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Our non-profit blog was inspired by a Filipina domestic from the Middle East who left her newborn baby – with placenta still attached – IN the Bahrain Gulf Air airplane toilet - upon landing in Manila, read her story here http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/this-blog-was-inspired-by-filipina.htm . Her despair and desperation inspired this blog to gather all possible stories in order to help, to inform and to empower all Filipina nannies, caregivers and maids -- to liberate themselves from abuses of all forms: physical, rape, verbal, exploitation, overtime working without pay.... Send us your stories. Stay anonymous - if you like. (No one can afford to deny this matter anymore). Write in Tagalog, or your dialect, or English, or French, or any language. ALL nannies, caregivers and domestic maids are welcome, send your stories to mangococonutmay1@gmail.com
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The Canadian Slave Trade

The abuse of temporary foreign workers (TFW) has become a modern day slave trade.

http://OperationMaple.ca/big-business/temporary-foreign-workers-slavery-canada.html

http://youtu.be/pWONzCbU6vM - YouTube

The Nanny Business documentary on Global TV's 'Currents' July 7

PLIGHT OF CANADA’S IMPORTED CAREGIVERS

JOELINA MALUTO in documentary

An estimated 5000 women arrive in Canada every to serve as caregivers. These women, mostly escaping poverty in the Philippines, need to support the families they left behind and dream of a starting a new life in Canada. For many that becomes a reality, but others become victims of fraud, exploitation and abuse. THE NANNY BUSINESS, a documentary by Emmy Award winning filmmaker Shelley Saywell, profiles a few of the nannies and the ordeals they endured after arriving. It will be broadcast on Global Television’s summer documentary series ‘Currents’ on Wednesday, July 7 at 10 pm.

The nannies arrive in Canada under the government’s Live- In Caregiver Program that gives them temporary visas but stipulates that they must spend a minimum of two years working and living in the homes of Canadian families before they can qualify for residency status. For many of these women that two year period can be a nightmare locking them into households where intolerable work demands are made, including inhumanly long work days for below minimum wage, and subjected to verbal and even physical abuse.

THE NANNY BUSINESS traces the story of Edelyn Pineda who left her three children behind and paid thousands of dollars to a recruitment agency in Canada to make the arrangements and book her with a family. She arrived to discover that the agent had taken her fee but the “employer” who signed her contract was not interested in her services. “I can’t believe this has happened to me,” Edelyn told the filmmakers the day after she arrived, with no money and no place to stay. “I will never get over this.”

Joelina Maluto came to Canada after working in Hong Kong and the Middle East because “I heard Canada was a good country, and after two years I could bring my children here.” Instead, she arrived to find she had no job and was forced to live in her agent’s basement with 16 other nannies for the next 2 and a half months. When the agent finally got her a job, the employer forced her to work 18 hour days.

Edelyn and Joelina were among several nannies brave enough to go public about their experiences in the hope of forcing change. Their stories are put into wider context by journalist Susan McClelland, whose own search for a nanny led her to this story, and who’s subsequent article “Nanny Abuse” for Walrus Magazine won an Amnesty Award.

Susan hopes that increasing publicity about the plight of nannies under this program will bring change. “I’ve written about sex trafficking, but caregiver trafficking is something we are now finding out about too,” she says. “These women are put in very vulnerable situations and we need to protect them from exploitation and cruelty—-they need to have the same rights that every employee in this country enjoys.”

THE NANNY BUSINESS is a Bishari Films production commissioned by Global Television. It was written and directed by Shelley Saywell and produced by Deborah Parks.

PRESS RELEASE
==========

The nannies' state of uncertainty

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/the-nannies-state-of-uncertainty/article1390190/

Andrew Ryan: Television

The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Jul. 06 2010, 3:22 PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Sep. 06 2012, 4:02 PM EDT

Filipina nannies are part of the cultural fabric of almost every Canadian city.

Wander into any relatively upscale neighbourhood and you'll see scores of them. You can see the nannies on the subway, in stores and in parks, most often wheeling strollers with other people's children.

And with rare exceptions, they are pleasant and unassuming women, usually sporting small, shy smiles. Coming to Canada has been a dream realized for most; we never hear about the ones who fall prey to exploitation and abuse.

But it goes on as we speak. The sharp documentary The Nanny Business (Global, 10 p.m.) tells the stories of several Filipina nannies who came here to escape poverty and to support the families they left behind, but found themselves betrayed.

At the core of the problem is the fact that nannies just keep coming. Written and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Shelley Saywell, the report states that since 1990 approximately 100,000 Filipina women have come to Canada to work as nannies; every year, roughly 5,000 more show up.

The big draw, for most, has been a federal initiative called the Live-In Caregiver Program. How it works: Each Filipina nanny must live in an employer's home for two years out of a three-year period. At the end of the third year, the nanny can apply for Canadian citizenship.

In theory, the Live-In Caregiver Program seems like the perfect arrangement. Working families here can offset childcare costs with a live-in nanny; the nannies can start a new life in a new country and put aside some money for family back home, or the future.

But the unscrupulous always find a way to slip through the cracks when there is money to be skimmed from a large and willing workforce.

The film details how some Filipina nannies have been cheated by recruiters and treated shabbily by employers. Saywell convinces some victims of the egregious cases to tell their stories, and they are not easy to watch.

Perhaps the film's most haunting image is that of Edelyn, a young woman waiting to be picked up at the Toronto airport on a bitterly cold night in February. Welcome to Canada.

At 27, Edelyn has left behind her own three young children and spent three days connecting on flights from Hong Kong to Toronto. In her hand, she clutches a contract enabling her to work as a live-in caregiver; in her pocket, she has $10, all her money in the world.

Worse, no one ever comes to pick up Edelyn. She ends up in a crowded apartment of fellow Filipino newcomers, each lured here by the promise of a steady job in a family home.

Although she's paid thousands to a Canadian recruitment agency, Edelyn discovers that the employer who signed her contract has decided not to use her services. She is clearly devastated and tells the camera, "I will never get over this."

Nor will Joelina, a Filipina who came here after years working as a nanny in Hong Kong and the Middle East. Joelina's plan was to save some money, put down roots and eventually bring her own children to Canada.

Like Edelyn, Joelina arrived to find she had no job and was forced to live in her agent's basement for nearly three months - along with 16 other nannies. When her agent finally found her a job, she was forced to work 18-hour days for far below the minimum wage. For some nannies, the salary works out to less than $3 an hour.

The film takes some informed perspective from Canadian journalist Susan McClelland, whose own search for a nanny resulted in the Walrus magazine article Nanny Abuse, which won a coveted Amnesty Award.

The personal stories of The Nanny Business are heartbreaking, but some effort is being made to right the situation. The willingness of Edelyn and Joelina and other nannies to tell their stories is a step in the right direction. Human-rights advocates and parents are rallying to the cause.

Even then, for all its best intentions and satisfied customers, the Live-In Caregiver Program itself appears to be deeply flawed. The film's lingering impression is that the current shameful state of the nanny business is unlikely to change any time soon.

More than once, the nannies' plight is referred to as "caregiver trafficking," which seems a sadly apt description. For some Filipino women, the great Canadian dream has become a nightmare.

The Nanny Business: A Documentary on the Plight of Filipina nannies in Canada

By Jeff | Tuesday, July 6, 2010 | 8 Comments

On our family vacation in Vancouver Canada, the Wife and the Brother-In-Law were buying atis and lanzones in Granville Island‘s public market, so I minded the kids. While I was watching them, I noticed some Filipinas who were also taking care of children. These children were white and didn’t look like hapas, so I figured that the Filipinas must have been nannies. I had heard about Filipina nannies in Hong Kong, and I met some when I went there. As many people migrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, it appeared to me that the custom of hiring Filipina nannies seemed to go with them.

In the Philippines, I had heard the occasional story of exploitation and abuse by employers of Hong Kong nannies. The documentary The Nanny Business talks about the exploitation and abuse of Filipina nannies not in Hong Kong but in Canada. A Canadian law offering fast track residency for immigrant caregivers has caused Filipinas to seek nanny jobs in Canada. The documentary follows some of these Filipinas. Edelyn Pineda paid thousands of dollars to a Canadian recruiter and then arrived in Toronto to find that her “employer” did not want her services. She had no money or a place to stay. Joelina Maluto lived in her recruitment agent’s basement with 16 others for two and a half months before getting a job where her employer forced her to work 18 hour days. Journalist Susan McClelland puts their stories in a larger context. “I’ve written about sex trafficking, but caregiver trafficking is something we are now finding out about too,” she says. Her article on this subject won a Canadian Amnesty Award.

The Nanny Business was written by Shelley Saywell and produced by Deborah Parks. It will be broadcast on Global Television’s summer documentary series ‘Currents’ on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 10 pm.

(c)The Nanny Business. Used by permission

Edelyn Pineda holds a picture of her daughter

http://www.8asians.com/2010/07/06/the-nanny-business-a-documentary-on-the-plight-of-filipina-nannies-in-canada/

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Temporary ain't what it used to be

by Pinay Quebec (Notes) on Friday, May 17, 2013 at 10:05am

Winnipeg Free Press Temporary ain't what it used to be By: Editorial

Rule No. 1 of Canada's immigration policy is: You can't come here because you might take a job from a Canadian. This is followed by adense, scarcely penetrable jungle of rules by which you might come here and work if you are hired as a nanny or a tomato harvester or if you are a refugee from political oppression or if your close relatives who live here will sponsor you or a wide range of other special cases. Each of these has an administrative structure to keep most of the people out.

