Tungohan, Cleto and de Leon: Leave the nannies alone

More commentary on live-in caregivers and the Government’s signalling intent to change the program given concerns that it is being used as a backdoor for family reunification (see Live-in caregivers may be next target of immigration reform, Don’t throw the nanny out with the bathwater – Omidvar, Filipino Canadians fear end of immigrant dreams for nannies):

That Minister Alexander is considering revoking their automatic right to permanent residency is very troubling. It would be unethical not only because of the contributions these caregivers have already made to Canadian society, but also because he is going against decades of expressed wishes from the Canadian public.

We should not forget that in the late 1970s, Canadian families fought alongside live-in caregivers for the right to permanent residency. Canadian families recognized that migrant domestic workers provide care work that they sorely need. And if migrant domestic workers are good enough to work, they felt, they are good enough to stay.

This is still true today. The absence of a national childcare and eldercare policy means Canadian families have little recourse but to use the live-in caregiver program to meet their needs. Middle-class families are placed in a crippling financial situation and are increasingly turning to the LCP for help. And our study shows that 68% of live-in caregivers continue to do care work three to five years after exiting the program. This figure drops to 45% after five to 10 years.

These numbers may show that some of our respondents are unable to get jobs outside of care work despite having education, training and work experience in other fields. This presents an opportunity for the Canadian government to think more critically about how to maximize the diverse, valuable skills that live-in caregivers have.Live-in caregivers are currently prohibited from taking educational upgrading and training courses while under the LCP.

To maximize their skills and expertise, they should immediately be granted affordable access to accredited programs such as early childhood education, personal support work and health-care aide training. This way, caregivers would have improved job security and would give Canadian families access to a bigger pool of trained health-care professionals.

Tungohan, Cleto and de Leon: Leave the nannies alone