How caregiving impacts a generation of Canadians: ‘Unpaid work does not end’

Some 1.8 million Canadians are in a situation where they're providing unpaid care to multiple people, often a child and an older parent, putting a sizeable burden on caregivers.

A series of demographic forces reshaping Canada has left many adult Canadians “sandwiched” between unpaid caregiving responsibilities for the generations coming before and after them.

Marci Gray, a Brampton, Ont. resident, feels that particular sandwich through more layers than most.

The CEO and lead psychotherapist at Gray Matter Health has three growing children of her own, ages 13 to 19, with a typical blend of after-school extracurriculars and appointments to make.

Her parents and her in-laws are getting to a point where they need occasional help with shovelling show or mowing grass, the kinds of things that allow them to stay in their homes.

Gray says her grandmother Julia Jackson, who is turning 106 this year, now requires “round-the-clock care” from professionals and family to be by her side.

“We’ve got to always have someone around to look after her,” she says.

Gray says she’s lucky to have a big family, with sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins who are able to split the time needed to care for their grandmother. But while the busy mom and registered social worker has built up a network of support and coping mechanisms to ease the burdens of caregiving, she says it has been a difficult journey.

“I’ve already done the crash and burn in my own life. I’ve already done that where I hit the wall and couldn’t go further and couldn’t go on,” she says. “So I’ve learned from my own experience that that’s not a way to go, that you’ve really got to continue to look after yourself in order to thrive.”