The Treatment and Distress of Caregivers from Foreign Countries in Canada: Fighting the State to Put an End to Exploitation
Here, the summary about the Treatment and Distress of Caregivers from Foreign Countries in Canada is explained. The federal initiative of Canada allows Canadian families to hire foreign-workers in the role of a care-giver. The families are free to welcome an employee from another country who can come and stay with them to take care of their seniors, children or people who need constant medical attentions the ones with disability or otherwise. The federal law allows the caregiver to stay in the country for two years on completion of which they can apply for a permanent residential permit.
The recent initiatives of Parliament to look at the kind of treatment temporary foreign workers receive with a view to bring an equilibrium to that got many people working as live-in caregivers speaking about the injustices they faced within federal programs.
The pattern of the federal program shifted form in 2014 so that new applicants did not have to live in the employers’ homes. There were several cases who already applied for live-in program. They had to continue in the stream and could not shift to the live-out pattern. However, this amendment took away the rights of the caregivers to apply for permanent resident status.
Kristina Torres, 28, started working in Canada under a live-in caregiver federal program. Originally from Philippines, Torres as a temporary foreign worker feels quite disposable and less than human under the federal programs. Because they were so tied up to the employers’ houses that if they wish to end their service for a particular family they would have no place to live in. Thanks to the amendments now for that of solving problems. However, promises were given by many live-in caregivers like Torres – a “pathway to permanent residency” without ever experiencing what it is like. Immigration minister John McCallum promised a hope to bring reformation in the system so that the promised ‘pathway to permanent residency’ could be brought back.
But Torres said that’s not good enough. She’s part of an advocacy organization called the Caregivers Action Center, which is calling for temporary workers and their families, which given permanent resident status upon their arrival in Canada.
She also thinks that workers would be treated as robots and would be hired only if they are willing to get abused by their employers. So, as she makes it quite clear the live-out caregiver program is not going to sustain for a long time. Employers expect the caregiver to stay with them. She said the ‘pathway to permanent residency’ is nothing but a ‘pathway to exploitation’ and their demands will now be to get permanent residency as and when the worker arrives in Canada.
In her experience working with people who are gravely ill, Torres said, she has to do the physical work of helping her client, but she also has to navigate the shifting family dynamics that come near the end of life. And there’s no respite at the end of the day, as workers are fully immersed in their employer’s family.