More on the recent expansion of temporary foreign workers and relaxation of conditions, along with contrast when the PM was in opposition:
In 2014, Justin Trudeau wrote an op-ed arguing that the Stephen Harper government should dramatically scale back the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program.
His reasoning was sound – both in moral terms and in economic terms. He wrote: “I believe it is wrong for Canada to follow the path of countries who exploit large numbers of guest workers.” He also pointed out that large numbers of TFWs “drives down wages.”
We might have expected, therefore, that things would change under his leadership. And indeed, they have. Between 2015 and 2022 the number of TFWs in Canada doubled!
But TFWs are actually only a small fraction of total Non-Permanent Residents (NPR) with work permits in Canada. There is another category known as the “International Mobility Program” (IMP) which provides work permits for international students, graduates of post-secondary programs and other categories. The number of IMP work permit holders almost tripled between 2015 and 2022. In total, NPRs with work permits now exceed 1.1 million people – and have grown from 2.1 per cent to 5.5 per cent of the Canadian labour force.
This hasn’t happened by accident. The current government has made a series of changes that have opened the door to higher numbers of NPRs. Last year, for example, the federal immigration minister made it significantly easier for employers to get permits for TFWs.
Perhaps more significantly, he eliminated the restriction on the number of hours that international students could work while they are supposedly studying. Previously, the limit was 20 hours a week. There are no limits on the number of international students that can be granted a student permit. All they need is acceptance from a “Designated Learning Institution.” In addition to the publicly funded universities, colleges and institutions, there are a large number of private, for-profit colleges that are in this business as well.
One doesn’t have to be too cynical to imagine that some private college operators would market themselves as a way to get a work permit in Canada, with a possible path to permanent resident status down the road, with the quality of the education being offered of secondary importance. Indeed, a casual search of the web will uncover many such stories.
One needs to be only a little more cynical to conclude that this was the federal government’s intention in lifting the restriction on working while studying. What an easy way to appease the demands from many in the employer community to deal with the “worker shortage.”
The jobs that NPRs fill are disproportionately low wage positions – jobs like food counter attendants, kitchen helpers, cooks, cashiers, retail salespersons, shore shelf stockers, clerks,delivery service drivers, and the like. Statistics Canada reports that, even with high educational attainment, NPRs were in occupations requiring no formal education proportionately more than the rest of the Canadian population.
You know, this kind of sounds like something that “those countries who exploit large numbers of guest workers” would do.
And let’s not lose sight of the other point that Mr. Trudeau made back in 2014. This all serves to depress the wages of Canadian workers. In particular, it disproportionately impacts low-wage earners – if employers couldn’t rely on the large number of NPR workers, they would have to raise the wages that they offer.
Why is the federal government aiding and abetting this? Apparently because they are responding to the consistent mantra from the employer community that there is a “worker shortage.” More precisely, there is a shortage of workers willing to work at the wages that certain employers prefer to pay. But whose side should the federal government be on?
Over the past 20 years “the bosses” have done much better than the workers. For example, Statistics Canada data shows that in 2003 the category of workers defined as “senior managers” on average earned 3.9 times more than the category of workers defined as “sales and service support.” In 2023 the multiple had widened significantly to 5.1 times. Sales and service support occupations include cashiers, service station attendants, store shelf stackers, food, accommodation and tourism workers, and cleaners – typical of the positions filled by many NPR workers.
Given this trend one needs to ask: who needs more help in the struggle for fair wages – the workers or the bosses? Why did the federal government apparently change sides in this struggle?
Don Wright was the former deputy minister to the B.C. Premier, Cabinet Secretary and former head of the B.C. Public Service until late 2020. He now is senior counsel at Global Public Affairs.
Good critical comments by Banerjee and Skuterud regarding possible abuse and the ongoing favouring of reduced labour costs to employers. That being said, for repeat users, simplification has merit but as in so many areas of immigration policy, these change fail to address the immigration-related challenges of housing, healthcare and infrastructure:
The federal government is making it easier for businesses to bring temporary foreign workers into Canada, announcing a new “recognized employer” program aimed at speeding up the approval process for companies with a track record of using foreign labour.
The three-year pilot program is designed to reduce the amount of paperwork companies need to submit to justify bringing in outside workers.
It’s the latest expansion of the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program, whose use has exploded over the past year as the federal government has eased restrictions on short-term foreign labour. And it comes alongside a record surge in immigration, which is increasing the country’s labour supply but also adding demand to Canada’s overheated housing market and public services.
