In addition to what Lean was saying about their not knowing their rights, we've been meeting with a lot of caregivers who actually are quite knowledgeable, at least in Toronto, although I will say that there are differences regionally for caregivers who work in more remote or rural areas; for example, in suburbs outside the centre of Toronto, as well as—with our research in Alberta—those more remote caregivers, for example, coming out of the tar sands region, who are very vulnerable because there are not community resources.
There are caregivers who know their rights, but they cannot exercise their rights. There are very few protections in place. If an employer disagrees with their claim of abuse, the option for the employer is to let the worker go.
As far as I know, there is not a lot of oversight to implement the labour laws that we have to protect those workers. I feel that this is an issue that affects all temporary foreign workers who are tied to their employer and have a closed work permit. We will see more of that type of abuse if caregivers are not provided the option to apply for permanent residence.