Canada further strengthens its Temporary Foreign Worker Program to better protect live-in caregivers

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This month, the Government of Canada announced it is implementing stricter regulations with the aim of further improving the working conditions for temporary workers and live-in caregivers in Canada. According to the federal government, consultations held over the past two years revealed that employers were exploiting some live-in caregivers because the system made them vulnerable.
“Temporary foreign workers come to Canada in a very vulnerable position because they are dependent upon their employer,” said Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) Chair Nigel Thomson. “These new rules will help ensure that employers play by the rules.”
To address this, the federal government is tightening the regulations affecting live-in caregivers and temporary foreign workers, as well as the people who hire them. “The government is taking action to protect temporary foreign workers, including live-in caregivers, from potential abuse and exploitation,” explained Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
New regulations came into effect in April 2010 that required employers to provide contracts that specify wages, benefits, accommodation, duties, hours of work, and holiday and sick leave entitlements.
Starting in April 2011, new rules will apply a more rigorous assessment to jobs for live-in caregivers and temporary foreign workers before the employers are given the authorization to hire. The assessment will address whether the employer has followed the rules in the past and has honoured their commitments to workers with respect to wages, working conditions and occupation. Failure to meet the commitments will result in a two-year prohibition on hiring foreign workers.
Other countries that host foreign temporary workers and live-in caregivers, including Hong Kong, Germany, Israel and other nations in Europe and the Middle East, do not allow these types of workers to become citizens. They are meant to stay in those host countries for years as temporary guest workers and any of their children born there are not considered as having rights to citizenship.
Under Canada’s innovative program, foreign live-in caregivers may become citizens of Canada. They are “fast-tracked” and can apply for permanent-resident status after completing 24 months of employment. Under the new Citizenship and Immigration Canada regulations, live-in-caregivers have four years, instead of three, to complete the required 24 months of full-time work. There will also be more flexibility with respect to the amount of time given to meet the requirements needed for permanent residence status. Any overtime worked may now be used to apply for permanent residency more quickly. Under the law, it will be possible for a person who works a lot of overtime to apply earlier, or the deadline may be extended if the person works less than full-time hours or needs time off due to illness, for example.
“We owe it to them, their employers and all Canadians to ensure that the program is fair and equitable. After all, they are an essential element of Canada’s economic success,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program helps address temporary labour shortages by allowing employers to hire foreign workers when sufficient numbers of Canadian workers are not readily available. Without access to temporary foreign labour, many small businesses in Canada would not be able to function and would be forced into insolvency.
These new regulations are seen as important because it demonstrates Canada’s position that temporary foreign workers and live-in caregivers should be encouraged to apply for permanent resident status and that they may become citizens in a timely fashion and move on to other forms of employment if they choose.

Source:http://www.cicnews.com/2010/08/canada-strengthens-temporary-foreign-worker-program-protect-livein-caregivers-08796.html 

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Tamils and the difference between immigrants and refugees.

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A common refrain regarding the arrival of the Tamil refugees aboard the MV Sun Sea is that
they have "jumped the queue" and taken the place of "legitimate" immigrants who await entry to Canada.
The accusation is emotive but it is just plain wrong. Immigrants and refugees are entirely different groups. Each has its own stringent set of rules for admission to Canada.
Immigrants are people who want to come to Canada and have the opportunity to meet with officials at a Canadian embassy and apply under the criteria established by law. They must meet certain requirements and quotas established by Canada's needs and circumstances.
Refugees are desperate people in flight. They have often been forced from their homes, subjected to human rights abuses, persecuted by the very authorities to whom they'd have to apply if they wished to obtain documents required to emigrate.
They often can't travel to a Canadian embassy to apply for immigration because it would put them at great risk from those they are fleeing in the first place. In fact, international law recognizes the reality that refugees often cannot meet the normal legal requirements for entry into a country of safe haven and international agreements signed by Canada prohibit governments from penalizing refugees who enter or remain in a country illegally.
Most have lost all their possessions. What money they do have is often taken from them by smugglers who promise to get them out of immediate danger in exchange for cash. There's no guarantee that they will be taken to safety. Sometimes they just get dumped at sea. Sometimes the boats sink. Sometimes they get killed by pirates. Sometimes they get betrayed to the authorities they flee. This is not a new phenomenon. It happened to United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, it happened to Irish families fleeing the famine, it happened to Jews fleeing the Nazi Holocaust, it has happened to Vietnamese, Sikhs and North Koreans. So the Tamil refugees are not unusual. But that is why we don't have lineups for people in flight or expect them to travel to a Canadian embassy and apply along with other immigrants seeking to come to Canada from a safe country. The circumstances in Sri Lanka are said by some to be "improving." Here's what the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said in its last statement this year about conditions there:
"Looking for human rights in Sri Lanka is becoming increasingly like looking for water on the moon or in the desert ... Sri Lanka today is one of the most violent societies where there is great permissiveness of extrajudicial killings. In the recent decades extrajudicial killings have taken the form of disappearances or various kinds of killings after arrest and while in police or military custody."
On Aug. 19, Amnesty International issued the following statement: "Amnesty International recalls the many humanitarian workers who have fallen victim to human rights violations in Sri Lanka and the families of victims who have been frustrated in their pursuit of justice. Amnesty International calls on the UN to independently investigate violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka." Many of the workers slain, it points out, were Tamils.

