Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the committee for inviting me to take part in this meeting.
My name is Ethan Miranda. I'm a 25-year-old software engineer from Scarborough, in the east end of Toronto. I graduated from the University of Western Ontario in June 2024.
After graduating, I spent almost two years unemployed. In that time, I applied to over 500 positions and spent countless hours going through the interview process at various companies, rarely even receiving the courtesy of a rejection letter. All I was able to get was a part-time volunteer position as a software engineer at a Vancouver-based charity and a 20-hour-a-week position at a small tech start-up. I only successfully found full-time employment when I shifted my focus away from software engineering.
My story is not unique. Since graduating, I have personally spoken to dozens of other recent graduates in software engineering and computer science who are struggling to find employment, many of them for extended periods of time, due to a lack of entry level positions in tech.
My experience led me to ask a simple question: If highly educated Canadian graduates cannot find a pathway into the tech industry, how will Canada develop the experienced workforce it needs in the future? If Canadian graduates are unable to gain that experience at home, many may look elsewhere for opportunities, resulting in a potential loss of talent that Canada has already invested heavily in educating.
As such, I am here today to express my concern that efforts to attract highly skilled tech talent from abroad are not being matched by equivalent efforts to develop Canadian graduates. While it is true that there is a lot of demand for senior tech workers in Canada, particularly in AI, machine learning, data science, cybersecurity and cloud computing, there is no shortage of talented young Canadian software engineers who are eager and willing to fill this demand. The issue is not a lack of talent, but a lack of experience and the opportunity to gain it.
Youth unemployment has risen steadily in the past few years, from 9% in June 2022 to 14.3% in April 2026. Many of these unemployed young people are graduates in engineering, computer science and other tech disciplines. According to the Indeed Hiring Lab, postings for junior and standard tech roles in Canada have dropped 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels, while postings for senior and manager roles are above pre-pandemic levels.
While this problem is not specific to AI and can be found even in web development and application development, roles tied directly to AI, such as machine learning engineers, data engineers and data centre technicians, continue to show elevated demand. These are areas in which Canadian universities already provide education, but unfortunately they are still not accessible to new graduates, as they often require years of experience. In fact, even many roles labelled as entry-level require prior experience, effectively removing the first step on the career ladder for new graduates.
As a result of the mismatch between entry-level supply and experienced labour demand, efforts to address senior talent shortages entirely through immigration may unintentionally increase competition in the early career job market for Canadian graduates if not carefully designed. If we flood the market with senior engineers from abroad, then employers have no incentive to hire and train Canadian new grads because they have easy and cheap access to foreign senior engineers who can hit the ground running, as opposed to investing the time and money into training a junior engineer from Canada who may take a few years to ramp up.
Canada's skilled immigration policy should complement domestic talent pipelines, not replace them. Every senior engineer, AI specialist, cybersecurity expert and technology leader began as a junior employee who was given an opportunity.
If Canada wants a strong technology sector in 10 years, we must ensure that today's graduates have a chance to build the experience right now that future demands will require. I strongly believe Canada can be a global leader in technology, but this cannot come at the expense of an entire generation of Canadian graduates. I respectfully ask that you advocate for policies that incentivize companies to hire and train junior Canadian engineers, invest in graduate upskilling programs in fields like AI and cybersecurity and ensure that efforts to attract global talent are matched by equally strong investments in developing Canada's domestic talent pipeline.
Thank you for your time. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.