Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and ladies and gentlemen.
Before I start, allow me to thank the members of the committee for their kind invitation to appear before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
My name is Shaitan Singh Rajpurohit, and I have been living in Montreal. It is my understanding that the committee is currently reviewing the usefulness and efficiency of the requirement for the labour market impact assessment under the temporary foreign worker program.
In my humble opinion, LMIAs are very important for several reasons. First and foremost, they are one of the very few measures in the Canadian immigration system that are intended to assure Canadians that the system will not accommodate the immediate needs of the market without considering the employment needs of the people.
There are thousands of people looking for employment in Canada, people who have lost their jobs in the pandemic and others who are young players. They are people who immigrated here in recent years and who have not yet found a steady job, and others who came on temporary work permits and remained in Canada, as well as refugee claimants. However, from labourers to computer experts and medical doctors, many are underemployed. They have a range of skills and work experience, and they are already living and working in Canada. They are familiar with the Canadian people and the workplace culture, and even with the Canadian climate.
It is very important for us and all Canadian businesses and citizens that the unemployed and underemployed be properly documented and considered before allowing the entry of more temporary foreign workers.
Of course, there are difficulties for some employers finding people locally for some jobs in some sectors. However, we don't believe that the only solution is to waive the labour market impact assessment to create more temporary foreign workers. This option is costly to employers, and it creates lots of problems in the workplace due to the high turnover of temporary employees.
The Canadian government should rather maintain the requirement of the labour market impact assessment, consider other means to retain temporary foreign workers who are already settled here, and increase the employment of local people. Amongst possible means to do that, labour market experts have identified several avenues, such as improved recruitment platforms and practices, expanded professional training opportunities, better mechanisms to recognize foreign diplomas, more French language courses in the workplace and, from my own personal experience, one of the best means to ensure a better use of all available people in the workforce is to provide them access to permanent residency
Precarious migrants and refugee claimants often work in health and social services; in food production, processing and distribution; and in security services and in building maintenance. Many are also key to maintaining computer systems, factory equipment and industrial machinery. Because of their expired, precarious or temporary immigration status, many of them are abused by unscrupulous employment agencies and employers, and they are living in constant fear of losing their jobs or being deported from the country.
To address that and to avoid wasting this experienced labour force, the Canadian government should act to regularize the status of migrants so they can work here in optimal conditions.
According to recent media reports in Quebec, barely 30 people have benefited from it so far.
In addition to excluding a significant number of people—