Canada has a legal obligation under the Conventions Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Convention against Torture towards refugees from such conditions, including these Tamils. The Convention against Torture enjoins Canada -- without exception -- not to return a person to a country where there is such a risk.
Sometimes those seeking asylum don't qualify under the stringent rules for admission. When that's the case, they are denied refugee status and deported. Yet after rigorous hearings and reviews, Canada has been granting recognition of refugee status to most Tamil applicants, even though it turns down almost half of refugee claims overall according to the U.S. independent monitor RSD Watch.
So Canada is no pushover and these Tamils haven't jumped any queue. They've been dealt with as the law requires and have subjected themselves to the appropriate administrative reviews and assessments under Canadian law and which are now taking place.
shume@islandnet.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Tamils+difference+between+immigrants+refugees/3454642/story.html#ixzz0xxG9Nx1I

We need immigrants as boomers retire

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Glen Hodgson

The baby boom generation in Canada is about to start retiring in growing numbers. Who will replace the boomers in the workplace? The answer, increasingly, will need to be more immigrants.
The economic situation is only going to get more demanding for Canadian employers. We expect that over the next three years the national unemployment rate will decline back toward 6 per cent, which is effectively full employment. Finding workers and containing wage pressures are already resurfacing as key issues for Canadian employers in some regions and sectors.
The role of immigration in Canada’s economic development over many centuries is generally appreciated by most other Canadians. Less well understood is the role that immigration will have to play in the coming years if Canada’s economic development and growth are to be sustained.
Around the world, there are significant differences in attitudes and policies toward immigration, with clear economic consequences. At one end of the spectrum is Japan, whose total population is already in decline. The share of its population over the age of 65 is expected to increase from 22 per cent in 2010 to more than 30 per cent by 2030. However, Japan has yet to introduce broad policies that actively encourage immigration. Although some controls on foreign workers have been relaxed, its underlying economic growth potential is being steadily eroded by this aging phenomenon and by a shrinking workforce.
Similarly, there are numerous countries in Europe that are now suffering the negative effect of an aging workforce and weak labour force dynamics. Much of Europe is struggling to find the right balance between economic and social objectives in its approach to immigration.
At the other end of the spectrum are Canada, Australia and the U.S. All three countries are actively encouraging immigration as one means of building their labour forces and economies over time.
The born-in-Canada population will continue to grow. Although the fertility rate rose slightly during the 2000s, to 1.66 in 2007, it is still well below what is needed to maintain the population through natural increase, which is 2.1 children per woman. Canada will need more immigrants if the labour force is to grow and remain vibrant. Other demographic groups that will be called on to contribute to Canada’s labour force stability are mature workers, aboriginal people, women, people with disabilities and youth.
If Canada is to increasingly rely on immigrants, obviously it needs a modernized, integrated and well-managed immigration policy.
What, then, should be the key attributes of that policy?
 • Increase the weight given to economic factors. A reinvigorated immigration policy will need to recognize the importance of skills-based immigration to address Canada’s labour market needs and to unlock immigrants’ potential for making a long-term economic contribution.
 • Ensure that we have an immigration system that is streamlined, coordinated and well-managed. Canada cannot afford to have an immigration system, or any national policy for that matter, where there is misalignment between the federal and provincial levels.
 • Be prepared to expand the use of temporary foreign worker (TFW) programs to fill short-term gaps in labour markets. As a matter of public policy, Canada should develop an array of tools to balance short-term labour market needs with the longer-term objectives of a growing and skilled labour force. TFW programs, delivered by provincial governments through their close contact with local business, are one such policy tool.
 • Increase employers’ upfront involvement. If a renewed immigration policy is to address Canada’s labour market needs appropriately, it stands to reason that employers need to be included in the decision-making and delivery process.
 • Create new and improved pathways to permanent residency for TFWs and foreign students.
 • Improve foreign credential recognition, access to language training, settlement services and opportunities to gain meaningful work experience. To be fully effective in the labour force, immigrants will need the same hard and soft skills and demonstrated competencies that other participants in the Canadian labour market have.
Labour supply is more plentiful now in many industries than it was two years ago, but the recession has provided only temporary reprieve from the tight labour market conditions faced during 2007 and much of 2008.
Failure to adequately plan for the coming deceleration in labour supply growth will likely leave organizations short of skilled employees and could dampen growth prospects for the entire Canadian economy.
Immigrants can come to the rescue, but only if the policy framework and the supporting infrastructure create the right conditions for success.
Glen Hodgson is the author of “Canada’s Future Labour Market: Immigrants to the Rescue?” published in the July-August issue of Policy Options ( www.irpp.org). He is senior vice-president and chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada.

Photos

Paul Lachine illustration.

Paul Lachine/Newsart

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