Prominent lawyers and advocates working with live-in caregivers in Toronto discussed changes to Canada’s caregiver program at a YCAR-hosted panel at York University in early December.

These changes, announced by Chris Alexander, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, in October 2014, created new categories and conditions for the granting of permanent residence and removed the requirement for caregivers to ‘live-in’. Some have welcomed at least some of the changes, but many caregiver advocates see the revised program as highly problematic.

The panel, “Assessing the Changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program: Improving Security or Deepening Precariousness?” was chaired by Professor Philip Kelly (Director, YCAR).

The panel included: Pura Velasco, Former Domestic Worker / Caregivers Action Centre;  Fay Faraday, Lawyer, Packer Chair in Social Justice, York University, and Visiting Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School;  Avvy Go, Director, Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal ClinicDeanna Santos, Founder, Santos Law Office, Markham; Petronila Cleto, Gabriela Ontario.

A video of the panel is available at: http://youtu.be/-yKlK__4bLc