Inay Shows the Deep Connection Between Immigration Pathways and Mental Health
Within the Asian community, especially the Filipino community, [talking about mental health] is not a common thing”
A still from Inay.
Filipinos are one of the largest groups immigrating to Canada. In 2016, more than 40,000 Filipinos settled in the Western country. As of 2023, there were almost one million people of Filipino descent living in Canada.
A large fraction of them, particularly those who arrived in the ‘90s and 2000s, came under the Live-In Caregiver program, which stipulates that immigrants must work for a minimum of two years as a live-in caretaker during the four years of the visa with a guaranteed pathway to permanent residency (and eventually citizenship). Often, these immigrants sent money back home as they worked abroad. Unfortunately, the live-in nature of this work and the precariousness of their position in Canada meant that caregivers were often subject to abuse.
This all-too-common path to Canadian citizenship is at the heart of Inay (“mama” in Tagalog), a new documentary by Filipino Canadian filmmaker Thea Loo. Rather than focus on the history of the program, Loo’s documentary examines how the program affected children of the women who came to Canada under it.
She got the idea when she learned about her husband Jeremiah Reyes’s immigration story and his struggle with depression. Reyes came to Canada years after his mother came as a caregiver. They’d been separated for much of his childhood. Loo’s thesis, as she worked on the film, was that there was a connection between her husband’s mental health and his family history. Being separated from his mother, then the rest of his family back in the Philippines, was a big factor—as was his loneliness and his mother’s long work hours when he settled in Canada.
As the film explores, he and his mother weren’t able to have an open dialogue about his mental health until now.
“There’s a clear way in my brain to address this, or at least begin to unpack it: I’m a firm believer in talking it out,” Loo says.
According to a study published in the Canadian Journal of Community Health, Canadians born in the Philippines face a lot of stigma from their family and communities when it comes to mental health and seeking help. Filipino men in particular “will likely hide [mental illness] from the family,” says the study’s authors.
“Within the Asian community, especially the Filipino community, [talking about mental health] is not a common thing, because you are encouraged to go on with your day, study hard, work hard, just live life,” says Reyes. Difficult conversations about how you really feel are out of the norm.
A still from Inay.
So, Loo and Reyes set out to have the hard conversations. While Loo talked openly to her parents about her mental health and questioned them about their own wellbeing, Reyes confronted his mother for the first time about how he felt when she re-entered his life to take him to Canada. The mother and son discussed, for the first time, the impact of their immigration to Canada, how Reyes felt when his mother left and then came back unexpectedly, and what that’s meant through his life. In the end, the two were able to come to an understanding, and Reyes says that he feels like he can talk to his mom about these difficult topics going forward.
Crucially, Reyes says that he understands his mom more now, too.
“For the longest time, I thought my mom was neutral about [leaving me behind]. I thought she moved on because she had another child and another marriage. But after this movie, I finally understand that my mom was actually trying to support us and love us and take care of us.”
Loo, on the other hand, says that while she has a great, open dialogue with her parents, she realized “they just don’t have the vocabulary and have a different cultural lens.” But, they’re working on it: “Even today, my mom was like ‘be careful of your mental thing.’ I think she means, protect your mental health,” Loo says, laughing. “They’re super open and receptive to talking about mental health, they just don’t have the same basic understanding of mental health that I might’ve expected. Talking to them about it was eye-opening.”
Inay will be streaming on the Knowledge Network in 2025.