As Canada attracts temporary foreign workers, calls grow for more immigration paths – National | 24CA News
As lodge and restaurant house owners more and more flip to momentary international employees to fill labour gaps, there are rising calls to provide these employees extra paths to everlasting residency.
“If there are particular occupations where there’s a real need and we’ve become dependent on temporary foreign workers … we should include them in a permanent system,” mentioned Naomi Alboim, a senior coverage fellow at Toronto Metropolitan University.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the labour image for the lodging and meals service trade, the usage of momentary international employees within the sector has been rising for years. According to Statistics Canada, their share of the workforce greater than doubled from 4.4 per cent in 2010 to 10.9 per cent in 2020.
That share is anticipated to maintain rising as corporations battle to fill tens of 1000’s of jobs amid file low unemployment, pandemic-accelerated early retirements and employees leaving for different sectors, mentioned Adrienne Foster, vice-president of coverage and public affairs for the Hotel Association of Canada.
Around 90 per cent of the affiliation’s member employers have elevated wages to try to appeal to extra employees domestically, and plenty of have elevated advantages, improvement alternatives and different perks, however they’re nonetheless struggling to draw candidates, she mentioned.
“COVID did kind of precipitate a decreased appetite for those types of jobs,” mentioned Foster.
“I think at the end of the day, the demographics of the Canadian workforce mean that we have to work internationally,” she mentioned.
To handle these gaps, the federal authorities rolled out momentary measures in April 2022, permitting employers within the lodging and meals service sector, amongst different sectors dealing with labour shortages, to rent as much as 30 per cent of their workforce by way of the Temporary Foreign Worker program for low-wage positions. The momentary measures had been prolonged in March 2023 till the top of October.
But as use of the TFW program turns into extra widespread, so is criticism of what some name an over-reliance on momentary international employees, with issues concerning the dangers these employees could face.
Temporary international employee permits are normally tied to the employer that introduced them into the nation, making employees reluctant to report abuses, mentioned Derek Johnstone, particular assistant to the nationwide president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
“It puts the entire onus on the migrant,” mentioned Johnstone, although he mentioned the union has had some success in serving to employees display employer abuse and get open work permits consequently.
Alboim mentioned a dependence on momentary international employees may also disincentivize employers from growing wages and advantages, enhancing working situations, and even automating extra.
At the identical time as the federal government opens the door to extra momentary international labour, it’s additionally ramping up immigration, primarily in higher-skilled sectors, mentioned Alboim, a former Ontario Deputy Minister of Immigration. And as a result of many momentary international employees are coming into the nation for what are thought of lower-skilled jobs, they’ve fewer alternatives to transition to everlasting residency, she mentioned.
“We have developed, in my view, a really bifurcated system,” she mentioned. “High-skilled, permanent. Low-skilled, temporary. And I don’t think that’s healthy for the economy, and I don’t think that’s healthy for the country.”
Recent modifications to the choice system for financial immigrants embrace just a few extra occupations from classes thought of lower-skill, which is an effective begin, she mentioned.
The restaurant sector wants to extend hiring of home employees and hiring by way of immigration, whereas additionally having the choice of momentary international employees to fill in gaps or seasonal demand, mentioned Olivier Bourbeau, vice-president of federal affairs with trade group Restaurants Canada.
“We don’t only need temporary foreign workers, we need a real immigration strategy,” he mentioned.
The present system is two-tiered, Bourbeau agreed, saying he’d wish to see modifications made to create extra mobility for momentary employees inside corporations and within the trade to probably assist them develop into eligible for everlasting residency.
Foster on the Hotels Association can be supportive of extra paths to everlasting residency for momentary international employees within the hospitality sector, corresponding to by way of the Express Entry program.
“I think the biggest challenge we have right now with our immigration system is that it really favours education,” she mentioned. “There’s a huge mismatch between the people who are coming in and the job vacancies that are available.”
Instead of the present patchwork of difficult-to-navigate federal and provincial applications and pilots, the federal financial immigration system ought to be expanded to incorporate these employees, who’re filling ongoing labour market wants, mentioned Alboim.
“If the temporary workers coming in are truly doing temporary work … we need that flexibility in our system,” she mentioned. “But to fill ongoing jobs? I think it’s unconscionable.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
