Ask Why?

February 20, 2007

Many people immigrant to Canada looking for the “Canadian Dream”, I believe that they are looking for freedom, looking for a good job and a better future for their children. But that’s the case for 45 year old Maheswary Puvaneswaran. She is from Sri Lanka and she and her family immigrated to Canada, after 13 years of living in Canada she is still living in poverty. Her husband worked at a Toronto glass factory until he got injured and underwent two operations on his hand. He tried going back to work but failed. Two months ago her husband went back to Sri Lanka to visit his sick mother. Now Maheswary Puvaneswaran has to go back to work and take care of the family. She and her family lives in a one bedroom apartment with no sofas, no beds. She has to work from 11.pm to dawn at a condominium where she mops the floor, empty garbage and scrub toilets. She is only earning 1,150 dollars in a entire month, and sometimes less. Her rent for her apartment is 849 dollars. This leaves her with very little extra money to survive on. She stays optimistic and she said if her income was 1,200 she says, “she can manage”.