Caregiver rules raise concerns
Burnaby Now
May 1 2010 
By: Jennifer Moreau

A local business owner says the federal government's new rules for live-in caregivers will cost employers more while offering no guarantee the women will stay.

The new rules, which took effect April 1, require employers to pay for flights to Canada and cover the caregivers' first three months of medical insurance….

If the employers have to pay for the caregivers' flights, then the caregivers should have to complete the contract, Carmona said. Far too often, desperate women agree to anything to get to Canada, then may decide to leave if they don't like where they are living. The government's attitude is that it's the employers' risk if the nanny leaves, he added….

Glecy Duran works with the Philippine Women Centre of B.C., an organization that campaigns against the government's live-in caregiver program.

Duran wants the government to scrap the program entirely. Her view is that it's a way to import cheap labour instead of paying for seniors' care and universal child care for Canadians.

Duran wants the government to let people come to Canada as permanent residents and be allowed to bring their families….

"The changes are technical and do nothing to change the fundamentally flawed program," Duran said….