Acsana Fernando, a Bangladeshi refugee, moved to work in Canada in 2002. But she has not managed to earn anything for herself more than the minimum age after a decade.

CBC published an interesting story of Fernando, 33, who represents several other Canadian workers, who must manage to earn aliving with the minimum wage. Over the years, she has already worked in factories, restaurants and security. At present, she assists in caring for the mentally and physically disabled residents at group homes. She secured the job through an agency.

Fernando earns at an hourly rate of $10.25, which is Ontario's minimum wage. She usually gets anything between $1,100 and $1,300 after taxes monthly. Her family yields a small financial aid from the disability cheque her father receives on a monthly basis. She said she had gone to Canada thinking that she would be able to manage well no matter what job she did. However, she has come to the realization that she is actually a "working poor."

Whatever she earns goes off pretty fast as she has to pay $850 for the family's subsidized apartment. Groceries are bought only occasionally as the family often depends on a food bank. They have to wait for hours lining up for food.

One may wonder why Fernando suffers so much to stay out of her native land in Bangladesh. The reason behind her transfer to Canada was "safety and dignity," which she could not manage to find in her motherland.

She escaped an arranged marriage as the man she was supposed to get married already had three other wives. Her refusal for the marriage eventually cost the family a lot. Their house was burnt while her mother was inside. Her brother and father were able to go to Canada with Fernando only after her father sold his taxi.

She hopes she will be able to earn more than a minimum wage. Her life at the moment means no vacation, no special meals and no leisure weekends.