Most immigrant care workers revealed that they looked for work in health and social care for old people because they have some sort of health care background and had worked in this sector in their country of origin. Figure IV.5 reveals that over 40% of the sample has prior training in nursing. Other health related occupations included physician (10%), care worker (7%) and nurse assistant (3%). Less than 30% of those with health professional training were registered with a professional regulatory body in Canada.

As one care worker noted, “That’s the job which I know from my country [and] I like it.” (Ontario Care Worker J1) Accessibility to this kind of work, they explain, stems from the shortage of medical staff which characterizes the current situation in Canada, as well as the needs of Canada’s rapidly aging population.

[The] shortage of people in this kind of field and that was the easiest.... [and] fastest way to get a job. (Ontario Care Worker J6)

I know in Canada the older population is going up every year so the health field is the best place where you can find a job. (Ontario Care Worker A11)

In addition, it has been revealed that some of these care workers chose to work in nursing and retirement homes because they believed that their knowledge of English is insufficient for work in an acute hospital setting.

Care Worker: In the beginning it was scary because I don’t know if my English is good enough ... So my first choice I chose the nursing home. Easier? Yeah. That’s my start. So after that I get used to it and I know everything about the nursing home. And so I thought I should try hospital. So I got a job at the hospital.

Interviewer: So you thought that the nursing home is going to be easier because of your language to deal with the patients than in the hospital.

Care Worker: Yeah. Exactly. [In] hospital there is so many teams, OT, RT, physician, but nursing home is patient is stable. But the hospital the patients are sick so it’s acute. If your language problem they would say you have some barrier. You cannot communicate with our people. You’ll get in trouble. So that’s my weakness (Ontario Care Worker J9).

Our interviews also reveal that in some cases, the feelings of compassion towards elderly and desire to help them played an important role in care worker’s decision to look for employment in care sector for old people. In the words of two workers:

I feel compassion towards this age group. They need more care and they find themselves hopeless, helpless (Ontario Care Worker A6).

I wanted to hug them because I know they feel lonely. They have weaknesses and illnesses and no one ask about them and they wanted to speak to somebody and they didn’t find anybody. So I like this (Ontario Care Worker A5).

Some immigrant care workers reveal how in their cultures it is a common practice to take care of one’s grandparents; hence it was natural to them to look for a job in health and social care for elderly. This was noted in particular by our Filipino respondents:

One of the Filipino cultures is to help our elders. That’s why. We have very close family ties in our country. And maybe that’s one reason I love helping elders, you know. I really love helping those elderly people (Ontario Care Worker J15).

I think... I think it's something that it is being taught to us that we... that we as young people must respect our elders, right? So I think that's something that's a very good trait (QUÉBEC Care Worker 10).

For some immigrant care workers, the choice to work in elder care was intimately related to their decision to come to Québec. One explains:

Travailleur : Oui, parce que on m’a dit qu'il y avait beaucoup de personnes âgées ici et chaque année plus. Et comme les personnes âgées ont aussi différents types de maladies et d'infections, j'ai dit c'est bien.

Interviewer: Donc dans votre tête, vous étiez déjà peut-être ‘je peux travailler dans le domaine de personnes âgées ‘ avant de venir?

Travailleur: Oui. (QUÉBEC Care Worker 6.

[Yes, because I was told that there are lots of elderly people here and more each year. And because elderly people also have different types of illnesses and infections, I said that’s good.

Interviewer: So, in your head you were already, perhaps ‘I can work in the elder care field’ before coming here?

Care Worker: Yes.]

Some immigrant care workers began working in social care for older adults by accident. They applied to the LCP programme in order to migrate to Canada, and found an older adult to sponsor them. Once working in the field, however, many describe a great sense of compassion and responsibility towards the older adult they care for. For many, the decision to pursue work in health and social care for older adults resulted from some combination of the reasons described above. As Figure IV.6 indicates, many ended up in LTC and fewer were in home care.