Volpe challenged on deportation of nannies

Volpe challenged on deportation of nannies

National Filipino women advocacy group challenges Volpe to pay more than lip service to issue of undocumented workers

With Prime Minister Volpe’s announcement last week on his plans to ”regularize” illegal residents and undocumented workers, a national alliance of Filipino women’s advocacy groups across Canada expressed hope his statement was not merely lip service in the run-up to a federal election, but a step towards critically examining immigration policies that criminalize and unjustly deport migrant workers, especially domestic workers under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

The National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) has advocated for a number of domestic workers who were or are threatened with unfair deportation by Canada for not being able to complete the 24 months of required live-in work within a three-year period under the LCP. The group is calling for a moratorium on any further deportations of domestic workers.

Since April, NAPWC has collected over 300 signatures for its petition campaign addressed to Minister Volpe demanding that Canada seriously examine the roots of the deportation orders and take immediate action on this matter to protect the rights and welfare of these migrant workers by implementing a moratorium on deportations of domestic workers. Members plan to deliver the signed petition to Volpe next week.

“Many domestic workers do not meet 24 months requirement because of delay in processing work permit and other required papers,” explained Cecilia Diocson, chairperson of the NAPWC. “Still more of them have difficulty finding new work and suffer at the hands of unregulated employment agencies who force domestic workers to work without work permits. Arbitrary deportations of this vulnerable group of women have been increasing, often including their Canadian-born children,” she said.

According to the NAPWC, some women are not able to work because of pregnancy or illness; others are dismissed from their jobs because of the passing away of the elderly in their care or changes to the financial circumstances of their employers. Others are unable to declare worked hours or months because of disputes with their employers or because they did not hold a valid working permit.

“While Volpe publicly acknowledged his intention to address problems surrounding the ’thousands of undocumented workers living illegally in Canada’ and the need ‘to find a way to bring them into the regular mainstream’, Canada should also recognize the contribution of the estimated 90,000 Filipino migrant workers who have come here over the last twenty years,” stated Diocson. “They have already contributed much to the Canadian economy, particularly in light of the lack of a universal day care program accessible to all Canadian women and families, as well as much-needed elderly care in private homes,” she continued.

Among NAPWC’s key recommendations is the scrapping of the LCP. NAPWC believes Canada should let the workers enter the country as independent immigrants. “Related to these recommendations are fundamental changes urgently needed to be implemented which include the removal of the LCP’s mandatory live-in requirement and the attainment of permanent residency upon arrival in Canada,” explained Joy Sioson of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario. “Doing so would take away the basis for exploitation and abuse of domestic workers,“ she affirmed.

(PRESS RELEASE)