'They Take My Labour, But Not My Family'

The federal government is preparing to end the Caregiver Program – and caregivers are fighting back by demanding permanent residency upon arrival

- Simran Dhunna

Kara’s alarm clock barked in her ears at 6 a.m. Guess I’m going back to prison, she sighed to herself. She went downstairs and cooked breakfast for three – the six-year-old boy with special needs she looked after, as well as his two parents, Kara’s employers – while packing three lunches and cleaning last night’s dishes.

Laundry, repairing the washroom sink, cleaning the bedrooms … Kara weighed her hefty workload for the day.

She tried but failed to finish repairing the sink before the boy came home from school. Within an hour the house was messy again – dishes clamouring to be washed and towers of dirty clothing. Why fold your clothes when you can simply drop them for the nanny to pick up, right?

All the while, Kara wondered if she might have some time to visit the doctor this week, since the walk-in clinic was closed on weekends. She had developed some odd spots in her eyes. “I need to see the doctor,” she relayed to the boy’s mother.

“I can’t miss my job just to be with my son,” her boss told Kara. “If you’re going to the doctor, who’s going to replace you?” So, that was that.

By the time she passed out on her bed, it was 10 p.m. Eight hours of pay for 16 hours of work. Should I talk to her about my hours?

Not long after, Kara woke to a text from her employer saying she was fired. “We don’t need you anymore. Don’t come back.”

THE END OF THE CAREGIVER PROGRAM

Kara Manso, a trained nurse from the Philippines, migrated to Canada under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in 2012, only to find she was overqualified, overworked, and underpaid.