'We don't want to have people in Canada for decade after decade without the same full labour market mobility rights as other Canadians'
After the federal government recently announced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program pertaining to the low-wage stream, stakeholders are once again raising the issue of permanent residency for newcomers.
In a new conference in Halifax, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted: “We need Canadian businesses to invest in training and technology, not increasing their reliance on low-cost foreign labour,” according to a CBC report.
“It's not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job, and it's not fair to those temporary foreign workers, some of whom are being mistreated and exploited."
The federal government recently announced that, effective Sept. 26 this year, it will refuse to process Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) in the low-wage stream of the TFW program in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
Employers worried about fallout
Businesses are still trying to understand the impacts of the federal government’s announcement about the program, said Wanda Cuff-Young, vice-president of operations for St. John's, N.L.-based Work Global Canada, in another CBC report.
She said her office was receiving a steady flow of calls from employers worried about the fallout from these changes.
With the changes, employers may have to turn to other programs to fill their labour needs, said Cuff-Young. However, this may make it more expensive for employers to fill jobs.
As a result, "the price of goods in a restaurant are going to increase," she said.
The recent changes announced by the federal government “will cause more harm than good in those communities that have few other options to address labour shortages,” said Restaurants Canada.
Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said some of the changes to the program make sense, but he told the CBC that some sectors, including the rural tourism industry, will be negatively affected.
"There are some communities where there is virtually no one to hire into hospitality jobs," he said.
He also said in the article that the government should offer a clearer pathway for workers to achieve permanent residency status.
"I think everybody agrees we don't want to have people that are in Canada for decade after decade without the same full labour market mobility rights as other Canadians.”
‘Using temporary foreign workers as scapegoats’
Groups advocating for migrant workers are dissatisfied with Trudeau’s logic behind the changes to the program.
"Trudeau is using temporary foreign workers as a scapegoat instead of taking responsibility to provide us [with] the open work permit [that] will save us from exploitation,” said Raul Gatica of migrant worker advocacy group Dignidad Migrante Society, in the CBC report.
He noted that temporary foreign workers “were able to do the work that nobody wanted to do” and now they are “disposable”.
“They use us and now they throw us away," he said.
Meanwhile, Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, also hit out at allegations that migrant workers are causing negative impacts to Canada’s economy.
“High unemployment, low wages and unaffordable housing is not being caused by immigrants and migrants — these are caused by employer exploitation and policy failures," he said in the CBC report.
"Migrants build communities, and they deserve equal rights and respect, not scapegoating," he said.
Both Gatica and Hussan blasted the government for backing down on a promise to offer residency status to all undocumented workers, which they said would have offered the workers more protection, according to the CBC report.
Grant migrant workers permanent residency upon their arrival in Canada — that’s the first recommendation of a previous report on how to fix the problems with the country’s TFW Program.
