Research at Nat’l Metropolis confab

Research at Nat’l Metropolis confab

Gabriela Transition Experience Survey (GATES)

Standing: Meagan Miller and Chris Sorio; seated, from left: Conely De Leon, Ethel Tungohan, Pet Cleto and Jesson Reyes

On March 14, 2013, Petronila Cleto, Conely De Leon, Jesson Reyes, Christopher Sorio, and Ethel Tungohan represented the Gabriela Transition Experiences Survey (GATES) research team at the annual Metropolis conference, held in Ottawa, Ontario. During their panel, entitled “GATES: Exploring the Settlement Experiences of Former Live-in Caregivers in Canada,” the GATES research team provided background information on the LCP, discussed the history of Gabriela-Ontario and Migrante-Canada, addressed Gabriela-Ontario and Migrante-Canada’s collaboration with their academic partners at Ryerson and York University, and stressed the importance of participatory action research (PAR). In addition, GATES research team members introduced preliminary findings that have emerged from the focus groups and the surveys that have already been conducted, touching on themes of educational and employment trajectories, family separation and reunification, and former live-in caregivers’ sources of support, all the while emphasizing that data collection is on-going.

Following the research team’s presentations, the feedback from the audience members, who consisted of academics, community organizers, and researchers, was overwhelmingly positive. While some asked questions specific to the LCP, others shared their own narratives of how current and former live-in caregivers fared under the LCP. Certain members of the audience encouraged GATES research team members to keep them informed of when the results of the study will be released so they can then apply the study findings towards their own work. At the end of the panel, all of the audience members took copies of the GATES survey calling cards, which contained the GATES website (gatesurvey.com) and important contact information. They promised to disseminate these calling cards to their networks.

As a research consortium dedicated to understanding the broad themes of “immigration,” “migration,” and “settlement,” the Metropolis conference provides academics, policymakers, and settlement service providers the opportunity to discuss their research.

(PRESS RELEASE)