The final rule is that all the rules are mutable if the minister is in political hot water. In the nature of immigration, the minister is in hot water most of the time because heart-rending tales surface every day where faithful application of the rules produces inhumane results. Consequently, the rules are in constant flux, new rules are written in response to last week's scandal and only full-time professional immigration consultants can tell employers and prospective migrants what is permitted on any given day.

The United States and the European Union operate in much the same way, except that the enormous numbers of illegal migrants flooding in from Mexico and North Africa make the elaborate structure of rules nearlypointless in those countries. Not so many people are trying to sneak into Canada, except as a back door into the U.S. American and European employers remedy skill shortages by hiring illegal immigrants. With a smaller pool of illegals, Canadian employers are more severely constrained.

In the latest fine-tuning of Canada's migration micro-management, the government repealed a year-old rule that employers could pay temporary foreign workers 15 per cent less than the average wage paid to Canadians for the same work. Information-technology workers at a bank head office in Toronto had been astonished to learn they were being laid off andtheir work given to an outside firm that would do it cheaper by hiring people from India. Their last duty before leaving would be to train the temporary foreign workers. The government cut its political losses inthat scandal by eliminating the 15 per cent discount rule.

That will not be the end of the story. The temporary foreign worker rule has been stretched over the years so that it is no longer just a way to bring some grape-pickers in for a few weeks of harvesting. A migrant can stay in a Canadian job four years and still be considered a temporary foreign worker. Four years is a long time for a Canadian to stay in many private-sector jobs. Calling these temporary jobs, therefore, is an odd use of language.

The difference for people in the so-called temporary foreign worker program is that they are forbidden the hope every other Canadian worker has of working up to a better job or going down the street to take better work from another employer. It is a way of exempting employers from competitive pressure to treat their workers well. It was not designed for that purpose, but as with most immigration rules, the unintended consequences are the ones that attract attention.

Canadian restaurant chains want to advertise uniform prices across the country. This is important for publicity campaigns. But Alberta fast-food franchises cannot keep counter-servers at the wages that can be paid under the national price structure, and so they have turned to the temporary foreign worker program. The problem could be solved by regional variation in prices at the fast-food franchises or by launching different brands in regions of labour shortage. The solution at the moment is to pretend that these are temporary scarcities filled by temporary workers, but that fiction will not stand up to close scrutiny and will probably have to be abandoned.

In some industries, such as information technology, Canadian workers are competing with workers in other countries. If the workers are not brought to Canada, the information can be sent to Mumbai. Canadian immigration policy is not likely to become logical and consistent, but it should respond to market realities.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/temporary-aint-what-it-used-to-be-207157371.html

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The Nanny Effect: The Impact of Canada's Live-In Care Program on Filipino-Canadian Identity

John-Paul Abelshauser

http://capstoneseminarseries.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/john-paul-abelshauser1.pdf

CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges
Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012.
2
CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges Volume 2,
Number 1, Spring 2012.
Managing Editors
Ellen Huijgh and Anne Trépanier
Desk-top publishing
Ryan Kuhne and Anne Trépanier
Editorial Board
John-Paul Abelshauser, James Benning, Carly Donaldson, Lashia Jones, Elaine Radman,
Ellen Huijgh, and Anne Trépanier
Special thanks
Patrick Lyons, Ryan Kuhne, and Ellen Huijgh
Copyright Notice
© John-Paul Abelshauser, April 2012

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy, or transmission of this publication, or part
thereof in excess of one paragraph (other than as a PDF file at the discretion of School of
Canadian Studies at Carleton University) may be made without the written permission of the
author. To quote this article refer to: ― John-Paul Abelshauser , " The Nanny Effect: The
Impact Of Canada’s Live-In Care Program On Filipino-Canadian Identity" ‖ Capstone Seminar
Series, Volume 2, number 1, Spring 2012, Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges, page
number and date of accession to this website: http://capstoneseminarseries.wordpress.com
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
ON FILIPINO-CANADIAN IDENTITY
3
John-Paul Abelshauser
The Nanny Effect: The impact of Canada’s Live-in Care program on
Filipino-Canadian Identity

ABSTRACT

The Live-in Caregiver program (LCP) has provided tens of thousands of
migrant workers an indirect path towards Canadian citizenship.
Nowhere has the response to the call been as great as from the tiny
Southeast Asian country of the Philippines. Studies have observed the
negative effects this access to cheap labour has had on the lives of
individual Filipino-Canadians: as undervalued servants, many employers
including high profile government Ministers, have been exposed for not
only abuse of the program, but for human rights abuses as well. None of
these studies, however, have examined the larger effect the program has
had on Filipino self-identity and community formation. How has
primary identification of the Filipino-Canadian as “domestic” muted the
Filipino-Canadian experience, relegating their participation within the
Canadian narrative to the back of the proverbial bus? Through an
examination of the requirements of the LCP and their impact as
expressed by Filipina workers, this paper argues for the need of
additional study addressing the entrenched stigmatization the program
has unintentionally imposed on the Filipino nanny, and their ability to be
seen as equal citizens in Canadian society.

KEY WORDS
Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP); Filipino; Stigma; Nanny; Canada
JOHN-PAUL ALBELSHAUSER
CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges
Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012.
4
This poem is for the rundown immigrant who works a shit job, for shit
pay, to make sure his kid's life is more than just shit....This poem is for the
Filipino housekeeper.

Chris Tse, SPEAKout Summer Slam 2012

Canada is a nation of immigrants. From the earliest accounts
detailing Canada’s growth into a “great” nation, there have been pivotal
moments where national identity was forged by the sheer will of the
newcomer’s ultimate sense of purpose: to seek the better life. The
apparent success stories seem seamlessly woven into the national narrative
in order to produce the myth of Canada as the land of golden opportunity-
-a national myth as grandiose as the landscape itself. Recently, Eva Mackay
and Daniel Francis, respectively, have challenged the notion that the
multicultural narrative of Canada began only after the policy of
Multiculturalism was introduced in the 1980’s. As Francis observes in the
opening of National Dream, “Obviously, many people are excluded or
marginalized by the core myths of Canadian history. That is why so many
of the myths are under attack at the moment; they do not express a reality
of which many Canadians recognize themselves to be a part” (12). So
prominent, however, are the narratives of the glorious few who
championed the pioneering spirit of the immigrant experience during the
early years of Confederation, that it has become increasingly challenging to
incorporate the voices of the others--those whose narratives are absent from
grade-school textbooks. These are the voices of immigrants who have
played their own role in the shaping of Canadian identity, but whose stories
remain shadowy, often half-formed and misshapen narratives.

This paper attempts to cast light on one of these shadow narratives

by directing focus on the experience of a particular group of Canadian

immigrants, the Filipino nationals who came to Canada under the Live-in

Caregiver Program (LCP). Originally known as the Foreign Domestic
Movement, the LCP was specifically implemented as an agreement between
Canada and Caribbean countries during the 1960’s, designed to bring
temporary domestic workers to Canada (Reed 475). It was eventually
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
ON FILIPINO-CANADIAN IDENTITY
5
renamed and broadened to extend its reach to a much larger global pool
(Oxman-Martinez, Hanley, and Cheung 5). Since its inception in 1981, the
program has attracted a significant number of Filipino nationals to
immigrate to Canada. My paper will direct attention to a little-considered
aspect of the program: how it has contributed to the stigmatization of the
Filipino community, principally through the association of the Filipino-
Canadian with domestic work--what I term the “nanny effect.” The
premise of this paper thus examines the initiative of the Live-in Caregiver
Program (LCP) for its two-fold effect: first, for its implications on the
workers themselves, and secondly, for the broader, social effect on the
Filipino community that the LCP may be reinforcing.

The stigmatization largely arises from the cultural stereotype that
associates “Filipino” with “domestic worker.” The association finds
expression in countless ways--usually as jokes about Filipino nannies.
Recently, however, the stereotype has inspired more serious contemplation
about the unsung heroism of immigrant workers. In the SPEAKout
Summer Slam held at the Royal Ontario Museum on August 6, 2010,
Chinese-Canadian Carleton University graduate, Chris Tse does just that.
Performing a poem titled “Jobs,” he challenges the cliché complaint, “I
hate how the immigrants come to this country and take our jobs.” He then
goes on to chronicle the hard work, the herculean efforts of immigrant
workers, like his father, who do the kind of work no one else wants to do.
He sums up the poem’s central message when he finishes with a special
dedication: “This poem is for the rundown immigrant who works a shit
job, for shit pay, to make sure his kid’s life is more than just shit.” Notably,
among the little-regarded occupations to whom he dedicates the poem, he
announces: “This poem is for the Filipino housekeeper.” Inspired by Tse’s
chronicling of the “unglorious” pioneers of today, this paper aims to
address the image of the “Filipino housekeeper” as more than a harmless
stereotype but the articulation of a social stigma; moreover, it suggests that
the stigmatization goes beyond the Filipina housekeeper and extends much
wider, to afflict the Filipino-Canadian community.

JOHN-PAUL ALBELSHAUSER
CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges
Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012.
6

The present study suggests through several case studies that the
stigma of the Filipino housekeeper shapes and influences not only how
Filipinos in general might be perceived by other Canadians, but also how
Filipinos perceive themselves and imagine themselves to be perceived.

