A new surge in the number of undocumented immigrants is expected in Canada following restrictions on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Because blocking the renewal of work permits for thousands of people will not necessarily lead them to leave the country, lawyers, unions and migrant advocacy groups fear, but will instead push many of them underground.
After seeing temporary immigration reach record levels, Quebec and Ottawa are now trying to calm this impression of loss of control. Both governments have thus announced new limits on hiring one after the other.
“We are deconstructing the plane in mid-flight,” observes immigration lawyer Maxime Lapointe. Except that “growth is easier to orchestrate than decline.”
After these setbacks, he sees new tragedies looming on the horizon. “For example, a company with fewer than 10 employees is entitled to two foreign workers. [Le permis de] one of the two will not be able to be renewed. We will realize that there are people who no longer qualify. There are humans behind these quotas!
As a reminder, Quebec has declared a six-month moratorium on the hiring or renewal of temporary worker permits in the Montreal region, while Ottawa will reduce the proportion of temporary workers authorized within the same company from 20% to 10%.
Will the hundreds of participating companies, now faced with up to 10% of employees without permits, pay for their return airfare? Not sure. “Will people comply or go underground? Or seek asylum to try to stay in Canada? By having reforms, there is a risk that people will disappear into thin air,” warns Mr.e Lapointe.
“Even more fertile ground for exploitation”
He’s not the only one who sees a new wave of undocumented immigrants coming. At the Montreal Immigrant Workers Centre, Cheolki Yoon is also worried about seeing thousands of precarious workers sinking into a life of misery.
“What concerns us first and foremost is the impact on people who are already here,” the organization’s board member said in an interview. “Better controlling entry, making assessments more rigorous for hiring new workers, that may be acceptable. But we need to open up a path of protection at least for people who are already here. Either by renewing their permit or accessing permanent residency. That’s a priority.”
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program has made Canada a “breeding ground” for modern slavery, a UN rapporteur warned this summer.
The restrictions imposed “contradict” the conclusion of this report, Cheolki Yoon emphasizes. “Access to permanent residency will be more difficult. The risks of precariousness are accentuated. This is an even more fertile ground for exploitation.”
To leave or to stay in the shadows
This conclusion also alarms the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ). The union came out publicly on Wednesday to urge governments to establish “sustainable immigration planning.”
The current program still considers “migrant workers as disposable workers who are not given the same rights,” says FTQ Secretary General Denis Bolduc. Preventing their status from being renewed will not help their conditions in any way.
Nor has there been any predictability for employers who rely on cheap labour for their growth. “As long as foreign workers are subject to inferior working conditions than local workers, employers will have an incentive to use foreign labour,” he says.
Complying with the new rules and leaving the country promptly is inevitable for a majority of temporary workers, warned Premier François Legault during his announcement on August 20. “Let’s be realistic,” he calculated at the time. “We accept 50,000 permanent immigrants per year in three categories […]. There, we have 600,000 temporary workers. We will not make everyone believe that they will be able to quickly be among the 50,000 that we choose each year, especially since there is already a waiting list.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.