Citizenship and Immigration committee  With employers, it seems harder to say. In a lot of cases, the family needs somebody immediately, and there's a caregiver who might not have somebody to stay with. They're not earning huge amounts of money under the program. They're sending a lot of money back home. They may have been left without a job very recently.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, more than anything these days with the program, I think we're looking at problems. There isn't a dialogue right now on ways we can improve the rough edges. They're the people who are facing significant problems. In terms of our role, the better we can communicate that, or help people find the right person to talk to for a problem, it seems like the best thing we can do.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That might be outdated. I think these days it's probably a bit less than that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We did not have contact with the ones in question.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I mean the ones who went to Intercede originally. I'm not sure which case you're referring to in particular, but I don't believe I've seen names in any of the Toronto Star articles that cross with our own list.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Is there a specific case you're referring to?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There was no complaint filed from that family.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Absolutely. It started two months ago and will be wrapping up at the end of this week. It was largely in response to Toronto Star articles, given there's so much attention to the issue these days with minimal funds. This is the best time to take action.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, they have the most to lose by far.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  My understanding is that legally both can be held to account. More often than not, I think the caregiver is the one who suffers the most during any sort of correctional process--

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Certainly. I've heard of cases where a caregiver works in what otherwise seems to be a very good home. This is the employer they need to carry them through to the end, and then something will happen or the family has a change of plans. It turns out they don't necessarily care as much about the caregiver as they might have let on, and they end the employment and the caregiver is left in the lurch.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It may. That's not a subject I've explored perhaps as deeply as I could in the future. My experience has been with the live-in caregiver program as it is. That may be a promising option. I don't know how difficult the legislative changes required for that would be. My hope--

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, I understand that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  What I've heard suggested is that it's a question of resources at the Manila office. I've heard that it's completely packed and they have no room for anybody else to process the cases. I can't say I've been there personally to see if that's true, but otherwise it would suggest to me that the resources haven't been allocated to take care of either that backlog or slow processing procedure.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm sorry, maybe you could clarify. Do you mean in terms of money that they're required to pay to an agent, or in terms of a certain amount of money they need to have to be accepted into the program?