By Mata Press Service

A Filipino caregiver protests

A battered housewife, she wanted to escape from an abusive husband.

As the sole breadwinner in the family, she wanted to earn a modest living so her daughters, aged 14 and 15, could escape a life of poverty.

But Emnace’s hope for a new life has come crashing down because of “bureaucratic” blinkers that have resulted in an order to get out of Canada this month.

The 40-year-old mother arrived in Vancouver in May 2004 to work as a live-in caregiver. It was her first time to be away from home.

Emnace’s worked for one year as a live-in nanny, taking care of two small children for a Vancouver family.

The family later decided that her services were not needed anymore and she looked for another employment.

Emnace found another job offer and she and her prospective employer submitted to Immigration Canada the required documents for her permit renewal.

The renewal was denied.

But Emnace isn’t heading back to her home in the province of Cebu in central Philippines.

She has decided to challenge the removal order on grounds that bureaucratic delays had caused her working permit not to be renewed, leading to her current “out of status” situation.

“I’ve told them that I will stay for as long as I can stay here,” Emnace said, adding she missed her daughters.

“I’ve done my part. I want to fight for my rights,” she told The Asian Pacific Post in a phone interview.

Glecy Duran, vice chair of Siklab, the national organization of Filipino migrant workers in Canada, told media in the Philippines that Emnace was a victim of bureaucracy in Canada.

January protest against deportation of caregivers

She said the Canadian government failed to provide exhaustive information for live-in caregivers on their stay in the country.

“She did find another employer but the job didn’t materialize. Then she got another job offer. This time, she and her prospective employer submitted all the necessary documents,” Duran was quoted as saying.

However, due to processing delays, Emnace was not re-issued a valid working permit and lost her temporary status.

“Live-in caregivers under the Live-in Caregiver Program are required to hold a valid working permit issued which is good for one year and tie the live-in caregivers to working for only one employer,” Siklab said.

Duran said the government manual states that caregivers are allowed to change employers under the three year limit and Emnace was very well within the limit.

“Emelda should not be deported because she did her part and looked for employers. The bureaucracy delayed the processing of her papers,” Duran said.

Immigration Canada would not comment on Emnace’s case or claims because of privacy concerns.

Angela Battiston, a spokesperson for Immigration Canada, said that whenever a foreign caregiver had a change in employer, “there is flexibility” on the part of the agency in processing new work permits.

She stressed that responsibility of immediately informing Immigration Canada about a possible change in employment status is the “onus of the employee.”

“It is usually accommodated with a 90-day permit,” she said.

On getting the removal order on April 2, Emnace first inclination was to voluntarily leave Canada, fearing it might jeopardize her future chances of returning. But the harsh realities started to bear down on her. She had no air fare money. She approached the Philippine Consulate in Vancouver but was told that there is no money readily available and that a funding request must be sent first to Manila.

Emnace is also saddled by debt she incurred to finance her caregiver course and the expenses she had for her travel to Canada.

“Life is hard in the Philippines. There are no jobs. How can my daughters go to school?” she said.

Emnace is one of thousands of Filipino women who come to Canada under Immigration Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program.

In the last two and a half decades, over 100,000 Filipinos have come to Canada as caregivers, comprising 80 percent of the current caregiver work force in the country. Hiring a foreign caregiver is cheaper than paying for regular child care.

Like Emnace, most if not all Filipino women working as nannies and domestic workers in various countries in the world are escaping from poverty from the Philippines.

There had been various studies indicating that the Live-in Caregiver Program has led to the exploitation of migrant women who have to deal with long work hours, minimal pay and sometimes non-payment of regular salaries, loss of privacy and at times sexual harassment.

“The Live-In Caregive Program sentences people, mainly women, to a lifetime of live-in domestic, cleaning, and other service sector work. We are hailed as modern-day heroes, but in fact, we are modern-day slaves,” says Siklab.

As an incentive to attract home care workers from overseas, foreign caregivers are eligible for permanent resident status after working in Canada for two years. Once the caregiver becomes a permanent resident, they can sponsor their family for immigration and can eventually obtain Canadian citizenship.

The program started in 1992 because of the shortage of Canadians willing to work as nannies.

A local maid hiring agency said: “Foreign caregivers are very grateful for the opportunity to come to Canada and are willing to work harder. Canadian caregivers, on the other hand, are usually not as flexible with respect to overtime, working hours and the type of work they are willing to do.”

Nannies have to work 40 hours per week or more in childcare and do one-third of household related duties. Out of the minimum salary they get paid, their employers deduct specific amounts for room and board, income tax, employment insurance and Canada pension plan.