Supporting Immigrant Women Seniors

I came to Canada from the Philippines in December 1976 with my husband. I was in my mid-20s and my plan was to work full-time in Information Technology. I arrived in Canada during a period of skilled labour shortages. Like many immigrants in that time, I immediately started working in Canada, earned Canadian post-secondary credentials, and envisioned an upward trajectory for my career.

Even though I held postgraduate credentials and had a series of well-paying jobs in the oil and gas sector, I did not work full-time consistently as I left the traditional workforce to look after our two young children. These years away from traditional work affected my Canadian Pension Plan and private pension contributions. Another factor was my husband’s early withdrawal from the labour force due to illness.

The situation may have been different if we had remained in the Philippines, I might have said no to stay-at-home parenting but parenting in a new country is very different. You’re not as familiar with daycares, nannies, and all that.

I returned to work full-time in the oil and gas sector when my husband abruptly fell ill and was unable to work. But for seven years I took care of my husband (who was bedridden and frequently hospitalized) and raised our daughters while working full-time. It was hard to do everything, especially caring for my ailing husband, but I had to do it, nobody else could and I wasn’t going to place that burden on my daughters. Financially, I was able to get by. But I never applied for promotions because my responsibilities at home limited the time I had to devote to work.

I retired in 2013 at age 65. Since then I have relied on a private pension as well as my government pension for my stable income. Now that I’m retired, I travel once or twice a year depending on my finances.

I’ve been a widow for over 20 years and I’m unsure of what my own health needs will be in the future I try to control expenses; that’s really my main worry, but so far I seem to be able to manage. At this point in my retirement I rarely uses formal supports and services offered to immigrant seniors such as tax and language classes. Except I do go the municipal government supported seniors’ aquacize twice a week. If I need help or runs into trouble, I have friends and family that support me.

I do experience loneliness. My extended family lives in Toronto and the Philippines. My daughters are grown and working. When I am able to connect with my daughters and nieces and nephews, it can sometimes feel transactional: they come to take me to appointments if I need a doctor or something and they are very good with that. But they never just stop by to eat or come by out of the blue for tea and a visit.

As a retiree, I am financially comfortable, mostly due to my company pension plan and my RRSP savings. I do wonder how people survive solely on government pensions. I have friends who are struggling to get by.

Today I enjoy interacting with people and sharing my skills and experience with others through volunteering and travelling. I have strong connections to my community thanks to my volunteering with community boards and organizations.

But, I know there is a need to slowly start winding down my activities – I’m not getting any younger! At times my commitments can be overwhelming, particularly because I don’t drive. But I’m mindful that even though socializing and volunteering makes me happy, I did start to search out interesting and appropriate commitments even before retiring so I could stay busy and make sure I would get out of the house. Mortality and death do drive us as senior women but life is too short to be miserable! Volunteering is a way to share, keep active, and be a part of activities that involve different generations.

My advice to a younger immigrant woman entering the workforce is to focus on retirement planning, but not just the financial aspect: it is important you have a plan to meet your social and spiritual needs met as you age.

I arrived from Pakistan in my early 20s at time when immigrants from Pakistan were not welcomed by some in Canada and racial slurs were common.  My family fled religious persecution and we arrived as refugees. We were surprised at the lack of welcome we received. We thought we’d come to Canada and people would embrace us because we were Christians. But they didn’t see that, they only saw the colour of our skin. The discrimination my family faced shocked me. It was difficult to find a place to rent. I remember one landlord telling my family that if we cook curries they were not interested in renting us a home.

In addition to the unexpected racism and discrimination, it was difficult to watch my highly educated, fluent in English, parents struggle to find work that matched their credentials. They ended up spending the remainder of their working years in low paying cleaning and maintenance jobs. Seeing this happen shattered my confidence in the settlement system and my hopes for my future prospects. At the same time, my parents’ difficulties finding work forced me to change my plans: so instead of continuing my education and going to school, I was forced to go to work.

Even though I was fluent in English and had work experience in banking, the only work I was able to get was a low paying labour work at a daycare. I didn’t work there long as my employer insisted on moving me to the baby room after parents complained about my accent and how it might negatively influence their children. At that point I decided to pursue my original plan and go back school. I completed a degree in political science from the University of Calgary. Yet when I graduated I was still not able to find stable employment. I found myself trapped in uncertain, short-term contract work in the nonprofit sector that relied on unstable funding. I could never gain access to employment that provided a pension or an income that allowed me to make regular contributions to my retirement savings. As time went on, I married and had three children which led to major and lengthy breaks from work for child care while my husband worked full-time.