The Beginnings of Filipino Immigration

According to data collected through Statistics Canada, the vast
majority of newcomers to Canada were being drawn, until the early 1950s,
from mainly white Euro-centric, British, and American demographics.
However, with an increasing shift in global situations and political
pressures from Britain, Canada was encouraged to revisit the way
immigration policies were being instituted. The end of WWII and an
increasingly stabilized Europe had an immense effect on migration to
North America in general and to Canada in particular (Nelles 165). New
policy challenges emerged as the government attempted to fill the gap
created by dwindling numbers of traditional immigrants. In an effort to
stem the tide of lower birthrates and stagnating population growth, the
Canadian government significantly revised many of the immigration
policies, which were primarily race-based. Prior to 1962, Canada’s
immigration policies restricted the entry of non-white immigrants; changes
in immigration regulations in the early and mid-1960s signaled a shift from
a race-based to a points-based system. It was the points-based system that
made possible the first significant influx of Filipino immigrants.
In her book From Sunbelt to Snowbelt: Filipinos in Canada, Anita Beltran
Chen offers insight into the patterns of Filipino immigration. Her study is
worth examining in some detail because it is the first and only one of its
kind, and because it examines the demographics of the Filipino-Canadian
community’s development, which has a relatively recent history that begins
largely in the late1960s. Her well documented and thorough study traces
the patterns of migration and identifies the key motives fueling the desire
in many Filipinos to immigrate to Canada over the last forty years. She
notes two early, distinct periods that saw the greatest number of Filipinos
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
ON FILIPINO-CANADIAN IDENTITY
7
arriving into Canada. The “first wave,” as she refers to it, began during the
1960s and lasted until the mid1970s. Doctors, nurses, and secretarial
positions were the first types of employment opportunities awaiting the
arrival of this wave of immigrants.

The “second wave” of Filipino immigration, according to Chen,
began in the late 1970s and continued until the late 1980s. As Chen’s first
chapter of her book demonstrates, the socio-demographics of Filipino
immigration was shaped by immigration policy and the occupational needs
of the Canadian economy. The author observes the heavy concentration of
Filipino immigrants in the working age group (between 20-39 years old),
noting that almost one in every four nurses admitted into Canada in the
late 1960s was from the Philippines (27). The second-wave influx was also
due to a shift in government policy that began to focus on reunifying
families of immigrants, now presumably settled, that arrived in the previous
wave of the early 1970s (59). The government permitted the sponsorship
of additional family members, allowing extended family in the Philippines
to join those already in Canada. The rationale for encouraging sponsorship
was presumably humanitarian, reuniting separated family members;
however, sponsorship stringently put the burden, primarily financial but
also personal, on the sponsor. As Chen examines in chapters 6 and 9 of
From Sunbelt to Snowbelt, the presence of these elderly Filipinos affected not
only the socio-demographics but also the structures of family, ethnic, and
social life of Filipino Canadians.

Moreover, Chen observes two other significant groups comprising
the immigration waves: factory workers for the garment industry in the
mid-1970s, and female domestic workers from the mid-1980s to the early
1990s. In a Web article designed for the general reader, Chen addresses the
prevailing immigration scenario involving the LCP classification, and she
articulates precisely the mechanism that created the stigmatized
demographic of the “Filipino nanny”:

JOHN-PAUL ALBELSHAUSER
CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges
Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012.
8

Those admitted as service workers from the Philippines are
mostly employed as nannies and domestics. But they are not
illiterate girls from rural areas; rather, a majority of them have
had some college training, if not a college or university degree
from the home country. Since domestic service occupations are
almost the only ones in demand in Canada and Canadians are
generally not prepared to take them, they provide the only basis
under which Filipinos are admitted into the country.
(“Multicultural Canada”)
As Chen’s commentary points out, the Filipino nationals arriving Canada
were admitted, for the most part, to occupy a social demographic
particularly disdained by Canadians--that of domestic worker. By
occupying an employment niche overwhelmingly rejected by most
Canadians, Filipino nannies take on the social stigma attached to the work
despite educational and work experience that, under different
circumstances, should have ensured higher status. And as Chen observes,
while the LCP may not have been intended to pigeon-hole Filipinos in
particular, the fact that “domestic service occupations are almost always the
only ones in demand,” establishes the stereotypical connection between the
LCP and the Filipino Canadian who may not even be employed as a domestic
worker.

Interestingly, Chen provides statistics that might surprise the average
reader, in asserting that the majority of Filipinos in the program represent
an educated and skilled labour force. What should be more surprising,
however, though it is rarely addressed, is why such a workforce would be
willing to accept the economic and social humiliation of menial jobs that
Canadians themselves are not willing to do. Is there a perception that by
assuming such positions, Filipinos are either unaware of the stigma or are
willing to assume the burden of carrying it? While it is beyond the scope of
this study to address fully the complexity of immigrant motivations, it
nevertheless raises for a single purpose the complex scenario of an often
overqualified immigrant assuming work considered too menial for a
natural-born citizen to perform : to point to the mechanism that
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
ON FILIPINO-CANADIAN IDENTITY
9
systemically undervalues the contribution of Filipinos in Canadian society
because of the kind of work (menial and meaningless) that they are
perceived as willing to perform.

Literature Review: The Impact of the Live-In Caregiver Program

The description of a Live-in caregiver as found on the Canadian
government’s Website seems quite straight forward and unassuming: “Livein
caregivers are individuals who are qualified to provide care for children,
elderly persons or persons with disabilities in private homes without
supervision. Live-in caregivers must live in the private home where they
work in Canada” (“Live in Care Program”). What previous research and
workers’ testimonials have uncovered, however, is primarily the
unfavourable, often oppressive and abusive working conditions that the
mainly Filipina domestic workers brought in through the LCP have faced.
Distinct from other immigration programs, the LCP appears to
reinforce gender and class distinctions. The program brings in service
sector labour, mainly domestic workers, and tends to attract mainly
women--two particularly vulnerable groups within the Canadian
population. Furthermore, the program exacerbates the vulnerability of the
female domestic worker it recruits through additional program
requirements: permanent status is withheld for the first two year after
arrival, and place of residency while in Canada is restricted to that of the
employer. Application by the Canadian sponsor is made through the
government website, and approval of the sponsor application is granted
without a visit to the place of residency ever being conducted. Thus, the
LCP applicant must agree to live in the sponsor’s home “site unseen.”
Having to live on-site has been cited as a major issue of contention in
almost every article critiquing the program. The habitation requirement
frequently extends the number of working hours the care-giver must give
service, as it promotes the idea of the live-in domestic as available at all
times. The habitation requirement also creates potential tensions not
experienced in other employment relationships; the blurring of personal
JOHN-PAUL ALBELSHAUSER
CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges
Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012.
10
and professional lines may create additional stress in an already uneasy and
unfamiliar situation.

More recent studies have begun to emerge from a new generation of
Filipino-Canadian academics. Jessica Eric and Maximillian V. Goli have
examined many of the repercussions the LCP has had on family situations.
They point to the challenging integration issues new community members
must face on the long road to citizenship. In spite of their research,
however, certain key issues remain largely unexamined. In particular, they
fail to address how the very nature of the program and its particular criteria
have contributed to a much wider social effect that results when an ethnic
group (like the Filipinos) become closely associated (and even identified)
with the LCP. This present study points to the need to consider the
consequent complications faced by the larger ethnic community long after
the ultimate goal of citizenship are met.

Joseph Gerard B. Cuenca’s research reviews labour and migrant
issues as they apply specifically to the Live-in Care Program and its caregivers.
Cuenca discusses in particular why Filipinas view Canada as an ideal
destination for where to immigrate. Traditional destinations, like Hong
Kong or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, have increasingly been scrutinized
and publicized for the poor treatment of domestic workers. Canada, on the
other hand, with its reputation for fair working conditions and protection
of civil liberties, has been perceived more favourably (Cuenca 70). By
closely scrutinizing the evolution of the program, however, Cuenca’s study
uncovers that although Canada may offer better working conditions for its
foreign temporary workers than Hong Kong or Saudi Arabia, it also
maintains similar discriminatory practices (70).

Discussing concerns similar to Cuenca’s, The Centre of Excellence
for Research on Immigration and Diversity turns the focus on the needs of
the immigrant workers themselves. The Centre identifies the additional
problems surrounding the program’s ultimate goal to “address the
immediate needs of Canadian families for affordable child care and
eldercare” (Pratt et al. 6). Ultimately intended to provide an avenue for the
unskilled and moderately educated, the Live-in Care program ostensibly
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
ON FILIPINO-CANADIAN IDENTITY
11
also provides the opportunity to obtain citizenship status in Canada. While
Pratt and the others suggest that “the end may justify the means,” they also
point out that “getting there” has become increasingly complex. To the
observations made by Pratt and the others, this present study adds that
while the LCP does provide the opportunity for acquiring citizenship, it
comes with a cost to personal, social, and community identity--a cost that
is not acknowledged, much less foreseen.

Geraldine Pratt’s work in general has followed the LCP. She
provides a critical assessment of its impact for over fifteen years. She has
been responsible for documenting the stories of Filipinas who entered
Canada as domestics. In addition to her published articles and books, Pratt
has written a collaborative theatrical testimonial play that has been
instrumental in showcasing the implications of LCP on many Filipina
domestics, using their voices to narrate the play. Much of her work in
providing detailed accounts of the Filipino domestic worker’s experience
has been shaped by feminist theory that recognizes the power of the
individual’s voice in recounting their story to shape personal and collective
identity. Pratt--despite obviously not identifying neither as a Filipina nor as
a domestic worker--demonstrates the value that the role of “ally” plays in
helping to ensure all voices are heard and incorporated into the collective
narrative.

If studies like Pratt’s focus on the negative experience of Filipinos
brought in through the LCR, Ren Thomas’s study examines the societal
patterns that have led to Filipinos relative successes in Canada. Thomas’s
study focuses on Filipinos in Toronto, Canada’s largest urban centre and
examines the qualities that make Filipinos ideal candidate for citizenship
within Canada. Without linking the LCP to the emergence of the Filipino
community of Toronto, Thomas notes the key reasons for why Filipinos
immigrating to Canada should ultimately find success: “....Filipinos have
high educational levels, English fluency, and other characteristics that
should make it easier to immigrate and integrate into a postindustrial labour
market” (5). It becomes questionable then why with these particular
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attributes, Filipinos on average continue to occupy the lower socioeconomic
brackets of Canadian society.

