Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for inviting me to participate in this important and timely hearing in your study on temporary foreign workers.
I am a former lead person of the ministry of social justice and the caregivers ministry under the Archdiocesan Filipino Catholic Mission in Toronto. That's where I learned so much about caregivers. I will speak about my observations and recommendations for possible solutions and remedies to shortages of temporary foreign workers, particularly caregivers.
It is a fact that Canada has relied on foreign caregivers for vital services to Canadian families with regard to their young children, elderly and loved ones with disabilities. By employing caregivers, working families leave for work with peace of mind and confidence that their young children are being taken care of by reliable caregivers in the privacy of their homes. With Canada's aging population, the need for care at home, long-term facilities and hospitals will only continue to grow, and Canadians with disabilities also benefit from the care and support of a dedicated caregiver.
However, the current pandemic has obviously put a strain on the immigration department's ability to process applications. Immigration officers who are working remotely simply would not be able to process applications in the usual manner and could not be expected to provide accurate processing times to most applicants.
I will highlight some of my findings in the course of my research.
Regarding the home care provider pilot and support worker pilot, I personally do not know of any successful applicant who has made it to Canada under the current program. I also inquired of lawyers, immigration consultants, social workers and settlement coordinators about successful applicants but was told the same thing, that they were also not aware of participants who had been admitted to Canada through those two pilots. Finally, there was a Toronto Star report on April 15 that said there were only five applications processed under the current programs since their inception in 2019, and one of these five was even withdrawn.
Regarding the labour market impact assessment, LMIA, it's still a requirement prior to issuance of work permits to temporary workers under the 2014 changes to the LCP. The LMIA is not only causing delay, but also undue hardships to caregivers applying for extension or renewal of their work permits.
The processing fee of $1,000 is exorbitant for employers, who are mostly Canadian families wanting to hire caregivers. It takes longer to process and there is always a risk that the caregivers will lose their status before the process is even completed.
Under eligibility criteria, the education requirement proves to be a systemic obstacle to many caregivers. This is despite the fact that those caregivers have already worked the job that they applied for in the first place, they were functional and successful in what they did in caregiving and they paid taxes while working. The additional education requirement will likely lead to a caregiver working temporarily until such time as he or she is ordered to leave Canada.
Many caregivers are failing the language test. One caregiver describes the stressful experience of taking the four-part test as this: “All questions have to be answered under time pressure. At times, my mind just went blank because I was very nervous.” She passed the benchmark of level 5 in listening, speaking and writing. However, she failed the reading part, which means she has to retake all four parts of the test again and pay the fee of $339 plus taxes. Some caregivers are asking why they can't just retake the one part that they failed instead of redoing the four parts again.
Now I have recommendations for caregivers trying to meet requirements for work permits or PR who are already in Canada.
With the fact that an LMIA is no longer a requirement under the current two pilots, it will be consistent and will make more sense in streamlining the process if LMIAs are also waived under the 2014 pathway programs.
Allow these caregivers cumulative scores for language tests, which will result in higher chances of passing the exams. Combined test scores for many of them may mean more caregivers—