{"id":54389,"date":"2015-07-06T17:48:33","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T09:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=54389"},"modified":"2015-07-06T17:48:33","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T09:48:33","slug":"the-end-ottawa-officially-cancels-live-in-caregiver-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/07\/06\/the-end-ottawa-officially-cancels-live-in-caregiver-program\/","title":{"rendered":"The End: Ottawa officially cancels Live-In Caregiver Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"shutterstock\"<\/a>
shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost all private daycares in Ottawa are all fully booked and job ads looking for nannies and caregivers only yield slim-pickings.<\/p>\n

Clients looking for a competent guardian for their loved ones are now having an even harder time finding a fit candidate after the local government of Ottawa officially put an end to the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP).<\/p>\n

In a report by Claire Bronwell of the Financial Post<\/a>, the Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies Canada noted that on average the government approves only between three to 63 foreign caregiver applications every month since December 2014 \u2013 that\u2019s only about 9% of the applications under the previous policy.<\/p>\n

In the same report, Bronwell wrote, \u201c[the] documents seen by the Financial Post demonstrate\u00a0the rules are being inconsistently applied,\u201d basing the approval on various factors like the hiring family\u2019s willingness to provide \u201croom and board\u201d for the caregiver applicant.<\/p>\n

In 2014, back when he was still employment minister, Defence Minister Jason Kenney made remarks about the caregiver program going \u201cout of control\u201d because of permanent residents taking advantage of the LCP to bring family members and friends into Canada.<\/p>\n

READ: Advocates: Government secretly shutting down foreign\u00a0caregiver program<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

That same year, during a National Post editorial board conference, Kenney shared his account of visiting a caregiver training facility in Philippines where a lot of foreign workers originate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in Manila a few years ago to give a seminar on nannies\u2019 rights,\u201d Kenney started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was there with 70 caregivers who were coming to Canada. None had questions about rights. All 70 of them were going to work for relatives in Canada and all they wanted to know was: What was the penalty for working outside the home illegally, and how long it would take them to sponsor family members,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

After the new program policy was enforced in December \u2013 including a cap on the number of foreign caregivers — the cost of hiring caregivers and nannies skyrocketed due to the lack of supply. Legitimate caregiver agencies even closed down only to be replaced by nannies from an alleged \u201cblack market.\u201d Aside from the increase in fees under the new law, those families who have been approved to hire a live-in foreign caregiver \u201c[are] no longer allowed to deduct room and board from their pay, increasing the monthly cost for families by about $600,\u201d Bronwell wrote.<\/p>\n

With all forces joining together to block the entry of foreign live-in caregivers to Canada, more and more families are making the difficult choice of being a single-income household so one parent can stay at home, instead of paying exorbitant fees to hire a competent nanny.<\/p>\n

READ: Local caregivers reveal gov’t plans to change live-in caregiver program<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brownell interviewed Michelle Ketchabaw, a 36-year-old high school teacher from Northern Ontario, who is currently in the process of her third application for a foreign caregiver. The application alone costs $1,000 \u2013 up by almost 300% from $275 in the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re putting up road block after road block after road block,\u201d Ketchabaw said in the Financial Post interview, referring to the federal government, adding that her husband had to file a year-long leave from work to attend to their kids.<\/p>\n

In Bronwell\u2019s report, economist Mike Moffat from the University of Western Ontario pointed out that perhaps the Ottawa government\u2019s reason behind the cancellation of the LCP is to eventually \u201cmake embarrassing statistics look better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things they have done (in Ottawa) is make it nearly impossible to bring in a live-in caregiver,\u201d said Moffat. \u201cPeople were asking, why are there so many temporary foreign workers in places where people are hurting for jobs? I think the government wanted to act on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: ‘Canada is not a hotel’ — Kenney<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a May 2015 report from the Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies president Manuela Gruber Hersch said, \u201cCanada has had a foreign caregiver program for decades, and suddenly the government feels that we no longer need them. What has changed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hersch also asked, \u201cAre unemployed Canadian nannies complaining that they being passed over by overseas nannies?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hurting Canadian families. It is hurting professional couples. All they want is consistent and reliable care for their children so they can cover their bases and go to work,\u201d Hersch added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore people need to know about this. I think a lot of people are feeling these frustrations and a sense that what the government is doing is unfair and unjust,\u201d said Ketchabaw.<\/p>\n

With files from Claire Brownell of\u00a0The Financial Post<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost all private daycares in Ottawa are all fully booked and job ads looking for nannies and caregivers only yield …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":54399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,18,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news-ca","category-immigration","mauthors-ching-dee","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}