Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 26th, 2021

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Groleau.

This is my last line of questioning, and I don't know how much time I have left.

This is for you, Mr. Carvajal. First of all, thank you for speaking to some of the challenges with the recent announcement that was made. We very much appreciate that and look forward to rectifying that for future announcements and to perhaps working with you and others across the country to do that.

I was wondering if you could talk a bit about some of the things in—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Schiefke. Your time is up.

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We will now move on to Madame Normandin.

You will have two minutes for your round of questioning. Please proceed.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Mr. Groleau, I'll give you a little more time to answer the questions. I would also invite you, if you wish, to submit in writing the list of questions that could be removed from the LMIA application form. This could be part of the recommendations we'll make in the report.

You talked about workplace audits being done to ensure worker safety. We know that money was announced in the last budget to enhance oversight. In Quebec, however, jurisdiction for these audits is shared.

Is it correct to say that in some cases there is duplication and that it's not necessarily to the benefit of employers or employees?

[Marcel Groleau]

You raise a very good point. We'd like there to be an agreement between both governments so that only one is responsible for these audits. Ideally, for us, it would be the Government of Quebec that would assume that responsibility.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

In a minute, I'd like you to tell us about the flexibility of work permits. Is it a good idea to analyze the possibility of having permits that aren't necessarily tied to the employer, but that would be tied to a sector, that is, by type of work or by region?

As you mentioned, the Bellechasse region has a much lower unemployment rate than other regions.

[Marcel Groleau]

In the case of farm workers, we are very much in favour of having the permit apply to more than one company. It would then be a sectoral permit. It would simplify things a lot and would avoid the need for a second permit.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Ultimately, the permit could be regional in some cases, with a maximum number.

[Marcel Groleau]

Yes. Here, some employees come to pick apples and then go to prune Christmas trees. Others arrive earlier, and they pick asparagus before going to other agricultural sectors. In agriculture, some seasons are relatively short, depending on the production. So that the workers—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Mr. Groleau. The time is up.

We will now end our first panel with Ms. Kwan.

Ms. Kwan, you will have two minutes for your round of questioning. Please proceed.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thanks very much.

I'll just quickly go to Andrew to finish my last question. I wonder whether or not he has seen industries that he has represented face the issues that I raised.

Then I'll go to Mr. Shaw on a different question.

[Andrew Carvajal]

I'm sorry, MP Kwan. I don't remember the question, but if it's related specifically to agriculture, perhaps Monsieur Groleau might be better at answering that.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

My question was basically about the problems with the border and that experience. I wonder whether or not the problem with regard to Switch Health has been fixed.

[Andrew Carvajal]

I wouldn't be able to speak so much about that.

[Marcel Groleau]

We'll know more later this week. We'll get details of the agreement with the new company for services in Quebec late this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

We are hopeful that this will go much better than with Switch Health.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Okay, thank you.

I have one quick question for Mr. Shaw.

We all talked about pathways. I think what is needed, though, is actually a permanent residence status initiative or stream from the government that targets the whole range of skills: high, medium and low skills.

I wonder if Mr. Shaw can speak to that.

[Terry Shaw]

The only comment I would make is we agree. Again, the vast majority of our industry that utilizes the program doesn't do so on a temporary or seasonal basis. The people we are bringing to Canada we are hoping to keep here in Canada as permanent employees.

I would agree that despite the skill level of transport truck driver under the NOC system, we are trying to bring these people here, so a consistent and more effective path to permanent residency for these temporary foreign workers is desired for our industry, absolutely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kwan, your time is up. We will end our first panel here.

Thank you to all the witnesses for providing your important input towards this study. If there is anything you were not able to bring today, you can always send a written submission to the clerk of the committee and we will take that into consideration.

I will suspend the meeting for a few minutes so that we can allow the witnesses for the second panel to please log in. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting back to order.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks to the witnesses for appearing before the committee today. I welcome you to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. All the witnesses will have five minutes for their opening remarks today.