Randy Boissonnault, the new Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, said the change to the TFW program would “cut red tape” and help companies manage widespread labour shortages.
The move was applauded by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which has long lobbied for a trusted employer carveout in the TFW program.
Some labour economists, however, warned that further expansion of the program could undercut wages in Canada and make it more difficult to identify companies that are exploiting vulnerable workers.
“It could be a good thing for addressing kinds of critical labour shortages,” said Rupa Banerjee, the Canada Research Chair in economic inclusion, employment and entrepreneurship of Canada’s immigrants at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“But if this kind of a system is not really closely monitored, scrutinized, audited, it’s easy for sort of mundane and everyday examples of abuse and exploitation to kind of become even more rampant in the system,” she said.
As it stands, companies need to submit a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) before applying to hire temporary foreign workers. The purpose of the LMIA is to show that there are no Canadians or permanent residents who are able to fill the job.
Under the new system, employers who can demonstrate “a history of complying with program requirements” will be given a three-year approval to bring in temporary foreign workers, and won’t have to submit an LMIA before each application. Eligible employers will need to have had three successful LMIAs in the past five years for workers who are deemed to be “in-shortage,” and will be subject to a “more rigorous upfront assessment,” the government said in a news release.
The pilot program will be open to agriculture businesses in September and employers from all other industries starting in January.
This is the second notable change to the TFW program in just over a year. Last spring, the federal government said companies could hire up to 20 per cent of their staff through the program’s low-wage stream, up from the previous 10-per-cent cap. And in seven industries with acute labour shortages – such as restaurants, construction and hospitals – the cap was moved to 30 per cent for a year, then extended to this fall.
The TFW program is largely used as a recruitment tool for farm workers. During the first quarter of this year, employers were approved to hire more than 25,000 workers through agriculture streams, according to figures published by Employment and Social Development Canada, which decides on LMIA applications. General farm workers are easily the most sought-after role in the TFW program, with more than 22,000 approved positions in the first quarter.
But as Ottawa has eased access to foreign labour, employers have ramped up their recruitment of low-wage employees from abroad. Companies were approved to fill about 22,000 roles through the program’s low-wage stream in the first quarter, an increase of about 275 per cent from four years earlier. Cooks are the No. 2 occupation of highest demand, with nearly 3,000 positions approved from January through March. Truck drivers, food counter attendants and seafood plant workers are also in high demand.
Diana Palmerin-Velasco, senior director of the future of work at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the announcement and said it could improve access to the TFW program for smaller employers.
“There are whole sectors of the economy that are dependent on temporary foreign workers,” Ms. Palmerin-Velasco said. “What we have heard from our members is that it’s not that easy for employers. There is a lot of administrative burden, it can be a very complex application process. And when we think about small businesses, it’s not really accessible.”
Mikal Skuterud, an economics professor at the University of Waterloo, questioned the government’s rationale for expanding the program. The Canadian labour market has been exceptionally tight over the past year-and-a-half, as demand for workers has outstripped supply. However, in recent months, job vacancies have been trending down and the unemployment rate has risen.
“We’ve had a 25-per-cent reduction in job vacancies since May, 2022, and if you measure labour market tightness, that’s also been dropping,” Prof. Skuterud said.
He added that recent researchinto temporary foreign workers suggests that they tend to suppress wage growth within companies that use them. “And so we’re going through a period where real wages for low skilled workers in this country are not increasing. The most recent data looks like they’re decreasing. And so it’s all about where this government’s priorities are,” he said.
Indeed as I and others have been arguing for some time with respect to Temporary Foreign Workers and productivity, along with a more serious discussion regarding immigration policy and programs:
The guy who cut my hair last week taught me something about the Temporary Foreign Worker program: It’s even looser than I thought.
Fixing that, and a number of other things that aren’t quite right about the immigration system, comes down to the Trudeau government. So, don’t hold your breath.
After Sean Fraser was shuffled from Immigration Minister to Housing Minister on Wednesday, he said Canada can’t “close the door on newcomers.” As if that’s what the government’s critics are calling for. Is it possible for Canadians to discuss a serious economic issue, seriously? Or is polarizing name-calling all that our politics has left?
The Liberals have a habit of crafting marketing strategies before policies, and then having policies become hostage to the talking points. Immigration is such a case. We’re about to find out whether the Liberals can make a course correction, or whether they’ll double down on the polarizing talking points, attacking suggestions for reform as so much xenophobia.
