An Update on Filipina Nannies in Canada

(c) The Nanny Business: Used by Permission

Edelyn Pineda holds a picture of her daughter

On our post discussing the documentary “The Nanny Business” about the plight of Filipina Nannies in Canada, we got the following comment:

We have been trying for months now to find a Nanny in Canada, with no luck. So we had heard about amazing Filipina nannies that people have, and realized that this would be wonderful for our family, as we are 2 working parents, with 3 busy boys…We realized having a live in LOYAL, loving person in our home for the same price we pay for daycare was unimaginable until we talked with all of these people that had nothing but fabulous things to say about their nannies. So the research started, we’ve hit nothing but dead ends, but refuse to go through an agency, because the costs are atrocous … we don’t mind paying to bring someone over to Canada, but to pay thousands of dollars to find somone and do the paperwork, and then pay them to come??? We could never afford that!!!! If there are Nannies that were brought over to Canada, and don’t have work yet…WHERE ARE THEY?? Does anyone know???

What happened? Changes were made to Immigration Canada’s Foreign Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) in response to the some of the abuses mentioned in the documentary and Susan McClelland’s article.  The travel and recruitment costs of caregivers are now paid for by the employers and not by the caregivers.  Employers must also pay for health insurance for their caregivers, who must have work hours defined.  While these changes would seem to protect caregivers, the Association of Caregiver & Nanny Agencies Canada (ACNA) says that the drastically increased costs and risks now put on hiring families have caused a 70-90% drop in placements.

I can understand the commenter’s frustration.  With a third child, the challenges of raising kids goes up dramatically.  In basketball terms – with three kids you can’t play man to man but have to play zone.  After our third was born, The Wife and I hired a nanny (in the US though), and the paperwork was such that we had to also hire an agency to deal with just the paperwork.   I asked Susan McClelland, the journalist who wrote about the subject and who was in the documentary, about the change in law.   She mentioned that there had been a schism between caregiver groups, between those who wanted the LCP abolished and those who wanted it amended (such as this person).   She also feels that the bigger picture needs to be looked at:

As for the LCP, my position has always been that there be no live-in requirement, that women be paid a salary that allows them to live in the community, bring their own families with them, and work hours that are within our labour laws, ie. over-time paid and the nanny can say no, without feeling that her job or immigration is in peril if she doesn’t comply to her employers demands. I think Canadian society needs to really look at how we view children and child-rearing, as well. Any profession dealing with child-rearing, from day-care to nannies, etc., is among the lowest paid in our society.

McClelland also wrote an additional article on the nannies “other family” which is available here.

Back to the commenter’s predicament.  I think his choices are limited to the following:  pay the fees to get a nanny, having one spouse quit working full time to spend more time with the children, or deal with the situation as it is.  My family ended up doing some of each – we had a nanny for a while, and then The Wife stopped working until the youngest got into kindergarten, when she started working part time and is now pretty much full time now.   Staying at home with the kids is not easy and is like a full time job, as I found out when I was at home full time for while.  It’s not an easy choice.