Employers gatekeepers to immigration, scholars say

Employers gatekeepers to immigration, scholars say

TORONTO–Employers have growing power as gatekeepers for immigration to Canada because of the increasing use of temporary foreign worker programs, say scholars at the Metropolis Conference on March 3, 2012.

Scholars from Canada and the U.S. spoke to a crowd of about 500 people at a plenary session of the conference called “Temporary Residents in a Society Built upon Permanent Immigration.” They said that employers wanting to hire caregivers, low-skilled workers and farm workers through Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program are increasingly the people who decide who gets to immigrate to Canada.

In 2008, there were 120,000 more temporary foreign workers allowed in Canada than permanent residents admitted. Filipinos make up over ninety percent of the immigrants coming to Canada through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), and often come through this and other streams of temporary immigration to Canada.

“The biggest change in migrant worker policy in the three decades that I’ve been following it is the rising power of the employers in answering the fundamental questions– how many [immigrants], from where and in what status?” said University of California, Davis professor, Philip Martin.
Having immigrants come through probationary terms means that employers have the power to decide who can qualify to stay in Canada. There are many rules that come with being a temporary foreign worker. In the LCP, to qualify for permanent residency you must live with your employer and prove that you worked for the equivalent of two years full-time with that employer or another one. The employer signs off on the hours worked.

Especially troubling about the increasing power of employers is the vulnerability of workers to abuse. “It is very hard to enforce laws that depend on probationary immigrants. Enforcement depends on complaints. Somebody who wants permanent immigration status is not going to complain,” said Martin in his final point to the audience
“We used to select citizens,” said Prof. Naomi Albiom from Queen’s University. Now there’s a focus on temporary residents compared to permanent and the two streams are merging in Canada.

All streams of temporary immigration in Canada have seen significant increases since 2001, including the low-skilled program, which has been a pilot program for 10 years. In 2001, about 9,500 people entered through the LCP, in 2010, about 35,000 entered through the LCP.
The Philippine Reporter asked why people, mostly Filipinos, are coming in as caregivers through the temporary work program when the lack of a national childcare program, an aging population, and mothers wanting to work are long-term aspects of Canadian society?

In response Albiom said, “Not many Canadians want to live-in and do that kind of work. It’s very tough work.” Without national childcare and eldercare programs, Canadians will continue to find it difficult to find people to fill those positions. The current form of the LCP should be improved, but Albiom said she’s “not sure bringing [caregivers] in as permanent residents would mean that they would be willing to provide those jobs on an ongoing basis. It’s a real conundrum.”

Eugénie Depatie-Pelletier of the University of Montreal asked the panel during question period about human rights violations under Quebec and UN laws when it comes to the restrictions that are placed on migrant workers. She is part of an organization hoping to share all the mobilization activities of organizations across Canada at www.migrantworkersrights.net/canada.

Martin and Albiom also addressed universities choosing people as international students as another form of immigration gatekeepers gaining popularity.

Chedly Belkhodja from the Universitié de Moncton chaired the plenary session. Cindy Hames, Ensign Energy Services Inc. also spoke about her company’s corporate perspective.

The plenary on temporary residents was the final major discussion of the four-day conference at the Westin Harbour Hotel. The 14th National Metropolis Conference focused on immigration issues and was attended by about one thousand policy makers, researchers, and community workers.