Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 28th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 26 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

The Board of Internal Economy requires that the committee adheres to the following health protocols. Maintain a physical distance of at least two metres from others. Wear a non-medical mask unless seated, and preferably wear a mask at all times, including when seated. Maintain proper hand hygiene by using the hand sanitizer provided in the committee room, and regularly wash your hands well with soap. As chair, I will enforce these measures. I thank you all for your co-operation.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of January 25. I would like to outline a few rules to follow. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You may speak in the official language of your choice. At the bottom of your screen you may choose to hear floor audio in English or French. With the latest Zoom version, you do not need to select a corresponding language channel before speaking. The “raise hand” feature is on the main toolbar, should you wish to speak. As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair. When you are not speaking your microphone should be muted. The committee clerk and I will maintain a speaking list for all the members.

Today, for the first hour, we will continue our study on labour market impact assessments under the temporary foreign worker program. We will be hearing from the witnesses.

We have, today, as an individual, Faye Arellano, law clerk and community advocate-volunteer.

We also have the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, represented by Scott Ross, assistant executive director; and Chris van den Heuvel, second vice-president.

We will also be hearing from the Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies, represented by Myriam Mekni, executive director; and Craig Mackie, co-chair, board of directors.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all the witnesses. Witnesses will be given five minutes for their opening remarks.

Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Before we begin hearing from our witnesses, at the last committee meeting I asked about the Hong Kong study and when the draft report would be provided to committee members, to which we were advised that it would be provided at the end of May, May 26.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

May 14.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Is there any possibility that report could be provided to us by May 7? Was that deadline set by the chair, or is it a capacity issue? If it's not a capacity issue, could we receive it by May 7? I see on the calendar we actually have May 10 and 12 not slotted for witnesses yet. I wonder if we would be able to slot the work on the report on May 10 and 12 for the Hong Kong study.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan, for raising that question before we start. I just want to clarify that that date was not set by the chair. That was the date given based on the input that I was provided by the clerk and the analyst. They had to compile the report, get the translation done, and that was the earliest, I was told, the report could be sent to the members. I can ask the analyst to please clarify whether there is any possibility of providing it earlier.

[Madalina Chesoi, Committee Researcher]

The report is currently with translation. We were told there were a number of reports in translation, so it's a question more of resources from the translation bureau. We can follow up with them and see if we can have a new date, but I cannot promise at this point. It's been with translation for a while now. We're waiting on them.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you.

If we could check, that would be great, because before witnesses are slotted in, I think we have an opportunity if we can get it by the 7th. Then we'd be able to actually go through the materials on the 10th and the 12th.

Also, of course, with the Hong Kong study, there is quite an urgent situation. Things are escalating quite a lot in Hong Kong right now. The sooner we can get this report with the recommendations to the government, I think, the better.

[Madalina Chesoi]

We'll check with translation whether there's a possibility of changing the date.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I will follow up with the clerk and the analyst and see if there is any possibility of getting that from the translation bureau, and I will accordingly then update the members.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I would really appreciate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

With that, we will now go to our witnesses.

Welcome again. We will start with Ms. Arellano, who is a law clerk and community advocate-volunteer, appearing before us as an individual.

Welcome, Ms. Arellano. Thanks for appearing before the committee. You will have five minutes for your opening remarks. Please proceed.

[Faye N. Arellano, Law Clerk and Community Advocate-Volunteer, As an Individual]

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—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I'm sorry for interrupting, Ms. Arellano. Your time is up. You will get an opportunity to talk further when we go into our round of questioning.

[Faye N. Arellano]

Sure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We will now move to our next witness.

We will hear from the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

Mr. Ross, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. You can share your time with your colleague if you wish to.

[Scott Ross, Assistant Executive Director, Canadian Federation of Agriculture]

Thank you.

Mr. van den Heuvel will be speaking on behalf of the CFA today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

[Chris van den Heuvel, Second Vice-President, Canadian Federation of Agriculture]

Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members, for the opportunity to speak to you here today.

My name is Chris van den Heuvel. I'm the second vice-president for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. We're Canada's largest general farm organization, representing 200,000 Canadian farm families from coast to coast to coast. I run a mixed dairy and beef operation in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. As mentioned, I'm also joined by Scott Ross, assistant executive director at CFA.

I'd like to start by thanking the committee for inviting farm organizations to speak on the temporary foreign worker program and to thank the officials and policy-makers who have taken the critical steps to ensure continued access to essential international farm and food workers throughout this COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2017 the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council found 16,500 on-farm vacancies costing the sector $2.9 billion in lost sales. These vacancies existed despite 60,000 foreign workers entering Canada. By 2029, they forecast 123,000 more jobs than the domestic labour force is expected to fill. For an agri-food sector otherwise primed to drive Canada's economic recovery, already providing 12% of Canada's employment and $143 billion in GDP, these labour constraints require a holistic agri-food labour and automation strategy.