As a divorced senior, I find myself relying on my Canadian Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and Guaranteed Income Supplement payments. I supplemented these limited payments with sporadic income from picking up and working short-term contracts as I needed to support myself as well as my two kids who are still in university. My life in retirement hasn’t really had a chance to start. All my friends are enjoying retirement while I feel I am just trying to stay afloat.

My limited income directly affects my physical and mental health: often I put off physiotherapy treatments for past injuries because I don’t have a health plan. I often feel lonely and isolated and I’m reluctant to accept social invitations because I have no money in my budget to go out with friends for coffee, movies, or birthdays. Not only does this make my loneliness worse but it has an impact on my relationships. I don’t want to burden my friends with my worries so I end up doing most things alone.

My financial concerns are also connected to how often I volunteer or join in some of the seniors activities I enjoy. Because I don’t drive, my limited income makes transit costs as real obstacle especially because it’s hard for me to also pay fees for recreation. I was active in community work and volunteering during my working years but as a senior that costs that come with going out for coffee or lunch with other volunteers or bringing food to meetings or the transportation to get there and home again often see me making excuses to not participate when I’m asked.

Another very real concern is that even though I own my own home – I received it in my divorce – I worry about the costs and the work to maintain it. It’s an important part of continuing to live independently as I get older. But the other side of the coin is that I’m scared to sell the house and lose my only asset.

Today the future is a constant source of stress: how can I avoid becoming a burden on my children? How much longer will I be able to work small contracts to supplement my income? My main worry is if I’ll be able to stay independent.

My advice to younger immigrant women is to make sure they are prepared to face challenges in the workplace and plan to have a strategy to overcoming those challenges. Be sure to always keep control of your finances, and try to find a job that offers stability and a pension.

I was in my mid-20s and studying at university in Singapore when my parents asked me to join them in Calgary to help run their restaurant. I was reluctant to leave my studies – I had only just gone back to school after leaving at 14 to work and help support my extended family – however refusing to immigrate was not an option available to me. I went to work the day after I arrived in 1979 and soon found the situation untenable. My rapid entry into the workforce actually made it difficult for me to settle and left me feeling isolated. I was spending long hours in the restaurant, restricted to living above it, and never felt I had time to go out. I had no financial resources to continue my studies as my wages went back into my family’s business. In an attempt to get out of the restaurant and establish an independent life of my own, I decided to enter into a quick marriage with a customer I had only met a handful of times. My new husband paid for me to complete an accounting program at SAIT but once I got my diploma I was expected to go right to work for a family friend’s business. I lost control of my finances. All of my pay went directly to my husband.

My first two decades in Canada went by in a blur. I focused on making money for my family and raising my two young children. I don’t even know what it was like living in Calgary during that at the time: I would wake up go to work, never see the sun, never see the sky, just go to work and go home. After my marriage ended and I found myself responsible for my children, I continued working in my ethno-cultural community; it was the easiest way to guarantee an income for my family. Even though I had steady work, I found it hard to manage my finances after a lifetime of not having control of my own money. The stress was too much and so I agreed to have my ex-husband’s parents, and later my eldest son, manage my money.

Now that I’m retired, I enjoy my free time: I can enjoy the sunshine now, the clouds, the sky, I can enjoy life. While my finances are limited and managed for me, my son provides me an adequate allowance. I keep myself busy with social activities like dancing, choir, and card parties in my cultural community. There are many opportunities within my community because we all come here at a young age and worked so hard that we didn’t learn English or meet others so we only like to socialize together now.

Even though my social needs are met through our cultural community sometimes I worry about my ability, and that of other retirees within the community, to access essential services and supports from mainstream organizations. I’m concerned about accessing like health care, subsidized transit, recreation programs, and government-supported seniors programs. I think it is important for retirees in my community have access to programs that will introduce us to the city including tours to the downtown, visits to recreation facilities, libraries, and orientations to service providing agencies.

The biggest piece of advice I have for immigrant women currently working is to take time to learn about what to expect in retirement, both financially and socially.