Caregivers in Canada face new immigration issues

Canada’s move to disband the current caregiver program in November 2019 is causing turmoil in the Filipino community.

The recent announcement made by the Canadian government that it will no longer accept applications for permanent residency from caregivers by November 2019 has participants of the program in turmoil, advocacy groups said.

Many of those affected are Filipinos as they rank as the top source of caregivers in Canada.

Caregivers and their rights advocates gathered recently in Edmonton to discuss the issues facing them.

“We should be treating temporary foreign workers as how we treat Canadians, instead of exploiting them then disposing of them,” said Connie Sorio, coordinator for Migrant Justice and Asian Partnerships, also with Kairos Canada.

Speaking at the forum Global Compact on Migration: The effects of migrant caregivers in Canada, Sorio pointed to the global movement of workers driven by deplorable conditions in sending countries in terms of joblessness, poverty and social injustices.

Cynthia Palmaria of Migrante Alberta said the latest initiative of the government to reform the program should lead to meaningful changes for caregivers.

“In Canada, the government itself recognizes the important role of caregivers to the growth of the Canadian economy, yet, it has not made significant and bold changes to the caregiver program to address long-term issues surrounding the program and the caregiving needs of Canadians,” said Palmaria.

“Unfortunately, the caregivers are usually the ones on the precarious economic end,” she said.

Advocates say a change in permanent residency opportunities for caregivers would discourage many Filipinos from migrating to Canada.

“If Canada is really going to take away the permanent residency opportunity, I don’t think of lot of caregivers would want to come here. First of all, it’s very cold. Secondly, it’s very far and despite the Skype and all these apps that caregivers are able to connect with their children and families almost on a regular basis, the fact that it’s still far away, I think more caregivers would opt to work in Hong Kong or nearby countries in the Philippines so that they can easily visit their families. The only draw to come here is the permanent residency opportunity,” said Sorio.

Canadian immigration plans to announce its decision to either replace or make these programs permanent before they end in 2019.

For now, foreign caregivers will not be eligible for permanent residence if they have not accrued two years of employment by Nov. 29, 2019, according to a notice posted by the Immigration Department.

This involves two programs -— one for those caring for children and the other for those caring for adults with high medical needs.

Ottawa has yet to decide whether to do away with them completely, renew them or come up with replacements.

Canada’s unique program is believed to be the only one in the world that provides access to permanent status for foreign caregivers after two years of full-time employment as a caregiver. The access to permanent residency is an incentive to make up for the job’s relative low pay and sometimes unpleasant work conditions.

In 2014, the previous Conservative government overhauled the program by capping the number of caregivers who can access permanent residency at 5,500 a year and imposing new requirements for language and post-secondary education.

Under the new program, only 1,955 caregivers and their dependants were granted permanent residency in the three years after the changes were made. An average of 10,740 people — caregivers and families — were granted permanent status annually between 2006 and 2014 under the previous live-in caregiver program.

“This is another underhanded way for the government to quietly take away the pathway for permanent residency for caregivers. This is not OK,” said Anna Malla of the Caregivers Action Centre in Toronto, according to The Toronto Star.

Photo by Aubre Makilan/Bulatlat