The Liberals have raised Canada’s immigration targets, year after year, while also making it ever easier for businesses to recruit low-wage, not-so-temporary temporary foreign workers, and schools to enroll hundreds of thousands of overseas students – many of whom sought student visas in part for the chance to become low-wage, not-so-temporary temporary foreign workers.
One of the negative consequences is that the national housing squeeze has been made worse, with a big jump in postpandemic arrivals pushing high prices higher and low vacancy rates lower. It’s not political. It’s just arithmetic.
The Liberals could fix things – not by stopping immigration but by scaling it back, and making it more targeted to highly skilled economic immigrants. The latter is supposed to be the core mission of our immigration system. Returning to that common-sense approach would benefit Canadians and the economy.
And now, back to my neighbourhood barbershop. The place was empty when I walked in on a Friday afternoon, so I dropped into a chair and started chatting with the barber. He spoke excellent English with a Spanish accent, and I asked where he was from.
“Mexico,” he said.
How long had he been in Canada?
“One year and seven months.”
Why did he come to Canada?
“I looked online for jobs, found one I wanted and applied.”
Temporary Foreign Worker program?
“Yes.”
He gave me a good haircut (as good as can be when the subject has little more than half a head of hair) and a better insight into one part of the immigration system.
It’s perfectly reasonable for Canada to have a system for filling temporary gaps for highly skilled labour. That’s what the TFW program is supposed to do.
But that’s mostly not what it’s doing. Instead, it’s offering low-pay, low-skill and low-productivity employers a way to recruit overseas, at low cost, rather than having to search harder at home, or offer higher wages, or invest in technology and training to increase efficiency.
The government of Canada’s TFW Job Bank has around 10,000 postings from employers searching for a temporary foreign worker. Most jobs offer a salary of less than $40,000. Nearly all pay less than $60,000, which is below the Canadian average.
There are, for example, 17 employers looking for barbers, from Edmonton to Hamilton to Montreal, with pay starting at $15 an hour.
There are also some high-wage jobs. A Vancouver health care provider is looking for five family physicians, at a salary of $300,000 to $350,000. A veterinary clinic is offering up to $190,000 for an emergency vet. eBay Canada in Toronto is seeking a software engineer, at a salary of $160,000 to $180,000.
But the TFW database is mostly low-wage work.
Home Hardware in Woodstock, Ont., is seeking two cashiers at $16.55 an hour. A Mac’s Convenience in Edmonton is looking for one cashier at $15 an hour. City Avenue Market in Port Coquitlam, B.C., needs a cashier, at $17 an hour.
A Tim Hortons in Sherbrooke, Que., wants seven “assistant waiter/waitress,” at $15.25 an hour. Western Pizza in Regina has four vacancies for servers, at $14 an hour.
All of those low-wage jobs, along with most others I looked at, were listed as full-time and permanent. These aren’t temporary positions, even though that’s what the TFW program is notionally about.
And I haven’t touched on the larger but more opaque group of foreign workers: those who come on a student visa, work at low-wage service jobs, and then use Canadian educational credentials plus Canadian work experience in hopes of landing permanent residency in the country.
If everyone on that path was a graduate in engineering, computer science or other highly paid fields, the system would make sense. But a large share of the visa students are not.
As I wrote earlier this week, our plans to use the various immigration streams to raise GDP per capita are being undermined by too heavy a focus on filling low-wage, low-skill jobs.
We can make our immigration system better. But first, we need an honest conversation about what our immigration system aims to do. And what’s not working.
Of course, always easier while in opposition but 2014 should be a cautionary tale about Temporary Foreign Workers as well as an example of a government pivot when the Conservatives and Jason Kenney had to reverse course:
Mr. Trudeau, in 2023, leads a federal government that has overseen a surge in the country’s reliance on low-wage temporary foreign workers. The federal Liberals stoked this increase: they loosened the rules early last year. According to the latest data, reported by The Globe last week, Ottawa has approved the hiring of almost 80,000 low-wage foreign workers in the year after the rules were eased. That’s triple the level of the 12 months before the change.
Starting with the overall picture and good commentary on the negative impact on productivity by Rupa Banergee:
Canadian companies are ramping up their recruitment of foreign workers to fill a variety of low-wage roles in the service sector, including cooks, cleaners and retail clerks.
