VANCOUVER - Changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) are now in effect but a number of Filipino advocates continue their protest for the scrapping of the LCP. In a rally held in downtown Vancouver recently, members of groups like the Philippine Women Centre BC, SIKLAB, Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance and Filipino Nurses Support Group marched along the streets and rallied in front of the Immigration Building to denounce the Canadian government’s recent changes to the program.
Shouting “Scrap It, Don’t Mend It!”, the nannies used pots and pans while criticizing the current live-in caregiver program and how recent changes to the LCP do not answer the problems in what they claim is Canada’s de facto national childcare program.
“The recent changes do not even scratch the surface of im-proving the situation of live-in caregivers. As long as te fundamental pillars of the program remain untouched, no meaningful change for the better is possible,” said Glecy Duran, Chairperson of SIKLAB-BC.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced changes to the LCP last December 12. It included extending the required period to complete contract work from three to four years, the option to include overtime in the computation of 3,900 required hours of work, and the waiver of a second medical examination among others.
Immigration authorities, however, denied the caregivers’ petition for immediate permanent resident status and the removal of the live-in requirement. Officials explained that removing the live-in requirement would not be consistent with the need for the program that allows the hiring of foreign workers to Canada. They also said that granting immediate permanent residency would not guarantee that caregivers coming to Canada would still work as nannies.
Filipino workers said that they want an end to being used as cheap labor to fill the void of expensive childcare and private healthcare programs needed by Canada’s working families. In their protest, caregiver groups called for a new program to address these issues.
They also said they will continue to escalate the opposition to the LCP and to strengthen the demand for universal childcare and healthcare that works for all.
“With recent attempts to dampen our concerted efforts to expose and oppose the LCP with a bureaucratic facelift, we are even more determined to put an end to the misery our women suffer under this program of modern-day slavery,” said Duran.
