Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - May 2009
Critics are calling for changes to Canada’s live-in caregiver program, after three caregivers have come out with abuse allegations against Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla – allegations including being overworked and underpaid.
This is not the first time that foreign workers have claimed their rights are being abused in Canada. In recent times especially, with Canada experiencing a major labour shortage and taking in more temporary workers than ever before, more and more such cases of abuse are being reported across the country.
The program for live-in caregivers is unique, however, in that it is less open to scrutiny than other occupational immigration programs in the country. A caregiver who lives in the home of their employer is more isolated than other temporary workers and may not even be aware of their rights in Canada, let alone inclined to report abuses to those rights.
Through the program, caregivers (like other temporary foreign workers) are brought into Canada by the employer. If that employment ends, the worker no longer has legal status. If they are able to find another employer, they have to wait a minimum three months for their application to be processed before they can begin the new employment.
However, the caregiver program requires 24 months of employment before the worker is eligible for permanent residency. The caregiver only has a deadline of only three years to complete their 24 months of work.
This deadline leaves the workers, who are usually young females, in a very vulnerable position if they find their employer unsuitable, a situation acknowledged in a recent government report issued after the Dhalla affair brought the issue to the political forefront.
Suggestions that have arisen to improve the program include removing the requirement that the caregivers must live in their employers home, and extending the deadline from three years to make switching employer easier.
Source: Calgary Herald