In the first quarter, employers were approved to fill about 22,000 positions through the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program, an increase of roughly 275 per cent from four years earlier, according to figures recently published by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
From January through March, employers were approved to hire more than 2,800 cooks, making it the most sought-after role in the low-wage stream. Companies were seeking thousands of other workers for the food-service sector, such as cashiers. Construction labourers and nurse aides were also in high demand.
To hire a TFW, companies must submit a Labour Market Impact Assessment to the government, showing they can’t find local workers to fill vacant positions. If those roles are approved, foreign workers must obtain the appropriate permits to begin their employment. The ESDC numbers reflect the first part of this hiring process.
The figures are even higher than presented: ESDC excludes some employers – such as business names that include personal names – from its data set of approvals by company.
Regardless, the figures show a dramatic rise in demand for TFWs.
Not only have employers faced historically tight labour markets in recent years, but the federal government has made it easier to hire through the program. Ottawa overhauled the TFW program last year, with some moves allowing employers to hire a greater proportion of their staff through the low-wage stream.
While these changes were cheered by business lobby groups, they were also criticized by migration experts.
The TFW program “disincentivizes employers from making the effort to reach out to underutilized segments of the labour market, and also to improve wages and working conditions,” said Rupa Banerjee, a Canada Research Chair in immigration and economics at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Instead, the TFW program provides employers with a “cheap, flexible and frankly vulnerable source of labour to fill gaps in the labour market,” she said.
Recent program announcements highlight the difficulties for the government in having coherent immigration policies. The recent removal of education requirements for Hong Kongers undermines skill levels and productivity, along with demographics given that the change will result in a shift towards older immigrants.
This is not to discount the very real humanitarian objectives behind these two programs, or the political pressure behind most, but to note the overall incoherence:
Vancouver resident Calvin Wong says he can finally start picturing a future in Canada after the federal government announced it was dropping educational requirements for Hong Kongers seeking permanent residency in the wake of the Chinese city’s crackdown on dissent.
Wong, 28, had graduated from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with a computer science degree in 2017 before moving to Canada on a work permit in 2021, looking for a life where he could enjoy “political freedom.”
But immigration pathways for Hong Kong residents that have allowed thousands to settle permanently in Canada excluded Wong because it has been more than five years since he graduated.
That will change from August 15, after Ottawa announced on Tuesday it would remove all educational requirements for people with at least a year of work experience in Canada.
Immigration consultants say the move effectively opens pathways for Hong Kongers of all ages, instead of the current focus on students and recent graduates. They said they had been flooded with inquiries since the announcement.
“It’s a very great move by the Canadian government and I can eventually get permanent residence here, contribute and live in Canada safely,” said Wong, his voice breaking with emotion.
The store clerk said the chance to secure permanent residency came as a “huge relief,” and his decision to move to Canada was something he would “never regret.”
In 2021, the federal government created two immigration pathways for Hong Kong residents who had either worked or studied in Canada.
The pathways were in response to a crackdown on political dissent after protests drew millions onto Hong Kong’s streets in 2019, followed by the introduction of a harsh new national security law in 2020.
Stream A applies to former Hong Kong residents who graduated from a post-secondary institution in Canada within three years. People with at least one year of work experience in Canada who graduated from a foreign or Canadian institution within five years could apply for Stream B.
The changes open up Stream B to anyone with a year of work experience in Canada, regardless of education.
Sean Fraser, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, said the change was a “win-win situation.”
“(It) means that we can welcome more Hong Kongers to Canada who need our support, while simultaneously helping Canadian businesses fill labour gaps with workers who already have work experience here,” he said in a statement.
The announcement by Fraser’s ministry said Canada “continues to stand by Hong Kong residents, and supports their freedom and democracy.”
Canada has welcomed 3,122 permanent residents under the two pathways as of April 30, 2023.
Wong said that being excluded under the current rules had left him depressed.
“I felt it was really difficult to plan my future at that time. I was thinking: where should I go? Should I try my best to stay in Canada or go to the United Kingdom?” said Wong.
Wong said he can now make plans for the future and would submit his immigration application as soon as he completes his one year of work experience in Canada.
Vancouver-based Immigration consultant Peter Pang said the move is a “huge change,” opening up more opportunities to Hong Kongers to contribute to Canada.
Richmond, B.C., immigration consultant Ken Tin Lok Wong said that while the current rules do not ban older people, the time limits since graduation had effectively set a bar.
