Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today.
Grassroots Women of B.C. was formed in 1995 as a discussion group by the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. Since then we have evolved into an organization of working-class and marginalized women advocating for our rights and welfare here in Canada and against systemic political and economic marginalization. We also organize in solidarity with other women's struggles around the world against globalization. We are made up of working-class, immigrant, migrant, and indigenous women.
We feel it is important, when addressing the issue of undocumented and temporary foreign workers in Canada, to understand why these workers are entering Canada in the first place. From the sharing of our members, and through the grassroots research that we've done, we know that many working-class women have experienced displacement and forced migration from third world countries because of the impacts of globalization and war. For example, in countries like the Philippines, the government is more interested in serving foreign interests than the interests of its own people. Because they are dependent on foreign aid, the government implements structural adjustment programs and signs unjust trade agreements, aggravating the chronic economic crisis.
So the Philippine government adopts policies of forced migration and becomes reliant on the remittances of overseas workers to prop up their ailing economy. For example, there are over eight million Filipino workers overseas, sending over $14 billion U.S. home a year in remittances.
Once in Canada, these workers serve as cheap labour in the service sector and in domestic work. Many enter Canada through temporary worker programs, such as Citizenship and Immigration Canada's live-in caregiver program, or LCP. Since the early 1980s, nearly 100,000 Filipino women have entered Canada under the LCP and its predecessor, the foreign domestic movement program. We believe that by looking at the experience of long-standing programs such as the LCP, we can draw important lessons when talking about expanding temporary foreign worker programs.
Many temporary foreign workers often face violations in their working conditions because of the requirements of the program. For example, women under the LCP are isolated and often work beyond the hours stipulated in their contracts. They're also asked to perform duties at any hour of the day, since they are required to live in their employers' homes. Many are victims of all forms of abuse, including rape. And even though they're covered by employment standards here in B.C., they often do not complain because of the power dynamics between them and their employers.
We also analyze the nature of the work these women and other temporary foreign workers are doing in Canada. Whether under the LCP, or even afterwards, women are often streamlined into domestic work, doing child care, cleaning, health care or service work--even after the live-in caregiver program.
Many of the workers who come under these programs, such as the LCP or the SAWP—the seasonal agricultural worker program, and now the temporary foreign worker program—or even as refugee claimants, fall out of status and become undocumented because of their inability to complete the requirements of the program or because their refugee claims are denied. Some women under the LCP, for example, are being deported because they cannot complete the strict requirements of the program, for various reasons, such as having to change employers, becoming pregnant, or their employer has passed away, and because of bureaucratic hurdles in the system and delays in processing their work permits.
Those who cannot meet the requirements—and refugee claimants whose claims are denied—face deportation and even permanent separation from their Canadian-born children, which we see as the most extreme form of social exclusion. Many live in fear of the constant threat of deportation.
Some women also fall out of status because of violence within their relationships, which may also lead to sponsorship breakdowns.
I'll share the story of one woman. Her name is Maria, a teacher from Peru, who came here under the live-in caregiver program. She's been unable to complete the requirements of the program because she speaks very little English and has worked for several employers who haven't even given her any record of employment. So she cannot claim she has actually worked the 24 months required under the program. She has a child, whose father was an illegal worker in Canada and who was deported. The child has a very serious health concern, a heart condition. Maria has now been in Canada for seven years, but her claim for permanent residency has been denied. She has no choice other than to file a humanitarian or compassionate grounds complaint—which has very little chance of being approved—or go back to Peru.
Temporary worker programs such as the LCP create problems for families because of family separation. The reunification process is also filled with a lot of problems. Again, as I mentioned in the example of Maria, women who have Canadian-born children also face many challenges. For example, here in B.C., even though your child is born in B.C. and Canada, if the mother does not have a work permit, she cannot access health care, and her child cannot access health care even though it was born here in Canada.
To understand why the presence of undocumented temporary workers in Canada continues to flourish, we look at how immigration needs are really being fueled by employer interests. Temporary and undocumented workers are being exploited by Canadian employers who pay low wages and do not grant benefits, taking advantage of the workers' temporary--or lack of--status.
We in Grassroots Women are very critical of the expansion of the temporary foreign worker program and the recent changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. We anticipate that many of the problems with the current temporary worker programs will be repeated under new programs. We also know that services for these workers will again fall back on community and grassroots organizations such as ours, who are already facing a lack of funding.
At Grassroots Women, we support the call of such other organizations as the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada and SIKLAB to scrap the live-in caregiver program. Women should have the opportunity to come to Canada as permanent residents with their families and also to have their education recognized and practice their professions. We also--