Human Resources committee  First of all, I want to thank the committee again for the opportunity for us to present to the committee today on behalf of the congress. We have circulated copies of our brief. It's fairly detailed and I hope the committee members do have the time to read it at some point. Most

Human Resources committee  Despite the human rights complaint being lodged with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, justice still has not been achieved for these workers. The company has moderately raised the wages. I'll just focus on one area in conclusion. The foreign worker program needs sweeping reform. T

Human Resources committee  I thank you for the question. We have been arguing for some time that a secretariat could play a useful role, because the reality is that almost all the professions we're struggling with in regard to recognition are provincially regulated. The Ontario government recently put f

Human Resources committee  I'll let my colleague comment, but I just want to make one point first. The CLC has had a working group of affiliates from right across the country looking at this issue and sharing their experiences with what's going on with the foreign workers program and how it impacts every

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We will try to be as brief as we can, recognizing the time constraints of the committee this morning. Let me thank the committee for allowing us to present before you on behalf of the 3.2 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, essentially coast to coast. But more impor

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would simply advise the government and the minister to take the changes she wants to consider on immigration and put them in a process that's transparent, and to have meaningful consultation across the country. Canadians as a whole, regardless of what part of the country they

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, as a democracy, I also think that the government spending, which has been reported in the media as $1 million on an advertisement campaign for a proposed amendment that is yet to be approved by Parliament and essentially gives the public no meaningful input as to how they c

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Both my colleague and I will respond. I have one quick point. There is no question that a large part of these changes are to deal with the so-called--I would characterize it--skill shortages in the country. The amendments are essentially to allow the minister to determine the ca

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For the individuals who have submitted an application that's currently in the system, I think it's simply an abuse of power to tell people who have been waiting years—and in many cases, it is years—“Sorry, you have to start over again.” In that regard, they would have to possibly

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Here are a couple of quick points.The evidence you are stating regarding the provinces' requests for temporary foreign workers raises, fundamentally, a more serious question about what we're not doing in our country in training individuals to meet the skills needs of the economy.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We would argue that most of the skill shortages claimed by employers don't exist. Some of them do, a very small number. In a large number of categories that employers are claiming have a shortage, there's no real shortage. One point I wanted to make concerning Madam Chow's point

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that's a question best put to the employers. I don't know what their demands are, and they change by the moment. But the temporary foreign workers program has grown more than anyone would have believed, because it was never intended to do what it's doing. Will these chang

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think temporary foreign workers are in a more precarious situation. Their vulnerability is acknowledged by the employers and by the labour contractors who bring them here. If you come here as a permanent resident, you know you have certainty and cannot be deported because of an

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I've been making the argument for the longest time that what Canada needs is more immigrants. That's the way to build a country. It's also a way to develop your economy. In the old days, if you were lucky, you got a job and you might spend 20 or 35 years in that workplace. If y

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The answer is no.