To have graduated in the past five years generally meant applicants to Stream B were not particularly old, and were “of working age,” he said.
Wong said he had some clients who were ready to pack their bags and leave Canada. But they now felt like they had “hit the jackpot.”“The announcement feels like Canada is helping to retain Hong Kongers regardless of their education,” he said.
“So, if you happen to be a legal worker in Canada, if you happen to obtain one year of work experience, then you are through.”
Similarly, hard to see how the new pathway for Ukrainians will contribute to productivity or demographics:
The federal government has launched a new immigration program for Ukrainians fleeing their embattled country, allowing those in Canada with family to receive permanent resident status.
“We continue to extend unwavering support and a lifeline to families separated by this conflict, including through this family reunification pathway that will help Ukrainian families stay together as they rebuild their lives in their new communities in Canada,” said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser in a statement released Saturday.
Eligibility will be extended to Ukrainians living in Canada with temporary status and with one or more family members in Canada.
The government said more details will be released closer to when the program launches on Oct. 23, 2023. The program will have no cost attached to it and will be in place for one year.
The announcement Saturday comes on the day the government’s initial emergency immigration program was set to expire.
Under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET), launched in March 2022, Ukrainians were able to come to Canada and live and work for up to three years. They benefited from a variety of measures meant to speed up the visa process, including prioritized processing and waived fees.
Roughly 166,000 Ukrainians have come to Canada through the special visa program. That’s about 21 per cent of the 800,000 emergency visas granted, from around 1.1 million applications, according to the government.
‘We’re just asking for lots of flexibility’
In an interview Saturday, the head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said the details to come would be key to their response to the program. But in general, he said his organization is pushing for more options for Ukrainians coming to Canada.
“We’re just asking for lots of flexibility on the pathways for people as they make their way through what is a very uncertain situation,” said Ihor Michalchyshyn, the UCC’s CEO.
“The war has not ended, we have to keep options open for people.”
One key unknown was what set of questions the government would be using to determine eligibility and approvals throughout the process, he noted.
Ukrainians approved under the CUAET will still be able to travel to Canada up until March 31 of next year. Afterward, they will be subject to the standard immigration measures available to others around the world.
“Once in Canada, temporary residents will be eligible to apply for an extended stay of up to three years through study permits and open work permits, all of which will be prioritized. They will also have access to settlement services, such as language training and employment services. These measures will help them thrive in communities across the country,” the government release said.
Canada has the largest diaspora of Ukrainians outside of Ukraine and Russia, with over 1.4 million people of Ukrainian descent living here, according to government statistics.
Michalchyshyn said while immigration programs and settlement services are important for people coming to this country, the priority push from his organization is still aid to Ukraine itself.
“The sooner that Ukraine wins the war, the sooner peace and normality can resume and this massive refugee crisis will come to an end.”
Along with reduced dependence on temporary workers and international students? And data on the number of visa overstays like in the USA:
Au cours des derniers jours, deux journalistes du Devoir ont donné un visage humain aux statistiques brutes de l’immigration temporaire et des migrants sans statut. Sarah R. Champagne et Lisa-Marie Gervais ont raconté les récits de Henry, Yony, Rudy, Yasser, Mariana et Mamadou.
Les premiers — des travailleurs étrangers temporaires — se sont blessés au travail et luttent non seulement pour leur rétablissement, mais aussi pour la défense de leurs droits dans un labyrinthe administratif aux allures de cul-de-sac. Les seconds — des sans-statut — sont arrivés chez nous par une voie régularisée, mais sont tombés ensuite dans le bassin des « sans-papiers » ; ils se battent pour survivre, mais dans la clandestinité. Derrière la froideur des chiffres, ce sont leurs vulnérabilités oubliées.
Tout notre système migratoire tourne autour de la notion convoitée de « résidence permanente ». La réforme que vient de mettre en marche la ministre de l’Immigration, Christine Fréchette, se décline autour de ce concept. Il s’agit là, répétons-le, d’une spectaculaire hypocrisie, car sous des cibles maintenant portées à 60 000 « permanents », la voie royale d’entrée au Québec est en fait « temporaire », et son caractère permanent ne se matérialisera jamais pour des milliers de personnes qui pourtant travaillent tous les jours à faire tourner notre économie.
