June 2024 — In 1979 my college friend Fely Villasin (see Outstanding Filipinos in Canada for 2021) organized domestic workers in Toronto. Joining with other Filipino women who considered Canada’s Foreign Domestic Movement program prejudiced and unfair to women, they formed INTERCEDE. Their main goal was to fight for landed status for domestic workers. Soon they expanded their activities to other parts of Canada. In Vancouver they partnered with CDWCR (Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers Rights).
In 2000, Fely asked me to help CDWCR and introduced me to Cenen Bagon, one of CDWCR founders which began in 1992. CDWCR provides support to caregivers through counseling, lobbying, and information dissemination. For over 20 years now, I’ve been helping CDWCR with fundraising for their workshop series on the rights and responsibilities of caregivers in Canada, plus first aid, CPR, childcare, eldercare, personal financing, and planning for the future – after completing the terms of the live-in caregivers program.
Like INTERCEDE, CDWCR’s goal was also to achieve landed status for caregivers on arrival. To this end, we attended rallies and marches demanding PR status for caregivers on International Women’s Day, collected signatures for a petition for landed status, and sent a letter to PM Justine Trudeau (reprinted in this issue) appealing to his sense of justice for landed status for migrant caregivers.
Finally, after countless broken Filipino families, and more than 50 years of appealing, begging, beseeching, demanding, explaining, lobbying, marching, petitioning, praying, protesting, writing, etc. one of our major demands was answered. On June 3, 2024, IRC minister Marc Miller granted Landed status on arrival for caregivers. Sadly Fely Vilasin did not live long enough to see this blessed day.
Eleanor R. Laquian
For the Canadian Filipino.Net Editorial Board
