A look into the life of a local Filipino worker

By Brandi Morin

Posted 1 day ago

STONY PLAIN - In recent years there has been a significant increase in the amount of foreign workers in Parkland County. Even with the fall of the economy in 2008 certain job sectors have remained prosperous with a demand for skilled and committed employees.

In order to promote employment opportunities in Alberta, the Province entered into an agreement with the Philippines Department of Labour and Employment.

Alberta's Minister of Employment and Immigration, Hector Goudreau, said that they prefer Filipino workers because of their skills, flexibility, adaptability and wonderful work ethics.

Richard Naya, 25, from La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, has been working in Alberta for almost five years and as a chef at a popular Stony Plain restaurant for the past three years.

"It was really good to grow up there (Philippines) because of the beautiful weather and stuff," said Naya.

"But what good is the weather when you can't put food on the table?"

He grew up poor in a family of seven a couple hours inland north of the Pacific Ocean. His father worked as a truck driver and his mother worked planting and harvesting sugar cane to make ends meet.

Child labour is not forced upon children in the Philippines but they can choose to work if they choose to.

"When we were young kids playing around by the farms, we were hungry anyway so we asked my mom's boss if we could do work for him and get paid," said Naya.

"It wasn't easy planting sugar cane under the hot sun but we did it anyway. To a Filipino working here in a restaurant is easy like a dream job of working in an office compared to working in the fields."

Naya was dedicated to school and always envisioned a better life for him and his family. After Grade 6 he wrote and passed an exam that qualified him and only three others from his school to attend a private high school in Manila called CEBU, the Sisters of Mary School.

"I was really lucky I passed and my mom was really happy," said Naya.

"Although she was crying a lot because I was going away from home for so long."

The school required students to attend for four years with only two weeks off in the summer. But Naya said it was the greatest experience of his life.

"That high school gave us lots of opportunities like automotive, carpentry, electrical and computer skills."

Everything was paid for including his meals, shelter and regular hair cuts, "From top to bottom we were taken care of," said Naya.

Upon graduating at the top of his class Naya was granted a scholarship to study the two-year Mid Wife college program back in his hometown. It's a job there is a high demand for in the Philippines.

After getting his midwifery license Naya worked at a few local fast-food joints while waiting to find employment in his field.

An aunt encouraged him to consider applying to work in Canada because she told him he would be better able to help support his family rather than making a dollar an hour working in the Philippines.

Naya decided to apply and the process took a full year. He also had to borrow money from one of his bosses to secure the funds to move.

Skilled worker immigration in Alberta is part of the Provincial Nominee Program. This is an employer-driven immigration program managed by the Government of Alberta and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

His first job in Alberta was at an A & W in Westlock, which he said he enjoyed.

Having come to Canada without knowing anyone but his aunt he soon made connections with other Filipino workers and met his future wife Belle.

With a desire to move closer to his aunt and new friends, Naya decided to move to Stony Plain.

The two happiest days of his life is when he got married and when his first child was born last June. But his son was born in the Philippines because Belle had been asked to leave Canada due to a problem with her immigration papers.

Although he hasn't yet met his son in person he tries to "see" them everyday using Skype.

"I feel really, really sad from not seeing them, like I mean not being able to touch them," said Naya. "I'm missing a lot of him growing up."

Naya works full-time and once a month sends half of his paycheque home to his wife and on his other payday he sends half to his parents and siblings.

When asked if he feels a lot of pressure to support his family he was quick to answer with a look on his face that was surprised that he was even asked such a question.

"The way I was raised, seeing them struggling, seeing them hungry, I know what it's like and I don't want them (my siblings) to experience that," said Naya.

"I want them to be able to go to school with a clear mind. Instead of thinking about such things like 'I'm hungry', they can go to school and play. It's all really about seeing them happy."

Immigration Canada is currently working on processing Belle's papers to return to Canada and Naya hopes to welcome his wife and meet his son in person for the first time in February.

Naya plans to continue to work with the hopes of being able to go to college in Edmonton to become a nurse but he has to have citizenship before he can apply.

The skilled worker immigration program in Alberta is designed to help candidates gain permanent residence and to help employers get workers for their companies. The ultimate dream for Naya would be to one day own a house and to raise his own family here.

"If I had lots of money of course I would want to go live back home," said Naya.

"But Canada is a really good country with lots of opportunity here. I even tried snowboarding although I'm not that good yet."

Naya plans to spend his fifth Christmas in Canada having a traditionally prepared Filipino dinner with his aunt and his friends.

He will speak with his family, wife and son through Skype.

