I don't even know how to say it. Before coming here, I heard that Canada was very welcoming, that worker strikes are expected, that we would have better opportunities here, but it didn't happen. We have to work our way to get permanent residency here, to be respected as a worker, and then in the end, so many of us, even for some of us who are already permanent residents, abuses at work still happen because we choose to stay in caregiving jobs.
I don't know how to explain it, even though I've been teaching the history of caregiving in Canada. They were given permanent resident status upon arrival until they changed their country of origin, and then it became temporary and a lot of things just happened. I was so amazed because regardless of where we're from, we're still human, we're still people who have these feelings of caring for other people and yet they devalue the skill we have. It's not very easy, taking care of somebody who is not related to you, and yet we are giving our energy, our emotions, to take care of these people.
Believe it or not, when I was caring for this elderly person, it was only for two months and I felt so much compassion for this person that when she passed away, nobody could talk to me because I was crying; that's how much I loved this person. I felt I was considered a family member.
Yet in my previous employment I was treated like a nobody. Can you imagine staying all hours, being awakened at two o'clock in the morning just to have your employer ask you to massage her. I don't know...I was just so scared at that time. I couldn't even call my friends to tell them what was happening to me because in front of my friends I always put on a brave front so they would not think this was happening to me at that time because they had been complaining a lot too.
It's very difficult...I don't understand, I just don't understand. The fact that most of us are professionals back home, even have a degree in physiotherapy and even went back to school here...anywhere you go it's still the same. If they saw another Filipino at the store, they would ask if we were looking for a job, a learning job. It's something that is...I don't know, that's just how they see us. It's because of the status that we have here. Even my cousin who arrived here as a professional, even a caregiver would be asked if they wanted to work for them. Yet if they knew.... I think most of us knew that the need for caregivers is not temporary, but a permanent need of Canadian families.
Yet, I don't know, I just don't know. We're treated like this and if anything has to be changed, this will give us a better or a fair chance to be treated with respect as caregivers. Because without our job as a caregiver...it's not just that we love our job, we have this skill that we can provide to families.