Who Counts as a Caregiver? Age, (Non-)Recognition, and the Discursive Politics of Care in Canada

Abstract

Canada is experiencing a crisis of care marked by an ever‑widening gap between care needs and the resources available to meet them. As writers like Nancy Fraser note, this crisis stems from the assumption that unpaid caregiving labour can be endlessly relied upon to fill systemic gaps in care provisioning. Advocacy groups such as the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence warn that the current model of caregiving is unsustainable, cautioning that without better support caregivers will face increasing hardship. While research in feminist economic geography has examined how patriarchy, racial capitalism, colonialism, and heteronormativity shape the distribution of care labour, this thesis turns to a less explored axis of social difference: age. Drawing on a discourse analysis of testimonies from young caregivers disseminated by support organisations in Ontario, as well as a systematised review of peer‑reviewed literature on ‘young caregiving,’ this thesis responds to calls for geographers to move beyond descriptive accounts of young people’s socially reproductive labour toward theorising how this labour relates to the broader economy. It examines how the term ‘young caregiver’ is defined and operationalised, and argues that young caregiver subjectivities are formed through and within discourses of care, love, and family. Building on literature that understands the family as both an ideology of work and a relation of force and control within capitalist society, the thesis explores how these discourses may contribute to an organisation of care rooted in coercion, producing conditions in which young people feel ‘forced to care.’ In sum, this thesis argues that attending to young people’s care labour is essential for rethinking the conditions shaping the future of (care) work, and for imagining more equitable futures.