We have Vilma Pagaduan appearing as an individual. She's an advocate for caregivers and settlement workers. We are also hearing today from the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, being represented by Mark Chambers, co-chair of the agriculture and agri-food labour task force; and Mr. Cyr Couturier, the chair. We also have today, from Lehal Law, Kamaljit Lehal, barrister and solicitor.

On behalf of all the members, I welcome all the witnesses today.

We will start with Vilma Pagaduan. Please proceed. You will have five minutes for your opening remarks.

[Vilma Pagaduan, Advocate for Caregivers and Settlement Workers, As an Individual]

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Vilma Pagaduan, and I thank you so much for this privilege.

I came to Canada in August 2007 under the live-in caregiver program. My experience of having gone through the system myself has led me to become an advocate for men and women when their voices can't be heard.

I am a settlement worker and most recently have been working with farm workers. I have been seeing the most unthinkable experiences that migrant workers are going through, which has been further compounded with the pandemic. I have been organizing many town hall events relating to immigration and been engaged in a variety of IRCC consultation meetings for policy change.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to share my recommendations with you today.

Only a fraction of employers are exempted from LMIAs. The majority of employers still have to provide an LMIA. Caregivers who are already in Canada should not be required to obtain a new LMIA if they wish to extend or renew their work permit and they're working for the same employer. My recommendation is to completely remove the LMIA for applicants applying for an extension of their work permit when working for the same employer.

I find the education and English criteria very discriminatory. If you notice, the agri-food immigration pilot program and the Atlantic program are in the low-skilled level and NOC C category, the same as for caregivers, but these two pilot programs require only secondary education, whereas the caregiver program requires at least one year of post-secondary education. The two pilots require an English level of only CLB 4, whereas caregivers are required to have CLB 5. Most of these caregivers are women, women of colour and women from Southeast Asian countries. My recommendation is to remove these two criteria for PR applications. Open a separate public policy program for caregivers.

I strongly suggest that IRCC open a pathway, similar to an interim pathway, that will accommodate those who fall through the cracks, and open it for longer than one year so they will have time to gather documents from overseas.

Many who were already here before the opening of the new pilot program will not be able to meet the criteria. These are men and women who are working in hospital settings and nursing homes. They are frontline workers during the COVID pandemic, day in and day out, never getting a day off because of employment restrictions given by the employer. Some of these applicants have been in the caregiver program for four or five years, but have no pathway to permanent residence where they and their family members can be reunited. H and C is not an option because families, especially children, will be left behind. My recommendation is that IRCC remove the cap and that the processing time be six months only.

I have a question about the cap of 2,750 for the home child care program. Who determines that cap? Did they conduct a study on that cap, and what basis do they have? Is that based on the numbers of caregivers coming to Canada?

Applicants from February 2019 under the interim pathway finally received their first acknowledgement of receipt when IRCC sent out massive AORs in mid-March. My recommendation is that they be given an open work permit as soon as they open the application. This was the rule previously. When an LCP applicant submitted their application, they were issued an open work permit so they could continue to work while their application was in process. This way, vulnerable temporary foreign workers can continue to work without the risk of being exploited because they do not have money to cover basic necessities like food and shelter.

Currently there are many employers and other third parties who are exploiting these vulnerable workers because they need to maintain ties with an employer or because they have no other option for work. Note that these workers' health insurance also expires with their work permit, so they also do not have access to health care in these COVID times. Open work permits should also be granted to spouses and children whose PR application has already been submitted to the IRCC, to demonstrate that Canada is indeed serious about family reunification.

If the government is serious about meeting the shortage of manpower, my recommendation is that it give amnesty to undocumented individuals who are already in Canada. They are working in farms, factories and malls. They even clean government offices. Let them pay taxes for all the years they have been here in Canada. Make a payment plan. Canada should follow the example of France, where applicants are given status and even citizenship.

Whether they be CLB 4 or CLB 5, IRCC should consider the application if the applicant is able to achieve the band score of CLB 4 or 5, even if it is is not the exact same composition based on the equivalency chart. We have clients whose family members passed away during the pandemic, and studying after long work hours, dealing with the loss of the family member and dealing with their own dilemma in Canada makes it so hard for them to study. My recommendation—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Sorry for interrupting, Ms. Pagaduan. Your time is up. You will get an opportunity to talk further when we go into the round of questioning.

