Nanny Canada

Ottawa urged to scrap live-in caregiver program

(According to Kelowna.com or follow the link: http://www.kelowna.com/2009/12/24/ottawa-urged-to-scrap-live-in-caregiver-program/)

“Advocates for immigrant nannies are calling on Ottawa to scrap a program that has allowed tens of thousands of women to immigrate to Canada.

In a bid to address problems of overwork and underpayment in the field, Ottawa is proposing changes to the live-in caregiver program, which allows the mostly Filipina workers to apply for permanent residence after working as domestic help for two years. Changes include a mandatory contract with duties, benefits, hours and holidays, having employers pay for travel to Canada and increasing the time to complete the two-year requirement to four years.

The program traps Filipina women in low-pay jobs where they’re vulnerable to abuse and exploitation and keeps women separated from their families, advocates from the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. said Wednesday.

Gloria Remirata, who became a live-in caregiver in 2000, was separated from her three children for six years after leaving them in the Philippines with her sister, which she called “the most difficult decision I made in my life.”

At a conference Wednesday, she wept recalling how she had missed their birthdays and graduations.

Ayex Bathan, separated from her mother for six years, said the program isn’t worth the toll it has on families, calling it exploitative, anti-woman and racist.

Advocate Leah Diana said Ottawa should remove the requirements that caregivers live at their employers’ home, work for two years before applying for residence and be contracted to a specific employer. Caregivers should be allowed to immigrate as permanent residents with their families to fill shortages in domestic work in the same way other immigrant workers can to work in other fields, they said.

But Paragon Personnel owner Ed Carmona said killing the program would put an end to a fast-track immigration process for unskilled workers who couldn’t otherwise qualify to immigrate to Canada and deprive Canadians of nannies.

“You tell me how many Canadians would be willing to be a live-in nanny for minimum wage of $8 an hour?” he said.

He said if they didn’t live in, they couldn’t afford the rent on minimum wage, and a $15 hourly wage would make nannies prohibitively expensive for average families.

Email reporter Susan Lazaruk at slazaruk@theprovince.com”

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The federal government announced steps Saturday to better safeguard foreign caregivers from abuse and exploitation, but opposition critics said the changes Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is proposing won’t provide full protection.

The revised regulations stem from months of consultations with caregiver groups, and Kenney expressed hope they will allow a better life for people who come to Canada to become nannies.

“To ensure they’re not subject to abusive situations, to ensure they’re not exploited by unscrupulous consultants and to ensure they have a fair, clear pathway to permanent residency,” Kenney told a news conference.

Among the changes Kenney is planning to the Live-in Caregiver Program is elimination of the requirement for caregivers to undergo a second medical exam.

The measure was proposed by Juana Tejada, a Toronto nanny who developed cancer while working as a caregiver and was initially denied permanent resident status when she failed her second medical examination.

The changes would also give nannies up to four years to complete a total of two years’ work needed to apply for landed-immigrant status. Currently the limit is three years.

The government hopes the change will prevent events like pregnancies or loss of employment from stopping live-in caregivers from meeting government requirements.

Those wanting to hire a nanny from overseas would have to pick up the cost of bringing them to Canada and provide medical coverage until the nannies are eligible for provincial health plans. They would also have to pay any fees to recruiters, Kenney said.

“No longer will caregivers be paying people to get the jobs to work in Canada,” Kenney said.

The government is also going to require caregivers’ employers to clearly outline job duties, hours of work, overtime and holidays, sick leave, and termination and resignation terms.

Employers who provide significantly different wages, working conditions or occupations than they promised may be blacklisted.

The public will have 30 days to comment on the changes before the final version takes effect sometime next year. (According to CTV News)

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