En 2022, il y a eu près de trois fois plus d’immigrants entrés par une voie temporaire que de permanents recensés sur la même période de 11 mois. La véritable voie d’entrée au Québec est temporaire, mais on continue de traiter cette question comme si elle était secondaire, voire marginale. Québec n’a pas inclus la question des travailleurs étrangers temporaires dans sa récente réforme bien que ce fût réclamé à grands cris. Cette main-d’oeuvre scrutée sous le seul axe de son utilité, sans égards à son humanité, comptait pourtant pour près de 40 000 personnes au Québec en 2022.
C’est le triste paradoxe subi par ces dizaines de milliers de personnes jugées essentielles. Elles s’astreignent à un dur labeur depuis de longues années, loin de leur famille, mais elles accèdent rarement au statut convoité de la permanence, qui les sortirait d’un entre-deux accablant.
Puisque leur outil principal est leur corps, on ne s’étonnera pas d’apprendre que le nombre de lésions professionnelles subies par ces travailleurs est en augmentation galopante depuis quelques années, comme en font foi les données colligées par la Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). Les histoires relatées par nos reporters montrent les limites douloureuses du statut de temporaire lorsque les travailleurs sont blessés ou malades : même s’ils ont accès à des soins de santé en bonne et due forme pendant qu’ils travaillent, ces services tiennent par le fil de l’emploi. Lorsque l’emploi se termine ou est interrompu, faute d’être en mesure d’offrir la prestation de travail, l’employé doit normalement quitter le Québec. Mais certaines incapacités ne le permettent tout simplement pas : un accident de travail qui demande une longue réadaptation ou un cancer qui nécessite un traitement, par exemple.
Ces précieux travailleurs se retrouvent souvent seuls dans l’épreuve, sans moyens pour permettre à leur famille restée dans leur pays d’origine de venir ne serait-ce que les visiter après une opération. Puisqu’ils ne peuvent plus travailler, ils perdent aussi le logis venant avec l’emploi qui leur garantit un statut. Dans certains cas, le pouvoir discrétionnaire du ministre de la Santé, qui peut étirer une couverture d’assurance maladie pour motifs humanitaires, viendra sauver la mise. Mais ces batailles administratives parfois sans issue viennent souligner le caractère inacceptable du traitement qu’on inflige à des gens qu’on dit indispensables : on préfère oublier leurs vulnérabilités, comme s’ils étaient des travailleurs de seconde zone. Voilà ce que le Québec leur offre en guise de remerciements.
Dans ces sombres conditions, ne nous étonnons pas que certains glissent dans la dernière des zones, celle de la clandestinité, en devenant des sans-papiers. C’est l’ultime repli — et le plus douloureux, car il force à une vie de cachette et d’illégalité.
Le Canada, dont on dit qu’il abriterait entre 80 000 et 500 000 sans-papiers, s’est engagé il y a 18 mois à lancer un programme de régularisation, qui pourrait en quelque sorte permettre de remettre les compteurs à zéro, comme ce fut fait déjà en 1973. La quantité de migrants sans statut est toutefois beaucoup plus importante qu’il y a 50 ans, ce qui pourrait compliquer la tâche des élus au moment de définir les critères du programme, qu’on attend toujours.
Le statu quo n’est pas possible. Tant le Canada que le Québec doivent composer avec cette population temporaire sans cesse croissante : eux seuls détiennent les clés qui permettront d’ouvrir la voie à des statuts dotés d’un peu plus d’humanité.
The Globe continues its shift towards being more critical of Canadian immigration policies and distancing itself from Century Initiative and other large scale immigration advoccates:
Canada has big, enduring demographic challenges ahead. So why are we trying to paper them over with ever-larger temporary band-aids?
Good to see some serious (and belated) questioning by the Globe. Unlikely that the government will change its approach of appeasing business and other interests rather than focussing on medium- and longer-term impacts on productivity:
No one takes orders at the Burger King in the rest stop off of Ontario’s Highway 401 near Port Hope. Instead, there’s a large touch screen that customers use to select and pay for their Whoppers and fries.
Haven’t seen much written one the higher-wage Temporary Foreign Workers or the kind of anecdotes and studies that we see on agricultural and other lower-wage workers.
So the extent to which this is more theoretical (same general points apply to all TFWs), or a real issue is unclear (and Connelly doesn’t indicate that any surveys or other assessment of on-the-ground reality was undertaken which may have been included in her book):
When we think of temporary foreign workers, we usually think of agricultural workers and nannies: vulnerable workers at risk of exploitation. But not every temporary foreign worker does this kind of work. What about software engineers, accountants, and technicians? Unfortunately, they are also at risk.