One researcher offering an explanation for the challenges being faced
by the Filipino community is Harsha Wailia. As a Vancouver-based writer
specializing in the law, her article examines the effect that cheap migrant
labour has had in establishing what she dubs, in the title of her essay, “the
apartheid of citizenship.” Wailia points to the various means by which
migrant workers are maintained in a state of vulnerability, available as a
pool of cheap labour but excluded from belonging to the nation. Her
research also explores the qualities that make migrant programs, such as
the LCP, a breeding ground for abuse: in particular, she points to the LCP
requirement that ties the migrant worker to their place of employment.
Wailia cites many grievances blemished the programs, which are
astoundingly perceived as having a successful reputation among Canadian
Immigration officials. In a CBC radio interview defending the program,
Immigration Minister Jason Kenny calls the LCP “valuable,” viewing it as
“a pathway to permanent citizenship” all while “filling a very important
labour market need (“Caregiver & Minister”).” In fact, the “labour market
need” to which Kenny refers are the menial types of work Canadian
women are no longer willing to engage in. While Wailia’s article does not
directly address the gender issue in particular, she does identify the abusive
work conditions such migrant employment has typically been accused of
producing, offering a litany of characteristic features: among these, “low
wages, often below the official minimum, and long hours with no overtime
pay; dangerous working conditions; crowded and unhealthy
accommodations; denial of access to public health care and employment
insurance...” (72). Thus, while the LCP may not have willfully nefarious,
misogynistic intentions, the program seems to combine the potential for
abuses inhered by the migrant worker scenario with the inherent genderbias
of a program meant to recruit domestic workers. In many respects,
then, the LCP shapes the narrative of the Filipino Canadian in a way that
does not reflect the immigrant aspiration of creating a “better life.”
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The “real” situation represented by LCP recruitment is not the
Filipino narrative offered in Canada’s Museum of Civilization, in a
permanent exhibit known as the Pacific Gateway. Though the exhibit does
not focus only on Filipino migration, it does dedicate a specific corner of
the exhibit to the arrival of twenty Filipinos in the early 1970’s.
Admittedly, the story of the Pacific Rim highlights the arrival of the first
wave of Asian migration; but is particularly intriguing is how the story of
the twenty fails to capture the breadth of the Filipino immigration
experience. If we consider the Museum mandate to preserve and promote
the heritage of Canada and “all its peoples throughout Canada”; and, its
mission to contribute to the collective memory and sense of identity of all
Canadians, functioning as “a source of inspiration, research, learning and
entertainment that belongs to all Canadians”--one might ask where the
Filipino nannies fit in the Pacific Gateway narrative. While the exhibit offers
a fine portrayal of the few Filipinos who immigrated as doctors and nurses,
the Museum almost seems to recognize the stigma of the Filipino nanny in
its apparent disavowal of their stories of often underpaid and frequently
undervalued labour, and unrecognized social contribution. Theirs is a
shadow narrative that stands behind the apparently more “inspiring” one
of doctors and nurses and other professionals. In this way, the exhibit fails
in its self-defined mission to be “a source of inspiration” to the Filipino
Canadian, in its failure to include the narrative that represents the personal
narrative of many who came to Canada under the humbler auspices of the
Live-in Care program. The Pacific Gateway narrative reinforces the
voicelessness of the Filipino nanny.

The Emerging Filipino Voice

The voice of the Filipino nanny, however, is beginning to emerge.
Recently, a Cabinet minister’s assertion about the LCP drew a direct
response from Pura Velasco, a nanny from the Philippines advocating for
over twenty years for nannies’ rights. Minister Kenny emphasized the
minimal criteria of the LCP, which makes it possible for many Filipina
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migrants to qualify to come to Canada for work--even though authors like
Chen and Pratt adamantly assert the higher levels of educations and skills
training a majority of women arriving through the LCP. Velasco observes
how the LCP capitalizes on the sad state of the economic situation of the
Philippines and the resulting high rate of unemployment that has created a
vacuum effect benefiting Canada through the cheap migrant workers
supplied by the LCP. Velasco thus challenges Minister Kenny’s claim and
suggests that the system does little more than guarantee Canada a large
supply of servitude labour at minimal national expense.

But does the supply of cheap labour to the Canadian workforce really
benefit Canada? Unlike many of the earlier studies, which focused
primarily on the traditional short comings of the program and looked
mainly at the immediate effects of working conditions on the participants
and their immediate family, many studies are now also turning towards
assessing the effects the program on the broader Filipino community. One
direct result, observed by a collaborative working paper series based in
Vancouver, “Deskilling across the Generations: Reunification among
Transnational Filipino Families in Vancouver,” has found that the LCP and
its mandatory two-year work placement actively contributes to the deskilling
of an already skilled workforce (7).

As Pratt has found in her collaborative work with the Philippines
Women Centre of BC, moving through the LCP into citizenship disrupts
the fixity of the distinction between migrant worker and immigrant (7).
After women complete the requirements of the LCP, they re-encounter the
Canadian state—not as an isolated worker, but as an immigrant embedded
in family relations. They cross a legal and social border, between the
migrant worker who must eventually leave and the immigrant who must
eventually be integrated. This is not only a problem for the nanny’s
themselves, as the emblematic struggle of Filipina domestics dramatically
impacts the families that eventually are reunited with them. Studies suggest
that, on average, five years will pass before a nanny can establish the means
to begin the process of bringing loved ones over. Much can happen in the
five years, which can make subsequent re-unification of the family unit
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15
problematic. What has become instrumental to the increased awareness of
the plight of the nannies, however, is not the collection of statistics about
them, but the opportunity for the nannies to tell their own stories.

A series of articles and Filipino-directed documentaries, such as the
National Film Board’s When Strangers Re-Unite (1999), have begun to
chronicle the nannies’ stories. Directors Florchita Bautista and Marie Boti
provide a rare glimpse into the trials and tribulations many nannies are
experiencing. As the documentary follows three different women’s stories
in Toronto and Montreal, the negative effect of the program on their lives
and on the lives of their families becomes vividly apparent. Compounding
the sheer frustration and torment that the program caused these women,
there is the additional pressure they experience when their estranged
families come to join them in Canada. The individual women’s distress
takes tits toll on the members of their family, as each story in the film
exposes many of the terrible repercussions of these women’s quest to
establish a better future for themselves in Canada.

One story in particular illustrates the LCP’s deep impact by
articulating the personal effect of the experience on the nannies’ selfperception.
An accountant in the Philippines, Fe expresses her difficulty in
accepting the demeaning tasks associated with being domestic worker. She
discusses the effect that menial labour and the restriction on her personal
movement have had on her personal self esteem:

You feel like you’re really a slave or someone below, like really

down. You make yourself respectable enough or presentable

enough, but you still feel that you’re down because, you know,

your work--you’re serving people here, you’re a servant.

Fe’s testimony and self-acknowledgement of how her situation made her
feel is poignant and telling. The personal consequences of the LCP on
immigrants and their families are clearly evident; however, the additional
consequences go beyond the personal struggles that Fe and her immediate
family members endured. Fe’s case signals a larger implication that the
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documentary doesn’t fully explore: the effect of her low self-esteem, poor
self-image, and strained familial relations may have on the larger Filipino-
Canadian community to which Fe and her newly immigrated family
ultimately belong and which they help shape. It is difficult to
underestimate the larger effect, on a social level, that such poor selfvaluation

will have on the group identity of the Filipino-Canadian

community. As the literature review demonstrates, however, insufficient
critical attention has been directed to the way the negative experience of
the LCP worker--specifically, of Filipino origin--has negatively impacted

Filipino-Canadian self- and communal identity.

Although not particularly apparent in the NFB film nor explicitly
documented in many studies, the broader implications of the influx of over
one hundred thousand Filipina caregivers is becoming increasingly evident.
In addition to self-perception, the way Filipino-Canadians are perceived by
other Canadians requires greater attention. A recent Quebec’s Human
Rights Tribunal ruling highlights the systemic cultural ignorance regarding
the eating practices of one of the largest immigrant groups. In an incident
in 2006 dubbed “The Fork and Spoon” that gained national attention, a
Filipino boy in a Quebec school was publicly chastised by his teacher for
consuming his lunch in the traditional Filipino way--with a fork and a
spoon. Notably, he ridiculed the boy for “eating like a pig.” The teacher’s
action resulted in a Quebec Human Rights tribunal awarding the family
$17,000 in damages. While the school board, the principal, and teacher
involved are being singled out for violating the boy’s rights to equality and
dignity, the case has broader implications. Indeed, this case signals a shift
in the self perception of Filipinos as full-fledged citizens, with rights to
inclusion within the Canadian narrative.

