Learn and practice stress management techniques. Relaxation exercises such as deep breathing, meditation, and visualization, as well as physical exercise, can be helpful.

Get adequate rest.

Recognize that caregiving is stressful and realize that role changes are difficult to undertake. Do not be hard on yourself when you experience impatience, frustration, sadness, or anger. These are natural emotions when caring for someone who may be unhappy, ungrateful or difficult.

Be willing to walk away from difficult situations to calm down. Return later and try a new approach.

Remember not to personalize the problems you are experiencing. The person is not trying to make life difficult.

Keep incidents in perspective. Try not to overreact to small setbacks or minor crises.

Simplify and structure the environment; establish care routines.

Set realistic goals regarding what and how much you can do for your loved one.

Take one day at a time. Try not to worry about what might happen when you have planned the best you can.

Be good to yourself. Give yourself frequent praise and rewards for your patience and endurance. Say nice things to yourself when the person you are caring for no longer can. Continue to find ways to have fun.

Use your sense of humor – it relieves stress and is a positive emotional release for both of you.

Maintain your own physical, emotional and spiritual health. Find sources for personal satisfaction. Cultivate some emotional detachment.

Write feelings/thoughts in a journal or on the computer. Writing things down will often help put them into better perspective and will be a way of releasing emotions.

Identify and be willing to use your support system. Avoid isolation. Have someone available to vent to. If family or friends offer help, accept it.

Be familiar with your financial, legal and community resources.

Jose S. Brillantes, the Philippines ambassador in Ottawa, said his overseas officers at Canadian consulates in The Philippines are preparing for the expected influx of Filipino workers this year.

Brillantes told The Asian Pacific Post in an interview that Philippines consulate offices in
Canada are conducting “verification process” exercises to ensure that Filipino workers don’t fall victim to bogus job offers.

“Although such illegal activities are so far not prevalent in Canada, we have to be vigilant to prevent such occurrences,” said Brillantes.

“The process is also designed to prevent Filipino professionals ending up in jobs far below their educational qualifications, skills and experience.”

The ambassador also told The Asian Pacific Post that a Philippines labor office will be established in Vancouver to streamline the hiring process for new workers and provide “on-site” assistance to Filipino migrant workers in British Columbia and neighboring provinces.

Brillantes said skilled Filipino workers are ready to take advantage of the job opportunities in preparation for the 2010 Olympics, which will be held in Vancouver, Whistler and municipalities throughout Metro Vancouver.

B.C. is now experiencing record employment levels of 63.9 per cent, and the shortage of skilled labour is hindering growth.

Several construction projects, like the Cloverdale Trades and Technology Centre at Kwantlen University, have had their openings delayed due to a shortage of trades people.

Carmilita Dimzon, deputy administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), said in Manila that skilled Filipino workers are needed in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Among those professional workers needed in Canada are: Hospital nurses, health workers, mechanical and electrical engineers, and hotel and restaurant personnel in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Ambassador Brillantes said POEA administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz and Marianito D. Roque, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), a government agency tasked to protect and promote the welfare and well-being of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their dependents, recently visited Western Canadian provinces to assess the job opportunities.

The Philippines is one of the biggest exporters of skilled and unskilled labor in the world.
The Southeast Asian nation deployed more than one million overseas Filipino workers, or OFWs, to 160 host destinations last year, most of them in medical and health, information and technology, and the services sectors.

About eight million Filipinos, or 10 per cent of the population, are working abroad while their remittances last year were estimated at more than 10 billion U.S. dollars, or 10 per cent of GDP.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said that 2008 would be another banner year for OFWs, marked by increased job opportunities and higher wages.

In his weekly column The View From the Palace, Bunye based his prediction on the shifting employment profile of Filipino migrant workers from non-skilled to skilled.

He said that unlike in previous years, most OFWs leaving the country now are professional or skilled workers.

“In 2006, 60 per cent of Filipinos working abroad were professionals and skilled workers. In 2007, the deployment ratio became 73-27 in favor of skilled workers,” Bunye said.

He described this change in the employment pattern of OFWs over the last two years as no less than dramatic.

“This explains why despite the constant level of deployment, foreign exchange remittances has been increasing,” he added.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said the country’s track record of sending one million OFWs workers abroad in the past two years would be topped this year to help the struggling Philippines’ economy recover.

He pointed out that although it is not a policy of the government to send workers abroad, OFWs continue to help sustain the country’s economic growth through their remittances, especially Filipino migrant workers belonging to the higher pay levels.

While the demand for workers is high in Western Canada, the speed with which visas are being approved for Filipinos to come to Canada is very slow, says Vancouver lawyer Catherine Sas.

“I would like to pose the challenge to the Filipino community in Canada to go to your politicians to say that this is wrong,” said Sas, in an earlier interview with The Asian Pacific Post.

“Canada needs the skills and talents of Filipinos . . . but processing time is really bad news for Filipinos.”

Sas advised Filipino-Canadian organizations to look into the new B.C. Provincial Nominee Program, which could help skilled Filipino workers find jobs quickly.

“Filipinos have a strong network in Metro Vancouver to find Canadian employers . . . the employers right now cannot find Canadian people to fill their jobs,” Sas said.

Based on the 2006 Census of Canada released recently, the Philippines was the 3rd highest source of immigrants to Canada in the world, and has consistently been in the top five since 1981.