Naya also said he is forever grateful for the abundant opportunities working in Alberta has given him and he is still working towards permanent residency and becoming a Canadian citizen.

brandi.morin@bowesnet.com

Immigration minister says foreign caregivers can work elsewhere when contract ends

Richard J. BrennanStaff Reporters

Ten thousand “open work permits” have been issued to foreign caregivers across Canada in a move one activist said frees them from bondage and slavery.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s orders came in response to a year-long Star investigation that found foreign nannies were treated as servants and forced to stay with one employer. Often, their passports were held by families that hired them, paying wages far below the poverty line.

“Finally they are released from bondage, the bondage of poverty, slavery and neglect,” said Terry Olayta, coordinator of the Toronto Caregiver Resource Centre. She said the average nanny nets about $250 a week.

“If we truly want to eliminate poverty, if we really want to eliminate neglect, exploitation and slavery, that is the thing to do — expedite their open work permits.”

Until the federal immigration department’s move, caregivers had to wait as long as two years for an open permit. Many were kept in abusive and exploitive work situations and forced to live in their employer’s home long after their original contract ended.

With an open permit, granted after their work requirements under the federal Live-In Caregiver program are met, caregivers are now free to take another job and move out of their sponsor’s homes while they wait for a decision on their applications for permanent residency.

Olayta said her group submitted a report to Kenney last September asking for just that. Waiting times for open permits in recent years had gone from just a few weeks to as much as 24 months, a situation she said kept some caregivers indentured and at the mercy of abusive employers.

One of the cases of alleged exploitation highlighted by the Star involved former Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla. Nannies complained to the newspaper they were hired by Dhalla to work at the family home in Mississauga and routinely toiled five days a week, earning $250 a week for 12- to 16-hour days. Plus the Dhalla family did not obtain the necessary federal approval under the Live-In Caregiver Program for the women to live and work in their home.

“After serious allegations of abuse were brought forward by live-in caregivers against Ruby Dhalla, the Minister engaged in consultations with various live-in caregivers regarding how to further improve the program. This policy is a direct result of those consultations,” said Kenney’s press secretary, Candice Malcolm.

In an interview at the time, Dhalla said she was “shocked and appalled” at the allegations.

“Anyone who has ever worked in our home has been treated with a lot of love, with a lot of care and compassion and money has never, ever been withheld from anyone,” Dhalla told the Starin an interview.

The Star series also prompted the Ontario government to pass legislation to further protect nannies. The new law makes it illegal for anyone to charge placement fees either directly or indirectly, putting the onus on the employer to pick up any costs involved with the recruiting and hiring of nannies.

The investigation showed widespread abuse with some recruiters charging as much as $10,000 for bogus jobs. Caregivers also complained of having to work 12- to 16-hour days for employers without being paid any overtime, and of being afraid to complain for fear of jeopardizing their applications for landed status.

Under the terms of the Live-In Caregiver program, applicants are obliged to work for two years, or 3,900 hours, and then become eligible to apply for permanent residence. In both 2009 and 2010, about five per cent of all permanent residents to Canada were admitted through the program.

In a press release, Kenney says the granting of open permits will go a long way to address those issues.

“Too many live-in caregivers have completed their work obligations but must continue living in the home of their employer, waiting for their application for permanent residence to be reviewed,” Kenney said.

“This is understandably frustrating. That’s why we have started issuing open work permits to live-in caregivers as soon as they have completed their obligations and submitted an application for permanent residence.

“The change I have announced (Thursday) will help caregivers settle into their new life in Canada while they wait for their permanent resident applications to be processed,” Kenney said in a statement

Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North) said he applauds the issuing of open work permits to live-in caregivers, saying there is little doubt that some have been taken advantage of.

“Quite often there are employers I would classify as questionable and they can make very difficult for a live-in caregivers … so the government is moving in the right direction saying they can change employers,” he said.

However, Lamoureux said there are issues that need to be resolved that are equally important, one of them being the treatment of caregiver when they get sick while they are working in Canada. He said now if it is serious enough they are deported.

“I have had dozens of stories told to me with regard to this whole health issue and to me that issue is just as important as the exploitation issue because the health issue has just as much as an impact, if not more, than exploitation issue,” he said.

As of Sunday, all live-in caregivers who have met their obligations and who have submitted an application for permanent residence have had their files reviewed. Those who submitted an open work permit application with no missing information are being issued open work permits, according to the immigration department.

In 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada admitted a record 14,000 permanent residents through the Live-in Caregiver Class, the news release stated. The program allows Canadian families to hire workers from abroad to provide care for a child, en elderly person or an adult with disabilities.

Ottawa has taken a number of steps to protect live-in caregivers from abuse and exploitation with regulatory improvements in the program in 2010 and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in 2011, according to the immigration department.

In the wake of the Star stories, the Ontario government set up a hotline where nannies can call and report any abuse or exploitation, and the federal government instituted a system to black list bad employers. Anyone found to be abusing a temporary foreign worker would be banned from being able to employ one for at least two years.