In the past seventy years, little scholarship has addressed the place of
Filipino’s within contemporary Canadian society—despite their burgeoning
numbers. The “Case of the Fork and Spoon” (as it was commonly referred
to) is a social marker connected to the “nanny effect” on several levels.
First, at its most obvious level, the case points to the cultural ignorance in
Canadian society regarding Filipinos, which the Human Rights tribunal
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
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ruling officially documenting the systemic nature of this ignorance. At the
core of the “Fork and Spoon” case is a teacher (supported by his school
board) who perceived that he could publicly ridicule with impunity the boy’s
cultural practices. At a second level, such a perception is, I contend, a
function of the stereotype of the subservient Asian domestic, under which
the teacher presumably was working. It is a cultural stereotype that arises
from the predominant image of the Filipino immigrant as a “nanny,” the
teacher’s behaviour reflecting the wide-spread perception of Filipino-
Canadians as subordinate and unlikely to assert themselves. And, finally, in
a mother’s outrage that eventually becomes a Human Rights Commission
charge, one finds the emergence of a Canadian-Filipino social identity
beyond the traditional Filipino stereotype of caregiver or nanny. The
Human Rights commission case illustrates not only the most obvious
immediate, practical need—for more diverse educational curriculum—but
also for further scholarship on the model of multicultural citizenry that
Filipinos in Canada may increasingly demonstrate.

The judgment of the 2008 Quebec Human Rights Tribunal functions
as salient case study pointing to future study of the emergence of Filipino-
Canadian social identity as it moves beyond the “nanny effect” of LCP
workers-become-citizens. In their original findings the tribunal
acknowledged that an injustice had been perpetrated, but did not render a
decision that offered any compensation to the victims at that time.
Notably, after hearing an appeal mounted by the boy’s family, which asked
the Tribunal to consider additional evidence, the Tribunal rendered a new
decision and awarded punitive damages. The Filipino community reacted
with unprecedented political action not normally attributed to Filipinos in
Canada, with hundreds rallying at embassies across Canada and in the
Philippines as well. The incident gained both national and international
attention, as Filipinos everywhere found solidarity in the perceived injustice
committed against a shared Filipino heritage.

The outrage in the Filipino-Canadian community incited by the
“Fork and Spoon” incident is telling because of what lies behind it, the
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perceived oppression of Filipinos by cultural stereotypes that paint them as
submissive, subservient, and voiceless. In an interview of the boy and his
mother after the new Tribunal judgment was rendered, the anchorwoman
for the Filipino news-magazine show Balitang Canada observes how the
judgment for the boy is significant to other Filipinos: “[In Tagalog] You
know, Theresa [the boy’s mother], those who heard about your story were
truly inspired, but what do you think your victory means for your family,
and other Filipinos, especially Filipino immigrants to Canada?”

Significantly, the Balitang Canada anchor ends the interview by praising the
mother and boy for their courage and toughness, that they did “not get to
be [sic] intimidated by your culture.” Clearly, the anchorwoman praises
the mother for sticking up for her son, for asserting her right to respect
and equal treatment. It is unclear, however, what the anchorwoman may
have meant by “your culture”--whether she refers to the oppression by the
dominant white culture within which the Filipino Canadian must integrate;
or, to the self-oppression instilled by poor self image and low self-esteem
of the Filipino Canadian stereotype. In some regard, the anchorwoman
seems to praise the mother for her courage to rise up against oppression, to
praise her for possessing characteristics typically not attributed to Filipinos.
As the literature review documents, the Live-in Care Program has
had dire negative effects on the Filipino nationals who participated in the
program. The program separated many women from their families in the
Philippines; it engaged women in forms of domestic servitude often
characterized as “work that no other Canadians will do” ; and, in the
characterization of the immigrant Filipino as primarily a domestic worker,
the program has stigmatized the Filipino Canadian with a social identity
that ranks among the lowest in the social scale; and, moreover, it has
imparted the further stigmatizing effects associated with the poor selfimage
and sense of self-worth inhered by the cultural stereotype. As the
Filipino narrative of the Museum of Civilization's Pacific Gateway exhibit
documents, the stigmatization may even work its way into the “official”
narrative precisely through the disavowal and exclusion of the Filipino
nanny’s story. A growing body of work documents the experience of the
Filipino nanny and the impact of the Live-in Caregiver program on both
THE NANNY EFFECT: THE IMPACT OF CANADA’S LIVE-IN CARE PROGRAM
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the nannies and their extended family. Such documentary work provides a
venue for articulating the nanny’s narrative, and from such articulations the
voice of the Filipino Canadian has begun to emerge--as witnessed by the
activism of former nannies like Pura Velasco who challenge the stereotype.

The case of the Fork and Spoon significantly illustrates the broader, social
implications of the cultural stereotype. First, the teacher’s behaviour and
the school board’s response enacts the narrative of domination and
submission that the shadow narrative of the “Filipino domestic” engenders
among the social mainstream; however, secondly, and perhaps more
importantly, the incident demonstrates the imminent change in Filipino
Canadian identity, as the outraged mother’s defense signals the larger
Filipino community behind her. It is a community beginning to rise above
the stigmatization of the “nanny effect” and to assert its proper place
within the Canadian multicultural narrative.

Works Cited

Beltran Chan, Anita. From sunbelt to snow belt: Filipinos in Canada. Canadian
Ethnic Studies Association, 1998. Print.
“Caregiver & Minister.” The Current. Narr. Guest Host Bob McKeown.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp, 8 May 2009. CBC.ca. Web. 14 Mar.
2012.
Cuenca, Joseph Gerard B. Filipina Live in Caregivers in Canada: Migrants’
Rights and Labor Issues (A Policy Analysis). University of British
Columbia, 1998.
Eric, Josephine, "Prepare for the Worst: Rite of Passage of Filipino Women's
Settlement and Integration in Canada, from the 1960's to the Present." Diss.
McMaster University, 2007. Print.
Francis, Daniel. National Dreams: Myth, Memory, and Canadian History.
Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2011. Print.
JOHN-PAUL ALBELSHAUSER
CAPSTONE SEMINAR SERIES Belonging in Canada: Questions and Challenges
Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2012.
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Goli, Maximillian. V. “The Phillippine Women of Canada’s Live-In Caregiver
Program: Ethical Issues and Perspectives.” Diss. Simon Fraser University,
2009. Print.
Johnston, Caleb, and Geraldine Pratt. "Nanay (Mother): A Testimonial
Play." Cultural Geographies 17.1 (2010): 123-33. Print.
Mackey, Eva. The House of Difference : Cultural Politics and National Identity in
Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. Print.
"Migration, Arrivial, and Settlement." Multicultural Canada. N.p. n.d. Web.
15 March, 2012.
Oxman-Martinez, Jacqueline, Jill Hanley, and Leslie Cheung. Another Look
at the Live-in-Caregivers Program an Analysis of an Action Research Survey
Conducted by PINAY, the Quebec Filipino Women's Association, with the
Centre for Applied Family Studies. Montreal: Immigration et métropole.
2004. Print.
Pratt, Geraldine, and Ravi Pendakur. Deskilling Across the Generations
Reunification among Transnational Filipino Families in Vancouver.
Vancouver: Metropolis British Columbia, Centre of Excellence for
Research on Immigration and Diversity, 2008. Print.
Pratt, Geraldine. "From Registered Nurse to Registered Nanny: Discursive
Geographies of Filipina Domestic Workers in Vancouver, B.C."
Economic Geography 75.3 (1999): 215-36. EconLit. Web. 15 Mar. 2012.
Pratt, Geraldine. Working Feminism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
2004. Print.
Thomas, Ren. The Filipino case: Insights into choice and resiliency among immigrants
in Toronto. Vancouver: UBC Library, 2011.
Tse, Chris. “Jobs.” SPEAKout @ ROM (Round 1). YouTube, 12 Aug.2010.
Web.14 Mar. 2012
Walia, Harsha. "Transient Servitude: Migrant Labour in Canada and the
Apartheid of 21
When Strangers Re-unite: Across Cultures. Dir. Florchita Bautista, Marie Boti.
National Film Board of Canada, 1998. Film.

———————-
Nanny Business author speaks

http://philippinereporter.com/2010/07/02/the-nanny-business-documentary-on-global-tvs-currents-july-7/

TORONTO – Shelley Saywell, producer-director of the film, “The Nanny Business,” which will be aired on Gobal Television July 7 at 10 p.m., reveals why she did the documentary and what she hopes to achieve with it.

In a brief two-question interview e-mailed by the Philippine Reporter, Saywell responded as follows:

REPORTER: Please give us a little bit of your background, and how did you take interest in doing a film about the nannies?

SAYWELL: My sister was living in Asia and wrote about the abuse of Filipina caregivers in Hong Kong and Singapore. It was very difficult to read about the abuse and then my friend Susan McLelland wrote a piece in Walrus on the situation in Canada. I was very moved and angered to read about the plight of these women in our country. My films have always been about human rights and so I decided I wanted to tell this story. Even though Canada offers the lure of citizenship, the conditions set out by the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) allows systematic abuse by recruiters, travel agents and employers. The fact that we have no national daycare program meant Canada was in some ways exploiting others to fill that gap.

REPORTER: What do you intend to achieve in producing a film that focuses on the current plight of the Filipino nannies?

SAYWELL: I hope this documentary makes Canadians more aware. This isn’t just about bad agencies; it is also about our attitude towards those who deserve our respect and protection – the ones we entrust our children to. I hope the LCP is completely overhauled or replaced -the amendments don’t come near solving the main problems.

If you think that only the nannies are vulnerable , You are wrong? Lots of employers and children are vulnerable of abuse too to bad nannies but you iknow what? canadian families are just keeping their mouth shut. Good agencies who help them to come here are just keeping their mouth shut. And not only agencies are the re ccruiters even their own family too . They are sponsored to come here biut not really have a real employers and I can say 70% is arranged by families. You know what they worked with their relatives coming without pay for 24 months some just one year sone just months because they ran away with the relative who sponsor. It’s better paying a reputable agency than paying the gratefullness towards the relatives. It is forever despite they already serve the relatives or sister still not enough. They paid it forever. As if the relatives owe their life forever. If they pay the agency for about $3,000.00 that is nothing than paying their relative for a year or two . How much money they lose for a year is $16,000.00 of thei gross salary. You better did deeper the life of the LICP. Do not just concentrate of the abuse done by bad agencies and employers. Dig the other side of the story so you can balance. You become one sided and you put Canadians to shame. You are Canadians too.You see most of this applicants are begging relatives and agencies in order to come here but when they arrive here they are kicking the ass of the relatives,agencies and employers.

