Pinoy caregiver succumbs to cancer in Canada

[detox]

Pinoy caregiver succumbs to cancer in Canada
MARLOU TIRO, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
03/10/2009

TORONTO, Canada — Juana Tejada, the Filipina caregiver who fought tirelessly to improve Canada’s immigration laws, has died.

Tejada was rushed to Toronto General Hospital early Saturday morning. She was taken to intensive care and put on a ventilator to help her breathe. She died on Sunday of cancer. Tejada had plans to see her family in the Philippines, whom she had not seen since 2000.

Filipino community and human rights activists rallied behind Tejada in 2006, after the Canadian government denied her permanent residency because she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Under the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP), caregivers must fulfill 2 years of service and pass a medical screening to receive residence.

Canadian lawmakers have been working to reverse the laws that disqualified Tejada from permanent residence in the first place. That amendment to the LCP is known as “Juana Tejada’s Law.”