Foreign live-in caregivers says Canada government backtracking

Canada, 11th November: Foreign live-in caregivers have lashed back at Tories government saying the government is not delivering on its promises.

The immigrant nannies had been promised by Canada immigration minister Jason Kenney in March 2010 that the government will make the program an integral part of Canada immigration system in the coming times.

Immigration minster singing a different song—foreign care-givers allege--The minister had revealed last week that only a handful of foreigners were qualifying for Canada live-in caregiver program. As a result, Kenney pointed out that this immigration stream was likely to get a blow in the next year as the government works towards axing immigration in this stream.

The government of Canada is planning to give a fillip to some economic immigration categories next year. In one of the Twitter posts by foreign caregivers, they allege Kenney is ignoring the demands of foreign live-in caregivers.

The post further adds that foreign care-givers must be admitted into Canada keeping in view the positive contribution by them to Canadian families.

It seems that Canada immigration minister has changed his stance from his pre-election pledges to admit foreign caregivers, lamented a worried volunteer with GTA Caregiver Action Center and a live-in caregiver herself, Catherine Manuel.

Filipino caregiver community worried by Canada government’s stance—It may be worth mentioned that out of the total foreign live-in caregivers coming to Canada each year, nearly two-thirds are from Philippines. No wonder, such a plan by the government of Canada is proving to be a cause of concern for them.

Hailing from the Philippines, Manuel said foreign caregiver community is in complete chaos for the last three years or so. And the root cause for such mess are the changes introduced by Canada immigration department to foreign care-giver program in April 2010 for extending increased protection to foreign caregivers.

Such changes have made it more tough and risky for employers in Canada to recruit foreign live-in caregivers.

Increased costs of hiring foreign caregivers for employers--According to Manuela Gruber Hersch from Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies Canada, due to changed rules for Canada foreign live-in caregiver program, employers need to cover not just the recruitment fees but also temporary health insurance as well as airfare for the initial three months including an immigration consultant or an immigration advisor.

Canada immigration rules give authority to foreign care-givers to change their employer if they either want to stay close to their relatives or friends or consider that the family they are working for is not good. So, employers don’t have any guarantee that the hired nanny care-giver will work for them, adds Gruber Hersch.