Transnational Families in Transition: Filipino Families, Canadian Issues
Team:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Denise L. Spitzer (University of Ottawa)
Collaborators: Ms. Aimee Beboso (Carleton University Filipino Students’ Association), Ms. Noreen Berkes (LINGAP Institute), Dr. Caridad Bernardino (LINGAP Institute), Ms. Avegaile Calzado (Filipino community member), Ms. Josephine Pallard (Changing Together…A Centre for Immigrant Women)
Research Coordinator: Ms. Sara Torres (University of Ottawa)
Research Assistants: Ms. Monina Febria, Ms. Pascale Gagnon-Arpin, Ms. Emily Howard
Summary of Project:
Transnational Families in Transition: Filipino Families, Canadian Issues focused on the experiences of women who were formerly engaged in Canada’s Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP). To examine the impact of separation on the families of former live-in caregivers from the Philippines living in Ottawa and Edmonton and their experiences of reunification, we conducted interviews with 28 women-former LCP workers, nine male spouses of former LCP workers, and 14 children reunited with their mothers. In addition, three youth and one former LCP worker/mother communicated their stories of familial separation and reunification through of visual storytelling. Family reunification experiences were informed by a range of intersecting and mutually influencing individual, community and societal factors. While separated from their spouses and children, perseverance, resilience and actions that can be characterized as ‘personal sacrifices’ were among those individual factors that enabled participants to fulfill their goal of being reunited with their families in Canada. Once the family reunification occurred, communal level factors, such as seeking and obtaining formal and informal support, played a crucial role in the families’ settlement and adaptation to their new cities.
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
