[van-announce] Community-based initiatives continue to reap success

[Philippine Women Centre of B.C.]

Community-based initiatives continue to reap success

For immediate release: July 27, 2002

Through the hard work and dedication of numerous volunteers of the Filipino
Nurses Support Group (FNSG), 6 FNSG members passed the latest nursing
registration exam. Also 5 members have recently met the English requirements
and are now qualified to work as nurses on Interim Permit. Interim Permits
allows nurses to work as graduate nurses before writing the nursing exam.

FNSG began in 1995 when a group of Filipino nurses who were connected with
the Philippine Women Centre of BC and SIKLAB (overseas workers organization)
began to come together with the common experience of working in Canada, not
as nurses, but as low-income 24-hour domestic and home support workers under
the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

Through initial sharings of their experiences and identifying the common
issues each faced, they realized that to effectively tackle these issues,
they must empower and strengthen themselves through their own
self-organization, self-reliance and collective effort. From this desire to
build a community that reflects their vision of a just and fair society, the
FNSG was organized.

The FNSG holds that due to the political, economic crisis and the grinding
poverty in the Philippines, Filipino nurses are forced to leave the
Philippines for survival abroad. Filipino nurses in Canada are part of the
mass migration of over 7 million Filipinos in search for a "better life".

However, Filipino nurses arriving in Canada in the last decade, face extreme
marginalization in Canadian society. Unlike the Filipino nurses who came in
the 1960’s and 1970’s who were able to practice nursing upon arrival,
Filipino nurses today have only Canada Immigration’s Live-in Caregiver
Program (LCP) as the only viable option to enter Canada. Under this program,
they are forced to be 24-hour nannies and home support workers, not nurses.
They are vulnerable to de-skilling, exploitation and abuse, as they have
only temporary status in Canada and are forced to live in their employer’s
home. Despite the fact that they have attained Bachelor of Science in
Nursing Degrees and have nursing experience in the Philippines and often in
other countries, Filipino nurses also face costly and irrelevant barriers to
become accredited as nurses in BC. It is outrageous Filipino nurses face
these institutional barriers in times of an intensifying nationwide nursing
shortage.

Since the FNSG’s beginnings, the group has grown to over 400 members and
contacts and has been strong in resisting their marginalization. The FNSG
has helped 57 Filipino nurses through the accreditation process and many of
them are now practicing as nurses.

The successful accreditation of Filipino nurses who are members of FNSG show
the importance and success of collective effort and community-based
initiatives. FNSG facilitates bi-weekly, peer led nursing review classes to
assist Filipino nurses in preparing for the nursing exam and bi-weekly
English support classes to assist them in the English exams. FNSG volunteers
also provide peer counseling and support to members. FNSG also exposes and
opposes discriminatory programs that bar Filipino nurses from practicing
their profession.

Despite the innumerable obstacles, Filipino nurses are persevering in their
struggle to gain recognition for their education and experience. FNSG again
congratulates its 6 members who are newly registered nurses in BC and their
5 members who are now Graduate Nurses in BC.

For more information, contact Leah or Rachel at (604) 255-6870.

_________________________________________________

"Advancing the rights and welfare of
foreign-trained Filipino nurses!"
Filipino Nurses Support Group
Phone: 604.255.6870
http://fnsg.tripod.com
http://www.kalayaancentre.org

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