Immigration Canada

Canada opens immigration to skilled trades workers

Construction Work (Photo credit: gullevek)

Nicholas Keung
Immigration Reporter

With Canada’s construction market poised to become the world’s fifth largest by 2020, Ottawa has launched a new immigration stream to attract skilled trades workers.

The Federal Skilled Trades Program, which opens for applications Jan. 2, will help address labour shortages amid a construction boom on the eve of the 2015 Pan American Games in Ontario.

The new stream offers permanent residency to electricians, welders, heavy-duty equipment mechanics and pipefitters and is open to undocumented construction workers with a job offer or a Canadian certificate of qualification, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Monday.

“For the last three or four decades, it’s been virtually impossible for skilled trades people to immigrate to Canada through our skilled workers program because of its emphasis on academic training and formal post-secondary education,” Kenney said in Mississauga.

“Only 3 per cent of selected skilled workers actually were trained in these skilled trades. Yet, we have acute shortages in skilled trades.”

According to a report by the Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics, Canada will become the world’s fifth largest construction market by 2020, behind China, India, Japan and the United States.

“We are going to need 320,000 new (construction) workers by 2020 just to replace those who will be retiring and keep pace with the high demands we are currently seeing,” said Canadian Construction Association president Michael Atkinson.

“Half of the workers are going to have to come from foreign trained workers. We’d like to be able to meet all our labour demands with our domestic workforce, but it is just not going to be possible.”

Greater Toronto’s construction industry has historically drawn a lot of undocumented workers. Kenney said the new program will not exclude this underground workforce, but they must first leave the country and apply if they meet the program’s criteria, including basic language proficiency.

Kenney said the government is committed to expanding the program, but it will be limited to just 3,000 applications in its first year.

Skilled trades stream targets 3,000 foreign workers in 2013

Macdonald House in 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Immigrants in skilled trades to face easier path into Canada under rules announced Monday

By Louise Elliott, CBC News

Posted: Dec 10, 2012 5:02 AM ET

Last Updated: Dec 10, 2012 12:51 PM ET

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has unveiled details of a new program intended to speed the arrival to Canada of foreign tradespeople whose skills are in demand.

Kenney said the Skilled Trades Stream will help address serious labour shortages in some regions of the country, including remote regions such as Northern Ontario, and will help grow the economy.

"This is about having an immigration system that works for Canada, works for our economy, works for newcomers [and] fuels our long-term growth and prosperity," Kenney said in making the announcement Monday in Mississauga, Ont.

"For too long, Canada's immigration system has not been open to these in-demand skilled workers. These changes are long overdue and will help us move to a fast and flexible immigration system that works for Canada's economy," Kenney said in a statement accompanying his announcement.

'It was easier under the points system to get in if you had a post-doctorate degree in ancient Greek pottery as opposed to somebody who has 20 years experience as a welder or an electrician.'—Michael Atkinson, president of the Canadian Construction Association

The department will begin accepting applications for the new program on Jan. 2, 2013, but will accept just 3,000 applications in the program's first year to keep processing times to a minimum, the statement said.

Applicants to the skilled trades program will not have to meet the criteria of the points system used for the rest of the federal skilled worker category.

Instead, the new program will give weight to applicants who:

Have a job offer in Canada.
Have basic proficiency in French or English, but not at the level required by the skilled worker points system.
Can prove they have recently worked in the trade and have a minimum of two years' experience.
Can show their occupation falls within the federal trade classification system.

The federal government will consult with the provinces to come up with a list of jobs where there are vacancies before January. The list is expected to include such trades as pipe-fitters, mechanics, transportation jobs and electricians.

"These changes are a great step in the right direction," said Michael Atkinson, president of the Canadian Construction Association.

Atkinson argues it's one of several necessary fixes to an immigration points system that has placed too much emphasis on white collar jobs.

"It was easier under the points system to get in if you had a post-doctorate degree in ancient Greek pottery as opposed to somebody who has 20 years experience as a welder or an electrician. So that was a problem."

But immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman said Monday that unless the government significantly reduces the language requirement for the skilled trades program, there will still be a major barrier to workers under the new program.

"Unless they make the (language) requirements very rudimentary it won't meet the objective," he said.

Waldman added his firm has many clients who are working in Canada on temporary visas but who simply can't meet the government's threshold for language in either the Federal Skilled Worker category or in the Canada Experience Class.

Kenney has emphasized the new program will have a lower language threshold but it is not yet clear what the test will be.

