Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 28th, 2019

[Llewellyn Opperman]

Like I said, when we came here we decided to stay. We are here. I have a problem. My oldest son is at home. As I'm not permanent resident, he can't go to university. He's sitting at home. He's 21 years old and he's enjoying life. It's heaven. He has a PlayStation in front of him and an Xbox, and life is good.

My second son is in grade 12. He's finishing at the end of this May. What then? He's not allowed to work. He can't go study. Then I'll have two sitting at home that I'm supporting. I don't think that's fair.

I've been here almost a year. When I started with that consultant at Canadian immigration, what was told to me was that, as soon as I get my work permit and I land here in Canada, they start with my permanent residency. That didn't happen.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

You would support landed status on arrival then—

[Llewellyn Opperman]

Yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

—because that would make a big difference for you in your life as well, as we heard from the employer and as we heard from Syed on their advocacy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

You have a minute and a half.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

This is an ongoing debate, but for some reason, government has not acted on it. Frankly, I don't really understand why. If there is a number one recommendation, would this be it, in terms of making that landed status pathway real for the employees that the employers need?

Maybe just a quick go-around for everybody.

[Edward McElhone]

Yes.

[Llewellyn Opperman]

I would agree with that, yes

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I can see people nodding. I need people to actually say something, because otherwise it won't be registered on the record.

[Syed Hussan]

I would say specifically it's granting landed status upon arrival. Migration is a permanent need; we need a permanent solution.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Kuijpers. On that same question, is the answer yes?

[Dennis Kuijpers]

Yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I would just say, let the record show that all of the witnesses responded by saying that this is the number one priority: landed status upon arrival.

There is half a minute left. Should the government be acting on this now, or how much longer should we be waiting for something to be done?

[A voice]

Immediately.

[Edward McElhone]

Yesterday would have been good.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Immediately, yesterday.... And for the people on the video conferencing?

[Syed Hussan]

The system is 53 years old. It should have happened 53 years ago.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Lastly, Mr. Kuijpers?

[Dennis Kuijpers]

There is a disconnect between Service Canada and the IRCC. You should really address this and look at that as well.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mrs. Zahid, you have seven minutes.

[Salma Zahid, Scarborough Centre, Lib.]

Thanks to the witnesses.

My first question is for Mr. Hussan.

I know there have been suggestions to make changes to the temporary foreign worker program to make it easier for employers to bring in foreign workers. Of course, we need to also ensure that jobs are not taken that could be filled by qualified Canadians.

Could you please share your thoughts on how that balance can be struck and how, in a polarizing political environment, we can maintain popular support for the sorts of tools that Canadian businesses are asking for?

[Syed Hussan]

I think first and foremost the whole notion of temporary migration needs to be removed from the system. We need a single-tier immigration system. In a polarized environment, it's when you create these various sectors that you hear that “these people are stealing jobs” or “those people are jumping the queue”, and you actually further polarize the system. We're seeing that already.

If you have single-tier immigration whereby everybody comes in—low-wage workers, high-wage workers, humanitarians, students, etc.—with permanent residency-related rights, it actually resolves the issue. You're trying to tweak an existing problem that has a fundamental flaw. The fundamental flaw is that the only way for most employers to profit is to have a worker tied to them, so you have to indenture workers to create that system of profit. Now, 53 years in, it's becoming embroiled. I think we need to pull way back and say—

[Salma Zahid]

How do we keep a balance to make sure that those jobs are not filled by the temporary foreign workers?

[Syed Hussan]

There are 300,000 permanent residents coming into the country each year. We don't know what jobs they do. There are 280,000 plus people who come in the international mobility program with open permits. We don't know what jobs they do. There are 312,000 plus international students who can work. We don't know what jobs they do.

Why are we talking about these 78,000—the smallest section of the temporary stream—and whether they will take jobs from Canadians? This is a completely nonsensical, non-factual and frankly inappropriate way to understand the system. We have 700,000 people here who are coming in temporarily, so this is not a question of citizens losing jobs to migrants. It's a question of our needing a single-tier immigration system.