The Government of Canada has been grappling with the complex issues around the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Today, several significant changes were announced that will be of interest to many in the Caribbean.
The changes relate to refusing to process applications in certain instances and measures related to employer compliance and worker protection.
A quick read of the documentation suggests that temporary foreign worker applications in the agriculture sector will continue to be process more or less as normal.
August 26 2024 The Globe and Mail
Marieke Walsh Senior political reporter
Ottawa will cut the share of temporary foreign workers in the low-wage stream that employers can hire in a move to wrestle down temporary immigration numbers that exploded in the wake of the pandemic and is also considering reducing the number of permanent residents that Canada accepts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday.
The federal government unveiled three changes to the program at the start of day-two of the cabinet retreat in Halifax on Monday. The new rules will take effect in one month, on Sept. 26. and come in addition to changes already announced in March and over the summer.
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In the changes announced Monday, Ottawa will reduce the share of temporary foreign workers that employers in the low wage sector can hire to pre-pandemic levels of 10 per cent of their total workforce, down from 20 per cent, the government said in a press release.
It will also no longer process applications for the temporary foreign worker low-wage stream from employers in regions with an unemployment rate of 6 per cent or higher. That was previously a rule but it was shelved during the post-pandemic labour shortage.
Lastly, the government is cutting the maximum time workers can be employed in the low-wage stream to one year, from two.
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Read the full Globe and Mail article here.
Read the Government of Canada’s full announcement here. Lots of detail to absorb here.