Angry in the Great White North

Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla is being accused of mistreating household help in her employ...again!

Earlier this week, we learned that during a townhall meeting for nannies, two live-in caregivers had complained to Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca and Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne about shoddy treatment by Dhalla.  Fonseca and Wynne sat on the accusations for two weeks, but The Toronto Star got wind of the story, and broke it wide open on Tuesday.

Today, a third foreign worker is making similar accusations:

A third foreign worker has complained of being treated as a low-paid servant by the Dhalla family.

The 32-year-old woman says MP Ruby Dhalla promised she would help the Filipino national stay in Canada if she passed a tryout at the Mississauga home. The test turned out to be brutal working conditions, and long hours, and money paid under the table. Nine days later, the woman quit.

The woman was in Canada working on a temporary work permit at an Ontario resort. When that job ended, a placement agency sent her to work at the Dhalla home in Mississauga.

Unlike the other two workers, who were nannies, this woman was hired as a housekeeper. In an interview with the Star, the woman said Dhalla's mother, Tavinder, worked her so hard she had no choice but to quit. She had to wash all the floors while on hands and knees daily. She also had to shampoo the rugs each day at the four-bedroom home.

She said Rhuby Dhalla promised she would sponsor her through the Live In Caregiver Program if she stayed.

She was eventually paid $370 cash for working 12 hours a day for 9 days. After she left, two other people were hired as nannies, and both of them have complained of poor treatment.

Of course, none of these allegations have been proven, but for Ruby Dhalla, the news is grim.  Four different people have come forward to insist that Ruby Dhalla was directly involved in the hiring of these three workers, that she was directly involved in their treatment in the Dhalla home, and that she was breaking the law with regards to the Live-In Caregiver Program.  The fourth person is Agatha Mason, an advocate for the rights of foreign workers with the agency Intercede:

[The] head of a non-profit group that advocates for caregivers said she gave Dhalla 24 hours to turn over the passport and other documents seized from Tongson.

Agatha Mason, executive director of Intercede, said she warned Dhalla that if she did not hand over the documents immediately she would call in the RCMP to retrieve them.

Mason said she called Dhalla in Ottawa last May after nanny Tongson, who was working "illegally" as a caregiver in the Dhalla home, was having trouble getting her documents back from her employers.

"I said to her, in 24 hours if you don't give her the documents I will call the RCMP - I have your address - and have them go there to get the documents," Mason told the Star.

Mason said she told Dhalla Tongson shouldn't be working at the Dhalla home because the family did not have federal approval under the Live-In Caregiver Program.

"I remember telling her that, until you have and LMO (government approval documents) the person is working illegally, so you're breaking the law," said Mason, adding she has notes and telephone records to prove she contacted Dhalla.

In a telephone interview with the Star last week, Dhalla denied she had spoken to anyone from the Toronto-based agency. "I have never spoken to anyone there," Dhalla said. "What is Intercede?"

That's four people, three former employees and one outside agent, who insist that Ruby Dhalla was directly involved in all this.  Ruby Dhalla's defence is to deny everything, and to insist that all four people are mistaken, or worse.

Agatha Mason says she has records of the conversation, though not recordings.

It'll be interesting to see if someone else comes out of the woodwork.  Another player in this story is Khalid Alvi.  He is the businessman who allegedly intervened on behalf of nannie Magdalene Gordo in recovering unpaid wages.  The Toronto Star reported that he has confirmed for them that he was involved, but details have not been forthcoming.  Yet.  Khalid Alvi ran for ward councillor in Brampton in 2006.  It'll be interesting to know if he had crossed paths with Ruby Dhalla before, and how exactly he got pulled into all this.

Correcting my math: Thanks to paulsstuff for pointing out my mistake.  There is a fifth person who has said she was dealing with Ruby Dhalla:

Gordo and Tongson were sent to work at the Dhalla home by Akemi Taniguchi, who runs a placement agency from her tiny North York bungalow. Taniguchi said she dealt mainly with Ruby Dhalla and placed the women after the MP assured her she could expedite the necessary work permits.

"I was told that she could work on it right away because she's an MP," said Taniguchi.

Both nannies complained to her of being overworked and she advised them both to leave, Taniguchi said. A third nanny sent to work at the Dhalla residence quit within days, Taniguchi said.