Caregiver story a Canadian disgrace: LCP needs Ottawa's attention now
Vancouver Courier
Fiona Hughes
October 07, 2009

Gloria takes care of four children under the age of six. She works from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but gets paid for only eight hours a day. Gloria is also expected to clean the house and make three meals a day for the entire family.

Gloria pays $325 a month for a small room in the basement next to the storage area. She gets paid $10 an hour. She is a Filipina here on a work permit through the Canadian government's Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).

On Fridays, because her employers claim not to have enough money to pay her for the minimum 40 hours a week as required by the Canadian government's LCP requirements, she is sent to clean the home of an employer's friend. While cleaning that home, Gloria stumbled upon a piece of paper indicating how much the friend was paying her employer for her cleaning services. It was more than her hourly wage. Her employer was profiting from her. …

… Her story is shameful. The fact that her employers… can treat her like an indentured servant with impunity is a disgrace.

….About 96 per cent of live-in caregivers--mostly as nannies--in Canada are from the Philippines.

….Ottawa is well aware well of the program's flaws, yet nothing changes.

… Many of Gloria's problems could likely be alleviated if Ottawa--at minimum--abolished the "live-in" requirement….

The lack of affordable, quality daycare--especially in Metro Vancouver--is why so many Canadian families hire women from the Philippines to take care of their children. I employ a caregiver through the LCP, but it does not give me licence to treat her like a slave. ….