Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. My name is Silvia Bendo. I'm the executive director of CREWS, Construction Recruitment External Workers Services.
CREWS is a service offered through the Building Industry and Land Development Association, formerly known as the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association and the Urban Development Institute. With more than 1,500 members, BILD is the voice of the residential land development, home building, and professional renovation industry in the Greater Toronto Area. We are proudly affiliated with the Ontario and the Canadian Home Builders' Association.
I am pleased to be afforded the opportunity to present the residential construction industry's views with respect to temporary foreign workers and undocumented workers. Both BILD and CREWS have had some hands-on experience with the temporary foreign worker program through our involvement with the construction industry memorandum of understanding between the GTHBA and the federal government.
CREWS was established in 2001 to assist employers with their labour supply needs by facilitating the foreign worker application process. Although the MOU formally ended in September 2007, CREWS is continuing to operate to support our members' needs by again helping them with their application processing.
In addition, we continue to support any and all efforts to increase the supply of skilled labour in our industry, including training and apprenticeship programs. Unfortunately, this does not meet all our industry's needs. With an aging workforce in several of the trades and in management positions, our industry requires action on all fronts to assure a healthy and stable supply of labour.
Within the temporary foreign worker program, one of the recommendations I would suggest is that the process for transferring foreign workers from one employer to another within Canada be streamlined. Currently the paperwork takes, at best, two months to process. During this time, workers can be left unemployed, and employers are prevented from using the skills and experience of these foreign workers.
Traditionally, the objective of the temporary foreign worker program was to meet temporary labour demands in the country. The reality is that most temporary foreign workers within our jurisdiction see the temporary foreign worker program as a stepping stone to permanent residency, although they don't even qualify for that. But that's another topic.
With respect to undocumented workers, we all know that they are here, and the plight of these workers must be addressed. Some of the undocumented workers have been lucky enough to regularize their status through the temporary foreign worker program. However, there are still many more out there who are discouraged from pursuing this route because they are not from visa-exempt countries or because of negative decisions from similarly positioned people at their visa posts abroad.
To ensure some fairness in our system, a regularization initiative needs to be devised that will ensure that our skill and labour supply remains in Canada. An inland regularization program that would result in the issuance of a temporary work permit for a period of at least two years could be one solution. During this time, these foreign nationals could then pursue permanent residency.
It should be noted, too, that many of our members are not knowingly employing undocumented workers. Our builder members secure their labour through labour agreements and through trade contractor agreements. The contractors, in turn, hire subcontractors to meet their labour needs.
The undocumented worker is sometimes a failed refugee claimant who, in the eyes of the employer, is suddenly deported.
I thank you for your attention. Overall, we request that this committee support immigration initiatives that will address the labour supply needs of the residential construction industry.