Brief Presentation
Transcript: By Avery Adams Filipino Caregivers in Canada Background Background The care giving industry is very successful in the Philippines. Remittances from migrant domestic workers is the Philippines economy’s largest origin of foreign currency. In 1999, it totaled almost $7 billion. Migrant workers in Canada from the Philippines is continuously growing (Figure 1). The Philippines have debts from Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPS). SAPS = unemployment Unemployment = finding work in Canada Figure 1 "...globalization has also led to widening disparities of employment opportunities, incomes and living standards across the globe. In some countries, globalization has adversely affected jobs and livelihoods in traditional sectors. The failure of globalization to create new jobs where people live is a prime factor in increasing migration pressures. 'When people cannot find work at home in their communities and societies they look elsewhere.'" -UN Economic and Social Council, 2006. Globalization & Migrant Workers Globalization& Migration Workers Gendered Impacts Gendered Impacts Mothers Mothers Greater impact on family with female migration than male detached from their own family to emotionally care for their work family hard to mother their real family across seas psychological effects on their children job seen as for family survival not a desired career Female Migration Female Migration Canada is a major destination for female foreign workers about 7,000 of 9,000 Filipino migrant workers in Canada are female (Figure 2) increasing Filipino women in care work such as nannies, nurses, and domestic workers Figure 2: Major overseas work destinations from the Philippines in 2010 Figure 2 9,737 total/ 7,400 female Push and Pull Factors Push&Pull Factors Push Factors Pull Factors cycle of poverty high rates of unemployment dislocated rural labour is poorly taken in by the factories of the export processing zones labour export policies that the state highly encourages employment offers are more attractive give household back in the Philippines with an infusion of foreign dollars = higher expenditures support families back home The Problems The Problems Fewer Rights Abusive Working Conditions Limited Access to Services It is rare if Employment and Immigration investigate a complaint made by an employee to make their employer behave properly and often action is only taken when a migrant domestic worker is at breach of contract. Loss of jobs, sudden illnesses or pregnancies can lead to the Filipino caregiver to be instantly deported. Currently, the only monitoring of caregivers' rights are complaint-driven. Complaint-driven monitoring is not effective because most do not even know where to file a complaint and are freightened by the consequences. Where workers do submit a formal complaint, only in British Columbia is there a policy to grant them permission to remain in Canada while the complaint is investigated. Temporary migrant workers are denied federally-funded settlement services (nterpretation and translation of documents, or help to arrange these services, help filling out forms and applications, english classes, help finding a job or training, information about other community services, schools and health care). They often lack access to health care, and information on medical and legal rights. They pay taxes and into social benefit programs that they might never claim. Ways Forward Permanant Residency long-term solution do not have to rely on employer for access to housing, access to health care, and information on basic rights not tied to one employer Granted Landed Immigrant Status Buffer Time Consider a buffer time inbetween a complaint investigation or loss of job therefore, before being deported back to the Philippines, the caregivers have a time period to find another job or recover from abuse also keep track which companies/employers are keeping proper working conditions and following codes of conducts because the women in the ‘buffer time’ will not be scared to speak of their experiences if immediate deportation is off the table Very simple give the caregivers the rights they deserve as human beings enforce access to services without having to go through employer Enforce Temporary Migrant Workers' Rights Canadian Council for Refugees, 2018a. “Migrant Workers-the Issues.” Canadian Council for Refugees, 2018b. “Evaluating Migrant Worker Rights in Canada”. Chain of Love. Dir. Marije Meerman. 2001. Coalition for Domestic Worker Rights Canada (CDWRC), 2018. “Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers’ and Caregivers’ Rights." Mikita, Jeanne Marie. “State Policy and the Migration of Foreign Domestic Workers in Canada.” The Migration of Filipina Nannies to Vancouver, British Columbia (1994). Parrenas, Rhacel Salazar. "Global Women." The Care Crisis in the Philippines: Children and Transnational Families in the New Global Economy (2004): 39-54. Stasiulis, D. and A. Bakan. “Underdevelopment, Structural Adjustment and
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