Maria Lilly 1044 days ago

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It is extremely unfortunate that Shelley Saywell only chooses to look at one side.
There are just as many unscrupulous caregivesr who use employer, steal from them etc. as there are unscrupulous employers. The difference is that employers stay quiet because their are embarrassed.
If life is so terrible in Canada, I guess they better stay in Hong Kong , Saudi Arabia etc.
Nobody holds a gun to their head that they have to work in Canada.
There is no doubt bad employers out here but not nearly as bad as the caregiver groups led everybody to believe.
But perhaps the problem is solved.
The LCP is quickly declining.

The Government seems to be sick and tired of listening to the constant complaints from caregivers.
The LCP is the easiest way to obtain permanent residence but one seems to hear nothing but complaints.

Maria Soliero 1044 days ago

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I would like more info.on caregivers already in Canada.I have tried to hire a livein caregiver for my disabled daughter through a reputable agency in Toronto without success.If there are caregivers here looking for work I would like to find out how to contact them and offer employment to a qualified worker.Thank you Gail Bergeron@ above email address.

Gail Bergeron 1040 days ago

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i am very thankful yet very sad of what had my mom suffered.thankful because God had never leave my mom in vain.the courage that my mom had shown was amazing and speaks for her right.For evrybody’s knowledge,cant count the things that my mom have sacrificed just to arrive and work in canada.im so proud of her and the courage she had made it.God bless to every one who had helped my mother..

mary joan maluo 1039 days ago

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Hi!
I am a Filioino Live In caregiver and had an accident in my employer’s house while on duty last Feb 8, 2010. I had a spinal cord injury and surgery. I am now a Quadriplegic. I need help and I want to share my story.

Anastacia Espena 1039 days ago

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Hi,
I am a filipina Canadian. I was born in Canada, and came across watching The Nanny Business. I think this is outrageous that the government is not helping out people who come to Canada under the LCP!
I want to know what I can do to help and where. I live in Toronto and will help wherever needed. We need to speak up for those who have no voice. And by calling myself a Canadian should not make me feel embarassed.

Michelle Molina 1039 days ago

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This is one of the most appalling things that I’ve ever seen. That said, I’m not at all surprised. This is a perfect example of why governmnet at all levels need to be severely reigned in. I’m sure that this corruption is one of a countless number of such things and they all need to be exposed and stopped.

Tom 1039 days ago

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I am Shocked to find out that its an issue which i wasn’t aware of… I reside in Calgary and something must be done… i would like to help and assist and play an active role to make sure this will STOP.
Please advise me what if anything i can do and where i can begin in trying to make the difference… because i am amazed at the righteousness the MPP ( didnt catch his name) exhibited when discussing the issue with the workers, he truly made me feel ashamed to call my self a Canadian.
I would like to help where do i sign up?

Aj Lifshits 1039 days ago

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Are you kidding?These women are in a recession along with the rest of the world.Nannies everywhere are taking babysitting jobs for less than 40 hrs a week because the boom money is gone and middle class families are losing income so cut backs are happening.If the women that are being cheated are willing to pay rent and al,l their own living expenses and work then give them overtime and what they demand but as long as someone is paying their living expenses so they have 1000 dollars to themselves at the end of each month and they complain please sen d them home and some other piuoneers can come to Canada.

Mitch Ricard 1039 days ago

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I have just watched this show, and I have to say I am very dissappointed in the Canadian government. I am a first generation filipina and it disgustes me how this can happen. What makes me even more angrier is that Filipinos are doing this to each other! How can they take other peoples money and turn around and sue them? For work they havent done yet!
On a lighter note, I am glad that Evelyn has found a good employer. My heart goes out to you and your family. I hope you can see them soon!
Jolena, your courage and perserverance gives a voice to those who cannot. Your daughters are beautiful, I wish nothing but the best to you.
And Shelley Saywell : Thank you for opening my eyes.

Elizel Solomon 1039 days ago

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I work under the LCP program and I always advise people interested on it to not use agency services! I’m from Brazil and I did all the process by myself, from finding an employer in free websites (and checking their references with past nannies) to visa process. I’m glad to say that I’m part of the succesfull stories and I work for a very good family, aware of the program rules and very fair.
I loved the new government rule for the program, btw, saying that employers need to pay ALL recruitment fees when agencies are involved. Hope this helps a little bit to break this “nanny business”

Vania 1039 days ago

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I was just wondering if there is contact information available to offer assistance to these women who have been misled and left stranded.

Brenna McLeod 1038 days ago

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I came to Canada in 1990 under the LCP and was very fortunate to have been sponsored by a very good employer.I was sponsored to be an elderly companion for my employer’s 92 yr old mother. They treated me like a member of the family. They made sure I learned to drive right away and they even paid for all the fees including the private lesson fees. They made sure I enrolled at the local college and took courses at night(they paid tuition fees and textbooks as well. These were just a couple of examples on how good they were to me.
The sad part of my story was when this employer had to let me go because they didn’t need me anymore.
It didn’t take me very long to find an employer but I was nervous because I didn’t really have experience being a nanny and the employer I found had 3 children, 3wk old boy, and 2 girls 4 qnd 7.Similar to the story on the documentary , I worked long hours, 7 to until the baby went to bed(I put the baby to bed myself) and dishes done. They paid me $750/month then. I figured it out that if they paid me minimum wage, I could could have earned at least $300/wk. I was with them for a couple of weeks, when surprisingly they went ahead with their planned cruise leaving their children with a complete stranger.Thinking about it now and thinking as a mother, there’s no way I would do what they did. They didn’t know me from a whole on the ground(as the saying goes)Oh yea, they gave me extra$100.00 when they came back.(Gosh I was so stupid back then!)
I wasn’t much of an arguer at that time because like most of the victims, I needed the job so I had to shut up OR live on the street. Having had the chance to experience having very good employer, I knew that I had a rotten deal accepting that job. Lo and behold, after probably 5 months, I talked to them asking for a raise. They said we’ll think about it but when she handed me the pay that month without a raise I gladly informed her I was leaving. She talked me into staying until she found my replacement(another stupidity on my part!)
I then moved to Ottawa and found another employer who was and still very good to me.Both of my good employers treated and paid me according to what the contract said.
Now that I have my own home and family, I still keep in touch with both my 2 good employers.

Penny Bergin 1038 days ago

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My mother and I saw the Nanny Business documentary and it angered us both very much to see these Filipina women being treated so poorly, especially in a country like Canada. We are very upset and need to know who we can contact so that we may help advocate for these women and offer help in some sort of way. Is there someone we can contact?

Carmen Westrheim 1034 days ago

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I am a chinese national who paid 90,000 rmb for a course of instruction; english language learning and interview arranged at the Canadian Embassy, Beijing. (April2010) This was all signed in a contract between myself and the owner of the Anka School in Beijing and Guangzhou…a Mr Li who is chinese but now a Canadian citizen…apparently. Website:- Anka school or Nanny one placement school and Li:- email :- leegercanada@yahoo.com The contract stated that should I fail at the interview, then the 50,000 rmb already given would be refunded. Owing to the poor english teaching, I failed the interview and asked for the return of my money. He refused to return funds and would only return 20,000 rmb if I accepted it as end of matter, and not to persist for the remainder. I checked with the Chinese courts and contract lawyers but was told that the contract I signed was unenforcible as Li is a Canandian citizen. He is also a lawyer and obviously knew the contract was unenforcible at the outset. He has failed another girl to my knowledge…and probably many others unknown to me. He writes on his web site, giving himself status, by saying that he is in consultation with Canadian employment agencies and, of course, the Canadian Embassy in China. I therefore wrote to the embassy about this matter..in May this year..and have yet to receive even an acknowledgement that I have written. Maybe an investigation would be of value in China also. I have come to the conclusion that this business is fraught with danger and many young..and many pretty poor, chinese girls are borrowing money to pay these high fees, only to be, perhaps, cheated or defrauded of their entitlements…and Li and the Anka school should be given wide berth, in my opinion. Thank you for reading this. YingHua

WangYingHua 1012 days ago

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I am Mary Lee,a worker with inwent intl company for Fifteen years.Just relocated to London,Uk some days ago.I have Three kids and am seeking for the services of a Special Nanny/housekeeper/ outside the United Kingdom to come and work for me in the U.K.I am willing to offer Eight Hundred and fifty pounds sterling per week (850 pounds) provide monthly shopping allowances as well as accommodation as a live-in AS Nanny/housekeeper/. No Qualifications inclusive but must be able to speak ENGLISH little and witting Minimum But must be current with foreign affairs especially the Asia world.. email me at mary.lee9232@yahoo.com
Thank you.
Hope to hear back from you
Mrs Mary

Mrs Mary Lee 894 days ago

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I am Victor Banks,a widower.I lost my wife in a motor accident last year.I own a Business here In London and Due to my tight business schedule,we have little or no time to spend with our two kids,so i need a reliable and GOD fearing Aupair/nanny and a driver who will take care of my two kids as i always travel over Europe for my business Dealings.
The job will require that you relocate to London and we will assist you in getting your British work permit on time.I will also provide you with free accommodation,feeding and flight tickets.If you are willing and ready to pick up this job,please email me back (sirvictorbanks@gmail.com )
Salary…….
Nanny-£600 weekly
Driver-£650 weekly
Regard,
Victor Banks

victor banks 668 days ago

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Not only where we GOOD to our nanny, Chona, but she didn’t take an inch! If we where EVER a few dollars or hours off on her cheque, she’d let us KNOW!
We did everything we could to help Chona and did VERY well by us. We paid her $10.00/hr, plus $15.00 overtime and didn’t charge her room and board, but very quickly she found a “nanny-house” where a bunch lived and moved out anyway. We even paid her doctors fees!
In the end, she screwed us – by asking her to sponsor a friend of hers. She said she had another job and we could sponsor her friend, who she said was even better: that she could cook (Chona didn’t) and would be great with our kids. Turned out not only could she NOT cook (or wouldn’t), but the kids didn’t like her!
It’s a two-way street and I don’t think Global “Journalists” can always find a hard-luck story if they look hard enough…..

