Human Resources Committee on May 30th, 2016

[Maia Welbourne]

It's a complicated answer. There are a number of factors at play. One has been that generally, as you may know, under our annual levels plan there is every year a limited number of spaces, and there is traditionally more interest in coming to Canada as a permanent resident than spaces available. This has meant that people who had to apply often waited some time before their applications were reviewed.

Under the express entry system, as I say, we are within a six-month standard, which is much more efficient than it has ever been before, really. There are a number of factors that need to be assessed by officers when they are assessing a permanent resident application, not just eligibility for programs.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

I'm sorry for interrupting, but that's my understanding, too: that there are many more factors for permanent residency than for temporary foreign workers.

Is that correct? I think you just said that.

[Maia Welbourne]

Under the permanent resident streams, and there are different permanent resident programs, there are significant factors that have to be assessed, both eligibility for the program as well as admissibility, health, safety, and security aspects.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

—and qualifications, which takes time. Okay.

What I think we've heard through this process and we're now seeing is the government heading in the direction of announcing changes to the temporary foreign worker program, including changing.... As I think Ms. Tassi said, permanent resident status is a solution, and as we've heard from a number of witnesses, permanent residency is what they're asking for.

If somebody, then, were applying for a temporary foreign worker permit and had gone through an LMIA, and if the government made an announcement that this were to change such that when somebody applied to be a temporary foreign worker they'd get permanent residency—and that's what we've heard announced and questioned—will that slow down the process, making it take longer to become a permanent resident, or do you see that it could be done efficiently and just as quickly to get permanent residency? Is it possible to have the proper screening, all these different aspects of screening? Can we do it properly in the same kind of short time frame that we now use for temporary foreign workers?

[Maia Welbourne]

Just to speak on the permanent resident side, which is differently managed and has a different context from entries on the temporary side, to begin with we have a managed approach to permanent resident migration, which means that we have a levels plan every year that sets out the number of permanent residents we're going to admit to the country.

On the temporary side, it's a demand-driven program, so we're responding to incoming requests. On the permanent side, we establish at the outset how many individuals in different classes—economic, family, and protected people—and then within programs.

How quickly you are processed depends on a multitude of factors, including how many people are already in the system being processed under those streams, what the targets are, and various other factors.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

Excellent. Thank you.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Unfortunately, the question wasn't answered.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bryan May]

We go over to Mr. Long, please.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to everyone for coming back.

This question is for Mr. Thompson. Since changes were introduced in 2010, and then in 2014, to increase the compliance framework, do you believe there's been an increase in compliance?

[Paul Thompson]

The increased compliance rate is certainly the objective, and there's been a significant increase in efforts on many fronts in terms of our two main fronts. In one, increasing our capacity to do inspections and investigations, there's been considerable ramp-up of activity, as well as penalties that were put in place, which now are up to $100,000 per violation and up to $1 million per employer.

It takes a longer term to assess the degree of compliance on the ground, but we're confident that, with that degree of inspection activity and those penalties, we will be seeing significant improvement.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Would you say, then, that the new system is effective and efficient?

[Paul Thompson]

There's considerable effort being put into improving the compliance in the program. Insofar as compliance is an objective, there's lots of emphasis being put on it, I guess I would say, in terms of the resourcing and the penalties that are in place.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Here is the next question. In your opinion, is the ESDC tip line portal for reporting employer non-compliance sufficiently accessible for temporary workers themselves?

[Paul Thompson]

The tip line is getting a fair bit of activity. We've had more than 3,800 tips received since it was set up, so there's a fair bit of input there.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Over what time frame was that?

[Paul Thompson]

That's since April 2014.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

There were 3,800 tips.

[Paul Thompson]

Yes, and those are sorted through. Some are very serious allegations and are, of course, referred to other law enforcement authorities, and many of them result in investigations by our own staff on employer non-compliance.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

What sorts of barriers do you foresee for temporary foreign workers to actually using the line?

[Paul Thompson]

Awareness of the line would be one area. We should be always making sure that we're promoting awareness about the line.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I'll just jump. What are you currently doing to do that?

[Paul Thompson]

One area that's particularly knowledgeable about it would be the seasonal agriculture worker program, in which there's a greater opportunity to brief workers who are coming in, because it's managed in conjunction with the consulates from the participating countries. There's a full briefing on worker rights, including access to the tip line. That's an area where there's probably more awareness.

There also are some brochures that we've made available to all incoming temporary foreign workers, in five or six different languages, so that the workers are aware of their rights. I believe the tip line is included in the materials.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

My last question is, what might some of the consequences be of workers failing to be able to initiate an inspection of non-compliance?

[Paul Thompson]

Do you mean inspection of non-compliance by the employer?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Yes.