Foreign live-in caregivers, the bulk of who are Filipino nationals, are crying foul after Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney said that Ottawa will likely be axing immigration in this stream.
Advocates for the immigrant nannies said they had been promised by Kenney in March 2010 that the government will make the program an integral part of Canada immigration system in the coming times.
However, the minister said last week that only a handful of foreigners were qualifying for Canada live-in caregiver program and that government is looking at cutting off the immigration intake as part of an overall immigration freeze in favour of boosting certain economic-migrant numbers.
“This is a betrayal and he is singing a different tune,” said Theresa Mangilanan, a live-in caregiver in Vancouver.
“Before the last elections, he said this system was working well and that he would boost the numbers..was it just to get votes..he is a turncoat,” added Mangilanan.
Others have lashed back at the government saying the government is not delivering on its promises and are likely to face protests.
Catherine Manuel, a live-in caregiver and volunteer with the GTA Caregiver Action Centre, said in a published interview that she’s worried the government may be phasing out the program and questioned whether Kenney is a “turncoat” whose pre-election musings were little more than a ploy for votes.
The Filipino native - about two-thirds of live-in caregivers come from the Philippines - said the caregiver community was “blooming” when she first applied but that it’s been “a mess” for the last three years.
“I predict that the live-in caregiver program will be a growing and important part of our immigration system in the future,” Kenney told a group of mostly Filipino nannies in a March 2010 video posted on YouTube.
The video is now being passed around among caregivers and advocates who have turned to an online forum and Twitter to voice their concerns.
The federal government is also imposing a two-year moratorium on immigration applications from parents and grandparents, starting immediately.
It is however creating a 10-year, special visa that will allow parents and grandparents of permanent residents to enter Canada multiple times as visitors and stay for up to two years at a time.
Ottawa is also going to allow in more parents and grandparents next year from the existing  waiting list. The government is targeting admissions of 25,000 people next year, up from a recent annual average of 17,500.
As a result, parents and grandparents will make up nine per cent of the total immigrant inflow of about 255,000 next year, said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. That’s up from the current six per cent.
The changes have come in for criticism because in 2012, there will be thousands fewer business-class immigrants, spouses and live-in caregivers, a newly published list of targets shows.
If the rules stayed the same, the backlog of parents and grandparents waiting to be processed would climb to about 300,000 within the decade from about 170,000 now, Kenney said..
The new multiple-entry visa, will come into effect Dec. 1.
The Opposition NDP welcomed the idea of the new visa and was glad to see higher levels of parents and grandparents will be admitted next year.
However, its immigration critic Don Davies the government is trying to hide the bad news of slashing spousal, caregiver and refugee visas by confusing the public with sporadic announcements.
Last month, Ayex Bathan, of the Philippine Women Centre of BC described Canada’s Live-in Caregiver Program as racist and anti-woman
“Unpaid overtime, the bind to one employer, being at their beck and call 24 hours per day and the difficulty of applying labour standards in private households are all too common for Filipino Canadian live-in caregivers,” said Bathan.
“We will continue to struggle for a just and genuine settlement and integration, defined by the Filipino Canadian community, not by the state. Together, we aim to liberate Canada’s transnational working class community from exploitation.”