Dhalla nannies.
Nannies Richlyn Tongson,(left) and Magdalene Gordo, (right) have accused Brampton Springdale MP Ruby Dhalla of holding on to their passports as they worked at the family home, Tongson for three months and Gordo for three weeks. Now, another local man has stepped forward to say Gordo falsely accused his family of mistreating her.
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A press conference that was to be held today by a Mississauga man and his lawyer about one of the nannies who has levelled accusations of unfair treatment at federal MP Ruby Dhalla, has been postponed.
A spokesperson for the office of City Centre lawyer Shawn Philbert said the conference has been delayed because of scheduling problems for Philbert's client, George Roswell.
In a story in today's Globe and Mail, Roswell said that one of the nannies who has criticized Dhalla for unfair treatment worked for him when she first came to Canada and levelled the same types of charges against the Roswell family.
“My client welcomed Ms. Gordo into his home with open arms only to become a victim,” Philbert told The Globe.
Roswell said all was well as nanny Magdalene Gordo worked for several weeks minding his children. Then she complained of the low pay and quit, saying she was homesick and needed to have surgery.
Gordo could not be reached for comment by The Globe.
Three different nannies have complained about mistreatment at the hands of Dhalla's family. The nannies said they worked long hours, including holidays, for low pay.
Dhalla, who lives in Mississauga but is the Liberal MP for Brampton-Springdale, has maintained all along that the nannies were not mistreated. In fact, they were allowed to live in a luxurious suite in the basement of her Meadowvale Village-area home, she says.
Both Dhalla and the nannies recently appeared before a federal Parliamentary committee to discuss the issue and state their stories.
Dhalla says it was her brother who hired the nannies and said she had little or nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the household. The nannies strongly contradicted those statements, saying they regularly took instruction from the MP.
After the intense publicity over the incident in the past few weeks, the caregivers have said they will not be making any more public statements about the events until the Parliamentary committee completes its work.
Philbert's office is to issue a press release later today regarding a future press conference.
jstewart@mississauga.net