Ed Danneberg 469 days ago

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I am totaly disgusted with the Canadian government for letting this happen. I also have been aware of this sometime now. As my fiance is a nanny and is being treated wrongfully. She is overworked and under paid. She works 14 to 16 hours a day and on Saturday for 8 hours out of the day. And recieves no overtime pay just straight hours. I feel she is being held captive. And her employers im sure that they dont want me around her as i am a Canadian and know the laws , and the human rights act / And i think they are worried that now she is engaged to a Canadian that they are trying to keep her as much as she can working hoping that ill give up on her . But i never will. I will support her till she can become a Canadian citizen or recieve her open permit then i will pursue the matter with the law. And have her employers reported and go after everything that is owed to her . And once im married to her there will be no one ever to treat her like a second rate citizen again. We are all gods people and deserve to be treated equally … Darrell

Darrell Marleau 468 days ago

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I have set up a group on facebook called help our Canadian Philippine nannies get equal rights. So feel free to join our group and i will add you to it.And together we can fight for the rights of all nannies in Canada. My email is marleau7@hotmail.com thank you and hopefully we can help everyone get their rights they deserve Darrell

Darrell Marleau 468 days ago

========================

Comments in Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/the-nannies-state-of-uncertainty/article1390190/comments/

hunsister

5:37 PM on July 7, 2010

All nannies should be treated with respect. I owe my career to the nannies who cared for my children. Our first nanny is still a good friend and I am the godmother of her children. I could never understand when educated, well-paid women would talk about nickel and diming their nannies. These lovely women look after your children! I think people who treat nannies poorly should be denied the right to hire another.

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6:22 AM on July 7, 2010

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Eat Your Weedies

6:07 AM on July 7, 2010

The sad way in which many nannies are treated goes hand-in-hand with that sad way people raise their kids: they don't.

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6:31 AM on July 7, 2010

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6:29 AM on July 7, 2010

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BC Mike

2:45 AM on July 7, 2010

It boils down to this....

Unfortunately there are bad people in the world (shockingly even in Canada) who are willing to capitalize on other people's dreams or situation.

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Rob_W

11:32 AM on July 7, 2010

I just want to say Reputable Caregiver Agencies take care of their Nannies. We have been in the industry as a Caregiver Agency for over 20 years and a founding member of ACNA Canada (Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies). The stories mentioned in your article do not exist because we ensure they do NOT by educating the Employers on Employment Standards. My wife is a Filipina and she was abused when she came to Vancouver in the 80s. We ensure what she went through does not happen to the Caregivers we bring over for a sponsoring Employer from the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.

The problem now is the latest Live-in Caregiver changes introduced by Mr. Jason Kenney, our Immigration Minister.

Results from three consecutive surveys taken by over 100 Caregiver & Nanny agencies over the last three month across Canada show a significant drop in placements, ranging from 70 - 90%, as a result of the increased risks and financial burden on employers.

Although the employing family must pay all associated costs, the caregiver has no obligation to stay with the family and can terminate employment at any time. As a result, Canadian families are vulnerable to applicants who abuse the LCP by coming to Canada at no personal expense, staying long-term and seeking other employment. As families shy away from utilizing the program, this in turn limits job opportunities for overseas caregivers. Individuals willing to provide much needed caregiver services in Canada have little choice but to turn to illegitimate off shore agencies for assistance.

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Chris_Lalonde

8:05 AM on July 7, 2010

This immigration program looks ripe for exploitation and is bad for Canada in the long term. Canada shouldn't be granting maids citizenship at the end of their employment. The maids should apply for the normal point based system that ensures that they meet minimum qualifications. Nothing personal but Canada needs highly skilled immigrants (engineers, IT professionals, lawyers, etc.) not low skilled immigrants (though these maids general do work hard). This could leave a floodgate open for low skilled immigrants. Countries like Singapore and Hong Kong (who have a higher GDP per capita than Canada) strictly enforce low skilled workers to leave after their employment is complete. Canada should follow suit.

It looks like stricter regulation is required to both protect the interests of the maid and the employer. Maids from poor countries should not be sending thousands of dollars to agencies to get work in Canada. With the carrot of getting a citzenship, it looks like some sleazy agencies are cooking up fake jobs to milk them. This has to stop. Also, employers to be should be held financially responsible if they back out and strand a maid in Canada. Employers should provide a deposit and pay a processing tax to the government. Those who force their maids to work 18 hours a day ought to be caned. More regulations are probably required to define proper working conditions. Tougher fines/jail terms should be handed to employers who badly abuse their maids. On the other hands, the same should go for maids who abuse the employers' children and/or elderly folk (this does also happen alot. you can see some examples on youtube).

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Chris_Lalonde

4:49 PM on July 7, 2010

madtrini1 writes "Just a quick note to Chris_Lalonde and other G&M readers.

You probably don't realize that a large percentage of these Filipina nannies are university or college educated with valuable work skills.

True, they may not be the absolute cream of the crop, but it would be incorrect to broad brush them as "just maids"."

One thing to note is that in many developing countries, the quality of university degrees can really vary. In Singapore, I meet one 'university graduate' maid from Myanmar. She told me she just bribed someone to get the degree. That said, I'm sure there are a few good universities in the Philippines and other developing countries. However, I think the average level of training done for degrees like nursing in countries like the Philippines isn't up to the same standards as that in developed countries. In Singapore, I had a friend that told me about 3 'nurses' who actually took 15-20 minutes just trying to insert an IV line into their 3 year old son at a private hospital (he and his wife were on the brink of losing it). You have to take some things with a grain of salt. I do agree with you that you shouldn't brush them off
as "just maids". There are obviously smart people from the Phils. and the maids are hard working. You have to takr things on a case by case basis.

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RomyMarquez

6:48 AM on July 7, 2010

Jomo Wanjala says: "To me owning a filipina nanny is stylish, I used one and wholeheartedly recommend it over hiring a local Canadian. Filipinas work for a lot less than Canadians, they don't complain about 'worker's right' and other nonsense, they want to serve and please their master."
Jomo Wanjala, whoever you are, you are one of those modern archetypal masters who mistake hiring household help as "owning" a slave. Your published comments betray your ignorance. I suppose you need to be helped. But then why would I even advocate for that when you are one of a kind in your "stylish" ownership?

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RomyMarquez

6:41 AM on July 7, 2010

As long as people want to improve their life situations and pursue dreams of comfort and convenience, people such as these Filipinas would risk everything, even being wronged and exploited. Recruiters knew this and they thrive on nannies' fear of losing the very one chance at a new opportunity. Prospective employers knew how nannies are exploited, and they blindly allow themselves to be instruments of their exploitation. If it were up to me, I would not allow these Filipinas to degrade themselves working like slaves and treated like slaves. Nannies they may be called, but these breed of Filipinas are well-educated, law-abiding, religious to a fault and most times, too timid to speak up and speak out. They are a breed of courageous Filipinas who'd braved space and distance to come here to Canada. They sacrifice themselves, forsake their own personal ambitions so that their families back home will have something on their tables and a roof over their heads. Yet they are abused. There are stories of how they comfort themselves in the face of challenges they never imagine would happen to them in, of all places, Canada. These Filipino nannies are heroes deserving of better treatment. I imagine that without them working as they are now, many Canadian households would come to a standstill. And that's no exaggeration at all. That's a statement of fact. Bless you all Filipino nannies.

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madtrini1

10:21 AM on July 7, 2010

Just a quick note to Chris_Lalonde and other G&M readers.

You probably don't realize that a large percentage of these Filipina nannies are university or college educated with valuable work skills.

True, they may not be the absolute cream of the crop, but it would be incorrect to broad brush them as "just maids".

If you took the time to actually speak to some of them, don't be too surprised if you find out that they were actually trained to be nurses, accountants, or office professionals.

One may ask, if that's the case, why would they want to become nannies here in Canada? Simply put, the Philippines does not have sufficient employment to sustain its population.

Even if you were gainfully employed in the Philippines, the wages are very low. Most families there rely on money remittances from family members working abroad just to put a roof over their head or food on the table.

As such, many Filipinas see Canada's caregiver program as an opportunity for a better life - if not for them, for their children.

Consequently, they undergo a multi-year training program, uproot their lives, travel to a foreign land alone and scared - and yes, put up with the drudgery of being a nanny/maid for Canada's affluent.

With that being said, IMHO, two years of changing diapers, wiping noses,cooking, cleaning and scrubbing toilets is a fair price to pay for permanent entry into the best country in the world.

However, to remain the best country in the world, we collectively cannot condone nor turn a blind eye to any form of physical, mental or emotional abuse to nannies or other vulnerable members of our society.

