden economy. The Philippine administration, under President Macapagal-Arroyo, continues to aggressively push the Labour Export Policy (LEP), which originated under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos with pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Through the LEP, the Philippine government actively exports and promotes highly educated and skilled Filipinos as cheap labour around the world. The export of labour helps to reduce unemployment and social tension in the Philippines and helps to pay for the country’s growing foreign debt.

Filipinos in Canada

Currently there are almost 500 000 Filipinos living and working in Canada, making them the third largest racialized group in the country. Despite being one of the most highly-educated and highly-skilled immigrant communities, they are among Canada’s lowest paid workers. While Filipinos who immigrated in the 1960s and 1970s were able to practice their professions because their education and professional training were recognized by the Canadian government, current Canadian immigration and labour policies make it nearly impossible for Filipinos entering the country to have their skills and education valued in the Canadian economy. Today, Filipinos come to Canada as live-in domestic workers, janitors, cleaners, factory workers or mail-order brides.

The Live-In Caregiver Program

Since the 1980s, a growing number of Filipinos have come to Canada through the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP). Over 90% of participants in the LCP come from the Philippines. The LCP recruits highly-skilled professionals from diverse backgrounds, including nurses, teachers and accountants, and employs them as cheap labour to care for the children and elderly of middle- and upper-class Canadian families. The LCP requires workers to live in the homes of their employers for 24 months over 3 years, leaving them vulnerable to overwork, emotional, sexual and physical abuse, and social isolation. Living under temporary immigration status for the duration of the 24 months of required contracts, live-in caregivers often live in fear of deportation, thereby forcing them to accept the exploitative conditions of their work. The LCP erodes the value of people’s previous experience and education, ensuring that most caregivers remain trapped in a segregated pool of cheap labour even after fulfilling the requirements of the LCP.

Organizing work

Throughout Canada, progressive organizations of Filipino migrants and immigrants have been involved for several decades in the struggle for the rights and welfare of Filipinos here, and in the struggle for a just and lasting peace in the Philippines. Regional organizations in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver have identified an urgent need to coordinate their efforts at a national level in order to respond to worsening political, economic and social crises in the Philippines, and to Canadian immigration and labour policies.

The gathering on October 23 aims to build public awareness about the struggles of overseas Filipinos in Canada. It will also see the formation of a national mechanism whereby migrant workers will be able to more effectively advocate on behalf of Filipinos facing deportation from Canada and to lobby the Canadian and Filipino governments to change their exploitative policies. The public is invited to attend from 10 a.m. on Sunday, October 23, 2005 in room 2211 of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE, located at the St. George subway station). Registration is $10. For information contact 416-878-8772 or siklab_ontario@yahoo.ca