The immigrant care workers we interviewed perceive that their status as immigrants has a strong effect on their employment opportunities and working conditions. When it comes to the former, they felt that their status may make employers reluctant to hire them. More specifically, the immigrant care workers we interviewed felt that from an employers’ perspective, immigration status implies a lack of Canadian experience. As one worker from Ontario noted:

When you come here and you are looking for a job they always ask you for experience and if you don’t... you’ve just come in this country, you know, and your experience from home they don’t accept it. They want experience here. (Ontario Care Worker J10)

I don’t get my all money is in my pocket. When I work in nursing home they give me 19 dollar, 18 dollar per hour. But when I working with agency they give me 12, 13 like that. Is not enough because I am working hard out there. (Ontario Care Worker A8)

Newcomers’ chances of becoming employed in better-paid and full-time jobs in the Canadian healthcare sector can be restricted on basis of their immigration status, especially in the case of refugees. Indeed, the interviewees reveal that having refugee status pushes them towards using recruitment agencies in their search for a job which often results in a lower salary level.

It is also argued that the lack of permanent status in Canada prevents those with refugee status and working visas from pursuing further studies which would open up the possibilities for professional advancement and securing better positions in the field.

The effect of immigration status on employment opportunities and conditions can be particularly challenging in the case of live-in-caregivers. In particular, they argue that the requirement of the LCP to spend 24 months with a single employer, their immigration sponsor, restricts them from finding additional, and in most cases, better paid jobs. For instance, reflecting on the restrictive elements of this program, one respondent said:

So not allowing me to work for somebody else or for a work that will pay higher than $8.00 is very restricting because I’m sure I can do a pretty good job as a care aide in a hospital working for $15.00 an hour than a caregiver sweeping or vacuuming for $8.00 an hour at that time. (BC Care Worker 11)

If a change of employer was possible, it often entailed a financial cost:

If I wanted to change employer I would have to go through immigration process, immigration office and change my work permit to that family. At the time I think it was quite costly. We didn’t earn much money and every change of address or employer was a financial issue. You know, changing these papers so that was annoying. (Ontario Care Worker A3)

Beyond the issue of refugee or live-in caregiver status, even after years of living and working in Canada, some respondents still feel the effects of their immigrant status. One respondent argues that a glass ceiling restricts career mobility in health care for immigrant workers, no matter how well they have done in their field of work:

You think they'll treat me like a nurse with white skin? No, it's... again we have to be really realistic about the situation... I’ve been training nurses and this is why I bring it up here, and I’ve worked all shifts in all departments and to bring into the policy a reality about the racism that we all have experienced being here in Canada and being Canadian citizens. But the systemic racism is still really, really, you know, there. ... It's the whole system. I mean, when you look around in the health care system who are your people working? Who are you health care workers? From the very bottom of the ladder to maybe up to the head nurses. You know, not management.” (QUÉBEC Care Worker 7)

Most care workers interviewed in our study, nevertheless described their relationship with their employers as good. The two most commonly cited reasons for which they would change employers is to find a more permanent, full time job or a job in which they would make full use their skills, given that many of the workers we interviewed are waiting for medical or nursing registration.

Interviewer: So why you are looking for another job?Care Worker: Because sometime they don’t give me enough hours so I need money to pay my house, my bills, and things.Interviewer: Okay. And would you like to stay with the same employer or would you like to change employers?
Care Worker: Um, I would like to stay with the same employer. (Ontario Care Worker A8)

Despite a generally good rapport between the workers and their employers, some immigrant care workers feel that they are assigned heavier workloads and more difficult clients by their employers because of their immigration status. For instance, commenting on how discrimination based on immigration or visible minority status plays a part in her employment experiences, one immigrant care worker described:

Discrimination is like when like we are Filipino. And there is the Canadian white [worker]. Usually they have ... better everything. … Like for example they give you a heavier work load and then they choose the Canadians in a lighter residence load. (Ontario Care Worker A1)

Similarly, another immigrant care worker notes:

I really feel that they’re kind of taking advantage of the workers like myself. Like they’re asking, well actually they’re putting more jobs on top of one that we have already for the same amount of money or less hours, or they’re cutting hours and they expect one person to do all those piling up things.(Ontario Care orker J2W)

The interviews also suggest that there are other aspects of inequality in terms of employers’ treatment of Canadian and immigrant care workers. In particular, it is pointed out that such differential treatment is visible in the lower number of shifts employers assign to immigrant workers as well as their reluctance to grant vacation time and sick leaves. For instance, one immigrant care worker notes:

Sometimes you can feel the discrimination still especially with the number of shifts that they give you. And if you request for vacation or you request to go on sick leave they will question you. They are giving you a hard time sometimes. They give me a hard time. (Ontario Care Worker J5)

Despite the disadvantaged position that immigrant care workers feel in their working settings, few belong to a labour union, largely due to their part-time employment status. Interestingly, some of them even do not know what labour union is or that they were eligible to join one:

Interviewer: Are you part of a labour union?Care Worker: What is a labour union?Interviewer: It’s like a labour organization that deals with your rights.
[care worker nods no] (Ontario Care Worker A14)

Interviewer: Are you a member of a labour union?
Care Worker: No, because I have no permanent job like you know I told you. (Ontario Care Worker A8)

The care workers who do belong to labour unions reveal that they are unable to get involved with union representatives to express their concerns and to attend union meetings due to the lack of time.

Interviewer: Have you ever participated in union meetings or asked for any help from your union representative?
Care Worker: No. ... I haven’t got time for that kind of stuff. (Ontario Care Worker J17)