ON THE LIVE-IN CAREGIVER PROGRAM
ISSUES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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ver the last fifteen years, a growing number of Filipino women have come to Canada through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). The LCP as implemented by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) brings in qualified temporary workers to provide in-home childcare, senior home support or disabled care. It promises caregivers permanent resident status after working 24 months within a three-year period as live-in caregiver.
Caregivers, however, are put in a precarious situation. Their temporary status, together with an employer-specific visa and the mandatory live-in requirement, severely restricts their basic human rights of freedom of mobility and residence. These significantly limit their ability to get out of dangerous and difficult situations. Even changing employers requires once again going through the onerous process of visa reapplication. And all this with a time limit and with threats of deportation. Caregivers thus end up staying in situations of overwork, little privacy, underpay, and with safety concerns.
Given these, Migrante Ontario puts forward the following demands:
ALLOW LIVE-IN CAREGIVERS TO COME IN AS LANDED IMMIGRANTS.
This is the prime demand, the central issue at hand. In order to remove the vulnerability associated with the temporary status of live-in caregivers, the Government of Canada should grant permanent resident status to live-in caregivers at the outset. Granting permanent resident status to live-in caregivers will allow them to negotiate for better working conditions or change employers to escape abusive situations. They will also have better access to benefits and services and speed up reunification with their families.
As we continue to struggle for this fundamental change, we urge the Canadian government to:
1. Make the work permit job-specific instead of employer specific.
At minimum, the initial permit may correspond to the first employer, but, once the caregiver decides to change employers, he/she will not be obligated to re-apply for a new permit. This is similar to an open permit tying the foreign worker to a job description, but not an employer. This will also allow the caregiver to work for more than one employer at the same time, in cases where they want to supplement their income through part-time work. Another possibility, which is a third and lesser option, is to allow the caregiver to work for a new employer and to allow her/him to apply for the permit retroactively, counting the waiting time as part of the two-year requirement.
2. Give caregivers the option to live in or out of their employers’ home.
Live-in arrangements should be optional and subject to contract negotiations between the employer and the live-in caregiver. This will provide flexibility for live-in caregivers and employers to meet their needs according to their circumstances, as well as reduce the incidence of abuse and exploitation.
3. Regulate and monitor the operations and practices of employment agencies and private individuals involved in the recruitment of foreign caregivers and other migrant workers. Violations should be dealt with accordingly and violators penalized.
There is a need for legislation and regulation in both federal and provincial governments that not only monitors but also holds accountable training, recruitment and placement agencies involved in the live-in caregiver program.
4. Stop the deportation of caregivers and other migrant workers and call for a transparent and impartial process of appeal available to these workers before any decision to deport is made.
Reinstate the government-funded, provincial legal aid services and ensure that caregivers and other migrant workers are entitled to free legal aid, including coverage for labour and immigration cases, and services.
5. Implement/enforce the employment standards and occupational health and safety acts for caregivers and other migrant workers in the same way as these apply to all Canadians and permanent residents.
As well, the provincial labour ministries should conduct regular monitoring of such implementation, including inspection of workplaces with the involvement of the workers or their representatives.
6. Sign the U.N. Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and adopt statutes for its implementation.
MIGRANTE ONTARIO
January 2008
