Unlike most other temporary foreign workers in Canada, participants in the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) are eligible to apply for permanent residence after completing 24 months of paid employment within a period of four years. The LCP was introduced in 1992 to address a lack of live-in workers to care for dependent people. It is estimated that a total of 17,500 former caregivers, their spouses and dependants will be admitted as permanent residents in 2014.
Few studies have addressed the economic and social integration of LCP workers after the program or explored how different types of caregiving — for children, disabled people or older adults — affect integration. This study helps fill these gaps through extensive qualitative research, including interviews and focus groups with 58 live-in caregivers.
One main finding is that caregivers’ temporary status and the live-in requirement often lead to inequitable working conditions and even exploitation (e.g., no extra pay for working overtime). The authors show that caregivers of children deal more often with employers who fail to comply with their contracts than do caregivers of older adults. However, caregivers of adults experience more restrictions on their personal movement and are more socially isolated, given that they have to attend to their clients all the time.
Key factors that prevent live-in caregivers from successfully being integrated economically after they complete the LCP include losing recognition of previous training/skills, long and expensive upgrading processes, and limited use of settlement services. Successful social integration of LCP workers after the program seems to be hampered by their attachment to ethno-specific networks, and their difficulties with the procedures for obtaining permanent residence and family reunification.
To improve the economic and social integration of live-in caregivers during the LCP, the authors call for removal of the live-in requirement. In their assessment, caregivers would thus be less likely to experience some of the inequitable working conditions that they reported. The authors also suggest that consideration be given to allowing caregivers to apply for permanent residence upon arrival in Canada.
Noting that the federal government introduced regulatory changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in 2013, the authors call for stronger enforcement of employment and labour standards, including on the part of provincial governments. They further suggest the removal of the requirement that caregivers obtain a study permit for credit courses longer than six months while in the program; and they recommend increasing funding for immigrant organizations to make their services more widely available to caregivers in the LCP and to make former LCP workers more aware of such services after completing the program.
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