Many Canadians assume that high-wage temporary foreign workers are less vulnerable because they have more resources at their disposal. But their high incomes and education levels are not enough to protect them.
Temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream are vulnerable to exploitation because they have closed work permits. With only a few exceptions, they are only allowed to work for the company that hired them. Even when they are aware of their employment rights, they are often reluctant to do anything that they believe could jeopardize their employment, such as complaining to their boss, their HR department, or the government. Most high-wage temporary foreign workers are hoping to apply for permanent residency through a provincial nominee program, and they are concerned that any complaints will be held against them. And even though many high-wage temporary foreign workers eventually become permanent residents, they still have closed work permits while they navigate this process. And in the meantime, they may endure a lot.
High-wage temporary foreign workers are lucrative targets. Because their wages are relatively high, unscrupulous companies have a financial incentive to pay them less than their contracted wage. For example, instead of paying them the agreed-upon $30 per hour, a company may decide to only pay them only $27 per hour: a 10 per cent discrepancy. This pay cut of course violates the temporary foreign worker guidelines, which stipulate that all temporary foreign workers must be paid the agreed-upon wage for the duration of their contracts. They also must be paid at least the local median wage for their occupation.
Three dollars in wage theft may not sound like much, but it adds up. If that employee works 40 hours per week, this represents a savings to the employer of about $6,240 per year, per employee.
Because high-wage workers are so qualified, they are frequently asked to perform extra tasks that are not in their contracts. For example, they may be asked to manage a team or take on more important or complicated responsibilities with less supervision. Many temporary foreign workers are overqualified for their positions, so some companies use this as an opportunity to require them to do extra work without compensation, even though this violates the rules of the temporary foreign worker program.
Companies that have difficulty retaining Canadians because of poor management skills may turn to temporary foreign workers specifically to lower rates of staff turnover. While Canadians and foreign workers recruited through the International Mobility Program (e.g., from a country that has a free trade agreement with Canada) can quit, high-wage temporary foreign workers, who might be doing the exact same job, do not have the same options. In addition to wage theft and unrealistic performance expectations, high-wage temporary foreign workers frequently have to deal with abusive supervisors.
The solution is to harmonize the high-wage temporary foreign worker program with the International Mobility Program to ensure that these workers all have the same rights. That is, high-wage temporary foreign workers would receive open work permits that would enable them to change employers more easily. A further advantage of open permits is that companies could then promote high-wage temporary foreign workers, or move them to where they are needed.
One could argue that open permits would be inconvenient for employers, because mistreated high-wage temporary foreign workers may quit if their work permits do not force them to stay with their employer. However, employers could adopt the same management strategies that they use to prevent their Canadian or International Mobility Program employees from quitting: careful recruitment, fair treatment, and reasonable wages.
In discussions about temporary foreign workers, those in the high-wage stream are often overlooked. There are not so many of them: only 45,867 were approved to come to Canada in 2022. But as Canadian companies address ongoing labour market challenges, more are likely to be hired. High-wage temporary foreign workers are an important part of the Canadian workforce, and they need the same protections as Canadians.
Catherine Connelly is a Canada Research Chair in organizational behaviour at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, and the author of Enduring Work: Experiences with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Seems similar blind spot to the federal government consultations on the annual plan that doesn’t include temporary residents even if the numbers and arguably impact greater than Permanent Residents:
Reconnaissant que près de 300 000 immigrants non permanents se trouvaient en sol québécois à la fin de 2022, la ministre de l’Immigration, Christine Fréchette, refuse toutefois d’inclure la question des immigrants temporaires dans sa consultation sur les cibles cet automne.
Talonnant Mme Fréchette sur le sujet lors de l’étude des crédits de son ministère, le député solidaire de Saint-Henri–Saint-Anne, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, a sommé le gouvernement d’aborder le sujet lors de ses consultations sur les cibles d’immigration 2024-2027. « On a aucune consultation sur les temporaires, je vous demande un engagement pour qu’on puisse faire une planification ordonnée réglée ensemble et qu’on sache où on s’en va. De faire uniquement l’exercice sur les permanents, c’est de passer à côté du débat », a-t-il souligné.