Less reliance on temporary labour

Atkinson argues that more tradespeople coming into the permanent immigration stream will reduce the country's reliance on temporary labour.

"The more the skilled worker program begins to become responsive to the needs of industry and employers going forward, the less reliance there would be on the temporary foreign worker program."

The need for skilled tradespeople is particularly acute in Alberta.

It's estimated the province will need 115,000 additional workers in skilled trades over the next 10 years.

Jeanette Sutherland, manager of workforce and productivity at Calgary Economic Development, says the present system has inhibited growth across the western energy, construction, manufacturing and hospitality sectors.

"Under the current federal skilled worker program there's not enough openings," she said.

"There's quite a process employers have to go through to make sure they match Alberta certification and credentialling standards… This is really going to add to our benefit."

Alberta seeking skilled workers

Sutherland believes the new program will be geared toward the kinds of jobs that Alberta desperately needs to fill, jobs that almost never got filled through the old system: "Pipefitters, welders, a lot of those skilled trades positions that are significantly in demand."

Sutherland expressed hope the government will expand the number of places in the skilled trades program in the coming years.

And she said she hopes the new program will significantly shorten the wait time for employers who often need workers quickly to complete time-sensitive projects.

Atkinson noted that changes to the immigration system need to be combined with efforts to improve the training and apprenticeship programs available to Canadian workers.

But domestic sources won't be enough, he said, as by 2020 Canada will need an additional 320,000 skilled construction workers.

"Only about half of those are going to come from domestic sources," he said. "So not that immigration is the total answer to our future labour challenges. It's an important part."

Atkinson added that the recently announced plan to create an "expression of interest" system online that would allow prospective skilled workers to register and have their accreditation approved in advance will also move the system in the right direction for tradespeople.

Read 874comments

Canada's new refugee rules come into effect on Dec. 15

Ottawa - Beginning on Dec. 15, foreign nationals making refugee claims in Canada will be divided into two groups, depending upon whether their country of origin is considered a genuine refugee producing country.

The announcement was made yesterday in Ottawa by Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. The changes will see refugee claimants processed differently depending upon their country of origin. These changes have already been passed into law by The Balanced Refugee Reform Act and the Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act.

The laws allow the government to create a class of designated countries of origin (DCO). Countries that will be designated under this category will be those that are democratic, that respect human rights, and that offer state protection to its citizens. Countries in the European Union and the United States are expected to be placed into this category. Refugee claimants who come from DCOs will be processed differently than those who make claims from legitimate refugee producing countries.

All refugee claimants will be entitled to a full hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) as is presently the case. But claimants from countries considered to be refugee producing countries will be able to appeal a negative decision to the newly created Refugee Appeal Division (RAD). Although creating an appeal division has been discussed since the current system came into effect on Jan. 1, 1989, this will be the first time a failed claimant will have access to an appeal. The RAD can consider not only errors of law but the facts of the case and will have the power to reverse the previous decision.

Persons who come from a country that is a DCO will not be able to appeal to the RAD.

It is expected that with these changes, hearings will be held within 60 days from the time the claim is referred to the IRB. Currently the time it takes to hold a hearing is up to 600 days. It is also expected claimants from DCO countries will have hearings within 30 to 45 days of making the claim.

The government is hoping to remove all failed claimants from Canada within a year of their claims being rejected. Currently it takes about four-and-one-half years before a person can be removed from Canada.

In making the announcement, Kenney said, "Sixty-two percent of all asylum claims—and virtually all asylum claims for the European Union—were either abandoned or withdrawn by the claimants themselves or rejected by the IRB last year. It became abundantly clear that our system needed to be changed. These changes will move our asylum system from one that allows bogus claimants to rely on loopholes and redundant appeals to delay their removals for several years, to a system that hears claims quickly and removes bogus claimants faster. This is in the best interest of Canada, and of legitimate refugees. Canada's asylum system is one of the most generous in the world and will continue to be under the new and improved system."

Critics claim some groups of people in countries considered safe can be subjected to persecution. Janet Dench, of the Canadian Council of Refugees, is quoted in the Toronto Star as saying, "In many countries that seem peaceful and safe, particular minority groups face serious problems of persecution, discrimination and violence, often with the participation of state officials."

The Saskatoon Star Phoenix notes that the largest refugee producing country has been Hungary. According to Kenney, claims from Hungary dropped 90% since last July when health benefits given to refugee claimants were changed.

The list of DCOs will be made available on Dec. 15.