Placing Filipino Caregivers in Canadian Homes: Regulating Transnational Employment Agencies in British Columbia

Abstract

Canada has a long history of “importing” domestic workers from other countries to care for family members and to perform household duties in private homes (Bakan and Stasiulis 1997: 32-35) Throughout this history, labour brokers, now known as employment agencies, have been key actors in matching domestic workers with employers. Traditionally, domestic work has been (and continues to be) regarded as women’s work, suited to women’s roles, talents and temperament. Today, households in Canada recruit women from the global South, especially from the Philippines, to provide care in their homes for children and other family members who are sick, disabled and elderly. What distinguishes the migrant caregivers who perform this social reproductive labour in private households from the mothers, wives and other family members who also do this work is that the former are paid a wage. However, unlike other employees, these migrant domestic workers are not paradigmatic free wage labourers. As temporary migrants their immigration status is tied to an employment relationship with a particular employer. Moreover, as live-in caregivers admitted under a specifi c stream of Canada’s Temporary Migrant Workers program they are required to live in the private home of their employer. Thus, they are not free to circulate in the labour market, nor are they free to reside where they choose. This double unfreedom plays an important role in making these workers vulnerable to exploitation. In fact, live-in caregivers have become exemplary precarious workers.