The End: Ottawa officially cancels Live-In Caregiver Program

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Almost all private daycares in Ottawa are all fully booked and job ads looking for nannies and caregivers only yield slim-pickings.

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).

In a report by Claire Bronwell of the Financial Post, 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 – that’s only about 9% of the applications under the previous policy.

In the same report, Bronwell wrote, “[the] documents seen by the Financial Post demonstrate the rules are being inconsistently applied,” basing the approval on various factors like the hiring family’s willingness to provide “room and board” for the caregiver applicant.

In 2014, back when he was still employment minister, Defence Minister Jason Kenney made remarks about the caregiver program going “out of control” because of permanent residents taking advantage of the LCP to bring family members and friends into Canada.

READ: Advocates: Government secretly shutting down foreign caregiver program

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.

“I was in Manila a few years ago to give a seminar on nannies’ rights,” Kenney started.

“I 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,” he noted.

After the new program policy was enforced in December – 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 “black market.” Aside from the increase in fees under the new law, those families who have been approved to hire a live-in foreign caregiver “[are] no longer allowed to deduct room and board from their pay, increasing the monthly cost for families by about $600,” Bronwell wrote.

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.

READ: Local caregivers reveal gov’t plans to change live-in caregiver program

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 – up by almost 300% from $275 in the previous year.

“They’re putting up road block after road block after road block,” 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.

In Bronwell’s report, economist Mike Moffat from the University of Western Ontario pointed out that perhaps the Ottawa government’s reason behind the cancellation of the LCP is to eventually “make embarrassing statistics look better.”

“One of the things they have done (in Ottawa) is make it nearly impossible to bring in a live-in caregiver,” said Moffat. “People 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.”

READ: ‘Canada is not a hotel’ — Kenney

In a May 2015 report from the Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies president Manuela Gruber Hersch said, “Canada has had a foreign caregiver program for decades, and suddenly the government feels that we no longer need them. What has changed?”

Hersch also asked, “Are unemployed Canadian nannies complaining that they being passed over by overseas nannies?”

“It’s 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,” Hersch added.

“More 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,” said Ketchabaw.

With files from Claire Brownell of The Financial Post