We will now go to Ms. Lehal.

Ms. Lehal, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. You may please proceed.

[Kamaljit Lehal, Barrister and Solicitor, Lehal Law]

Thank you.

I'm a lawyer. My primary area of practice is immigration law. Many of the immigration clients I represent are the most vulnerable in our community. For instance, I have advocated on behalf of out-of-status women, along with other stakeholders, at policy round tables created by this government. Recommendations were made for a fast-track process for these victims of violence. These were accepted, and we now have the expedited TRP for victims of violence. My personal contribution was the coding “FV” to help recognize and expedite these applications.

I welcome the opportunity today to collaborate for the betterment of those who are the most vulnerable in our community. I'd like to share with you a couple of scenarios that my office has seen or heard of that pertain to the topic of LMIAs. The first is regarding fees for LMIAs, and the second is regarding foreign workers who are injured while in Canada with a Canadian employer and the effect on their work permit status.

On the first issue, what I'm about to share is not new, but it is important because, essentially, on a regular basis, my office receives phone calls from foreign nationals who have been charged illegal and extravagant fees to obtain an LMIA. We hear the all-too-familiar scenario of foreign nationals having paid fees in the tens of thousands of dollars, averaging around $40,000 to $50,000 and upwards. It is usually an employer or a consultant cohort that has charged these sorts of fees. The monies are paid in cash, making it very difficult to prove that they were received by these individuals.

After paying these monies, as we've heard from the people who are calling in, some of them are still being charged by the employer for the monthly employer remittances or made to work long hours to cover these remittances. Some are told there is no work, and they end up being compelled out of desperation into a fraudulent scheme whereby employer remittances are made but no actual work is done. The immigrant gets caught in a web of deceit by unscrupulous persons who are taking advantage of a system that places a lot of power and control in their hands.

What is the recourse for these individuals, who are usually in low-paying and low-skilled jobs? There is a complaints process to, for example, the consultant disciplinary body, but unfortunately there are not a lot of teeth to that body in terms of being able to do anything.

Many immigrants are too afraid to report the complaint for fear of deportation or fear for their own safety. We recently had an individual share an account with us of the employer showing him a gun to discourage him from bringing forward any complaints about what has been happening to him.

We have seen recent enforcement efforts being made by the CBSA to crack down on employers and consultants.

I just want to pause here and say that there are many good employers, but there are a few who are taking advantage of the most vulnerable workers coming into Canada. These people are sophisticated, so even if there is a crackdown and they're caught, what we are hearing is that they are simply opening shop again under a different banner, to try to prey again like vultures. Perhaps this time, however, there are criminal proceedings being brought, and there will be more of a deterrent effect. However, the concern I see is that while we have an enforcement process, this process is time-consuming in terms of investigative time, and is reactive in responding to a crisis scenario.

In my opinion, we need something that is more proactive—something that will take away control from unscrupulous consultants and employers. For instance, one of the local organizations in B.C., the Hope Welfare Society, approached me to suggest a novel idea of the ESDC perhaps taking an inventory of foreign immigrants who are already in Canada and looking for work, to match them with genuine employers who are looking for workers. This would eliminate the front-end extortion by unscrupulous individuals and help those who are already in Canada.

I'm not sure if there is capacity to create something like this, and I would see it benefiting low-skilled individuals and workers, but I think it's helpful to start rethinking how we're tackling this issue, brainstorming, and finding a way that's more proactive to dismantle the illegal and opportunistic scheming that a few individuals are utilizing.

I know I have only a few more minutes. I just want to raise another scenario that I've seen. It's foreign workers who have been injured while working in Canada with a Canadian employer. These individuals end up in a workers' compensation process, where they are usually helped to find work, rehabilitate and get skills to get back into the workforce. However, if they're not able to return to their pre-injury employer due to permanent functional impairments, they have to find another employer. Being disabled, it's harder for them to find an employer who is willing to go to the effort of obtaining an LMIA.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Lehal, your time is up. You will get an opportunity to talk further when we go into our round of questioning.