Le député libéral de Nelligan, Monsef Derraji, a renchéri en faisant valoir que la majorité des travailleurs temporaires s’installaient dans la région de Montréal. « On ne peut pas dire qu’on peut juste tenir compte des permanents dans la planification pluriannuelle », a-t-il lancé.
Selon des documents rendus publics dans le cadre de l’étude des crédits, il y avait environ 290 000 immigrants temporaires en territoire québécois au 31 décembre 2022, surtout des étudiants étrangers et des travailleurs temporaires.
La ministre Fréchette a pour sa part rétorqué que ce type d’immigration reflète le besoin ponctuel des entreprises et estime important que ces dernières gardent cette « agilité » pour aller « chercher les talents dont elles ont besoin ». « L’immigration temporaire, c’est [aussi] l’effet du succès de nos établissements d’enseignement », a-t-elle ajouté. « Pour nous, d’office, ça fait partie des éléments, car on y fait référence, mais pour ce qui est des orientations comme telles, la planification pluriannuelle porte sur l’immigration permanente. »
Déplorant que des travailleurs étrangers temporaires soient pris en otage en raison de permis « fermés » qui les lient à un donneur d’emploi en particulier, le député Monsef Derraji a tenté d’obtenir de la ministre qu’elle s’engage à éliminer ces documents qui conduisent parfois à des abus de la part des employeurs. Christine Fréchette a répondu qu’il s’agissait d’une question dont elle discute déjà avec son homologue fédéral, Sean Fraser. Elle a par ailleurs rappelé que son gouvernement souhaite rapatrier les pouvoirs des programmes concernant les travailleurs temporaires gérés par Ottawa.
Davantage d’immigrants francisés
Malgré des taux de décrochage parfois élevés dans certaines régions, la ministre de l’Immigration s’est également félicitée du progrès de la persévérance des immigrants en francisation dans l’ensemble du Québec.
Préférant voir les choses du côté positif, Christine Fréchette dit observer des taux de persévérance de 78,8 % pour les étudiants à temps complet et 84,6 % pour les étudiants à temps partiel. « C’est franchement un beau succès. […] On a augmenté considérablement le nombre de personnes qui prennent des cours de francisation ».
Lors de l’étude des crédits, le député Derraji lui a fait valoir que près de la moitié des immigrants en francisation décrochent dans certaines régions administratives, notamment en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, où ce taux atteint 43 %. À Montréal, il est près de 25 %. « Ce n’est pas du tout un échec, on partait de zéro. On a tellement rebâti en 2018 », a répondu la ministre Fréchette. Selon les documents du ministère, le décrochage est moins élevé chez élèves à temps partiel, soit environ 15 % pour l’ensemble du Québec.
Pressée d’expliquer pourquoi certains immigrants décrochent de la francisation, elle a noté que, dans un contexte de plein-emploi, beaucoup peuvent être tentés par le marché du travail. « Quand on prend des cours de francisation, on peut être rapidement sollicité pour intégrer des entreprises ou travailler davantage d’heures si on a déjà un emploi », a-t-elle affirmé.
Quant aux immigrants temporaires, la ministre a précisé que la majorité d’entre eux (60 %) parle français et, qu’au cours de la dernière année, il y a eu une augmentation de plus de 30 % des travailleurs étrangers temporaires qui ont suivi des cours de français. « C’est colossal », a-t-elle déclaré.
Or, bien que les allocations s’étendent désormais aux milliers de travailleurs temporaires agricoles, à peine 431 d’entre eux se sont inscrits à la francisation. La ministre Fréchette a dit vouloir augmenter ce score. « La francisation est un travail constant, il y aura toujours des efforts à faire pour que l’apprentissage du français soit facilité et accessible. » Elle entend miser sur de nouveaux outils, dont Francisation Québec, un guichet unique qui sera lancé dès le 1er juin et qui regroupera toute l’offre de services en francisation.
Pas fermée à la régularisation
Par ailleurs, questionnée à savoir si son ministère allait emboîter le pas au fédéral, qui planche sur un programme de régularisation des personnes sans statut, Christine Fréchette a dit ne pas fermer pas la porte. « Mais il faut voir davantage les intentions pour décider si on s’y engage ou pas », a-t-elle souligné.
La ministre a d’ailleurs affirmé qu’il était « encore trop tôt pour se prononcer » sur cette question. « C’est important pour nous de connaître la nature des orientations [du fédéral]. On souhaite être consultés sur cette politique publique. »
Multicultural Meanderings 