While we see some opportunity through immigration pilots and access to permanent residencies, a lack of awareness on issues relating to educational criteria continue to limit access for farm and food workers alike. At the same time, the pandemic has emphasized the immediate importance of foreign workers to Canadian agriculture, with nearly two in five agricultural employers experiencing labour shortages at a time when millions of Canadians were displaced from their employment.

When it comes to LMIAs, we have seen significant improvements in processing over the past few years, and forums for dialogue between the departments involved and employer associations such as the service delivery working group co-chaired by CFA and Service Canada have been critical in identifying opportunities to reduce administrative burden while enhancing program rigour. However, the efforts of organizations like FARMS, WALI, UPA and FERME have also been critical in developing the standards, arranging logistics and communicating with employers and governments.

Throughout COVID-19, the importance of these organizations cannot be overstated. These groups work with thousands of employers to keep them on top of rapidly changing program realities that often differ from region to region. They have taken on immense challenges while dealing with constant uncertainty, frustrated employers and lack of information.

I would like to express our gratitude for their ongoing efforts, and we would recommend empowering them as partners through advance notice on program changes and travel restrictions. This would avoid significant confusion, delays and added cost as employers try to make sense of this ever-evolving program.

More generally, I would note that the online LMIA application portal is working well, but needs to ensure that those same organizations can continue to provide producers with support in getting the right documentation and streamlining processing for all involved. At this time, producers find far more delays in work permit approval and renewal processing than the LMIAs themselves, with undue delays also arising where communication is required between government departments.

We recommend clear work permit processing service standards and more robust information sharing between IRCC and Service Canada to avoid costly and undue delays.

Similarly, producers are also facing new stress and confusion due to overlapping inspections across multiple orders of government. Integrity audits can halt LMIA processing, which isn't always communicated clearly to employers, who at this point are not always clear on who was inspecting them or why. This leaves them in limbo as the production season approaches, and they're waiting on approval of what are truly essential workers. We support a strong inspection regime, but it must be founded on greater coordination and communication between all involved.

Under COVID-19, farmers continue to see increased costs for transportation, housing and PPE, which can be far greater for those without a nearby port of entry. The mandatory isolation support program certainly helps, but as it stands, farmers are bearing significant added costs for their efforts. The Switch Health system for day 10 testing is exacerbating this situation, causing delays that leave workers in mandatory quarantine isolation for extended periods, posing mental health challenges and adding costs. The system appears to be overwhelmed, and urgent reforms are needed to allow farmers to send results to third-party labs.

In conclusion, I would draw your attention to—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Mr. van den Heuvel, I'm sorry for interrupting, but your time is up. You will get an opportunity when we go into the round of questioning.

[Chris van den Heuvel]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

We will now hear from Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies, represented by Ms. Mekni, who is the executive director; and Mr. Mackie, the co-chair of the board of directors.

Ms. Mekni, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks and you can share your time with your colleague if you wish.

[Myriam Mekni, Executive Director, Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies]

Thank you. Craig will start and we will share our time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

[Craig Mackie, Co-Chair, Board of Directors, Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm Craig Mackie, the co-president of ARAISA and also executive director of the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada.

The Atlantic Region Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies is an umbrella group for organizations providing immigrant settlement services in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

ARAISA serves as a collective voice and a forum for the 22 member agencies across all four provinces that are all committed to the successful settlement and integration of immigrants and refugees in our region. Member organizations have become more effective as a result of ARAISA's initiatives to support the sector and its contributions to regional and federal national forums such as this.

ARAISA members have been involved with and very supportive of the Atlantic immigration pilot. The program is very successful. It's employer driven, and its success can be measured by the fact that it will become a permanent stream in 2022.

Temporary foreign workers are an integral and essential part of the economy of Atlantic Canada. The COVID pandemic made this even more obvious when most everything else was shut down last spring and parts of last fall. It was the TFWs who were on the farms, in the fields, at fish plants, driving trucks to deliver food, in long-term care facilities looking after our elders, stocking shelves at the grocery stores, and much more. Without these TFWs risking themselves to do these jobs, we would be in even greater difficulties.

Canada needs low-skilled labour. There are not enough Canadians to do the work, yet we make it difficult and sometimes impossible for employers to get the labour they need to operate their businesses successfully and profitably.

A farmer in eastern P.E.I. brings in dozens of TFWs every summer. He told me point-blank that he would not be in business without TFWs.

My colleague from New Brunswick will take it from here.