This Monday morning, there are 20 of them in the class of Analuz Almanzar, team leader at INICI, a community organization located in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. They are part of the first of 10 cohorts of asylum seekers who will undergo training to find employment.
In total, 400 asylum seekers receiving social assistance will be trained and supported over the coming weeks by two Montreal community organizations, INICI and the Immigrant Community Support Center (CACI).
This is a pilot project funded by Quebec.
“It’s difficult,” confides Nadgat, a 38-year-old Alegian. “I’m looking, but I can’t find it. »
“I have never worked,” continues her Haitian neighbor, Dieuna, 30, who trained as a beneficiary attendant.
About a third of temporary immigrants settled in Quebec are asylum seekers. If temporary foreign workers come to work, students to study, asylum seekers are here first to flee their country.
It is therefore a different clientele, often more vulnerable, for whom integration into the labor market is more difficult. As a result, “around 35% of asylum seekers receive social assistance,” reveals Marie-Laure Konan, general director of INICI.
In addition to offering them training, the organizations make connections with companies that would like to hire these immigrants.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Marie-Laure Konan, general director of INICI
The goal of the project is to network with employers.
Marie-Laure Konan, general director of INICI
“We are not asking them to hire them. That’s their choice. But we ask them to do a first interview,” adds Analuz Almanzar.
The asylum seekers who participate in this project all speak French and, for the most part, have a diploma: accountant, teacher, lawyer, nurse, architect… But they are often ready to sweep the broom or cut up chickens to integrate the labor market.
The moratorium helps
The six-month moratorium on the Low-Wage Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Montreal, recently decreed by the Legault government, could encourage their hiring.
It sure helps because the moratorium allows us to call on those who are already there. Why bring in others if those who are already there need to enter the job market?
Marie-Laure Konan, general director of INICI
Asylum seekers, unlike other temporary immigrants, are not truly temporary: they do not have a permit with an expiration date and most will never leave.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
At INICI, asylum seekers, social assistance recipients, follow training to find a job.
Between submitting their application and the hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), an administrative tribunal responsible for examining applications and rendering a decision, it generally takes 50 months!
If his application is accepted, the asylum seeker will be able to stay and apply for permanent residence.
Otherwise, he may challenge the decision or take other procedures to postpone his dismissal.
Ultimately, between 70% and 75% of asylum seekers will remain in the country legally, according to INICI.
The others? Some will actually leave the country, while others will opt to go underground. According to different estimates, there are between 500,000 and 1 million undocumented people in Canada.
To help those here find employment, INICI also organizes a job fair aimed specifically at asylum seekers.
The first, which took place in 2022 at the Plaza Antique, attracted 1,600 asylum seekers, many more than the 700 expected. The second, held on December 4, in the middle of a snowstorm, brought together 3,000 participants.
The next show will take place on October 28 at the Plaza downtown, which can accommodate a larger number of people.
“It now remains for employers to go beyond prejudice and give asylum seekers a first chance,” says Ms.me Konan. They will discover committed, loyal employees with unsuspected talents. »
Learn more
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- 2.1%
- Percentage of asylum seekers within the Quebec population
Statistics Canada