We will now move to the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. Mr. Chambers and Mr. Couturier will share the time.

You will both have, together, five minutes for your opening remarks. You can please start.

[Cyr Couturier, Chair, Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council]

Thank you. My name is Cyr Couturier, and I'm the chair of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council.

I'm an aquaculture scientist and chair of the aquaculture programs at Memorial University, as well as the director on many industry associations, including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. I'm also a past president of some other national farmer associations, providing about $3 billion in GDP and 30,000 jobs to middle-class Canadians.

The workforce needs in Canada's agriculture industry are something that CAHRC has been examining for more than 10 years. Through our focused labour market intelligence research, it's clear that the industry cannot continue to produce healthy, safe and affordable food for Canadians and for global consumers without ensuring that workers are secured and in place to do their jobs. The COVID pandemic has put a greater spotlight on this.

I can confirm that there's no more time to waste. We must work towards longer-term and systemic solutions to the persistent labour shortages that the agriculture industry is facing.

CAHRC's labour market research has clarified that job vacancies are exceptionally high in agriculture compared to other industries. For example, they resulted, in 2018, according to our LMI research, in a loss of $3 billion in revenue to farmers. The inability of farmers to fill all of their vacant positions with either Canadian or foreign workers makes the business of food production in Canada very stressful and difficult. International workers come to Canada to work on farms and fill positions when Canadians can't be found. Although approximately 60,000 foreign workers are brought in each year, thousands of vacancies still persist. There were 16,500 vacancies in 2018. In fact, workforce shortages are doubling every 10 years.

The latest assessment indicates that the labour gap of Canadians available to work in this sector is 63,000 a year. It's expected to grow to 123,000 by 2029. Businesses that are unable to fill the vacancies face excessive stress and production losses. Many report delaying expansion plans and forgoing operations. Securing a full team of workers is challenging for farmers at any time. It's especially challenging during a pandemic, yet the pandemic has highlighted that food production is part of Canada's critical infrastructure in maintaining the ability for food businesses to operate effectively, even during a global health crisis. It's critically important to us all. Food businesses continue to operate through the pandemic, and thankfully have been designated as essential workplaces, so that Canadian families can continue to eat homegrown fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, dairy and grains.

However, keeping agriculture businesses operational has not been easy for either industry or government due to extensive labour shortages and unique workforce management challenges. COVID has highlighted not only how complex it is to maintain public health during a pandemic but also just how important and complex it is to manage workforce issues in this sector of the Canadian industry.

Labour-related shortages were exacerbated in 2020 due to the pandemic. Our recently released study on the impacts of COVID-19 on labour was shown to cost primary agriculture $2.9 billion in lost revenue last year, simply owing to COVID-19 impacts. I can forward that report if you're interested.

COVID has certainly put a spotlight on the need for focused attention to address the persistent and pervasive issues of workforce shortages that continue to undermine the industry's ability to operate at full capacity. Industry continues to stress the need for stabilizing worker availability and providing support for farm business owners through the pandemic and beyond.

The industry relies on temporary foreign worker programs to fill position vacancies when Canadian workers are unavailable, so the efficiency of Canada's temporary foreign worker program is critical.

Since the workforce challenges facing the agriculture and agri-food sector are not temporary, the sector needs an integrated, permanent solution to this long-standing and growing problem—one that includes workable immigration pathways for agriculture and agri-food workers. The proposed pathway to permanency announced by the government just a few weeks ago may provide part of the solution for agriculture and agri-food labour shortages. However, other solutions may be needed.

I'd like to introduce my colleague, Mr. Mark Chambers. He is the co-chair of Canada's agriculture and agri-food labour task force, as well as vice-president of Canadian pork production at Sunterra Farms Limited, a family-owned business that focuses on pig production and meat processing in Alberta, serving Canadian and global customers.

Mr. Chambers.