Maria Beatrice Serdon
DARE Project: Migrant Care Workers and COVID-19
Program(s) of Study: Political Science
Project Supervisor: Ethel Tungohan
As a child of a former caregiver, I was able to deeply connect with a lot of our participants during our "kuwentuhan" (talking) sessions. This experience helped with my healing process of understanding why my parents made the decision to immigrate to Canada, which was for a chance of a better life.
Project Description:
In partnership with Migrant Resource Centre Canada (MRCC) and Gabriela-Ontario, this project puts at the centre the perspectives of care workers such as Personal Support Workers, Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses and Live-in Caregivers under Canada's Caregiver Program (CP) regarding their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Participatory Action Research (PAR), the goals of this project are to identify how COVID-19 has impacted Filipina care workers and their families; analyze care workers' observations of whether or not their work places, political institutions, and community organizations have responded to their specific needs; and understand whether and how the type of work place where care workers are employed (e.g., private household, hospital, long-term care home, nursing home, etc.), their membership in labour unions, and their citizenship status affect their experiences. By gathering narratives from care workers, we hope to understand whether and how care workers who the Canadian government deems ""essential"" are faring. Given that much of media articles have focused either on the vulnerabilities of elderly patients and children under their care OR on the experiences of so-called higher-skilled health care professionals such as doctors, our project rectifies these omissions by looking at immigrant care workers.The Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (DARE) - Undergraduate enables our students to meaningfully engage in research projects supervised by LA&PS faculty members. Find out more about DARE.