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4:21 AM on July 7, 2010

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3:49 AM on July 7, 2010

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ml7

12:07 PM on July 8, 2010

The documentary did not show the other side of the story.It just show how bad is the agency and employers.If the nannies are vulnerable the agencies and employers are vulnerable too. I came here last 2001 under this program. The only way to come here is go through an agency. I don't know anybody in here in Canada. Of course I paid the agency but I don't care because it gives me the opportunity to live and work and become a citizen.Without the agency I can not come here. How could this agency survive if they will not charge the fees. They have to interview the applicant overseas, coach them, teach them , edit their resume, pick them up to the airport to name the few of the services. Unlike when I was in Singapore, Taiwan and Hongkong I will remain a maid forever but here great opportunity will comes ahead. Yes, I experienced abused of not having enough food and worked 16 hours a day and one day off with a curfew.My day off is Sunday and I must be home 8:30 pm so I can still clean the kitchen and throw the garbage but this doesn't matter to me because I know I choose to come here and do what is supposed to do. The life here is better than they rest of Asian countries. The only problem in here is that the GOVERNMENT itself does not want to regulate this industry that is why there is abuse and no binding between agencies and nannies. If the GOVERNMENT regulate this industry and let them to charge and cap the fees then the nannies have a great chance to run after the agency. The problem in here when in come to fees everything is underground even the legitimate and reputable agencies force to do underground of the fees. Agencies should not be blamed if the employer is abusive or the nannies is abusive.There is no free ride in coming here. I paid the agency too when I apply for work in Asian countries but there is no future in there. Don't blamed all Canadian Agencies there are lots of outside agencies are doing bad too and even relative sponsoring them are bad too.

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ml7

12:31 PM on July 8, 2010

I urge GOVERNMENT to regulate the agency and give the agency a chance to charge with a cap.This way there is binding between the nannies and agencies. As far as I know ,in TORONTO there are lots of abuse because the agencies doesn't need a licensed before because GOVERNMENT doesn't want them to get a licensed but other part of Canada like in BC is better because agencies are licensed. Although there is still bad stories you heard but is not that worse than in Toronto.In this program not only agencies are asking for fees even their own relative are doing it too just to sponsor them or they are sponsored for free but the catch is they will work with their relative without pay. There are lots of situation happened on this case but no one is voicing about this they are only focus of agencies wrong doing.I heard lots of stories hired by uncle , aunt , cousins then when they arrived they work for it for free. They are just paid for taxes and they will work for another employer in order to survived. If they go through agency they only pay once.You see for one year the gross salary they are supposed to earn is $16,896.00 vs working for a relative without paying placement fee that they are only paid for taxes and other Government contribution for $225.00 a month. How much they lose? They make agencies dirty when in fact they are the expert of this program. If the applicant will go through a lawyer or immigration consultant to look for a job,they can not get job but they can charge for exorbitant fees to do immigration works but who is the expert of this program is the employment agencies. They knew better about this program than the most of Immigration lawyer and Immigration consultant. Why I said this? Because I am one of the fruit of this program. DIG DEEPER about this program.Go to the world of this Employment Agencies,Immigration Consultant and Immigration lawyers so so can see the truth. Praise the reputable and good employment agencies.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/television/the-nannies-state-of-uncertainty/article1390190/comments/

Myths for Profit

Film

http://wideopenexposure.com/myths-for-profit

Canada's Role in Industries of War and Peace

Canada the global good guy? Lets examine that claim. Essential intro to geopolitics and profits, from NATO to Afghanistan via Kosovo. 'Myths for Profit: Canada's Role In Industries of War and Peace' takes a different approach to peacekeeping, the military and development, raising all sorts of questions along the way. An entertaining, well argued documentary.

MYTH 1) 'Canada is a peacekeeping nation' examines the changes within the Canadian military policies and what has been the agenda of these actions. From the historical beginnings of peacekeeping, to the recent missions, the documentary takes a critical look to the motives behind these actions. Particular focus is given to the role Canada has taken in NATO, the current perpetual war in Afghanistan, and how Canada played a pivotal role in pushing the policy of ‘humanitarian bombing’ in Yugoslavia in 1999.

MYTH 2) 'Canada’s military purpose is defence' By investigating the magnitude of the Canadian military industrial complex, this section probes the intersecting relationships between various government agencies and corporations as well as public complicity in this vast industry.

MYTH 3) 'Canada's aid is helping people around the world' investigates how various government agencies and ministries have specific agendas they are implementing around the world. The active role taken on in regional development banks, to the policies pushed by Export Development Canada are designed and carried out to ensure a free market neo-liberal agenda in different countries, regardless of the negative effect they may have on the communities and environment they impact. This includes how Canada’s development agency’s (CIDA) tied and phantom aid function in post and present conflict zones.

La version française du film "Des mensonges payants: Le rôle du Canada dans les industries de la guerre et de la paix" est disponible! S'il vous plaît, partager cette nouvelle avec vos amis francophones, ainsi qu'avec vos contacts d'institutions et d'organismes.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Amy Miller - Writer / Producer / Director
Boban Chaldovich - Co-Director / Editor /
Graphic Animator
Shannon Walsh - Consulting Producer
Jeff Feldman - Original Music
Eric Hanson - Cartoon Animator
Rachelle Sauve - Narrator
Tu-Three - Original Music
Eric Chorostecki - Sound Designer

VIDEOGRAPHY

58:45 min, NTSC 16:9
Interviews filmed in Canada, Serbia,
Bulgaria, Croatia, England 2007-2008.
Post-produced in Canada, winter 2008-2009

FESTIVALS

Empowerment Film Festival

March 30th - April 3rd 2009
London, ON, Canada

Bay Street Film Festival

October 1st-4th 2009
Thunder Bay, ON, Canada
People's Choice Award

Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal

Official Selection, November 15th & 18th
Montreal, QC, Canada

The World Community Film Festival

Official Selection, February 2010
Courtenay, BC, Canada

Reframe Film Festival

Official Selection, January 2010
Peterborough, ON, Canada

Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinema Québécois

Official Selection, February 2010
Montréal, QC, Canada

Nanaimo Film Festival

Official Selection, February 2010
Nanaimo, BC, Canada

The Female Eye Film Festival

Official Selection, March 2010
Toronto, ON, Canada

==============
This blog was inspired by a Filipina domestic from the Middle East who left her newborn baby – with placenta still attached – at the Bahrain Gulf Air airplane upon landing in Manila, read her story here http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/may-1.html . Her despair and desperation inspired this blog to gather all possible stories in order to help, to inform and to empower all Filipina nannies, caregivers and maids -- to liberate themselves from abuses of all forms: physical, rape, verbal, exploitation, overtime working without pay, et cetera. Send us your stories. Stay anonymous - if you like. (No one can afford to deny this matter anymore). Write in Tagalog, or your dialect, or English or French, or any language. ALL nanny, caregiver and domestic maids are welcome, send your emails to mangococonutmay1@gmail.com

Read our related articles

This blog was inspired by a Filipina domestic from the Middle East who abandonned her baby born inside airline toilet upon landing in Manila

http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/this-blog-was-inspired-by-filipina.html

Caregiver EMPOWERMENT DAY. SISTERHOOD OF CAREGIVERS. Woman, you are the Face of God.Women EMPOWERMENT Day with Beyoncé and Salma Hayek. Women's way is not "fight and flight"

http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/woman-you-are-face-of-god-women.html

All Filipina nannies, caregivers, domestic maids
arriving in Canada, USA, and everywhere in the world
-- should have an EMPOWERMENT DAY
-- an orientation day, an introduction day
-- wherein they are told their rights and
-- wherein they are trained to defend themselves from all kinds of abuses and exploitation
-- especially fight against - working 24 hours a day - everyday - within 7 days a week.
-- All Filipina maids should keep a DAILY LOG SHEET on how many hours they work and what kind of extra work they do, TO PROVE they are being EXPLOITED after their 7 hours or 8 hours shift - that they work 24 hours everyday, 7 days a week!

SISTERHOOD OF CAREGIVERS

We suggest that all organizations like AAFQ establish a Sisterhood of Caregivers -- wherein a member adopts a NEWCOMER caregiver for a year -- to be her guide and mentor, moral support and prevention -- from becoming a slave.

I am a witness to the suffering of my people. I am a chronicler of truth and a catalyst of change... (from The Scholastican)

USA SLAVERY of Philippines. U.S.TROOPS OUT NOW! True Independence history of the Philippines

Thursday

The CANADIAN SLAVE TRADE. Documentaries on (TFW) temporary foregin workers. the Plight of Filipina nannies.The Impact of Canada's Live-In Care Program on Filipino-Canadian Identity. Temporary ain't what it used to be

The Nanny Business documentary on Global TV's 'Currents' July 7

The nannies' state of uncertainty

Temporary ain't what it used to be

Name withheld

Name withheld

Name withheld

Name withheld

Name withheld

Myths for Profit

Film

La version française du film "Des mensonges payants: Le rôle du Canada dans les industries de la guerre et de la paix" est disponible! S'il vous plaît, partager cette nouvelle avec vos amis francophones, ainsi qu'avec vos contacts d'institutions et d'organismes.

PRODUCTION TEAM

VIDEOGRAPHY

FESTIVALS

Empowerment Film Festival

Bay Street Film Festival

Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montreal

The World Community Film Festival

Reframe Film Festival

Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinema Québécois

Nanaimo Film Festival

The Female Eye Film Festival

This blog was inspired by a Filipina domestic from the Middle East who abandonned her baby born inside airline toilet upon landing in Manila

.

Jose Rizal - Noli Me Tangere - a novel MUST READ for all Filipina domestic maids who are the NEW WOMEN SLAVES of the WORLD TODAY!

Read more here about Noli Me Tangere and special quotations from Jose Rizal http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/jose-rizal-quotations.html

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