‘I was so shocked’: Filipino caregiver says she faced labour exploitation in B.C.

The latest in CTV’s human trafficking series Hidden In Plain Sight addresses some of the brutal working conditions experienced throughout the province.

• Part of the series Hidden in plain sight: Human trafficking and the B.C. connection

When Vesminda Cara left behind her family and teaching position in the Philippines in 2019 to take a job as a caregiver for three children in Metro Vancouver, she says she was promised good pay, eight-hour days and weekends off.

“And I have my own room….it was a very good contract,” she said, adding that she was excited about the job.

Instead, she said she spent most of her first months in Canda sleeping in a large playpen placed in a living room next to the paralyzed boy she was caring for.

“At the time, I was so shocked,” she recalled of the sleeping arrangements, which changed after the family moved to a second home.

At the new home, she shared a room with the boy, but had her own bed.

Cara also told CTV News she was not informed beforehand about the severity of the child’s medical needs.

“He is paralyzed. He cannot talk. He really need care 24/7,” she said.

“He has seizure…I never knew about this condition.”

Cara said she often worked weekends, faced long work days with unpaid overtime and received $750 per month instead of the more than $2,700 she had been promised.

“I’m thinking that this is abuse, but I cannot do anything. I just talk to my husband, I tell him that this is what they are doing to me. I thought they were going to treat me as family,” said an emotional Cara.

Cara ultimately turned to the Migrant Workers Centre for help.

“I think there’s a lot of things broken with our immigration system,” said Jonathon Braun, the legal director with the centre.

Braun helped Cara with the case against her employer, and said his office also sees situations that are even more severe.

“I would describe a lot of the cases as modern-day slavery. People are being tricked into work. They’re being threatened constantly. Lots of people are facing verbal, psychological, physical or sexual abuse. And they’re being made to work for free or being made to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week for $500 a month,” he said.

Braun explained that migrant workers also face poor living conditions or threats of both deportation and criminal charges if they leave the employment. He said more education is needed, along with better enforcement.

“The fact that charges are so lacking, just lets people get away with it,” he said, adding that labour trafficking might not look like what’s portrayed in Hollywood movies, but it is happening in B.C.

Braun explained that based on criminal definitions, Cara’s case would be classified as severe labour exploitation, though there were many trafficking elements involved. He said those include coming to Canada under false pretenses, using the child’s health to manipulate and not paying all the wages owed.

After Cara left her employer in 2021, she found refuge at the Salvation Army’s Debra’s Gate.

“Debora’s Gate is a high-security safehouse for self-identifying women who are fleeing human trafficking,” said Jenea Gomez, the Salvation Army’s anti-human trafficking program director.

She said Debra’s Gate, which has 10 beds, is the only safe house of its kind in the province.

“We have seen a huge increase in our program of international survivors, specifically labour trafficking survivors,” Gomez noted.

She said there is a big need not just for more beds, but additional services.

“There are so many survivors in the community who need navigation, who need to know where to go and who to talk to and what services are available,” she explained.

As for Cara, with Braun’s help she filed a complaint with Employment Standards in B.C.

Her hope, she said, was to prevent other employers from treating foreign workers the way she was.

Wiping away tears, she said, “I just only need an apology to compensate everything.”

In a decision last year, Employment Standards ordered her former boss to pay her more than $120,000.

“The money that I have cannot compensate the loss of the milestones of my kids I didn’t witness,” an emotional Cara said.

Cara did not give up on her dream to stay in Canada, despite the obstacles she faced.

With more training, she landed a job as a care aide in Metro Vancouver, and obtained a permit for vulnerable foreign workers.

She said she’s grateful for the opportunity to stay in Canada, and also to the Migrant Workers Centre and Salvation Army for their help.

“I am thankful to God for the resilience and strength He gave to me. I am hoping and praying that all the women out there, if they saw me, I hope they find strength,” she said.

This project was made possible with funding provided by the Lieutenant Governor’s B.C. Journalism Fellowship, in partnership with Government House Foundation and the Jack Webster Foundation.