Vancouver couple charged for confining Filipino housekeeper

A Vancouver couple is facing charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act after a woman from Hong Kong was allegedly brought to Canada in 2008, and forced into a life of domestic servitude in Vancouver.

The investigation by the Vancouver Police began in June of last year after police were called to a home in the 3100 block of Grant Street on an unrelated matter. While inside the residence, officers discovered that a young woman living there was illegally in the country. The VPD Vice Unit was called in to take over the case. Investigators soon determined that the woman had been living in the Grant Street home since 2008 on an expired visitor visa, and had allegedly been forced to work seven days per week, at all hours of the day and night, caring for the family. Her passport had allegedly been confiscated after she entered Canada, and she was afraid to go to the authorities for fear of deportation.

This past May, Vancouver residents Oi Ling Nicole Huen and Franco Yiu Kwan Orr were each charged with organizing illegal entry into Canada, and organizing entry into Canada by illegal means, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. At this time, a publication ban protects their identity. They are both due in Provincial Court on June 22 at 9 a.m.

The 38 year old Filipino woman at the centre of this case continues to reside in Canada.