Juana Tejada: Filipina Caregiver With A Lasting Legacy

To simply work in a foreign land is hard-- a fact that needs no further explanation. However another bitter truth is that unavoidable circumstances can even make it worse just like what happened with Juana Tejada. She is a Filipino caregiver who toiled in a faraway land in the hope of giving her family a better future. A twist of fate threatened to take away all that she has worked for but she gained the admiration and respect of many when she remained strong and determined until the end. This is her story:

Canada is one of the favorite destinations of Filipino caregivers because their Live-in Caregiver program offers not only an opportunity to work but also to be a permanent resident. In 2003, Juana Tejada a small and soft spoken woman from Abra joined the ranks of foreign caregivers who tried their luck in this country.

She worked hard and completed the 24-month residency to be eligible for the permanent residency status privilege. Part of her goals is to bring her family in the Philippines to Canada. Her dreams would have been fulfilled easily if she had not failed in the second medical examination. In 2006 Tejada was diagnosed with a colon cancer causing her application for residency to be rejected for the reason that she was viewed as a healthcare burden.

The previous rules of the Live-in Caregiver Program require all applicants to undergo a second medical examination. This policy makes the application process more expensive and complicated, more so because the second medical examination is deemed unnecessary. A medical examination is a prerequisite even before they came to work in Canada.

When she reapplied for the second time, she was again denied. The two-time rejection did not cause Tejada to lose hope. Instead of accepting her fate, she questioned the verdict of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and then appealed on humanitarian grounds.

Eventually her case won and she was given a permanent status but she did more than that. Her painful fight to stay in Canada despite having a fatal disease opened the eyes of the Canada government on the difficulties that foreign caregivers are experiencing before they are given a permanent residency status. It also spurred the need to review the Live-in caregiver program. Tejada is a founding member of the United Steelworkers' Independent Workers Association, a group of Philippine live-in caregivers, all struggling with cancer and immigration.

The new Live-in Caregiver program does not include the second medical examination requirement. Some rules that complicate the application process are also modified. As a salute to the woman who made this possible, the new law is now called the Juana Tejada Law.  Migrante International also called Tejada, a female OFW par excellence”.

The chairperson of Migrante International, Garry Martinez said, “We give our highest salute to Juana Tejada. She is, indeed a female OFW par excellence, who, while battling the debilitating disease of cancer, relentlessly worked for the rights and welfare of caregivers in Canada."

JuanaTejada died on March 8 2009, International Woman’s Day but the legacy that she left for all Filipino workers abroad will be remembered forever.