Red Tape Awareness Week

Online, January 13, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Vancouver, BC - In the spirit of Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) Red Tape Awareness Week, the Association of Caregiver & Nanny Agencies Canada (ACNA Canada) asks the Government of British Columbia to allow nanny agencies, protecting and helping immigrant workers, to eliminate red tape so that they can operate in BC.
ACNA Canada, representing over 30 nanny agencies in BC, has been promoting the benefits that recognized self-regulation of the nanny and caregiver industry in BC will bring workers, agencies and every British Columbian. That is, fair and equitable assistance to foreign live-in caregivers immigrating to Canada.
Currently, many foreign caregivers pay thousands of dollars in under-the-table fees to international recruitment agencies, most of them located overseas. Caregivers willingly pay this fee because, without the help of recruiters, it becomes a low-odds lottery for innumerable foreign caregivers to immigrate and find qualified employers in Canada. In BC, although ACNA Canada members provide a safe and sought-after way for foreign workers to leave their home and immigrate to Canada, Government regulation prohibits the BC nanny agencies from charging a fee for the services they provide the immigrant workers.
If this BC "Red Tape" successfully forces domestic nanny agencies from operating in BC, foreign caregivers will still roll the dice and pay an international recruiting service to help them with their dream of coming to Canada. As British Columbians have learned, many of these experiences will go terribly wrong as some unscrupulous foreign agencies "take the money and run".
ACNA Canada is asking the government to help find a way for BC companies to continue working; through self-regulation and adopting best practises to truly protect workers entering our country. Authorised foreign promotion of regulated and caring BC nanny agencies is the only way to squeeze out or assimilate unscrupulous foreign nanny agencies.
Many Canadian employers seek out the help of agencies to screen and pre-select worthy candidates for them. To caregivers, many nanny agencies provide settlement services such as airport pick up, learning the bus system, acquiring proper ID, initial counselling, temporary accommodation and other specialized services. Simply put, ACNA Canada agencies make it safe and easy for an immigrant worker to make Canada their new home.
Allowing BC agencies to provide and charge for these services would be preferable to existing government funded settlement service programs that cost the BC taxpayer more money. Agency services are tailored to the specific needs of individual caregivers, which clearly reduces the funding burden of government and the frustration and "new country" anxiety of the immigrant worker.
"As British Columbians, we could not want a better way for foreign nannies, leaving family and friends to start a new life in Canada, to enter the country. The support and assistance ACNA Canada agencies provide these new immigrants would make the average British Columbian proud. Government should be trying to find a way to replicate this and reduce the attractiveness of the less scrupulous international agencies," said Manuela Gruber Hersch, ACNA Canada President.
ACNA Canada is grateful to Minister of Labour Murray Coell and his staff for the opportunity to be heard and we wish to encourage him to continue the effort to cut government red tape in support of the protection of our workers and BC's international reputation.

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For additional information, contact Director Robert White at 778-889-4572, Chairperson Derek Townson at 604-614-6568, or email [email protected]
Telephone: 778-889-4572 or 604-614-6568
Association of Caregiver & Nanny Agencies Canada (ACNA Canada)
Head Office Telephone (604) 609-9925
Fax Number (604) 609-9927
Email Address [email protected]
Web site address www.acnacanada.ca

- Self regulation and clarifying the services that can legally be provided by caregiver agencies will go a long way to protecting caregivers arriving in Canada. For example, through membership in ACNA Canada, nanny agencies could contribute to an emergency fund to provide caregivers in tough situations with financial resources.

- The existing ACNA CareBuddies club, which promotes caregiver networking through live social events and an internet social networking website, will provide training seminars and personal support, through a caregiver hotline for caregivers in need.

- Government recognition of ACNA Canada is key in promoting the positive services of BC's nanny agencies. Through competition, we will begin to raise the industry standards domestically and internationally and only this will truly begin to protect workers. Since recruitment is not a certified profession, a self-regulated industry association is crucial in disseminating know-how and good business practices.