“We are one of the fastest-growing immigrant communities in Canada, yet our issues remain virtually invisible,” says Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), in a press statement.

According to the NAPWC, the chronic economic and political crisis in The Philippines, including the current state of civil war in the country and the lack of jobs, pushes over 34,000 Filipinos abroad daily in search of a better life.

It is estimated that there are around 500,000 Filipinos living in Canada, concentrated in the major cities of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

“We were attacked by pirates three times,” says Florence. “I was too young to know exactly what was happening or to understand the danger, but I do remember the feeling that something very serious was happening, that something was not right.”

Plucked from the sea by Malaysian authorities, Florence, her sister, mother and father spent the next six months in a crowded refugee camp with thousands of others who’d taken the same chance on freedom.

Eventually, Florence and her family met with a Canadian immigration official, who left a lasting impression.

“He was the first Caucasian person I had ever seen,” she says.

Florence recalls the feelings more than the actual events. “There were medical examinations, the dentist, interviews. I remember feeling the seriousness of the situation,” she says. “I could tell my parents were very concerned, very worried.”

Florence also remembers her father being very upset when the immigration officials said that the refugee family would be going to Québec City — a place of which he’d never heard.

“He begged for us to be allowed to go to Toronto or Montréal,” Florence says, laughing. “He said, ‘I cannot have my family living in an igloo. We must have electricity.’ ”

Once the matter of electricity was cleared up, the family went to Québec City.

“Our first home was very simple, and not in a very good part of the city,” says Florence. “But the people who lived in the neighbourhood, even though they had little themselves, were so generous, so welcoming.”

“The man who lived next door to us built me a little toy car from wood. I will never forget that little toy car.”

Today, Florence, a graduate of Laval University, works in Ottawa with Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

“I always wanted to be in public service of some kind,” she says. “I felt this was the best way to thank Canada and Canadians for taking us in, for giving us a new and better life—by working to make Canada even better.”

Florence is also deeply grateful to her parents.

“I realize now how difficult and what a struggle it was for them,” she says. “They did such extraordinary things for my sister and me to give us a better life.”

In January of 2008, Florence and her sister travelled to Vietnam.

“After all that time I spent as a child feeling sort of disconnected, to be back in the country where I was born, standing in front of the embassy of my new country—it’s hard to describe the feeling: strange and wonderful at the same time.”

Florence hopes that some day she will be able to work for Canada in another country, perhaps even in Vietnam.

“It’s such a thriving, vibrant place,” she says. “I believe our two countries have a great deal to offer one another, and I would love to play a part in bringing us closer together. It would be like closing the circle for me.”

Building her career in the Philippines was a challenge for Elaine. Not only did she find it difficult to get the work she wanted there, but she felt that even hard work as a nurse might not earn her the kind of job recognition and advancement she desired.

“I thought the lifestyle would be better in Canada,” says Elaine. “I believed that if you work hard, you would get compensated for the work you did.”

With some encouragement from her aunt, who was already settled in Canada, Elaine applied in 2000 to immigrate to the country. Although she had plenty of skills in English, Elaine took an extra step to highlight her application by signing up for French classes at a private institution. She also attended information sessions on immigrating to Canada and searched the Internet for information on ways to find work in her field.

While browsing the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website, Elaine spotted information on the Enhanced Language Training (ELT) program. Through funding from CIC to service providers across the country, the program offers job-specific language training to help immigrants enter the Canadian labour market.

Elaine recognized the value of the ELT program and, a week after arriving in Canada, went for an assessment of her English skills and enrolled in the ELT program offered at the Peel Adult Learning Centre near Toronto.

“I was a few weeks behind when I joined and I didn’t know people yet, but people in the class were accommodating,” she says.

Elaine has now graduated from the ELT program and is working as a medical transcriptionist, transcribing and editing medical reports by doctors and other health-care professionals.

In the coming year, Elaine plans to write exams to become a registered nurse. While she feels that she still has more to accomplish, her drive and determination are leading her to success.

Elaine underlined this when she spoke recently at a funding announcement for the Peel Adult Learning Centre.

“Everyday, new immigrants come to this country who are equally talented,” she told the crowd. “Jobs are not served on a silver platter. We have to work hard for them.”

Both the employer and the employee must follow several steps to meet the requirements of the Live-In Caregiver Program. If you are an employer, see Hiring a Live-in Caregiver in the Related Links section at the bottom of this page.

To work as a live-in caregiver in Canada, you must make an application to the Live-In Caregiver Program. If your application is successful, you will receive a work permit. To find out if you are eligible for a live-in caregiver work permit, see Who can apply in the Learn About section below.

If you want to work as a live-in caregiver in the province of Quebec, you must obtain a certificate d’acceptation du Québec (Certificate of acceptance). For more information about this certificate, see the website of the ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (Quebec Immigration) at www.immigration-quebec.gouv.qc.ca.

If you are already in Canada as a live-in caregiver and need information on changing jobs, losing your job or quitting your job, see Extending your stay in the Learn About section below.

If requirements are met, live-in caregivers can apply to become a permanent resident in Canada. For more information, see About being a permanent resident of Canada in the Related Links section at the bottom of this page.

Learn about:

• Who can apply
• How to apply
• After applying
• Arriving
• Extending your stay
• Frequently asked questions