The nanny business in Canada

Edelyn Pineda waits to be picked up at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport on a freezing cold night in February.
The 27 year old, university educated mother of 3 has spent a grueling three days getting from Hong Kong to Toronto. In her hand she holds a contract to work as a live in caregiver, her work permit and visa.
She only has 10 dollars left in her pocket, all that’s left after borrowing money from a loan shark in the Philippines to pay for her flight and thousands of dollars to a Canadian recruitment agency.
She waits for 3 hours in the cold, but no one comes to pick her up.
Instead of a good job in a family home awaiting her, she ends up in a crowded apartment of other Filipino newcomers.  Edelyn’s story is one of the central stories in “The Nanny Business”.  Aother Filipina featured in the documentary is Joelina.
Almost 5000 Filipino women arrive in Canada each year with dreams of changing their lives through a federal program with the lure of a fast-track to Canadian residency.
Instead, many find themselves in a nightmare - cheated by recruiters, and misused by bad employers, trapped in a government program that promised so much but ended up facilitating abuse.
In The Nanny Business , filmmaker Shelley Saywell  follows some very brave nannies who go public.
With the help of crusading journalists, human rights lawyers and other parents, they are already forcing change.
Saywell is a Canadian documentary filmmaker whose films focus on social/political and human rights issues. Last year Saywell was honoured to participate in the pilot CFC-NFB Feature Documentary program.
Saywell has received numerous awards including an Emmy for outstanding investigative journalism, 2 Hot Docs Best Feature Documentary Awards, 3 Gemini Awards, and the Gandhi Medal for Promoting the Culture of Peace.
The Nanny Business - airs on Global TV July 7, 2010